WordPress 2.5 RC1 available

March 18, 2008 | Filed under: Around the Web

Matt has just made an announcement on the Dev blog that the WP 2.5 Release Candidate 1 is available for download and testing. He also goes into some specifics about the new version and what we have to look forward to when 2.5 is finally released:

“A customizable dashboard, multi-file upload, built-in galleries, one-click plugin upgrades, tag management, built-in Gravatars, full text feeds, and faster load times sound interesting to you? Then WordPress 2.5 might be the release for you. It’s been in the oven for a while, and we’re finally ready to open the doors a bit to give you a taste.”

“For the past few months, we’ve been working with our friends at Happy Cog — Jeffrey Zeldman, Jason Santa Maria, and Liz Danzico — to redesign WordPress from the ground-up. The result is a new way of interacting with WordPress that will remain familiar to seasoned users while improving the experience for everyone. This isn’t just a fresh coat of paint — we’ve re-thought the look of WordPress, as well as how it’s organized so that you can forget about the software and focus on your own creative pursuits.”

Read more at the Dev Blog.

He says that the new version is “basically done and stable, and could be released today” but that he’d rather wait and get some more feedback before the final version is released to the public (date TBD). I’ve read lots of people grumbling about the missed deadline (it was supposed to be released on March 13th), but personally, I would much rather wait a while longer and have a more stable release. I’m as impatient as the next person, but I don’t think rushing to meet a fairly arbitrary deadline helps anyone, so I’m glad the WP people are taking their time and releasing this when it’s actually ready.

In the meantime, though, if you are comfortable with upgrading WP or you just want to test the new version out and send in some feedback download the beta version here.