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WordPress is an enormous CMS platform with over 27 percent market share across the digital landscape. Every year, WordPress introduces some of the few minor as well as major releases. This year we are expecting the release of WordPress 4.8. Recently, WordPress released the Beta-1 for 4.8 version to let users know more about the expected features of this updated version.

The main reason behind this update is to make editing posts with links easier and allow website owners to use widgets in the more convenient way. In short, give rich visual editing experience is the ultimate goal for this new WordPress release.
Let’s explore more about the scheduled enhancements in WordPress 4.8:

1. A more enhanced visual editor

WordPress 4.8 will be focused on improving some of the key elements of the visual editor. With a new TinyMCE (4.6), users can navigate more easily around inline link boundaries. This will drastically improve the overall experience of using visual editor and allow users to boast advantages of inline elements.

2. Improvement in Widgets

The fun begins when you explore new things. And WordPress 4.8 is going to introduce three brand new widgets, I.e, Image, Audio, and Video to let you create more compelling and visually-appealing websites. The core team of WordPress developers are making efforts to improve the overall experience of creating custom website.

Besides this, there is also a slight modification in the existing text widget. Let’s explore more about these new widgets

(a) Image Widget

Now you don’t need to write HTML code or integrate a plugin to display an image in WP sidebar. With the introduction of WordPress 4.8, you will be able to add images into the sidebar quickly and easily – thanks to its new image widget. All you need to do is to upload an image right from the widget or choose any image from the WP media library itself.

(b) Audio Widget

WordPress 4.8 also introduced Audio Widget to let users add audio into a site, without any coding or third-party plugin. You just need to drag and drop the Audio Widget on a widget area, click on add file, choose or upload new audio or a URL and save the changes. The audio will be displayed on the selected widget area of your site.

(c) Video Widget

Just like Image and Audio Widget, the new version of WordPress also introduced a Video Widget to let you add captivating videos right on your WordPress homepage/landing page to grab more web traffic.

Drag and drop the widget to a particular area, click on add video. Now, choose or upload a new video or insert from the external video sharing platform such as YouTube to make your site more engaging.

(d) Visual Editor in Text Widget

The highlight of this new version would be visual editor in Text Widget. Earlier, you have to write HTML and CSS coding to use the text widget. But, now, you can add content to the text widget, without any coding and programming knowledge – thanks to the visual text editor.

3. WordPress news and events dashboard widgets

Now you will be able to see WordPress Events and News dashboard widget to let users know more about the latest meetups and Wordcamps.

This particular widget will include all the information related to WP news and events happening around you.

Test WordPress 4.8 Beta 1

Now, you can test the first beta of WordPress 4.8 using the beta tester plugin. You can test the features of 4.8 and detect the issues that can be fixed by the core development of WordPress to let you give seamless visual editor experience and an ability to use different types of widgets without any coding.