New Editing and Media Updates Are Here

From a new grid look in your Media Library to a streamlined Post Editor, the latest updates to your WordPress.com site will make creating and publishing even easier.

July 29, 2014

Konstantin Kovshenin

As many of you know, we periodically release new features and updates to the software that powers WordPress.com sites. We’re excited to share the freshest crop of improvements with you today, and hope they’ll make great content even easier to create.

Some of the highlights of this major update:

  • The Media Library’s look has been upgraded, and your files are now displayed, by default, in an easy-to-view grid. Still prefer the old list view? You can toggle back and forth as many times as you wish.
  • Composing new posts — and editing old ones — has just become a lot easier with a fixed toolbar. You no longer need to scroll up and down the Post Editor to make changes, which makes longform writing, in particular, especially smoother.
  • Improved audio playlists let you enter artist and album information, which will be displayed in the audio player in the published post.

A sleeker Media Library

Many bloggers constantly visit their Media Library to choose files to use in their newest post. With this update, we made browsing through and selecting media smoother and quicker with a new grid view. Another cool touch? When you use the search box to look up files, irrelevant results will be eliminated as you type.

New Media Library

Of course, if you prefer the older list view, have no fear: you can always switch back with the toggle at the top-left corner of the Media Library.

A streamlined editing experience

One small — but extremely helpful and time-saving — update we’ve introduced is a fixed toolbar to the Post Editor. Before, if you were writing a longer post and wanted to use any of the formatting tools, you’d have to scroll up the page to make the toolbar appear again. No more.

The toolbar is now pinned to the top of your post window, so whether you’re writing a haiku or a longform essay, it’s there to let you make all the changes you want in an instant.

And remember, if you want to get to the top of the page very quickly, all you have to do is click the admin toolbar at the top.

Better audio playlists

If you’ve uploaded audio files to your site (which requires the Space Upgrade), we have some good news. When you create a new playlist, you can now add the artist and album information.

Screen Shot 2014-07-16 at 4.31.43 PM

Once the post is published (or the draft saved) and the audio player is visible, that information will be available for your visitors, as in the example below:

Screen Shot 2014-07-16 at 4.32.18 PM

Is your site self-hosted?

The improvements we’re announcing today are part of the WordPress 4.0 release, which WordPress.com users test out first. These and other updates will become available to all self-hosted WordPress sites in coming weeks. Meanwhile, you can already help test the second beta.

We’re constantly tinkering behind the scenes and making updates to make your dashboard experience the best it can be. If you have feedback or questions, chime in on the Forums. For support questions, contact Support.

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62 Comments

Comments are closed.

  1. wantaps Jul 29th at 4:10 pm

    Yay for the fixed toolbar! 🙂 Thank you for fixing that up. 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  2. Aidan Reid Jul 29th at 4:11 pm

    Nice touches. Thanks for providing a wonderful platform. Curious to understand logic behind removing ‘freshly pressed’ tab. I, for one, enjoyed checking it each day. I know it’s still there but a little more circuitous to locate.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Ron Scubadiver Jul 29th at 4:54 pm

    The first time I saw the new grid layout in the media library it threw me off because I was trying to attach a photo to a post and did not see the buttons for it. Then I realized that I could switch back to the old format. Today I was able to use the new grid format to scan through my entire library of over 2,000 photos in order to find something in just a few minutes. This is definitely a useful improvement.

    Liked by 2 people

  4. theteaspilleddaily Jul 29th at 4:57 pm

    The fixed toolbar sucks! I hate it! Bring back the toolbar to the editor! I have to constantly scroll up and down to fix tags, preview the post, publish, etc. The only way I can get around this horrendous “update” is by switching to Distraction Free Mode. This is not right. There is a thread 9 pages long as of typing about how horrible this new feature is. Please bring back the scrollbar to the editor. It much needed and desired. No one asked for this change to begin with.

    Liked by 3 people

  5. Daniel Greene Jul 29th at 5:10 pm

    The fixed toolbar makes a huge difference for the better. Thanks!

    Liked by 1 person

  6. shoreacres Jul 29th at 5:31 pm

    I’d already noted the fixed word count at the bottom. The fixed tool bar is a great asset. I do primarily longform writing, and constantly was having to scroll up and down. Many thanks!

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Sue Slaght Jul 29th at 5:37 pm

    My eternal gratitude for the fixed toolbar in the post editor. Thank you.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. AJ Jul 29th at 5:53 pm

    Hi, Sleeker Media Library: Good! Fixed toolbar to the Post Editor: It was about time. Great improvements.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. nykeypad Jul 29th at 6:52 pm

    Hi,

    Thanks for the updates. How do I toggle to the old media format (list form)?

    Janie    

    ________________________________

    Liked by 1 person

    • Ben Huberman Aug 1st at 6:59 pm

      When you go to your media library, the toggle is right on the right-hand corner, right above your images — the list is the bulleted-list icon, the grid is the icon with the four squares.

      Liked by 1 person

  10. Russian Universe Jul 29th at 6:54 pm

    Fixed toolbar! Hooray!

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Tara R. Jul 29th at 7:02 pm

    The fixed toolbar is a nice addition. So much easier to see a draft post without having to scroll up and down to keep the toolbar visible.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. M-R Jul 29th at 7:19 pm

    I’ve already commented (in the Support forum) about my joy in discovering the landscape image library arrangement – saves SO MUCH scrolling !
    But the fixed toolbar goes one better: this is of real benefit. How come you didn’t do it before ? [grin]
    Good on all of you !!!

    Liked by 1 person

  13. golfpoet Jul 29th at 7:24 pm

    Thanks for all that you are doing for paragraph writers, but what about us poets? Every time I indent a line it gets un-indented when I save. If I were to try more complicated indenting scheme it would fair no better. I realize that poetry doesn’t rank at the top of your to-do list, but maybe you could at least work things out so our lines look right when uploaded. Thanks.

    Liked by 1 person

  14. colonialist Jul 29th at 7:31 pm

    If these improvements are as good as they appear here, it will be a real advance! Thanks to the developers for developing them! I am glad to see options are left for conservative types.

    Liked by 1 person

  15. paulainauckland Jul 29th at 7:46 pm

    Love the idea of a fixed toolbar. Thanks to the developers!

    Liked by 1 person

  16. martha0stout Jul 29th at 7:48 pm

    I noticed the fixed toolbar for editing. Thank you! It has helped relieve some of my stress when typing in the middle of housework.

    Liked by 1 person

  17. Leslie Stockton Jul 29th at 7:55 pm

    Great post and layout. Very easy to understand. Thank u 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  18. Cal Gough Jul 29th at 8:12 pm

    Hurray for the fixed/traveling toolbar! Man, is that going to increase the ease of composing blogposts! Am so glad y’all realized this improvement would be much appreciated! I’ll need to try out the new Media feature format before sending hosannas – I’m not quite sure from the description if I can figure out how it works (vs. the old way). But that toolbar improvement? Wonderful!

    Liked by 4 people

  19. Alfred E. Baldacchino Jul 29th at 9:36 pm

    This is much better and easier.

    Liked by 1 person

  20. deepbellylaugh Jul 29th at 10:28 pm

    I’ve really enjoyed using the grid layout of the media library and the fixed toolbar is a great idea. Thanks for always trying to improve the user experience!

    Liked by 1 person

  21. Jaye Bryant Jul 29th at 10:38 pm

    Fixed toolbar… best update yet. THANK YOU.

    Liked by 1 person

  22. Sylvia Jul 29th at 11:32 pm

    The fixed tool bar is cool beans! Thanks!!!! It will make a huge difference for me.

    Liked by 1 person

  23. Rosaliene Bacchus Jul 30th at 12:02 am

    Thanks. Love the fixed toolbar.

    Liked by 1 person

  24. The Rookie Dad Jul 30th at 12:33 am

    That fixed toolbar will make editing on a laptop a TON easier.

    Liked by 1 person

  25. vera ersilia Jul 30th at 2:55 am

    Sounds good! thanks for all the good work.

    Liked by 1 person

  26. Roberto Rodriguez Jul 30th at 3:46 am

    Great new features, I like this kind of things from you! Very welcome!

    Liked by 1 person

  27. Мурат Цховребов Jul 30th at 4:35 am

    Thanks a lot for such amazing improvements!

    Liked by 1 person

  28. jmcideas Jul 30th at 6:21 am

    Thanks, Improvements that keep WP as the best blog site !

    Liked by 1 person

  29. 1weaver Jul 30th at 7:14 am

    I came to thank you all for the fixed toolbar – looks like it’s WELL appreciated!
    🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  30. thesciencegeek Jul 30th at 9:21 am

    An extremely useful post. The fixed toolbar is particularly useful

    Liked by 2 people

  31. Mhrylyn Hanson-Wallis van Dooren Jul 30th at 9:57 am

    Great work!

    Liked by 1 person

  32. Katherine Harms Jul 30th at 10:02 am

    I love, love, love the fixed toolbar. I have fought with that toolbar since forever. Maybe some of the hair I pulled out will grow back in now. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  33. mel Jul 30th at 10:27 am

    Anything that improves searching for our images in the library will be well received, thanks

    Liked by 1 person

  34. Buddhism Now Jul 30th at 10:30 am

    Agree with, wantaps, Russian Universe, paulainauckland and others — Fixed toolbar! 🙂 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  35. MsAidyl Jul 30th at 11:15 am

    Love the new toolbar. Thanks!

    Liked by 1 person

  36. Geri Jul 30th at 11:43 am

    Great news! Just can say – THANK YOU! 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  37. Maxi Jul 30th at 12:26 pm

    Thank you for the new features, WordPress. Makes life so much easier when it’s time to post.
    blessings ~ maxi

    Liked by 1 person

  38. Belindq Jul 30th at 12:49 pm

    I can’t wait to draft new post with the pinned toolbar feature. No more confused scrolling up and down the browser and editor toolbar.

    Liked by 1 person

  39. Shirley Jul 30th at 8:00 pm

    I got as far as the paragraph about the new Media Library grid view and had to immediately log in and take a look. Love it! Makes it so easy to browse and I appreciate that we can still toggle back and forth between the new and the old way. Thanks!

    Liked by 1 person

  40. shadowofthevoid Jul 30th at 10:42 pm

    Please add an option for the old editor where the scrollbar was inside the text editing box. For some reason the new version behaves weird on my end. I make some extremely long posts, and I never had any problems with the old editor, but the new editor is proving to be awkward to use.

    Liked by 1 person

  41. Andrew Rowley Jul 31st at 12:24 am

    Fixed toolbar for the win!!!

    Liked by 1 person

  42. philosophermouseofthehedge Jul 31st at 2:06 am

    Oh, a pinned toolbar….Oh the joy! Happy dance

    Liked by 1 person

  43. dhenztm Jul 31st at 3:09 am

    Thank you for fixing the toolbar in place! Good updates, keep it up! 😀

    Liked by 1 person

  44. Jeremiah J Jameson Jul 31st at 6:27 am

    The fixed toolbar might be great for short posts or for the occasional writer. It has created more work and is very annoying. Is there a toggle back to the former edit? Why not?

    Around these parts, it has been a productivity killer.

    Sorry.

    Liked by 1 person

  45. Pal Kerekfy Jul 31st at 7:53 am

    The toolbar enhancement is great!

    Liked by 1 person

  46. cricketmuse Jul 31st at 7:36 pm

    Thank you, WordPress for the fixed edit bar. Editing is so wondrously easier now!

    Liked by 1 person

  47. Peter Bouchier Jul 31st at 9:38 pm

    I feel a little confused reading all this. I don’t even know if my blog is self-hosted. Where can I see what WP version I’m using, how do I know if it is the latest, and, if not, where can I get it?

    Liked by 1 person

  48. blueskywoman Aug 1st at 1:06 pm

    Oh yay! Thanks for the fixed toolbar!!

    Liked by 1 person

  49. mattnamclaughlin Aug 1st at 4:49 pm

    Can someone explain why you would make the whole page scroll just to scroll the post content??? That’s very non-standard and looks terrible. Why not just have 2 scrolls – the whole page, and the content in a frame. You get the same effect of the tools being always accessible, but you don’t have the weirdness of the controls in the sidebar scrolling when you just want to scroll the content…

    Liked by 1 person

  50. The Nixon Administration Aug 1st at 8:36 pm

    The new fixed toolbar is a great idea. The unscrollable, un-resizable text editing box, which is virtually impossible to use on long posts, not so much. Please provide an option to use the old editing behaviour.

    Liked by 1 person

  51. gaudetetheology Aug 2nd at 3:45 am

    I was so hoping this was a bug.

    Aside from the buggy scrolling behavior, which I will duly report in the forums, the autoscrolling now moves all those Very Useful Things that are at the top of the sidebar waaaaaay off the screen. The save and preview buttons, the schedule and publicize options, the category and tag widgets: gone gone gone. I use those things (especially save!) way more often than I use the toolbar.

    This change has made my editing experience annoying, difficult, and tedious.

    Liked by 1 person

  52. Akumalu Aug 2nd at 12:59 pm

    Nice, Thank you 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  53. Ali Reza Aug 2nd at 4:20 pm

    Why do you all love the fixed toolbar? Argh 😥

    Liked by 1 person

  54. Madhu Aug 2nd at 5:01 pm

    The fixed toolbar is a nice improvement. I am having trouble deleting images in the new media library though. Deleted images don’t disappear from view, so it is hard to figure out which ones have been trashed until you refresh the page. A pain when you need to delete more than one.

    Liked by 1 person

  55. John Robinson Aug 3rd at 12:28 pm

    The fixed toolbar is a HUGE improvement. Thanks!

    Liked by 1 person

  56. thehipalley Aug 3rd at 11:05 pm

    Love the new Media Library grid view – so much easier when working with tons of images!!!

    Liked by 1 person

  57. tellthetruth1 Aug 5th at 5:47 am

    Fixed toolbar is an awesome move. Never thought to test that, yesterday 😀 Thanks for the news 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  58. Greater Voice Aug 5th at 11:55 am

    Liked all the newly introduced features. Thanks always for letting us fly with you.

    Liked by 1 person

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