As part of our new Insights Q&A Series The Digital Embassy will be providing industry updates derived from interviews with our own professional experts.
For today’s article we will be focusing on the recent WordPress 4.7 release which features a series of upgrades, new additions and refinements to one of the worlds most trusted and popular CMS platforms.
Below is a transcript of the Q&A session with our Development Lead, Patrick Galbraith, where he discusses this upgrade and his views on its implementation, capabilities and the opportunities it provides.
As a Developer, what about the new WordPress release are you most excited about?
WordPress now has REST API endpoints for posts, comments, terms, users, meta, and settings built-in with the release of content endpoints. In terms of new features, it is the one that has potential for the biggest impact in how WordPress themes and plugins are developed. It is also a feature I personally contributed to and have been recognised for within the overall release under my member name, pjgalbraith.
By opening up the page template functionality to all post types it will make it easier for developers to add layout variations to custom post types.
What do the API additions/benefits translate into for end users?
The REST API endpoints provide external access to the data of your WordPress site with a standardized interface. This is useful for a number of applications such as mobile apps, complex interactive websites, and integration with third-party systems. It is great step towards making WordPress a platform for building richer application services.
What can content creators look forward to as part of this update?
There are a number of important improvements in this latest edition.
- You can now add new pages while building menus instead of having to abandon your changes. Once you’ve published your customizations, you’ll have new pages ready for you to fill with content.
- Uploading PDFs will generate thumbnail images so you can more easily distinguish between all your documents.
- A number of improvements to the way WordPress handles multi-language sites.
Where do you see WordPress focusing their attention going forward?
In 2017, WordPress will start introducing features which require websites have HTTPS available. This is an important change which ties into a larger trend that happened throughout the year.
The free certificate authority, Let’s Encrypt, launched in April 2016 sponsored by EFF, the Mozilla Foundation, Akamai, and Cisco Systems. This year at Google I/O, an annual developer conference held by Google, there was a call for “HTTPS everywhere” on the web and they have now made it part of their ranking algorithm meaning that adoption of HTTPS will also provide benefits with regards to SEO.
WordPress will continue pushing the REST API especially given that they believe “JavaScript and API-driven interfaces are the future of not just WordPress but the web.” I would go further in saying that it is not just the future of the web but software as a whole given the expanding role that web technologies are playing in the larger development ecosystem.
What would you like to see WordPress adopt next?
Given that Automatic (the company behind WordPress) purchased WooCommerce last year I would like to see the offering and functionality that WordPress has continue to improve in the e-commerce space so it can continue to be a strong competitor to other platforms.
I would also like to see better native tooling for marketing automation such as A/B testing and content personalization.
Overall, I am excited not only about this release but the potential and promise that WordPress showcases going forward as it truly establishes itself as a leader in Content Management System solutions.
Insights from The Digital Embassy
This Q&A interview forms part of an Insights Series initiative from The Digital Embassy. It is our view that behind every good business is a strong team. Our digital agency is made up of highly talented individuals who are certified experts in their respective fields covering areas including software development, project management, digital marketing, digital strategy and business development.
Our people strive to adopt the latest technologies and techniques to better themselves in order to provide exceptional value to the clients we serve. We are a high achieving WordPress Support Agency so contact us if you want to learn more about scaling up your business online.
