What’s new in 3.0?
New Interface
The WordPress 3.0 administration panels have received a polish. It’s hardly a radical change from version 2, but it’s lighter and feels slicker.
New Default Theme
One of the best ways to find out is to try out the new Twenty Ten theme, which shows off many of the release’s major new features.
WordPress Multi-user
WordPress MU was a fork that allowed hundreds of blogs to run from a single installation; it has now been merged with the main version 3.0 application. This could be the most important feature for web developers: you can create a number of websites using just one installation of WordPress. Updates are easier and hosting space is drastically reduced.
Custom Post Types
Pages and Posts were available in previous versions of WordPress:
- Pages were normally used for static content such as About Us or Contact Us pages.
- Posts would commonly be used for date-stamped news, articles, or blog posts.
WordPress 3.0 supports custom post types. For example, you could have a Product type that’s specifically used for items sold on your website. Product pages can then be treated separately; for example, have their own menu or search box.
I have no hesitation in recommending WordPress 3.0 for a new installation. If you’re currently running WordPress 2.x consider to test new release on your local installation before upgrading live site. WordPress automated upgrade is a great tool and in most cases upgrades will be installed in just one-click, but in complex cases it can fail.
Are you excited to use the new WordPress 3.0?
