WordPress Wednesday News: Sneak Peeks of WordPress 2.5, Beta Released, WordCamp Dallas Next Week, and More WordPress News

Sneak previews of WordPress 2.5 are everywhere. Due out next week. WordCamp Dallas is also next week, and registration is filling fast. Super Cache WordPress Plugin updated. Which WordPress Theme do you think should be the default? And more WordPress news.

WordPress News

WordCamp Dallas NEXT WEEK!: WordCamp Dallas is March 29-30, 2008 and I’ve written some reasons on why you should attend this innovative conference on WordPress – it’s the amazing speakers covering video blogging, SEO, podcasting, marketing, and lots of WordPress. WordPress 2.5 should have just been released and Matt Mullenweg will be there to discuss the latest version of WordPress and where WordPress is going to go. Charles Stricklin offers a WordCamp Dallas Attendee Breakdown based upon registration information to encourage you even more to attend. Be there!

WordPress 2.5 Beta Release and Preview: The first beta testing, release candidate for WordPress 2.5 has just been issued for testers only. Matt Mullenweg and the WordPress Development Blog showed off WordPress 2.5 with the redesign of the interface called the Administration Panels by Happy Cog. The redesign puts the emphasis on producing content not messing around with the backend. Weblog Tools Collections covers the “Colorful Future For WordPress 2.5 Administration Panels” and the color options users will have on their blog interface. And PlanetOzh offers “Per User Custom Stylesheet in WordPress 2.5”, a new technique to allow WordPress Users to set their own color scheme with the ability to add a per-user selectable custom stylesheet for your blog.

Other articles about WordPress 2.5 include:


WordPress 2.5 Development Weekly Digest Reports: Over the past two weeks, the WordPress development team has been hard at work preparing WordPress 2.5. Last week’s digest reported work on fixing feeds, a new image resize function for the new Media Library, support for category names that are numbers to the in_category() function, improvements to random password support and other fixes of the importer, fixes to several template tags that deal with Page lists and generation, fixes to the Automatic Plugin Updater for version comparisons, and a lot more updates to the visual editor, Media Library, and Administration Panels. This past week includes improvements in the Administration Panel’s color scheme options, more fixes and improvements on the Administration Panel’s links and menus, addition of Gravatar support for bundled Themes, and a lot of work on the new Automatic Plug Updater and Media Library.

WordPress Podcast: The WordPress Podcast Episode 38 is out and coversWordPress 2.5 delayed release, the future of WordPress Theme design, WPThemeKit, Google Summer of Code, WordPress.com statistics, and more WordPress news, Themes, and Plugins.

WordPress Weekly with Jeffro2pt0: Jeffro2pt0’s WordPress Weekly Episode 10 is out covering the sale of WPDesigner’s blog, Administration Panel colors, WordPress 2.5 release, Gravatars on the WordPress Support Forum, and not new news that WordPress is Open Source.

Which Themes Should Be the Default WordPress Theme Contest: Themeshaper is having a contest for recommendations on the next default WordPress Theme for inclusion in WordPress. The contest ends March 24 and prizes are premium WordPress Themes.

Summer of Code with WordPress and Google: Lloyd Budd announces the Summer of Code with Google and WordPress has started. Student applications for participation are being accepted and the list of code studies and more information is in the page on WordPress Summer of Code 2008.

Last Week’s WordPress Wednesday News: Can’t get enough WordPress news and tips? Read last week’s WordPress Wednesday News report which covered WordPress 2.5 Due March 17, Administration Plugins May Break, Tons of Plugins Updated, Add Buttons to Toolbar, WordPress Dallas and Now Milan!.

WordPress Security News

WordPress SecurityGet Inside a Hacker’s Head: While not the indepth interview I would have really enjoyed, this brief interview of a hacker by Blog Security gives us some insights into how someone digs into the code of WordPress to find security vulnerabilities and flaws. While many see such hobbies as shameful, many programs, including WordPress, are improved by those obsessed with finding out what will break it and reporting it rather than exploiting it.

Upgrade WordPress Now: WordPress 2.5 is due out soon, but reports continue to come in about WordPress blogs being hacked because they haven’t listened to the shouts of those warning them of security flaws nor have they upgraded to WordPress 2.3.3. Is the wait worth it?

WordPress on Your Calendar

WordPress Events CalendarWordCamp Dallas:Dallas WordCamp is less than weeks away! Start the drums beating to help publicize this exciting WordPress event in Frisco, Texas on March 29-30, 2008. If you haven’t registered by now, you might not get a t-shirt! Register now!

WordPress Meetup or WordCamp Near You? If you are putting together a WordPress event, please email me so I can publicize it here. If there is a WordCamp near you, go. If you are interested in setting up a WordCamp, stay tuned for news and information on to bring a WordCamp event near you.

Here are some WordPress-related dates and events to put on your calendar as found on the WordPress Roadmap and the WordPress Meetup Group Listings (subject to change):

WordPress Plugins and Themes News

WordPress Plugins DatabaseSuper Cache Updated: Donncha O’Caoimh has updated WP Super Cache WordPress Plugin which allows a WordPress blog to be displayed from static HTML files for faster access. It’s been sped up even more and some bug fixes applied. It’s revolutionizing the bandwidth and database access and speed issues many large traffic blogs have battled with over the past few years.

When Spam Comments Flood the Subscribe to Comments WordPress Plugin: Perishable Press offers tips for removing spam registration the very popular Subscribe to Comments WordPress Plugin after finding dozens and dozens of spam entries in the subscription list.

Interesting WordPress Plugins: I’m constantly amazed at how many creative and useful WordPress Plugins are released each week. Aren’t you?

  • Custom Write Panel WordPress Plugin allows incorporating your own custom fields into the Write Post panel to help bloggers enter specific information for use within the blog post.
  • Fresh Post WordPress Plugin also adds custom fields customization and the ability to upload files and images, allowing automatic resizing of images and thumbnails.
  • Sidebar Editor WordPress Plugin allows re-ordering of your blog’s sidebar contents without editing the sidebar template file, allowing easy adding of profiles, badges, and other side bar content.
  • FirstTimer Wordpress Plugin checks an identifying cookie for first time visitors and displays a welcoming message to them if they haven’t been here before.
  • Smart Categories WordPress Plugin allows displaying posts from a single category or child categories from within a post or page with no template modification.
  • Section Specific Text WordPress Widget allows displaying text in various sections of your blog beyond the sidebar.

Tracking WordPress Compatibility: It’s often difficult to track what Plugin and Theme is compatible with which WordPress version. In the are two “master” pages that list all the various compatibilities: WordPress Theme Compatibilities and WordPress Plugin Compatibilities. No matter which version you are using, and in preparation for the next version of WordPress, add these to your WordPress resource list to check before you upgrade.

Plugin and Theme Compatibility Issues for Authors and Designers: If you have a WordPress Plugin or Theme, see Migrating Plugins and Themes for tips on updating your Plugin or Theme for the latest version of WordPress. Once updated, make sure to include it on the WordPress Compatibility lists so users will know which version is updated and ready to work with the latest WordPress.

Finding WordPress Plugins: For more WordPress Plugins see the official WordPress Plugin Directory, the WordPress Plugins Database, and Weblog Tools Collection Plugin and Theme announcements.

See Also

WordPress Techniques and Tips

Want to Write a WordPress Tip and See It Here? If you would like your WordPress tip and technique included in this list, see Tips For Writing Good WordPress Tips and Writing and Publishing Code In Your WordPress Blog Posts. When its ready, contact me at lorelleonwordpress@gmail.com.

WordPress Help: If you are looking for help on using WordPress, begin by visiting the , the online manual for WordPress Users, then searching the or WordPress.com Forums, depending upon your version.

WordPress Community News

WordPress Community graphicFound a Bug in WordPress? If you find a bug in WordPress, report it by following the instructions in Reporting Bugs on the , the online manual for WordPress Users.

Vote for WordPress Ideas: There is still time to get your vote in for ideas on upcoming versions of WordPress in the The section. Why not take advantage of it and add your voice to the vote.

Looking for a WordPress Expert? If you are looking for a WordPress expert, try the WordPress Consultants list the WordPress Jobs listings, and the WP-Pro mailing list.

Using WordPress in Your Blog’s Name: It’s about respect. Please use WordPress names right because WordPress is a trademark and you are not allowed to use WordPress in your blog’s domain name or URL unless you have permission of and . Also, remember, it’s spelled “WordPress” not “Wordpress”. Oh, and Plugin is Plugin, not plug-in (what you put into a wall electrical socket).

Shop WordPress: You can now buy t-shirts, hoodies or mugs with the WordPress logo on them in the WordPress Shop.

WordPress Installed For Free: Installing WordPress for Free (aka Install4Free WordPress) is a free, volunteer-driven service is limited to personal blogs only, and they help only with installations, not upgrades.

Even More WordPress News?

Past WordPress Wednesday News Reports

WordPress News Sources

If You Are Reading This: If you are reading this blog post NOT on the or from within your feed reader, it is being used against the copyright policy of the copyright owners. Please report it immediately so action may be taken to break some heads and feed scraping blogs.


Each Wednesday on is WordPress Wednesday, featuring the news around the WordPress Community. If you have a WordPress news item or tip to suggest, please contact me at this special email address: lorelleonwordpress@gmail.com

Picture of Lorelle VanFossen

Lorelle VanFossen

The author of Lorelle on WordPress and the fast-selling book, Blogging Tips: What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging, as well as several other blogs, Lorelle VanFossen has been blogging for over 15 years, covering blogging, WordPress, travel, nature and travel photography, web design, web theory and development extensively as web technologies developed.

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