WordPress 3.8 – the newest version nicknamed ‘Parker’ – was released this past Thursday and comes packaged with some cool features that you can’t miss. Sporting the fancy new magazine-style 2014 Theme, WordPress 3.8 ushers in a new design for their Admin area as well. With changes to the dashboard, widgets, and theme selection, 3.8 brings new life to the admin experience.

Admin Revamp

With the new ”Features as Plugins” development technique, the WordPress 3.8 developers actually launched this style overhaul with the MP6 plugin. After months of testing, the MP6 changes have finally been incorporated with a major release of WordPress. While everything remains in the same place, the colors, icons, and typography are refreshing and bring new life to the now-responsive backend.

The new version even sports a flurry of color options for every personality!

New Theme Manager

Preview your themes easily with the new admin theme details.

New Widget Manager

Gone are the days of scrolling endlessly to get your widget into the proper widget zones. Featuring a 50% split between widgets and zones, the new layout is sure to make adding widgets a breeze. You can even send widgets directly to zones without dragging and dropping!

2014 Theme

The new magazine-style 2014 Theme is a responsive beauty that can display your homepage in a grid or a slider.

Check out the new features by upgrading today! Make sure to backup your site before any major releases! Read more on WordPress.org. What do you think about these changes? Are you impressed with the new admin UI? Let us know in the comments.