Archive for the ‘Downloads’ Category
WordPress 2.7 “Coltrane” Now Available!
December 11, 2008 by Emily
Around the Web,Downloads
After a bunch of betas and two release candidates the WordPress team has finally released WordPress 2.7 “Coltrane” for download. 2.7 is a HUGE leap forward as far as the interface as well as new features it offers. The team has really been listening to it’s users and quietly going down the list adding the most requested features starting back in 2.5 earlier this year, but 2.7 is definitely the culmination of this.
The biggest difference in 2.7 is the new admin interface. Yes, another new admin interface. But this one seems to be here to stay (Matt says we should expect it to still basically be the same a year from now). It was developed with the user in mind to make the area simple to navigate and with as few clicks as possible. The dashboard and the Post pages are also almost completely customizable giving you the ability to drag and drop boxes wherever you want or removing them altogether. Also, don’t forget to check “Your Profile” under Users as the 2.5 color scheme feature is still there and personally, I think the blue color scheme is much nicer than the default gray one.
Perhaps the best new feature in 2.7 is finally the ability to perform one-click upgrades directly from the admin area. No more manual upgrades! No more having to pay your designer to do your upgrades (believe me we don’t mind!). Related to this is the new plugin interface which lets you search for and install new plugins from the plugins database directly inside your admin area. With the plugins database integrated the themes database can’t be that far behind!
Also new is the Comments and Post/Page management interfaces. You can reply to comments directly for the admin now. If you need to edit a category or a tag on a post, you no longer need to open the whole post up, just use the quick edit link to change those things directly from the post management page.
For comments, they have also added new features like threaded comments and paged comments. However, these features will need to be added to your current template, they won’t work unless you have a 2.7 compatible theme. If you need help making your theme 2.7 compatible (or even 2.5 compatible since many themes still don’t support gravatars) feel free to contact us and we can get you set up with all these snazzy new features.
So what are you waiting for? Upgrade your blog today! We can help if you need it, and just think, next time you’ll be able to upgrade with a the click of a button! This is not one of those releases where you need to wait around and see if anything goes wrong. As I mentioned above, there have been several betas and release candidates, plus it already went live on WordPress.com, so millions of people are already using it. This is a very strong release with features that you don’t want to miss out on.
Here’s a nice visual introduction video:
Here are some resources to check out plugin/theme compatibility as well as upgrading your theme to use new 2.7 features:
- 2.7 Plugin Compatibility
- 2.7 Theme Compatibility
- Migrating your Plugins and Themes to 2.7
- How to Create a 2.7 Compatible Comments.php
1 commentPink for October!
October 2, 2008 by Emily
Around the Web,Downloads
You may have noticed our site looks a bit different (click on over RSS readers!) and that’s because we are participating in Pink for October for the second year in a row! All the participants change their site or blog to pink for the month of October to help bring attention to Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This is a great cause for anyone to support but it’s especially important for me because my mother died from breast cancer. Please educate yourself about this disease; if you are a woman get regular mammograms and make sure your mothers, sisters, wives or girlfriends are getting them too!
I also want to highlight the Blogger Boobie-Thon. It runs from October 1st to October 7th so please go donate (even just a few dollars helps)! All proceeds go directly to the Susan G. Komen (or a related charity). You can also submit pictures of your own boobies (covered or not) for the cause!
And remember that if you want to go Pink for October, too, we’re currently having a sale on blog designs and graphics. 25% off!
For those who can’t afford a new design (or would rather spend the money on a donation!), I’ve finally gotten around to updating my most popular free WordPress theme called Pink Midnight. It’s now updated for WordPress 2.5 and above with all recent features like tags, gravatars, image captions and widgets. Wanna see it in action?
This WordPress theme is completely free and available for download. Since it’s a free theme that I’ve already put a lot of time into, unpaid support or installation is not offered, but it includes a very detailed “Read Me” file with all important information and installation instructions so please refer to that. Also, check out our Resources page which has two sections of helpful WordPress links, one specifically for Themes.
Want some other pink options? Check out these:
- Making It Easy to Go Pink – WordPress and Twitter themes and backgrounds
- Free Pink for October Templates – Blogger templates (Scroll down to the bottom of the page, on the sidebar under Links)
And finally, we’ve donated a free year of hosting as a prize for Pink for October’s bi-weekly contests which will be running all month. The first contest started yesterday, so go participate for your chance to win one of the great prizes from the sponsors!
WordPress 2.6.1
August 15, 2008 by Emily
Around the Web,Downloads
WordPress 2.6.1 is out today. They are labeling it a “maintenance release” meaning it’s not a required upgrade, but if you’ve experienced any bugs with your install of 2.6, then you should upgrade. This version fixes 60 different bugs from the previous version. Here’s a list of the changed files if you just want to replace those in your current install. Or go download the whole thing.
If you’re looking for a no muss, no fuss method of upgrading WP, I highly recommend the WordPress Automatic Upgrade Plugin. It only takes minutes to upgrade WordPress on most servers. Everything is done right from your admin area, you don’t have to bother with files or FTP or databases, the plugin does everything for you including backing up your whole site before you start.
And if you just don’t feel like taking a few minutes to upgrade your blog right now, but don’t want to have to look at that annoying upgrade notice that’s at the top of your admin pages, the Hide the Update Notice plugin is really handy. It just hides the big notice at top, it’ll still say there’s a new version down at the bottom of the admin pages, so you’ll know when there’s an update.
