5.16.2009

Stand by for WordPress 2.8. Or jump in now.

The workhorses at WordPress.org have uploaded Version 2.8 as a beta, available to all.

There are more than 100 upgrades and fixes in this iteration, so you might want to jump on board when it's released. I am in the habit of waiting for a .1 version after a major update -- letting others deal with the release bugs -- but this time I'm going in on official release day. Easy to get a feel for the severity of problems in the release in the WP forums.

WordPress made updating a lot easier with 2.7, so this will be the first big test of that one-step process via the dashboard. Anyone who's been on WP for more than five months remembers the risks and pains of updating the old-fashioned way. There also is the Wordpress Automatic Upgrade plug-in that has never failed me.

For the brave, foolhardy or public-service-minded, switching to the 2.8 beta is now an option.

Here are some of the promising new features in WordPress 2.8:

  • A new routine for theme installations. (Not that the old one was hard.)

  • A "custom header" for menu text. (Whatever that means).

  • A documentation lookup for the theme and plug-in editors. (How about a universal code string search?)

  • An end to notifying the author of his own comments.

  • Improved widget interface. (Thank God.)

  • Allow editing of all plug-ins.

  • An option to use plug-ins on individual pages.

  • The ability to run several galleries on a single page.

  • Improved database performance. (Always an adventure when the DB comes into play.

  • More subject options for tag clouds (such as show categories instead).

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