As you can see in the WordPress download page and blog, WordPress 2.8.1 has been released as a stable version to the public.
WordPress 2.8.1 fixed many bugs and security issues that version 2.8 suffered from.
What’s New?
Here are the highlights from the WordPress blog (you can also look at the whole list of new stuff in 2.8.1):
- Certain themes were calling get_categories() in such a way that it would fail in 2.8. 2.8.1 works around this so these themes won’t have to change.
- Dashboard memory usage is reduced. Some people were running out of memory when loading the dashboard, resulting in an incomplete page.
- The automatic upgrade no longer accidentally deletes files when cleaning up from a failed upgrade.
- A problem where the rich text editor wasn’t being loaded due to compression issues has been worked around.
- Extra security has been put in place to better protect you from plugins that do not do explicit permission checks.
- Translation of role names fixed.
- wp_page_menu() defaults to sorting by the user specified menu order rather than the page title.
- Upload error messages are now correctly reported.
- Autosave error experienced by some IE users is fixed.
- Styling glitch in the plugin editor fixed.
- SSH2 filesystem requirements updated.
- Switched back to curl as the default transport.
- Updated the translation library to avoid a problem with mbstring.func_overload.
- Stricter inline style sanitization.
- Stricter menu security.
- Disabled code highlighting due to browser incompatibilities.
- RTL layout fixes.
Should I Upgrade?
I already upgraded and It took about two seconds. No plugins harmed.
I think that everyone should upgrade because of the security problems in 2.8.1.
Did you update?
First I’d like to announce the upgrade of orenyotmov.info to the WordPress 2.8 official version.
Now, if you are asking yourself if you should upgrade then the answer is really just a big plain YES.
Why?
- Five second upgrade (no kidding). You click one button, do the auto-updating for you plugins (if needed) and you’re done.
- Widget management – This one is a dream coming true. In WordPress 2.8 the widget management was made ten times better. You can say goodbye to the old annoying “Save Changes” button and sidebar selection scroll down. It’s all in AJAX now, click save and your done, no page refresh for every change. In fact – no page refresh at all. There is also the “Inactive Widgets” section where you can store widgets that you no longer use, but don’t want to lose their preferences. Did I already mention it’s all using full Drag n’ Drop interface?
- Theme installer. No more 20 minute theme uploading! Now you just pick your theme and install it in second, just like the plugin installer. It can really save you some valuable time. There are also feature check boxes for all kinds of stuff that one can ask from a theme such as: number of columns, colors, sidebars, subject, translation-ready and many more.
- Most of the popular plugins are working great at WP 2.8, there is no need to be afraid about that. Maybe is the first week or so you shouldn’t rush and upgrade but now it’s all perfectly safe. If you are still nervous you better look up your plugins at the plugin list of plugins that work on WordPress 2.8. If a plugin that you are using is not listed – the best thing you can do is contact the plugin author.
Bottom Line
Just do it.
The second WordPress 2.8 beta is now live for download.
You can download WordPress 2.8 beta 2 and see the list of changes on the WordPress.org development blog.
This is mainly for people who want to contribute to WordPress in another fashion by downloading the beta, using it and reporting bugs. I took a look at the list for you and there is really nothing particularly interesting, just some plain bugs & issues. I also found a cool view on the bugs, one that lets you see the changes in the files themselves.
What about you guys, Did you try the 2.8 WP beta?
WordPress developers at WordPress.org announced the release of the WordPress 2.8 beta version for the open public. They also stated the main features and updates such as:
- New Theme Installer routines
- Improved Widget user interface
- Allow editing of all plugin files
- “Choose a city in the same timezone as you” for Timezone in Administration > Settings > General
- Remove My Hacks option from Administration > Settings > Miscellaneous
- Hide email addresses from low privilege users on Administration > Comments
- Allow case-insensitive logins
- Add password strength meter to Add User and Edit User
- Drop post_category column from wp_posts table, and link_category column from wp_links schemas
- Add hooks for the Users, Categories, Link Categories, Tags and Comments table columns
- Put page title before blog name in admin title
- Fixes to query_posts (obey post_type, drop orderby=category, use group by for meta key queries, remove meta_value from selected fields)
- Add hook for adding info to plugin update message
- Add a function to output a generic widget anywhere in a template
- New Widgets API
- Allow menu reordering via plugin
I read the whole list and pointed the things that I think are most important here.
WordPress 2.8 Beta 1 Download Link
You can get the beta version and test it at WordPress.org.
