WordPress 3.0 is Now Available
Published June 17, 2010 | 
Whew… It looks like I pulled off my live WP 3.0 preview just in time, last evening, because this morning WordPress 3.0 final release, Thelonious, went live and you can now download it or upgrade from your dashboard.
The new default theme, Twenty Ten is awesome and takes advantage of all of the new features in WordPress 3.0. I’m going to be making a daughter theme from it to use on some of my sites, but I may just switch to the default on others.
WordPress 3.0 is the result of 218 contributors and over six months of work. From the WP blog:
Developers and network admins will appreciate the long-awaited merge of MU and WordPress, creating the new multi-site functionality which makes it possible to run one blog or ten million from the same installation. As a user, you will love the new lighter interface, the contextual help on every screen, the 1,217 bug fixes and feature enhancements, bulk updates so you can upgrade 15 plugins at once with a single click…
Here is a video from them that will give you a quick peek at the new features (under 4 minutes):
1.
Should you upgrade now? Yes. The new features are awesome.
Will your current theme work with WordPress 3.0? Probably, but some of the features may not work with your current theme. My theme does not support some of the features, hence my creating daughter themes.
Will your current plugins work? Every plugin that I use was tested on my Test Site with the Beta and RC releases and they all worked. Before upgrading, you may want to disable all of your plugins and after the upgrade enable them one at a time to be sure there are no conflicts.
What should I do before upgrading? Backup your site and database, just in case there is a problem. I’ve upgraded a few of my sites today and have had no issues, but its sometimes better to be prudent and take precautions… just in case Murphy wants to come along and bite you in the butt.
Related Blogs
- Twenty Ten Child Theme « Bruce Wampler's Blog
- WordPress 3 “Thelonious” Released
- My First Impressions of the Twenty Ten Theme
- WordPress: From Kubrick to Twenty Ten | Webdesigner Depot
- WordPress 3.0 “Thelonious” is out! | Web Design & Development Tutorials. Word Press development.
- WordPress 3.0 released
- WordPress 3.0… | The ORACLE-BASE Blog
- Download WordPress 3.0
WordPress 3.0 What Does It Mean to You
Published June 10, 2010 | I’ve been kinda lax in updating recently because I have been testing out the upcoming release of WordPress 3.0. I figured that if I’m going to release a blogging course upon the world, it better be filled with the latest information. So I had to take a step back and re-evaluate where things were headed. I want to be sure that whatever information that I’m passing along to you will still be valid in a month or two when the new version of WordPress goes live.
Here is the good news. Most everything that you can use with the current version of WordPress will also work with WordPress 3.0. Every plugin that I currently use, all seem to work fine with no errors. My widgets are performing as usual. The new features are outstanding. Many of the things that you pay for in a premium them are included in the new default theme.
The new default theme, Twenty Ten, is an outstandingly flexible theme with many great features built in. If you have a little knowledge of CSS and PHP, it can be easily modified for your personal use or to make daughter themes from for others.
The bad news. The current themes that I have been giving away will still work with WordPress 3.0, but the custom menu function in the new version doesn’t work with them. Since this is one of the main selling points of 3.0, I decided to delay (once again) the launch of WP Blog Master Super Course until I can get some updated themes built.
I’m sure that there are other themes that have the same problems as mine. When you activate them, they appear to work just fine, but if you try to create a custom menu they are not compatible.
I do have two things in the works for all of my readers. One is going to be a live interactive look at WordPress 3.0 where you can ask questions, check out the new features and even write a post if you want. You can learn more about the WordPress 3.0 Test Drive here. It will be happening June 16th (next Wednesday) at 8:00 pm Central Time.
The next item that I’m working on is the Blog Launch Blueprint. It will take you through the beginning steps of setting up your blog, optimizing and monetizing it and driving traffic to it. It should be available around the same time as the live event. If you are signed up to the mailing list, you will get it free… So, if you are not signed up, now would be a good time to get yourself on that list.
I’m really excited about the release of WordPress 3.0. It is a great improvement over an already great blogging platform and Content Management System. If you haven’t checked it out, yet, the live event would be of great importance for you to attend. If you are unable to attend at the time, I’ll be getting the transcript from it and making it available in PDF form sometime in the future.
If you have already been testing the new version, let me know what you think about it. If you have any questions, post them here or on the test blog… or wait until next Wednesday night and ask them live!
