WPBeginner

Beginner's Guide for WordPress

  • Blog
    • Beginners Guide
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Showcase
    • Themes
    • Tutorials
    • WordPress Plugins
  • Start Here
    • How to Start a Blog
    • Create a Website
    • Start an Online Store
    • Best Website Builder
    • Email Marketing
    • WordPress Hosting
    • Business Name Ideas
  • Deals
    • Bluehost Coupon
    • SiteGround Coupon
    • WP Engine Coupon
    • HostGator Coupon
    • Domain.com Coupon
    • Constant Contact
    • View All Deals »
  • Glossary
  • Videos
  • Products
X
☰
Beginner's Guide for WordPress / Start your WordPress Blog in minutes
Choosing the Best
WordPress Hosting
How to Easily
Install WordPress
Recommended
WordPress Plugins
View all Guides

WPBeginner» Blog» News» What’s New in WordPress 4.1

What’s New in WordPress 4.1

Last updated on December 22nd, 2014 by Editorial Staff
70 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share
Pin
Free WordPress Video Tutorials on YouTube by WPBeginner
What’s New in WordPress 4.1

WordPress 4.1 was released today with many new features and improvements. This release will be the last WordPress release for the 2014, and it comes with a shiny new default theme for 2015. In this article, we will show you what’s new in WordPress 4.1 and which features you should try after updating your sites.

Please note that WordPress 4.1 is a major release, so it will not get automatically updated. You will have to initiate the update. Don’t forget to backup your site before update.

Video Tutorial

Subscribe to WPBeginner

If you don’t like the video or need more instructions, then continue reading.

Twenty Fifteen – The New Default Theme

WordPress 4.1 comes with a new beautiful default theme called Twenty Fifteen. It is an elegant, clean, but very customizable blogging theme. It was designed with a mobile first approach and it looks great on all devices. Twenty Fifteen also comes with improved support for internationalization by using Google’s Noto Font Family. The Noto font family project aims to support all unicode supported languages and scripts.

Twenty Fifteen the new default theme in WordPress 4.1

Twenty Fifteen is designed to maximize the usage of tools available in the Customizer. Users would be able to fully customize the appearance of their theme from the Customizer. Twenty Fifteen also comes with 6 color schemes to choose from.

Customizing Twenty Fifteen Theme

Revamped and Rejuvenated Distraction Free Mode

WordPress 4.1 comes with a totally revamped distraction free writing mode. Simply click on the distraction free editor button to launch and just as soon as you start writing, all the distractions on the screen will fade away.

Launching distraction free mode in WordPress

The concept behind the new distraction free writing mode is that the distractions on the post editor screens are actually very useful tools that users need while writing posts. The previous version took those tools away and in order to access those tools user had to switch back and forth.

The new distraction free editor simply fades away the meta boxes from the post edit screen, all the meta boxes fade back in as soon you move the mouse or move out of the post editor.

New distraction free writing mode

Inline Image Editing Toolbar

Many WordPress beginners have trouble understanding how to align images inside the post editor. WordPress 4.1 comes with a new inline image editing tool bar that allows users to easily align images without opening them in media editor.

Inline image toolbar

Install Language Pack and Switch Language from Admin Area

If you didn’t choose the language during installation, WordPress 4.1 allows you to change the language from the Settings » General screen. Simply select your language from the drop down menu and WordPress will install the language pack for you.

Switching WordPress to your language

Plugin Recommendations

Since 4.1, WordPress will try to recommend you plugins to try. Recommendations are based on what other plugins you have installed and what others are using. You can see the suggestions on Plugins » Add New screen by clicking on the Recommended tab.

Plugin Recommendations

Improvements for Developers

WordPress 4.1 comes with some very exciting developments aiming the developers.

Complex queries – Theme and plugin developers can now use advanced conditional logic, nested clues, and multiple operators in their meta, date, and term queries.

Title Tag – WordPress will now allow theme developers to control document title and not clash with WordPress generated title tags.

Customizer API – WordPress customizer API is aiming to build a complete JavaScript API for customizer. There are lots of improvements for contextual panels, controls and sections.

There are many more under the hood bug fixes and improvements. You can take a look at the full list of changes here.

We hope this article you an overview of what’s new in WordPress 4.1. We are particularly excited about playing with the new default theme and the customizer API. Let us know which features you liked the most?

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Google+.

70 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share
Pin
Popular on WPBeginner Right Now!
  • How to Properly Move Your Blog from WordPress.com to WordPress.org

  • Revealed: Why Building an Email List is so Important Today (6 Reasons)

    Revealed: Why Building an Email List is so Important Today (6 Reasons)

  • Checklist

    Checklist: 15 Things You MUST DO Before Changing WordPress Themes

  • How to Start Your Own Podcast (Step by Step)

    How to Start Your Own Podcast (Step by Step)

About the Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at WPBeginner is a team of WordPress experts led by Syed Balkhi. Trusted by over 1.3 million readers worldwide.

The Ultimate WordPress Toolkit

11 Comments

Leave a Reply
  1. curly2 says:
    Feb 15, 2015 at 10:34 pm

    MY install is not showing any font color in the toolbar, what gives?

    Reply
  2. michael bryner says:
    Dec 22, 2014 at 1:13 am

    That is not very many features to me.

    Reply
  3. WPBeginner Staff says:
    Dec 21, 2014 at 7:57 pm

    WordPress does not just have themes which control the appearance part of your website. WordPress also has plugins which extend the functionality of a WordPress site. When it comes to loading fonts, you need to be careful because loading too many fonts can significantly slow down your website. As for colors, each WordPress theme has different options. Some themes will offer you thousands of color choices while some provide fewer choices. For example take a look at the new Twenty Fifteen theme.

    Reply
  4. Chris Raymond says:
    Dec 21, 2014 at 12:04 pm

    Still have hello dolly plugin? Really? Move on Automattic.

    Reply
  5. Keith Davis says:
    Dec 21, 2014 at 12:02 pm

    All sites now updated to WordPress 4.1.
    All seems well…

    Reply
  6. Richard Havenga says:
    Dec 21, 2014 at 11:35 am

    I’m coming from “Blogger” (32 months experience). Blogger allowed me to choose from a dozen fonts, and unlimited font sizes, and several color-gradient families. On my chosen theme, “Twenty Fourteen”, Word Press does NOT have these options. Am I missing something? Decision time for Richard: stay with Blogger, or come to WP?

    Reply
    • michael bryner says:
      Dec 22, 2014 at 1:20 am

      Blogger is still only HTML. Where is the PHP on blogger? Talk about missing something.

      Reply
  7. Jay Amrutia says:
    Dec 19, 2014 at 7:56 am

    Hi, Syed

    This is a beautiful description and explanation about new 2015 theme.
    But here i would like to know that how to customize home or front page with summarised post list because when i activate 2015 theme this show entire post in my home page,…. If you put some detail explanation on costmize home page with sort discription with title like my present theme at this will greate help to me.

    Thanks in advance.

    Reply
  8. Peter Cralen says:
    Dec 18, 2014 at 4:29 pm

    New theme is so clean and beautiful, really like it.

    Reply
    • michael bryner says:
      Dec 22, 2014 at 1:15 am

      Vertical navigation is ugly to me. Did not like any of them. 2014 theme was the worst. How do you use a mega menu on a vertical menu?

      Reply
      • Peter Cralen says:
        Dec 25, 2014 at 7:02 pm

        I have several sites, but never use mega menu or any kind of fancy staff menus. I m fan of simple and clean design, that is why I like this theme.

        Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Thanks for choosing to leave a comment. Please keep in mind that all comments are moderated according to our comment policy, and your email address will NOT be published. Please Do NOT use keywords in the name field. Let's have a personal and meaningful conversation.

Over 1,320,000+ Readers

Get fresh content from WPBeginner

Featured WordPress Plugin
All in One SEO logo
All in One SEO
Improve website SEO rankings with AIOSEO plugin. Learn More »
How to Start a Blog How to Start a Blog
I need help with ...
Starting a
Blog
WordPress
Performance
WordPress
Security
WordPress
SEO
WordPress
Errors
Building an
Online Store
Useful WordPress Guides
    • 7 Best WordPress Backup Plugins Compared (Pros and Cons)
    • How to Fix the Error Establishing a Database Connection in WordPress
    • Why You Need a CDN for your WordPress Blog? [Infographic]
    • 30 Legit Ways to Make Money Online Blogging with WordPress
    • Self Hosted WordPress.org vs. Free WordPress.com [Infograph]
    • Free Recording: WordPress Workshop for Beginners
    • 24 Must Have WordPress Plugins for Business Websites
    • How to Properly Move Your Blog from WordPress.com to WordPress.org
    • 5 Best Contact Form Plugins for WordPress Compared
    • Which is the Best WordPress Popup Plugin? (Comparison)
    • Best WooCommerce Hosting in 2020 (Comparison)
    • How to Fix the Internal Server Error in WordPress
    • How to Install WordPress - Complete WordPress Installation Tutorial
    • Why You Should Start Building an Email List Right Away
    • How to Properly Move WordPress to a New Domain Without Losing SEO
    • How to Choose the Best WordPress Hosting for Your Website
    • How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform (Comparison)
    • WordPress Tutorials - 200+ Step by Step WordPress Tutorials
    • 5 Best WordPress Ecommerce Plugins Compared
    • 5 Best WordPress Membership Plugins (Compared)
    • 7 Best Email Marketing Services for Small Business (2020)
    • How to Choose the Best Domain Registrar (Compared)
    • The Truth About Shared WordPress Web Hosting
    • When Do You Really Need Managed WordPress Hosting?
    • 5 Best Drag and Drop WordPress Page Builders Compared
    • How to Switch from Blogger to WordPress without Losing Google Rankings
    • How to Properly Switch From Wix to WordPress (Step by Step)
    • How to Properly Move from Weebly to WordPress (Step by Step)
    • Do You Really Need a VPS? Best WordPress VPS Hosting Compared
    • How to Properly Move from Squarespace to WordPress
    • How to Register a Domain Name (+ tip to get it for FREE)
    • HostGator Review - An Honest Look at Speed & Uptime (2020)
    • SiteGround Reviews from 4196 Users & Our Experts (2020)
    • Bluehost Review from Real Users + Performance Stats (2020)
    • How Much Does It Really Cost to Build a WordPress Website?
    • How to Create an Email Newsletter the RIGHT WAY (Step by Step)
    • Free Business Name Generator (A.I Powered)
    • How to Create a Free Business Email Address in 5 Minutes (Step by Step)
    • How to Install Google Analytics in WordPress for Beginners
    • How to Move WordPress to a New Host or Server With No Downtime
    • Why is WordPress Free? What are the Costs? What is the Catch?
    • How to Make a Website in 2020 – Step by Step Guide
Deals & Coupons (view all)
MainWP
MainWP Coupon
Get 15% OFF on MainWP WordPress multisite manager plugin.
Sprout Invoices
Sprout Invoices Coupon
Get 50% OFF on Sprout Invoices WordPress invoicing plugin.
Featured In
About WPBeginner®

WPBeginner is a free WordPress resource site for Beginners. WPBeginner was founded in July 2009 by Syed Balkhi. The main goal of this site is to provide quality tips, tricks, hacks, and other WordPress resources that allows WordPress beginners to improve their site(s).
Join our team: We are Hiring!

Site Links
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • FTC Disclosure
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Free Blog Setup
  • Free Business Tools
Our Sites
  • OptinMonster
  • MonsterInsights
  • WPForms
  • SeedProd
  • Nameboy
  • RafflePress
  • Smash Balloon

Copyright © 2009 - 2021 WPBeginner LLC. All Rights Reserved. WPBeginner® is a registered trademark.

Managed by Awesome Motive | WordPress hosting by SiteGround | WordPress CDN by MaxCDN | WordPress Security by Sucuri.