WordPress 2.7: Hip or Not?

This article comes a bit late as WordPress 2.7.1 has already been released and I have written about it a week ago. However, many of you aren’t so sure about what ver. 2.7 has in store for you and why you should upgrade to ver. 2.7 and above. Let me do a brief review of this powerful WordPress version.

Bloggers from all over the world were all eyes and ears on December 10 of 2008 because version 2.7 was released. This was named after the legendary American jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane. Lots of attention was received because it has several new features and the WordPress team claims that this version comes with a great user interface rearrangement. The Administration Panel interface is said to make WordPress more accessible and utilizable. With quite a lot of significant new elements and designs added, many avid bloggers ask, “Is this updated version worth a try?” Let us find out.

The first thing that people noticed on this newly available WP 2.7 Coltrane is its plain and faster environment. Publishing your blog will only take a few clicks compared to the earlier versions. The Dashboard Panel has also changed. Now, it can be easily arranged. Using your mouse, just drag and drop the things you want to organize and position your favorite on top of the others. Aside from this, you can also customize every screen through clicking the “Screen Options.” Same thing applies with the dashboard modules or the write screen. For instance, if you want your posting area to be in full screen, just click the arrow on the screen. This will minimize the arrow to an icon. You can go to the write page and start dragging and dropping every module from the right column to the main one. In addition, the once-top navigation has been changed to side navigation, which will eventually allow numerous amounts of plugins. This ingenious side navigation helps users to collapse and expand sections or reveal submenus without opening a new page.

Regarding themes, several bloggers may have found that their themes do not work the way they used to when they were still using the older versions of WordPress. Unfortunately for some, there are themes that may have been broken and will no longer work for the 2.7 Coltrane version. Do not worry, though. It is still possible that you can patch them up and use them again through updating a few settings and editing things a bit. There are also features from this new WordPress that rely on the theme you are using. Examples are the threaded and paginated comments. The paginated comments feature is especially useful for those sites that have several comments. You can define how many comments you want to appear on every page instead of displaying hundreds of them and disinterest those who will visit your blog. This feature was already available in WordPress but you have to download a plugin first. With this version, it is constructed into the core. The threaded comments element is for you and your blog followers to track conversations easily. Here, you can adjust the levels of those nested replies.

Many bloggers have found the new features of WordPress 2.7 very valuable especially Sticky Posts on the write screen. This “sticky” feature enables bloggers to permanently fix a post on the front page of the blog. There is also a QuickPress module that is added to this new version. This permits bloggers to create posts or drafts quicker. If you have created a draft, it will appear in your Recent Drafts section. This will save you a lot of time as well as the Automatic Upgrade option found in the Tools menu and a plugin browser, which will enable you to install or select your choices of plugins without leaving the WordPress site. Another big time-saver is the Mass-edit feature of WordPress 2.7. Here, you can edit multiple pages or posts through clicking the Posts menu. You can check the boxes for the posts or pages you want to edit and then you can save the changes afterwards.

Aside from the mentioned handy features of the new WordPress 2.7, there is also a word counter underneath the description editor. However, like all the other programs created, this WordPress version is not perfect. There are some people who have complained that the automatic updates feature does not work all the time and the dashboard stats do not fit in their boxes. Also there are features that were not included in the Coltrane version such as default shortcodes and sitemaps, menu editor and documentation links, which are for functions that were used in the updated and edited templates.

Progressing from WordPress 2.6 to 2.7 has been a very drastic change though. Many bloggers have commented how effective and more flexible this is. Several useful upgrades have shaped interest in the world of blogging. The developers surely want to make it easier for you to blog. This new WordPress allows you to upload pictures, videos or any files without even creating a post. Bloggers have found this quite beneficial especially when they are feeling a little bit lazy and just want to add media to their library. The convenient shortcuts menu is located near the blog title in the header. This allows the user to have access to the frequently used pages such as comments and add new post with a single click. There are also keyboard shortcut keys. To approve a comment you have selected, you can press “a” or if you want to delete the comment, you can press “d”. You can go to your Profile Panel and check the checkbox for keyboard shortcuts to enable shortcuts for your comments.

Blogging is all about you. Here, you express your feelings, thoughts, ideas, opinions, beliefs and so on. Developers have declared it is possible that this may be last time you will ever have to upgrade WordPress manually and although blogging beginners may find it a little bit hard to start advancing, take some time to adjust and soon enough, you will be blogging nonstop. WordPress is a remarkable publishing platform and this new version is genuinely positive upgrade. WordPress 2.7 has been created to optimize every true blogger’s blogging experience and is definitely worth a try!