Feature
WordPress, one of the most popular content management systems, just released version 3.7, codenamed Basie after the estimable Count Basie. While not chock full of features, it does include a few significant improvements. One of the biggest is automated background updates, which enables seamless security and maintenance upgrades.
Making security and maintenance updates automatic for most users is the main feature for WordPress 3.7. As with many online systems, project configurations and company needs almost always come into play when a product needs updating, so this removes another layer of complexity
Additionally, the update process for non-maintenance or security upgrades now has added checks and safeguards to improve reliability. Once WordPress 3.8 drops in December, most site admins will only see an upgrade now button that will complete the process.
Simplifying the upgrade process is not a panacea, however, and large websites running on WordPress may wish to disable this feature. Sites that use version controls or those that run a managed WordPress host and want to push updates themselves can adjust automatic background updates.
The WordPress dev team reports that it tested the automatic update feature on 110,000 websites, with zero critical failures. Installs take just about 25 seconds on average, including the downloading and unzipping of files, Andrew Nacin, WordPress lead developer,wrote in a blog post.
Password Recommendations, Language Support
Version 3.7 isn’t all automatic updates and security worries. There are a couple other changes like making stronger password recommendations and improved language support.
WordPress sites based in other languages can also expect faster and more complete translations. Version 3.7 adds support for automatically installing the proper language files and keeping them updated.
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