So noticing that Matt Mullenweg blogged that there was a release candidate for Wordpress 2.5 up I decided to try an upgrade to see what the fuss was all about.
From the official Wordpress blog:
A customizable dashboard, multi-file upload, built-in galleries, one-click plugin upgrades, tag management, built-in Gravatars, full text feeds, and faster load times sound interesting? Then WordPress 2.5 might be the release for you. It's been in the oven for a while, and we're finally ready to open the doors a bit to give you a taste.
Pretty big list, but how easy the upgrade? Easy as ever. I did a quick backup at lunch (while sitting in the Roxy no less) including a database backup then deleted the site. Next I opened up Transmit (thanks to Verso for introducing that tasty little app to me). and uploaded the shiny new Wordpress 2.5 and then ran the upgrader. It finished in record time (about 5 seconds less than the last upgrade script I did) which was my first nice reaction. Logging in and seeing the new dashboard was fantastic. Nice neatly divided boxes compartmentalizing each different section. Seeing the stats graph integrated into the dashboard is a masterful idea. The only real wish I had is that they were rearrangeable using AJAX and some css (might be a nice plugin if I can find the time before someone else beats me to it. Speaking of plugins I did finally have to stop using Tiger admin plugin I’ve been using for a couple years. I will definitely miss having the navigation bar on the side instead of the top. Also a nice new feature to play with is the fullscreen editing mode. No other distractions on the page. Just a big huge word fillable area.
So after testing all the rest of my plugins I didn’t see any other problems. I did notice that Gravatar’s had an upgrade notice on the plugins page. I clicked the upgrade now link and after quickly typing in my server info it upgraded perfectly. Ironically I just noticed that I no longer need that plugin since the functionality has been written into the core code. Excellent!
Next up is an attempt at using the new media manager and gallery tool (now added to the neatly upgraded TinyMCE toolbar in the write window). I’m using some old artwork as well as an unused rough draft of the redesign of this site since it was handy.
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- Old logo for the webhosting company I used to own.
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- Promo cover for an unreleased album I did.
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- Teaser image for dreamflicks.com prior to launch.
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- Unused theme design template. Loved the header but didn’t really work.
Pretty easy to add. Select the files you want, click upload and then using some nice ajaxy goodness you can edit the description of each photo and alter the title.
All in all this is an amazing upgrade and quite a nice bit of work both under the hood and on the front. It’s nice that so much from the old “shuttle” concept has finally made it into the code. Looking forward to continuing to experiment with the theme design as well as figuring out what other surprises I might find as I explore the tasty goodness of wordpress’ php.
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[Insert obligatory grumpy old fart comment here]
Man, you first-release hair-trigger adopters! I remember back when there was no “release candidate” version and none of this newfangled “incremental release” crap. You youngun’s these days! When I was a software kid we got our bits on stacks of floppies and had to wait years between cycles! Installs took hours and hours, swapping floppies and listening to the whir of the drives … and we LIKED IT! ‘Cause before that we had to do it by punchcard … heh, heh, yeah, we did it by punchcard, and we liked it!
[Now returning you to your regularly scheduled program]
[Insert obligatory grumpy old fart comment here]
Man, you first-release hair-trigger adopters! I remember back when there was no “release candidate” version and none of this newfangled “incremental release” crap. You youngun’s these days! When I was a software kid we got our bits on stacks of floppies and had to wait years between cycles! Installs took hours and hours, swapping floppies and listening to the whir of the drives … and we LIKED IT! ‘Cause before that we had to do it by punchcard … heh, heh, yeah, we did it by punchcard, and we liked it!
[Now returning you to your regularly scheduled program]
Very cool. Have you had a chance to test out any of your plugins yet? I’d like to know if the Clean Archives plugin works without problems as well as the MooDash.
No I haven;t yet checked any of my plugins. I’ve still got to go through and check the coding to make sure it follows the new guidelines as well as make a few changes here and there.
One of my major goals is going to be revamping the Tiger Admin plugin created by Steve Smith at Ordered List so it’s compatible.
Very cool. Have you had a chance to test out any of your plugins yet? I’d like to know if the Clean Archives plugin works without problems as well as the MooDash.
No I haven;t yet checked any of my plugins. I’ve still got to go through and check the coding to make sure it follows the new guidelines as well as make a few changes here and there.
One of my major goals is going to be revamping the Tiger Admin plugin created by Steve Smith at Ordered List so it’s compatible.