Get Updating WordPress 3.6 is Here
Oscar is in the building
Yes WordPress have now released “Oscar” as they call 3.6 after the jazz pianist Oscar Peterson.
This new version has several new and improved features including;
A new Twenty Thirteen theme which has a very modern art feel to it featuring a single-column design
For those who have multi-author blogs Post Locking and Augmented Autosave will be a useful addition as each author has their own autosave stream. This stores your post both locally and on the server making it almost impossible to lose.
Revisions have been improved and made easier to see at a glance when changes were made and by who.
3.6 now has it own built-in HTML5 media player for native audio and video embeds with no reliance on external services. Embedding tracks or playlists from Spotify, Soundcloud or Rdio now just requires the URL pasting into the post.
The Menu Editor has also had some tweaks to make it easier to understand and use.
For The More Serious WordPress Developers Out There
The WordPress Codex lists lots of new features aimed at developers
- External Libraries have been updated. More Info
- New audio/video APIs give developers access to powerful media metadata, like ID3 tags.
- Filters for revisions, allowing you to set the number of revisions ad hoc instead of only via a define. More Info
- Semantic Markup allows themes to chose improved HTML5 markup for comment forms, search forms, and comment lists.
- Search content for shortcodes with has_shortcode() and adjust shortcode attributes with a new filter.
Severn Media Customers Using WordPress
One word, “Update”.
Ok, two…”Update Now!”
Yes it is important not only so you can enjoy the new features of Oscar but also for your ongoing site security that you keep updated. This applies to both the WordPress core but also your plugins. So please take a moment to run a back-up first, then update to 3.6.
32% of UK Adults Access The Internet Using a Mobile Phone Every Day
Office for National Statistics realeased some data ealier this year about households’ internet access & usage. This threw up some suprising satistics that show we are definately a digital nation.
These inlcuded;
- In 2012, 33 million adults accessed the Internet every day, more than double the 2006 figure of 16 million, when directly comparable records began.
- Approximately 87% of adults aged between 16 and 24, used social networking sites in 2012, compared to 48% of all adults.
- Telephone or video calls over the Internet were made by 32% of adults in 2012, double the 2009 estimate of 16%, and four times higher than the 2007 estimate of 8%.
- Access to the Internet using a mobile phone more than doubled between 2010 and 2012, from 24% to 51%.
- In 2012, 32% of adults accessed the Internet using a mobile phone every day.
Using this an other data the folks over at http://www.seomers.co.uk made a natty infographic to dig a little deeper and make us think about how we should be thinking about connecting with our customers and potential ones.
Image credit http://www.seomers.co.uk
WordPress 3.5.2 Maintenance and Security Release
Customers who have WordPress blogs should log-in to their WordPress dashboards and update their sites immediately.
This update includes seven security issues and additionally what WordPress describe as “security hardening”.
As we have seen in recent months WordPress blogs worldwide have become subject to widespread hacking attempts so this update is timely and important to maintain your site’s security.
WordPress describe the security fixes to include
- Blocking server-side request forgery attacks, which could potentially enable an attacker to gain access to a site.
- Disallow contributors from improperly publishing posts or reassigning the post’s authorship.
- An update to the SWFUpload external library to fix cross-site scripting vulnerabilities.
- Prevention of a denial of service attack, affecting sites using password-protected posts.
- An update to an external TinyMCE library to fix a cross-site scripting vulnerability.
- Multiple fixes for cross-site scripting.
- Avoid disclosing a full file path when a upload fails.
If any customers have problems, issues or need help with updating their blog please contact us (preferably via the support ticket system).
