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WordPress 2.5, still pending

WordPress 2.5 is not quite one week into the release candidate phase: seventy-three percent complete as of this moment’s timeline and still with 252 open tickets to either resolve or defer. Naturally, the number of complaints over the delayed release have dwindled to near zero now that a product has been made available in any form. I think that this quiet may also be due to the doors being opened to public involvement, as in “howdy, grab a build and start bug testing.” The project stops being something about which to carp and becomes instead something one can actually help with, whether a little or a lot.

In the “fools rush in” department, I’ve noticed that a fair number of folks have already upgraded their actual working weblogs to 2.5. If it’s working for them, then great, but the current release is called a candidate for good reason. I’ll just keep 2.5 confined to my test installation until the cooks say it’s done. Savvier WP users may boldly go into the new frontier, but I am certain that most early adopters are more enthusiastic than experienced.

Favorite new feature in 2.5: “Reactivate All Plugins.” Why? Not just because of the obvious convenience of a glaringly-absent feature, but because this action is smart enough to reactivate only those plugins that you had previously marked as active. I was totally surprised at this, and totally pleased. Props to you, Dougal Campbell.

Second favorite feature? Built-in support for Gravatars. Why? Because it’s about time, and pictures are purty.

Third favorite feature? Enhanced functionality in entry management. Why? It’s one step closer to true power-editing of posts in WordPress. A bit disappointed that WP didn’t go farther here and allow for mass changes of categories, authors, tags, and other post elements. Still, baby steps.

Most intriguing feature: Image Uploader/Media Library. Why? Because I’ve never before made use of any “asset” management in a blogging platform, and it’s about time I did. A little more efficiency and systematization around here would be welcome. There are a few wrinkles left to iron out in the uploader, but it will be oft-used when it’s done.

Feature which invites ambivalence at best: Interface reorganization/administrative panel aesthetics. Why? Jeffrey Zeldman and Happy Cog are deities and rightly so, but I’m not buying the new admin interface as an improvement over the old. The default Dashboard does now devote more space to aspects of the user’s blog - as opposed to WordPress news - but not that much more, and use of screen real estate doesn’t seem very economical. You can change the feeds displayed to whatever you like, but do you actually need any? You don’t seem to be able to get rid of those feed area boxes at all. The new division of the upper menu elements of the Dashboard into what is now effectively three separate menus…ah, no, sorry. This is not more usable than what had been there before.

The organizational changes made to the Write page seem to render that page less usable. More scrolling is necessary to reach needed elements of the page. Less customization is available now that the user is unable to move page modules around via drag and drop.

On the plus side, you can change the colors from the washed out “Fresh” palette back to something like the original palette used in 2.3.

The space I’ve alloted to admin organization and appearance notwithstanding, I’m not losing much sleep over that aspect of 2.5. There are, or will be, plugins for that kind of thing. I’m considering making one myself, once I coach up a bit. Or a lot.

On balance, I’m rather looking forward to the official release of 2.5. Should be available inside of a week, I think.

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