WordPress.org

Version 4.2 of WordPress, named “Powell” in honor of jazz pianist Bud Powell, is available for download or update in your WordPress dashboard. New features in 4.2 help you communicate and share, globally.

---

An easier way to share content

Clip it, edit it, publish it. Get familiar with the new and improved Press This. From the Tools menu, add Press This to your browser bookmark bar or your mobile device home screen. Once installed you can share your content with lightning speed. Sharing your favorite videos, images, and content has never been this fast or this easy.

---

Extended character support

Writing in WordPress, whatever your language, just got better. WordPress 4.2 supports a host of new characters out-of-the-box, including native Chinese, Japanese, and Korean characters, musical and mathematical symbols, and hieroglyphs.

Don’t use any of those characters? You can still have fun — emoji are now available in WordPress! Get creative and decorate your content with 💙, 🐸, 🐒, 🍕, and all the many other emoji.

---

---

Under the Hood

utf8mb4 support

Database character encoding has changed from utf8 to utf8mb4, which adds support for a whole range of new 4-byte characters.

JavaScript accessibility

You can now send audible notifications to screen readers in JavaScript with wp.a11y.speak(). Pass it a string, and an update will be sent to a dedicated ARIA live notifications area.

Shared term splitting

Terms shared across multiple taxonomies will be split when one of them is updated. Find out more in the Plugin Developer Handbook.

Complex query ordering

WP_Query, WP_Comment_Query, and WP_User_Query now support complex ordering with named meta query clauses.

---

The Team

This release was led by Drew Jaynes, with the help of these fine individuals. There are 283 contributors with props in this release, a new high. Pull up some Bud Powell on your music service of choice, and check out some of their profiles:

@mercime, A5hleyRich, Aaron D. Campbell, Aaron Jorbin, Abhishek Kumar, Adam Silverstein, Ahmad Awais, Alex King, Alex Mills, Alin Marcu, Allan Collins, Andrea Fercia, Andrew Bauer, Andrew Nacin, Andrew Norcross, Andrew Ozz, Ankit Gade, Ankit K Gupta, Anton Timmermans, Aram Zucker-Scharff, ArminBraun, Ashfame, Austin Matzko, avryl, Barry Kooij, Beau Lebens, Ben Doherty (Oomph, Inc), Billy S, Boone B. Gorges, Brandon Kraft, Brian Krogsgard, Brian Watson, CalEvans, Caroline, Casey Driscoll, Caspie, Chip Bennett, chipx86, ChriCo, Chris Baldelomar, Chris Olbekson, chriscct7, Christian Foellmann, Christopher Finke, Clifton Griffin, Code Master, Courtney Ivey, Craig Ralston, cweiske, Cătălin Dogaru, Daisuke Takahashi, Damian, Daniel Bachhuber, Daniel Jalkut (Red Sweater), Darin Kotter, Darren Ethier (nerrad), Daryl L. L. Houston (dllh), Dave McHale, David A. Kennedy, David Anderson, David Herrera, davideugenepratt, davidhamiltron, Denis de Bernardy, Derek Herman, Derek Smart, designsimply, Dion Hulse, Dipesh Kakadiya, Dominik Schilling, doublesharp, DzeryCZ, Dzikri Aziz, e.mazovetskiy, Eduardo Reveles, Edward Caissie, Elio Rivero, Ella Iseulde Van Dorpe, elliottcarlson, Enej Bajgorić, Eric Andrew Lewis, Eric Binnion, Erick Hitter, Erin 'Folletto' Casali, Evan Solomon, Fabien Quatravaux, fhwebcs, Florian Simeth, Frank Bueltge, Frank P. Walentynowicz, Franz Josef Kaiser, gabrielperezs, Garth Mortensen, Gary Cao, Gary Jones, Gary Pendergast, Geert De Deckere, genkisan, George Stephanis, Grégory Viguier, Graham Armfield, Gustavo Bordoni, hakre, Harish Chaudhari, hauvong, Helen Hou-Sandí, herbmillerjr, Hew, Hinaloe, horike, Hugh Lashbrooke, Hugo Baeta, Ian Dunn, ianmjones, idealien, Ipstenu (Mika Epstein), J.D. Grimes, Jack Lenox, James Collins, janhenckens, Jeff Farthing, Jeffrey de Wit, Jeremy Felt, Jesin A, Jip Moors, Joan Artes, Joe Dolson, Joe McGill, Joel Bernerman, Joen A., John Blackbourn, John Eckman, John James Jacoby, John Levandowski, Jonathan Desrosiers, joost de keijzer, Joost de Valk, Jose Castaneda, Josh Levinson, jphase, Julio Potier, Justin Kopepasah, Justin Sternberg, Justin Watt, K. Adam White, Kailey (trepmal), Kelly Choyce-Dwan, Kevin Ruscoe, Kim Parsell, Kite, Konstantin Kovshenin, Konstantin Obenland, Lance Willett, Leo, Leonardo Giacone, Liam Gladdy, maimairel, Mako, mallorydxw-old, Manny Fleurmond, marcelomazza, Marco Chiesi, Marcus Kazmierczak, Marin Atanasov, Mario Peshev, Marius L. J., Mark Jaquith, Marko Heijnen, Mathieu Viet, Matt Gibbs, Matt Martz, Matt Mullenweg, Matt Wiebe, Matt Zak, Matthew Boynes, Matthew Eppelsheimer, Matthew Haines-Young, mattyrob, Max Cutler, Mehul Kaklotar, Mel Choyce-Dwan, meloniq, Michael Adams (mdawaffe), Michael Arestad, Michael Beckwith, michalzuber, Mike Glendinning, Mike Hansen, Mike Jordan, Mike Schinkel, MikeNGarrett, Milan Dinić, mmn-o, Mohammad Jangda, MomDad, Morgan Estes, Morpheu5, Naoko Takano, nathan_dawson, Neil Pie, Nick Halsey, nicnicnicdevos, Nikhil Vimal, Nikolay Bachiyski, Nithin, Nuno Morgadinho, OriginalEXE, Paresh Radadiya, Pat Hawks, Paul Bearne, Paul Schreiber, Paul Wilde, pavelevap, Payton Swick, Pete Mall, Pete Nelson, Peter Wilson, Philipp Cordes, Pippin Williamson, podpirate, postpostmodern, Prasath Nadarajah, prasoon2211, Primoz Cigler, r-a-y, Rachel Baker, rahulbhangale, Rami Yushuvaev, Rastislav Lamos, Ravindra Pal Singh, Rian Rietveld, Ritesh Patel, Robert Chapin, Rodrigo Primo, Ross Wintle, Ryan Boren, Ryan Marks, Ryan Welcher, Sagar Jadhav, Samir Shah, samo9789, Samuel Sidler, Scott Grant, Scott Reilly, Scott Taylor, scott.gonzalez, scribu, Sean Hayes, Senff - a11n, Sergej Müller, Sergey Biryukov, sevenspark, Simon Wheatley, Siobhan, Slobodan Manic, Stephane Daury, Stephanie Leary, Stephen Edgar, Steve Grunwell, stevehickeydesign, Steven Word, taka2, Takashi Irie, Takuro Hishikawa, theMikeD, thomaswm, Thorsten Frommen, Till Krüss, Timi Wahalahti, Timothy Jacobs, tiqbiz, tmatsuur, Tmeister, Tobias Schutter, TobiasBg, Travis Northcutt, Trisha Salas, Ty Carlson, Tyrel Kelsey, uamv, Udit Desai, Ulrich Sossou, Veritaserum, VolodymyrC, vortfu, Weston Ruter, William Earnhardt, willstedt, and WordPressor.

Special thanks go to Siobhan McKeown for producing the release video and Cami Kaos for the voice-over.

Finally, thanks to all of the contributors who provided subtitles for the release video, which at last count had been translated into 30 languages!

Adrian Pop, Alin Marcu, Bagerathan Sivarajah, Besnik, Bjørn Johansen, Chantal Coolsma, cubells, Daisuke Takahashi, Diana K. Cury, DjZoNe, dyrer, Elzette Roelofse, Emre Erkan, fxbenard, TacoVerdo, Gabriel Reguly, Jenny Wong, Gary Jones, Håvard Grimelid, Joachim Jensen, Jimmy Xu, Junko Nukaga, Justina, Kenan Dervisevic, Kostas Vrouvas, Krzysztof Trynkiewicz, Luís Rodrigues, Luis Rull, Mark Thomas Gazel , Marius Jensen, matthee, Mattias Tengblad, Matúš Záhradník, Mayuko Moriyama, Michal Vittek, Milan Dinić, MrShemek, Naoko Takano, pavelevap, Peter Holme Obrestad, Petya Raykovska, Przemysław Mirota, qraczek, Rafa Poveda, Rami Yushuvaev, Rasheed Bydousi, Rhoslyn Prys, Robert Axelsen, Sergey Biryukov, Siobhan Bamber, Stephen Edgar, ک To Have داشتن, Torsten Landsiedel, Victor J. Quesada, Wolly, Xavi Ivars, Xavier Borderie

If you want to follow along or help out, check out Make WordPress and our core development blog. Thanks for choosing WordPress. See you soon for version 4.3!