WordPress 2.5 was finally released today, after much anticipation. Matt Mullenweg did a comprehensive post on the WordPress Blog about this new update and the changes to 2.5. I won’t go through all the major changes - - just read Matt’s post.. he’s done a nice job of explaining a few things and includes a video on some the enhancements. The WordPress.Org website has undergone a brand new re-design that coordinates with the new design of the WordPress Dashboard, as well. Some very nice improvements in the design you’ll notice when you upgrade to WordPress 2.4 - - it’s a little difficult to get used to, at first, but it’s a lighter interface with, overall, some very nice improvements. I think once users get over the initial shock of everything looking different and being moved around and renamed… the old design will be a distant memory as we all move forward. My only sticky point on the new interface design is that it is all left aligned. On my 1280 monitor - - it’s a little hard to take. But if that’s the worst of it - I’m good.

I took the opportunity to install the latest changes to the WordPress software we all know and love. Right now, the Administration Panel footer says I’m using 2.4-Bleeding - - it is the latest build as of 2.12.08. There are some things I just love about - - other things? Not so much. I do understand the design work on it is not completed yet. With a release date of sometime the middle to the end of March.. I would say WP has a ways to go.

The Dashboard. Have a look:

While I am not in love with the design… the colors or the layout - - what I am in love with is the ability to edit certain sections of the dashboard.. mainly the RSS Feeds that are fed into the Dashboard:

A reader of this blog submitted a question regarding a problem he is currently having with the RSS feed in his WordPress installation:

I am the webmaster of XXX and i am having a problem with my feeds.

When i try to validate them it shows me this:

You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near ‘ON ( wp_posts.ID = .object_id ) WHERE 1 = 1 AND .term_taxonomy_id.term_taxonomy_’ at line 1

Do you know what i can do to fix it?

I am using v2.2.1
Kind Regards

My recommendation is to upgrade your WordPress installation to the latest version available: 2.3.2.

Reason? The error message you are receiving refers to a database table called term_taxonomy_id.term_taxonomy.

That database table did not exist in version 2.2.1 - - it was introduced into the WordPress core in version 2.3.2.

A reader of my WordPress For Dummies book¹ submitted this question today:

I’ve been through WordPress for Dummies twice already.

I’m setting up a new blog and I’m running into something I’ve not experienced before. I have two (2) sticky posts displaying on my front page, each post tagged with several categories. For some reason when I click on any link, I’m getting a 404 Not Found Error. I’ve set up several WordPress blogs, but never with this issue.

Can you suggest a solution for resolution?

Thanks and Happy New Year!

My response:

1. Permalinks, .htaccess and information about these re_write rules can be found in Chapter 8: pages 144 - 146 in the WordPress For Dummies book. [↩]

It was announced today that what was to be the next new version of WordPress, 2.4 - which was scheduled for a January 24 release has now been abandoned and replaced with version 2.5 and is now scheduled for an early March release.

Due to such major changes in the code base, and in the administration panel, the WordPress team chose not to rush things and opted, instead, to allow for more time for a quality release. Let’s hope this means not quite so many updates so soon after the initial release (i.e. 2.5.1, 2.5.2, etc, etc).

Matt made the announcement in the WordPress mailing list and had this to say:

This is the timeframe when 2.5 was originally schedule for, so we’re treating the originally planned 2.4 in December as a skipped release, as a result of both the holidays and the large changes which we weren’t able to start on until late October.

Happy New Year - here’s a listing of some of the plugins I added to my blog in recent months and have fast become some of my favorites to recommend to WordPress users:

Different Posts Per Page - Set default value for each different page in WordPress. For example, without this plugin, if you have 1 post set to be viewed on your front page - then only 1 post will show on your archives, search, categories and tags pages. But, you may want more of a listing on those internal pages. With this plugin - you can set values for each of those pages, completely bypassing the setting in Options/Reading in your WordPress administration panel.

Single Click Plugin Updater - A very handy plugin that extends the plugin notification system, introduced in WordPress version 2.3. This plugin also provides an ‘update automatically’ link that, when clicked, will automatically download and install the new version on your blog.

Blue, orange and white - that is the color scheme of the new WordPress administration panel. Why are they changing the theme? No clue - from what I’ve seen, so far, it reminds me of an earlier Blogspot admin panel, for some reason. Maybe it’s the use of the orange that makes me think that. I quite like the current design of the administration panel in WordPress, though…I’m a little dissapointed that they aren’t staying with it and building from it, for congruency’s sake. That’s just me, though - there will be plenty who applaud this change and I’m sure I’ll embrace it as well - I’m just a damn creature of habit! Heh.

At this time, the two big changes in the top menu in the Administration Panel is:

• Presentation is now labeled “Design”
• Options is now labeled “Settings”

One of the more limiting features of the Widgets in WordPress is the inability to disperse your different blogroll link lists to different areas of your template. By using the Links Widget packaged within WordPress, your blogrolls will all appear in the same spot. This is a fine thing, if you only have one blogroll category. But what about those sites that have more than one… or even several, blogroll categories??

Further, what if that particular person doesn’t want all the blogrolls to appear in the same spot, listed one after another? Using the Links Widget, you have no choice really - at least not at this time. You place the Blogroll Widget in your sidebar and all your link lists appear in the same spot.

A little known.. and little used.. cool little feature in WordPress is the ability to use custom fields. I have to admit that I was a WordPress user for quite some time before I realized how cool this little tool can be. This post explores some of the possibilities of using custom fields in the WordPress.Org (self-hosted) software.

You can display all sorts of things:

• Current mood
• Currently reading
• Currently listening to
• Todays weather

These small tid bits of information can be added to the bottom of each post easily through the use of Custom Fields.

But first - where do you find custom fields?

In your WordPress administration panel, click “Write” then scroll down, beneath the text box where you write your post and you will see a blue bar with the words “Custom Fields”…. click the plus sign in the top right-hand corner of that blue bar and you see the following:

You can give different sections of your site a unique title so that your readers know where they are within your site. It’s a little thing - but its helpful to keep your visitors mindful of where they are at. For instance, if they are on a category page - it’s nice to have a title at the top that says something like “You are browsing the X category”… or when they click on one of your tags, give an announcement at the top of the page that says something like “Browsing posts tagged with: X” - that kind of thing.

With WordPress templates, you can create all sorts of different templates for different custom displays. However, to accomplish the title idea - you really only need one single template and a handful of conditional tags.

Create a template and name it: archive.php