A new iteration of the popular blogging platform WordPress has been recently released. Codenamed “Baker” after renowned trumpeter & vocalist Chet Baker, the new version has a slew of under-the-hood changes in addition to changes to the Administrative interface:

New drag-and-drop widgets admin interface and new widgets API

Syntax highlighting and function lookup built into plugin and theme editors

Browse the theme directory and install themes from the admin interface

Allow the dashboard widgets to be arranged in up to four columns

Allow configuring the number of items to show on management pages with an option in Screen Options

Support timezones and automatic daylight savings time adjustmentÂ

Support IIS 7.0 URL Rewrite Module

Faster loading of admin pages via script compression and concatenation

What’s noteworthy about this particular release is the sheer number of support tickets both opened and closed (over 790 in total), which means that the developers have made a conscious effort at listening to what the users’ feedback and issues are and trying to get them resolved.

The new upgrade process in use since the last few iterations make it extremely easy for a blog owner to upgrade and there’s absolutely no reason not to. As is usual with all upgrades, backup your files, customisations and of course your database before attempting to upgrade just in case, Mr. Murphy happens to be hanging around…