Recently, WordPress released an brand new version – version 3.8. Should you update your installation?
Let’s take a look at what’s new:
3.8 brings a fresh new look to the entire admin dashboard. The layout has gone ‘flat’ with a choice of new colour schemes – these don’t affect your website one bit – just what you see when you are logged into your dashboard.
It’s nice and simple, but I find the default black and petrol blue not too easy on the eye, and the other colour combinations (8 in all) are not to my taste either, but you may like them.
You can change these from your user profile.
The Open Sans typeface is great, quickly becoming one of my favourites.
WordPress on every device
The new interface is designed to look good on our table or smartphone, should you want to access your dashboard in this way. It’s supposed to load faster too.
Themes
The new themes screen has been revised and lets you use your keyboard’s navigation arrows to flip through themes. Nice thoug this is, my advice is not to have a load of themes sitting there – delete the unused ones and save space on the server while tightening up security at the same time.
Widgets
Widget management is more streamlined, but it’s no big deal. One nice feature is that you can just tap a widget to add it, when you’re using a tablet with tap control.
The new theme: Twenty Fourteen
Twenty Fourteen is an attractive magazine-style theme that is the new default theme. I find it a bit harsh on the eye, and will watch with interest to see if it catches on.
So – should you upgrade? Yes you should. The latest and greatest is always the most secure. But with the usual caveat which that you need to check that your plug-ins and themes are compatible with 3.8. If they are not then look for alternatives, as it is important to keep your installation up to date from a safety point of view.
It’s worth pointing out that 3.8 updates itself automatically as new versions are released; not a bad idea as long as yo are aware of this.
Need any help with any of this? Just get in touch.