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WordPress Wednesday News: WordPress 2.7 Beta 2, Danger WordPress Faker, and More WordCamps
The Blog Herald
The Blog Herald

WordPress Wednesday News: WordPress 2.7 Beta 2, Danger WordPress Faker, and More WordCamps

by
November 6, 2008

WordPress 2.7 is at beta version 2 and a ton of work has been done on it, though the official release is now delayed until the end of November. Please upgrade WordPress 2.6. A lot of news about WordPress 2.7 is out, including what you need to know to prepare your blog for the upcoming release. WordPress Plugin and Theme authors are scurrying to update their work accordingly. A fake WordPress.org site is spreading bad WordPress versions – be alert! WordPress opens a new showcase to show off what WordPress can do. A ton of WordCamps are coming up in the next few weeks, and into 2009, including a traveling WordCamp for educators and a skiing, wintry WordCamp in Canada. And more WordPress news.

WordPress News


WordPress 2.7 Development: The original release date of November 10 has been pushed back by at least two weeks, though may change as beta testing continues. Two beta versions of WordPress have been released, with WordPress 2.7 Beta 2 fixing a lot of the bugs found in Beta 1. At the time of writing this, the WordPress Development Twitter had 149 changes and fixes reported over the past week. Improvements have been made to localization, the Write Post Panel, design problems for Internet Explorer, rewrite rules for various servers and hosts, and the WordPress Plugin update and install feature. More improvements, fixes, and design features are in process for the next beta release. The new interface is being cheered and readily accepted by testers and many are loving the new Comments and Write Post Panels. The ease of blogging and information on the new Dashboard Panel makes that screen more valuable than ever.

Your feedback and input is critical. Jane Wells asks “What’s your favorite thing about the 2.7 Beta?” to encourage your feedback. You are also asked to report to the Alpha/Beta sections on the and the mailing lists with feedback and input. So far, the reaction from most has been exceptionally positive and most are eager for the new version. Articles are coming out with news and information on the new version all around the web and include:

Security Upgrade Announced: WordPress 2.6.3 has been released covering a Snoopy class vulnerability. This is a mandatory security upgrade and involves replacing two files. Download WordPress 2.6.3 now to protect your blog.

Fake WordPress Malicious Site: Take care when searching for WordPress that you do not end up on a fake WordPress site. Wordpresz.org looks like the site but isn’t. The version of WordPress you download has malicious code in the download that opens a backdoor to your blog. If you upgraded WordPress to 2.6.4, you are running a fake version. There is no WordPress 2.6.4. The latest version is 2.6.3. This is just the first attempt and Automattic is looking at ways to keep users informed and warned, but pay attention to details and check the URL carefully before downloading WordPress. For more information see these articles, but please, do not click through to the fake WordPress site mentioned:

Recent WordPress Plugin Security Issues: reports on several Plugins with security issues with the warning that you should discontinue using these Plugins until they have been updated and repaired.

Election Wins for WordPress.com VIP Program: The WordPress Publisher blog congratulated the successful TIME’s Liveblog Election ‘08 site run on WordPress.com VIP, the paid hosted version of . Through the months before the election and non-stop for the week leading up to the vote and afterward, the Liveblog Election site has been crunching away with information and constant traffic, testing the WordPress.com servers, proving they can take the heat and survive.

LinkedIn Gets WordPressed: LinkedIn has added a variety of applications you can add to your LinkedIn page, including WordPress for LinkedIn. It works with full versions of WordPress and WordPress.com blogs to bring feed coverage of your blog to your Profile Page in a drag-and-drop module.

Cyberattacks Get Political: Security Focus reports that Obama and McCain got a lesson in cybersecurity when their campaign websites/blogs were attacked. The FBI is investigating and the attacks were thwarted. The increase in website hacking and phishing attempts is increasing, and all website server systems, CMS and blog platforms, and web applications are increasing their security stance around the world.

Showcasing the Best WordPress Blogs: The new WordPress Showcase highlights what are called the “best and brightest WordPress users who are using WordPress to do a lot more than blog.” Hosted on the site, they showcase screenshots and summary descriptions as examples of the possible with WordPress. For the next few weeks, I’ll feature some of the various blogs from different categories and tags to introduce you to the art of the possible with WordPress. This week showcases celebrity bloggers, including Martha Stewart, Perez Hilton, and the Olson twins.

WordPress in Your Language: Peter Westwood reminds everyone that WordPress is available in many languages and offers some tips for WordPress in your language.

Compliance with the WordPress Trademark: Recently, in compliance with the WordPress trademark and respect for the organization, Hack WordPress has rebranded as WPHacks.com with a new Theme and mission to bring even more WordPress hacks to your WordPress blog.

Feedburner Not Working? Go WordPress Feed: Many are becoming disatified with Feedburner to funnel all their WordPress blog feeds and are returning back to the native WordPress feed. Headsetoptions is disabling Feedburner feeds due to excessive abuse and scrapping of their feeds. Are you considering switching back?

The WordPress Podcast: Last week’s Episode 45 with the Matt Mullenweg Interview covered, Automattic acquisition of Intense Debate, how Automattic works, WordPress security issues, blog statistics and marketshare, GPL, the future of WordPress, WordCamps, and more. This week, Episode 46: WordPress 2.7 preview, Automattic aquires PollDaddy, Podcasting for Dummies and Practical Web Design Magazine is out and includes a new blog design, Amazon S3 WordPress Plugin Simple Storage Service, MobilePress, WordCamps, and WordPress Plugins, Themes and tips.

WordCast Podcast: WordCast 34: The WordPress Carvers Strike Again included Jonathan Bailey of Plagiarism Today covering WordPress pumpkin carvers, the new WordPress Showcase, WordPress Themes, the WP Comment Remix security vulnerability, LinkedIn applications for WordPress, designing WordPress Themes in Photoshop, and more WordPress news and tips.

WordPress Weekly Podcast: Last week’s episode, Usability, WordPress 2.7 And More featured Jane Wells of Automattic and WordPress 2.7, including usability studies and research on the new interface, testing, development, lessons learned, and the status and features of the next version of WordPress and beyond.

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: WordPress 2.7 Soon, Security Upgrade, PodCamp-WordCamp Hawaii, PollDaddy, and More.

WordPress on Your Calendar

WordPress Events CalendarWordPress 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 calendarh.

Upcoming WordCamps not scheduled or confirmed:

Upcoming WordCamp and WordPress Event News

WordCamp Argentina: WordCamp Argentia is this weekend, November 8, 2009, in Buenos Aires at the Microsoft Offices. The agenda has been published, and Matt Mullenweg is scheduled to be there.

South Florida WordPress Meetup Group: If you are living in Pompano Beach, Florida, or nearby, check out the new South Florida WordPress Users Meetup on November 11, 2008, for a discussion on WordPress as a CMS.

WordCamp Charlotte: WordCamp Charlotte is inviting everyone to send in their suggestions for the Charlotte WordCamp Panel Questions for the November 15, 2008, event. Have your say by asking the experts whatever you want to know about WordPress.

WordCamp Israel: WordCamp Israel 2008 (English) is set for November 16, 2008 at the Z.O.A. House in Tel Avia. The schedule has been announced and includes a representative of Automattic, Raanan Bar-Cohen of the WordPress Publisher Blog. It’s free but registration is required. If you need help with the Hebrew, email [email protected]. The event will bring together some of the best in web technology and WordPress experts from Israel and around the world. Register soon as space is limited. WordCamp Israel was also recently covered in an article on YNET, one of the leading online publications in the country.

WordPress Theme Program in New York: The New York City WordPress Meetup Group is offering a WordPress Theme creation workshop on November 18, 2008 for USD $5 a person.

WordCamp ED: DC: The first WordCampED, WordCamp for educators, is scheculed for November 22, 2008, in Washington D.C. and will include Jane Wells of Automattic covering WordPress 2.7, and speakers covering how they use WordPress in the classroom, schools, universities, research, and as edubloggers. The event schedule is up and registration is open. Recent announcements include instructions on how to get t-shirts if you register by November 7, the unconference speaker and topic sign-ups, and the next WordCamp ED event is scheduled for February, WordCamp ED: Northeast 209 in Massachusetts.

WordCampNOLA: WordCampNOLA in New Orleans has been announced and a Twitter account set up to generate interest. They are looking at scheduling the event in March 2009.

WordCamp Miami: WordCamp Miami is now scheduled for February 22, 2009, as a track at BarCampMiami.

WordCamp Whistler: Duane Storey and others have announced a most unique WordCamp Event, WordCamp Whistler, a skiing, podcamp, photocamp, and WordPress event in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, on January 24, 2009. Winter fun with WordPress. They are working on getting discount rates on rooms and meeting space, but this will not be a cheap WordPress event, but what a great combination. There is also a Barcamp page for WordCamp Whistler with more information.

WordCamp Denver Rescheduled: WordCamp Denver 2009 has been rescheduled to February 28, 2009. For more information and updates, check out their WordCamp Denver Facebook site.

WordCamp Australia News: Matt Mullenweg and Jane Wells will be speaking at WordCamp Australia in Sydney on November 29-30, 2008. Registration is open and the speakers are lining up to speak. The list of speakers and topics is very exciting.

Past WordCamp Events

Podcamp/WordCamp Hawaii Next Weekend: Podcamp and WordCamp Hawaii on Oct 24, 2008, was a resounding success with the hashtag #pch08 making it to number two under “Halloween” on Twitter and other social media sites. It was a fabulous ending to the successful Hawaii Geek Week. I posted some articles here on the about the week and will do recap in the next few days.

WordCamp China: There were two WordCamps in China, one in Beijing and the other in Shanghai WordCamp China in Beijing and Shanghai. Matt Mullenweg shared his images of Shanghai WordCamp recently.

WordCamps and WordPress Meetups Everywhere

See Also
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Google Search: Enhancing User Experience After Reddit Blackouts

WordPress Plugins and Themes News

WordPress Plugins DatabaseWordPress Plugin Developers Ready for WordPress 2.7: For the most part, WordPress developers have worked hard to ensure that current popular WordPress Plugins will continue to work in WordPress 2.7, but there are some Plugins which need updates to accommodate the changes in Parent/Child Themes, Comments, and the new interface. Here are some reports from WordPress Plugin authors on the state of their popular Plugins:

  • WP-CommentNavi 1.00 Beta is an updated version of Lester Chan’s WP-PageNavi WordPress Plugin which adds pagination for comments which now works with the new WordPress Comments API.
  • Lester Chan (Gamerz) reports that current versions of his Plugins work fine in WordPress 2.7 except for WP-Email and WP-Print due to the new canonical redirects, which he has offered a fix for download.
  • Viper checks his WordPress Plugins for WordPress 2.7 and finds that Viper’s Video Quicktags will work fine but it and WordPress Admin Bar WordPress Plugin need to be updated for the new interface. The rest of his Plugins should work.

WordPress Theme Examples for Developers: Describing WordPress Themes that push the limits of Theme design and development that others should study and learn from, Dougal Campbell suggests WordPress Themes for Developers, highlighting:

Designing Sticky Posts: Devlounge offers tips for designing your new sticky post option in WordPress 2.7 to make that post look different from the rest of the posts on the front page of your WordPress Theme using the WP-Sticky WordPress Plugin by Lester Chan. If you don’t want to use the Plugin, just add .sticky { style options } to your Theme’s stylesheet and style away.

Talking AJAX: Donncha O’Caoimh presented a talk on “Make Your WordPress Plugin Talk AJAX” at BarCamp Cork about adding AJAX functionality to your WordPress Plugins and offers example scripts from his presentation.

A Forum Alternative: Simple:Press Forum is reviewed by Yellowswordfish as a simple forum option for integrating a forum into a WordPress blog. The Plugin includes registration integration with your WordPress blog’s user system, user groups, permission-controlled forums, moderation workflow, descriptive URLS, feeds, search, private messaging, report post to administrator, localization, and more.

WordPress Template Tag References and Resources: I recently highlighted a few WordPress Template Tag references and resources, including filters and hooks. planetOzh found another one: Template Tag reference to join the rest:

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 Techniques and Tips

Here are some interesting WordPress tips I’ve found as I explore the web looking for WordPress resources:

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.com News

WordPress.com W logoDaylight Savings Time for WordPress.com Blogs: Heather shared how to adjust your blog’s clock for Daylight Savings for those facing the time change in the US this past weekend and around the world.

Bringing the Vote to WordPress.com: With all the election fuss in the United States, WordPress.com wanted everyone to cast their virtual ballot for their own version of the national election. The Election Poll gave Obama a 69% win when all the votes were finally tallied.

WordPress Community News

WordPress Community graphicWordPress and Education: Matt Mullenweg reports there is a new mailing list for discussion of WordPress and education on the mailing lists.

WordPress Logos: The official WordPress logos are available on as are WordPress fan art featuring variations on the WordPress logo and artwork.

Things 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 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.

View Comments (4)

  • Another great job Lorelle. Seems as though you had a blast in Hawaii. How about that, three WordPress podcasts in one week! Getting podcast overload yet? :) I really envy the way you get to travel across the world to meet and great people using WordPress. One of the reasons why you are my inspiration. There are others which I’ll publish at a later date.

    Looking forward to 2.7 being available to the public! Keep up the great work.

    • Thanks for the kind words. Hawaii was amazing. These people “got social” so much better than we have and I’m still processing the experience and lessons learned so I can explain it to everyone. I learn so much from all the people I meet, it kinda feels silly that this is what I do for a living. If we could just cut out the horrid airplane experience and time wasters, this would be even MORE fun. :D

      I’m more excited about WordPress 2.7 than any previous release. Doesn’t seem possible, but they are really pushing WordPress to be better than EVER.

  • Great info as allways i have one site that is still 2.1 how hard would that be to update and keep secure?

    • If you are still using WordPress 2.1, your blog is vulnerable to a number of security issues. How hard is it to keep updated and secure compared to how much time down your site will suffer when hackers find it, and they will. They are looking for older versions to exploit, not because you are famous but just because they can. Which is the greater pain?

      Updating is easy, and once you are on track, and keep informed of any major shifts and changes in Plugins and Themes, then it’s a couple minute thing every few months. With the new version, they will be adding automatic upgrades, making it even easier.

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