WordPress 3.0 came out couple of days ago and there might have been people who have upgraded to the latest version of WordPress. Though I am really not impressed with WordPress 3.0 yet and am exploring it throughout (a full review is coming soon 🙂 ) to be able to explain what it has and what it does not.
I found that the latest and greatest update to the best blogging platform does not pack in much features which the end user will find useful. That said I thoroughly understand that I am speaking for myself here and want your inputs about what you liked about this update.
Of course, the merging of MU into WordPress core was a really huge thing, but other than that what did you like or find useful in WordPress 3.0. I am looking forward to your inputs, and I promise that a full review of WordPress 3.0 is coming soon.
Thanks already :-). Oh and By the way if you missed me, I am back ;-).
So far i haven’t see anithing “big” on this release, custom post types, custom menus, header images, custom backgrounds bahhhh… the only thing interesting was WPMU merge but i doubt i will ever use it.
For a normal blogger i fail to see all the hype…but thank you wordpress and all developers envolved
Don’t forget the 1,217 bug fixes and feature enhancements, bulk updates so you can upgrade 15 plugins at once with a single click, and blah blah blah..
With ya’ there. The ability to upgrade multiple plugins SOUNDS like a great idea although I haven’t yet utilized that feature. Appreciate the 1200+ bug fixes as always but so far, I haven’t noticed any glaring differences but that could be due to my particular blog and my particular needs 🙂
I found the new custom header, menu and background very useful.
I think custom post types, and menus go a long way to bridge the gap I always hear when WP is compared to other systems. Personally I think this is a very exciting release and am looking forward to implementing at least multisite and custom post types immediately.
How about what we don’t like, such as the fact that, with hundreds of programmers working, nobody could figure out how to enable the multiple site feature without having to make a manual edit in the config.php file? That’s pathetic. Why couldn’t they just add a checkbox in the Dashboard?
Before someone delivers the excuse that I should have done it for them: I’m not a programmer. But I hope that when hundreds of dedicated developers work on a project, someone would consider the user interface a little more carefully.
Then again, there is Windows, so maybe we shouldn’t expect any better.
Peace,
Gene
The mandatory wp-config.php editing is intentional, since MultiSite isn’t quite ready for mass adoption in this release.
I don’t think that it’s not ready for mass adoption. Rather, I think that it takes a little bit of server configuration sometimes for it to work correctly. Ease of use is the goal of WordPress, and when you need to be manually editing .htaccess files, playing with VHOST stuff, that falls out of the realm of normal users.
I mean, just try installing WordPressMU 2.9.2 on a shared host, not a simple project.
Yeah, that’s what I meant. We didn’t want users to activate MS by mistake and then have to restore their blog from a backup.
Backups… Yeah, everyone is doing that right? 😉
What about a few warning dialogs?
Peace,
Gene
Gene,
Multisite isn’t supposed to be easy to enable. If someone doesn’t have the basic technical wherewithal to edit their wp-config.php and .htaccess files, then they probably won’t know anything about wildcard domains, memory management, or the security risks that can come along with multisite if you don’t know what you’re doing.
As has been said many times amidst the developers and in dev-chats, multisite assumes a certain level of competence as a server/site administrator. If you don’t have it, you won’t even be able to turn it on. If you do, it takes you (literally) 30 seconds to enable multisite.
-John
I complimented the multisite enablement process in my review. It’s not complicated but is a sufficient barrier to prevent amateurs from accidentally stumbling across it.
If you’re ready to host a multisite network, then editing your wp-config.php file shouldn’t be a big deal.
The new menu building utility is nice. Now you can easily have a page set as a sub menu item without setting it up in WordPress as a child of another page. When you set up a page as a child in WP, you can’t get nice clean URLs to the page. Hope this made sense 🙂
I have actually used the Custom Menu feature, although I had to use the widget as my theme doesn’t support it natively.
I was looking forward to the whole taxonomy and custom post type thing, but again it relies on theme support although there are two plugins you can get to use this feature from within the admin UI. I was expecting it to be like Drupal which has had the ability to create custom “node” types for years if not its whole history. Admittedly it can make things a bit more complicated, but it makes for more flexibility. But WP is meant to be for easy blogging rather than for stripping and rebuilding a website.
Custom menus simply rock 🙂
For me, menus takes the cake! Even though I am also running MultiSite on one project and Custom Post Types in others. Being able to order the menu exactly how I want them, or allow clients to do the same is priceless.
You mention custom post types and menu management as if they were meant only for developers and not users. Sure, in the first instance they are meant for developers. But everything that a developer makes is used by a user. The biggest problem for non-technical WordPress users has been making menus without hacking theme code. Custom menus in WordPress 3.0 is huge. It’s a win for developers and users alike.
I am simply smitten by custom post types. So rad…
I’m flabbergasted. How could you -not- be happy with the new features in 3.0? I’ve never been more excited about a new WP release. Custom post types are a GREAT addition, making it so much easier to use WP as a proper cms, without the aid of extra plugins. And the menu editor is another great feature which contributes to that as well.
Those were two missing links in WP, really. So far the only way to categorize posts was, well.. categories. Those are alright when you’re blogging about a single thing, let’s say books. Then categories are fine; fiction, non-fiction, etc. But what if you have different types of content? What if you have products, news, FAQs etc? Shove them all under posts, with a buttload of categories which have nothing to do with each other? No, that doesn’t work at all. Try explaining that to clients, that they have to click ‘add new’ at posts, and then select all the right categories for it to work properly. Very clumsy and counter intuitive.
WP3.0 is a huge step forward.
Why am I -flabbergasted- is because, this feature will hardly be used by end users, how many of the general public do you think will make use of this feature?
Do anyone even care about this. Of course WordPress took a big step ahead with the CMS philosophy, however, it does not mean that it is useful for each and every individual.
For me this feature does not mean anything, because WordPress in itself was a blogging platform since inception, the CMS features are addition to what WordPress had, not a wonderful feature everyone had been waiting for…
BTW, Thanks for your insight I do appreciate it.
My comment would be, does every major update have to incorporate an additional feature set which is used by the masses.
As mentioned, this a huge step forward for advanced users which use the software not only for blogging but for managing their entire contetn.
Kieth,
I admit that the full benefits to end users of things like custom post types, etc. may not be evident at the moment; but that will change. Once plugin and theme authors have had a chance to really leverage these new features, many will find themselves wondering how they got along without them at all. For example, the guys that use the wp-ecommerce plugin are supposedly refactoring the plugin to use post types, thus making their whole plugin more intuitive and efficient. Or podcasting plugins. As custom post types, bloggers will no longer have to hack normal posts, but can have both, keeping them distinct. Portfolio plugins for creative businesses, separating the news releases from blog posts on a single website, separate header footer, and sidebar menus that are all easily and intuitively maintainable, adding CRM capabilities to manage customers on WP without needing to give them a username; these are all things that are easily done with new features in 3.0, and they’re just waiting for plugin and theme developers to make them doable for end users.
Perhaps one thing that you already thought was genuinely and immediately useful to the end user, though, is the new update functionality for plugins.
My main point, though, is that WordPress 3.0 has only been out for 4 days. That’s not enough time for plugin and theme developers to really get this new functionality into your hands. Give it time before you pass judgement on the new features that may not seem applicable to the end user (even if that judgement isn’t necessarily bad).
I agree, for straightforward bloggers it doesn’t offer much news. But WP already was the best available platform for that 😉 I’m curious to know, what kind of features would you like to see added for end users?
I’m with Keith. For many users they’ll look at WP3 and say “what’s all the fuss about?”
It’s easy for folks here to say “WP3 rocks”, but you get the impression they’re all fairly WP3 expert.
I’m pissed that all the hype about custom post types but there’s no interface to them! WTF? Why give something to users before it’s ready for them to use? Or at least why make such a big deal about it when it’s only of usable by developers at the moment?
When I first heard custom post types were coming i was over the moon. Woot! And then I found out there’s no interface. Why? How hard would it have been?
WP3 is a let down for the end user. It has a little candy – eg menus and customization – but other features aren’t available to theme if their dev doesn’t provide it.
(It reminds me of OS X Snow Leopard. A little bit of candy for users, but most of the benefits were under the hood.)
The best new feature, I think, is the editor css, so you can make the editor WYSIWYG with the site. Shame it’s still dev dependent, though.
WP is not overly user friendly. And even Matt admits as much, and says improving that is a goal for WP. WP3 makes some small steps in the right direction.
I suspect what really limited development of WP in WP3 was the need to merge it with WPMU.
I reckon now development of WP to provide more end-user benefits will rocket along.
I agree, the lack of interface for custom post types is annoying, and puzzling. Same with custom taxonomies. WP now has the power to be a very versatile cms, but you have to sort it out yourself, under the hood, in shady functions.php files.
Ever since custom taxonomies were introduced (2.7?) they’ve expanded its functionality with every release though. Maybe they want to complete all custom functionality first before creating an interface for it. Maybe they want ‘power users’ to have a go at it first, so they can smooth out all the bugs and issues before releasing a user friendly interface for the masses. I dont know, im just guessing here 🙂
I still think you guyses definition of a “cms” is a bit warped…
a CMS is what alot of people are starting to call a “portal”.
about the only real way I can explain it is that, bbpress is a CMS, phpnuke is a CMS, postnuke is a CMS, etc etc.
you guyses definition I’m sorry, but thats NOT what a CMS is.
a CMS is a site-wide combining of a blog, forum, user logins and profiles all sharing the same mysql user base.
wordpress will NEVER function as a CMS imho
as for the topic at hand. custom post types is of no use to me at all. I agreed with the author, I didn’t see anything spectacular about this release either. I actually had to go back and “double check” to see if the 3.0 upgrade really took, because at first glance, I saw -no- difference at all between 2.9.2 and 3.0 whatsoever, other then an updated theme, and none of the new features I use yet. I have no interest in running a multi site blog, or multiple blogs under the same site.
About the only thing I’ve been wanting to see, is an actual “CMS” for wordpress, so that my blog and forum use the SAME mysql user database. This would, if ever available, keep my users from having to register twice for my site, once for the blog, once for the forum. Thats why CMS’s are so popular nowadays, nobody wants to register 2 or even 3 times for the same website! 🙂
heck I have a hard enough time getting people to register -once-. Just about everyone I know, or want to know, has either a facebook, myspace, twitter, LiveID, yahoo, or gmail account already, so why isn’t this functionality STILL not included in the core of wordpress?? nobody has any desire to register for 50 million blogs, it takes too long, so they really need to incorporate some kind of auto logon feature into the core, rather its with openID, the wordpress.com user base, facebook, yahoo, gmail, or something. common I mean nobody wants to ‘register’ for yet ‘another’ blog. I wouldn’t want to for my own blog either if it wasn’t for the fact that its my own site. lol that is still my #1 most requested feature
I disagree with you about a CMS. A CMS is a “Content Management System”. If your content includes a forum, then you would do well to find a CMS that also manages a forum. If you have no need for a forum, then you don’t need a CMS that has that functionality. CMS’s just manage content; if that content is a handful of static pages and a blog, then WordPress is the perfect CMS for you.
In RE: OpenID, etc., there are PLENTY of plugins that do that very well. Why bloat core for everybody when only half (at most! I’m being VERY generous) of users will ever use it? This is why WordPress is so good: its API is so flexible that you can do just about anything with it without all the bloat that comes from having it in the core package. WP is developed with the mentality of “Do one thing and do it well” (the Mac/Linux model), not “Do everything and do it all poorly” (the Microsoft Model).
Speaking of forums, the folks at Automattic are working on creating a plugin version of bbPress that runs on backpress, providing much better integration (yes, even using the same database!) with WordPress. That should be a very big step forward because (and we definitely agree here) there really is no great forum solution for WP at the moment.
Just wait for the theme and plugin developers to start using the new functionality in 3.0, then I think you’ll find the improvements more useful. 😀
CMS – Content Management System
The definition states simply that WordPress is indeed a CMS, as is PHP Nuke, as is any forum software. Any SYSTEM in witch CONTENT is MANAGED would logically be a CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.
However Worpdress is not as complete/complicated CMS as say Drupal. This is also a somewhat ignorant statement but it will suffice for this argument.
One 3.0 feature I like is that a new link opens in a new browser tab. That overcomes what was a real inconvenience for me.
I think the menu feature has a way to go, particularly with theme designers updating their menus to work with the new native menus.
3.0 seems faster to me; I like that.
I also like the Update feature. It is more comprehensive.
I like the top bar of the Dashboard, which is simpler and yet indicates whether the blog is open to search engines.
Good intuitive stuff.
menu manager, header image, page background are not useful for me, because, my blogs are 3 year old and I’m not interested to change anything.
For me, custom post type is very useful, because i have 1000 of pages with different top level pages and currently managing those pages are very headache. using custom post type, i can split into multiple menus and it will be easy.
For this reason, i love this version.
I have problems with tagging since the 3.0 install. Is this a known bug?
I’m a newbie but think people fuzz a lot about things which obviously was NOT intended to shape a wave of gratitude today, concerning that the new edition worked out so much that is hidden or not seen for the average user. As I’ve understood, the upgrade was about cleaning up all the clutter that many of us had done with plugins and so. Now we have a lighter, more convenient WordPress, were much of previous additions runs in the background. Like so many reviews about custom posts, for instance.
To me, the greatest update is the update function. Lot of users didn’t give a damn about upgrades. Which led to a lot of confusion, in many ways. Now, it’s a click. That’s something which will be used more often, and will benefit the whole community!
The ease of menus is also a huge step and great benefit. Previous edition demanded a plugin, right! Now’s it bundled with WordPress 3.0 – directly on the fly.
For me, Thelonious is packed with my native language – even the default theme Twenty Ten. Coming from a country with fewer habitants than the group of new user of WordPress in 2009, that’s a rarity and curiousity that I will gratify! Thanks a lot!!!
Now WordPress actually look more like a CMS than ever. This is due to all that’s in the background for us newbies. But if some have searched the plugin directory and reviewed what was the huge steps in 2004, 2005 and so on – they will see the fortitude of developing this platform, which we all reap from, today.
What users became disaapointed about in this update, may simply be that it was expected to be such a huge update. But much of the news were not giving too much expectation. They talked from a point of view that tha previous history and the grand efforts in getting so far, so soon and in such short period of time – that’s a huge step, after all. That’s the story which a few million users dont know, the ones that came onboard in WordPress the last year or so.
I understand that some will discuss what WordPress 3.0 did NOT include. That’s a sound discussion. We all have a dream. No matter how high an expectation, the new edition might dream the course, on it’s way to a brighter and better future for us all. I think so…
I have just started to work with WordPress 3.0. From the beta and RC I loved the menu system.
Now I don´t have to work around getting into hardcoding each and every theme the way I want it. Now I just have to create a menu from the menu and it works just splendid.
When I read about Custom Post Types it sounded to good to be true, and it should help everyone to be more effective.
Implementing a choice if you want to run WordPress or WordPress MU in the same program is also a big thing.
But my favorite things are indeed the menu creating system and the custom post types.
i think the MultiBlog FUnction is really amazing because, now its possible to handle a lot of blogs with just one mysql database. Exactly what i was looking for 🙂
It shows updates(1) but when i click it, there is no update !!!
I did test upgrade to WP 3.0.
I found series of incontestabilities disturbing and will delay to upgrade my production blog.
Peramlinks are totally incompatible with WP 2.9.2.
The new version of wordpress is the best version to customize our blog more welly and give that a excellent look. The customize header enables me to customize my header which I likes. Menus and other functions are good enough and actually i have not expected so much new functions in the new version but,My guess was not right!
@Stoyan
Can you elaborate? i use a custom permalink structure and it works, no problems whatsoever. Did i mis something?
ALthough the new features of WordPress 3 excite me I seem to be playing plugin bingo. What I don’t understand is I can get them all working then randomly it all goes to pot. SEO Plugins don’t work for me, NextGen Gallery is suddenly competing with a bunch of other plugins. >.< It's been somewhat of a headache.
We don’t like the simple fact that WP 3.0 no longer supports the Plugin Status on Updates being displayed in the Plugin Manager.
It shows up as a number (n) available in the Dashboard view but no longer shows in the Plugin Manager WHICH ONES are available.
For those NOT on ‘shared server’ Blogs, or even perhaps those on Virtual Private (VP), it’s apparently possible to use the Automated Update.
Those of us on Shared Hosting were never able to do that and contented to Download WP and Plugins, Un-zip, FTP files and folders to the Domain and Activate in the Dashboard.
NOW we have to visit plugin home pages to locate which site has a later plugin version than the one in our Plugin Manager. FIX IT!
Must say that I like the new custom menu system. I had it replaced my own custom menu function. And at this point I’m trying out the custom post types.
The thing with WordPress I never really liked was the fact that albums are always with a post. You couldn’t have an ‘album’ and then somehow assign it to a post. Now with the custom post types, I can create ‘albums’ and ‘posts’, have both of them still within my loop (post_type => array(‘post’, ‘album_post’)), while they are now entirely different pieces of content. However still working on that though.
This is clearly a developer’s release, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it was obviously not geared for end users like me. For instance, in regards to custom post types, there’s a lot of info on what it is, but very little info on how to actually implement it. As a writer, I’d love to frame my content in custom ways, but it’s obvious I need to enlist the aid of a designer/developer in order to do so, because I cannot make heads or tails of this on my own. As robust as it may be now, the new features can only be enjoyed if you have the money and the resources to hire a designer to implement them according to your vision.
@Lincoln Adams; this post offers a lot of useful info regarding custom post types: http://bit.ly/cLRsOO But implementing them does require some coding.
Best thing was Wp Mu and WEp in one place so need of installing wp Mu and buddy press i have clients who need to setup at multi bog cum social networking arena .
was ist mit dem neuen WordPress 3.0 nur los, so wenig Memory? Das ist der Hammer 🙂
I like
One of the things I’ve noticed is that the admin station seems to run more smoothly and quickly for me than it did in WP 2.9. Even though the admin station pretty much looks the same (except for the change in color for the menu which I like a lot better)and work the same in reference to mode and flow, it seems that the behind-the-scenes coding has been altered to the point where the smoothness and quickness mentioned earlier is definitely noticeable.
Right-now, the new menu-building option and the WordPress MP stuff are features I would not use at this time. I was just very glad that the Arthemia template I am using and the vast majority of the plugins I am using seem to work with the new WordPress
Funny, a friend of mine uses Arthemia (free version) and I have made considerable changes to it like adding a themes options and just finshed adding WP3.0 menu support.
Images in posts are pain in the ass.
When you said, that 3.0 will come out with new features, I imagined, that maybe NOW, after hundreds of posts made, I could just check box “add images from gallerie in post one by one”, but no, there is still no option – add a gallery or manually insert them one by one.
NextGen Gallery – Too many features in a core package will create bloatware. If you need a feature there are some great free and well supported plugins out there. again, NextGen gallery is a must for any image management.
I can’t say I’m overly enthused about this release; but then it does not appear to be a release with that intention in mind.
As someone who runs blogs (predominantly), neither Custom Post types not the integration of MultiSite will be features I use – ever. I may not be the norm there, i din’t know…
The new Menu, while useful, really it’s anything amazing for normal everyday use; not to mention that the only two of my sites that I thought it would be useful for, I have had to write a custom walker class to get the information out in a timely manner – tbh more work that was needed given both site’s original implementations.
Of course there are huge number of bug fixes, and ofcourse, it breaks bbPress – so thats a number of my sites sticking with 2.9.2 for the time being.
I think I summarized it well to my friend today, if you want to use WordPress as a CMS in the traditional sense then it’s taken a step closer. If you want to use WordPress in the way you’ve done for the last 3 years, it’s become quite bloated.
This release appears to be a “take stock” release, and in that respect it’s done it’s job brilliantly. But some people are going way over the top on how amazing it will be for all users.
I have not yet upgraded to 3.0 but I am looking forward its feature where one can do bulk updates so you can upgrade 15 plugins at once with a single click.
I am using 3.0 on my laptop which is running Windows7. Since updating to 3.0 I am unable to publish new posts. There is no publish or schedule link on the add new post page. Also there is no “visit site” link in the top left any longer.
I posted this information on their forum but I thought you might like to know as well.
Thanks,
Dr. Clyde
Apparently it’s to do with some Java issies with various plugins. I would do the classic ‘disable all plgins then turn them on checking after each one to see wich one breaks it’ routine.
I think custom post types is the best feature in this release but I’d expect it to be more user friendly. But you can fill this gap by using plugins. Menu customization is another nice feature I liked about 3.0.
A filter I requested and fixes to a few bugs I found 😀
And MS seems to not be fully useful yet but it’ll be nice in the future.
Custom Post Types..
it is simple wonderful –
the new templates
taxonomy.php i.e
single-posttype.php
it is fun to play -and now I have a perfect overview of my designs/themes
Of course the Update feature rocks….
But I also like the simple stuff like that a new link opens in a new browser tab. That overcomes what was a real inconvenience for me.