Without a doubt, WordPress is the most used and trusted Content Management System, powering more than 26% of the websites over the internet. The platform is developing day by day and so is the number of people considering WordPress development. It’s something you can observe in the many minor and major changes that took effect this year.

 

After the major releases, WordPress 4.5 “Coleman,” and WordPress 4.6 “Pepper,” it is time to come across another big change with “WordPress 4.7.” The release candidate for WordPress 4.7 is now available continuous improvements and beta releases. The final release is scheduled to be released on December 06, 2016 and there is a big gap expected between the Release Candidate and Final Release.

Hence the developed have warned the eCommerce store owners to not use the Release Candidate on production sites.

We conducted an in-depth research on WordPress 4.7 and identified some cool changes that you may notice in the upcoming release. So let’s get started with on what they are and how they can be tested before you apply them to a live site.

Twenty Seventeen:

As you know WordPress would release a default theme with each major release to help you get started quickly, this time the default theme is ‘Twenty Seventeen.’ It comes with a lot of exciting new features.

Along with the new layout design, the theme also comes with many customization features. Navigate to Appearance -> Customize to start making the theme your own!

One can easily edit the site title, control menus, description, header, and themes. With the latest version, one can easily change the entire page and even change the themes with starter content.

Install Theme Directly from Customizer:

WordPress 4.7 comes with this amazing feature, allows you to add themes directly via customizer. Simply click on the change button and you’ll see a new tab like in the image below. You can search any theme, install and activate it.

Colors:

The latest version comes with an option to change colors of your website in an innovative way.

Theme Options:

Previously, the option was missing from WordPress customizer. The WordPress 4.7 now allows you to set the page layout. Whenever store admin selects one column, content and title gets displayed vertically. Also it allows you to add new pages or edit the existing ones.

Edit Shortcuts From Customizer Preview:

Before making any change to a live website, it is always a great choice to edit and preview WordPress elements. If you are in WordPress eCommerce development, then you would better understand importance of this update. With the latest update, developers or admins can edit and preview a lot of areas directly from the customizer preview.

User Admin Language:

Store admins can easily change the language of the admin panel, depending upon their personal preferences. You can choose the one you want for your dashboard. Follow the given path:

  • Settings-> General

Select the language that you want for your dashboard and don’t worry it won’t change your website’s language.

What’s in for developers?

While most of the changes discussed above were for the front-end users, there is a lot more for the professional WordPress developers. Let’s take a look:

WP_Hook:

One can get into trouble with this update, only if your plugin is directly accessing the $wp_filter instead of using the public hooks API. One must read the developers’ note and test the code accordingly.

Locale Switching:

You must have noticed the top admin bar, displayed in the content language instead of appearing in the admin language. Well, the problem has been fixed with WordPress 4.7.

Theme Developers:

Page template functionality is available to custom post types. Theme developers can enjoy a lot of new functions, hooks, and behaviors with the update.