Version 4.3 of WordPress, named “Billie” in honor of jazz singer Billie Holiday, is available for download or update in your WordPress dashboard. New features in 4.3 make it even easier to format your content and customize your site.

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Menus in the Customizer

Create your menu, update it, and assign it, all while live-previewing in the customizer. The streamlined customizer design provides a mobile-friendly and accessible interface. With every release, it becomes easier and faster to make your site just the way you want it.

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Formatting Shortcuts

Your writing flow just got faster with new formatting shortcuts in WordPress 4.3. Use asterisks to create lists and number signs to make a heading. No more breaking your flow; your text looks great with a * and a #.

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Site Icons

 
Site icons represent your site in browser tabs, bookmark menus, and on the home screen of mobile devices. Add your unique site icon in the customizer; it will even stay in place when you switch themes. Make your whole site reflect your brand.

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Better Passwords

 
Keep your site more secure with WordPress’ improved approach to passwords. Instead of receiving passwords via email, you’ll get a password reset link. When you add new users to your site or edit a user profile, WordPress will automatically generate a secure password.

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Other improvements

• A smoother admin experience – Refinements to the list view across the admin make your WordPress more accessible and easier to work with on any device.
• Comments turned off on pages – All new pages that you create will have comments turned off. Keep discussions to your blog, right where they’re supposed to happen.
• Customize your site quickly – Wherever you are on the front-end, you can click the customize link in the toolbar to swiftly make changes to your site.

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The Team

This release was led by Konstantin Obenland, with the help of these fine individuals. There are 246 contributors with props in this release. Pull up some Billie Holiday on your music service of choice, and check out some of their profiles:

@mercime, Aaron D. Campbell, Aaron Jorbin, Adam a11n, Adam Silverstein, Aki Björklund, Alex Kirk, Alex Mills, Alin Marcu, andfinally, Andrea Fercia, Andrea Gandino, Andrew Nacin, Andrew Ozz, Andy Fragen, Ankit K Gupta, Anthony Burchell, anubisthejackle, Aram Zucker-Scharff, Arjun S Kumar, avnarun, Ben Cole, Ben Dunkle, Ben Dwyer, BinaryKitten, Birgir Erlendsson (birgire), bjornjohansen, Boone B. Gorges, Brad Touesnard, brad2dabone, Bram Duvigneau, Brandon Kraft, Brian Krogsgard, Brian Layman, Caleb Burks, CalEvans, CantonBolo, Chase Wiseman, Chip Bennett, Chouby, Chris Olbekson, chriscct7, Clement Biron, Craig Ralston, Daisuke Takahashi, Daniel Bachhuber, Daniel Jalkut (Red Sweater), Daniele Scasciafratte, daniluk4000, Dave McHale, DaveAl, David A. Kennedy, David Herrera, daxelrod, Denis de Bernardy, Dennis Ploetner, Dennis Snell, Derek Herman, DH-Shredder, Dion Hulse, Dipesh Kakadiya, Dominik Schilling, Drew Jaynes, Dustin Bolton, Dzikri Aziz, eclev91, eligijus, Elio Rivero, Ella Iseulde Van Dorpe, Eric Andrew Lewis, Eric Binnion, Eric Mann, Fabien Quatravaux, Felix Arntz, francoeurdavid, Frank Klein, gabrielperezs, Garth Mortensen, Gary Jones, Gary Pendergast, George Stephanis, glennm, gtuk, hailin, hauvong, Helen Hou-Sandí, Henrik Akselsen, Hinaloe, Hrishikesh Vaipurkar, Hugo Baeta, Iain Poulson, Ipstenu (Mika Epstein), isaacchapman, izem, J.D. Grimes, Jack Lenox, jadpm, James Golovich, James Huff, jancbeck, Jeff Farthing, Jeremy Felt, Jeremy Pry, Jeremy Ward, Jesin A, Jip Moors, jjberry, Jobst Schmalenbach, Joe Dolson, Joe Hoyle, Joe McGill, Joey Kudish, John Blackbourn, John James Jacoby, John Leschinski, Joost de Valk, Josh Davis, Jpyper, Juliette Reinders Folmer, Julio Potier, Justin Sternberg, Kai Jacobsen, Karin Christen, Kelly Choyce-Dwan, Kevin Koehler, kitchin, Kite, Konstantin Kovshenin, Lance Willett, Lee Willis, Leo Gopal, loushou, Lucas Karpiuk, Lumaraf, Marin Atanasov, Mario Peshev, Marius L. J., Mark Jaquith, Marko Heijnen, marsjaninzmarsa, martinsachse, Mathieu Viet, Matt Mullenweg, Matt van Andel, Matt Wiebe, mattyrob, Mel Choyce-Dwan, Michael, Michael Adams (mdawaffe), Michael Arestad, Michael Nelson, michaelryanmcneill, Mickey Kay, mihai, Mike Hansen, Milan Dinić, Morgan Estes, mrutz, Nícholas André, Nabil, Naoko Takano, Nazmul Hossain Nihal, Nick Halsey, Nick Momrik, Nikolay Bachiyski, Nilambar Sharma, Onni Hakala, Ozh, Paresh Radadiya, Pascal Birchler, Paul Gibbs, Paul Ryan, Paul Wilde, pavelevap, Pete Nelson, Peter Wilson, PeterRKnight, Philip Arthur Moore, Pippin Williamson, pragunbhutani, presscustomizr, Rachel Baker, Rami Yushuvaev, rarylson, Rastislav Lamos, rauchg, Ravinder Kumar, RC Lations, Reuben Gunday, Rian Rietveld, Ritesh Patel, Robert Chapin, Robert Dall, Rodrigo Primo, Rommel Castro, Ross Wintle, Rouven Hurling, Ryan Boren, Ryan Marks, Ryan McCue, Ryan Neudorf, Ryan Welcher, Sagar Jadhav, Sal Ferrarello, Samir Shah, santagada, Scott Kingsley Clark, Scott Reilly, Scott Taylor, scribu, Sean Hayes, Sebastian Tiede, Sergey Biryukov, Shawn Hooper, Sheri Bigelow, Simon Wheatley, Siobhan, Stanko Metodiev, Stephane Daury (stephdau), Stephen Edgar, Steve Grunwell, Steven Word, stuartshields, Sudar Muthu, Sunny Ratilal, taka2, Tellyworth, tharsheblows, Thomas L’Excellent, Thor Brink, Tim Smith, tmatsuur, TobiasBg, Tomas Mackevicius, TomHarrigan, Toro_Unit (Hiroshi Urabe), Toru Miki, Tracy Levesque, Tryon Eggleston, Ty Carlson, Udit Desai, Umesh Nevase, vivekbhusal, vortfu, Weston Ruter, Will Norris, willgladstone, William Earnhardt, willstedt, Yoav Farhi, Yuri Salame, Zach Wills, Zack Katz, and Zack Tollman.

 

Special thanks go to Siobhan McKeown for producing the release video, Hugo Baeta for the design, and Jack Lenox 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!

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 4.4!

WordPress 4.2.4 is now available. This is a security release for all previous versions and we strongly encourage you to update your sites immediately.

This release addresses six issues, including three cross-site scripting vulnerabilities and a potential SQL injection that could be used to compromise a site, which were discovered by Marc-Alexandre Montpas of Sucuri, Helen Hou-Sandí of the WordPress security team, Netanel Rubin of Check Point, and Ivan Grigorov. It also includes a fix for a potential timing side-channel attack, discovered by Johannes Schmitt of Scrutinizer, and prevents an attacker from locking a post from being edited, discovered by Mohamed A. Baset.

Our thanks to those who have practiced responsible disclosure of security issues.

WordPress 4.2.4 also fixes four bugs. For more information, see the release notes or consult the list of changes.

Download WordPress 4.2.4 or venture over to Dashboard → Updates and simply click “Update Now.” Sites that support automatic background updates are already beginning to update to WordPress 4.2.4.

Already testing WordPress 4.3? The second release candidate is now available (zip) and it contains these fixes. For more on 4.3, see the RC 1 announcement post.