On July 4, US is celebrating Independence Day and Automattic – the company behind most popular blogging platform “WordPress” has offered a gift to the WP bloggers all over the world in the form of WordPress 3.2.

WordPress 3.2 now available The focus for this release was making WordPress faster and lighter. The first thing you’ll notice when you log in to 3.2 is a refreshed dashboard design that tightens the typography, design, and code behind the admin. (Rhapsody in Grey?) If you’re starting a new blog, you’ll also appreciate the fully HTML5 new Twenty Eleven theme, fulfilling our plan to replace the default theme every year.

Start writing your first post in WordPress redesigned post editor and venture to the full-screen button in the editing toolbar to enter the new distraction-free writing or zen mode, my personal favorite feature of the release. All of the widgets, menus, buttons, and interface elements fade away to allow you to compose and edit your thoughts in a completely clean environment conducive to writing, but when your mouse strays to the top of the screen your most-used shortcuts are right there where you need them. (I like to press F11 to take my browser full-screen, getting rid of even the OS chrome.)

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With all the improvements, the server environment requirements have also been updated. WordPress 3.2 requires PHP version 5.2.4 or greater & MySQL version 5.0 or greater. So be sure to check with your web hosting provider before you decide to upgrade your current installation. Here’s an official video from Automatic which takes us through the improvements in WordPress 3.2

Download Link: WordPress 3.2