WordPress 4.7 “Vaughan”
Version 4.7 of WordPress, named “Vaughan” in honor of legendary jazz vocalist Sarah “Sassy” Vaughan, is available for download or update in your WordPress dashboard. New features in 4.7 help you get your site set up the way you want it.
Presenting Twenty Seventeen
A brand new default theme brings your site to life with immersive featured images and video headers.
Twenty Seventeen focuses on business sites and features a customizable front page with multiple sections. Personalize it with widgets, navigation, social menus, a logo, custom colors, and more. Our default theme for 2017 works great in many languages, on any device, and for a wide range of users.
Your Site, Your Way
WordPress 4.7 adds new features to the customizer to help take you through the initial setup of a theme, with non-destructive live previews of all your changes in one uninterrupted workflow.
Theme Starter Content
To help give you a solid base to build from, individual themes can provide starter content that appears when you go to customize your brand new site. This can range from placing a business information widget in the best location to providing a sample menu with social icon links to a static front page complete with beautiful images. Don’t worry – nothing new will appear on the live site until you’re ready to save and publish your initial theme setup.
Edit Shortcuts
Visible icons appear to show you which parts of your site can be customized while live previewing. Click on a shortcut and get straight to editing. Paired with starter content, getting started with customizing your site is faster than ever.
Video Headers
Sometimes a big atmospheric video as a moving header image is just what you need to showcase your wares; go ahead and try it out with Twenty Seventeen. Need some video inspiration? Try searching for sites with video headers available for download and use.
Smoother Menu Building
Many menus for sites contain links to the pages of your site, but what happens when you don’t have any pages yet? Now you can add new pages while building menus instead of leaving the customizer and abandoning your changes. Once you’ve published your customizations, you’ll have new pages ready for you to fill with content.
Custom CSS
Sometimes you just need a few visual tweaks to make your site perfect. WordPress 4.7 allows you to add custom CSS and instantly see how your changes affect your site. The live preview allows you to work quickly without page refreshes slowing you down.
PDF Thumbnail Previews
Managing your document collection is easier with WordPress 4.7. Uploading PDFs will generate thumbnail images so you can more easily distinguish between all your documents.
Dashboard in your language
Just because your site is in one language doesn’t mean that everybody helping manage it prefers that language for their admin. Add more languages to your site and a user language option will show up in your user’s profiles.
Introducing REST API Content Endpoints
WordPress 4.7 comes with REST API endpoints for posts, comments, terms, users, meta, and settings.
Content endpoints provide machine-readable external access to your WordPress site with a clear, standards-driven interface, paving the way for new and innovative methods of interacting with sites through plugins, themes, apps, and beyond. Ready to get started with development? Check out the REST API reference.
Even More Developer Happiness 
Post Type Templates
By opening up the page template functionality to all post types, theme developers have even more flexibility with the WordPress template hierarchy.
More Theme API Goodies
WordPress 4.7 includes new functions, hooks, and behavior for theme developers.
Custom Bulk Actions
List tables, now with more than bulk edit and delete.
WP_Hook
The code that lies beneath actions and filters has been overhauled and modernized, fixing bugs along the way.
Settings Registration API
register_setting() has been enhanced to include type, description, and REST API visibility.
Customize Changesets
Customize changesets make changes in the customizer persistent, like autosave drafts. They also make exciting new features like starter content possible.
The Squad
This release was led by Helen Hou-Sandí, backed up by Jeff Paul and Aaron Jorbin as Release Deputies, and with the help of these fine individuals. There are 482 contributors with props in this release—the most ever—with 205 of them contributing for the first time. Pull up some sassy Sarah Vaughan on your music service of choice, and check out some of their profiles:
Aaron D. Campbell, abrightclearweb, Achal Jain, achbed, Acme Themes, Adam Silverstein, adammacias, Ahmad Awais, ahmadawais, airesvsg, ajoah, Aki Björklund, AkshayVinchurkar, Alex Concha, Alex Dimitrov, Alex Hon, alex27, allancole, Amanda Rush, Andrea Fercia, Andreas Panag, Andrew Nacin, Andrew Ozz, Andrey "Rarst" Savchenko, Andy Meerwaldt, Andy Mercer, Andy Skelton, Aniket Pant, Anil Basnet, Ankit K Gupta, Anthony Hortin, antisilent, Anton Timmermans, Antti Kuosmanen, apokalyptik, artoliukkonen, Arunas Liuiza, attitude, backermann, Bappi, Ben Cole, Bernhard Kau, BinaryMoon, Birgir Erlendsson (birgire), BjornW, bobbingwide, boblinthorst, boboudreau, bonger, Boone B. Gorges, Brady Vercher, Brainstorm Force, Brandon Kraft, Brian Hogg, Brian Krogsgard, Bronson Quick, Caroline Moore, Casey Driscoll, Caspie, Chaos Engine, cheeserolls, chesio, chetansatasiya, choong, Chouby, chredd, Chris Jean, Chris Marslender, Chris Smith, Chris Van Patten, Chris Wiegman, chriscct7, chriseverson, Christian Wach, Christoph Herr, Clarion Technologies, Claudio Sanches, Claudio Sanches, ClaudioLaBarbera, codemovement.pk, coderkevin, codfish, coreymcollins, curdin, Curtiss Grymala, cwpnolen, Cătălin Dogaru, danhgilmore, Daniel Bachhuber , Daniel Kanchev, Daniele Scasciafratte, danielpietrasik, Daryl L. L. Houston (dllh), Dave Pullig, Dave Romsey (goto10), David A. Kennedy, David Chandra Purnama, David Herrera, David Lingren, David Mosterd, David Shanske, davidbhayes, Davide 'Folletto' Casali, deeptiboddapati, delphinus, deltafactory, Denis de Bernardy, Derek Herman, Derrick Hammer, Derrick Koo, dimchik, dineshc, Dion Hulse, dipeshkakadiya, dmsnell, Dominik Schilling, Dotan Cohen, Doug Wollison, doughamlin, Drew Jaynes, duncanjbrown, dungengronovius, DylanAuty, Eddie Hurtig, Eduardo Reveles, Edwin Cromley, ElectricFeet, Elio Rivero, Ella Iseulde Van Dorpe, elyobo, enodekciw, enshrined, Eric Andrew Lewis, Eric Lanehart, Evan Herman, Felix Arntz, Fencer04, Florian Brinkmann, Florian TIAR, FolioVision, fomenkoandrey, Frank Klein, Frankie Jarrett, frankiet, Fred, Fredrik Forsmo, fuscata, Gabriel Maldonado, Gary Jones, Gary Pendergast, Geeky Software, George Stephanis, goranseric, Graham Armfield, Grant Derepas, greatislander, Gregory Karpinsky (@tivnet), Hardeep Asrani, Henry Wright, hiddenpearls, Hinaloe, Hugo Baeta, Iain Poulson, iamjolly, Ian Dunn, ian.edington, idealien, Ignacio Cruz Moreno, imath, Imnok, implenton, Ionut Stanciu, Ipstenu (Mika Epstein), Ivan, ivdimova, J.D. Grimes, Jacob Peattie, Jake Spurlock, James Nylen, jamesacero, Japh, Jared Cobb, jayarjo, jdolan, jdoubleu, Jeffrey de Wit, Jeremy Felt, Jeremy Pry, jimt, Jip Moors, jmusal, Joe Dolson, Joe Hoyle, Joe McGill, Joel James, johanmynhardt, John Blackbourn, John Dittmar, John James Jacoby, John P. Bloch, John Regan, johnpgreen, Jon (Kenshino), Jonathan Bardo, Jonathan Brinley, Jonathan Daggerhart, Jonathan Desrosiers, Jonny Harris, jonnyauk, jordesign, JorritSchippers, Joseph Fusco, Josh Eaton, Josh Pollock, joshcummingsdesign, joshkadis, Joy, jrf, JRGould, Juanfra Aldasoro, Juhi Saxena, Junko Nukaga, Justin Busa, Justin Sainton, Justin Shreve, Justin Sternberg, K.Adam White, kacperszurek, Kailey (trepmal), KalenJohnson, Kat Hagan, keesiemeijer, kellbot, Kelly Dwan, Ken Newman, Kevin Hagerty, Kirk Wight, kitchin, Kite, kjbenk, kkoppenhaver, Knut Sparhell, koenschipper, kokarn, Konstantin Kovshenin, Konstantin Obenland, Konstantinos Kouratoras, kuchenundkakao, kuldipem, Laurel Fulford, Lee Willis, Leo Baiano, LittleBigThings, Lucas Stark, Luke Cavanagh, Luke Gedeon, lukepettway, lyubomir_popov, mageshp, Mahesh Waghmare, Mangesh Parte, Manish Songirkar, mantismamita, Marcel Bootsman, Marin Atanasov, Mario Valney, Marius L. J. (Clorith), Mark Jaquith, Mark Root-Wiley, Mark Uraine, Marko Heijnen, markshep, matrixik, Matt Banks, Matt Jaworski, Matt Mullenweg, Matt van Andel, Matt Wiebe, Matthew Haines-Young, mattking5000, mattyrob, Max Cutler, Maxime Culea, Mayuko Moriyama, mbelchev, mckernanin, Mel Choyce, mhowell, Michael Arestad, Michael Arestad, michalzuber, Mike Auteri, Mike Crantea, Mike Glendinning, Mike Hansen, Mike Little, Mike Schroder, Mike Viele, Milan Dinić, modemlooper, Mohammad Jangda, Mohan Dere, monikarao, morettigeorgiev, Morgan Estes, Morten Rand-Hendriksen, moto hachi ( mt8.biz ), mrbobbybryant, NateWr, nathanrice, Nazgul, Nick Halsey , nikeo, Nikhil Chavan, Nikhil Vimal, Nikolay Bachiyski, Nilambar Sharma, nnaimov, noplanman, nullvariable, odie2, odyssey, Okamoto Hidetaka, orvils, oskosk, Otto Kekäläinen, ovann86, Pascal Birchler, patilvikasj, Paul Bearne, Paul Wilde, Payton Swick, pdufour, Perdaan, Peter Wilson, phh, php, Piotr Delawski, pippinsplugins, pjgalbraith, pkevan, Pratik, Pressionate, Presskopp, procodewp, quasel, Rachel Baker, Rahul Prajapati, Ramanan, Rami Yushuvaev, ramiabraham, ranh, Red Sand Media Group, Rian Rietveld, Richard Tape, Robert D Payne, Robert Noakes, Rocco Aliberti, Rodrigo Primo, Rommel Castro, Ronald Araújo, Ross Wintle, Roy Sivan, Ryan Kienstra, Ryan McCue, Ryan Plas, Ryan Welcher, Sal Ferrarello, Sami Keijonen, Samir Shah, Samuel Sidler, Sandesh, Sarah Gooding, Sayed Taqui, schlessera, schrapel, Scott Reilly, Scott Taylor, scrappy@hub.org, scribu, seancjones, Sebastian Pisula, Sergey Biryukov, Sergio De Falco, shayanys, shprink, simonlampen, skippy, smerriman, smyoon315, snacking, Soeren Wrede, solal, Stanimir Stoyanov, Stanko Metodiev, Steph, Steph Wells, Stephanie Leary, Stephen Edgar, Stephen Harris, Steven Word, stevenlinx, stubgo, Sudar Muthu, Swapnil V. Patil, Takahashi Fumiki, Takayuki Miyauchi, Tammie Lister, tapsboy, Taylor Lovett, team, tg29359, tharsheblows, the, themeshaper, thenbrent, thomaswm, Thorsten Frommen, tierra, Tim Nash, timmydcrawford, Timothy Jacobs, Tkama, tnegri, Tom Auger, Tom J Nowell, tomdxw, Toro_Unit (Hiroshi Urabe), Torsten Landsiedel, transl8or, traversal, Travis Smith, Triet Minh, Trisha Salas, tristangemus, Truong Giang, tsl143, Ty Carlson, Ulrich, Utkarsh, Valeriu Tihai, Vishal Kakadiya, voldemortensen, Vrunda Kansara, webbgaraget, WebMan Design | Oliver Juhas, websupporter, Weston Ruter, William Earnhardt, williampatton, Wolly aka Paolo Valenti, yale01, Yoav Farhi, Yoga Sukma, youknowriad, Zach Wills, Zack Tollman, Ze Fontainhas, zhildzik, and zsusag.
Special thanks go to Rami Abraham for producing the release video and the many fine haiku we saw in the beta and RC announcement posts.
Finally, thanks to all the community translators who worked on WordPress 4.7. Their efforts bring WordPress 4.7 fully translated to 52 languages at release time with more on the way. Additionally, the WordPress 4.7 release video has been captioned into 44 languages.
If you want to follow along or help out, check out Make WordPress and our core development blog. Thanks for choosing WordPress – we hope you enjoy!