WordPress 2.7 – I'm Lovin' It!

Posted December 5, 2008 · Filed Under Blogging · 1,776 views · 2 Comments

I’m so jealous. WordPress 2.7 rolled out to WordPress.com users at 8pm EST Thursday night. I’m still using WordPress 2.7 Release Candidate 1, but I will be a happy girl come Wednesday the 10th when 2.7 is scheduled to be released for self-hosted installations. (It might even be before that!)

Features I Love

Configurable User Interface: You can arrange the the sections of every screen in the dashboard the way you want them. At first, that might not seem like a big deal, but it really is. If you don’t use things like custom fields, handmade excerpts or trackbacks – hide them and get them out of the way! Only fill your screen with the functions you use!

Plugin Settings Are Easy to Find Now: No more having to check ‘Manage’, ‘Settings’ and ‘Plugins’ to see where the settings for the plugin you just installed live. They’re pretty much all in the same place now (with just a few exceptions) and that place is ‘Settings’. Makes sense…finally.

Publishing Options Are Clearer: They’ve really done a great job making clear whether you’re saving a draft or publishing a post. The buttons you click indicate specifically what you’re doing. The ‘Save’ button (which used to mean save a draft if you hadn’t previously published, or save the edits if you had previously published) now says ‘Save Draft’ if you haven’t published yet, and ‘Update Post’ if you have.

New Plugins Can Be Added Without Using FTP: Adding plugins to your installation is a much more integrated process now. You don’t have to leave your dashboard at all. Just search for the one you want, click a button to download it from the plugin directory and save it on your computer. Then click another button to upload it to your site. One more click activates it and bam! You’ve just installed a new plugin!

Uploading Images is MUCH Easier: Until now, if I wanted to upload an image or other kind of media to my media gallery, I had to pretend I was writing or editing a post. There wasn’t a way to get to that upload functionality directly. Well, now there is. Yay! That’ll save me several clicks!

If you want to see more about what’s new and different about 2.7, here are 20 Must See Features.

Take a Test Drive!

You can play with the demo site to get an up-close and personal view of what all has changed and improved.

Preparing Your Blog/Site

Afraid your blog or site might blow up if you try to upgrade? I was, too, so this week, I downloaded Release Candidate 1 (the pre-release version of 2.7) and installed it on this site. I figured if 2.7 might blow something up if my clients upgrade, I better find out and be my own guinea pig so I can warn them.

As you can see, this site is alive and kickin’ and doing just fine. The only things that blew up when I upgraded were the plugins I was using to add functionality that is now a part of WordPress. That makes sense. All in all, I’m happy, happy, happy. (And no longer so jealous of WordPress.com users. I have just about what they have, now.)

So, if you’re wondering whether things will blow up for you, or not, first make sure you’re upgraded to version 2.6.5 (the latest one) and then check these resources for more information:

WordPress 2.7 Core Update Host Compatibility

WordPress 2.7 Theme Compatibility

WordPress 2.7 Plugin Compatibility

Note: These are lists published at the WordPress site, but they are neither exhaustive or definitive. Just what we know at this point. For example, there are literally hundreds of themes out there, but this list only shows those that have been tested on 2.7. If your theme is not on the list, don’t assume it’s not compatible just because it’s not on the list. It might not have been tested yet, that’s all.

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2582 Responses2008-12-05+17%3A52%3A29Suzanne to “WordPress 2.7 – I'm Lovin' It!”

Christa
December 5th, 2008 3:32 pm

Thanks for being a guinea pig on this. I’m interested about this upgrade and wonder how it might really benefit me.

Christa´s last blog post..Merry Christa-mas, Ooops SITSmas
Suzanne
December 8th, 2008 8:55 pm

Christa, you always want to be running the most current version of WordPress, if not for the features introduced, but for the security and bug fixes included with each release.

But, I’m tellin’ ya, girlfriend, this version upgrade is gonna majorly get your Giggle On! It’s like going from driving a Pinto to driving a Mercedes! You still get from Point A to Point B, but the journey is SO much nicer!