What’s New in WordPress 2.8?

Published On May 22, 2009
28 Comments Leave a Comment

wordpress-2-8

Today, while browsing the WordPress website, I noticed that WordPress 2.8 Beta was available for testing. So, I decided to download it and give it a test run. Here is a list of major changes that make this release a bit different from the earlier versions.

Manage your Tags

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A new sub-section has been added to the Posts section called “Post Tags” that contains all the tags that have been used so far in your blog. Just like categories, you can change the Tag name, Tag slug and also add description for your tags.

Manage Themes Better

manage-themes-better

When managing your themes earlier, you had to click on a particular theme’s screenshot and then activate or discard it from the enlarged theme preview screen. This has been changed to something efficient now. You just have to click on the “activate” link and the desired theme gets applied directly without showing you a preview (the preview sometimes used to get stuck in case a theme was broken or if a required plugin wasn’t installed). This feature can indeed save a lot of precious time. Additionally, you can also delete any unwanted themes from the same screen by clicking on the “delete” link.

Browse New Themes

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This cool addition in WordPress 2.8 will let you add new themes for your blog right from your admin section. All you need to do is go under Appearance -> “Add New Themes”, and from here, you can search for a theme by any keyword you want. It also lets you apply different filters based on colors, columns, width and subject. So, now you can go theme hunting at full steam 🙂

Improved Widgets Section

widgets-section

The best and most wanted change that’s been done in WordPress 2.8 is the revamp of the widgets section. Refreshingly, all your sidebars are visible at once (just like old times) and you can drag and drop the required widgets into them. So unlike WordPress 2.7.1, you don’t have to press the silly “show” button anymore to bring up your individual sidebars. As soon as you drop a widget into a sidebar, it will pop down the widget’s properties automatically which can be modified and saved.

Edit Individual Post Comments

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While editing a post, you can now see the existing comments that have been made till now in a separate box section at the bottom. You can unapprove, spam, delete, edit, quick edit and reply to the comments right from the post edit screen.

And, here are some other minor changes that might appeal to many WordPress users :-

  • WordPress doesn’t ask for confirmation when marking a comment as spam
  • You don’t get notified of your own comments
  • You can autosave posts/pages when pressing Control/Command+S
  • Support for more than one gallery on the same page
  • You can now edit all the files of a particular plugin
  • WordPress now allows case-insensitive logins (username)
  • You can have multiple instances of a widget now 🙂

Read further on the changes…

28 replies on “What’s New in WordPress 2.8?”

hodia supplements Reply

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fansmaniacom Reply

i think now WP 2.9 is more better than 3.0, what do you think? i’ve tried to upgrade my WP to 3.0 but some problems make me confused to resolve it

Rhoody Reply

I like WP 2.8 a lot. Just my favourtite plugin highslide is not working anymore, what results in big trouble with some of my blogs I installed on some pages if friends.

I guess I got to wait untill so,eome fixes the Highslide injection for 2.8

1wtBlog Reply

Thank BoB for the infos. You pointed out a few new features that I didn’t notice.
Just upgraded & loving it!

The best part of WP 2.8 for me is the color coded theme editor. Makes it a lot easier rather than straining your eyes looking for a tiny dot.. lol.

mnmdesigns Reply

One feature I quite like in WP 2.8, which suits my blog very well, is the ability to better manager themes by being able to Activate, Preview and best of all Delete any particular theme. This saves a lot of time by eliminating the need to having to login via FTP to delete the theme folder – now I can do it with a simple click.

Bruce Hollingdrake Reply

I’ve worked for a half dozen different commercial software companies now and none of them can come close to the product that WordPress delivers. Then pack tons of improvements into each upgrade and have them ready to go like clockwork. There is a feeling that whenever software gets updated it is often a case of three steps forward and two steps back fixing the unforeseen issues. This never seems to be the case with WP – it’s always full steam ahead. I’m lovin’ it!

Vladan Reply

I just upgraded from 2.7 version to 2.8. It went smooth. Love this. And all my plugin works fine, the interface is faster, the blog seems to run faster too….

Austin King Reply

Just upgraded, super easy and nice processes. After you’ve dragged and drop once, how do you reopen a widget to edit it’s preferences?

Leadership Expert Reply

Brilliant, I’m looking forward to multiple widgets (why on earth were they limited in the first place?) and better widget display, as I have multiple sidebars.

VPS Web Hosting Reply

Neat features… I really like what they did with the 2.7 release. I’m looking forward to the new functions available in 2.8

Hesham Reply

Well, this looks great, but of course it’s not a good idea to use it now, let’s wait till the final version, I will be the first who upgrade for sure!

aquariumfish Reply

@emarian:-

I’m wondering the same thing. The clocked stopped ticking on the WordPress Trac site on the 31st May. Which was supposed to have been the release date.

Dev Duff Reply

Thanks for highlighting whats new in WP 2.8
I’m trying it out on one of my side-kick blogs, will post my comments soon. It seems like there is a lot on the plate to test.
I’m also sure that when 2.8 is released, it will be quickly followed by quick updates 2.8.1 and 2.8.2 🙂
So, will wait for a stable version for my commercial blogs.
Dev.

ThemeGrrl Reply

Thanks for the run down on 2.8. It’s sounding really good. In fact it seems this update will deal with most of the remaining issues I have with WordPress. Being able to manage themes from the admin panel and have multiple instances of widgets have been at the top of my want list! The improvements to theme management in particular will be especially good for my clients and those not so WordPress savvy.

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