14 DAY TRIAL // Automattic has debuted the long-awaited 4.4 branch of WordPress, a minor release that comes packing quite a punch in terms of new features.
First of all, there’s a new default theme included with the standard WordPress distribution, and that's Twenty Sixteen, continuing Automattic's habit of changing the default theme each year. Before you ask, yes, the new theme is mobile-friendly.
Secondly, changes have been made to how images are handled inside the CMS, so now WordPress can boast that it has full-blown support for responsive images out of the box, something for which developers were forced to use various plugins in the past.
Version 4.4, codenamed "Clifford" after jazz trumpeter Clifford Brown, also improves oEmbed support, the protocol used to seamlessly embed content from different sources on the Web.
Five new oEmbed providers are now supported within WordPress posts and pages, and those are Cloudup, Reddit Comments, ReverbNation, Speaker Deck, and Automattic's own VideoPress service.
WordPress now has a REST API
While these changes target mainly users, developers have something to be excited about of their own, and that's a powerful REST API, now part of the WordPress core.
The Automattic team has experimented with the technology for almost two years now, and was close to adding it to WordPress numerous times in the past, only to drop it at the last second due to instability and bugs.
The new WordPress REST API is a powerful tool that will allow plugin and theme developers quicker and more in-depth access to essential WordPress features and content.
Only parts of the entire REST API have been implemented in 4.4, and Automattic has scheduled the addition of more API core endpoints for upcoming releases.
You can download your own copy of WordPress from Softpedia, GitHub, or the official website.