This blog now on WordPress 2.5

We’ve just updated this blog to the new WordPress 2.5. If you notice any quirks or see any problems, please let us know.

WordPress 2.5 Admin screens totally changed

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After upgrading from WordPress 2.3.3 to 2.5 the first, most obvious difference is in the Dashboard. The screenshot on the left above is from my Oddity59 blog, not yet upgraded, while that on the right is from TiKouka.

The colour scheme has changed, information and links have been moved around, fonts reduced in size, and some previously ‘fixed’ items have been made mutable. Overall things seem slicker and sleeker, more efficient and more compact.

A nice touch is the summary of your blog — how many posts and pages and so on. Here’s what mine says right now:

You have 2,325 posts, 12 pages, 2 scheduled posts, contained within 34 categories and 558 tags.

You are using Neoclassical theme with 13 widgets. Change Theme This is WordPress version 2.5.

Immediately below that are lists of Recent Comments and Incoming Links.

Very obvious are the buttons to go straight to write a new Post or a new Page.

Changes continue through each individual Admin screen. New features include a Media Library that displays all the images and other media you’ve uploaded, and tells you which posts they’ve been used in.

WordPress 2.5 is a new version, rather than a minor point upgrade. If you’re not a confident WordPress user, I suggest you do some reading before you upgrade, and maybe watch the 4 minute screencast.

Make a Lasting Impression in WordPress

My most recent article about customising WordPress has appeared on the Peachpit site. It’s about editing the footer of your blog — Make a Lasting Impression:

The footer may be the last thing visitors see on your blog. It leaves a lasting impression, so you should use it well. In most themes, a separate file called footer.php contains this part of the site. In this article, you’ll learn how easy it is to edit the footer to display exactly the information you’d like your blog’s visitors to see.

[Via : Peachpit: Web Design Reference Guide > Customizing WordPress: Make a Lasting Impression.]

WordPress vs Safari: Mars Edit to the rescue.

I’ve been using Mars Edit since it was part of NetNewsWire. It’s an excellent, stand-alone editor for blog posts, with all kinds of cool features. So I wasn’t aware of the problems Safari users are having with WordPress.

While I sometimes use the web editor for my WordPress blogs, especially when I need to include an image from my online photo albums (MacTips screenshots, personal photos), I’ll always use Mars Edit when I can.

What’s more, I seldom use Safari; OmniWeb is my main browser of choice, though I also use Flock quite often for browsing.

WordPress and the web editor

If you do decide to write WordPress posts in your web browser, the first thing to do is turn off the stupid Visual Rich Editor, or you’re likely to go postal. Maria and I wrote about how to do this in our book WordPress 2 Visual Quickstart Guide. Look at pages 26 and 27 to get started.

I also avoid using Flock for writing posts as it seems to just mess up what I write, whatever I do. OmniWeb works nicely though. But the best choice of all is separate software, such as Mars Edit or Ecto. Daniel Jalkut, author of Mars Edit, explains more of the web editor problem, in The Broken Web Editor:

Recently there has been an increase of new MarsEdit buyers who cite as their motivation a frustration with the WordPress web editor. I respect and admire the WordPress team. In fact, their web interface is among the best out there. But even in the best of circumstances, it’s hard to compete with the usability of a desktop app. And when something goes bad, it becomes downright impossible.

Currently the situation is especially bad for people who use WordPress with Safari. For whatever reason these two pieces of software have fallen slightly out of accord. It’s common to hear tale of people who use Safari for “everything but WordPress.” In short, WordPress has a reputation for messing up or even eliminating parts of your post when using the web-based editor in Safari. I know, because I see the comments of my customers and would-be customers on the web. There is a chorus of confirmation for this problem.

I look forward to WordPress and Safari to ironing out their differences.

[Via Red Sweater Blog: The Broken Web Editor.]

Ways to solve the web editor problem

So, if you’re working with WordPress, which is, after all, about the best blogging platform, here are some steps to take to make the experience even better:

• if writing posts via the web interface, turn off the Visual Rich Editor, and use OmniWeb rather than Flock or Safari
• use Mars Edit instead of the web interface
• use some other stand-alone editor.

Display a Better Title in WordPress

Another of Miraz’s regular WordPress articles for Informit has just been published: Peachpit: Web Design Reference Guide > Customizing WordPress: Display a Better Title:

make a great first impression for your blog by customizing the first thing visitors see in bookmark lists and search engine results: the titles of your blog, its posts, and pages. This article shows you some easy ways to edit the title in the header file in WordPress version 2.3.1.

Video Blogging with Viddler and WordPress, Part I

What’s this all about?

One of the things I’ve been following from arm’s length is the audio and video blogging phenomena. I’m talking about sites like Utterz, Seesmic, and Viddler.

I’ve tried all three and until I tried Viddler, I couldn’t get excited about any of them. But Viddler has a few features that make video blogging easy and fun — primarily because it works so well with WordPress.

In this series of articles, I’ll explain how you can use Viddler to create video content with any compatible camera attached to your computer and get that content on your blog. And, if you’re a WordPress user, I’ll tell you about two Viddler plugins you can use to make it easy for your blog readers to find your video content on Viddler — even if you didn’t post it on your blog — and even leave video comments for you.

What is Viddler?

Viddler is an online service that enables you to upload or record videos that can then be shared with others. It’s a bit like YouTube, only classier and used by people who want to communicate rather than show off entertainment-based content.

At least that’s my take on it.

Viddler uses Flash to capture video from a camera attached to your computer. It works great with my iMac’s built-in iSight camera and microphone, as well as the iMage camera I bought for traveling with my old PowerBook.

But you don’t have to capture video directly to Viddler. You can take an existing video file and upload it. Viddler supports .mov, .mpg, .wmv, .avi, and .m4v formats. You can’t, however, upload television shows or other material that’s likely to be copyrighted. Viddler doesn’t have the same deep pockets as YouTube and probably doesn’t want to be sued. Besides, you shouldn’t be sharing that stuff anyway.

Once content is on Viddler’s server, it can be set as private, public, or available to just your friends. (Like most social networking sites, you can create a network of friends to share videos you don’t want the general public to see.) You can also share your videos with others on other social networking sites or by embedding them in your blog or e-mail messages.

Getting Started

Of course, to use Viddler, you need an account. Go to http://www.viddler.com/ and click the big green Sign Me Up button. Then follow the prompts to create a user ID and password. You’ll have to provide a real e-mail address, since Viddler will be sending you a confirmation e-mail. Once you get that e-mail, click the link in it to finish setting up your account.

You can now create or upload videos. I’ll discuss both of those tasks in future installments of this series.

Meanwhile, if you have a Viddler account, why not take a moment to share the info about it with us? Use the Comments link or form for this post to provide your Viddler username so we can check out some of your videos.