WordPress 3.8 got its first minor update. The release candidate for beta testers became available on Jan. 22nd and the final version was released to the public yesterday, Jan. 23rd.
Automatic Updates
If you have automatic updates turned on, your site will automatically be updated with this release.
FYI, I have my sites set to auto-update for minor releases, like this one. That is also the default setting since WP 3.7.
Read How to Turn Off WordPress 3.7 Auto Updates if you want to change your settings. And yes, it involves getting into the code.
What Changed
The announcement on the WordPress.org blog from Andrew Nacin lists the following improvements and tweaks:
- Embedded Tweets – the Twitter API change several months ago broke embedding on all WP sites. WP has now switched to the SSL version of the Twitter oEmbed.
- WP_Query – category queries when pretty permalinks (aka postname) were being mishandled, as were taxonomy queries.
- Responsive Themes – fixes for various screen readers, to determine size, IE8 improvements, and several CSS clashes fixed.
- New Dashboard – the MP6 plugin was incorporated into the core with 3.8 and caused the following issues that have now been fixed: dead zone on submit buttons, prevent color scheme previewing when editing another user, contrasting border to feature pointers added, OCD alignment and Dashicons updated.
- Dashboard Widgets – the Quick draft widget was ignoring the default comment and ping status and breaking long words to prevent overflow. And the At A Glance widget was linking to Pages or Posts for Authors or Contributors.
What’s in Store for 3.9
Work on version 3.9 has already begun. On the table are two new widget-related feature plugins that may be merged into the core. They are Better Widgets and Widget Customizer.
TinyMCE may be upgraded to version 4. And the image editor may be included into the Media Manager.
There is also talk of improving the HTML5 audio/video support that was originally added in version 3.6.
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Dear MaAnna
I’m new to WP 3.8.1 and want to change some fonts and sizes for someone, but cannot find them.Can u help me out send details.
Thank u in advance
Michael
Hi Michael. Those changes will be in your theme, not in WordPress. You’ll want to contact a designer for help with it.
Hi MaAnna,
Im simply trying to add a photo to my welcome page, but the “Add Media” button doesn’t work (3.8.1 on a Mac). Any ideas?
Trevor, you might want to check with the support for your particular theme to see about that. They would have the quickest answer for it. Maybe they also have a community forum.
Trevor I have the same problem. I changed my them to Twenty Fourteen and still same issue. Removed all plugins and still an issue. I can\’t find a solution to save my life. Very frustrating.
Hi, having similar problems since upgrading to 3.8.1/I can\’t switch between visual and text editor. Clicking on either text or visual does nothing.Clicking on insert media does nothing. Its like the links are dead. Also the drag and drop function in some of the plugins also seem to be dead. Instead of picking up an item then dragging and dropping where I want I am only highlighting all of the text on the lines my cursor is moving over. Have tried disabling all plugins using bulk action deactivate but it makes no difference. There are pages of people suffering similar problems. I think we would all appreciate some practical help rather than some try this theory that seem in some instances to cause more problems.
Selwyn, I’m sorry your having trouble with your site. If you would like personalized troubleshooting for your exact issue, please go to the Resources page here https://blogaid.net/resources#fixmywp where you’ll find a link to my preferred WP mechanic.
I would also like to address your concern about the try this and that troubleshooting. As you can tell, everyone that has reported a problem here has something different. And, they all (including you) posted it in comments on a post that is simply about the new features. I don’t run a troubleshooting forum. And of the ones that do, that are free, you get what you get. If you, or anyone else, wants your site issues specifically addressed with the absolute assurance of a fix, then that becomes a paid service. The link above will take you to the only person I trust to do a super duper job at a more than fair price.
Hi MaAnnaThanks for the reply. Sorry i posted here on your site I understand now that problem solving new releases is not what this page is about. I have spent hours today trawling through pages of please help messages about 3.8.1 with similar problems to mine on forums other websites etc until I found this one. Then when I saw a couple of the above comments I followed on. Sorry my mistake. I just updated to 3.8.1 maintenance release supposedly fixing the dead areas and was hoping to come back to say I have found the fix. But it didn’t so I can’t. I did read the guys are rolling out bug fixes so I will wait to see what happens. Please feel free to delete my comments here as they are not relevent to this page and thanks for the link. Cheers Selwyn PS The captcha is very difficult to please!
Selwyn, thank you for your understanding! I’ll be leaving these comments in place. I do hope there is a fix soon. Makes it practically impossible to post, doesn’t it?
Hi Selwyn and MaAnna:
Not to cause any more hassle here, but I thought it would be a benefit to those also having this same issue. I am experiencing a “dead” Add Media button when trying to add posts/pages.
Hoping WordPress will have a fix soon. Is it possible to go back to 3.8?