Wordpress 2.6 New Under The Hood Features

Posted on: June 24th, 2008 by Jeremy Schoemaker

EDIT: Looks like Wordpress 2.6 Beta 1 has been released today.

Been playing with Wordpress 2.6 alpha for a bit with the new features. To the users it will appear like nothing really has changed on the surface but under the hood there are a bunch of new features.

My favorite new feature is the post revisions. I can’t tell you how many times I have had the same post open in multiple windows and accidentally over written a previous post. The only thing worse then doing a job is doing the same job over…

Here is a screen shot :


Image Credit

Here is a full run down of the features with links to sites for more information about a specific feature:

  • Post Revisioning
  • A “Press This” bookmarklet for tumblelog style quick posting
  • Caching of static files with Gears for faster Admin page loads
  • A new and improved image editing dialog that offers lots of control over the images in your posts
  • Theme previewing as seen on WordPress.com
  • Built-in word counting in the post editor
  • The ability to disable remote publishing for the security conscious
  • XML-RPC API for changing blog options
  • Better SSL support for the Admin
  • Hierarchy-aware paging in the Manage Pages and Manage Categories admin pages.
  • The ability to relocate your content directory
  • The ability to move wp-config.php out of your web root
  • Drag-and-drop sortable galleries
  • Customizable default avatars
  • Bulk delete, activate, and deactivate for plugins
  • Check box range selection with shift-click
  • TinyMCE 3.1.0.1 with lots of bug fixes
  • jQuery 1.2.6 with some nice performance improvements
  • jQuery UI 1.5

Post written by Jeremy Schoemaker

Hi I am Jeremy Schoemaker and ShoeMoney.com is my blog. 99% of the post here are done by me but you will see others occasionally make guest posts. This blog is fun to write but for my day job I run several online companies.

More about Jeremy at http://www.shoemoney.com!

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69 Comments. What Say You?

  1. Working Man Design
    July 7, 2008 at 10:29 am

    I think WordPress is determined to upgrade every week just to make life difficult. I was happy with 2.3!!!

  2. Forumistan
    July 7, 2008 at 9:32 am

    Wordpress is best at all

  3. Елена Макарова
    July 6, 2008 at 10:05 am

    Где-то я уже нечто аналогичное читала, причём практически один в один… :)

  4. Shelly Borrell
    July 5, 2008 at 12:40 pm

    Thanks for the detailed information. I was wondering about it. I’m still using the earlier version and wanted to learn more before downloading.
    http://www.USAcopywriter.com

  5. Dick
    July 2, 2008 at 12:52 am

    The screen shot is very inspiring. However the beta version fills me with misgivings. I think that it’s better to wait till the final version appears.

  6. Zak Show
    July 1, 2008 at 4:35 pm

    I still use the old WP version, I don’t find the time to upgrade and the plugin stuff it’s too boring. I sould hire someone to help me with these things.

  7. Geiger
    June 30, 2008 at 6:49 pm

    What the heck is Joomla?

  8. Start Blogging
    June 30, 2008 at 1:10 pm

    Ah jeeze I really need to upgrade my wordpress. I’m extremely lazy.

  9. Mayank Rocks
    June 30, 2008 at 12:17 pm

    I second that. Just sometime ago was 2.5…however 2.5 had bugs. The thing that was pretty weird that a security update in 1 week of stable version release.

  10. Mayank Rocks
    June 30, 2008 at 12:16 pm

    Exactly. No beta! :p

  11. Mayank Rocks
    June 30, 2008 at 12:12 pm

    I usually stay away from beta versions. Their 2.5 stable version was out and in 1 week, there was a security update. So betas would be risky.

  12. Mayank Rocks
    June 30, 2008 at 12:10 pm

    Cant wait for this. It looks beautiful.

  13. Mayank Rocks
    June 30, 2008 at 12:08 pm

    I agree. I didnt upgrade also for one of my blogs. I am waiting for 2.6 now.

  14. Arthur
    June 29, 2008 at 7:00 am

    this is a welcome development for us wordpress bloggers but I would wait ’till 2.6 becomes stable enough to use.

  15. philip
    June 28, 2008 at 10:37 am

    word press is awesome! but it will never be better than Joomla!

  16. philip
    June 28, 2008 at 10:36 am

    Word press is awesome, but it will never be better than Joomla!

  17. OSx86
    June 28, 2008 at 8:32 am

    I’m currentlyl live testing Wordpress 2.6 Beta 1.

  18. Michael Johnson
    June 27, 2008 at 12:36 pm

    I look forward to the new features. Better image controls and the word count will be useful to me. I hope it runs a little faster, my wordpress blogs can really bog down at times.

  19. Web Marketeer
    June 27, 2008 at 7:10 am

    Custom development is king! Will you ever make some of your special custom wordpress developments available to the community as a whole?

  20. Web Marketeer
    June 27, 2008 at 7:07 am

    WordPress is heading up the pack, and it is obvious that hey are not resting on their laurels.

  21. Forumistan
    June 26, 2008 at 2:39 pm

    Wow 2.6 is just really nice, I always prefer wordpress.

  22. Austin(Cowsgonemadd3)
    June 25, 2008 at 6:13 pm

    That sounds really good. I could use a couple of those features for sure.

  23. MB Web Design
    June 25, 2008 at 3:05 pm

    I must say, I really wish they’d build caching into the next build. Having wp-cache and wp-super-cache as plugins are nice, but that functionality really ought to be there out of the box.

  24. Bill Hartzer
    June 25, 2008 at 11:40 am

    They still need to do something about all the duplicate content that Wordpress is notorious for generating (archives, archives by date, categories,). I would like to see more SEO-related features in newer versions.

  25. Keith Cash
    June 25, 2008 at 10:59 am

    Thanks for the inside scoop. I look forward to 2.6, it just seems like yesterday that 2.5 came out. I am glad WP is proactive in their development

  26. revenue
    June 25, 2008 at 10:29 am

    Looks Like the new wordpress 2.6 beta 1 interesting,but do we need to upgrade it ? :)

  27. super blogger
    June 25, 2008 at 10:02 am

    Too fast for me to catch it up…
    More upgrade…

  28. SEI Design Group
    June 25, 2008 at 9:33 am

    Shoe, I know just what you mean with the open windows – that sounds great. Hope they do something to fix the color bug. I have a very hard time changing link colors within blog posts in IE and Firefox (seems to work okay in Safari). In Safari, I have a hard time adjusting images which works fine in IE and Firefox).

  29. FavBrowser
    June 25, 2008 at 9:31 am

    It will also allow you to update wordpress automatically :)

  30. Sports Picks
    June 25, 2008 at 9:09 am

    Sweet, diff for wordpress bloggers!

  31. ShoeMoney
    June 25, 2008 at 8:55 am

    the brians threaded comments i use is heavily modified to do what I want it to do and also be a lot more lightweight and speedy then the default

  32. Melvin
    June 25, 2008 at 8:53 am

    but not all themes support the threaded comments right? just like my blog..wtf!

  33. Geiger
    June 25, 2008 at 8:43 am

    I like the idea of threaded comments too! It’s like a blog and a forum mixed together!

  34. Geiger
    June 25, 2008 at 8:41 am

    I hate to downplay any one community, but I think WordPress is moving a lot faster than PHPBB ever did. I understand how hard it is to move big projects like these. Kudos to the Wordpress crew!

  35. Tom
    June 25, 2008 at 8:20 am

    I’m thinking of switching to Word Press so that I can have threaded comments. Even though I don’t get any comments on my blog, I’m just anal and it bugs me that I can’t have it with expression engine… Yes I know I can buy it for $30.00, but their plugin sucks compared to the one that you use.

    Word Press should have included threaded comments in the build on their new release. It is a very popular and much needed feature.

  36. FavBrowser
    June 25, 2008 at 6:25 am

    Where’s 2.5.2?

  37. Jagdeep
    June 25, 2008 at 6:17 am

    its good that they keep upgrading, at least it doesnt cost us any money

  38. Ovidiu - GuitarFlame.com
    June 25, 2008 at 5:28 am

    Is it me or there are a bit too many updates on WordPress?! I barely upgrade and I see an other one.

  39. Crunch Now Dot com
    June 25, 2008 at 12:02 am

    I need a good wordpress blog Just never was a wordpress man

  40. Geiger
    June 24, 2008 at 9:15 pm

    An update to the post editor would greatly improve things as well. TinyMCE definitely needs the upgrade ;)

  41. Geiger
    June 24, 2008 at 9:10 pm

    NICE, the revision thing is going to be great. I am looking for some better user management to be built in too though.

  42. Small Dogs
    June 24, 2008 at 8:49 pm

    Any guesses as to the official release day?

  43. jatt
    June 24, 2008 at 8:12 pm

    He is not an investor..is he?hehe

  44. jatt
    June 24, 2008 at 8:09 pm

    it was a fast development by the wordpress team. Maybe we all just wait their final release.

  45. spidro
    June 24, 2008 at 7:15 pm

    can’t wait for the new veriosn, but what about automatic plugins install over web? i read about this new feature before

  46. Melvin
    June 24, 2008 at 6:54 pm

    I think it has still some flaws.. been also playing with it and I like the new features especially the fix of errors in tinymce…

  47. just Fred
    June 24, 2008 at 6:42 pm


    A dozen posts on wordpress – are you an investor? Hired as their PR agency? Trying to kill competing products?

    or a fan, there are many of us

  48. CVOS man
    June 24, 2008 at 5:38 pm

    A dozen posts on wordpress – are you an investor? Hired as their PR agency? Trying to kill competing products?

  49. Glenn A
    June 24, 2008 at 5:10 pm

    I was pleasantly surprised by 2.5, although I just started using it a few weeks ago. The upgrades were meaningful and intuitive. Glad to hear they are working on images, I get tired on wrangling them on WP. Yeah, I’m a bit weary of all the versions, though.

  50. Zander Chance
    June 24, 2008 at 5:07 pm

    Took me awhile to finally upgrade all of our sites to 2.5.1, and now 2.6 is on the horizon?! DOH!

    Hopefully it won’t be a bug-ridden clusterf*ck like 2.5 was..

  51. TEmelie
    June 24, 2008 at 5:07 pm

    I will wait for the final release to come. No more beta for me … no no

  52. Collin - Feed Flare
    June 24, 2008 at 4:57 pm

    I love wordpress, everytime they upgrade it is that much better. Goog job wordpress team.

  53. Rajaie AlKorani
    June 24, 2008 at 4:52 pm

    That was a bit quick in my opinion… But I’m sure it’ll be a while till the final version is out

  54. Paul
    June 24, 2008 at 3:52 pm

    I hope that there is no huge problems with the roll out.

  55. Bryan
    June 24, 2008 at 3:36 pm

    One of the great features of WordPress, besides the fact that it is free, is the dedication they have to their users. They continually roll out with more great features. Thanks for the update!

  56. Stak Loaded - How to make money doing nothing!
    June 24, 2008 at 3:23 pm

    looks cool, i’ll check it out

  57. Nicholas Mercer
    June 24, 2008 at 3:09 pm

    Having tested and toyed around with 2.5 for many months before it was officially released, it was a much needed change and a great upgrade. But it’s very similar to that of KDE 4 where it’s a new foundation, but the future releases are going to truly make or break the application.

  58. bob cobb
    June 24, 2008 at 3:04 pm

    I can’t wait for it to be final. There are some awesome features in 2.5, but I think they rushed it. I’ve had so many issues, especially with one of my sites where users contribute posts

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