The WordPress.org developers have published a first beta of version 3.2 of their open source blogging and publishing platform. According to the developers, the new release is "focused on performance improvements" and, barring any major issues found during the testing period, the final version should be available "by the end of June".

WordPress 3.2 Beta 1 no longer supports Internet Explorer 6 (IE6). It features a "major overhaul" to the visual editor’s full-screen composing experience, which is now also available in HTML mode, and a refreshed Admin user interface – the last major redesign of WordPress took place in 2008. Other changes include performance improvements, the addition of more links on the admin bar and the removal of the favorites menu. A new default theme called "Twenty Eleven", based on the popular Duster theme, has also been added; post format and rotating header images are supported.

The developers also note that version 3.2 of WordPress has new system requirements: PHP 5.24 and MySQL 5.0. As with all development releases, use on production sites is not advised. Users testing the release are asked to provide feedback and report any bugs that they find in the forums, mailing lists, over IRC on irc.freenode.net #wordpress-dev or directly into the WordPress Trac.

Further information about the first beta, including a list of new features and known issues, can be found in the news post. WordPress 3.2 Beta 1 is available to download (direct download) from the project's web site.

WordPress is licensed under the GNU General Public Licence (GPL). The latest stable release of WordPress is version 3.1.2, a maintenance and security update that addressed a vulnerability that could have "allowed Contributor-level users to improperly publish posts".

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