Yesterday WordPress launched version 3.3, named “Sonny,” in honor of the great jazz saxophonist Sonny Stitt. The release has two goals: To make the editing process easier for return users, and help introduce new bloggers to the platform.
The new toolbar is a combination of the admin bar and the old Dashboard header. There’s now support for drag-and-drop media uploads. The new dropdown menu has become a hover menu. WordPress has also added touch support for iPad. WordPress users who have felt frustrated over the co-editing experience will find this update especially satisfying. Now, the red bar that tells you if someone is editing the post will only pop up if another is actually in the post. The 3.3 version has also added a Tumblr importer so that users can quickly bring their Tumblr blog into the mix.
WordPress has been updating its platform a ton over the past six months. At the end of March, it announced WordAds, which helps hosted WordPress.com (not .org) blogs make money via ads. WordPress.com also added socially focused photo carousels, complete with notifications that looked a lot like Google+’s. WordPress added a follow button to its blogs, making it feel a bit more Tumblr-esque.
WordPress 3.2, which was released on July 4, has been downloaded 14 million times. The new version 3.3 is available for download now.
