Dabbling With WordPress 2.7

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Dec 122008
 

So I have decided to upgrade one of my blogs to WordPress 2.7 and see what all the hype is about and test out some new features.  At first I was extremely disappointed with the new dashboard, I couldn’t find links to anything.  I then learned that some of my plug-ins “Lighter Menu’s” specifically actually prevents you from seeing the left column bar in WordPress 2.7.

I troubleshoot this by deactivating all of my plug-ins and when the left column reappeared I added my plug-ins back one at a time until I figured out which plug-in was the culprit.  So now I can display the proper WordPress 2.7 dashboard:

Click on Image to Enlarge:
snapshot1 Dabbling With Wordpress 2.7

I have only upgraded one of my four blogs at this point and may do the other three this weekend. One good thing about my hosting company is I have full SSH access to my servers so I can just tar up my existing directory and deploy the wordpress update, I have easy back out steps if necessary.

So far the plugin activation and deactivation is lighting quick compared to WordPress 2.6.x even when you do bulk activates or deactivates. The homepage itself is more useful and streamlined, I also love the quickpost where you can just type and do some minor format changes and immediately post right from the wordpress home page. Though if you do complex tagging, or have SEO plug-ins you have to write the post the normal way.

One of the main features I am looking at implementing is a sticky post, kind of like a mini home page above your current posts, this feature will be very useful for getting across a message and will go along way to allow companies to use blogs as their primary site types in my opinion. I want to get a sticky post to work on the Rock Along Productions blog, since when people visit they don’t realize that there are new posts they just see the static page.

Note: Static page is a permanent static blog front page, but sticky post will only show 1 of your sticky posts on top of all the others, so you still see your current posts under your sticky post. This is why sticky post is valuable.

I will report more as I learn new features and functionality and see what new plug-ins take advantage of the new WordPress 2.7 in the meantime check your plug-ins carefully, I already had 3 invalidate from the upgrade, so I am sure many plug-ins may have problems until they release updates.

-Dragon Blogger

Dabbling With Wordpress 2.7

Justin Germino

Owner at DragonBlogger.com
Working in the IT Industry for over 13 years and specializing in web based technologies. Dragon Blogger has unique insights and opinions to how the internet and web technology works. An Avid movie fan, video game fan and fan of trying anything and everything new.
Dabbling With Wordpress 2.7

@dragonblogger

Technology, Gaming and Wordpress blogger who runs gadget giveaways, helps others with blogging tips, monetization, earning and more!
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Dabbling With Wordpress 2.7
Dabbling With Wordpress 2.7

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  • http://www.howtoblogsite.com Randy from How To Blog Site

    I installed it on 5 different blogs between yesterday and today.

    I found the new lay out frustrating at first but I do like a lot of the new features. Once I got them working.

    Speaking of plugin conflict if you have the WordPress Automatic Update plugin installed, you won’t be able to use the automatic plugin installer until you disable it.

    Other than that everything went pretty smooth.

    Randy from How To Blog Sites last blog post..WordPress 2.7 Problems

    • http://www.dragonblogger.com dragonblogger

      I finally broke down and upgraded dragonblogger.com to wordpress 2.7 and am learning new stuff, one of my plug-ins clearly doesn’t work right.

  • http://www.postcardsfromthefunnyfarm.com Damien

    I like it but prefer the old simple interface. I love Tumblr because it’s so stripped down. I’d love to find a middle ground between that and 2.7

    Damiens last blog post..Life is Short, Eat at the Buffet

  • http://www.unboundideas.com Tad Furtado

    I am using WP version 2.7.1 for my site and have been trying to do exacly what you mention in this post, namely use the new sticky function to put static information at the top of my post page so that it can serve as the main landing page for my new startup.

    But I can’t get the footer text and formatting to hide for the sticky post without having it apply globally to all posts on the main page. I think that since the new WP version considers stickies to be a new class that I can get it to work with some use of the “if (function_exists(‘is_sticky’))” in my theme’s code, but I can’t get anything to bite.

    Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

    Tad Furtados last blog post..De-stacking Your Magazine, Newspaper and Book Pile

    • http://www.dragonblogger.com dragonblogger

      I have same problem, I can’t figure out how to remove the footer stuff/tags…etc just for the sticky post. I will research this more and do a 2nd post if I find out how.

  • http://www.unboundideas.com Tad Furtado

    I’ll do the same. Thanks!

    Tad Furtados last blog post..De-stacking Your Magazine, Newspaper and Book Pile

  • http://www.howtoblogsite.com Randy from How To Blog Site

    @Tad

    Try changing your code from if (function_exists(is_sticky)) to

    if (is_sticky()) this is what I have been using successfully since the sticky is in the globals.

    Randy from How To Blog Sites last blog post..Blogging Instructions – The Top Five Things You Need to Know To Blog