WordPress 3.1

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Soon we’ll be seeing WordPress 3.1 and since I’ve installed the beta on my blog network, I thought I’d share some of the new features that I’m a fan of. Keep in mind, this is in a multiple user environment so some of the stuff that I’m talking about here is specific to that. I think most of it should apply to everyone though.

Admin Bar (#14772)

The first thing you’ll notice is the “admin bar”. If you’ve ever used wordpress.com, you’ll probably recognize it from there — although it’s not exactly the same. Since I’ve got multisite running on my network there’s a list of “My Sites”.  It also gives you a link to your profile, along with dropdowns for “Add New”, “Appearance”, and  a “Comments” tab. They take advantage of the new shortlinks api introduced in WordPress 3.0 by giving a short link tab on some posts and pages.

Network Admin (#14435)

In a multisite environment, the Network Admin tab on the left has been removed with a new link in the top right that will take you to a special Network Admin dashboard. This is pretty much all the same stuff that you’d get in the “Super Admin” options panel in previous versions. You can manage the sites, themes, plugins, all the normal stuff you’d expect there.

Custom Post Type Index Pages (#13818)

We’ve had custom taxonomies for a while now and 3.0 gave us custom post types, but in 3.1 we get archives for the custom post types. The work around for this previously was to create a page template with a custom query and use that as your archive page. Now we get a new set of templates to work with archive-post_type.php where post_type is the name of the custom post type.

The Rest

Those are some of the big ones, but here’s the rest of the list from the Beta 1 announcement:

  • Post Formats (#14746) is kind of cool. It takes the idea of “Asides” and makes them officially supported with any crazy hacks. It really becomes cool when you make special post types for photo galleries or videos. This is something that I’d consider adding to my blog to bring t.joshbetz.com right into my main blog. I think of it as the “Tumblr” feature.
  • Theme Search (#14936)
  • Internal Linking (#11420) means you don’t have to go out to your homepage and do a search or go to google everytime you want to cross link to another post. When you click the link button in the post editor, there’s a search built into the dialog.
  • Ajaxified Admin (#14579)
  • Updated Tiny MCE (#12574)
  • Multi-taxonomy Queries (#12891) are huge for developers as WordPress becomes more popular as a full CMS. Custom taxonomies and post types really let us include rich metadata in posts, and being able to query against that is huge.
  • Admin CSS Cleanup (#14770)
  • User Admin (#14696)
  • Password Reset Redux (#5919)

New Year’s Resolutions

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I’ve never done this before, but I think New Year’s resolutions might not be such a bad idea. And if I’m going to set goals for the year, I might as well write them somewhere so I don’t forget what they are. So these, in no special order are my New Year’s resolutions for 2011.

  • Project 365
    I want to take a photo everyday for a year. This should be a lot easier now that I can take pictures from my phone and post them straight to the web.
  • Run more
    Since high school I’ve been running on and off (more on when the weather is good), but I want to get more consistent. I think mornings before class would be the best time.
  • Update the Portfolio
    My portfolio on the site hasn’t changed in the past year, which is partly because I haven’t done a ton of work, but more because I just haven’t taken the time to keep it up-to-date. I want to get it up to date early this year and then keep up with it.
  • Start something new
    I love starting new projects and I want to  something new. I’ve got a couple of ideas for websites, but they need some more thinking before I turn them into something really cool.
  • Write more & better
    There was more stuff I could’ve written here, but didn’t take the time to do it. At the same stuff I could’ve taken more time on some of the stuff I wrote here. It’s not all bad, but it could always get better. (more…)

Textual Review

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Textual is an IRC client for the Mac that I recently started using in favor of xChat. Right off the top I’m going to say that it’s super customizable. I’d say that’s the number one feature — especially if you do the whole CSS thing. I’m surprised there aren’t more themes available, but I guess it’s probably pretty new.

It’s also a very functional application, but doesn’t get in your way. I’d also note that the development team was quick on the twitter response to a feature request, but we’ll have to see if those requests actually ever make it into the app.

It can’t hurt to checkout this lightweight app if you’re ever in IRC — irc.smmas.com #smmas every Thursday night for the smmas live chat, or smmas.com/live for more info. I’ll also include a link to the css for my custom version of the Dark theme.

[Download] [JB Simplified Dark]

Update: Now with inline Nick highlighting supported: Download v1.1

Reeder Review

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It’s been about a week now that I’ve been using Reeder for OSX. Now, the software is still in Beta, but I’m extremely impressed so far.

The first thing I noticed, even before I downloaded it, was that it uses your existing Google Reader account to populate the app. This is huge for me. I’ve tried other desktop RSS readers, but that just doesn’t work for me. In a world where we’re jumping from computer to computer, things like this really need to sync to the cloud. The fact that I can add feeds from this application and see them on the web, and add feeds from the web and see them in this app is one of the things that really makes this so great.

The Interface

I’m a fan of mac apps that look great. I think it’s one of the great advantages of owning a mac — there’s tons of great looking software that is also very functional. Reeder definitely lives up to that. Some people may not appreciate the style forced upon us without the ability to customize the main content, but I think they’ve done a great job with the design. As a designer and web publisher, I feel comfortable both using this as a reader and know this is what my content looks like in a desktop app.

The built in web browser is a nice addition, but I wish there was an option to have all links open in a real web browser. I think the main problem I’m having is the small window you get, so no web site actually fits in the frame. I find that even when I do click a link, I end up at the top of the frame to load the page in chrome.

Do Download

I’d definitely recommend downloading this app now. Don’t let the Beta logo scare you away. Just know that it is in Beta and all the features aren’t 100% flushed out yet. I’ve noticed, for example, that the Add/Manage subscription links don’t work yet — big deal though. You’ve been going to google.com/reader to add new RSS feeds up till now, I think you can wait until that feature works. The first thing you need to do when it’s installed is to turn on automatic updates. I’ve gotten at least three updates since I first downloaded it less than a week ago.

Boxee Box Review

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I’m sure by now many people know that I was one of the ones who pre-ordered the Boxee Box. I had been waiting for this box to be released since I saw the reviews from CES. I’ve been using the Boxee software intermittently since the alpha days. To me, this box was the best you could get for the price. Short of building a custom HTPC, I still don’t think you could do much better.

Stumblability

Something that surprised me when I first started using the box was something that I’m calling stumblability — the ability to sumble upon new content that you haven’t experienced before (ie channel surfing on broadcast cable). There are quite a few videos and shows ready for you when you first turn it on being pulled from online sources. I think aggregators like this and services like Hulu or Netflix allow for just as much sumblability as we currently have with broadcast media. Maybe even more. Right now there is a large selection of shows and movies to pick from without loading any of your own content on it, but at some point in the future you will literally be able to start any show or movie at any time. I think your chances of starting a show you might not have watched otherwise are just as high on a device like this. The only thing that might change is that there’s a chance you won’t start watching something that you have absolutely no interest in watching. I don’t think I’d ever watch a show like that for any period of time anyway, so I think this is a benefit of this new direction that I think media consumption is taking.
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