WordPress 2.8 bakes in ease of use

I’m very excited about the latest release of WordPress, codenamed Baker. This release will offer my clients a simpler, more customizable interface. Among highligts (from the WordPress Blog):

• First and foremost, 2.8 is way faster to use. And there is now contextual documentation for the functions in the file you’re editing linked right below the editor.
• Widgets done right: You can now edit widgets on the fly, have multiple copies of the same widget, drag and drop widgets between sidebars, and save inactive widgets so you don’t lose all their settings.
• New Screen Options on every page. It’s the tab in the top right. Now, for example, if you have a wide monitor you could set up your dashboard to have four columns of widgets instead of the two it has by default. On other pages you can change how many items show per page.

I’ll be integrating WordPress 2.8 into all BizzyWeb client sites which still have time on their “update package,” which is nearly everyone. I’ll be in touch when I do… if you don’t hear from me and you need help updating contact me.

Lots more on the updates, including a video, on the WordPress blog below:

WordPress › Blog » 2.8 Release Jazzes Themes and Widgets

Google, Yahoo & Microsoft Unite On “Canonical Tag,” new WP plugin to support

Interesting news on the new “canonical tag” for Search engines. The short reason this is important is that it’s a new tool to help clean up search results, and although it’s not 100% clear (to me anyway) how much it will help your search results to use the tag, it certainly can’t hurt.

A good explanation is up at Search Engine Land:

The web is full of duplicate content. Search engines try to index and display the original or “canonical” version. Searchers only want to see one version in results. And site owners worry that if search engines find multiple versions of a page, their link credit will be diluted and they’ll lose ranking.

The really cool part of this news, for me anyway, is that immediately after the announcement a developer at Yoast had already introduced a WordPress plugin to help users incorporate the tag into their sites.

I’m updating my client sites today with this new plugin.