The release of WordPress 2.5 is quickly approaching, with a little less than a month until its release.  Because there were so many updates over the past couple days, I want to take the time to update and summarize the main features in the upcoming release and the direction that WordPress is going.

Numerous features that were added/changed (February 4-10, 2008) in the upcoming release of WP 2.5 include:

• Plugin/Database – Filters allowing plugins to cancel a redirect, gravatar updates, better details for error messages, more portable database structure, possible speed increases (mysql queries) for keys on comments (approved,date).  Gzip was removed and is now handled by servers only.
• Display/Navigation – Update to jQuery, ability to add boxes to the write pages, WP count posts introduced.
• Posts/Feeds/Tags/etc. - Changes to post password protection, reversion to full content for feeds when using the more tag, RSS comment feed updates, filters for comments and pings.

A WordPress Development blog that utilizes the recently released Prologue blog theme was announced, where WP developers post their updates.

WordPress is now in feature freeze, meaning no new features will be added.  During this stage, bugs will be fixed, and the admin theme will be polished up.  A bug hunt will be held on Wednesday, February 13, 2008, so if you feel comfortable testing, you can help improve the theme or the system.  More details can be found on Ryan Boren’s blog.

WordPress 2.5 is expected to be released March 10.

WordPress.com released a new view for the stats area.  In general, this change shows more information, but it is summarized and easier to follow.  Views included are referrers, search terms, and clicks.  The database for stats is updated every three minutes, if you’re someone that checks stats on a constant basis.

Summarized View