WordPress 3.6 is going to be released any day now and at the time of writing this, WordPress 3.6 release candidate 2 is already out now. Once this version is released, the focus would be naturally on the next two versions of WordPress which would be WordPress 3.7 and 3.8.
According to Matt Mullenweg, WordPress co-founder, both the versions of WordPress are expected to be released this year. He addressed audience at the WordCamp San Francisco and presented pretty interesting information on the “State of the Word.”
WordPress 3.7 will be released during the beginning of October and 3.8 will be launched in December. The all new default 2014 (Twenty Fourteen) theme will be launched by the end of this year. The 2014 would be a magazine-styled theme which would have features that we usually see in premium themes, of course with a separate page for proper theme options.
Mullenweg said that version 3.7 will be led by lead core developer Andrew Nacin and this release would be focused on stability and security. The release would also feature auto-updates for minor releases, better language packs and more.
On the other hand, WordPress 3.8 will be focusing on integrating the MP6 plugin functionality into the core. Also the version 3.8 will break the code into more components, which means it would be more easier for developers to get involved than before. But that’s not all – Mullenweg himself will lead development on version 3.8. Oh yes, the co-founder is getting back into action!
WordPress now powers whopping 18.9 percent of all websites which is up 2.2% from last year. WordPress version 3.5 has been downloaded 46 million times since its release with approximately 147,000 downloads per day.
From now on, we can expect to see a new version of WordPress often. If a feature is ready then it ships, if not, then it’s skipped. Also it would be interesting to see how WordPress is going to do automation of minor updates – this means that WordPress will be automatically updated which also means that you’ll need to spend less time maintaining yours or your client’s site. With all these features, the future seems bright for WordPress! Are you excited about 3.7 and 3.8 updates? Let us know in comments below.