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WordPress 2.7 is coming! Usually you think of point releases as just a few new features, but 2.7 is a big deal. If you skipped 2.6 or the three security releases since, I can understand, but you will want 2.7 as soon as it is released. It is currently scheduled for November 10th.
There are a bunch of reasons to upgrade, but I think I can sum it up by saying that 2.7 gives you the option to have exactly the features you want. All of them, and nothing more. So what are the great new features in 2.7? Everything you choose.
There is just one catch. Upgrading.
For anyone who has done this before it is usually no fun at all. Painful really. But that is why I am posting today. I wanted to tell you about a plugin that you can add to your blog that will make upgrading a lot faster, safer and easier. This will actually be a part of 2.7 core functionality, but for the upgrade to 2.7, I highly recommend installing this plugin.
The Wordpress Automatic upgrade will take you through each step of the upgrade process. It gives you a one-click option to create backups then puts your blog in maintenance mode, installs files, and finishes the upgrade. You can get it here:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-automatic-upgrade/
I know what you are thinking. Installing plugins is painful, too!
Fair enough. WordPress 2.7 is going to fix that for you. It will make finding, installing, and upgrading plugins a matter of a few clicks. If you are wanting to install or test several plugins before 2.7 you can get this functionality early using the “Single Click Plugin Updater WordPress Plugin.” [Update: WordPress 2.7 now has a really cool feature to make adding plugins easy but it does not help you uninstall them, and it does not handle themes. This plugin handles both.]
The Single Click Plugin Updater WordPress Plugin makes installing and upgrading plugins easy. You still have to install this plug-in but after that, all the rest of your plugins and themes will be easy to install or upgrade. This would also make installing the “Wordpress Automatic upgrade” easy. Either way you have to install one plug-in the hard way, but if you are doing several start with “Single-Click” and the rest will be easy.
But, we can make it even easier!
This is totally optional and may not be needed with 2.7 but in the mean time I have found it to be great. With just the WP plugin you still have to copy and paste the link. Not bad, but installing can be reduced to a few clicks in Firefox and Flock. To make installing plugins easier install One-Click Installer for WP 1.1.
What plugins do I need?
Now that you have an easy way to install plugins for WordPress, I bet you are wondering what plugins to install. I have a list of my favorites but you may end-up with a different list depending on what you want to do with your WordPress (notice I did not call it a blog because the same software can be used to do so many different things), and when 2.7 comes out my list is going to change. I will be doing a new list of the plugins I think most people will want after testing them in 2.7. For now, here is a link to the site that lists them all: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/
Make a list of the features you want.
I should have put this at the top, but the most important thing you can do in preparing for 2.7 is to make a list of the features you want. Many of these will now be default options in 2.7. The rest will be easy to install. Finding them could still be time consuming though. Since I am going to be reading about and testing almost all of them anyway, let me help you find the features you want.
Leave a comment or contact me some other way with a list of all the features you are looking for. On November 8th, I will combine your lists and do my research. Then I will do a post telling you how to get all the features you are looking for and how to get rid of all the features you do not want so WorpPress can be as streamlined or powerful as you want.
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Luke Gedeon
11 Comments
I too can’t wait for 2.7 and while I don’t have a hard time uprgrading, many do.
I could also see this as a big time saver for those that have more than a few blogs to administer.
Thanks for plugin list, i really appreciate it. Upgrading was always time consuming for me. Hopefully Popular Posts, Recent Comments and other plugins will be WP 2.7 ready soon. Right now they do not work for some reason.
On one of my site i haven’t yet upgraded to 2.7 but would soon upgrade to witness many new features and improvements. Wordpress is great blogging software and getting better and better after every new release.
I like your blog as i will also try this version i think this version will be more good than the last one and more faster and more easy to use.
It’s here. Finally, the features are far more than expected. Nice Blog and good content too !
I’ve started blogging just recently and the first version of WP I’ve met on my own is 2.7. So, I haven’t a chance to explore the previous one, but I really love 2.7. It’s convenient and clear. I think it’s the best CMS for blogging. And this opinion is not only mine.
I was really amazed to to see my dashboard in my new wordpress 2.7 because it was more sophisticated than expected. I hope this version will lasts longer than expected because in past we have too many versions in short span of time. This is of course a giant leap towards professionalism and goodness.
I’ve got wordpress through my host and can’t install plugins, it drives my crazy. So I went ahead and created my own blog though wordpress, but I’m having a difficult time installing themes. Thanks for your tips, they’re helpful.
I love latest wordpress 2.7 and it is something more than my expectations. I still miss one thing and I think it should be included by default. It is to press Shift+Alt+Z to show hidden menu in dashboard. It should be visible by default. I like all other stuff in new wordpress 2.7 though.
Tiffany,
I did not know about the Shift+Alt+Z, but I will research it. Sounds like it could be really handy. Watch for an Ask Luke article on this in a few days.
I am wondered to know that such thing exists in wordpress. Anyways, I never feel the need to use that hidden tools. I think default toolbar is efficient enough to write posts. I’ll look at that hidden toolbar though.
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