We posted last week about the upcoming features to look out for in WordPress 3.4, and yesterday it was released. That's right, WordPress 3.4 "Green" is out right now! So what happens next?

Getting Up to Date

No doubt you all know how to update a WordPress installation. You just click the "Update" link and away you go, right? Well, you could do that but let's think for a second about our theme and plugins, do we know for sure that everything will go smoothly?

I recommend you take the following steps as a minimum:

1. Backup your current site's files and database – you can do this manually or with a plugin, as long as it's something you can restore from without too much trouble.
2. Create a new installation using your backup – do this either on a sub-domain or on your local development environment.
3. Once you're up and running, perform the update – if you come across any errors, get them fixed up.
4. Assuming everything went well and you've fixed any issues, update your site, and apply any fixes there too.
5. You're done! Enjoy WordPress 3.4

The Future

Now that WordPress 3.4 is out, hopefully you've all read the WordPress 3.4 Field Guide for Developers. If you haven't, you should. If you're a theme or plugin developer especially, hopefully you're busy making updates to your themes and plugins too.

Now we can turn our attentions to WordPress 3.5, which will start being discussed at the WordPress Developer chat next week (for times, see the sidebar from the field guide link).

What are you hoping to see in WordPress 3.5? Let us know in the comments below.