14 DAY TRIAL // A new flavor of the WordPress for Android mobile application is now available for download, namely version 2.3, set to provide users with a new experience while on the go, courtesy of an updated interface.
The new app iteration was built using the Holo style guidelines, and sports an Action Bar interface throughout the app, offering fast access to common actions such as creating a new post, refreshing, and sharing to other apps.
The company also decided to replace the older-style dashboard user interface with a new Menu Drawer, so that users would be able to navigate to various areas of the app fast and easy, regardless of where they were before.
“To access the menu, simply tap the arrow next to the WordPress logo – in the top-left corner of the app — or swipe from the left side of the screen,” the company notes in a blog post.
The menu will remain visible at all times on large tablet devices, given that there is extra screen to take advantage of. Users with multiple blogs in the app will see a drop-down list at the top of the Menu Drawer for fast switching between them.
Furthermore, the application has been designed to remember the last selection they made in the Menu Drawer before closing it, so that they could pick up where they left off when launching the app again.
Furthermore, the team notes that the UI changes are only some of the enhancements that were brought to the app in the new release, and that there are also brand new features for users to take advantage of.
The most important of these include a View Site option, along with Admin area access, faster loading, a better post editor experience, and enhanced image uploading.
Here’s what WordPress notes on each of these:
- View Site option. A View Site option has been added to the Menu Drawer so you can view your blogs from within the app. - Admin area access. You can access the wp-admin areas of your WordPress.com blogs by loading the Dashboard option in the Menu Drawer. - Faster loading. The WordPress.com Reader now takes advantage of caching for faster loading. - Updated look and feel. Settings have been converted to use the Android standard for preferences, giving them the Holo look and feel on supported devices. Many views have been updated to the Holo look and feel as well, including the post editor and all list views. - Improved post editor experience. The post editor now has an expandable content area, which makes it much easier to navigate around the post content when you’re editing. - Improved image uploading. If a post has an image but fails to upload the image, the post will be saved as a draft first — instead of published — so the image upload can be corrected.
The company also notes that it plans on adding notifications to the Android application, so that users could easily stay on top of what’s happening on their WordPress sites while on the go.
WordPress 2.3 for Android can be found on this page on Softpedia.