Let's get the disclaimers out of the way first; the WordPress 4.0 beta is, as the name states, a beta, which means it's still a work-in-progress that may contain bugs or other issues that could do a lot of harm to the unprepared, so it's really not recommended to run it on a production site. Instead, you should look at running it only in a test environment to see what new brand of magic we should expect to see in the next full release of WordPress. If you're ready to jump in and start playing around, then you can download the WordPress 4.0 beta here or use the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (choose “bleeding edge nightlies” option from Tools -> Beta Testing).
WordPress 4.0 beta quick review
- There's a new view for the media library. Now the Media Library is based on a grid, which we think is a very good idea as it makes it easier to find what you're looking for and simplifies editing. Clicking on an item takes you into a modal window where you can see a larger preview and edit information about that attachment without leaving the main Media Library screen. Of course, if you'd prefer to stick with what you know the old version of Media Library is also available as an option in WordPress 4.0.
- In the post/page visual editor an embedded video URL preview has been added. When you paste an embed URL from somewhere like Youtube or Vimeo into the editor, after a short load your video should now be visible in the visual editor for easy double-checking.
- The plugin installation page has been refreshed. You’ll see some early visual changes as well as more information when searching for plugins and viewing their details.
- During the WordPress installation process, you can now select a language.
- The Customizer section is still in development – in this version the widgets tab is loaded in a separate panel. On the developer side of things, a new API for panels in the theme customizer was added.
- Added improvements to how keyboard and cursor interact with TinyMCE views such as the gallery preview.
A full list of all changes/improvements may be found on the official WordPress blog.
It's only a beta version but for now it seems that WordPress 4.0 won't be a big revolution, but it will still be a step forward. A couple of interesting features will be added, while others will be improved. Generally it's a good news for Theme Developers like us, since there won't be too much work required to get our themes up and running on WordPress 4.0!