Disclosure: We are a professional review site that receives compensation from the companies whose products we review. We test each product thoroughly and give high marks to only the very best. We are independently owned and the opinions expressed here are our own.
Back on April 16th, 2014 WordPress released another version update. The new Version is WordPress 3.9 “Smith” in honor of the great jazz organist Jimmy Smith. You can download or if you haven’t updated your version yet, you can update from the WordPress Dashboard. Below is a short video about all the great features of the update.
WordPress 3.9 “Smith” Features
“Improved visual editing – The updated visual editor has improved speed, accessibility, and mobile support. You can paste into the visual editor from your word processor without wasting time to clean up messy styling. (Yeah, we’re talking about you, Microsoft Word.)
Edit images easily – With quicker access to crop and rotation tools, it’s now much easier to edit your images while editing posts. You can also scale images directly in the editor to find just the right fit.
Drag and drop your images – Uploading your images is easier than ever. Just grab them from your desktop and drop them in the editor.”
Gallery Previews – With Galleries display, you can display a beautiful grid of images right in the editor, just as you would see them in your published post.
More options with audio and video – they added simple audio and playlists.
Live widget and header previews – now you can add, edit, and rearrange your site’s widgets right in the theme customizer! This means no more saving and see what you what happens. Now you can preview your changes live and only save them when you are ready.
Improved header image tool – it will also lets you upload, crop, and manage headers while customizing your them.
Below is an example of the gallery tool in action. These images are from several abandoned locations near and around the Dallas Fort Worth area. Several images are also from a trip to Natchez Mississippi to see an old plantation home.
Sony Nex-3N/B w/ E 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS PZ kit lens or Sigma 30mm f2.8 DN E Mount Lens. I then processed it with Adobe Lightroom to crop, straightened, and remove dust spots from the image. After that, I post processed the image with Topaz Labs Clarity to add more texture, remove shadows, boost brightness and contrast.
-
- The Cross on top of the old abandoned Nazareth Hospital in Mineral Wells, Texas. –
-
- The Barrow Filling Station – The long abandoned family home of Clyde (Bonnie and Clyde Outlaws)
-
- Abandoned Buildings in Jonesville, Texas-
-
- The Longwood Plantation in Natchez, MS –
-
- Servant/Slave Quarters – Longwood Plantation in Natchez, MS
-
- Old carriage in The Longwood Plantation in Natchez, MS
-
- The Longwood Plantation in Natchez, MS
-
- The General Store in Jonesville, Texas-
-
- Locks on the Carriage Doors – The Longwood Plantation in Natchez, MS
-
- Carriage House – The Longwood Plantation in Natchez, MS
-
- Abandoned Buildings in Jonesville, Texas-
-
- Locks on the Carriage Doors – The Longwood Plantation in Natchez, MS
-
- Inside the old abandoned Nazareth Hospital in Mineral Wells, Texas –
-
- Abandoned Buildings in Jonesville, Texas-
-
- Final Resting spots – The Longwood Plantation in Natchez, MS
About James
Still bummed that this update didn’t bring anything actually worth looking at. Those of us who write from the HTML editor, don’t really need fancy ways of adjusting images…or live widgets…. here is me hoping that 4.0 will bring some real changes.