Wireframes of the WordPress 2.7 dashboard
One of the biggest things the WordPress development team is working on for the 2.7 release is the admin dashboard. And they’ve released a PDF containing wireframes of that interface.
WordPress 2.7 is a work in progress. These wireframes attempt to document the current state of or plans for the application. In some cases, elements may change as development proceeds, either because of technical issues or to address usability issues. In addition, elements may change during the visual design stage. These wireframes are a guide for development that will be updated as necessary, and are not set in stone.
We’ve seen demos of Crazyhorse before, but the PDF file explains in more depth what to expect in terms of the layout and functionality of the administration interface.
WordPress MU 2.6.2
WordPress MU 2.6.2 is a required upgrade with several significant bug fixes, though no urgent security issues (unlike WordPress 2.6.2).
Download the latest version of WordPress MU here.
Google says don’t use pretty permalinks!
We all love our WordPress pretty permalinks, don’t we? Aside from making our blog post links a lot more readable for other people, we’ve always believed Google favored them over the obscure dynamically generated URLs. Well Google has set the record straight in a recent entry at their Webmaster Blog.
While static URLs might have a slight advantage in terms of clickthrough rates because users can easily read the urls, the decision to use database-driven websites does not imply a significant disadvantage in terms of indexing and ranking. Providing search engines with dynamic URLs should be favored over hiding parameters to make them look static.
Here are Google’s recommendations:
- Avoid reformatting a dynamic URL to make it look static
- Keep your URLs short (this applies to all URLs, whether static or dynamic)
Does that mean we shouldn’t be taking advantage of WordPress’ built-in URL rewriting system just to avoid penalties in the search engine optmization department? I’ll take readability over PageRank anyday, thank you very much.
WordPress.com users can go ad-free (for a fee)
Matt Mullenweg has just announced at the WordPress.com blog that based on their experimentation with Google ads, they’ve decided to make displaying advertisements optional—but for a fee.
…Light advertising has allowed us to focus on free features for you guys rather than paid upgrades, and enabled us to invest in infrastructure so your blog is always fast and reliable and never shows a fail whale.
[...]
The No-ads upgrade can be purchased for 30 credits a year ($0.08 a day) through the Upgrades tab in your blog’s dashboard.
So that basically answers two things: (1) it costs a lot to keep things free so they’re running ads, though only at a reasonable amount; and (2) yes, you can finally remove them, though you’ll have to pay for it.
The next question would have to be: will WordPress.com users be able to make money for themselves by running their own ads? Matt says they’re thinking about it, though take note that it will probably a paid upgrade too.
Is WordPress getting too “fat” and vulnerable?
Vladimir Prelovac has written a very insightful critique about the direction of WordPress development. He states several concerns with what this piece of blogging software is turning into. First we have bloat:
But more importantly, I have noticed that WordPress is not developing “far” anymore, and it started going “wide” instead. By this I mean there are less inventions and new technologies with every update. There is just more functionality that relies on current existing technologies.
[...]
WordPress started out like Google, but is now becoming more and more like Yahoo. It stopped going “far” and started becoming fat (”wide”). It is becoming slow and clumsy.
Second, we have security issues, most notably with WordPress plugins. Jeff Chandler at Performancing suggests the WordPress community could adopt phpBB’s plugin validation system.
All in all, Vladimir wants WordPress to focus on speed, simplicity, and security in future WordPress versions.
You’ll find Matt Mullenweg’s answers in the comments section. He mentions WP 2.3 is a lot more bloated and insecure than WP 2.6—better beware of this fact for those who haven’t upgraded! He also says he’s aware of speed issues, hence the integration with Google Gears, and the constant drive towards improving the backend:
I’m obsessed with speed. On the backend WP has done a ton to speed itself up, as evidenced by the fact that it now runs the largest blogs in the world. More than 1.6 billion pageviews a month are going through WordPress.
As for plugins, this is what Matt had to say:
There are some automated things we do to watch out for bad stuff but ultimately I think we need a human team of volunteers to keep an eye on plugin changesets. Is this something you’d be interested in helping out with?
What do you think? I think that as long as there is a strong community backing up WordPress, such issues will never go unnoticed. I can only hope that this same community continues to help out with new initiatives, such as plugin and theme inspection.
Winners of the WordPress Plugin Competition 2.5 announced
Download some highly useful WordPress plugins from the winners of the recently-concluded WordPress Plugin Competition 2.5 by Weblog Tools Collection:
Vote2Publish
Best WPMU compatible plugin, First Prize
WPWall
Best WPMU compatible plugin, Consolation Prize
Prelovac
Consolation Prize
WP Easy Uploader
Third Prize
Manageable
Second Prize
WP Comment Remix
Grand Prize
Congratulations to all the participants (who each received $10 for their efforts)!
More previews of WordPress 2.7
We’ve got two more previews of the highly-anticipated new version of WordPress, slated to be released by November:
Stalking the Wild 2.7 by Ryan Boren and A Peek at WordPress 2.7 by Mae Paulino. One’s a list of the features that are sure to be included in WordPress 2.7, and the other’s a screen-by-screen tour of what you get when you install WP 2.7 right now.
It’s hard to point out all the notable features of WordPress 2.7 because almost all of them are significant improvements, and that’s not including even more ones they want to sneak in. WP 2.7 is sure to be a major upgrade on your blog, if you don’t already know. So be ready!
As always, keep track of real-time progress by the team at the WordPress Development Updates blog.
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!
Grab official WordPress colors, logos, buttons, and wallpapers now!
Spread the love of WordPress with the official collection of colors, logos, buttons, and wallpapers for all the gadgets and promotional work you need. They’re available in all the imaginable file formats, dimensions, and color combinations.
Note that the official colors of WordPress are blue (Pantone 7468; CMYK 97, 44, 26, 3; Hex #21759b; RGB 33, 117, 155), orange (Pantone 1665; CMYK 6, 86, 100, 1; Hex #d54e21; RGB 213, 78, 33), and grey (Pantone Black 7; CMYK 65, 60, 60, 45; Hex #464646; RGB 70, 70, 70).
Don’t forget to fan WordPress on Facebook as well!
(Via)
Questioning WordPress user satisfaction & status as a CMS
I found this Content Management Survey Results by Steve Smith of Ordered List, with WordPress having the highest usage among the respondents (173 out of 189).
One of the more interesting features of the survey was the user satisfaction levels among CMSs. WordPress had a rate of 85% (44% “it’s OK” plus 41% “very satisfied”), though lagging behind Expression Engine, which was at 94% (30% “it’s OK” plus 64% “very satisifed”).
Enter the comments who question WordPress as a full-fledged CMS and dismiss it as a mere blogging platform. Granted, the structure of WordPress really is meant for blogging. But why deprive it of the term “Content Management System”? Is it because WordPress isn’t generic enough? Should WordPress have to aspire for the title of a “true” CMS, or are people happy with the direction it’s going?
