Image via Wikipedia

A new version of WordPress (codenamed Gershwin) is finally out in the wild. It’s been ages in coming and loads of people have been using the test versions to try and iron out as many bugs as possible. Here’s the blurb on the new release:

The focus for this release was making WordPress faster and lighter. The first thing you’ll notice when you log in to 3.2 is a refreshed dashboard design that tightens the typography, design, and code behind the admin. (Rhapsody in Grey?) If you’re starting a new blog, you’ll also appreciate the fully HTML5 new Twenty Eleven theme, fulfilling our plan to replace the default theme every year. Start writing your first post in our redesigned post editor and venture to the full-screen button in the editing toolbar to enter the new distraction-free writing or zen mode, my personal favorite feature of the release. All of the widgets, menus, buttons, and interface elements fade away to allow you to compose and edit your thoughts in a completely clean environment conducive to writing, but when your mouse strays to the top of the screen your most-used shortcuts are right there where you need them. (I like to press F11 to take my browser full-screen, getting rid of even the OS chrome.)

Under the hood there have been a number of improvements, not the least of which is the streamlining enabled by our previously announced plan of retiring support for PHP4, older versions of MySQL, and legacy browsers like IE6, which allows us to take advantage of more features enabled by new technologies. The admin bar has a few more shortcuts to your most commonly-used actions. On the comment moderation screen, the new approve & reply feature speeds up your conversation management. You’ll notice in your first update after 3.2 that we’ll only be updating the files that have changed with each new release instead of every file in your WordPress installation, which makes updates significantly faster on all hosting platforms. There are also some fun new theme features shown off by Twenty Eleven, like the ability to have multiple rotating header images to highlight all of your favorite photos.

Awesome stuff. I’ve just rolled it out on this blog and the admin is looking just fine! If you’re running WordPress, go ahead and upgrade as soon as you can!

And this is where you might want to have a look at AffinityClick ads for blogs. It works by matching appropriate advertising to the content of your blog to help target your readers with offers they might be interested in. It works around the fact that more traditional forms of advertisement do not generate the business that advertisers want. Text link ads aren’t intelligent enough and AdSense just isn’t attractive enough.

I’ve actually signed up for the service and will be running it on AskOwen, my Q&A blog. I have been running Amaon ads, but the main problem is that if I use ads from the UK site, then clicks that redirect to the US site aren’t credited and vice versa. AffinityClick matches the advertising to the user on the blog, so you’re guaranteed the best possible return.

Check it out.

• Change color styles with a single click
• Choose a featured category via the theme options area
• Integrate Feedburner and Email link subscriptions
• Integrate TweetRoll widget with one click
• Simple and clean design
• jQuery sidebar
• Supports threaded comments
• Drop down categories at a glance
• Prominent search area
• Easily integrate “Recent Comments With Avatars” plugin
• Compatible with WordPress 2.8+
• Easy access to admin area for logged in users
• Optimized for search engine traffic

I find WordPress an excellent platform for blogging, as you can change the look and feel of your blog anytime you wish, without losing any of your content. And I use it for non-blogs too. It doesn’t matter if you’re a professional Orange County web design firm or just a sole developer building websites in his free time (i.e. me), but it’s always a great asset having a platform you can build on easily.

What do you think of it? What would you change?

photo credit: Ro (wererabbit.com)

Funny thing happened yesterday. I found I had a domain name I registered in October and had totally forgotten about! It’s called OwenCutajar.com and I’m not 100% sure what I’m going to be doing with it. I think I’ll be using it create an online profile for myself and maybe some sort of professional profile.

Thing is, there’s bits of me all over the place, spread across different social networks and a multitude of different blogs. Maybe this is the place I should bring them all together.

Not sure .. what do you think I should do with it? How do you think I can use it effectively?

You can sometimes realise exactly how busy I am by the volume of posts on this blog. Well, this week I had a sum total of 2 new posts on this blog. Compare that to other weeks when I can post up to 20 different times to the blog! Posting doesn’t really take me long, only a couple of minutes, so I can usually knock something up really quickly, but when I’m busy I don’t have either the time or inclination to come and do some of that. I’m hoping it was just a bad week and not the start of a trend, because I do enjoy using my blog to share thoughts and discoveries around the Web.

What about you? When and how do you post to your blog?

Hi Owen,

I’m looking around for the Media Corner widget you’re using. I can’t seem to find it. Can you provide a link?

Thanks,
Andy

I’m sorry to disappoint you Andy, it’s not actually a widget you can download and use. It’s actually part of a brand spanking new theme I’ve been working with Hyder from FreshPressThemes. It’s a Super WordPress Theme that gives you the power to configure the way your blog is laid out, whether you have pictures, adverts, tabs, featured posts, sidebars and loads of other things. And then there’s the Media Module that you’re seeing at the top of my sidebar. This is a Super feature that lets you upload pictures or point at different videos around the Web. And that’s only the start, we have loads of other things planned for it (but that’s a secret)

Anyway, FreshPress Themes is getting a brand new design and as part of that there’s going to be a grand competition with this theme as the prize. If you want to be the lucky guy, or girl, that wins a free copy this is your chance, simply enter your email to sign up to our newsletter and product updates and you will be entered into a draw. One lucky chap will get this Super theme for free – with free future updates for life.

I’ve just put some final touches on the new theme to try and improve the way it looks. I’ve spaced out the sidebar widgets a bit and configured the footer to use 3 widget bars instead of 2. I’m not too sure if I have too much going on in the narrow sidebar widgets, so happy to accept any criticism from anyone.

I’ve also activated the Sidebar Ads module to see how it works and it seems to complement the blog really nicely. I’m using the Top Ads module to display some photos from the Isle of Man, which aren’t quite the right size, so that needs correcting.

Anyone see anything else they don’t like?

I’ve finally finished putting the last few tweaks on how the theme is working on this site. It’s not complete yet, I have a new colour scheme being prepared for it, but the page layout is going to stick. The theme itself has some other nice bits I’m not using, but who knows, I might in the future.

I like all the extra facilities this theme gives me. I like the Media section on the right; I’m hoping to populate this with cool tech videos I like. It’s a bit like getting a Magnet kitchen in, then chasing down some top-of-the-line Hansgrohe taps and some perfect blinds for it. You can hunt and hunt and hunt and when you find what you want it’s just bliss. I’ve been looking for a theme with sidebars the way I like them for ages. Well, this theme has a wide sidebar and 2 narrow ones and I can split my content every which way I like. I’ve had to resize some things, but I still have lots of space to play with.

Anyway, if you spot anything you don’t like, just drop me a comment. And if you have any suggestions on how I can improve it; just let me know.

One thing I’ll be doing will be to take a backup before I start. It’s funny how you don’t realise how important a backup is until you really need it. Interestingly, a friend of mine even keeps a keylogger running on his system, just a keep a complete history of all the keypresses he makes, in case he ever needs to recover or redo something. It’s also worth keeping in mind that sometimes even backups can fail though. A friend called me this morning because his computer was reporting all his photos as corrupted and when he plugged in his backup disk, it asked him if he wanted to format it (i.e. couldn’t read from it). John, I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for you all day. He’s a passionate photographer and has thousands of photos on his computer. I can’t imagine how gutted he would be if something happened to them.

So, I’ve been using PicApp for a couple of weeks now to supply my blog with photos from their massive collection. I still have PhotoDropper installed, but I’m giving this a try. They have access to some great photo libraries but also provide editorial photos that are added to their collection as soon as the event happens.

The great thing about PicApp is that it’s very easy to find relevant photos for any post you want to do. So, if I’m talking about satellite internet services for example, all I have to do is type “satellite” into PicApp, and voila, I have a total of 117 different images to choose from; and I went for this:

I’ve been thinking they might be a bit overpowering on the blog. What do you think? Do you think they enhance of detract from the posts you’re reading?