What I like in Wordpress 2.8

Wordpress 2.8 is out and every Wordpress blogger and his dog are talking about it. But, in reality, what difference does it make to any Wordpress blog owner?  What’s new in WP that will make blogging easier? Why should they upgrade?

Aside from upgrading for security purposes (fixing and patching old bugs and vulnerabilities), here are 3 things that I like in Wordpress 2.8 and which make it worthwhile to upgrade:

1. Installing new themes and plugins is as easy at it will ever be.  Instead of  downloading and uploading themes and plugin from wordpress, you can actually search and install them right from your blog. Just go to your left sidebar under Themes or Plugins and click on “Add New.” Search, then click on “Install” et voila!
2. CodePress Syntax highlighting in Theme and Plugin editors. If you are like me then you like to change and customize your themes and plugins to make them suit perfectly your blog. Whether you want to change a color, the text etc, your job in now easier thanks to the syntax highlighting. Previously when you opened the theme and plugin editors, you would see a big “blob” of code. Now you can see highlighted areas and code which actually helps you to pinpoint the piece of code to change. See also my post on Customizing your Wordpress Easily
3. Rearranging your dashboard and widgets. Only an aesthetic improvement but could make a difference if you spend a lot of time in front of your blog. This feature allows you to rearrange the boxes in your dashboard and widgets into columns. Pretty useful if you have loads of them around!