Jetpack is sporting a new logo in the 3.1 release announced today as part of a re-branding inspired by its growth. “Jetpack is ever-evolving and is a major part of Automattic and WordPress. It’s grown a lot since its introduction in 2011, and its branding should grow too. Something better, faster, stronger,” Enej Bajgoric explained with the unveiling of the new logo.
Jetpack 3.1 also introduces custom post types and adds the long-awaited portfolio content type, which is likely to be the first of many. The Portfolio Custom Post Type allows users to manage and showcase projects and is easily displayed using the [portfolio] shortcode. WordPress theme developers can elect to support Jetpack’s portfolio post type by styling it to match the theme, instead of building their own.
Theme developers will also enjoy the new responsive video support built into Jetpack. It can be enabled with one simple line of code:
[php light=”true”]<?php add_theme_support( ‘jetpack-responsive-videos’ ); ?>[/php]
With that code in place, all videos on the site will respond nicely to mobile devices with no extra markup. Jetpack users who were previously using other plugins to get responsive videos will now be able to eliminate those.
The 3.1 release also introduces additional JSON API endpoints for viewing updates and managing plugins and themes. You can check it out by playing with the WordPress.com developer console.
Many smaller improvements in 3.1 make Jetpack easier to use and its features more accessible:
- Jetpack Settings have improved keyboard accessibility.
- Improved RTL support for After the Deadline, Carousel, Contact Form, Comics CPT, Custom CSS, Omnisearch, Publicize, Related Posts, Slideshow short code, Tiled Gallery, Widget-Visibility and Widgets Gallery.
- Contact Form: Add an “Empty Spam” option.
- i18n: Change the priority of where plugin_textdomain is hooked so that the plugins can better translate Jetpack.
- Monitor: Displays how often the site is checked for downtime.
- Shortcode: Added Mixcloud shortcode and oEmbed support.
- Social Links: Improved handling of customizer hooks in non-admin context.
- Stats: The smiley image is gone by default.
- Stats: Added link to the configure page for stats so that the stats settings page is easier to find.
- Theme Tools: Added the responsive videos to theme tools so that themes can support responsive videos more easily.
- Updated Genericons to version 3.1, new icons for website, ellipsis, foursquare, x-post, sitemap, hierarchy and paintbrush.
The Jetpack team further iterated on the admin overhaul that added bulk module management in 3.0. This release includes a number of tweaks to module management, allowing you to activate, configure, and deactivate Jetpack features in the feature description box. The update notice should already be available in your admin. Update now to take advantage of all the enhancements in 3.1.
Jetpack: Automattic’s “y’all takin’ too damn long to build this stuff” plugin. (I, for one, welcome the new Custom Content Type feature. Thank you, a8c crew!)