Wordpress 2.5 is finally out and, like many, I chose to install it before the developers addressed the critical security fixes. The changelog can be found on the original website but here are some of the highlights:
- Cleaner, faster, less cluttered dashboard
- Dashboard Widgets
- Multi-file upload with progress bar
- EXIF extraction
- Search posts and pages
- Tag management
- Password strength meter
- Concurrent editing protection
- Few-click plugin upgrades
- Friendlier visual post editor
- Built-in galleries (create a gallery automatically, allow comments for individual photos!)
So far the upgrade has not caused any major malfunctions. The biggest improvement I see so far is improved use of real-estate in the editor – the save buttons are now beside the edit window and the user can easily see when the post in progress was last saved. The concurrent editing protection is nice because it allows multiple users to work on a post without clobbering each others’ changes. The image gallery (see below) is a very welcome addition that should reduce dependency on Flickr and similar external services.
This thread is for comments from anyone who has upgraded or is considering upgrading to Wordpress 2.5. Please share any comments, questions and observations.
Updates: Compatibility Issues
2008-03-31:
Redoable Template v1.2 – LiveSearch option no longer works. Searches fail to find any results (tested searches that previously worked under WP2.3)
2008-04-15:
Inserting a picture from the gallery works absolutely perfectly on one computer but hangs on the other. Both machines are running Firefox 2 on Windows XP. The non-working machine requires the user to load the picture to the gallery, copy the URL, exit the gallery, press the image button and paste the URL.
Updates: Welcome Discoveries
2008-03-31:
Editor opens and reloads in most recently used editing mode. No more defaulting to Visual/WYSIWYG mode after saving a post.
2008-04-13:
Upgrading to WP2.5 can improve the display of certain templates. After upgrading Crux of the Matter, the template WP-Andreas09 2.1 now displays the font consistently in the left and right columns on IE browsers. Previously the fonts were noticeably larger in the right column, although the CSS template did not specify this difference.
Updates: Other Views
2008-04-13:
Sandy (Crux of the Matter) recently upgraded to WP 2.5 and has shared her own observations.
I LOVE the new Wordpress, it’s so much easier to add videos!
I have been using wordpress 2.5 for a while and its great, haven found a single that i didnt like !
Have yet to try it out. However I’m putting it up live in a few days. Look forward to using it.