5 New WordPress 2.7 Features

5 Amazing New WordPress 2.7 Features

WordPress 2.7 is to be publically released in the next week, and a whole bunch of features have been packed in, looking past the obvious such as the new redesign. The new dashboard, Screen options, Plugins, Themes and Core upgrades and the media library!

New Commenting system

The Comments section of WordPress has been completely redone, rethought and redesigned. Quick Edit, Reply, and Keyboard Navigation Moderation are the most notable!

Quick Edit

You are now able to edit comments right from the full comments screen. If you click ‘Quick Edit’ when you hover over a comment in the moderation screen, the comment is replaced with an edit panel, where you can edit the Name, URL, email and content of the comment. This inline editor is great as it saves a whole lot of time going to the individual edit screen to edit a comment.

Reply

So your blog may have heavy discussion, and to reply to them at bulk you have to find the comment, remember what it says, scroll down to the ‘add comment’ form, type it and send it off. Now, with WordPress 2.7 you can reply to comments live on the same page. By clicking ‘Reply’ a form appears below the comment which you can fill out and reply- quick and easy and painless!

Keyboard Moderation

One of the coolest features yet, WordPress has developed a system with jQuery that allows you to moderate the comments via the keyboard! You can scroll between comments using the J and K key. A approves comments, U unapproves the comment, S marks the comment as Spam, and D deletes the selected comment. R initiates the Reply (as above) which you can escape that with esc, and Q initiates Quick Edit. This allows for a much quicker moderation experience.

New Dashboard Features

The messy, clunky Right Now section of the old version of WordPress has been pressed into a small grid, which cleanly displays all the information about activity on the website. This enables it to be much more readable and understandable, rather than an ugly spot on the dashboard. It greatly contributes to the refined look of the 2.7 admin.

Another cool set of features are the two QuickPress and Press This.

QuickPress is basically a very stripped down ‘Add Post’ Widget on the front of the Dashboard. It provides, once again a quick way to use frequently accessed functions that usually take pages to get to.

Press This is kind of like a Quick Digg Link, or A StumbleUpon quick link. Basically you save a bookmark that looks something like this:

<a href="javascript:var%20d=document,w=window,e=w.getSelection,k=d.getSelection,x=d.selection,s=(e?e():(k)?k():(x?x.createRange().text:0)),f='http://yoursite.com/wp-admin/press-this.php',l=d.location,e=encodeURIComponent,g=f+'?u='+e(l.href)+'&t='+e(d.title)+'&s='+e(s)+'&v=2';function%20a(){if(!w.open(g,'t','toolbar=0,resizable=0,scrollbars=1,status=1,width=720,height=570')){l.href=g;}}a();void(0);">Press This</a>

And when you find a website that you like, you can easily blog about it by clicking the Press This Bookmark, which opens a new window with the link to the page you are currently browsing! Great for Networking, and easy enough for anybody to use!

Screen Options

Due to the monument of information displayed onscreen at any one time, the Developers have added a handy feature called ‘Screen Options’. Basically you can decide which sections you see on any page that has a screen options tab. When clicked, it expands to show a number of check buttons that correspond to their sections on the admin page.

These sections are also rearrangeable! You can drag and drop the ‘widgets’ around the place, make it so you have your optimum setup possible.

Plugin Interface

The guys at WordPress have built in an API for the plugin repository on WordPress.org/extend, which allows you to install plugins directly from your Admin section. This beats the process of searching, finding, downloading, uploading then activating the plugin, by simply searching, and installing.

It’s that easy. There is also a Tag Cloud to link to lists of popular search terms/plugins.

For those plugins that are on other sites, there is a simple upload form that allows you to upload the plugin and go from there.

Media Library

Although not significant, this new feature allows you to upload files to your WordPress uploads without having to create a post to do so. This is great if you want to upload a zip or some other large file to your hosting without having to go through FTP. The benefit is that it attaches a whole lot of meta data to the upload too!

Posts Management

Post management has been completely revolutionised with ‘Bulk Edit’. By selecting multiple files then adding an ‘edit’ filter, you can bulk moderate files in regards to their tags, categories, etc.

If you find a post display button, you can also toggle between displaying posts a certain way, with a short excerpt, or without.

Honourable Mention: Interface change.

Ok. Understandably I can’t overlook the biggest new feature; a complete interface overhaul. They have scrapped the colourful motifs, and have moved to a grey colour scheme, that is much more aesthetically pleasing. Word is they also have a blue admin theme in the pipeline!

new menu

Not only is the menu now vertical (which ensures no wrapping happens, allows for unlimited amounts of menu items, but it is also collapsable. This saves a whole lot of space on the page whilst still having the full menu accessible. Plugin and Theme developers can upload their own icons and use the API to add them to the menu!

The new grey motif is a lot slicker and clean cut that the more childish blue and orange one. The admin interface has always been somewhat unrefined, and WordPress 2.7 finally gives it the overhaul it needs. The new interface is much tighter and robust than the others, whilst still being flexible; a hard feat to achieve! Kudos Jane!

Finally, the new layout is a lot more intelligent, efficient and easier to use. It provides for a more faster and more flexible workflow. It allows you to ‘custom build’ your interface so that it suits you best.

Now what’s your excuse?

WordPress 2.7 is the last excuse gone for you not to switch. The new interface and features completely revolutionise blogging, and the tightened interface is a dream to look at. Go get it and learn it!

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Discussion 78 Comments

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  1. I’ve upgraded 5 of my sites this morning…
    I’m loving it. THe only issue I had was with the “Platinum SEO Pack” plugin. My pages would come up blank when this was installed. I went back to the “All in One SEO Pack” plugin with no problem.. so I guess i’ll switch all my sites to this.

  2. Dave Zatz says:

    With the (second) interface redesign behind us, perhaps the team can now focus on more efficient DB usage and caching. (I’ll be waiting for 2.7.1 before I upgrade.)

  3. Saijo George says:

    great work buddy… thanks for putting all of this together

  4. Cynthia says:

    Thanks for your overview! I just upgraded two of my blogs today. I guess they have not implemented threaded comments yet though? I wish they would soon. I have a plugin that does it but would love if it was native.

    Also, I still can’t upgrade plugins on a couple of my blogs. Some I can, some I can’t, all on the same VPS with the same settings. I don’t have FTP on my VPS and I don’t want to set it up. I get the FTP input page when I try to use the automatic plugin upgrade option, or when I try install a new plugin via the new install features with 2.7.

    Hrm…

  5. As excited as I am about 2.7… I’m also just as excited about this wordpress plugin, Shopp – http://www.shopplugin.net – because of what it’s going to do for ecommerce on the wordpress platform.

    I’m one of the beta testers. I’ve used Wp-Commerce, eShop, and Quick Cart… but this is going to blow all of them away… trust me (though eShop is currently the best)…

    not only can you use Google Checkout, and Paypal.. but Authorize.net making it a TRUE eccommerce plugin.

    Just thought I’d put you up on this little gem!

  6. Paris Vega says:

    My favorite changes in WordPress 2.7:
    1. Auto installing/updating of plugins – such a time saver
    2. New nav interface moved to the left – utilizes the endless scrolling space

  7. Josh Drake says:

    Sweet! I’m downloading/uploading it right now!

  8. amit jain says:

    Great work – a very detailed post – loved it

  9. dang says:

    Great Interface, I’ve already updated.

  10. safuan says:

    this is very good and nice.i love it.really cool.
    thanks to wordpress

  11. James says:

    Fantastic release, I’ve just started upgrading my blogs to use it. Nice clean and easy to use interface.

  12. Sajid says:

    Great improvements this time. Thumbs up for WordPress development Team.

  13. Ben says:

    I think this release really puts WordPress at the top of the mountain for blogging platforms. What a great release.

  14. koen buysse says:

    takes a minute or 2 to get used to… but indeed, it’s much improved…
    i’ve been on the wordpress-train since 2.5 now (the blue admin-panel), and i sometimes install it on my localhost, just for ol’times sake.. it sure has come a long way !!!!

  15. Skilz says:

    WordPress is so great, I cannot wait for this to be released!!!!

    Nice article Harley

  16. David says:

    Hello, thanks for the information. I have a question about wordpress functionality.

    Do you know if and when WordPress will have an integrated functionality like TDO Miniforms?

    Just Curious

    Thanks,

    David

  17. Warren says:

    “AMAzing”…

  18. Jen says:

    Great post, great new features, but I’m not a fan of the design, even after using it a few weeks. That sidebar gets long after a few plugins, it’s hard to find things and when you click on Pages in the sidebar it doesn’t take you to the page list. Liked the previous, high contrast color scheme better and the san-serif fonts were easier to read. Hope someone comes out with a new theme for this; I’d pay some bucks for that!!

  19. poer says:

    i like the bulk edit and quick edit features, but i know about the keyboard shortcuts keys before :P

  20. Jan says:

    I love the auto upgrade feature! Saves you a lot of time!

  21. Krishh says:

    Nice Post, surely i will upgrade it!

  22. RaiulBaztepo says:

    Hello!
    Very Interesting post! Thank you for such interesting resource!
    PS: Sorry for my bad english, I’v just started to learn this language ;)
    See you!
    Your, Raiul Baztepo

  23. guessswh0 says:

    2.7 Definitely works amazing. I have it installed on my website and I absolutely think it works great. I haven’t had any issues yet.

  24. Eric says:

    2.7 is pretty cool… it’s definitely helped me increase my discussion on my blog…

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  26. Лена says:

    Последний абзац в тему!

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