What’s new in WP 4.9? Called the “Tipton” update (in honor of jazz musician and band leader Billy Tipton), WordPress has rolled out some major improvements in version 4.9 including additions to the customizer with a new feature for design drafts, scheduling and preview links. Now you can make changes to your site design and schedule those changes to go live whenever you like – just like the draft mode in the editor! And, the new Preview link allows you to actually send that link to collaborators to get feedback before scheduling or publishing changes to the site. How cool!

Also added is new Code error checking with code syntax highlighting. This includes code checking for CSS and inside the new HTML widget editor that was rolled out in v4.8.1. Also new in 4.9 is a sandbox that warns you about saving an error and a new ‘Warning Will Robinson!’ feature for reminding you to backup before making those changes! Hello no more forgetting to backup your site before and dreaded white screen of death!!

Improved widget updates round out this new update and bring a new gallery widget, press a button and add media, more reliable theme switching and better menu instructions.

Be sure to back up your site before upgrading, but then go read all about the new updates and upgrade to check out all the cool new stuff!!

WordPress 4.9 “Tipton”