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WordPress 2.7 Beta 2: An Incremental Release With Exponential Additions

Though I'm not as guilty of chronically changing content management/blogging software as I am of switching up Linux distributions, I've used more than a few in my day. I began using WordPress in its 1.x days, and moved through Drupal, Mambo, and Joomla in a quest to see what really worked best for my situation.

A year and a half ago, I ended up returning to -- and staying with -- WordPress. The software was nicely polished, simple to modify and configure on a superficial level (and slightly more complex but not frustratingly so for deeper changes), and third party plugins were available that were useful and worked flawlessly (or at least, without show stopping errors).

The WordPress 2.5 release introduced a very different layout and new features, and the 2.7 beta shows the team shaking it up again. In this release, WordPress is lending a hand to (lazy? Overbooked?) bloggers everywhere.

WordPress has had a plugin that automatically upgrades the software to the newest version available for a while. There had been some reported issues with this plugin (though it seemed that it was a "if it works for you, it works" type of deal where there wasn't always consensus as to where the points of failure were). WordPress 2.7 includes an automatic upgrade option by default.

Since I was a bit lax in downloading and upgrading to beta 2, my WordPress install was out of date, and I was able to try the update function. It is accessed through the Tools>Update menu on the new admin panel (yes, there is another admin panel redesign). It is not automatic (no updates are done without your input) and the updater offers to download and install the new version, or simply download it so that a manual install can be done.

The update is carried out over either an FTP or SFTP connection to your web host. Previously, when updating WordPress, my host (or some thing, some where in between) has had some issues with the process. I wouldn't receive any transfer errors, and the database upgrade would always be successful. Nothing else would render, however, after the confirmation page that my database was now up to date. Not the site, not the administration panels, not on any browser on any computer, until I uploaded the WordPress files again. I am confident that this has not been a problem with WordPress, it has been a problem with something on my end. However, the WordPress updater had none of these issues, and the nightly build was humming on the server in less than twenty seconds.

In addition to enhanced updating and some extensive import and export tools, WordPress makes creating and editing content faster and easier. There is a "Quick Press" box that lets you create blog posts directly from the main dashboard (no more Dashboard>New Post navigation needed). The new version supports quick in-line editing and bulk editing functions. The media uploader has made some progress and it's now possible to add media to WordPress without creating an associated post (the media uploader also features Flash based, and browser based uploading methods).

One of the complaints when the dashboard got its major overhaul not so long ago was how completely different and relatively rigid it all felt. Though this dashboard is, again, a very new design, rearranging the layout so it's most effective for you requires very little technical skill and even feels far more natural out of the box than the first redesign did. The dashboard and post pages allow you to rearrange the layout of modules and fields by simply dragging and dropping. The modules and columns all have "quick hide" options to get any distractions out of the way (and quickly recall them when necessary). Plugins can be searched and automatically installed through WordPress as well.

The jump from WordPress 2.6.x to 2.7 would imply incrementally small adjustments, but the changes and enhancements are actually quite significant. Any time spent adjusting and modifying the new layout is more than compensated for by the useful (and reliably working!) tools that are already in this beta release. Of course, the warning stands that this is still in a testing phase, so please be wary of using the new release on websites that would suffer from the inevitable testing hiccups.

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by Kanchana Wickremasinghe on Nov. 14, 2008

To be it is still revolve around the blogging, therefore it is too early replace other CMS solutions such as Drupal, Joomla etc. However I must say that they are doing a good job for what it is meant to be.

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