WordPress 2.8 Preview
Well as April ends we are fast approaching the release of WordPress 2.8 next month. So far will not be the big culture shock that was there for 2.7.
Dashboard has had no major changes so far. A few things have changed. Plugins area has gone back to the old look. All the plugins show in the same area instead of the 3 separate areas of active, recently removed and inactive.
Fortunately so far all my plugins have worked fine so my guess is that there are not any major changes to the way they interact.
The biggest changes have been in the appearance area for themes. You can now activate or preview or delete direct from the themes area. For those that are listed you can also see if there have been upgrades and in some cases upgrade directly from there.
You can now install themes directly from the dashboard like you can plugins too.
You will be able to do a sorted search, upload from a zip file on your computer, check the featured themes, newest and recently updated.
This should definitely be helpful for new bloggers to be able to change things without having to ftp. You can preview the themes before adding them and delete easily any that you are no longer using.
The search feature looks interesting and I may write more about it as I play around a bit more. You can sort with quite a few criteria.
Just a reminder all of these pictures are from the beta version and some of these features may change before the final release comes out. I am sure there are probably more things that have changed but these are what I have noticed so far in playing around (the truth but I really should call it testing extensively 
)
All in all though looks like this will be an easy upgrade and the features will make things easier especially for changing themes.
Mike Paetzold
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14 comments
Lonnie Minton on April 29, 2009 at 11:02 am
Thanks for this review of the coming WordPress update. I prefer the old look so was glad to see hear that the plugins area is going back to the old look.
Also like the idea of keeping up with theme in the theme ares. Keep us post on when you think it is time to update.
Lonnie Minton´s last blog post..Build Your List Using The Memorial Day Giveaway
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Fred Lotgering on April 29, 2009 at 11:04 am
Mike,
Thanks for the review Mike.
I already like the inside upgrade features of 2.7. It works well for the plugins and is very fast. To be able to do that with themes should be great. Allows you to quickly compare which one fits best the purpose.
Fred
Fred Lotgering´s last blog post..My Music Ticket Launched – Update
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Earl Netwal
Twitter: EarlNetwal
on April 29, 2009 at 11:09 am
Thanks Mike, I still have some 2.6 blogs I haven’t gotten around to changing. Am I running a big risk by dilly dallying?
Earl Netwal´s last blog post..Does Your Websites Splash Page Win Design Awards But Lose You Customers?
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rosie on April 29, 2009 at 11:12 am
I am really impressed with the ease with which you can add new themes. This takes away more of the stress for bloggers who just hate uploading to the FTP.
Thanks so much for the updates and the consistency of quality information.
rosie´s last blog post..Google Labs-News Timeline
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RBrian Burkhardt on April 29, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Thanks for letting us know about the change in themes search.It looks like it will be very helpful
yourfuneralguy
RBrian Burkhardt´s last blog post..1st USA H1N1 Swine Flu Death|Toddler|yourfuneral guy
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David Friedman on April 29, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Hi Mike,
Thanks for the quality information.
As usual you are at least one step of everybody else.
I always check with you when it comes to WordPress.
David Friedman
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Alex Sysoef
Twitter: thespootter
on April 29, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Thanks for the preview Mike!
I think ability to install new themes is long overdue and quite frankly I expected it to be part of 2.7 but I guess better late than never, huh?!
Cheers
Alex Sysoef´s last blog post..3 Mistakes That Kill You Blogging To Make Money Efforts
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Alex Newell
Twitter: AlexNewell
on April 29, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Great to have a preview thanks Mike. I like the changes to the way themes are handled.
Alex Newell´s last blog post..Give Away Events to Build Your List
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Joel Osborne
Twitter: JoelOsborne
on April 29, 2009 at 2:28 pm
2.8 looks cool, it’s nice to see them making it even easier for beginners to use. I will be sure to check back here on your blog for more tips about it.
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Andre Arnett on April 29, 2009 at 6:26 pm
This really looks like it will be fun. I especially like the idea of being able to check out new themes. It will save a lot of time. Thanks Mr. Beta-tester.-:)
Andre Arnett´s last blog post..A Brief Internet Marketing And Health Lesson
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Brett McEllhiney on April 29, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Thanks for the sneak preview of the new version of WordPress Mike.
I’m interested to learn more about the new way to manage the themes. Looks very interesting.
Brett McEllhiney´s last blog post..Keyword Research for Your Niche Websites – Part 2
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Doug Champigny
Twitter: Mentoring4U
on April 30, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Impressed with your ability to stay on top of all the WP updates Mike, and grateful that you’re quick to share the new info – but I’m certainly less impressed with WP 2.8 after reading what you’ve said above.
Changing themes was always easy, so this is more a maintenance update than an upgrade, and it looks like they’ve just made it even more confusing for a newbie to first come to grips with when suddenly faced with this many more options.
The beauty of WP has always been it’s simplicity and ease of use; as they try to turn it into a do-everything-for-everyone juggernaut they’re about to open the door to many new programmers who will better fulfill the original objective – a simple, easy-to-learn-and-use blogging platform for the masses.
As they fight to become the Microsoft of the blogging world, hopefully a new streamlines competitor will give blogging the Linux-style treatment… Less overhead, more intuitive and solid.
We can only hope.
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Ron Barrett on April 30, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Mike, you are the blogging machine.
Thanks for reviewing this. I love 2.7 and now am looking for more ease of customization with 2.8.
Again,
Thanks.
Ron
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Harsh Agrawal on May 17, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Just saw this update on Twitter and seems like wordpress is keeping up its promise by giving the best of feature with every new release.
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