WordPress 2.9 is just around the corner and with this release comes a slew of new and dare I say uber-cool features. While some of these new features are aimed at developers, such as the introduction of the_post_image() and get_post_type() to name a couple, most are meant for the end-user. In this article I'm going to talk about 4 new features I think most of you will find quite useful. They are:
- Trash
- oEmbed
- Image Editing
- Database Optimize/Repair
Trash
It's happened to all of us at least once - we deleted something we never meant to delete. Luckily on Windows we have the handy Recycle Bin. WordPress 2.9 introduces a similar feature called Trash. When you delete any type of content, be it post, page, comment etc it is moved to Trash where you have the option to recover it or permanently delete it.
oEmbed
This is one I really like. To embed media in your posts you need only to include the URL to the page containing the media you wish to embed. For instance, you have a video hosted on Vimeo you wish to include in your post. The URL will look something like http://www.vimeo.com/SomeRandomNumber. First, navigate to Settings > Media where you will see the following... (click image to enlarge)
After you have saved your settings, go to your post and simply include the URL http://www.vimeo.com/SomeRandomNumber. Here's how it works: WordPress connects to the Vimeo servers, locates the discovery tag in the head section of the document and uses it to retrieve the needed HTML to display the media. To avoid lagging load times it is also cached to post-meta.
This only works if the media provider supports the oEmbed API. Currently there are several that do including,
- YouTube (via oEmbed)
- Blip.tv (via oEmbed)
- Flickr images and videos (via oEmbed)
- Hulu (via oEmbed)
- Vimeo (via oEmbed)
- Viddler (via oEmbed)
- Revision3 (via oEmbed)
- Google Video (via an internal handler)
- PollDaddy (via an internal handler)
- DailyMotion (via an internal handler)
Image Editing
At this point the feature is fairly basic but is sure to be enhanced in future versions. For the time being you will have the ability to scale, crop and rotate images from within WordPress. Navigate to the Media Library and select the image you wish to edit. You will see the screen below... (click image to enlarge)
Database Optimize/Repair
This is one I think many will find useful. In the past, the only way to repair or optimize your database tables was to interact directly with the database using a program like phpMyAdmin - a scary thought for the less technically inclined. No more. You will now be able to do it from within WordPress. Version 2.9 includes a new script called repair.php located in the /wp-admin/maint/ folder. To enable it add define('WP_ALLOW_REPAIR',true); to your wp-config.php file. When running the file you will see the screen below... (click image to enlarge)
After running the 'Repair and Optimize Database' option I was presented with the screen below... (click image to enlarge)
One important item to note: there is a change to the minimum requirements needed to run version 2.9. You will need to be running at least MySQL 4.1.2. (up from MySQL 4.0) There is no change in the PHP minimum requirements. (that is coming in WordPress 3.0 where you will need at least PHP 5)
About Len Kutchma
A useful post for my level of user, Ken. Thanks. I look forward to these features in 2.9, particularly trash and image editing, which will certainly save time. The oEmbed looks as if it will need some co-operation from more sites like Picasa and FaceBook if it is really going to be universally useful. The fact that Database optimize/repair takes time and shuts down the database makes me want to stick to phpMyAdmin for now.
Thanks for stopping by Doug.
I too would like to see more sites support the oEmbed API but this is a start. With respect to the database optimize/repair script, I doubt I will use it as I prefer to do things manually.