WordPress 2.8 running nicely

WordPress 2.8 Beta 1 has been running on this blog for a few days now and everything seems to be running just nicely. There are a whole list of changes that made it into this release. Here are my favourite improvements:

• New Theme Installer routines
• Add CodePress syntax highlighting to Theme and Plugin editors
• Add Documentation(function) lookup to Theme and Plugin editors
• Improved Widget user interface
• Use a semantic class name for text targeted to screen readers
• Improved database performance
• New Widget API

Of course there are loads of other changes, but those are the ones that stick in my mind as being the most important changes. A good code drop is like finding the best diet pill on the market. It helps trim the fat and gives you a chance for a positive change. This update isn’t as profound in terms of changes to the user interface, but it does introduce some important changes under the hood. So if you have a chance, download the beta and give it a try.