Just a little longer and a new version of WordPress will be released, namely version 4.7. This is accompanied by a new WordPress theme called Twenty Seventeen.
I have tested the beta version in conjunction with Twenty Seventeen and I notice that there are some changes that you might have to get used to. Both the theme and WordPress 4.7 will be officially released on December 6 so consider it a belated St. Nicholas present.
Following up on my previous blog Keep WordPress up-to-date, I thought it would be nice to point out exactly what the changes are then so you know roughly what to expect.
WordPress 4.7
Just updated to version 4.6 and then another new version comes along?! Yes that’s right! In fact, there were a number of changes scheduled that were not feasible for release and were therefore pushed forward. In addition, WordPress always comes out with a new update towards the end of the year, this is because it accompanies the release of the official WordPress theme.
Some major changes in WordPress include:
Visual Editor
The visual editor has changed somewhat. It remains to be seen if more changes are coming, but as far as I know, these three things are different:
- The dropdown that allows you to control headings is now at the top.
- The button to align text has been removed.
- The button to underline text has been removed.
No big changes for me but maybe for you.
The two buttons that were removed fall under the guise of “bad-practice abilities,” or in other words this is not supposed to happen. Underlining text creates ambiguity because people think this is a link (links are normally underlined).
The button to align text has been removed because it does not look the same in all browsers and it often makes texts unreadable. It is actually easier to read when all the text is left-aligned because the “flow” stays in it and you don’t see continuous white spaces between words, especially for people who are visually impaired.
And even if you wanted to align the text, this is always better to solve it with CSS and not through the editor. This is because then inline CSS is added which makes it not so easy to change this when you want to change once.
Language of users
Sometimes you have a WordPress site with multiple authors who don’t all speak the same language. WordPress 4.7 will soon allow you to select a language per user. This does require you to install several languages so that WordPress can use them as well.
PDF Thumbnail
Uploading a PDF has never been such a problem but with many PDFs you quickly lose track. When you upload a PDF you will only see a file icon in the Media section. So not very convenient. That’s about to change and your PDF files will soon have a thumbnail image so that in addition to the file name, you can visually see what the PDF is about.
Custom CSS
Many themes already have this feature implemented and others use a plugin for it, but as of WordPress 4.7, it is possible, through the Customizer, to add custom CSS and see these changes right away in the theme itself.
On the one hand, super convenient, on the other hand, as a web developer, I am personally a bit against it. I can see the convenience of this addition, only there is soon the risk of making changes to the theme that affect the look and feel of the design resulting in something no longer working properly or looking incorrect. Especially when one does not know which ID or CLASS to use. Besides, it’s meant for minor adjustments, but I can already see people cramming a lot of CSS into it which again affects load time. Yeah, bad huh, that loading time. Haha! Too much CSS can also cause load times to slow down. And too much of anything is never good, except money. That would be nice sometimes. 😉
Other changes
For developers, there are a lot of changes (yay!) namely REST API endpoints which are super useful when creating themes, plugins and dashboard customizations. The WP_Hook filter has been updated, you can edit large quantities at once but also implement new features (
bulk edit
), Post Type capabilities for pages (previously only posts) and much more. So I’m definitely excited about this update!
WordPress Twenty Seventeen
With version 4.7 also comes a new WordPress theme, Twenty Seventeen. Although the theme is not entirely my taste, it has become a theme perfect for photographers or bloggers. The theme emphasizes photos and the rest of the design has remained clean and minimalist and completely in the style of the themes we are used to from WordPress itself. Check out the demo version of Twenty Seventeen.
Parallax scroll effect
WordPress is trying to capitalize on current trends(although, current?). In fact, the theme uses a parallax scroll effect on the homepage. This is the effect where images are displayed as background and stay put while scrolling. Therefore, when scrolling, the texts will overlay the images.
In addition, you have the ability to fill multiple areas on the homepage with widgets, you have a dark, light and custom color version, you can quickly and easily add a navigation bar with various social media channels, quickly change the logo and much more. Also, instead of images, you can start using video headers. So instead of a static image, you can use a video to promote a product, for example.
Social media menu
You can very easily create a social media menu with links to as many as 37 networks! The nice thing about this is that you have to add the URL and the theme automatically looks for the right icon to go with it. However, it is true that you can only add it in the footer (at the bottom of the page) but there is always another solution for that.
One Page theme
You can now easily and quickly create a One Page theme, which means that the front page contains different sections. These sections are actually pages you want displayed on the front page. For companies, this is very convenient – as you can put all the important information on the front page so visitors don’t have to search any further.
Why won’t I use the Twenty Seventeen theme?
Well … besides making my own themes, I’m not a fan of the parallax scroll effect. It looks great, however, if the images are going to cover the full width of the website so that the scroll effect is also utilized to its fullest, you will have to use very large images (think at least 2000px wide). A blog that uses a lot of images will start to slow down tremendously and increase loading time, especially since not everyone optimizes images.
The same goes for using video headers, many people are unaware of what these (nice) extras can do to the load time of a website. Misuse resulting in long loading times often causes visitors to drop out. Surely no one waits more than a few seconds for a page to fully load? Or is it?
Also, the scroll effect last year and early this year, was wildly popular. It was used in almost every theme and now I have seen it so much that it is no longer special (to me). I feel very much now that they are a bit behind this trend and had hoped they would come up with something innovative. And maybe I’m being very perfectionist, but when the focus is on the visual aspect of a topic then the photos must also be visually strong AND Pinterest/Instagram worthy otherwise it just distracts from the text.
By the way, I also miss a bit of the “wow” effect. Twenty Sixteen I thought looked very sleek and beautiful, but with this demo version I am missing something. The typography also looks a tad dull and could be greatly improved.
I have of course tested the demo version and it is far from finished, maybe on December 6 it will look very different. Who knows? For now, my advice (if the demo site is the final version) is: you can just use the theme of course, but be aware that you are optimizing the images for web use and keep a close eye on your load time by running a Website Speed Test.
Should I update to WordPress version 4.7?
WordPress 4.7 will be released on December 6, and in addition to the above changes, it will also include a number of security updates. Although I am a tad negative about some of the changes, it is advisable to do the update and start using all the new features. In short, yes, do the update.
