I was rather shocked recently when I run the virus scanner on my laptop to find that one of several threats discovered was from a Wordpress theme folder I recently downloaded.
I won’t name the template, suffice to say it not all templates out there are safe. It’s better to scan them before uploading to your server because you don’t to upload some sinister scripts on your server.
I’ve upgraded this blog to Wordpress 2.6 from 2.5.1 and still playing with the new feature.
CAPTION: Mount Kinabalu under a gloomy sky
Long caption
Excuse me, I'm kinda lost. May I know which way Australia is?
Sure. No prob. Just let go of that grass. Australia is down under!
This is a first for Wordpress or any other blogging platforms. But then again, I haven’t tried all the platforms so I don’t really know.
But there is still a setback. You won’t be able to manipulate the caption text like making it bold, italic or insert hyperlink in it. But never mind, maybe this will be made available in Wordpress 2.7. You can also see how the caption feature handles long caption from the two small pictures above.
Could have been better implemented
The caption could have been better implemented
As you can see, the caption warps nicely according to the width of the picture.
As in Wordpress 2.5.1 you will also be able to float the picture left, right or centre or just leave it without any float. Besides the ability to use html in the caption, what I want to see in the next Wordpress is the ability to wrap text around a picture in centre float.
But the caption could have been implemented better, like the one on the right. This is the way the caption appears in Visual editing mode on Wordpress 2.6 but when you publish the entry, the caption appears differently on the actual page.
Wordpress 2.6 compatible theme?
The problem with the caption could be due to the theme I’m using — it doesn’t support the caption feature in the new Wordpress.
I hope there will be Wordpress 2.6 compatible theme soon so that the caption can appear in a more professional way, like in the two small pictures (above right). Still, now everybody can caption a picture.
I guess it was just one of those times when things just don’t want to turn out right. But things are okay now. My Wordpress 2.5 which I installed less than a week ago is performing like a new car. The link problem has been resolved, so does the archive problem.
I guess it’s safe to upgrade my other blogs to Wordpress 2.5. I’ve also tested the image uploading features, and was mighty pleased with it.
What I like:
1. The ability to choose and click image alignment features;
2. Lightning fast uploading process. You just need to browse the image you want uploaded, write the caption and click the “insert into post” and in just seconds the image will appear on the post — aligned and floated they way you want it.
What I don’t like but will be able to live with it:
1. As mentioned above, you can also write image caption in image uploading mode but I don’t see the point of this feature as the caption will not appear on the blog post. One boo there!
Having installed Wordpress 2.5 like a breeze last night, I discovered to my dismay this morning, two bugs which like it or not, would kill the enthusiasm over the new blogging platform if it is not fixed soonest.
The first, is the problems with the categories in certain themes. Clicking on them on would bring you to some error page. The second, is the problem with hyperlinks. You can’t insert a link when in “Visual” editing mode. You’ll need to switch to “HTML” to do that.
I guess, problem number one can be solved with selecting new themes, while problem number two can be fixed by releasing a Wordpress 2.5.1. 
It may not be noticible from the appearance of this blog, but I’ve just upgraded Jaxon’s Review to Wordpress 2.5. Unlike in previous upgrading experience, this time, it was all smooth with no strange behaviour of the blog after the upgrading is done.
This is just my first post after the upgrade is completed at 2.50am and I haven’t fully explored yet what this new blogging creature has to offer.
But there will be plenty of time to do that, and furthermore I’m feeling kind of sleepy right now to be able to spend any productive time testing all the new features available, tempting though they may be.
I hope your upgrade to Wordpress 2.5 had been as smooth as mine. One important note before I go to the land of the neverland, you might be wondering about the Wordpress 2.5 browser compatibility, following reported issues with Wordpress 2.5 Release Candidate 1.
Well, in as far as this blog is concern, everything seemed to be aligning perfectly across major browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Flock and Safari.
First thing first, let me say from the outset that the upcoming Wordpress 2.5 — whose Release 
Candidate 1 is now available for uploading and testing — is a different creature altogether from the existing Wordpress 2.3.3 many of us are currently using.
Of course, not all of these new features can be gleaned from the finish product — the blog itself — because the way a blog appears, needless to say, depends on the template it is based on.
What’s in the deal
Back to the new Wordpress, which is a bottom-up makeover of the popular blogging platform, you can feel it’s a different deal altogether right from the login page.
Wordpress 2.5 has a much simpler and smaller login graphic. Although this has no noticeable “functional” use, it does proclaim the fact that Wordpress 2.5 is a whole new Press.
Larger file
Wordpress 2.5 has a larger load, totalling 3.9MB with 571 files need to be uploaded to your host compared to 3MB and 528 files with the current Wordpress 2.3.3.
That should give your imagination something to feed on about the blogging possibility of this new “machine”.
The sneak peek of Wordpress 2.5 has already mentioned a lot about the new Wordpress so I won’t repeat what has been said there. I will instead focus on my user experience after blogging on Wordpress 2.5 for three days now.
Lots of features
Apart from Wordpress 2.3.3, I’ve been blogging using various platform including Blogger, Wordpress.com and had once tried out the 13MB-brilliant-but-complex Movable Type, but Wordpress 2.5, to me offers the best user experience so far.
It not only maintained the ease of use but also added more features with further simplification.
In addition to the “add image” feature which is already available on Wordpress 2.3.3, with Wordpress 2.5, you can also add a lot more — embed video, audio or other media, by clicking buttons on the post panel (see circle in red).
Full screen blogging
Also a first in any of the blogging platforms I’ve tried out previously is the ability to write posts in full screen, with all the formating buttons on the top; just like writing in Microsoft Word.
You can access this feature by clicking on the toggle full screen mode (circle in green).
And of course, it maintains the hidden formatting panel which can be accessed by clicking the show formatting panel button (circle in yellow).
Post and manage
The publish button is now positioned on the right side of the post panel, so you won’t need to scroll down to find the “publish” button.
In addition, you can also access the most common “blog management” features by clicking on the links under the publish button, without having to go to the control panel to do so. From there you can directly manage comments, posts, categories and tags.
Themes compatibility
I guess theme compatibility will not be a problem, at least with several newer themes (released this year or towards the end of last year) I’ve tried out so far.
I don’t think those at Wordpress would create a new platform and then kill the newborn by giving everyone a headache.
Wordpress 2.5 works perfectly fine with the “default” Kubrick theme so I guess, there won’t be not much problems in that department, although I can’t say for sure for other themes released several years earlier.
Conclusion
As of now, Wordpress 2.5 has not been officially released; it is still undergoing testing. I bet a few more tweaking will be done before the final product is made available for mass use.
I’ve not encountered any bugs so far, so I’d give it 9 out of 10 only because nothing is perfect.
As Wordpress.org users might have already aware, Wordpress is testing its 2.5 version and has made available the Release Candidate 1 for a sneak peek.
Well, guess what, I’ve just installed Wordpress 2.5 RC1 as the platform for my new blog; it’s not exactly a new blog as such, because it’s a Blogspot blog which I planned to migrate to the new 2.5 RC1-based blog.
Am still testing it and should be able to come up with a review — in terms of user experience, as I wouldn’t be able to review its technical or coding features — by Monday.
I’ve just updated this blog a week ago from 2.2.3 to 2.3. Looks like bloggers blogging on Wordpress would have to go through the process all over again.
Wordpress has just released the 2.3.1 upgrade which it says, is a bug-fix and security release for the 2.3 series. It says that the 2.3.1 fixes over twenty bugs. Among them:
There were also some security issues found in 2.3 such as an XSS problem that can be exploited if your php setup has register_globals enabled.
Wordpress says: “For this reason, upgrading to 2.3.1 is advised. Get 2.3.1 from the download page and enjoy”.
Sure I’d getting the 2.3.1 but don’t know I’m going to enjoy it. Upgrading is a huge and scary task to me.
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