# 0.2.4 (April 6, 2020)
This release includes several API ergonomics improvements, including
shorthand constructors for many types, and an extension trait for
initializing subscribers using method-chaining style. Additionally,
several bugs in less commonly used `fmt` APIs were fixed.
### Added
- **fmt**: Shorthand free functions for constructing most types in `fmt`
(including `tracing_subscriber::fmt()` to return a
`SubscriberBuilder`, `tracing_subscriber::fmt::layer()` to return a
format `Layer`, etc) (#660)
- **registry**: Shorthand free function `tracing_subscriber::registry()`
to construct a new registry (#660)
- Added `SubscriberInitExt` extension trait for more ergonomic
subscriber initialization (#660)
### Changed
- **fmt**: Moved `LayerBuilder` methods to `Layer` (#655)
### Deprecated
- **fmt**: `LayerBuilder`, as `Layer` now implements all builder methods
(#655)
### Fixed
- **fmt**: Fixed `Compact` formatter not omitting levels with
`with_level(false)` (#657)
- **fmt**: Fixed `fmt::Layer` duplicating the fields for a new span if
another layer has already formatted its fields (#634)
- **fmt**: Added missing space when using `record` to add new fields to
a span that already has fields (#659)
- Updated outdated documentation (#647)
Signed-off-by: Eliza Weisman <eliza@buoyant.io>