Updates and Features
Having upgraded to WordPress µ 2.6 a very short while ago, there have been some changes to PersonalLog.
First, the “Theme Test Drive” function has been removed in favour of the new theme preview functionality built into the WordPress core. Previously, PersonalLog bloggers could go to Design » Theme Test Drive to show a specific theme for themselves. However, with the new built-in feature, all you have to do is click on the theme image, and you’ll be taken to your blog, shown with a particular theme. (Also, the themes are no longer cluttered on one page, and are separated into multiple pages.)
Second, the custom styling of the admin interface was removed because it was not fully compatible with recent versions of WordPress. Instead, the backend was reverted to the default style with several modifications: the navigation was moved to the very top, and drop-down menus were added. This design is more futureproof.
The Counterize plugin was removed because it did not integrate with WordPress 2.5, let alone 2.6. Thankfully, very few users were using it, and removing it decreased the size of the database tables as well. In the future, I’ll notify users using a particular plugin if I’m disabling it.
The WordPress Admin Bar was updated to a more recent version which has configurable options (see Settings » Admin Bar). It should streamline your blog administration tasks and look good as well.
Fifth, the Flash-based media uploader has caused a lot of grief for myself and others. Fortunately, in the new release of WordPress 2.6, all you have to do is click on “Try the Browser uploader instead” which will make the simple uploader the default method for your account.
Sixth, gravatar support was enhanced in 2.6, which means some themes (particularly newly added and future themes) will show little graphics beside the names of authors in comments.
Seventh, a number of themes were removed as a result of incompatibility and bad design. I’m also about to add a few more themes.
Eighth, some plugins were updated for 2.6, including HidePost.
Finally, you’ll also see some new functionality thanks to the WordPress update — every post is now saved with revisions, so if you save a post multiple times, each version will be retained. You can even compare revisions side-by-side with differences highlighted. There’s also word count in the Write Post screen, showing you the word count below the “Save” and “Publish” buttons. There is now also a Press This link (see the Shortcuts section on the Write Post page) that lets you write a blog post about any Web page, video, or image on the Internet; all you do is go to the page that you want to blog (be it a video or blog post), click on the Press This bookmark that you’ve added to your favourites, and a pop-up will appear from which you can write your post without leaving the page. Cool feature!
