Right! Finally it is here. Having been subjected for tons of criticism, speculation and what not, WordPress 2.5 has officially opened their doors today.

Some changes to the layout have been explained on the WordPress site today and here is some pointers for you.

WordPress 2.5 Dashboard:

The focus of the new dashboard is on the relevant tasks at hand rather than distracting with unnecessary clutter. You can quickly see a summary for:

• what’s published
• what’s scheduled for publication
• latest comments
• incoming links
• blog stats
• WordPress updates
• WordPress news
• it is also customizable by you to add your own RSS feeds and change the way things are being presented to you, according to your own tastes.

WordPress 2.5 Navigation Face Lift:

The new navigation panel has received a sophisticated face lift. Some navigation options have been cut in half to separate the primary functions like

• writing
• managing posts
• managing pages
• editing the blog design
• managing comments

This leaves secondary functions hidden and leaving a much more clean interface for navigation purposes.

WordPress 2.5 Writing Screen:

The new writing screen only displays information we most often use. This will simplify posting. If you need the other options you can easily get them from their little hideaway.

The cool part about the new writing screen is that it anticipates the natural flow in which we write and will remember the way we leave it. So next time we come back, the same environment welcomes us.

WordPress 2.5 Manage:

The new interfaces to manage our admin have gotten a new design and are incorporated with everything else on the new release. WordPress believes that these changes will help us to become more faster and efficient when we blog.

The dashboard is presenting itself in a spring like manner. Ideal for those poor souls buried in the deepest snow over in the U.S and Canada. I’m sure they’ll warm right up to it.

But wait, there is good news. The folks must have heard a bunch of us winging when we blogged about this a little while back and now they have added the option to actually revert back to the old “boring” blue interface.

Plus for the really groovy designers out there, it is also pluggable, whatever that means.

WordPress 2.5 RC 1 Is Ready for Download:

Now, before you fall over each other trying to get hold of the new theme I advise you to wait - unless of course you are a designer or coder or simply feel like playing with the bubble wrap.

Excerpt from WordPress: If you make frequent backups and you’re interested in helping us out with development by testing the new code, download and install Release Candidate 1 of WordPress 2.5, and join our testers mailing list to report any bugs you find in the code.

If you want to play you can direct your feedback here:

2.5-feedback@wordpress.org.

So when is it happening - for real? Give it a few days guys and you will be good to go.

This should be fun.

Read it at the source

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 at 2:33 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.