The New Wordpress 2.7 Beta: Better Than Before?
Yesterday, All Souls Day (for Catholics) I downloaded the latest Wordpress update, 2.7-Beta 1 and installed it in my new site at www.blogjoints.com Site Blog. The installation, just like the previous Wordpress editions, took only less than 5 minutes.
The Dashboard layout has been changed, its prettier than the previous versions, however, personally, I don’t like the Sidebar layout. Most of the time, you have to scoll down your mouse to click on the Settings options. Previous versions (Wordpress 2.6.3 below) used the Tab format so all Settings (notably the plugin settings) are displayed on top.
Some cool features however are something that everyone will want to see -
- Integrated Quickpress in the main Dashboard where you can easily make a post.
- You can now insert Media (pictures, videos, files) without creating a post – a big improvement.
- Main Dashboard Screen Option where you can turn-off or turn-on dashboard items like recent comments, wordpress RSS feed items, plugins, incoming links, etc.
- Ability to reply to comments from the Dashboard (so no need to install a plugin for this one).
- Integrated comments threading/pagination settings (Alex King’s or Lezter Chan’s plugins are not needed anymore).
- Sticky Post – you can now create a post or announcement and stick it in the front page even if you have new posts – without the need for a plugin – cool!
- There’s the Automatic Upgrade Link at the bottom-right screen – yey!
- Improved Drag and Drop functionality in the Dashboard and Posts, but would you use it often?
- Now wordpress newbies (like me) can immediately see the other ‘tools’ available in wordpress, like the Import and Export functionalities. Yes, of course you can import your blogspot or other blogs into your wordpress blog – just in case you don’t know yet.
- And my Top Favorite of all – you can now Upload and Install Plugins from within your Wordpress Dashboard – yohoo! So no more downloading, extracting and uploading of plugins outside Wordpress.
Still, I would have loved it more if these features were included (probably these were included but I haven’t discovered it yet).
- Threaded/paginated page options, not just for comments
- Integrated Polls
- Automatic post excerpt
- Automatic post tags/keywords
- Prettier default themes
- And how come Theme browsing and installation isn’t included? If it’s possible for Plugins, then it should be okay for Themes don’t you think?
- Multiple media file uploader
- And, a shell Theme where a newbie like me can easily (or visually) edit, add components like sidebar, navigation bars to allow easy creation of theme. Hmmm? Is this possible?
Over-all, any new Wordpress update is always good news. What more could we ask for such a great piece of FREE blogging (and CMS) software? Thanks, Wordpress Team. You can take some sleep now. 
Nice info B! Hmmm, I haven’t installed version 2.6.3 yet so dapat muna ito unahin ko bago sa 2.7.
Yikes, dapat na pala talaga ako mag-upgrade. Napag-iiwanan na ako.
Snow´s last blog post..Is A Newbie Blogger Not Allowed To Commit Mistakes?
Reply
Brigitte Replies:
November 15th, 2008 at 7:13 am
Just testing out the reply feature on comments… (is this a plugin or part of Wordpress 2.7?)
Brigitte´s last blog post..Eros (A Short Entry!)
Reply
bloggista Replies:
November 15th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Hi Brigitte, thanks for dropping by. The Reply feature is a Wordpress plugin. It’s called Wordpress Threaded Comment. You can find it here – http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-thread-comment/
Reply
Hehe. There’s an automatic upgrade plugin (if your Hosting doesn’t provide an automatic upgrade). Check out Automatic WP Upgrade so you won’t be doing it manually. Just in case you don’t have it yet.
Reply
well, that sounds quite interesting. A huge improvement from the current version. As for me, being a non-IT person, I only wait for fantastico to feature the one-click update option of wordpress, I haven’t done a manual installation. I might need your advise on that Bloggista.
now, if only I could find a reliable webhost, that should be a perfect blogging platform.
cyril´s last blog post..RESULTS OF THE 2008 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
Reply
linfp2009 Replies:
November 7th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Want to know more news chick here
http://www.footwearclothes.com
MSN:
footwearclothes@hotmail.com
Reply
mine is still version 2.3 something, while the other is 2.6. I’ll probably upgrade next year because if i do it now, the plug-ins will not yet work.
ceblogger´s last blog post..6 Things Bloggers Want From A Blog They Read and Follow
Reply
Nahuli ako sa Contest mo ha ha ha.. Di pala ako naka subscribe sa iyo.. anyway ngayon updated na ako thru Google Reader
Happy Blogging
Dexter | Tech At Hand Dot Net´s last blog post..Knowing Upcoming Events Can Increase Traffic and Money
Reply
I think this can help a lot especially me, quite lazy to learn these downloading ek-ek.
However, just like the others, mine is not even 2.6 so I think I still have to learn these ek-ek…hu! hu! hu!
Thanks for updating us.
Angel Cuala´s last blog post..How to use Kaizen to improve your Blog
Reply
Can’t wait to get my hands dirty with this one…
I might not even install 2.6.3 anymore and just wait for this to come out.
archondigital´s last blog post..Rackspace Acquires Slicehost and Jungle Disk;
Reply
Am still using 2.6.1 wait ko na lang sa Fantastico ito hahaha. Tamad kasi ako mag manual upgrade, gusto ko click click lang. But i heard ok ang 2.7. Can’t wait!
Ambo´s last blog post..Getting to Know Barack Obama and John McCain
Reply
@archondigital: really? 2.6.3 can be bypassed for the 2.7? another nice info i’ve learned today!
alright, snow…back to work… *LOL*
Snow´s last blog post..C’est La Vie Vice Presidency? Did Palin Prank Call Prove Something?
Reply
@Dexter | Tech At Hand Dot Net: Hi Dexter, thanks for that bro! Helps a lot for a newbie blogger like me.
@Angel : Well you can just upgrade to 2.7 when its released (probably end of November). But I do use the Automatic Wordpress Upgrade plugin to bring my blogs to the current releases. I just hope this plugin works for 2.7. Will also test that.
@Snow: I presumed your blog Snow is probably using Wordpress 2 series – so you can actually bypass say, from 2.3 straight to 2.7. Although I haven’t seen any announcement that WP version should be at 2.6 level to be able to upgrade directly to 2.7, but since there’s not much changes except for aesthetics and embedded plugins, it is safe to assume you can just do the big jump.
Reply
@cyril: I too rely on Fantastico or Simple Scripts to install wordpress – but I use the Automatic Upgrade plugin for upgrade normally.
@ceblogger: If things are doing fine then it’s okay not to upgrade yet. But most plugins now works on 2.6 (except for the Commentluv that works in my other blogs but not here in Bloggista). Upgrading is easy so why not upgrade soon. Hehe
@archondigital: Hehe, Archon’s the guy when it comes to LAMP and Open Source stuff. Wish I got the same skills. Hehe, btw, I want to know more about your dedicated hosting – really need one soon.
@Ambo: Hehe, ako din bro, but I haven’t used Fantastico, tinatamad ako mag de-activate ng plugins manually hehe. Kaya gamit ko nalang yung auto upgrade plugin.
Reply
Hmmm the debate is still on when it comes to which blog provider to go with
me i have gotten comfortable with Bloggers under google but like everyone else there is always a hick up every now and then 
hehehe
Metz – Empty Streets´s last blog post..MTV Top 20 Billboard HIts
Reply
@bloggista: It’s just a 256 VPS with Slicehost for Archon Digital and a few other sites run on the same slice which is almost the same as dedicated but cheaper.
Dedicated is too expensive for my personal use at the moment.
archondigital´s last blog post..Theme Development: Where It All Began
Reply
Is it now possible to define ftp settings anywhere? Because of this it’s never been possible for me to use the update plugins feature seeing as my paths are a bit different.
XIII´s last blog post..Paris Exposition of 1900
Reply
[...] active again. WordPress 2.7 is just around the corner, and it looks like it’s going to be a great one. New WordPress sites to give you coding tips and tricks seem to be the latest rage, and new [...]
@XIII: Hi, thanks for dropping by. Let me check on this one, but I though this should be easily managed through .htaccess. If your blog isn’t in your main domain (say, its in a subfolder), then .htaccess should do the job. But then again, im not a tech guy let me ask some help.
Reply
Bro,
Haven’t updated yet to the latest 2.7… Daming problema sa plugin compatibilities eh. Sa 2.6.3 pa lang nagkakatalo na sa mga plugins ko kaya stick muna ko sa 2.6.1 pababa.
jessie´s last blog post..Halloween in the Philippines and for Pinoys
Reply
@jessie: And i heard madami daw plugins ang di na maa-update when 2.7 comes. How true?
Reply
@bloggista: Think i’m gonna use this plugin bro! Thanks sa info!
Ambo´s last blog post..Getting to Know Barack Obama and John McCain
Reply
Kuya, am not upgrading yet… di ko pa na eenjoy ang 2.6 version eh… baka magtampo sakin: he3
juler´s last blog post..Belo Medical Group New Website Poster
Reply