The latest version of the best open source blogging/content for SEO management system in the known universe was introduced less than nine minutes ago – and boy am I excited. A full list of new features can be viewed here, but I’ll quickly rattle off the ones I’m particularly pumped about:
- Autosave makes sure you never lose a post again: The benefits of this are obvious – there is nothing worse than spending an hour writing up the best entry in human history and then having it erased during a publishing error.
- Our new tabbed editor allows you to switch between WYSIWYG and code editing instantly while writing a post: It’s embarassing that the now-prehistoric Blogger actually had a “one up” on WordPress in this regard for a long time. Well not no more.
- Our completely redone visual editor also now includes spell checking: Again, an overdue and welcome addition.
- You can set any page to be the front page of your site, and put the latest posts somewhere else, making it much easier to use WordPress as a content management system: Many people have been predicting the evolution of WordPress into a much more versatile CMS, and this enhancement makes that an easy reality. I can’t wait to find an excuse to build a new site and try this out. I should have a half-cocked idea popping into my head in T-minus five seconds.
- Links in your blogroll now support sub-categories and you can add categories on the fly: There were a series of clunky, difficult plugins that accomplished this feature that had me pulling my hair out on more than one occasion. About time it became standard.
- A new version of the Akismet plugin is bundled: As the first thing I used to do when kicking off a site with a new WordPress installation was install Akismet (the Queen Mother of SPAM blockers,) this nearly made me do a cartwheel. In a pink thong.
If you’re a webmaster, SEO or small business owner looking for a cost-effective site solution – Head immediately to WordPress.org and do yourself a favor. Download it, install it, cuddle it, feed it and watch it work for you. Learning curves be dammned – this is the way of the future, grasshoppers.