WordPress 2.5 Released!

Version 2.5 of wordpress has been released and we haveÂ a nice new admin interface at last, not to mention the plugin auto-updater (something I was planning to write myself sometime soon) and a number of other nice features!

Personally I think the update is a great, but I can't help wondering if, as otherÂ wordpress users upgrade, they will find nicer = better?

It may be just the fact that I was used to the old interface that causes me to say this, but somehow, though clunky, the old interface seemed easier to use. From a new user perspective however, the interface is probably more obvious to navigate and generally deal with, so when it comes to attracting new users to wordpress then it's probably a good thing - after all this isn't going to deter wordpress's current x million users, hopefully just attract more!

So what else is new?

Well there's a nice little gallery making the display of collections of images a LOT easier. Couple this with theÂ multi-file up-loader and the EXIF extractor and we now have a system that really aids those who display a lot of multimedia content in their blogs.

At last (I wish I could emphasise this more), the search function covers the scope of a whole wordpress site i.e. posts and pages - about time!

Tag and permalink management has been vastly improved so there's no need to use a third party solution to control these.

And the last most significant upgrade is the improvement (some would say actual implementation) of sensible multi-user management during editing. i.e. If user x is authoring a post along with user y, user x now actually locks the post while editing, meaning that user y's updates and auto-saves can't overwrite or conflict with those of user x.

From a technical point of view, there are some good security updates well worth having, as well as features that allow you to override and add to the new media buttons feature of the editor. There is also the shortcodeÂ API whichÂ really eases the placement of special code within the content of a standard post without screwing up the html of eitherÂ - again the insertion of media galleries is a prime example of this.

All round then, the new version shows some really useful progression in wordpress and can only aid its uptake by new users, as well as adding some good solid updates for those of us who have been using it for years!