At this point, there is no date set for Version 3.2, although some of the main features have been laid out as a way to see what to expect in the next release. Dubbed “faster, lighter,” the next release will bring new improvements and will drop support for a number of older technologies, which are doing nothing but slowing down the development and speed of WordPress.

One of the most significant changes (at least in my mind) will be the distraction-free writing experience. While there is a “fullscreen mode” included in the current version, the next version will take that a step further, bringing a more streamlined and efficient version, akin to WriteRoom and OmmWriter. If you have ever explored writing in a distraction-free environment, you immediately know how valuable it can be to cut out other distractions.

Beyond this change, there are some fairly significant changes for plugin and theme developers, including List Table API improvements, requirements for PHP 5.2+, MySQL 5+, as well as upgrade improvements (which happens to benefit everyone).

So, I’d like to know what you think about some of the future changes and additions slated for WordPress 3.2. Do you think this is a good, natural evolution of the platform or would you like to see more done?

The ElegantNews theme recently caught my eye, as it offers all the features a “news” blogger needs in a template. In addition, it’s fairly clean looking and well-designed.

Main features of the theme for bloggers include an options page for changing some of the main settings, post thumbnails support, a featured content area for highlighting your best posts, and a banner ads area in the sidebar for the popular 125×125 pixel ad format.

In addition, the theme includes three columns for making the most out of the browser space you have. Gravatars and widgets are incorporated into the theme, so you won’t have to spend time coding these in.

The coding is optimized for search engines and you shouldn’t experience issues with users who can’t view your site properly: it has been tested to work across all the most popular browsers.

For more information about the theme and to take a look at the demo, please visit the theme’s release page.

1. MyProduct | $19.95

This theme is great for promoting your products and services online. The design is smooth and contains a corporate feel. A page-based structure makes the theme powerful and versatile at the same time. Five color schemes are included with the theme package.

2. Diarise | $70.00

Diarise is a new theme from WooThemes, offering you the ability to organize your company/organization’s events in an elegant and clean manner. Easily add events straight to your calendar application and link your events to booking forms. INcluded are eight alternative color styles, custom widgets, built-in SEO options, and a powerful theme framework.

3. L’Image | $47.00

This theme is great for professional photography sites or galleries. It is compatible with the latest version of WordPress, contains a four-level drop-down menu system, all the source files you need, and automatic thumbnail creation.

4. The Beeb 3 | $39.00

Six custom widgets, built-in thumbnail support, full source files, and all the other common WordPress features have been integrated into this theme. While the look is more cluttered than some other themes, news sites will enjoy the wide array of areas to place advertisements.

5. Vidley | $50.00

The Vidley Theme has been designed to be flexible and ready for all the videos you want to post on your website. A number of customizable options have been included in the back-end Options Panel, making it easy to manage your theme.

6. FolioFlip | $30.00

The FolioFlip Theme contains a lot of options, making it the ideal theme for a portfolio blog and those who want to showcase images on their blog. A number of pre-designed templates have been included, but you should check them out, along with all the other features.

7. Unique | $30.00

Unique is a powerful theme for creating a complete website. Two levels of color customization, plus a number of typography styles are included. You also have the option of setting an article as a homepage article, promo, or footer link.

8. Metric | $79.95

The Metric Theme has been designed for everyone from a novice WordPress user or business owner to the advanced developer who makes a living customizing WordPress sites. A number of features have been included to help you use and customize the theme.

9. Novocane | $30.00

Novocane is an advanced theme, with an eye-catching grid magazine layout, fifteen header background options, fourteen Cufon fonts, and nine footer background options included. Seven PSD files, Google Analytics support, and plenty of options make the theme easy to use and customize.

10. Meedo | $35.00

Meedo is a corporate/business theme designed with options to enhance the experience of your users who visit your site. Five smooth sliders, up to thirty sliders, and three color schemes have been included within the template.

Disclaimer: Please read our Disclosure Policy concerning the links in this post.

The theme is not for everyone, as it contains a simplified look, akin to that of many Tumblr themes. What stands out the most in the theme is the unique look and the navigation bar that has been built into the theme, although there are a number of additional features worth checking out:

Works Like Tumblr

The theme packs an impressive set of features that will allow your blog to act as though it is powered by Tumblr, even though it is powered by WordPress.

Extensive Multimedia Support

A number of multimedia elements can be added to the theme with ease. These include, but are not limited to, images video, audio, quotes, notes, and links. Each can be added just as easily as copying and pasting the embed code for a YouTube video, for example.

Advanced QuickPress

Use the built-in Dashboard to quickly publish new content to your blog. You won’t have to click through multiple pages just to post a new quote – you’ll have the simplicity of Tumblr but without some of its limitations.

jQuery Navigation and Hotkeys

The theme includes some unique scrolling and navigation features to make it easy for your visitors to browse through and find your content.

Custom Widgets

A custom widget has been included within the sidebar, making it easy to add Flickr photos, a search box, latest Twitter messages, and more to your theme. This can be customized to suit your needs.

Seven Alternative Styles

If you aren’t a fan of the default color style, you can choose from the seven that are included, which can be customized further to suit your own needs.

Custom Navigation

Their Custom Navigation Panel has been built into this theme, giving you full control over how your navigation should be featured within the theme.

Powerful Theme Framework

The powerful theme framework included within the theme is one of the most powerful around. Just take a look at the video below.

Other Prominent Features

• Back-end Theme Options Panel – This panel gives you full control over the theme, so you never have to edit code directly.
• Cross-Browser Compatible – The theme conforms to all modern web standards, so your site will display properly for all your readers.
• Automatically Resizing Thumbnails – Any image that you upload will be automatically resized to fit in the appropriate location within the theme.
• Custom Page Templates – A number of custom page templates makes it easy to edit and setup your website. For example, a full-width and archives page have been included.
• Localized for Translations – The theme includes a .po file for easy WordPress translations into your desired language.

The theme can be purchased at WooThemes for just $70 or for a discounted rate if you purchase their Club Membership – $125+$15/month.

Disclaimer: I will receive commissions from each sale made through the links on this page. For more information, please read my Disclosure Policy.

The service has been launched by Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, which also provides resources to the open-source WordPress.org service. Other “plugins” or services such as blogVault also provide reasonably-priced services for backing-up a blog, but might not be as feature-packed as VaultPress when it is officially released.

On the VaultPress Blog, you’ll find interesting facts Matt Mullenweg posted about the service, which set it apart from other services out there:

• It can handle any amount of stuff – whether you have just 50MB of content or 33GB.
• It’s an all-in-one package, meaning you won’t have to seek out different plugins or options for backing up your database, your files, your themes, and so on.
• You can make a post and it’ll be backed up within just a few seconds.
• Your information is stored on no less than two cloud services in addition to their own copies.
• Security vulnerabilities will be able to be “hotfixed” quickly, even more quickly than manually updating your site.

Obviously, the service won’t be ideal for people who only have one blog that they publish to a few times a year and it doesn’t generate them a profit. It has been built from the ground up to service as a solution for preventing data from being destroyed in the event of a security breach or any other problem you may encounter while blogging.

Other main points of the service:

• VaultPress protects more than just your content. It is able to understand the complete WordPress environment, meaning everything from your plugins to the dashboard, themes, and even your revisions are all backed up and ready to be restored.
• Real-time, continuous monitoring provides you confidence that everything you are doing is being protected at the same time.
• The system VaultPress uses is backed by WordPress Experts who maintain the WordPress.com website.
• The service provides an elite level of service.
• The service is easy to install on your site – sign up, then install one plugin. You’ll be able to add additional blogs at any time.

What do you think of this new service – being priced at $30 a month? Personally, I feel that it is a great value (although priced higher than many hosting services), but I’d like to see how it develops after a more final version is released.

A private beta is available, so if you are interested in the service, I encourage you to check it out.

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)?

In order to use the theme, all you’ll need to do is provide your email address to the designers. Some may hesitate to do this, but you’ll need to provide it in order to get access to the theme – it is sent to you through your email address provided, and any new updates/new themes will be provided through the theme. It’s completely free, so this is a small cost to begin using the theme.

Out of the box, it works great for anyone using WordPress. Simply upload it to your server, and configure the basic settings of the theme. Of course, the theme is free, so it isn’t meant to be completely customizable from the back-end. You’ll need to edit the CSS for any major changes. The designers/developers of the theme are open to suggestions through their forum or contact page if you need any customizations done to the theme. You shouldn’t have much of a problem customizing the theme, as the theme was professionally coded and is optimized, resulting in a fast-loading site.

Four Styles and Formats

Often, the problem with free themes is the fact that there aren’t other variations, so you’re left using the one or two styles included, which might not suit your personal tastes. However, with this theme, four variations are included, but each maintains the simple and clean look throughout.

The black variation, shown above, as nearly a direct inversion of the white style, offering a dark look ideal for showcasing photographs and other types of content. I’m not as big of a fan of the dark look for blogs, as many readers will find it harder to read long lengths of text.

A two-column area has been setup for the main template, which functions more as a magazine template the way the featured content is displayed at the top than anything else. However, this blog template can be installed as a separate installation, and this is how I am using it on the other site. It makes a great solution, putting the content at the forefront of the site.

As shown above, both the main look (with a large featured image and link to the latest post) and the two-column blog template are available in both white and black color schemes.

Elements of the Theme

Even if a theme has a good structure, it also needs to have good typography. Because this theme was created for the designer and developer in mind, the typography is already great right out of the box.

Below, a screenshot of the typography shows the typography style of the theme. All bullets, headings, and quotes are styled, so you won’t have to customize the CSS in any way. However, my one minor complaint about the typography is that there’s no differentiation between the heading styles/sizes (H3, H4, etc.). It might only take a minute or two to customize them, but is necessary nonetheless, in promoting readable and structured content.

Next, we move onto the footer of the theme, where there is a unique four-column widget-ready area. If you don’t have any content in this area, the footer simply won’t expand, which is ideal, as you can produce an even simpler theme without any customization. The “complete” theme, with the left and right sidebars may be more ideal for users who want to use the theme much like a magazine, as it includes more widget-ready areas for advertisements and links.

The styling of comments is also a big part of all blogs, so the area for leaving comments and replying to comments must be well-designed. In the case of this theme, the perfect amount of spacing is provided, along with separation, between the content and the comments. Gravatars and threaded/reply functionality has also been integrated.

Conclusion

You’ve likely noticed that I like to change the theme of Blog Tipz quite frequently, although in this case, I’ll hold off on it. My current theme is doing the job well at this point (there are some things I don’t necessarily like about after testing and using the Structure Theme, but won’t be changing it for some time.

The main features I find appealing in the Structure Theme is the layout of content and the ability to change the styles, as well as the integrated full-width, blog pages, and archives/sitemap pages. These make it easy to get your site up and running quickly without making a huge amount of code edits.

Personally, this theme compares well to other premium themes aiming to be simple, but well-designed. Take the theme for a demo or let me know what you think of the theme. I am passing it on as I don’t think it’s received the exposure it deserves.

A post outlining all the features of WordPress 2.9 can be found on the official blog, but I will post some of the main benefits of upgrading to the latest version below.

Please Note:

I tried WordPress 2.9 temporarily on a blog, but had to downgrade back to 2.8, due to incompatible plugins. For example, the TweetMeme Plugin, which is considered to be one of the main plugins bloggers use for re-tweeting content doesn’t work. I’ll wait a few days to see if an update is issued, otherwise I will move onto another plugin.

This blog is running WordPress 2.9 now, and everything works that worked in the last version. Still having issues with the sidebar that won’t close.

Main Features You Should Check Out

1. Easy Video Embedding – Easily embed video from nearly a dozen sites, including YouTube, Hulu, Viddler, Google Video, and Photobucket. They expect more sites to be added in the future.
2. Image Editor – While this feature may appear good, I think it may still be easier to do desktop-based editing for large sets of images. Nonetheless, it’ll let you crop, edit, rotate, flip, and scale your images to suit your blog.
3. Trash/Undo Feature – There are times where I wait before deleting a post or comment, but now you can simply move it to the “Trash.”
4. Plugin Updating and Compatibility Checking – Perhaps this feature will encourage users to update their plugins more often. It allows you to upload a batch of 10+ plugins at a time.
5. Database Optimization – Optimization and repair features have been built-in, but this still needs to be configured (quite easy).
6. Custom Theme Directories – Ideal for people who are using shared theme directories.
7. Custom Galleries – Pull attachments from any post, not just the current, and exclude or include images.
8. Plugin and Theme Editing – Editing themes and plugins is easier, as it’ll bring you back to the location you were editing.

Conclusion

I’d like to hear your thoughts on WordPress 2.9. Other than a few plugin issues and the old issues I’ve been having, it appears to be working properly for me. Have you upgraded or will you upgrade soon?

Photo by mathias-erhart

Plugins/Extensions

For Blogger Users: There is a widget that makes it easy to add the “falling snow” effect to your blog. Using it around the holidays doesn’t add too much distractions for your readers, although you have to remember to take it down before spring arrives.

For WordPress Users: An updated version of the “Let It Snow” plugin is now available, with a settings panel to configure the main settings of the plugin.

Snow, Balloons, and More – This plugin includes more options than just falling snow.

Themes

New Year’s Themes: This is a post that I did covering some excellent themes that you can use on your blog around the New Year to celebrate.

Holiday and Winter WordPress Themes: These are still great themes for WordPress users. Download, upload, and activate one of them today.

Icons

You can find a collection of great winter and holiday-themed icons on this post. Check them out.

Conclusion

How will you celebrate the holiday season on your blog this year? Let me know in the comments area below.

While there are plenty of posts about WordPress 2.9, it may be hard to find them all, so a post like this might come handy if you are a developer or user and want to explore all the features.

Some of the posts go more in-depth with certain features, while others are more of the “roundup” variety.

Everything on WordPress 2.9

— 2.9 Features Vote Results – The main focus of WordPress 2.9 is showcased within the vote results, and that is on embedding and multimedia.

— Sidebar (Widget Area) Descriptions in WordPress 2.9 – WordPress 2.9 gives developers the ability to add descriptions for each widget area, ideal for users who have never used sidebar widgets or if there are a lot of them included/required.

— Everything You Need to Know About WordPress 2.9′s Post Image Feature – There are a lot of new features and abilities with the new post image/thumbnail feature included in WordPress 2.9.

— WordPress 2.9 Packs in Loads of Features, a Hands-on Review – This is a hands-on post about how the average WordPress user can take advantage of the new features.

— 10 Things You Need to Know About WordPress 2.9 – A look at features you need to know about before you begin to use the next version.

— Geeky Bits in WordPress 2.9 – Some useful information for designers/developers that will be included, like sidebar descriptions, category slug support, an upgraded TinyMCE, and more.

— WordPress 2.9 Comes with a Recycle Bin – A look at the code used to specify the “trash” feature within version 2.9.

— New Category Templates in WordPress 2.9 – A change to how categories can be utilized may mean microblogs will be easier to integrate.

Conclusion

Please leave your thoughts on the posts included here, and include any others you may have found.