The first Release Candidate (RC1) for WordPress 3.2 has just been released so I'm busy updating the guide to match the new UI and features. The target release date for 3.2 is June 30, so I'm hoping to have it all updated by then.
A Release Candidate (RC) comes after the beta period and before final release. So far the WordPress team have closed over 350 tickets so there's quite a few improvements and updates coming with V3.2, some of which include:
- Performance improvements like you wouldn’t believe. What’s that mean? Things are faster!
- Distraction-free Writing. The visual editor’s full-screen composing experience has gotten a major overhaul, and is now available from HTML mode, too.
- Admin UI Refresh. The last major redesign of the WordPress admin was in 2008.
- New Default Theme. Introducing Twenty Eleven, based on the popular Duster theme. Rotating header images, post format support, and more.
- Browse Happy. WordPress is made to work with modern browsers. If you visit your Dashboard using an outdated web browser, it’ll let you know there’s a newer version available.
- Admin Bar. More links have been added to the admin bar to make it even more useful.
And before you rush out to install 3.2 when it's finally released, take note that there are new minimum system requirements: PHP 5.2.4 and MySQL 5.0. Also, Internet Explorer 6 will no longer be supported. Yay! 😀
