WordPress 3.7 Beta 1 is ready for testing. For such a quick release cycle, there are features in WordPress 3.7 that are going to be big for the platform.
Andrew Nacin highlighted a few items in 3.7 Beta 1 that you should know about. The most significant new feature which we’ve known about at least since this year’s State of the Word is automatic updates for minor releases. The feature is in and ready for testing. To understand more about how it works, check out Dion Hulse’s excellent summary.
The next most exciting commit for 3.7 to me is more relevant search results. As you probably know, WordPress search has stunk in the past. Now, more weight will be given to post titles versus the content and relevance will outweigh dates for deciding which posts to return. The original ticket, and the summary of the work done on it, offers a more detailed look at how search will now work.
As if those two features aren’t exciting enough, Nacin also highlights a couple of other fun items. The password meter when creating new users is getting a major improvement. Also, much fancier date queries are possible with WP_Query in 3.7 thanks to some great work by Alex Mills and others.
WordPress 3.7 looks to be on a great schedule. It’s pretty amazing to see these items and plenty others not listed all go into this short cycle. Be sure to test this beta release if you can, and note the release post’s advice for what to do for reporting bugs, etc.
As is common with WordPress releases, Beta 1 comes with a haiku, which I think is pretty good this time:
WordPress three seven
Saves your weary hand a click
Updates while you sleep
By the way, Andrew Nacin is the lead developer for WordPress 3.7, and today is his birthday. Tell him happy birthday, or better yet, buy him (and other core devs) a beer next time you see them at an event near you.
