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WordPress Wednesday News: WordPress 2.5 Due Any Day, Beta 2 Released, Many Plugins Updated, WordCamp Dallas This Weekend, WordCamp UK Suggested, and More
The Blog Herald
The Blog Herald

WordPress Wednesday News: WordPress 2.5 Due Any Day, Beta 2 Released, Many Plugins Updated, WordCamp Dallas This Weekend, WordCamp UK Suggested, and More

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March 26, 2008

Due out by the end of the week, we hope, everyone is talking about WordPress 2.5, the hottest release in a ages. WordCamp Dallas is this weekend, bringing together the best in blogging and WordCamp. There is talk of a WordCamp in the UK! Work continues on WordCamp Milan, a European WordCamp united languages and crossing borders with blogging and WordPress. A lot of WordPress Plugins are being updated in time for WordPress 2.5. And more WordPress news.

WordPress News

WordCamp Dallas NOW! WordCamp Dallas is March 29-30, 2008, this weekend. If you are attending and covering the event on your blog, be sure and use the wordcampdallas2008 tag on your blog, Flickr, and other social media sites so we can all track the events and activities. I’ve written some reasons on why you should attend this innovative conference on WordPress – it’s the amazing speakers covering video blogging, SEO, podcasting, marketing, and lots of WordPress. WordPress 2.5 should have just been released and Matt Mullenweg will be there to discuss the latest version of WordPress and where WordPress is going to go. Charles Stricklin offers a WordCamp Dallas Attendee Breakdown based upon registration information to encourage you even more to attend. Be there!

WordPress 2.5 News: WordPress 2.5 Release Candidate 2 is out, with screencasts and video showing off the new Administration Panels.

The development team is working hard to get it ready for release by this weekend. According to the WordPress Development Blog, the custom fields AJAX forms have been improved, a bug in TinyMCE is being worked on, feedback is going into fixing the interface and improving it, improvements to the features in the Write Post panel continue with contributors no longer shown things they can’t use based upon user permission levels, and more fixes and upgrades coming in all the time.

Other articles about WordPress 2.5 include:


Do You Need Help with WordPress? I’m finding a lot of people still asking for help with their WordPress and WordPress.com blog by blogging their request. This is really dumb, folks. You don’t know who is reading or how qualified they may be to help you. Or you might never get the help you need. Please, go to the for help with the full version of WordPress and the WordPress.com Forums for help with WordPress.com blogs. Get the help you need directly from those who can help you.

Attacking the WordPress Comments Panel: Mark Jaquith is tackling the WordPress Comment “inbox” in an attempt to make it more Gmail-friendly. In other words, adding features that tell you which comments you seen or not seen and making it easier to use. He’s even come up with a Comment Inbox WordPress Plugin to put his ideas into action. I still want a fast reply directly from the Comment Panel, which this doesn’t include. You can find that in WordPress Comment Ninja Greasemonkey Script works for any WordPress blog including WordPress.com blogs, Admin Panel Comment Reply Plugin, and Better Comments Manager Plugin.

WordPress Podcast: The WordPress Podcast Episode 38 is out and covers WordPress 2.5 delayed release, the future of WordPress Theme design, WPThemeKit, Google Summer of Code, WordPress.com statistics, and more WordPress news, Themes, and Plugins.

WordPress Weekly with Jeffro2pt0: WordPress Weekly Episode 11 features an hour interview with Small Potato, formerly of WPDesigner.com discussing WordPress Themes.

Summer of Code with WordPress and Google: Lloyd Budd announces the Summer of Code with Google and WordPress has started. Student applications for participation are being accepted and the list of code studies and more information is in the page on WordPress Summer of Code 2008.

Last Week’s WordPress Wednesday News: Can’t get enough WordPress news and tips? There is so much news coming out about the latest version, so you can catch up with the past news in last week’s WordPress Wednesday News report which covered Sneak Peeks of WordPress 2.5, Beta Released, WordCamp Dallas Next Week, and More WordPress News.

WordPress Security News

WordPress SecurityWonder Why There are So Many Security Announcements and Issues? Each week, I’m stunned by the number of security vulnerabilities and flaws found in WordPress and WordPress Plugins and Themes, a number which keeps growing. While most people report such flaws immediately to WordPress for action, quietly working to protect the WordPress Community, events such as the recently announced $20,000 Hacking Contest creates a growing incentive to specialize in finding and violating those security vulnerabilities. Sad.

Get Inside a Hacker’s Head: While not the indepth interview I would have really enjoyed, this brief interview of a hacker by Blog Security gives us some insights into how someone digs into the code of WordPress to find security vulnerabilities and flaws. While many see such hobbies as shameful, many programs, including WordPress, are improved by those obsessed with finding out what will break it and reporting it rather than exploiting it.

Upgrade WordPress Now: WordPress 2.5 is due out soon, but reports continue to come in about WordPress blogs being hacked because they haven’t listened to the shouts of those warning them of security flaws nor have they upgraded to WordPress 2.3.3. Is the wait worth it?

WordPress on Your Calendar

WordPress Events CalendarWordCamp Dallas: Dallas WordCamp is this weekend! There is still room to join us at this exciting WordPress event in Frisco, Texas on March 29-30, 2008, the second United States WordCamp event ever! The t-shirt could become a collector’s item! Register now while there is still space available!

California: Los Angeles WordPress Users Group: The Los Angeles WordPress Users Group is forming and will have their first meetup April 6 at the Farmers Market. If you live in the LA area, get signed now!

WordCamp UK? There is a WordCamp UK proposal on the table on Tony Scott’s blog. I’d love to be there, wouldn’t you? Go get involved and help make WordCamp UK a reality.

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 as found on the WordPress Roadmap and the WordPress Meetup Group Listings (subject to change):

WordPress Plugins and Themes News

WordPress Plugins DatabaseWordPress Plugins Updated Furiously: Any WordPress Plugin that features an Administration Panel subpanel or interaction requires updating to work with the new interface. WordPress Plugins are being updated all over the place, so I can’t include all of them here. Please check in with your favorite WordPress Plugin’s author’s blog for the latest news on whether or not your favorite will continue to work or requires updating before you upgrade your blog to WordPress 2.5.

Customizable Post Listings WordPress Plugins Updated: The long awaited and popular Customizable Post Listings WordPress Plugin has been updated to work with WordPress 2.5. More news to follow!

Admin Drop Down Menu Plugin Updated: The popular Admin Drop Down Menu WordPress Plugin has been updated for WordPress 2.5 only. The Plugin creates a much more interactive menu for fast moving around within the Administration Panels. Check out the new demo page to see it in action.

Gamerz WordPress Plugins Updated: Lester Chan of Gamerz has updated all his Plugins to be compatible with WordPress 2.5. He has an awesome collection of some of the most popular WordPress Plugins around, including WP-Ban, WP-DB Manager, WP-Polls, WP-Post Ratings, WP-Post Views, WP-Print, WP-Relative Date,and WP-Sticky.

Super Cache Updated: Donncha O’Caoimh has updated WP Super Cache WordPress Plugin which allows a WordPress blog to be displayed from static HTML files for faster access. It’s been sped up even more and some bug fixes applied. It’s revolutionizing the bandwidth and database access and speed issues many large traffic blogs have battled with over the past few years.

Comment Plugins and Tools Compared: Webware offers a comparison of comment add-ons for WordPress and Movable Type.

Tracking WordPress Compatibility: It’s often difficult to track what Plugin and Theme is compatible with which WordPress version. In the are two “master” pages that list all the various compatibilities: WordPress Theme Compatibilities and WordPress Plugin Compatibilities. No matter which version you are using, and in preparation for the next version of WordPress, add these to your WordPress resource list to check before you upgrade.

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

Plugin and Theme Compatibility Issues for Authors and Designers: If you have a WordPress Plugin or Theme, see Migrating Plugins and Themes for tips on updating your Plugin or Theme for the latest version of WordPress. Once updated, make sure to include it on the WordPress Compatibility lists so users will know which version is updated and ready to work with the latest WordPress.

Interesting WordPress Plugins: I’m constantly amazed at how many creative and useful WordPress Plugins are released each week. Aren’t you?

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 Techniques and Tips

Want to Write a WordPress Tip and See It Here? 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 Help: If you are looking for help on using WordPress, begin by visiting the , the online manual for WordPress Users, then searching the or WordPress.com Forums, depending upon your version.

WordPress Community News

WordPress Community graphicFound a Bug in WordPress? If you find a bug in WordPress, report it by following the instructions in Reporting Bugs on the , the online manual for WordPress Users.

Vote for WordPress Ideas: There is still time to get your vote in for ideas on upcoming versions of WordPress in the The section. Why not take advantage of it and add your voice to the vote.

Using WordPress in Your Blog’s Name: It’s about respect. Please use WordPress names right because WordPress is a trademark and you are not allowed to use WordPress in your blog’s domain name or URL unless you have permission of and . Also, remember, it’s spelled “WordPress” not “WordPress”. Oh, and Plugin is Plugin, not plug-in (what you put into a wall electrical socket).

Shop WordPress: You can now buy t-shirts, hoodies or mugs with the WordPress logo on them in the WordPress Shop.

Looking for a WordPress Expert? If you are looking for a WordPress expert, try the WordPress Consultants list the WordPress Jobs listings, and the WP-Pro mailing list.

WordPress Installed For Free: Installing WordPress for Free (aka Install4Free WordPress) is a free, volunteer-driven service is limited to personal blogs only, and they help only with installations, not upgrades.

Even More WordPress News?

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 Wednesday on is WordPress Wednesday, featuring the news around the WordPress Community. If you have a WordPress news item or tip to suggest, please contact me 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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