WordPress 2.6 Has Arrived

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WordPress › Blog » WordPress 2.6
WordPress 2.6 is now available. Hit the link above for lots of info on what’s new.

I’ve updated my hosted blogs, so if you’re reading this and I host a blog for you, you’re good to go. If you’re reading this, you know me, and I don’t host a blog for you (but you’d like one) let me know…I’m sure we can sort something out…

As for my favourite new features, there are a few. The Press This bookmarklet is extremely nifty, and auto senses whether you’re posting about a link, quote, picture, or video. Hopefully it’ll ramp up my blogging habits a bit on ITF. I might even create an asides type category for short and sweet posts. What say you, reader?

To use it, drag the Press This link out of the Write Post page onto your toolbar, or make it a bookmark, then just click it to include a link to the page you’re currently viewing. Or, select some text, and click it to include text and link. Or try it on YouTube…or…you get the idea.

Also there’s nifty theme previewing if you fancy trying new themes out, post revisioning (which will be handy for CMS and magazine style sites, like Eurocritics), and Google Gears support (hit the turbo button in the top right of your admin). Gears support looks nice, and does provide a nice speed boost. If I’d had it before moving away from my former hosts I might not have moved. But then I lurve WebFaction, so I’m glad I did.

Last couple: image captions (coming soon to ITF), and better image editing support in the editor are very welcome, as are the usual bug fixes and performance tweaks.

Another very solid release from the team. 2008 is certainly WordPress development’s most successful year to date.

Imminent New Wordpress Goodness

Wordpress version 2.3 is due any time now, and I’ll be upgrading this and all the other blogs I host to the lastest version.

Things have changed quite a bit with this release, so it’s entirely possible that themes and plugins might break. So, if you visit Is There Food at some point over the next couple of days and things are a little odd, chances are I’m playing with the 2.3.

Once I’ve got 2.3 installed, and I’ve updated my theme and plugins to support it, I’m determined to ramp up my blogging. I’ve got to post my thoughts on Mr Brooks, Zombie Diaries, Wrong Turn 2, Evil Aliens, and more.

See you on the other side.

New Year’s Resolutions

Number one: blog more. Lately, this place has gathered a few cobwebs, and I’m not happy about that. Things are going to change. I might start posting less specific rambles and rants, as the mood takes me.

Number two: catch up on review material. I’ve got piles of DVDs and CDs to get through for review on Blogcritics, so I need to jump on that in the new year.

Number three: classified.

Number four: classified.

I’ll let you know how three and four pan out…

Dad’s Blogging!

Yes, it’s true - my Dad has now started his own blog. With a soupcon of help - and nagging - from yours truly, naturally.

So, point your browsers at The Devil’s Manor.

First off, he’s pointed that high powered perception at Casino Royale.

Welcome to the world of blogging, Dad

Me And My Blog: 12 Months Of Blogging

Today, September the 6th, marks the 1 year anniversary of Is There Food.

12 months ago, that first post wasn’t massively significant; it was a simple welcome. The second post, two days later, was regarding a band called Sigur Ros that I’d just heard of Radio One. That seems like an incredibly long time ago.

Why? So much has happened since then. For a start, my son has got older. He’s started crawling, walking, talking. And while in one way it seems like that was only five minutes ago, thinking back on it seems like an age. But this isn’t a post about my son, it’s a post about my blog; my site, Is There Food.

I didn’t create any kind of success criteria for my site. What’s the point? Only a presumptuous fool would think they’ll automatically acquire readers, or recognition. I didn’t have any goals of achieving a certain number of visitors, or of coining in thousands of pounds thanks to Google adverts. At that point, I didn’t even think anyone would read my site.

On October the 12th, 2005 I posted a response to Apple’s “iPod with Video” announcement. To my surprise, amazement, and - if I’m totally honest - joy, I got linked to from C|Net’s article summarising the response. I was, as we say, massively chuffed.

I had, initially, planned on being a journalist. Maybe, in some wild fantasy, I was going to be a novelist. Throughout my more formative years, I wrote almost constantly. I can recall some of the short stories I wrote. I can even recall some of the outlines I came up with, which have never made it to written form. On certain days, I tell myself I’ll start writing fiction again.

It didn’t happen. I’ve got too much of an affinity with computers and technology. I can’t help it. Becoming involved with computers, be it support, or development, was - with that mythical 20-20 hindsight - inevitable. But through computers, I’ve returned to writing. Starting a blog seemed like a silly idea until I installed Wordpress. Writing regularly seemed like something I used to do, not something I do now. That said, the frequency of posts lately is perhaps not best described as regular. But I’m working on that.