18
Aug
WordPress 2.7: Bring it on!
I’m a couple of weeks behind on this news, but it was news to me! I’ve been sick and out of the loop these past weeks, and only just read the list of features planned for WordPress 2.7, due to be released as soon as the end of 2008. I’ll be keeping a close eye out, and will probably jump in and beta test as I did with the 2.5 release.
From Weblog Tools Collection:
Here is a list of features that will be introduced into WordPress 2.7:
- Comments API – This according to me is the most exciting feature, it will allow developers to create offline integration of comments management, where users could use desktop clients to manage comments (moderate, edit, reply, delete, spam, unspam).
- Keyboard shortcuts for comment moderation – This feature will help users to quickly moderate comments using keyboard shortucts, so you can expect key combinations like Ctrl + S to spam a comment, Ctrl + A to approve and so on.
- Theme Update API – WordPress 2.5 and above have really made plugin management quite easy, you automatically receive notices when a new update to a plugin is available and can upgrade it without having to manually upload it to your FTP server. With this addition WordPress aims to bridge the gap between theme developers and the users for publishing updates to themes.
- One Click Plugin Installs – Installing a plugin will be much easier with One click plugin installs. A plugin with similar features called One Click Plugin was the winner of the Plugin Competition last year.
- WordPress core updates – This is a feature many users have been waiting for, with core updates you can easily upgrade your WordPress versions. The WordPress Automatic Upgrade plugin performs the same task.
- Default Sitemaps – WordPress 2.7 will include a default sitemap creator, which will create Google XML sitemaps for your blog. Google Sitemaps Generator plugin is the best option available right now for creating XML sitemaps.
- Admin Panel Comment Replies - This plugin will help administrators to reply to comments using the admin panel. There are several plugins which allow you to do so right now, including WP AJax Edit Comments, Better Comments Manager and Absolute Comments.
- Comment Threading – This feature will allow users to reply to other commentators in a threaded manner, where replied comments will display below the actual comment, WordPress already has the ability to scale to accomodate threaded comments, without requiring database changes. Brian’s Threaded Comments is a does the job of allowing users to reply to comments.
- Subscribe to Comments – The WordPress team is also planning to include a option to allow commentators to subscribe to follow up comments, but this is marked as a question, so it may not actully make it into WordPress 2.7. The Subscribe to Comments plugin does the job to notify commentators on follow up comments.
- Widgets for Dashboard and Write Box – This feature will allow users to re-arrange the widgets on the dashboard and write page to suit their preferences.
- Batch Editing of Posts – This feature will allow users to batch edit their posts. Though there is not much information available about this right now, and I could not really find more from my research on the topic.
It’s going to be a fun winter!
Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts
Rod
I either use or have considered using most of the plugins you mention here, and if I’m at all representative of the average WordPress user (?), I guess it’s no surprise these features are making it into the core. I guess that’s a good thing, as long as core WordPress doesn’t become too bloated and lose focus on its “core” mission.
Web Wench
I agree - I don’t want WordPress to become a nightmare like Mambo or Joomla.. But it gets better with every release, so I’m not too worried. The folks at Automattic seem to be on the right track.
Sue Tupling
I upgraded to 2.6 but downshifted to 2.5 again because of compatibility issues with podpress. i bet they get all that sorted in 2.7. sounds like a done deal. better upgrade to chrome in preparation.
Web Wench
I try to upgrade as soon as they come out, especially if there are security fixes. I’ve found that with 2.5 to 2.6, all the plugins I was using were functional after the upgrade. Podpress wasn’t one of my plugins but you might check the plugin site to see if a fix has been posted.
I bookmarked your site, Sue! Very interesting article on communication - if I ever go back to work in the real world, it will prove very useful!