WordPress 4.1 is expected to officially come out on the 10th of December this year. The beta version, however, has been out since mid-November in order to help WordPress drive the maximum amount of feedback before the official release.
The last major WordPress release, 4.0 Benny introduced users to an array of useful features such as an improvement in media management and a more user-friendly editing interface. 4.1 seems to be bringing some exciting additions on its own. It will introduce a brand new default theme which was aptly named “Twenty Fifteen” which is slicker compared to previous themes.
Although 4.1 is still in Beta mode, you could be looking out for some great features. Like mentioned earlier, WordPress’ new mobile-focused default theme (Twenty Fifteen) is shiny and clean. This simple design goes along the needs of 2015, giving mobile more importance than desktop. Moreover, the editor will now be “distraction-free”. You would also have the ability to directly install language packs from the General Settings. This would however be possible as long as your site’s file system is writable. The new version will also have a revamped inline formatting toolbar for images.
As for developers, they could additionally expect several improvements in terms of date, comment, taxonomy queries (including complex queries as well as querying comment) and meta. Title tags is expected to be better handled in themes. Improvements are expected to the Customizer API which would include contextual panels and sections as well as JavaScript templates.
