WordPress 2.8, “Baker” Released

WordPress 2.8 is now available for download. There are many new features added, although many of them won’t distract you from the way you blog. Speed enhancements, widget management, taxonomies, and theme installations are some of the main areas that the Automattic and development community surrounding WordPress focused on.

A video showing the main features has been embedded below.

Here’s a run-down of some of the main features again:

• New drag-and-drop widgets admin interface and new widgets API.
• Syntax highlighting and function lookup built into plugin and theme editors.
• Browse the theme directory and install themes from the admin.
• Allow the dashboard widgets to be arranged in up to four columns.
• Configuration for the number of items shown on management pages with an options in Screen Options.
• Support for time zones and automatic daylight savings time adjustments.
• Supports IIS 7.0 URL Rewrite Module.
• Faster-loading of admin pages through script compression.
• More features were previously covered.

If you are installing WordPress for the first time, you shouldn’t have any problems. Manually updating requires you to download the latest version, delete your old wp-includes and wp-admin directories in the folder your WordPress installation is located in. Take care not to delete the wp-config.php or plugins and images in wp-content.

People who have WordPress 2.7 or later already installed can use the integrated automatic upgrade feature, or likewise a third-party solution that cuts out some of the work.