It has not been long since WordPress brought the v4.8.2. In the next month, WordPress 4.9 is scheduled to be released, which will be an absolute surprise for the community. The best part is, there are some significant improvements coming to WordPress site customization and other functionalities. Several Beta versions of WordPress 4.9 have already been released for you to feel the changes but not recommended to run on a production site. No worries, the stable version is planned to be launched on 14 November 2017. Here is what you need to know. 

What’s new in WordPress 4.9?

After releasing WordPress 4.9 beta 1, they also released WordPress 4.9 Beta 2 & WordPress 4.9 Beta 3 (more experimental versions to follow). However, let’s see what’s in there already.

Drafting and scheduling of changes in the Customizer

You will be able to save theme customizations as draft in this updated version. The changes you make to a theme using the customizer can be saved as a draft instead of making them live. When users come into the Customizer, the pending changes will be auto-loaded. Additionally, there is a button to discard changes to restore the Customizer to the previously published state. Just like scheduling blog post, you will be able to schedule changes to be effective in predefined future.

Preview link to browse changes from the frontend

A preview link from the Customizer will allow users to browse changes on the frontend, even without a user being logged in. You can send this to anyone to have a sneak peek. Anybody with this URL will be able to see the particular changes without needing to be logged in.

New Gallery widget

Following the image and media widgets brought in 4.8, The new WordPress 4.9 will introduce a new Gallery widget which allows you to create a native WordPress gallery then add it to any widget areas.

Add media to the Text widget

The Text widget will have a button to add media for a better presentation. Instead of writing HTML text in the Text widget, you will be able to add media directly. There is an Add Media button on top of the text widget to do so.

CodeMirror editor for developers

CodeMirror editor will be added to the theme/plugin editing system, Custom CSS in Customizer, and Custom HTML widgets. This editor integration includes support for linters to detect errors before you try to save. APIs for plugins will be included to instantiate editors.

Other notable Changes to come

• A brand new theme browsing experience in the Customizer.
• Shortcodes in the Text widget.
• Support for adding oEmbeds outside post contents, including text widgets.
• System to add videos from providers other than YouTube and Vimeo in the Video widget.
• Flow for creating new menus in the Customizer will be improved.
• System to have singular capabilities for activating and deactivating individual plugins.
• The plugin/theme editors now show files in a scrollable expandable tree list.

All of these features will be available in WordPress 4.9 final version that is coming on 14 November 2017. You must not run the unstable versions on a production site in the meantime. But you can test it on your localhost. Please don’t forget to share your WordPress 4.9 experience with us. Happy developing.