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WordPress News: WordPress 2.7.1, WordPress Tattoo, BuddyPress, WordPressMU Gets Plugins, Plugin Book, and More
The Blog Herald
The Blog Herald

WordPress News: WordPress 2.7.1, WordPress Tattoo, BuddyPress, WordPressMU Gets Plugins, Plugin Book, and More

by
February 15, 2009

WordPress 2.7.1 is out. The first ever permanent tattoo of the WordPress logo is embedded. BuddyPress helps change how WordPressMU handles Plugins. New WordPress Plugin development book due soon. WordCamp Germany this weekend, with Miami and Denver coming up. New insights into WordPress 2.8 under the hood. And more from WordPress.tv and WordPress fan blogs.

WordPress News

WordPress 2.7.1 Released: WordPress 2.7.1, a maintenance release, is out. If you are using WordPress 2.7, take advantage of the automatic built-in upgrade. If you are not, then consider upgrading to WordPress 2.7. Sixty-five files were modified with 68 bug and feature fixes and improvements, and I covered more details about the release on my blog.

Ed Morita Final WordPress tattooPermanent WordPress Tattoo: in Hawaii is the first to put a permanent tattoo of the WordPress logo on his body. In January, he invited readers and WordPress fans to tell him where to place the tattoo and the wrist was the most popular response. I covered the event live on my blog, on the WordCast podcast, on Twitter (@lorelleonwp and @NctrnlBst), and it was picked up by many, including Mashable. In Ed’s story about the tattoo, he explains that it is meant to represent what it would look like if his skin was torn off to reveal a circuit board underneath with the WordPress logo. There has been much debate over whether or not the logo is the “right” one, and Matt Mullenweg confirms that it is the correct logo. The news has prompted another person on Twitter to hold an auction to get a tattoo, and several news agencies have contacted Ed Morita to cover the story.

Why WordPress? Vladimir Prelovac asks why developers should pick WordPress? It’s a good question and he has the right answers for web developers, including examples of who is using WordPress and why developing sites with WordPress makes sense.

WordPressMU Gets Improved Plugin Functionality in Time for BuddyPress: BuddyPress is just about to be released out of beta development with 300 commits and 200 bug fixes and the announcement comes with news that all release candidate versions of the BuddyPress Plugins will be available for download and that WordPressMU support will be limited. Over the next few weeks, site-wide WordPress Plugin support will be added to WordPressMU to improve functionality, hook into the automatic upgrade features, making life easier for BuddyPress and other WordPress Plugins in WordPressMU. The WordPress Publisher Blog also announced the BuddyPress Video.

New Book to be Published in Writing WordPress Plugins: Vladimir Prelovac is asking fans to choose a cover for his new WordPress development book on writing WordPress Plugins.

Take Care When Adding Gadgets and Whizbangs: Blog Security reports on 3 tips to avoid dangerous Themes and Plugins for WordPress and other blogging platforms that are worth considering, as you never know when some evil will peek out from what appears to be a safe Theme, Plugin, Widget, or script.

Changes to XML-RPC and AutomPub: Joseph Scott talked about the XML-RPC and AtomPub changes in WordPress 2.7.1 and mentions that if you are interested in helping out with these features in WordPress, join the wp-xmlrpc email list.

Don’t Let WordPress in Your Domain Name: Do you use “wordpress” in your blog’s domain name? This is in violation of the WordPress trademark. If you find a site using WordPress in their domain name, remind them of the trademark rules so they won’t be asked later to remove it. And WordPress is spelled with a capital P.

Last Week’s WordPress Wednesday News: Are you just catching up now to our ? Check out the past news in last week’s WordPress News: Release Week News, WordPress 2.7.1, BuddyPress, WordPress MU, and More Releases.

WordPress on Your Calendar

WordPress Events CalendarWordCamp News: WordCamp Germany is this weekend. Miami and Denver are quickly approaching and almost sold out. WordCamp NOLA changes its dates from March to April. WordCamp Columbus is open for registration. WordCamp New York set for October. WordPress Meetups are forming all around the world to bring together WordPress fans, such as the weekly WordPress Meetups/Beer and Blogs in Las Vegas.

WordPress Meetup or WordCamp Near You? If you are putting together a WordPress event, please email me so I can publicize it here. If there is a WordCamp near you, go. If you are interested in setting up a WordCamp, stay tuned for news and information on to bring a WordCamp event near you.

Here are some WordPress-related dates and events to put on your calendar.

February 2009

March 2009

April 2009

May 2009

June 2009

July 2009

October 2009

Upcoming WordCamps not scheduled or confirmed:

Upcoming WordCamp and WordPress Event News

Buy WordCamp T-shirts: The recent WordCamp Las Vegas is selling their surplus WordCamp shirts if anyone would like to add to their WordCamp t-shirt collection. Actually, many are creating a WordCamp t-shirt collection, whether or not they attend the event.

WordCampED: WordCamp Education Vancouver 2009 in British Columbia on February 19, 2009, wants your input on the type of sessions do you want at this educational based WordPress event. They have some interesting ideas for topics and want your input. They also have set up the official WordCampEd: Vancouver site.

Las Vegas WordPress Meetups Now Weekly: The Las Vegas WordPress Meetups are now following in the footsteps of the Beer and Blog social gatherings with weekly meetings to talk WordPress, blogging, and whatever else comes up.

WordCamp NOLA News: The date for WordCamp NOLA, New Orleans, has been changed from March to April 10-11, 2009. You can follow the news on their site or on their Twitter @WordCampNOLA.

WordCamp Toronto News: WordCamp Toronto is having the WCT 2009 Awards and is asking for nominations. The deadline is April 1, 2009 with the following core categories:

  • Best Theme Design
  • Best Plug-in
  • Best Student Blog/WP Site
  • Best Professional/Corporate Blog/WP Site
  • Best Education/Instructional Blog/WP Site
  • Best Creative use WordPress (outside of a standard blog)
  • Best Blog from any Category

They are also hosting a student contest to design a logo for WordCamp Toronto, open to all college and university students in Toronto. Check out WordCamp Toronto’s site or Twitter @WordCampTO.

WordCamp Denver News: WordCamp Denver is filling up and debating about expanding the event to accommodate the increased number of attendees at the February 28th event. Registration is still open.

WordCamp San Francisco 2009 News: WordCamp San Francisco 2009 is open for registration. Some hot speakers are already lined up for the May 30, 2009, event at the Mission Bay Conference Center, including Matt Cutts, Tim Ferris, Philip Greenspun, Douglas Hanna, Tara Hunt, Andy Peatling, and Steve Sounders. This often sells out so get your ticket and arrangements to attend the parent WordCamp event of the year now.

WordCamps and WordPress Meetups Everywhere

WordPress Fan Blogs and Podcasts

Weblog Tools Collection Has New Look: Weblog Tools Collection has a new look and it’s well done. A combination magazine, blog, and aggregate style, Mark Ghosh and his team have done an amazing job incorporating all the different WTC forums, blogs, news, reports, reviews, and diverse content that makes up most of online properties into an easy-to-use and access design.

Recent posts by Weblog Tools Collection include:

WordCast Podcast: In the last podcast with with Dave Moyer, WordCast 45: Is that WordPress on your wrist? reported live as the permanent WordPress logo tattoo was created on Ed Morita, talked about WordPress 2.7.1, interesting WordPress Plugins, new ideas for WordPress Widgets, Andy Skelton getting married, BuddyPres, choosing a WordPress consultant, Valdimir’s new WordPress Plugin book, celebrity WordPressers, Twestivals, and more WordPress news and tips.

WordPress Weekly Podcast: Episode 42 – How Could WordPress Die? covered a look at the future, and demise, of WordPress, WordPress Tips, Themes, and triva. Next week the WordPress Weekly podcast team will be off and it will resume February 27th. WordPress Weekly covered David Peralty is joining as co-host of the WordPress Weekly podcast with Jeff Chandler. The WordPress Weekly is sponsored by and hosted on TalkShoe.

Talking WordPress Plugins: The WordPress Plugins Podcast is a new podcast covering WordPress Plugins with Angelo Mandato. Each week, he aims to bring you a variety of interesting WordPress Plugins and interviews with Plugin authors and developers.

WP Engineer: WP Engineer has tips and techniques for using WordPress, including this week’s batch:

WPRecipes: The WPRecipes site offers a daily batch of tips and techniques for using WordPress, and recent posts include:

WPTavern: The recent news from the WPTavern blog and forum includes:

See Also
Google search
Google Search: Enhancing User Experience After Reddit Blackouts

WordPress Plugins and Themes News

WordPress Plugins DatabaseTop Niche WordPress Plugins: Top WordPress Plugin Niches by W-Shadow is a list based upon the top 100 most downloaded WordPress Plugins to determine their “niche” categories. It’s an interesting look at the types of Plugins most WordPress users desire and use.

How Much Control Should Users Have Over a WordPress Theme? “The slippery slope dilemma: How much control should users have?” is a post by Justin Tadlock about some of the things you should consider when designing a WordPress Theme, such as how easy you want the Theme’s various features, and how much of the Theme elements you want the user to control. As WordPress Themes improve, allowing more customization through the Administration Panels, this question will become even more important.

Installing WordPress with Subversion: A Variation: Installing WordPress As A Subversion Checkout ( Or External ) In A Subdirectory by Joseph Scott is an interesting method for installing WordPress outside of the WordPress directory.

WordPress 2.8 News: The lasted in news for WordPress 2.8 development by Andrew Ozz on the WordPress Developer Blog covers Script loader updates, looking at how WordPress will be enhancing and optimizing the loading of external JavaScript and CSS files. The most important change, he reports, is how scripts can be queued for loading in the footer in controlled sequence with new actions. Other articles worth noting on WordPress 2.8 development include:

Plugin and Theme Authors Tips: With the incredible growth in WordPress Plugin and Theme development and authoring, I’m starting a specific tips list for articles covering those subjects. If you have a tip on WordPress Plugin and Theme development, let me know and it might be included. These are developer specific, not user oriented, so expect a wide range of topics involving PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, and non-WordPress specific but related tips and techniques.

Interesting WordPress Plugins:

Finding WordPress Plugins: For more WordPress Plugins see the official WordPress Plugin Directory, the WordPress Plugins Database, and Weblog Tools Collection Plugin and Theme announcements.

WordPress.com News

WordPress.com W logoWordPress.com Undergoes Maintenance: WordPress.com warns that the free blog hosting service will be down for maintenance starting Sunday, February 15, 2009, at 20:00 GMT (noon PST, 3PM EST) for maintenance and upgrade improvements, lasting only a few minutes, hopefully. They warn that unsaved work with be lost and you may have to log in again once the system is restored. I cover some tips and more information in WordPress.com Maintenance Downtime on Sunday, February 15, 2009.

Blog Design Contest on WordPress.com: The first blogging design contest has been announced for called “I <3 Blogging Design Contest” co-produced by Infectious. This isn’t a blog web design or WordPress Theme contest. It is a graphic design contest. Design a “why I love blogging and WordPress” graphic design and if yours wins, it could be printed and sold on laptop and iPhone skins around the world through the Infectious store. Let your creative self loose and show the world how you would design what blogging and WordPress mean to you.

WordPress Techniques and Tips

WordPress Shortcodes: Mashble covers Mastering WordPress Shortcodes with tips on various things you can do with WordPress shortcodes, bracketed shortcut pieces of code, and includes tips on customizing and creating your own.

Protecting Your WordPress Administration Panels: In “10 Steps To Protect The Admin Area In WordPress” by Smashing Magazine, Sergej Müller and Alex Frison discuss tips and techniques for protecting the Administration Panels in a WordPress blog, a frequent target for access and control by hackers. In general, with a strong password, your blog is protected, but there are a few extra steps you can take to make it even more secure.

Videos from WordPress.tv: has screencasting tips and resources to help you create WordPress screencasts for possible inclusion on the new WordPress resource site. Some recent WordPress tips and WordCamp videos include:

WordPress Tips and Techniques: Here are a few more WordPress tips from around the WordPress Community:

WordPress Tips on Twitter: I’ve started sharing WordPress Tips and Plugin suggestions I’ve collected over the past couple years on Twitter at @lorelleonwp. I’ll be posting one WordPress tip and one WordPress Plugin link every morning (PST) covering recent versions of WordPress and WordPress usages and features.

Want Your WordPress Tip Shared Here? The WordPress Community generates some of the best WordPress tips, techniques, and resources. If you would like your WordPress tip and technique included in this list, see Tips For Writing Good WordPress Tips and Writing and Publishing Code In Your WordPress Blog Posts. When its ready, contact me at lorelleonwordpress@gmail.com.

WordPress Community News

WordPress Community graphicThings You Need to Know in the WordPress Community:

Past WordPress Wednesday News Reports

WordPress News Sources

If You Are Reading This: If you are reading this blog post NOT on the or from within your feed reader, it is being used against the copyright policy of the copyright owners. Please report it immediately so action may be taken to break some heads and feed scraping blogs.

Each week, the features WordPress News, a weekly column by featuring the news around the WordPress Community. If you have a WordPress news item or tip to suggest, please contact her at this special email address: lorelleonwordpress@gmail.com

The author of Lorelle on WordPress and the fast-selling book, Blogging Tips: What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging, as well as several other blogs, Lorelle VanFossen has been blogging for over 15 years, covering blogging, WordPress, travel, nature and travel photography, web design, web theory and development extensively as web technologies developed.

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