I very well may have missed the news in the last few days, but I was surprised to see that Wordpress 2.8 was released by Wordpress.org. I knew the next version was on the way, I just didn’t know it was this soon.

So, why upgrade?

Having not yet moved through the upgrade process, wordpress 2.8 is said to:

• be faster due to scripting changes
• have theme installation process improvement
• include a widget interface redesign (good, as I felt the last version was subpar)

There are also a number (by number, I mean 180) new features included. Ones that really seem of interest to me are:

• Separate Comments into a separate postbox, from Discussion postbox, on the Edit Post screen
• Allow the dashboard widgets to be arranged in up to four columns
• Allow editing of all plugin files (Woo hoo!)
• Autosave post/page when pressing Control/Command+S
• Give login screen proper iPhone viewport

I’m interested to do the upgrade as the potential increase in speed/usability could be very beneficial, especially if the scripting cut down on processing power. More notes to come…

One thing bloggers and developers want to know is how traffic flows through their site and there could be for a number of reasons for wanting such information.  Is a  new design is working as intended?  Are headlines written in such a way that they illicit interest for your readers?  Why do people “bounce” away from the site?  These are all potential things a blogger would want to know about their site.

Some web stats programs have the ability to provide this information on a limited basis, but very view options are available to bloggers that show the exact path – especially for Wordpress users – so here is one for the Wordpress Community to investigate:  clickstats

clikStats is a plugin that automatically detects the current links within each post and compiles the who,what and when data (of each click) and provides an overview to the publish through his or her dashboard.

A sweet tool for anyone who wants to understand what is/isn’t working on their blog.

Just when I gave up hope on finding a Wordpress template that would meet my needs, one came along that was interesting. I tried it but it sitll doesn’t work for me  (not that it’s bad, it actually looks very clean.  

Anyway, developer Arcsin, release a new theme that is worth looking at if you like basic two-column designs.

Here you go – it’s called Emplode.

Developers are always releasing new plugins for Wordpress.  As the blogging platform is “alive”, it’s always interesting to see what is hitting the community.  Here are some of the newest, most promising, plugins I’ve found in the last few days.

AutoSuggest Searches

You know how you go to Google and start typing in the search box and suggestions drop down, allowing you to pick from a list of potential results?  Bingo. That is exactly what you have here for your site.  

WordPress Video Solution Framework

Developed by Automattic, the group behind Wordpress, this is a solid release.  This plugin provides a video framework, including a transcoder and  and administration screen.  Note that a significant amount of configuration is required, so if you are not a “technical” person you may want to stay way

Google Custom Search Plugin for Wordpress

Now this is promising (and MUCH needed).  One reason I do not have a search function on the site is due to the poor performance of the built-in search feature.  Wordpress is a blog platform, not a search platform, so why would the development team spend huge amounts of time developing search functionality? Well, this plugin removes the old search and utilizes Google to provide search results to your readers!

I haven’t tested any of these extensions as of yet, so be warned, you may be getting a product that is less than perfect.  From what I’ve see and read, however, they really look to have promise.

In business, if one puts out a great product I think it is safe to say the chances for success go up.  That is not to say an organization will be successful simply because they put out the best of the best, and there are a number of pure crap products that have hit the market and managed to be successful, but having a great product is a solid differentiator.

Another catalyst for success is the community that supports the product.  

I am not strictly talking about the “consumer” but the hardcore support and believer in what is being marketed.  These are the people who create communities around a product.  Think about Apple and how dedicated the core user base is – there are forums discussing the products and developers create applications that are distributed to improve performance, all of which helps create a sense of excitement for what apple is putting out.

Then there are exceptional organizations that take it one step further – direct community involvement in development and wordpress.org is one such organization.

During the Wordpress 2.7 development process a contest was held, Project Icon, that asked designers to submit custom icons for the 2.7 admin interface, and then the user community was then asked to vote for the icon set that they felt most suitable for Wordpress 2.7.  

How cool is that? 

While having a superior product is one thing, the organizations that allow the “consumers” to impact future of the product – developers, artists, testing, users feedback that is listened to – only strengthens the image and future of the brand.

Nice job Wordpress!

Here is a word for you: Oxite

This is Microsoft’s “open source” blogging platform, supposedly aimed at developer – NOT aimed at other blogging platforms such as Wordpress or MovableType.  Not sure I believe that claim, but hey…

According to Microsoft, Oxite is a:

standards-compliant, extensible content-management system designed to support either blogs or larger Web sites, Microsoft said. The platform includes support for features such as pingbacks, trackbacks, anonymous or authenticated commenting, gravatars (globally recognized avatars), and RSS feeds at any page level

Why would Microsoft attempt to get into the blogging platform space at this point?  While I know nothing, to me this would be an easy way of introducing Sharepoint to a whole new world of developers.  

It turns out that Oxite was written in ASP.NET, much like Microsoft’s other “portal and blogging” offering – Sharepoint.  What better way of creating a demand than giving users a “teaser” product then saying “oh, you want to implement this on a large scale… it’s funny because we have this other product that will meet your needs”.

While executive management will not be aware of the both products, necessarily, the hardcore developer of an organization will.  This will have the ability to create a “demand” from within.

Smart move by Microsoft if that is their intent…