WordPress 2.7 Beta 3
Beta 3 of WordPress 2.7 is out! According to Word Munger, it was actually released live during WordCamp Charlotte. Read the list of changes here.
WordCamp Philippines 2008 in 5 minutes
Buddy Gancenia has made a video featuring highlights from WordCamp Philippines 2008, all under 5 minutes. Watch it:
Until next year!
Sticky Posts for WordPress.com users
As Matt Mullenweg had mentioned in a demo of WordPress 2.7 “Crazyhorse” during WordCamp’s State of the Word, there will be a new feature called Sticky Posts. It turns out that feature is already installed on WordPress.com blogs. This is patterned after forum posts which you want to keep at the top of the page for everyone to see.
Chances are WordPress.org users have a blog at WordPress.com, so be sure to try out that feature as we await WP 2.7!
WordCamp Philippines launches the Cebu Pacific Blogging Challenge
At WordCamp Philippines last Saturday, a blog contest sponsored by Cebu Pacific airlines was announced. Here’s the official announcement and mechanics of the Cebu Pacific Blogging Challenge.
All you have to do is write a blog post about the destinations of Cebu Pacific, making sure that when you mention the airline you describe it in a positive light. You must also link to them without rel="nofollow", without any other links in the entry.
The top 5 entries, picked by Cebu Pacific and the WordCamp organizers, will each win a domestic airline ticket.
This is open to all bloggers who are 18 years old and above (not just the participants of WordCamp). Contest runs from September 6 to October 31. Register here.
WordCamp Philippines a success!
WordCamp Philippines 2008 is finally over, and I’m sure everybody had a blast. It feels futile to do duplicate it, so get the comprehensive list of blog posts about the recently-concluded event from Jehzlau. Both old (newspapers) and new (bloggers) media coverage can be found there, as well as photos from the event itself and the after-party.
Congratulations to the organizers, volunteers and speakers! And thank you to the sponsors! And of course, it was an honor having Matt Mullenweg fly over to the Philippines and grace this occasion. It won’t be the same without him!
Looking forward to another WordCamp next year—hopefully sooner!
Preview of goodies at WordCamp Philippines 2008
One week to go and the organizers of WordCamp Philippines continue to give sneak peeks of what’s ahead, this time in the form of various memorabilia:
WordPress Admin Dashboard to be updated in 2.7
The admin dashboard is an essential part of what makes WordPress really work, which is why the Automattic team continues to tweak it to ultimate user interface perfection. In the upcoming version 2.7 (nicknamed “Crazyhorse”), WP FUN shares a glimpse of what the new dashboard will look like:
Each of the menu items on the left open and close as needed. Templates contains everything that is in the design tab now. Utilities features the new inbox (which seems to include notifications about WordPress and maybe new comments, but it doesn’t do anything yet) and some of the contents of the manage menu.
The recently-concluded WordCamp also demo-ed Crazyhorse. You can find more pictures here. See the “Riding the Crazyhorse” talk by Liz Danzico of Happy Cog, the company who redesigned the admin interface in WordPress 2.5.
A video courtesy of socialTNT is also embedded below:
Finally, CalinSoft has also posted an in-depth walkthrough of Crazyhorse, though unfortunately it’s in Spanish. (Try Google’s translation here.)
The dashboard is just a critical part of a blogger’s workflow, so it’s a good thing that WordPress is really working hard to continuously improve it.
Matt Mullenweg gives a shoutout to WordCamp Philippines at WordCamp SF 2008
Christian Cabuay reports that Matt Mullenweg mentioned WordCamp Philippines at this year’s WordCamp, held in San Francisco. Apparently the t-shirts for the local WordCamp are his favorite so far. Here’s the video:
People from the audience pointed out that the sun is from the Philippine flag. To the organizers, especially the t-shirt designer Andrew dela Serna, congratulations!
Oh, and if you still want to order a WordCamp PH tee, you’ll be glad to know that ordering has been reopened.
WordCamp 2008 live coverage
WordCamp 2008 is underway right now and Matt Mullenweg recommends ZDNet’s live coverage straight from University of California San Francisco.
Here’s the schedule:
9:00 a.m. The Future of Education and Wordpress -
9:30 a.m. SEO Mistakes Most Bloggers Make - Stephan Spencer
10:00 a.m. Open Source Business Models - Stephen O’Grady
10:50 a.m. Andy Skelton - A musical performance
11:00 a.m. LOLcats and the Secret of Virality
11:30 a.m. Wordpress & Microformats
12:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. Switching to Wordpress Painlessly - Lloyd Budd
1:20 p.m. 450 Wordpress Power User Tips - Lorelle VanFossen
1:40 p.m. Hassle-free Upgrades - Sam Bauers
2:00 p.m. State of the Word - Matt Mullenweg
3:00 p.m. Get Friendly with BuddyPress - Andy Peatling
3:20 p.m. Democratizing the Web through Global Voices - Jeremy Clarke
3:40 p.m. An interview with Om Malik
4:00 p.m. Riding the Crazyhorse - Liz Danzico and Jane Wells
5:00 p.m. A musical performance by Chuck Lewis aka SEO Rapper
5:10 p.m. Kicking Ass and Creating Passionate Users - Kathy Sierra
Visit the blog post for a glimpse of what’s to come for our very own WordCamp Philippines. It’s a good read not only for WordPress fans but also for bloggers and technology enthusiasts in general.
See also the live Twitter updates coming in via its search interface.
WordCamp Philippines camper’s passes, venue guidelines, and morning session signups
Those who registered for WordCamp Philippines should have received their Camper’s Pass by now, which will be exchanged for the Camper’s badge and kit on the day of the event.
Participants should also take note of the venue guidelines which were emailed and posted at the website. You’ll have to register your equipment if you’re bringing gadgets larger than cellphones/PDAs. Be sure to bring a valid ID and leave your slippers at home.
Finally, please do register for the breakaway sessions in the morning so the organizers have a good idea of the audience size per topic. The complete schedule for the whole day is posted here. And if you didn’t make it to the list of registered campers, you’ll be glad to know that you can still attend those sessions.
WordPress 2.6.1 Beta 1
WordPress 2.6.1 Beta 1 is out. You might want to grab it now, or wait until an official release arrives, which Ryan Boren says will arrive around the time of this year’s WordCamp San Francisco.
Here’s another tip from him:
With 2.6.1, we’re continuing our trend of releasing a dot one release about a month after dot zero. We want to get fixes for the inevitable dot zero bugs into your hands without a long wait. If you’re happy with 2.6, you can ignore 2.6.1.
There are over 50 fixes, a lot of which address the typos in code and major bugs—like the 404 error that turns up when your permalink structure is /index.php/%postname%/.
WordCamp SF badges will use Gravatars; What about WordCamp Philippines?
Update: Andy Peatling has released the source for generating gravatar-powered badges for conferences. Find out how.
Here’s an interesting new development in the upcoming WordCamp—WordCamp San Francisco, that is. Camper badges will use the gravatars of the registered attendees.
So now I wonder if the folks organizing WordCamp Philippines will do the same. This also begs the question as to how many Filipino WordPress users—and Filipino bloggers in general—use Gravatars. Do you?
WordCamp Philippines 2008 topics, speakers, schedules posted; sign up for the sessions now!
Campers will now have a good idea of how WordCamp Philippines 2008 will go as the event schedule has just been posted.
In the morning there will be breakaway sessions under the deployment and development tracks. Unfortunately you can’t attend all of them and you have to indicate which one you plan to be in.
After lunch, there will be plenary sessions from Matt Mullenweg, Aileen Apolo, and Regnard Raquedan. This will be followed by a powwow with Matt, an installfest, and the after-party at mag:net Cafe.
WordCamp Philippines 2008 t-shirts and WordPress merchandise are coming soon!
Available in royal blue and maroon (said to match the colors of the Philippine flag), the WordCamp Philippines 2008 t-shirts are now available for pre-orders at Php400 each. Since the tees will be available by August, you can have them sent via courier or pick them up on the day of the WordCamp itself.
You can also expect official WordPress goodies like t-shirts and mugs. It looks like the campers will be taking home a lot of stuff from this event!
They’re selling for P400 each — tailored, great fit, the works! You’ll also get your hands on WordPress t-shirts and mugs, but that’ll be for the event proper. For now, you can order WordCamp Philippines t-shirts ahead of September.
Click here for the t-shirt designs, measurements, and of course the ordering form.
Take note of these reminders for WordCamp Philippines
The organizers of WordCamp Philippines have several more announcements you should be aware of:
- There are 350 allocated slots for participants and so far, 220 have registered.
- Only those who follow the required blog post format will get their camper’s badges and kits. This will serve as your ticket to the event.
- Try to update your blog post with the new list of sponsors.
- A WordCamp Philippines t-shirt will be sold for Php400, in royal blue or deep red.
- Finally: Matt Mullenweg is coming.
I think the last bullet point is reason enough to be there.
WordCamp Philippines Venue, Topics, Call for Sponsors
What’s the latest with the planning stages of WordCamp Philippines? Three major things. First, a venue has been finalized: College of St. Benilde in Taft Ave., Manila. Since the actual city of this WordCamp event has been decided upon, I think it’s fair to call it “WordCamp Manila” as well, in the tradition of the first WordCamp, which was in San Francisco.
Next up are the topics. No speakers have been announced yet, although we’re expecting—right now it’s hoping—some very famous names in the WordPress community to drop by. In the meantime, some ideas for the sessions during WordCamp have been posted, and you can leave your own suggestions through the contact form.
Finally, some money matters. Sponsorship packages have been posted, which not only give you an idea of how much needs to be spent for this event to be a success, but it also hints at the goodies WordCamp participants will be receiving.
So things are finally shaping up for the very first WordCamp Philippines. If you haven’t marked your calendars yet, again, it’s on September 6th. See you there!
WordCamp Philippines in the Works (UPDATED May 9)
It’s official: there’s a WordCamp Philippines coming this 2008. As if we haven’t had our fill of blogging events over the past few weeks! What makes WordCamp so different is that it’s solely dedicated to WordPress users. This is definitely a first here in this country.
A group of WordPress enthusiasts, developers and users are embarking on this project to bring WordCamp to the Philippines for the first time. The core of this group successfully organized the 1st Mindanao Bloggers Summit, which was held in Davao City last 27 October 2007. This time, they are targeting a more nationwide scope, but for more focused content.
There’s not much information available yet, but it’s pretty obvious who’s spearheading this initiative. Be sure to subscribe to the WordCamp Philippines feed for any new developments. I sure hope they make all those WordPress goodies available at the event!
Update (May 8): There will be a meeting on May 9 at Fagioli Coffee Club in Davao City. The core group for the WordCamp Philippines organizing committee has also been revealed.
Update (May 9): More details trickle in via this Inquirer news article. Expect highly specialized sessions on creating and running blogs with WordPress.
