Blog Tipz

WordPress 3.0 is slated for release as soon as mid-April. For millions of WP users, this is going to be a big upgrade in terms of the core features and functionality of the content management system/blog platform. These changes will help the platform move forward as well as give many more access to features “reserved” for those willing to customize their default installation.

While the release won’t be as feature-packed as Version 2.9, it still brings forward some dramatic changes to the core feature set. We’ll look at some of the major features and how they’ll impact your everyday blogging.

1. New Default Theme: Alone, the new theme doesn’t do much, although you can now have custom backgrounds and headers with the new theme (and any others that build this functionality in.
2. Merger with WPMU: This will help you create additional, separate blogs using subdomains or folders off of your main website. Previously, you would have had to install them using a separate database or install of WP, but now it can all be done from one dashboard.
3. Custom Post Types: You’ll now be able to create a separate area within the sidebar area for a specific category, such as “portfolio.” This is a great feature, as you’ll be able to manage posts and tags easier.
4. Author-specific Templates: Similar to how you can use custom templates for categories, this feature will allow one to create templates for specific authors.
5. Active Plugins Can No Longer Be Edited: This is a more modest change, as not everyone edits their plugins, but is more likely a security/issue-solving change than anything else.
6. Better Menu Management: Likely one of the most used feature in this set of features, you’ll now be able to re-arrange and organize your categories and pages in your navigation menu. It’ll solve a lot of the problems surrounding navigation. However, the feature will need to be included/coded within your template or added if you don’t want to install a new one.
7. Change Your Username and Password: This change affects those who do manual installations of WordPress, and simply adds an additional security feature to your installation.

Reserved for WordPRess 3.1 and Beyond: An overhaul of user roles and media uploader improvements will likely not be included within this version, but will wait until 3.1+.

Conclusion

What do you think about these changes and enhancements to WordPress? Will you be upgrading soon after release or will you wait until version 3.0.1 or higher version is released (until bugs are worked out)?