There are a ton of posts about the new version of WordPress 2.5 , so I’m not going to do a post about that. There’s little point. Also, I’m not going to cover the same announcements. Other people do that just as well.

Here are some cool screenshots: these illustrate some of the surprises I found.

Nice looking dashboard

I love the new color scheme, I immediately adopted the standard colors, but I like the layout – it emphasizes why bloggers blog. I like the simplified format on the top command bar, though some things are counter-intuitive – why are the write buttons so far on the right? I do like the fact that users can change the RSS feeds in the dashboard (something I’ve longed to do for a while).

Simplified streamlined post management

In the manage posts options, things are much clearer bar one feature. You can search the posts like before, but you need to click on the ‘status’ to view the post on the website. I also like how the comments are highlighted in the manage view. You can easily see how many comments a post has!

Neatly arranged blogging tools

In the post view, apart from the rearrangement that hides the complexity, the tools are nicely laid out and more beautifully presented. I didn’t see much difference in the arrangement except the headings on the far right are now visualized (nice touch!) and the media button which when clicked brings up the following media options in a new window.

Embedded Media Menu

And the fifth little treat came as rather a surprise.

Automated Plugin Updates

WP2.5 now allows you to update your plugins with one (or two) clicks: Just go to plugins, find any that need to be updated and press ‘update automatically’. And it was done. I was not looking forward to downloading any of the new plugins and manually updating them specially since several have almost daily updates (very annoying). That is neat.

This is a very refined tool now, and about as smooth as a fine red wine. Wonderful. Rather than writing a review about this, I’m just gushing! It’s a great improvement.

Upgrade if you can, want to or must!

So if you are starting a new blog, then you SHOULD just go to WordPress 2.5. It’s so much smoother in its operation, and you will find it easier to get started. If you are upgrading, I’d suggest updating provided that you don’t have any plugins that you absolutely need to use. If you do, you may wish to hold back until your favorite plugin is updated or patched or confirmed as working.