The 5 Hottest Features of WordPress 3.0
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WordPress 3.0 was released three weeks ago on June 17, 2010 after much anticipation from the blogging community. The WordPress team made over 150 changes to the new release and most of those were to clean up code and the back-end user interface. Everyone has their favorite features of the new release, but today let’s figure out what are really the hottest features of WordPress 3.0?
- New Default Theme: New default Theme “Twenty-Ten” takes full advantage of the current features of WordPress. Kubrick was the default theme in prior releases, but it was a single column Theme was around since version 1.5 of WordPress. If you use WordPress.com it comes with multiple header images to chose from through the back-end by simply changing a radio button in the admin screen.
- Custom Menus: Custom menu management allows you full control of the menu from the back-end of WordPress, no more digging around in the code trying to get the menu just the way you want it to look. This custom menu allows combining posts, pages, categories, tags, and links for use in theme menus or widgets.
- Custom Admin Username: Ability to set the admin username and password during installation. No more automatic “Admin” as the username. This greatly increase the security of the WordPress install as hackers no longer have half the correct answer before starting.
- WordPress MU Integration: WordPress MU is being phased out and you can now run multiple blogs through a single install of WordPress. However, setting up multiple blogs under WordPress 3.0 does require a few changes in the code and most plugins are not yet compatible with this new system. I would recommend holding off on this for a bit, until the plugin developers have a chance to work through a few bugs.
- Custom Header and Background API: Custom Header and Custom Background API’s will increase the usability for those non-coders who wish to install a customer header or Custom Background in the theme.
This is only a short introduction to the 5 hottest WordPress updates in the new theme. The theme was expected to be released on the 15th through WordPress.org, but didn’t actually appear until the 17th. WordPress.com users were lucky enough to be using the new theme and the new install a full month before those who Self-host blogs.
After spending the past three weeks diving in and trying out these new features, which ones do you think are the best? Which ones would you get rid of? And which features does the WordPress team need to hurry up and add to the platform?
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Jean Sarauer said:
Suppose I should upgrade soon. I was holding off to let the bugs get worked out, but those who have my theme (Headway) claim the upgrade works like a charm.
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Winston Muller said:
Recently upgraded to WordPress 3.0 myself and Im loving it. I like the custom menu’s the most.
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Dev | Technshare said:
Hey Nicola,
Nice Post. I’ve already upgraded to 3.0 last month and it’s really working awesome.
Anyways, Thanks for sharing this great Post.
~Dev
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Joe Boyle said:
Great post, Nicole.
I upgraded to WordPress 3.0 first day, so I can tell you all of the ups and downs of it. It has worked really great for my blog, and I don’t regret switching.
Ron Leyba said:
Nice insights Nicole. For me, its the new API (custom header and background) and the new default theme, along with the customizable admin user names are the greatest new features/upgrades of wordpress. I am simply loving it more and more.
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Annabel Candy, Get In the Hot Spot said:
Hehe, my darling geek (and husband) upgraded my site last week and I haven’t even noticed the difference. No hiccups at all:)
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Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing said:
Perfect timing. I JUST upgraded as well and haven’t had much time to play around any.
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Onibalusi Bamidele said:
Really great post,
What I love most is the wordpress MU integration – it is really great to be able to have many blogs in one place.
Thanks a lot for the great post,
-Onibalusi
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Andrew said:
I’m glad to hear people aren’t having issues with the upgrade. I’m always worried that plugins and themes are going to break with each new release.
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Sachin @ Web Design Mauritius said:
The new WordPress version has loads of interesting new features and even some that are generating a lot of buzz like the filter that corrects all “miswritten” WordPress on a blog.
I’ve been running on the new version for 2 weeks now and has only a small issue with the RSS feed.
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Reza Winandar said:
Is it better in SEO? I hope so because I’m one of many WP user that expect WP will gain popularity in SEO forums.
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Ana | Traffic Generation said:
But for that fact that some of the plugins are not compatible with version 3 (surprise, surprise:), I like it so far!
Ana Hoffman
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Chewyraver said:
WordPress is definitely developing into an amazing CMS, I use Drupal but WordPress is much cleaner but less developed. Soon, I hope to switch from Drupal to WordPress if it develops enough.
Nicholas Cardot said:
I don’t know. I’ve used Drupal, Joomla and WordPress and I now prefer to build entire websites in WordPress. I’m a huge fan of this CMS. It’s definitely my favorite of the ones that I’ve used. I actually only switched to WordPress just over a year ago after spending the last couple of years primarily using Joomla.
Chewyraver said:
I think I have a tendency for Druapl because that’s the first one I used, and the only one I used.
However, in terms of the best one, I’d have to say WordPress, the admin panel alone is enough to convert any Drupalite.
Nicholas Cardot said:
I know exactly what you mean. I never really got into Drupal much simply because of the admin panel. I couldn’t figure much out. Instead I got pointed toward Joomla which I’ve built about 8 or 9 websites on. And like I said, I now prefer WordPress as my favorite CMS.
Chewyraver said:
The first time I had a look a WordPress, I thought it was pretty average, had a quick look at the default template, checked out the actual coding for the template, things looked pretty normal, and then, that sacred moment, the first time I saw the WordPress admin panel, if only Drupal had this it would be the state-of-the-art.
I figure, though, that most Drupalites would argue that a Drupal site can have that too, it does allow for another theme solely for admin pages. But WordPress takes the medal I reckon for a simple, beautiful and intuitive layout that is also universal, extending out seamlessly to all site run on the CMS.
Am I over selling WordPress here?
Nicholas Cardot said:
I love WordPress and I dare you to install the “Fluency Admin” plugin and then come back and tell me what you think. It’s an awesome and very easy to use theme for the WordPress dashboard. I really think that you’ll like it. Of course, if you don’t like it, just uninstall it.
I can build full websites in WordPress now that blow away the sites that I’ve built in Joomla. I love the platform and I don’t think that you’re overselling it.
Chewyraver said:
That was…well…BRILLIANT! I think I’m going to keep that, thanks.
I’m in the middle of starting my own site/blog. However I won’t be using any of the available CMSs. I’ve recently graduated from University with a degree in Computer Science and am studying post-grade, so I see it as a challenge to myself to design my own CMS equipped with modules/plugins, and I’ll be modeling the admin off of WordPress because it is just so awesome!
Nicholas Cardot said:
I’m going to be honest. I’ve met several people who have set out to build their own CMS and nothing has ever compared to WordPress. Why would you want to spend all that time recreating the wheel?
Chewyraver said:
Haha, I believe you, and I doubt that as one person I will not be able to develop a system as robust as WordPress. I have considered many times to stop and just use WordPress. However, I’m wanting a site that goes beyond a blog, plus, I enjoy developing software, the entire project for me is basically fun, in all stages, development, deployment, managing, updating, working with different people. It’s all meant to be fun. Though, you’re expectations may be fulfilled, I may end up using WordPress, but for now, I’m enjoying designing and building this system.
I’ll tell you a little secret, I’m expecting to end up using WordPress.
Sourish @ Jailbreak Iphone 4 said:
wordpress is the best , i feel so good lucky to have chosen this, the best thing is its plugins that ads innumerable features to the site .
if you decide to use plugins , dont ever forget to monitor your resources or you can easily crash your server due to a bad script
, like i did and my hosting suspened my account after which i have to move to VPS
ah hong said:
What I love the most in the latest 3.2.1 version is the full screen editing. That’s cool. WP usability improved a lot since 2.0. Keep em’ coming