As per Bradley Potter on Twitter.
If Content Management Systems were operating systems then WordPress would be Mac OS X, Joomla would be Windows and Drupal would be Linux. @bradleypotter
If CMS’s Were Operating Systems
It’s That Time Of Year Again
If you’re involved with the WordPress project, chances are you already know that at about this time every year, the WordPress guys announce a series of projects for the Google Summer Of Code which is an annual event aimed at providing accepted students the chance to work with Mentors for their favorite participating open source project where they gain exposure to real-world software development scenarios and the opportunity for employment in areas related to their academic pursuits.
This years round of projects that students can place applications for are as follows:
- BuddyPress
- Media
- Blog Import/Export
- User Roles
- Template Versioning
- MPTT
- Search
- Video
- Theme Frameworks
- Community/Event Organizing Framework
- WordPress MU
- Other
Those who are interested in more information regarding the projects and who is mentoring them can find all of the information on the official Codex articled dedicated to Google Summer Of Code 2009.
Overall, I’m hoping that at least a few of these projects are accomplished over the course of the project as many of them would benefit the software greatly such as search, media, and blog import/exporting. While I don’t have any code fu to participate in the event, the projects themselves I believe can be used as a way to figure out what is in the core developers heads in terms of where the project is heading.
Out of the project listed, the ones that I’m most interested in is the theme versioning system. Like post revisions, theme revisions would work in much the same way, saving a revision of the template with each save. A system like this would probably make people a little less afraid to venture into the theme editor to make changes to their css file or core theme files since you would be able to revert a change.
Community/Event Orginizing Frameworks would be pretty cool. For example, the official WordCamp site could use a framework such as this where WordCamp orginizers can have a subdomain similar to how WordPress.com works but they have all the tools they need built into the site to handle registration, planning, sponsorships, event location, etc.
What about you? Anything in the list of projects that screams out at you?
Scott Berkun Gives Thumbs Up To WordPress 2.7
Scott Berkun who has been blogging for a LONG time recently published his own review centered around WordPress 2.7.
As a mostly non-practicing geek, I don’t write much code or touch command lines often, so despite my CS degree, I don’t trust myself and I wait to do this until I think it’s worth it. And this upgrade to 2.7 totally was.
Scott’s review covers the new user interface, the auto upgrader, and the new dashboard. He does have a few minor gripes as well but nothing overly worrisome.
While reading Scott’s review, he mentioned in one of his gripes that he is still confused and scared by plugins.
There are tons of these made, but it’s hard to find reliable ones that I’m confident will be supported into the future, or will stay in sync with wordpress upgrades. I’d happily pay $$$ for a pack of premier plugins that are top quality and come with some kind of promise of service.
First off, using open source software such as WordPress with open source plugins is a risk in and of itself. When you rely on a plugin for provided functionality for your site, you have to keep a realistic point of view and realize that more likely than not, that plugin developer will one day move on or cease development of the plugin.
Also, I think he’s right. I’m sure people would be willing to pay for a suite of plugins that are constantly in development and kept in sync with WordPress releases. I don’t know of anyone or any service providing a suite of plugins for purchase but I imagine someone out their is toying with the idea.
Joomla Against Drupal Against WordPress
The folks over at CMSWire.com have a great writeup on the 100 hours to build a website challenge that took place at SxSW. A team of developers from Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress got together to build a website based on a specific list of specifications and design. At the end, representatives from each team had the chance to get together to showcase what they created.
The WordPress team headed by Matt Mullenweg created a website on WordPress.com called WPShowdown to provide updates on the project. You can check out the CMSWire article to see an image of the scores given to each project but it looks like WordPress came in second although in the end, the results of the competition were decided to be a DRAW with no clearly defined winner.
One interesting thing to note about this competition is that Marybeth Schroeder who had no preference for any of the CMS’s used in this competition preferred Drupal as her first pick, then Joomla and then WordPress. Apparently, Marybeth had a hard time navigating through the dashboard which strikes me as odd considering all of the UI work that went into the design.
WordPress 2.7 A Milestone In Its Own Right
As has been mentioned by a few other people and websites, namely WPHacks.com, WordPress 2.7 is a milestone in its own right. In his post, Kyle mentions how long it had been since 2.7.1 was released essentially confirming how well the beta testing phase went for the release of WordPress 2.7. So, I decided to do some investigating to see how long it took between a major version of WordPress being released and the first point release. While dates are not exact, they were close enough to where I could round them off as being a month.
-
1 month 2.0
1 month 2.1
1 month 2.2
1 month 2.3
1 month 2.5
1 month 2.6
2 months 2.7
So as you can see, WordPress 2.7 is the only one since 2.0 to have two months go by before a point release. This is a testament to the entire beta testing audience which helped solve a ton of bugs before the release of WordPress 2.7. So pat yourself on the back if you were one of these testers. If not, pat someone on the back who did.
Small Preview Of WordPress 2.8
With the release of WordPress 2.8 pushed back now to April 1st, (dates are always tentative) I decided to download the nightly build for March 7th and wanted to take a look to see what sort of progress has been made. At this point, no widget management features have been added to the core that I am aware of. I do know that Andrew Ozz has been assigned the task to revamp the Widget Management area. I wish him the best of luck! However, syntax highlighting along with function lookups have been added to both the plugin and theme editor. Here is what they look like.
One thing I noticed already in the 2.8 bleeding edge version is that just like plugins, you can browse the theme repository and install themes without leaving your blogs backend. You can search, preview, and upload themes as well. Check it out.
Although work is ongoing, I did want to mention the fact that MagPie RSS will no longer be the default parsing engine that WordPress uses. Instead, it will be SimplePie RSS. Simple Pie will be used in WordPress 2.8 for widget and dashboard feeds. Also at some point, plugins which used MagPie RSS that was built into WordPress will at some point no longer work. So if you have a plugin that does this such as the KB Advanced RSS Widget plugin, make sure to update your code to use the new parsing engine. No need to rush it though as backwards compatibility will be in WordPress for a little while before it is completely removed.
Last but not least, you’ll be able to select between 1-4 columns for your dashboard widgets.
For a look at what will most likely come down the pike in WordPress 2.8, please see this Codex article dedicated to the version.
WordPress Store To Get A Revamp
Remember the WordPress Shop? If you forgot about it, don’t worry as I did too considering I haven’t seen much news come out of the store for quite awhile. Well, thanks to a Tavern forum thread started by community member Brad Williams entitled, Best Place To Get WordPress Gear? I needed to do a little digging to figure out what was going on with the shop. In particular, some of us wanted to know if their stock counts were updated in real-time or if they were static amounts. We also wanted to know if there would ever be more products offered in the store besides the mug and hoodies.
I sent an email to Alex who works for IndigoClothing.com, the company powering the WordPress Store and sent him my questions. He replied back and provided the following information.
The shop is still active and stock levels are pulled in real time from the warehouses.
The site is undergoing a facelift to match the current WP site designs and also a new batch of new product is being produced. USB drives have been added this week with more items to follow. (By the way, the USB drives cost $15.00 and contain 4 GB worth of space. Check them out here – http://shop.wordpress.net/usa/accessories/wordpress-usb-drive )
The past twelve months regarding the store have been quiet but it looks like things are about to ramp up. I’m currently in the market for a WordPress Mug, WordPress Hoody (X- Large), WordPress T-Shirt (Green X-Large), and to top things off, I would not mind a WordPress Thumb Drive to replace my meager 64 MB one.
WordPress For Dummies 2nd Ed. On Bookshelves
About two weeks ago, as I was browsing through my favorite bookstore Borders and I was delighted to see that WordPress For Dummies the Second Edition is now available on book shelves. I picked up the book and started reading various parts and I have to admit, it was hard to put it down. The book mainly focuses on WordPress 2.7 and development related topics rather than covering all three WordPress projects as in the first edition. WordPress For Dummies 2nd Edition was written by Lisa Sabin Wilson and comes in at $24.99.
Lisa recently got in touch with me the other day to let me know that she has received her copies of the book to give out as prizes or for review and the two individuals who won the contest when I had her on the air for WordPress Weekly should be receiving their copies soon. Lisa also told me that I’ll be receiving three copies of the book, one for me and two to give away. How I plan on giving these away is anyone’s guess but I want to sincerely thank Lisa for providing the books to give away.
WordCamp Denver Live Coverage
For those unable to attend WordCamp Denver, there’s good news. Starting at 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM PST at Bitwire Live on Saturday, February 28, 2009 there will be a live video stream of WordCamp Denver featuring yours truly, Lorelle Van Fossen and Dave Moyer. The stream includes both video and audio and will feature interviews with session speakers, commentary on sessions and much more.
50 WordPress People To Follow
Ryan Imel of Themeplayground.com has published a compilation of Who’s who in the WordPress community with 50 people you should be following. Guess what, I and this site made the list. I’d be lying if I said I weren’t flattered with being featured in the list. Truth be told, I’m flattered by anyone who says that something I’ve published whether it be in audio, video, or written form has helped them in some way or at the very least, has entertained them.
Among some of the others who have made the list include the core development team, popular themers, well known plugin authors, and overall community superstars. One thing that Ryan has done in his post is put a face to those behind the blogs, themes, plugins these people have created, something I have not seen in other lists.
Personally, I think I have a goofy looking picture compared to Ptah Dunbar’s ‘Don’t Mess With Me‘ look.