WordPress 2.7-More Features and a Rearranged Admin

WordPress 2.7, due sometime (tentatively) in November, brings and with it comes several new features that are currently provided by some of the more popular WordPress plugins such as Subscribe to comments, Google XML Sitemaps, Better Comments Manager and possibly something similar to WordPress Automatic Upgrades for example. It also brings the results of the ongoing development of a new Admin UI of which I’ve snapped up a few images from my own testing environment.

But first, here’s a short list of the new features/functions that are planned for this new release.

• Moved menus to a left sidebar
• Keyboard shortcuts for comment moderation
• Theme Update API
• One Click Plugin Installs
• WordPress core updates
• Default Sitemaps
• Admin Panel Comment Replies
• Comment Threading
• Subscribe to Comments
• Widgets for Dashboard and Write Box
• Batch Editing of Posts (maybe)
• Comments API

The list is subject to change depending on what the developers think is best according to their testing and feedback from folks like me who also love putting these new builds through the paces.

For an explanation of what these new features entail please see the Features Planned for WordPress 2.7 post By Keith Dsouza at WebLog Tools Collection. Another excellent article on the new features coming with 2.7 is Jeff Chandler’s First Look At WordPress 2.7, also at WebLog Tools Collection.

Some of these new features have already been incorporated into the Admin UI in the latest trunk builds so here’s a sample of what’s present already.

The menus are now on the left hand side of the Admin.

You can now reply to comments from the Admin’s comment page.

You can now hide or show all sections of the of the WP editor.

And you can now rearrange the sections in the editor to your liking.

How about automatic plugin installs?

It looks like WordPress users are in for an easier time of it with this up and coming release and all the new features that it brings. And although there’s bound to be the usual plethora of complaints about changing the Admin UI once again, by what I see the biggest change is in moving the menus from the top of the Admin to the left hand side and using a drop down type listing instead of having the sub menus of each top level item strewn across the top of every page. This change not only removes the cluttered, clunky and rather inconvenient way menus have always been done to a much more user friendly way of doing things plus the menus will always be accessible no matter what Admin page you happen to be on. The rest of the Admin UI basically remains the same.

The important thing about WordPress’s decision to make these changes to the menu placement is that this is a change that has long been requested by WordPress users over the period of several releases now and I’m no exception in this. I never did care for the way it took multiple clicks just to navigate from one page to another within the Admin, something which I always found myself having to change by use of a plugin like Ozh’ Admin Drop Down Menu. So I, for one, applaud this particular change.

Once WordPress 2.7 gets to the beta stage of development I’ll have a more in depth look at what this new version offers and judging by what I see in these early builds, it’s going to be quite a lot.