WordPress 3.8 was released today and along with its new cool features, we want to bring you another good news: the long-awaited version 1.4.0 of the ZOOM Framework was finally released!

What’s new in WordPress 3.8?

But before providing more details about changes we did in our framework, let’s see what’s new in WordPress 3.8:

Dashboard Redesign

Probably you’ve heard about the MP6 plugin already, and the good news is that this plugin is now a part of WordPress 3.8, which means that the entire dashboard design was changed to a more modern interface. Another good thing about the new admin interface is that it comes with 8 different color schemes, so if you’re fan like me of the previous admin interface, you may want to set “Light” color scheme as your default one:

New Default Theme

Remember Further theme? If you don’t, then we tell you that this theme was renamed to Twenty Fourteen and now it is the default WordPress theme.

Refined Widgets and Themes pages

Important changes have been also made to the Widgets and Themes admin pages, changes that aim to simplify the interface, and hopefully will make new users get quickly used to the WordPress admin dashboard.

Now let’s talk about the ZOOM Framework.

ZOOM Framework 1.4.0

Even if the changes we did in the new 1.4.0 version of our framework are not that noticeable as the ones from WordPress 3.8, that doesn’t mean that a lot of hard work wasn’t involved in the development, and things will be more clear in the next themes we’re working on currently.

Shortcodes Refresh

With the new flat design of the WordPress admin, we decided that it’s also the right time for us to redesign the shortcodes included in the ZOOM Framework. The result can be seen live here, and you’ll also notice that now you can assign an icon to buttons shortcodes, and there is a very large variety of icons to choose from.

Theme Options page Redesign

Again, a modification influenced by WordPress 3.8 new admin interface. This time it’s about the Theme Options page, which we slightly redesigned, and this is most noticeable in the navigation menu, which now perfectly fits under the 3.8’s feel & look.

And many other improvements and bug fixes.

There are also many other small improvements that we did in the new version, like a new option to exclude individual images from the Slideshow Shortcode, or a new feature that will remember the last section that was accessed in Theme Options on page refresh.

Now that WordPress 3.8 was officially released, you’re safe to upgrade both your WordPress site and your theme framework to latest version, and then you’ll be enjoying all of the great new features — and you’ll be making sure your site is secure, too.

What’s your favourite thing about WordPress 3.8? Hit the comments and let us know.