The much awaited WordPress version 4.6 has been in the pipeline for quite some time and with every passing day, we’re heading towards its release. The traditional weekly round-ups and meetings are also underway which unveil the features of the upcoming version.
The core team at WordPress.org announced the partial merger of the Shiny Updates plugin to v4.6. The announcement came just after an extra meeting (as the core team called it) which was held yesterday. The provision about its inclusion in the main WordPress core had been in debate and finally it’s here; which means a great user experience and interface when it comes to updating WordPress releases, themes, and plugins.
Shiny Updates Plugin
The plugin was developed to add a bit of a crisp to the updating process in WordPress. We’ve all encountered some major to minor updates for the plugins, themes, etc. which may be automatic or inline. Shiny Updates handles all those actions which are iterated on your screen each time the WordPress is installing and updating a theme or plugin. Currently, the plugin enjoys 1000+ active installs, but it will undoubtedly increase primarily after this announcement.
Merger Details
Its merger to the core is yet another example of features as a plugin inside WordPress’ architecture. Being a part of the core, it will streamline several functionalities like:
- Easy to install plugins, themes, etc.
- Updating them directly from the dashboard
- No hassle of dialogue pop-ups and user redirect to new screens
Talking about the technical insights, then only a few segments of the plugin’s functionality is added to the core. Konstantin Obenland, the man behind Shiny Updates, merged the features like install, update, and delete for themes and plugins in single and multisite. This will affect the files like plugin.php, plugin-install.php, import.php, themes.php and themes-install.php.
After the things got finalized, the team will have to get through the core patch committed by June 15, 2016.
The news of this partial merger came as a relief and users can now enjoy “a smoother experience for managing plugins and themes” as the plugin tagline says so. Shiny Updates together with all the previous features which have been revealed so far, makes one thing clear i.e. WordPress version 4.6 is undoubtedly packed with some fantastic surprises and I’m looking forward exploring them.
So, what’s your viewpoint on this news? I’d love to hear your feedback. Share it with us. You can also reach me out through Twitter.