Wordpress 2.5 next week

Posted by multippt

Looks like Wordpress 2.5 would finally be released next week, most likely on the first of April (and no, it’s not an early April fool’s joke). Wordpress trac no longer gives an accurate time line, but to hint is still there. The release is most likely targetted at 1st of April (though funny that the trac puts it at year 2030). Following Wordpress’s release candidate schedule, if the second release candidate gets the green light, then the final release would most likely occur close to a week after the lastest “stable” release of 2.5, which put the 1st at a very nice place.

In the mean time, Wordpress plugin writers may want to ensure their plugins still works on Wordpress 2.5. The same goes for theme designers, though not much of a problem since nothing much was changed related to the theming system in Wordpress.

Some changes from Wordpress 2.3 to 2.5 that you might want to take note of:
-Easier plugin upgrade (probable): One click and an old plugin is updated to its new version. That is, if the plugin author explicitly states that the plugin supports the new version of Wordpress.
-Revamped administrative interface: One of the most talked about changes in Wordpress 2.5. You’ll have to see it to know what’s change.
-Security change: Your password now even more securely encrypted by Wordpress, keeping your password safe even if a person manages to gain access to the Wordpress database.
-Changes to WYSIWYG editor: The What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get post editor is now revamped to look not too different from the one in blogger. Kinds of makes it easier to switch from Blogger to Wordpress. The location for some features have changed, such as uploading images (now relocated to a small button which when clicked will open up a box for you to upload your stuff immediately).

Firefox 2.0.0.13

Posted by multippt

Firefox dished out yet another update in just a few weeks just a few hours ago (25-26 March). There isn’t really much changes added in this update, mainly security updates.

It’s recommended that you update to this version of Firefox as some of these fixes help patch up security holes that could leave your computer vulnerable to attacks. Automatic updates should kick in immediately when you launch Firefox.

Wordpress 2.5 delayed

Posted by multippt

Wordpress 2.5 has been delayed, but it should be released within the next few days. The next scheduled release is on the 21st of March, according to Wordpress Trac. Already, some feature changes are now quite visible, particularly the revamped administration panel.

Currently, Wordpress 2.5 have been released as a Release Candidate. By all means try, but it’ll probably be much better to actually wait for the final release which would be due in just 2 days time.

What to expect of Wordpress 2.5

Wordpress 2.5 is a new milestone, and as expected, it’s packed with features. Sadly, these features are visible mainly in the administration interface. However, aside from that, the internals of Wordpress have been changed significantly. The following are some notable changes

-Adminstration interface change: Now much more “Web 2.0″ and professional looking. Some details are removed, particularly those that are not of much use to normal users.
-Posting: The post editor have been revamped and now it looks quite similar to Blogger. Some items will moved, such as image uploading.
-Password protection: More have been done to protect your passwords. New passwords will be stored in a more secure manner. There is also a password strength tool which indicates how good your password is, and ranges from “bad” to “strong”.
-Function profiling: Not really much of a big thing to normal users, but a big help to modders who want to tweak their blog inside out.
-Tag management: The earlier version of Wordpress didn’t have the ability to properly manage tags. Wordpress 2.5 changes that with a nice and convenient way of managing your tags.
-Media management: Same as tag management, and is one of the missing feature of Wordpress. This feature allows you to manage your stuff that you embed in your posts, most commonly images that were uploaded.

Wordpress 2.5 due in one week’s time

Posted by multippt

Looks like the next update for Wordpress 2.5 would be delayed by another week (i.e. to be released on 17th March instead of yesterday). According to the Wordpress trac (the system which tracks Wordpress developments), the new version of Wordpress is about 60% complete, with most issues addressed.

The new release of Wordpress 2.5 consist mainly of bug-fixes and some upgrades to the Wordpress administration system. In short:
-The installation procedure is now much cleaner and more nicer-looking.
-New encryption protection for passwords
-A cool-looking administration interface
-”Grouping” of more important tabs in the administration interface
-More visual feedback (e.g. comments icons to indicate a new comment was made)
-Tons of other enhancements

Another thing of note is that Wordpress 2.5 is developed alongside with 2.3.4. Of course, do not expect 2.3.4 to be released, since most features would probably be carried over to Wordpress 2.5.

Entrecard mini updates and Wishlist

Posted by multippt

There are some minor changes in the Entrecard dashboard. More statistics are displayed, and sadly, some were moved away from the front page. The following (statistics) additions are pretty nice:
-Credits earned via ads
-Credits earned via drops
-Currently running ads (i.e. ads that you buy)

Some other changes
-Pending Ads/Your Ads moved to its own page

The changes are pretty minor, so don’t expect much from it.

Wishlist

To make it short and sweet, I decided to put it as a list:
-Entrecard API for plugin makers like me
-Make it possible to view other people’s recent drops (without asking the user)
-Template glitches to be fixed (Internet Explorer)
-Support for more ad sizes
-Support for customizing of the card beyond the black-yellow-white design
-A more “nicer” design of the ad, to cater everyone’s taste

I hope that Phirate will be listening. I’ll be using Entrecard for a while more to see how things go.

Google webmaster tools update and survey

Posted by multippt

Google has always been pretty silent with the updates and all that. This time it’s with Webmasters tools. First up are some minor visual changes. The blue “fill bars” that you see in certain pages like Crawl Stats are now more fatter. Colors used are also now more lighter, making the panel a lot more easier to look at.

Google has also made a survey available as well. You can access the survey via the webmasters panel. Looks like Google wants to improve, so this is your opportunity to vent your complaints and annoyances.

Firefox 2.0.0.12

Posted by multippt

Firefox had another update which fixes several security and stability problems. There were 3 critical security fixes in this version, making it an important update.

There are no feature releases in this version, as it is mainly a security fix.

The update is dished out as an automatic update, but if you didn’t get the update, you can download the update from the Firefox official site.