Upgrade Your Blogging Platform Today
January 23rd, 2007
Out with the old and in with the new! Major blog software providers, Drupal and WordPress have released major upgrades just about a week apart from each other. Here’s some of the highlights of each:
Drupal 5.0 - Released 01/15/07
- The Administration pages were completely retooled, including a default task view with an option to hide descriptions and a ‘by module’ view with links to configuration options.
- The Settings pages are divided into smaller pages, so you can find the options you need.
- Easier installation with a Status page and requirement checking and web-based installer.
- New themes: Garland (not-fixed) and Minnelli (fixed width).
- Automatic hyperlinking of URLs and email addresses.
- More block customization per role and title editing.
- User management improvements with filters and statuses.
- Modules are listed by category and origin, along with their versions and dependencies.
- Detailed reports on search terms, ‘page not found’ and ‘access denied’ errors to help improve your site.
- CSS preprocessor allows all (cacheable) stylesheets to aggregate into one compressed file, which makes your site faster (especially for first time visitors).
- Any releases prior to 4.6 will no longer be supported.
WordPress 2.1 - Released 01/22/07
- Called “Ella” for jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald.
- Autosave makes sure you never lose a post again.
- New tabbed editor allows you to switch between WYSIWYG and code editing instantly while writing a post.
- The visual editor, which was completely redone, also includes spell checking.
- New search engine privacy option allows you to indicate if your blog shouldn’t ping or be indexed by search engines like Google.
- Set any “page” to be the front page of your site, and put the latest posts somewhere else.
- Login screen has been redesigned.
- AJAX makes custom fields, moderation, deletions, and more all faster. The comments page, for example, lets you approve or unapprove things instantly.
- Pages can now be drafts, or private.
- The upload manager lets you easily manage all your uploads pictures, video, and audio.
- A new version of the Akismet plugin is bundled.
- 2.1 also includes over 550 bug fixes.
- April 23 is the date of the next planned release (2.2).
These look like great new upgrades! Good luck!
