WordPress 2.7 beta1 First Impressions

1 Nov 2008

I decided to take the plunge and give the beta a try on my main blog so here you have it. Philoking.com is running the WordPress 2.7 beta1 in production. From the viewer perspective it should be transparent. For, it’s already a dream. The back end UI has had a total facelift and some of my favorite plugins are now built right in. Less plugins is always better if you ask me.

I am also writing this post in the browser instead of using Windows Live Writer. Mostly because I am on my Macbook Pro, but also because it’s a quite improved experience, especially when you add Google Gears to the mix to speed up the UI.

So far the UI doesn’t seem that much faster with Google Gears installed, but I think I can possibly tell some difference. The next thing I am going to attempt is bulk edit to clean up some of my categories, things have gotten a little out of control at Philoking.com when it comes to categories and tags.

The new UI is gorgeous. There are too many new features to list so I will mention a few that I find really interesting. The ability to insert, upload and well format images is very welcome. One of the reasons I avoided posting through the back end UI was that it just wasn’t a good experience. It’s very much improved.

Bulk edit to posts is extremely welcome, when you get where I am with thousands of posts, making changes is a huge problem. Instant install for plugins is also very nice, but that was in 2.6 also. The last feature I want to call out is the ability to reply to comments being built into the comment moderation. I have used a plugin for this for a long time. It’s a very welcome addition.

I am not sure if I would suggest running it on a production site, even though I have not seen any errors so far, but if you have a local test setup or want to check it out, it’s well worth your time, the new admin alone is fantastic.

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