WordPress is quickly becoming the standard software for the majority of blogs. This fact makes every major release of the software seem like a huge event, but the thing is that this time it is. WordPress 2.7 comes with a huge number of changes, a good chunk of them making some older plugins redundant. This will be a huge upgrade for all blog owners.

The following lists 20 of the biggest changes coming, but all together there have been over 400 changes to the program this time around. Any way you slice it, there is a little bit of something for everyone in this release. Take a look through and you're sure to find something that appeals to you.

Unfortunately this is only available for the blogs on WordPress.com for now, but it will be released for self-hosted blogs on December 10th.

What are the changes you are most excited about?

Comments

Close Comments On Old Posts - Sometimes it just doesn't make sense to continue letting comments come in on an old post, and it is a favorite trick of spammers anyway. WordPress 2.7 will allow you to close comments on older posts, eliminating the need for yet another plugin.

Comment Paging - Comments broken into pages instead of being a never ending bottom to your post.

Comment Replies From the Admin Section - A feature that has long been needed is the ability to reply to comments from your admin section without having to go to the front end of your blog.

Comment Threading - It's not just admin comment replies that are getting love, but all comments will now be in a threaded format. Great for those long debates you get into about what "sux" or why someone is a "newb," at last no one will be confused about to whom you are referring!

XMLRPC Comments API -Support for the XML-RPC protocol which is a simplified API that encodes your comments in XML and transports them via HTTP.

Keyboard Shortcuts For Comments -Once you're in your comments, you can use the keys j and k to navigate through the comments. Once selected, some of the keys you can use will be "a" to approve, "s" to mark as spam and "d" to delete.

Theme & Plugin Related

One-Click Plugin Installs - Another long time plugin favorite is going the way of the dinosaurs with the introduction of the ability to install plugins from the dashboard.

Plugin Browser - Browsing for plugins, one of the favorite pastimes of many bloggers, will be made easier by being able to do it without ever leaving your WordPress install.

Sticky Posts - There have been numerous WordPress plugins over the years to make a post "sticky" so that it stays as the top post on your front page no matter how many posts you publish after it. The feature has now been built in to the core program.

Updating the Core WordPress - Yet another WordPress plugin finds its way into the core WordPress program. For those users who haven't used something like Fantastico or Simple Scripts to install their blog, there will now be a more automated way for you to keep up with all of those pesky security updates.

Theme Update API Notices - You will receive updates when your installed themes are updated just like WordPress does now with plugins.

Greater Controls

Batch Editing for Posts - Ever needed to edit the tags for several posts, but couldn't do it because of the work involved? Batch editing will now allow you to do mass edits of your posts so that you can make as many changes as you want to your blog no matter how old it is.

Column Control - On any management page that shows columns, you will now be able to choose which columns are shown and how.

Ping & Trackback Moderation - With the ever increasing wave of "splogs" trackbacking your blog, there will finally be moderation of them in a more manageable, frame-like format.

QuickPress - Ever wanted to just do a quick post without having to load the entire write page? Now you can directly from the Dashboard page with QuickPress.

Recent Drafts - There will now be a module on your dashboard to get to your most recent drafts so you can quickly get access to your posts that are in progress.

Other Tweaks

Dashboard and Write Rearrangements - There have been significant redesigns to navigation and general layouts of the dashboard and write pages.

PHPXref - Ever go slightly loopy trying to make sense of PHP files? PHPXref will help you by making PHP into easy to digest documents that you can read through. All of this will be hosted on WordPress.org.

Image Size Tweaks - Thumbnail and Medium commands will stay the same, but Large will now be restricted to 1024 pixels, or the constraints of your theme. If you want no restrictions and post insane sized pictures, you will now be able to select "Full Size" which will post your image at its original size. You will also now see the dimensions for each size next to the radio buttons.

Redundant Coding - Theme authors will be happy to see some changes to the wp_page_menu wrapper that will simplify their coding and add conveniences like making "Home" part of the list.

Interested in more WordPress resources? Check these out: