We will be upgrading all WordPress sites hosted by Kephart + Associates beginning at 1:00 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, July 5, 2011. Down time for each site should be less than five minutes. UPDATE (1:32 p.m. EDT): All K+A WordPress sites have been upgraded to 3.2 and are up and running!

WordPress has released its latest major upgrade, version 3.2. Nicknamed “Gershwin” after American composer George Gershwin (official website), the new release features some significant changes. WordPress founding developer Matt Mullenweg explains:

The focus for this release was making WordPress faster and lighter. The first thing you’ll notice when you log in to 3.2 is a refreshed dashboard design that tightens the typography, design, and code behind the admin. (Rhapsody in Grey?) If you’re starting a new blog, you’ll also appreciate the fully HTML5 new Twenty Eleven theme, fulfilling our plan to replace the default theme every year. Start writing your first post in our redesigned post editor and venture to the full-screen button in the editing toolbar to enter the new distraction-free writing or zen mode, my personal favorite feature of the release. All of the widgets, menus, buttons, and interface elements fade away to allow you to compose and edit your thoughts in a completely clean environment conducive to writing, but when your mouse strays to the top of the screen your most-used shortcuts are right there where you need them. (I like to press F11 to take my browser full-screen, getting rid of even the OS chrome.)

And here’s a video about the new release:

While there are many new and updated features in WordPress 3.2, you can also continue to write posts and add content in the same manner as before. The tools look a bit different, but work the same. You can choose to use some of the new post and page writing features, or not… it’s up to you. As always, if you have any questions about using WordPress on your Kephart + Associates-hosted site, please let us know.