Monthly Archives: November 2008

WordPress 2.7 – this weekend?

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I heard a rumour on Twitter that WordPress 2.7 might just come out this weekend, but so far nothing of the sort has happened. Seeing that WordPress 2.6.5 was released just a couple of days ago, I don’t have high hopes that it will happen.

WordPress 2.7 beta 3 has been running like a dream since I installed it. Granted I did have a server upgrade in the meantime, which meant a faster disk/processor and a memory upgrade but I haven’t had any software issues or met any bugs since I installed it. Pretty impressive I thought!

WordPress 2.6.5 – Upgrade or not?

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WordPress 2.6.5 has been released which is probably the last release in that branch till 2.7 goes official. It represents a pretty important release because there’s a security hole that has been blocked, together with a couple of minor fixes.

The WordPress team recommend that you upgrade to this latest version, but in my case I don’t think that the security hole actually applied to my sites as it’s pretty specific (it only affects IP-based virtual servers running on Apache 2.x). I may push my sites to the 2.7 beta instead which is working remarkably well on this site.

It’s really up to you and it doesn’t matter whether you’re running a website talking about the best memory upgrade or selling teryx accessories, it’s always good to know what releases are available and if you need to apply them or not.

New version of WP Auctions underway

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I’ve just started work on the new version of WP Auctions, a WordPress plugin that lets you auction items and services right off your own blog. It has a funky sidebar widget that pops an auction over your blog and lets users bid against each other, but the new version has a few more surprises up it’s sleeve.

We’ve had quite a few people using the plugin selling everything from Leptorexin to Teryx performance gear. There’s even an auction up at the moment for “The Lord’s Prayer Engraved on the Head of a Gold Pin“. So, if you have WordPress blog, what are you waiting for? Try it out!

New icons for WordPress

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There’s a new set of icons for WordPress, chosen from the Project Icon competition that closed recently. The new icons are shown along-side.

It’s interesting to see people’s feedback on the new icons, ranging from people who like them, to others who say they look like they’ve taken the best diet pills and are thinner than they would have hoped. I personally like them and look forward to seeing them in the next drop. Question is, is the next public drop the final version?

Upgraded to WordPress 2.7 Beta 2

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I’ve just pushed this blog up to the next beta of WordPress: 2.7 Beta 2. A number of issues have been fixed including the only problem I have hit so far (Auto-Upgrade failing because of file permissions). Apparently there were also issues with areas of the Dashboard, warnings, previews etc which are all listed on the post above.

I must say I do like a lot of the new features in this version, especially the ability to upgrade WordPress and install plugins right off your blog. It’s a great story if you want to minimise server provisioning impact and improve roll out times. You can literaly roll out a new blog (including plugins) in a few minutes without ever needing to open your FTP client! Just sit back in your brand new shiny home theater seating; pipe your PC to an iMax screen and enjoy the show! (where’s the popcorn?)

10 great features in WordPress 2.7

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Are you excited over WordPress 2.7 yet? It’s even better than getting one of those popcorn machines for your kitchen; it’s packed full of goodies and has a number of built-in features which mean you need less plugins. There’s a great post at op111 that talks about 10 new features to look out for. Some I knew about (like the improved comments), some I didn’t (like the bulk-edits). Here’s a quick rundown:

  1. Mass-edit posts and pages
  2. Modular edit/write pages
  3. Paginated comments
  4. Quick-edit
  5. QuickPress
  6. Recent Drafts in Dashboard
  7. Reply to comments from the administration area
  8. Show/Hide Modules and Columns
  9. Sticky Posts
  10. Threaded Comments

Now that’s a whole bunch of juicy goodness, much like adding a polaris performance boost to supercharge your wheels. Personally, I think I’ll stick with the comment enhancements as my favourite features, though the back-end redesign is sweee-eeee-eet!

Now that reminds me. I’d better see if my Comment Email Responder works in 2.7.

WordPress 2.7 – Sort our your comments

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One improvement in WordPress 2.7 is the upgrade that has been made to the commenting system. WordPress now natively pages and nest comments, which is just excellent. However, it means that theme designers need to update their themes to take advantage of these new features.

There’s a great write-up about this on Otto’s blog that talks about the changes that exist and how they can be implemented. The new functions aren’t quite documented yet (2.7 is still in beta), so you’ll have to dig around a bit, but it’s best to be prepared.

The great thing about these comments enhancements is that they pave the way to have better debates on your blog. For example, if you have a post about term life insurance quotes, people can debate different aspects and the threading holds the comments in a more cohesive form. If you have a popular post about say, reviewing a satellite internet provider; then the paging features will really help you in organising what your blog looks like.

I can’t wait for the final release!

Upgraded to WordPress 2.7 Beta 1

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I’ve just found out that WordPress 2.7 Beta 1 has been released and I promptly downloaded it to have a play. I must say, it looks really pretty, and looks as chic as maxim lighting. I’m not sure what functionality has been rolled out, but the first thing you notice is the brand new administration interface. It’s packed with new things and lets you drag things around and choose what you want to see and what you don’t.

It looks like WordPress 2.7, which was originally scheduled to be released on November 10th, is going to slip by 2 weeks. It’s a shame, but better to make sure it’s all hunky dory before releasing it to the public.

Good work guys!