WordPress Wednesday News: WordCamps in Africa and China, WordPress 2.6, WordPress Plugin Contest Ready for Votes, WordCamp UK, and More WordPress News

Lorelle VanFossen

Jul. 17, 2008
9 min read

WordCamps in Africa, China, and the Philipines. WordPress is spreading. WordPress 2.6 is out with only a few problems, and a lot of cool features and improvements. The Weblog Tools Collection WordPress Plugin Competition is now closed and there is a great list of Plugins for you to vote on. Lots of news on WordPress 2.6. WordCamp UK is this weekend, and there are some record breaking WordCamps coming up. Jeffro2pt0 bids the WP Weekly Podcast good-bye.

WordPress News

WordPress 2.6 Released: WordPress 2.6 has been released. It is a mandatory release and you should Download WordPress 2.6 now. I’ve included a lot of the new features in past issues of the WordPress Wednesday News and highlights and commentary include:

Google Gears (Turbo) to speed up your interaction with the WordPress Administration Panels by “local server” caching – storing the files on your computer (not offline blogging – yet). Lloyd Budd explains how it works and privacy issues.
Post Revisions to track changes to your blog post and go back to previous edits if necessary.
Press This, the new version of the Press It function, which allows fast blogging from whatever page you are viewing, such as a YouTube video page including the video embed code automatically.
Theme Previews for a real look at what a Theme will look like before deciding.
Word Count helps you track how many words you’ve written in your blog post.
Integration of the Media Library with the WYSIWYG Visual Editor including toggling between the new Flash and classic uploader, and the ability to upload media in the full-screen mode.
Drag-and-drop reordering of images within the photo galleries.
The ability of adding Image captions to images.
Improvements to the Plugin update notifications.
Customizable default avatars so your blog commenters will never go faceless.
Improved security on several levels to help protect your blog, including SSL and Cookies handling, moving from a single cookie to triple cookie setup for better security. Jacob Santos covered authentication issues from another perspective.
Joseph of Random Networks covers some of the XML-RPC and AtomPub changes in WordPress 2.6, as does Dougal Campbell along with WordPress blog APIs in general.
Ozh covers what WordPress Plugin authors need to know about WordPress 2.6 and their Plugins now and in the future. Konstruktors Notes covers how WordPress 2.6 makes improvements to how JavaScript and CSS files can be added to the WordPress <head>, which can cause problems with some WordPress Plugins, but also make it easier.
For a listing of WordPress 2.6 bug fixes, see the 2.6.1 roadmap.
Hack WordPress reminds us the importance of upgrading WordPress to prevent and protect your blog from security flaws and for the feature improvements.

The announcement also included some interesting information about the release of WordPress 2.6. Over 75 people contributed code to this version. That is a huge team that deserves all our applause for their hard work!

Upgrade with the Automatic Upgrade WordPress Plugin: WordPress Automatic Upgrade WordPress Plugin, which makes upgrading easier, has been updated to work with WordPress 2.6.

WordPress 2.6 Issues: For the most part, there have been very few problems reported with upgrades of WordPress 2.6.

There is an easily fixable issue that impacts those using index.php in their permalinks, something you shouldn’t need to do.
If you are having a problem with a WordPress Plugin after upgrading WordPress, check the Plugin author’s site for news and information on the status of the Plugin. There have only been minor issues with Plugins.
For those who do not like the new Post Revision feature, Lester Chan (Gamerz) has a Plugin to turn it off.

WordPress 2.5 Branch No Longer Supported: The announcement of the release of WordPresss 2.6 came with the news that WordPress 2.5 will no longer be supported. It is nearly identical to the new version and has little impact on Themes and Plugins.

WordPressMU Beta Release: WordPressMU 2.6 beta 1 has been released to work with WordPress 2.6 features and includes a change in the version number from 1.6 to 2.6 to match WordPress, improved spam proofing on the sign up page, object cache changes to improve efficiency and speed, and many more bug and security fixes. WordPressMU is the WordPress version that runs multi-user blogs like WordPress.com.

WordPress Meets iPhone: WordPress for iPhone is a an iPhone-native WordPress client and supports WordPress.com and self-hosted WordPress blogs. There is a screencast video showcasing its usage. There are also examples of how the WordPress iPhone works with Prologue and Mdot.

Do You Blog By Email? Ozh brings up blogging by email and asks readers if they are using this long time core feature of WordPress. Are you? Would you like to see it improved? Join the conversation.

Looking Back Into the History of WordPress: Keith Dsouza of Weblog Tools Collection shares “Evolution of WordPress: B2/Cafelog to WordPress 1.0”, a history lesson on how WordPress grew out of B2/Cafelog in the early days.

WordPress Mug Contest: WordCast is having a WordCast Mugshot Contest with winners winning WordPress mugs and other prizes. To enter, you must share a picture of your favorite mug.

WordPress Plugin Competition: The Weblog Tools Collection’s WordPress Plugin Competition for WordPress 2.5+ is over for entrants and now it’s time to check out these hot and innovative WordPress Plugins and rate your favorites. Here are most of the final entries:

Having Trouble Publishing Code in Posts and Comment? If you publish code in your WordPress posts and comments, WordPress may think it is code. To prevent code acting like code, WordPress automatically filters it out of the posts and comments, as does many other blogging and CMS programs. To publish code as content, see Writing Code in Your WordPress Posts and Writing and Publishing Code in Your WordPress Blog Posts.

Last Week’s WordPress Wednesday News: Can’t get enough WordPress news and tips? There is so much news coming out about the latest version, so you can catch up with the past news in last week’s WordPress Wednesday News: WordCamps in Australia and Hawaii, Security Check Plugin, Google Gears, Lots of Plugin News and Tips, WordPress 2.6 News, and If Not WordPress, What?.

WordPress Podcasts

WordPress Podcast: The WordPress Podcast: Episode 43: Out Of Date Blogs Hacked, All-In-One Seo Gets Dropped, Then Picked Up covered those topics and the development of the Crazy Horse new WordPress Administration Panels interface, Batcache, HyperDB, WordPress Plugins, WordPress 2.6, and security issues.

WP Weekly Podcast: This week saw the Final Episode Of WPWeekly with Jeffro2pt0, a fun WordPress weekly live show. The final episode includes a rare interview with Alex King, one of the hottest Plugin developers and WordPress fans. The Alex King Theme Competition and other contests and WordPress Community efforts are legendary, and he continues to produce and support some of the most popular WordPress Plugins. What a great send off. Good luck, Jeff, with your future with Performancing!

WordCast Podcast: The 20th episode of WordCast featured Lorelle on WordPress in the longest podcast they’ve ever recorded. Topics included WordPress 2.6, favorite books for bloggers, blog advertising, Matt Mullenweg, and a lot of blogging and WordPress talk. Lorelle also shares her favorites: WordPress Comment Ninja and Akismet Anti Spam FireFox Greasemonkey Scripts for WordPress. The next issue, WordCast 21: Purple Knuckles, featured WordPress 2.6, WordPress.com versus WordPress.org, and more WordPress Plugins.

WordPress on Your Calendar

WordCamp UK Rocking: WordCamp UK is on for this weekend and is filled with some of the best of the best in WordPress and blogging from the area:

Tickets are required for WordCamp UK, so hurry before they are all gone.

Record Breaking WordCamps: We’ve got some record breakers coming up for WordCamp events. There are 5 WordCamps set for this September, and three will all be on September 27: WordCamp Utah in Salt Lake City, WordCamp Birmingham in Alabama, and WordCamp Portland in Oregon. Three WordCamps are scheduled so far for October. It’s going to be an autumn stuffed with WordCamp and WordPress fun.

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).

WordCamp San Francisco August 16: August 16, 2008 is the next WordCamp San Francisco, considered by many to be the premier WordCamp event. This year, it appears it will be only one day instead of two, but details are still coming. It will be at the Mission Bay Conference Center this year.

WordCamps and WordPress Meetups Everywhere: A WordPress Meetup is a frequent meeting of WordPress fans. A WordCamp is a day or two long event with sponsors and dozens if not hundreds of WordPress fans gathering annually. If you would like to sponsor or host a WordCamp, check out the new official site for tracking WordCamps is WordCamp Central, which includes instructions and guidelines for running a WordCamp. If you would like to start a WordPress Meetup group, find a meeting place and announce it among your friends, and add a listing to the Yahoo Upcoming events for WordPress, as many track WordPress event announcements there.

WordPress Plugins and Themes News

Mark Ghosh of Weblog Tools Collection asks “How many Queries are too many?” in a WordPress blog. In summary, the issue is how many queries to the WordPress database are made by WordPress Plugins and WordPress Themes and what impact that has on the database, server load, and user experience. His experience with his popular site gives a great example and he asks you to chime in with your experiences.

Must Have WordPress 2.5 Plugins: Mashable: 20+ Must-Have WordPress 2.5 Compatible Plugins has been released with some great Plugins in their listing. However, they are a week short since WordPress 2.6 is now out. Fortunately, most WordPress 2.5 Plugins will work with the new version.

Interesting WordPress Plugins: Here are some interesting and unusual Plugins I stumbled on recently:

Related Posts by Categories für WordPress is in German and is a WordPress Plugin that creates related posts in the same category as the current article.
Tagline Rotator WordPress Plugin randomly selects a tagline from a list and displays it under your blog title.
Show125 WordPress Plugin by X-OR WordPress Widget is a widget that gives you more control over easily adding 125×125 pixel ads to your blog in ad blocks.
Duplicate Post Checker WordPress Plugin checks for duplicate content before you publish.
Version Creator WordPress Plugin adds your blog’s design version number, name, and note, so you can entertain or inform your visitors on which version your blog is in its development.

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.

Do You Say “WordPress Plugin” on Your Plugin Page? I’m finding a lot of WordPress Plugin authors are not using the word “WordPress Plugin” in their Plugin’s official page, nor within the text. Remember that “WordPress Plugin” is a popular keyword search term and if you aren’t using it, your chances of being found drops. Avoid separating the two words like “WordPress Blah Blah Plugin” and keep them together such as “Blah Blah WordPress Plugin” as the closer the terms are to each other, the more important they are. Most people search for “how to do blah WordPress Plugin” when they search, so help them find you by using the words and keeping them together. And it’s Plugin not plug-in, something you connect to electricity.

WordPress Techniques and Tips

Here are some more interesting WordPress tips I’ve uncovered:

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 Community News

Get Your WordPress Mug: I love my new WordPress mug and shared my love with a lot of people recently. Go get yours at the WordPress Shop along with t-shirts and hoodies. Don’t want to buy one? Enter the WordCast Mugshot Contest and you could win one, alone with some other fun schwag.

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

Give Something Back to WordPress: Jeff Chandler of Weblog Tools Collection has written “24 Ways To Contribute To WordPress” with suggestions on how to get involved in helping WordPress development. If you would like to help with the WordPress Codex, the official online user manual for WordPress users, we need you. If you would like to contribute to WordPress as a volunteer in the WordPress Support Forums, testing, coding, and more, see Contributing to WordPress. If you would like to help improve WordPress by reporting bugs, please report them via the WordPress Bug Report form. Your help is needed to ensure WordPress works.

Vote for WordPress Ideas: There is still time to get your vote in for ideas on upcoming versions of WordPress in the The WordPress Ideas 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 from Automattic, the WordPress Jobs listings, and the WP-Pro mailing list.

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.

Don’t Use 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 Automattic and WordPress. Also, remember, it’s spelled “WordPress” not “Wordpress”. Oh, and Plugin is Plugin, not plug-in (what you put into a wall electrical socket).

Past WordPress Wednesday News Reports

WordPress News Sources

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Each Wednesday on Blog Herald 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

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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.