WordPress 2.0 Cometh
After much holding of breaths, nail biting, anxious waiting, and a host of other adjectives signifying nervous anticipation, WordPress 2.0 is finally out. As usual, due to timezone differences, the ‘real’ world saw the light of day while I hit the sack. 26th December was in fact 27th December for half the world. But that’s really besides the point. What really matters is that we have finally received our belated Christmas gift, as promised. On with the show!
I’ve been keeping an eye out for this new release for the longest time. After experimenting with the Release Candidate last week, I found that I really liked the new WP backend. However, I did find some of its newer features to be… worrying; specifically the file upload function. I don’t like that it uploads to a default directory that CANNOT be changed. Neither do I enjoy the fact that it tries to create subdirectories for you and turns images uploaded into a psedo-post (e.g. with description, comments, etc). And probably worse of all is that I dread giving write access to wp-content in order to get the upload function working.
Having said all that, I have discovered that you don’t need to give write access to wp-content in order to accomplish file uploads. You need only create a new directory named ‘upload’ and make that writeable to WP. That saves you a lot of grief in having to contend with security issues (e.g. your plugins and themes directory are in you wp-content directory!).
I assume that the file browsing function allows users to browse by month. However, my usage has been limited to December, I have yet to discover whether this assumption is true or not. If it isn’t, then the image browser is going to get very cluttered in a hurry, especially if you have alot of images uploaded. And what about previously uploaded images? They are not going to appear on the radar if you uploaded them anywhere else.
Basically, what I’m trying to say is that the lack of options in essense forces you to comply with WP’s chosen upload directory structure, if you want to use the feature. Some form of options for specifying where you want your uploads to be stored would have been nice. And perhaps an option to disable the auto-generation of subfolders.
But that’s just me. Everyone has their own preferences. What works for one might not work for another, and likewise, what is the pet peeve of someone (me), is the beloved feature of another. Inspite of this ‘fault’ (IMHO), I am loving the new WP release. Whether or not you upgrade to WP2.0 is solely your decision. There is no immediate need to upgrade, since support is still readily available for the old 1.5.2. If you’re happy (and comfortable) with 1.5.2, then by all means retain it until you find a need to upgrade.
Shameless Plug:
If you need some help to upgrade to WP2.0, I would gladly help. I don’t claim to be an expert and neither do I guarantee that the upgrade will run smoothly or painlessly. However, I will say that my services are free. I’m doing it for kicks (no, don’t kick me…). So if you need some help or technical advice, you can leave a message here and I’ll get back to you.
Related posts:
Wordpress 2.1 - Ella
Boredworkers.com Upgrade
Expanding Wordpress
My Split Personality
Popularity Contest
LiewCF.com Said,
December 27, 2005 @ 11:05 pm
WordPress 2.0 Released, Should you upgrade?
WordPress 2.0 has been released and available for free download now. The WordPress 2 is a big step forward after last version 1.5.
…
KOREKK!!! Said,
December 28, 2005 @ 5:17 am
[…] Link - Szehau’s blog (announcing that he has upgraded and his Default Trackback plugin is not working) Link - Start.com.my (just an announcement, nothing much to read) Link - LiewCF.com (why you should upgrade & feature list) Link - awesomeblogs.com (announcing it, otherwise nothing much) Link - mossism.net (announcing and some personal comments) Link - HTnet (why he’s not upgrading) Link - Kamigoroshi (announcing it & a warning before upgrading) Link - boredworkers has loads to say about WP 2.0 No Comments so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI Leave a comment Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong> […]
Yvy Said,
December 30, 2005 @ 12:46 pm
got a question for u….abt WP that is. ;)
just say someone takes a look my blog n immediately tells me that my HTML isnt valid. is that possible?
gbyeow Said,
December 30, 2005 @ 2:49 pm
Hi Yvy, there are ways of validating your HTML. Try W3C’s HTML validation service. Just view source your page and pop it into the text area. Having said that, neither of our sites are valid according to the service. Hehe. Time for us to do some cleanup :)
Mark Wegner Said,
December 31, 2005 @ 2:16 am
I am considering updating to wordpress 2.0. Are you using an adsense plugin with 2.0? If so, which one?
Also, is your “game of the week” table dynamically generated? If so, How did you do that?
Thanks!
gbyeow Said,
December 31, 2005 @ 2:29 am
I am currently not using any adsense plugins for WP. I am however in the process of developing an WP plugin for adsense. At any rate, adsense for me is currently wrapped in a PHP class with access functions that I call to display ads. It keeps track of the number of ads already displayed and warns me if I go overboard.
Yes, GotW is dynamically generated. It is currently riding on WP’s database. I created a personal plugin for entering and maintaining game entries. GotW consists of a single php script that reads game entries from the database table and recursively generates the page that you see in games.boredworkers.com.