WordPress 3.0 Released

An anonymous reader writes "WordPress 3.0, the thirteenth major release of WordPress and the culmination of half a year of work by 218 contributors, is now available for download and comes with 1,217 bug fixes and feature enhancements. Major new features in this release include a new default theme called Twenty Ten. Theme developers have new APIs that allow them easily to implement custom backgrounds, headers, shortlinks, menus (no more file editing), post types, and taxonomies."

Comments

Thanks Wordpress

[elrous0]

Well, anything that helps create more blogs is a good thing. There are still literally dozens of housewives out there *NOT* letting us know that Jeremy pooped in his potty for the first time today.

Re:Thanks Wordpress

[elrous0]

Actually, I've met many tools who control people. Here is a picture of one of them.

Re:Thanks Wordpress

[Abcd1234]

Yes, because god knows those are the only types of blogs in existence...

Re:Thanks Wordpress

[elrous0]

Now, now, that's no way to talk in front of Jeremy.

Re:Thanks Wordpress

[Anonymous Coward]

Blaming WordPress for crappy blogs is like blaming furniture when you stumble over it.

Grab a grip man.

Re:Thanks Wordpress

[ale_ryu]

You guys do have a point, but it's not always like that. I installed wordpress last week for the first time and I find it awesome. My blog is not actually about what happens to me or my dog, I use it as an online curriculum, I have only made a single post (not much free time right now) but it's an interesting way to promote yourself when you're a freelance developer. You can show your work and past experiences in an informal yet acceptable way. Of course there's always going to be one useful blog for every 1298389238 blogs about pets and babies and funny youtube videos,but the whole internet is like that, not just the blogs.

Re:Thanks Wordpress

[Abcd1234]

No kidding! All blogs are worthless. AMIRITE??

Re:Thanks Wordpress

[steelfood]

I think that looks more like a person controlling tools to me.

Re:Thanks Wordpress

[fm6]

Wrong use case. It's important to know about your friends' kids' bowel habits in real time. That's why thoughtful parents use Twitter. Blogs should be reserved for more analytical communications.

Re:Thanks Wordpress

[enoz]

A tool using his *magical and revolutionary* tools to control tools.

Re:Thanks Wordpress

[sakdoctor]

Either most people have migrated their douchebaggery to social networking sites; or those types of blogs have become far less visible.

Re:Thanks Wordpress

[JeremyDuffy]

I resent that. I haven't pooped in weeks!

Re:Wordperfect

[elrous0]

Wow, I googled it and was surprised to discover it was actually still around. I though Corel had disappeared years ago.

My first word processor software...brings back so many memories.

The upgrade process was painless

[asv108]

The automatic upgrade feature works really well. I painlessly upgraded from 2.x to 3.x through the admin interface. The only caveat is that the integrated update requires ftp/ftps. Bravo to the wordpress team for continually improving a great product.

Re:The upgrade process was painless

[Mr. DOS]

The only caveat is that the integrated update requires ftp/ftps.

Supposedly, if you have the permissions set correctly on the WordPress files (no, I can't figure it out either, although it did happen once by magic when I used an automated installer), the autoupdater doesn't even need this.

Re:The upgrade process was painless

[mitchell_pgh]

I clicked one bottom and it updated. Everything seems to be working normally.

What fun is this ;)

Re:The upgrade process was painless

[zonky]

allowing apache write access to the wordpress install dir is _never_ correct I have a ftp server listening on the local host for a different set of credentials. It's like sudo for a web app...

Re:The upgrade process was painless

[lenova]

Supposedly, if you have the permissions set correctly on the WordPress files (no, I can't figure it out either, although it did happen once by magic when I used an automated installer), the autoupdater doesn't even need this.

If you have access to your wp-config.php file, you can enable the autoupdater without FTP by adding this line:

define('FS_METHOD','direct');

WordPress will now update directly without requiring FTP access.

(Source: Random Tech Solutions)

Re:The upgrade process was painless

[fearlezz]

Great for you! Unfortunately, I'm not that lucky most of the time. I'm running about 40 WP sites, the largest being a 25.000+ readers/day site. I have a couple of dozen of custom plugins, which all work perfectly. But with every single upgrade, something breaks.

One time, filters/actions are removed. Another time, getting some option was moved from get_option to get_transient, causing a few plugins to break. Next time, the very same option was moved back from get_transient to get_option.

With the upgrade from 2.9.1 to 2.9.2, time() broke, causing date("H") to switch back and forth one our with a simple reload page. Since some of my plugins rely on a time they can trust.

I really love WordPress, but the upgrade trouble every single time, is driving me crazy.

Re:The upgrade process was painless

[Knara]

Sounds like your issue is with plugins, not with Wordpress.

Re:The upgrade process was painless

[i_ate_god]

Sounds like your issue is with plugins, not with Wordpress.

It sounds like both the plugins, wordpress, and the admin himself.

Wordpress should not mess with the API without warning. That warning should come in the form of depreciated functions in one version, removal one or two versions after.

The plugins might take advantage of undocumented APIs, or perform some hacks to accomplish a task.

The admin should always read the changelog.

Re:The upgrade process was painless

[TimmyRt]

Thanks so much for that. Sure it somewhere, but I never saw it. I could never get my upgrades working through FTP and this works great!

Re:Wordperfect

[thoughtsatthemoment]

I am surprised it hasn't defeated Word on Mac.

Good to hear

[jrozzi]

Even though our company writes our own CMS and e-commerce software, I am glad to see Wordpress moving forward. Some of our clients prefer to use Wordpress over our own CMS simply because it's free. The more I use Wordpress the more I like it. Sure, the code is messy, but maybe the new Wordpress 3 cleans some things up. It is also good for web development companies to offer integration of their software in to Wordpress which can expand your client base. Maybe one day we will open source our CMS software once it's ready.

Re:Good to hear

[jalefkowit]

The more I use Wordpress the more I like it.

Don't worry! That is a well understood condition.

Re:Good to hear

[word_virus]

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

You're Absolutely Right

[RobotRunAmok]

How easy it is to implement a blog is always a sure indicator of that blog's content quality. I have found that the blogs which are hard-coded from scratch using vi atop LAMP hacked onto a toaster oven are inevitably post-modern literary masterpieces.

Software developers and computer hobbyists inevitably make the best writers, don't you agree?

Re:You're Absolutely Right

[Joe Tie.]

Well, yes. I'm interested in software and computers. So someone running a blog on their toaster will have a lot more that I'm interested in than a housewife with a masters degree in english lit.

hmmm how about hreview markup in the editor ?

[johnjones]

that would be nice

lots of blogs are infact reviews or opinions on things it would be nice to actually mark that up in a review format...

publishing and sorting more things into taxonomies would be nice

I have high hopes...

regards

John Jones

Re:Wordperfect

[ari_j]

WordPerfect for Mac? I don't know that it exists, much less is poised to defeat Word on that platform. I'd love to get it, though, as I am stuck using WordPerfect 12 at work and can't readily open and edit files at home because I'm all-Mac there.

Re:Wordperfect

[Paracelcus]

I really hated that blank blue screen, was a Wordstar user.

Re:Wordperfect

[m.ducharme]

Corel gave up supporting Wordperfect on the Mac several years ago, much to my chagrin.

Re:Wordperfect

[thoughtsatthemoment]

I don't know about that either. It's just in my imagination WordPerfect should have gone on to another battlefield and claimed victory already.

3.0, the XIIIth

[Junior J. Junior III]

"WordPress 3.0, the thirteenth major release "

If only there were some way of counting major releases, such that one could tell how many there were, and by extension, know how many versions had been released prior...

Re:3.0, the XIIIth

[commodore64_love]

You mean like Windows NT 6.1 ("Seven")? ;-)

But seriously I was wondering the same thing - if it's been around for 13 releases, why's it only at 3? Maybe it's like Apple OS which is only on 10.x and yet has had so many major updates (7.0, 7.1, 7.5, 7.6, 8.0, 8.1, 8.5, 8.6, 9.0, 9.1, 9.2, 10.0, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5, 10.6) that I've lost count of how many revisions that is.

Re:3.0, the XIIIth

[ArundelCastle]

If only there were some way of counting major releases, such that one could tell how many there were, and by extension, know how many versions had been released prior...

So sayeth Junior J. Junior III. Who didn't have a Great-grandfather, because his DNA was open sourced.

Re:3.0, the XIIIth

[lennier]

Mac OS is like Doctor Who - it got rebooted at 10, but then there's the Eccleston era, the Tenant/Piper era, the... Matt Smith is Snow Leopard, I guess is what I'm saying.

Beyond the Blog

[mitchell_pgh]

WordPress 3.0 is somewhat of a snoozer if you are only using it as a single person blogging platform...

BUT, those of us that have been using WordPress as a quasi-CMS are filled with joy. This update brings us one step closer to a full blown CMS, if we aren't there already.

Re:Beyond the Blog

[joh]

WP has long been the way to go if you just want to have a site with a few pages and something like a news page. It's very much like a blog turned on its head then but, hey. Much easier and quicker to handle and to maintain than hand-crafted HTML or a full-blown CMS. It's also easy to extend and to modify.

WP has a bad reputation but for many things it sits just in the right place between being a hack and an organized system.

Re:Beyond the Blog

[the_womble]

That is exactly what I do not like about where Wordpress is going. I just want a simple blog. If I want a simple CMS I use one (my current choice is Wolf), and if I want a heavily customised site I use a framework (I like Django).

I am likely to move to a hosted blog instead. Posterous would be nice if they could import comments (I suppose I could write a script to do it though their API).

Re:Malformed HTML

[Mr. DOS]

One of those errors – the first – relates to Facebook integration. The rest all stem from the two Flash videos. Everything else is technically just peachy (although their formatting leaves something to be desired).

Re:Wordperfect

[commodore64_love]

There used to be a WordPerfect for Mac, because that's what I used during the 90s. There was also a WordPerfect for the Commodore Amiga that I used a lot.

Re:Malformed HTML

[Milkyfresh]

I can understand why, when your homepage produces this.

Missing Features

[ProfessionalCookie]

They might have fixed a lot but it's a glaring fault not to have ajax comment support built into the default theme or the core. In fact I have yet to locate a single ajax comment plugin that still works.

We live in a a Facebook world where no one expects a page load to post a comment. Not even slashdot. Hope that gets sorted soon.

Re:Missing Features

[ProfessionalCookie]

I guess it wouldn't be such a terrible omission if the theme wasn't called twentyten.

I guess the news with twentyten is the ability to customize background and header images and built in support for drop-down menus.

I'm not sure what's modern about that feature list. It seems like html5, video, ajax everything and social integration would have been better choices. The current list is more like nineteen-ninty-eight. Am I missing it?

Re:Missing Features

[Hadlock]

We live in a a Facebook world

In addition to loading new pages for comments, it would have been neat to see a "like" feature (toggled off by default). A lot of people keep personal blogs that a few people read regularly, but don't have time/interest in actually commenting on a post.

Re:Missing Features

[Knara]

Sure. Though its trivial to add "like" buttons using a text widget.

Re:Missing Features

[Anonymous Coward]

The Disqus comment system plugin works perfectly fine for me...

Re:Missing Features

[ProfessionalCookie]

Thanks, but that's a little different. That's good if you're into shelling out control to a 3rd party and stamping their logo on your site. May as well be an iframe.

No I'm talking about native support. Another external option is IntenseDebate but I just want a simple, native, not 3rd party ajax comment posting solution. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm to play with admin-ajax.php

Getting there...

[WankersRevenge]

I've been using wordpress since it was called b2 and wow the project has made great strides in usability. The one big thing I'd love for them to tackle is a database abstraction layer. I'm sure mysql isn't going anywhere in the near to mid-term, but I'd like to have other options available. In any case, congrats to the dev team.

Re:Getting there...

[kchrist]

We talked about that with Matt Mullenweg at Wordcamp PDX last year and it's not going to happen. It seems the main obstacles are a) database abstraction layers like PEAR DB or ADOdb are too big, and b) it would require an enormous amount of work. The idea seems to be that since basically everyone can use MySQL, that's all they need.

Re:Wordperfect

[Knara]

Fuck yeah joe, I mean, Wordstar.

(I used "joe" instead of vi, emacs, or pico for years and years on Linux)

"a new default theme called Twenty Ten."

[uofitorn]

Oh! I see what you did there.

RE:

[helix2301]

I hope my hosting provider upgrades to the new version I could use some of those new features for my blog :)

Re:Wordperfect

[Achra]

Wow, Wordperfect was your first word processor? You have just failed to date yourself, friend. My first word processor software was WordStar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ws7_xp.PNG Seriously, though, I do miss those little templates that wordperfect used to ship with, the ones that would tell you that F12 performed obscure functionality foo and Ctrl-F11 performed super obscure functionality bar. Good times.

Since no one has asked yet...

[Coppit]

I have to ask: Is it no longer a steaming pile of security holes? Seriously, most people I know have given up blogs and moved to Facebook or some hosted blogging service to get their message out. After getting hacked a couple of times I've put it in the same category as PHPNuke -- too much trouble to be worth it to anyone for whom it's not their job.

Re:Wordperfect

[oatworm]

My first word processor was WordStar as well, only it ran on an Apple //e equipped with a Microsoft CP/M Softcard. That said, I do seem to remember having a batch of stickers that you could apply to your keyboard that sort of mimicked Wordperfect's keyboard templates.

Good release for users, even better for developers

[Demetris]

3.0 is a good release for end-users, and it would be a good release even without the eye-catching additions. For developers and theme makers it is even better, because it makes their jobs easier. It continues to improve under the hood. And it still has areas where there is much room for improvement. (A part I do not particularly enjoy is its cluttered interface, but at least you can customize and unclutter it.)

I published a detailed write-up on what WordPress 3.0 brings for end-users and for developers:

http://op111.net/76 -- WordPress 3.0: What is new

Hope you find it useful!

Not always just the right place

[weston]

An Exercise in WordPress Integration: Or, Why WordPress Sucks.

Re:Wordperfect

[Paracelcus]

In Uni*/Linux I use Emacs.

We were talking about DOS/Win/OS2