WordPress 2.7: Coming Soon
As you may know, we’ve been working behind the scenes on the design and development of version 2.7 of the WordPress software that powers your blog. The administration interface you’re used to will be changing as a result of your feedback and the results of the usability testing we conducted over the summer. Version 2.7 is due to release officially on November 10 (Update: at the end of November), but in the meantime, we’re posting sneak previews of the look and functionality to come. So far we’ve covered the new navigation system and the new Dashboard. If you want to get an early idea of what you can expect come November, head over to the WordPress.org blog and check out The Visual Design of 2.7 and The New 2.7 Dashboard.
We’ll be publishing more descriptions of how things will work over the next couple of weeks so that when the change comes it won’t be a complete surprise. We’re also working on new Help materials that you can use for reference (replacing FAQs, screencasts, etc.) while you adjust to the new structure. Overall, the response so far is that the new interface is easier to use, and that it’s faster to access the screens people use most, so hopefully once you’ve checked out the posts linked above, you’ll be as excited for the launch of 2.7 as we are.
Email Newsletter

October 21st, 2008 at 2:05 am
waiting for it, cache has to be improved
October 21st, 2008 at 2:11 am
You certainly do keep us on our toes. Thanks for the update on the upcoming updates!
October 21st, 2008 at 2:20 am
Can’s Wait!
October 21st, 2008 at 2:25 am
I love the new dashboard. I think the Quickpress idea is brilliant. Also, its good to see the stats right up front, and also the widgets right there. Great work, people! Here’s to a better WordPress!
October 21st, 2008 at 2:25 am
excitement!
October 21st, 2008 at 2:27 am
The updates look great!
October 21st, 2008 at 2:37 am
great!
October 21st, 2008 at 2:41 am
I can’t wait any longer. So the WordPress.com will also get new features, right?
October 21st, 2008 at 2:42 am
JalanSutera: Yes, WordPress.com will get the same features. Soon!
October 21st, 2008 at 2:43 am
goood
I`l be waiting…
=)
October 21st, 2008 at 2:45 am
Can’t wait, and well done that you guys plan on releasing it on a Friday…or at least a Friday where I am. Im going to be up all night staring at the new design…maybe not but I will be excited
October 21st, 2008 at 2:57 am
Thank you for the update I can’t wait to start using the new dashboard
October 21st, 2008 at 2:59 am
Totally stoked. Who knew Christmas comes on November 10.
October 21st, 2008 at 3:01 am
Hi Are you guys going to Install a Plug in tab for the new word press platform. A lot of users wonder if it will be installed.
October 21st, 2008 at 3:02 am
Bailamap: No, plugins are still only for wordpress.org downloadable version. Sorry!
October 21st, 2008 at 3:04 am
what a great news
October 21st, 2008 at 3:12 am
nice. I like the roundy corners.
October 21st, 2008 at 3:15 am
Do you have any demo blogs we can access? As good as the concept it is, I want to try it out firsthand…
October 21st, 2008 at 3:16 am
Catshade: It will still be a couple of weeks before the application is finished being built. Don’t worry, you won’t be losing any of your current functionality.
October 21st, 2008 at 4:03 am
Thanks for the update! Can’t wait for this.
October 21st, 2008 at 4:04 am
It is always getting better. Thanks all!
October 21st, 2008 at 4:06 am
sounds great! can’t wait to try it out
October 21st, 2008 at 4:13 am
Looks great
October 21st, 2008 at 4:15 am
i have to ask if you are plannig to include flash animation for wordpress.com cause there are a lot of things very beautiful to put in our blogs. Sorry for my english…
October 21st, 2008 at 4:15 am
Gabriela: Flash will still be prohibited on wordpress.com for security reasons. For more information about this, check out http://faq.wordpress.com/2006/10/23/can-i-add-flash-video-embed-other-media/
If you really want to incorporate Flash into your site, you might want to make the switch to wordpress.org and a self-hosted blog. http://www.wordpress.org
October 21st, 2008 at 4:15 am
I like it! Do you plan a return of the RSS stats module in 2.7?
October 21st, 2008 at 4:19 am
can’t wait here
October 21st, 2008 at 4:26 am
I can’ wait.
I am hoping that there will be many features on WordPress.com that I am missing from a standalone installation of WordPress; some more diverse widgets and the ability to at least choose some basic plug-ins would be amazing. I absolutely adored my blog posts automatically going onto my Twitter accounts.
I’m hoping for the best. The UI concept looked great.
October 21st, 2008 at 4:41 am
Sweet and simple, even for us newbies!
October 21st, 2008 at 4:47 am
Very curious…
October 21st, 2008 at 4:52 am
Thanks for the hard work from yo development & management Team
October 21st, 2008 at 4:56 am
nice design………:) Thanks for the information
October 21st, 2008 at 6:01 am
We are waiting. Plz. can’t wait.
October 21st, 2008 at 6:05 am
exciting! I look forward to the full experience November 10!
October 21st, 2008 at 6:11 am
I Cant wait too!
is there plugins like is able to put in music that is auto play?
O.o?
October 21st, 2008 at 6:18 am
Can’t wait!
October 21st, 2008 at 6:46 am
needlesnotetaker: I don’t think the “trash” made it into 2.7, but it’s definitely on the list for the next version, assuming the stars align in our favor.
October 21st, 2008 at 6:46 am
Hope to see an archive for “deleted” comments.
October 21st, 2008 at 6:47 am
Been following the Dev Blog since the surveys a few weeks back. Really appreciate the heads up. Thanks for keeping us in the picture.
October 21st, 2008 at 7:18 am
Thanks,
It is a great pleasure to blog and work with WordPress staff.
Improvements ar all the time…
October 21st, 2008 at 7:26 am
20% more fun in every byte! (get it? I know, bad pun.
)
October 21st, 2008 at 7:30 am
mmmm,, can’t wait it..
October 21st, 2008 at 7:54 am
cant wait for the new poem ..
October 21st, 2008 at 8:02 am
Can’t wait!
October 21st, 2008 at 8:11 am
Good news, the new dashboard look great
October 21st, 2008 at 8:36 am
So come soon. So long I waited that. Great appreciate for you and the all team.
October 21st, 2008 at 8:46 am
Yes, I’d love to see WP is keeping the style the simple and clear way. And it’ll be even better if the page loading goes more lightly.
October 21st, 2008 at 9:07 am
This is awesome. I am anxious for the new version! looking good so far.
October 21st, 2008 at 9:18 am
Exciting
Two days before my birthday… it’s an early present!
October 21st, 2008 at 9:39 am
New dashboard is 100000000 times better than the current one, its just too complicated for non-techies!
October 21st, 2008 at 9:48 am
Looking forward to it! ;3
October 21st, 2008 at 9:59 am
cha chaa chaaaaa changes aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah too many too fast!
am still trying to grasp what the bleep “Intense Debate” is all about!
just as i catch up there’s another change
pls slow down a tad will you!
October 21st, 2008 at 10:00 am
hoh: We keep making changes because we are always improving the application based on user feedback. Look on the bright side: since your blog is here on wordpress.com, at least we do the upgrading for you!
October 21st, 2008 at 10:01 am
Nice dashboard layout. Sweet!
October 21st, 2008 at 10:33 am
Yey! It’s coming out before FM 2009! So cool!
October 21st, 2008 at 10:36 am
I’m sure it won’t be ‘waiting for Godot!’
October 21st, 2008 at 10:42 am
Indeed, am having lot of problems with current dashboard, I like the new design.
Will the new version work with 2.6.x themes?
October 21st, 2008 at 10:43 am
Housam: I think the only new features that would affect themes are threading and paging of comments. We’ll be working to include options for those features in our themes, and the default and classic themes will support threaded comments out of the box. We hope to have the most popular themes (and hopefully all our themes) ready for threaded comments before launch, but if there are any we haven’t been able to update yet, you’ll have the choice of using traditional chronological comment styles instead of the new threaded option. In fact, threading and paging are turned OFF by default, so if you don’t turn these new features on manually, you shouldn’t have any issues, even if your chosen theme isn’t ready to support the threading.
October 21st, 2008 at 11:07 am
can’t wait for it!
October 21st, 2008 at 11:11 am
October 21st, 2008 at 11:19 am
I’m looking forward to using it!
October 21st, 2008 at 11:59 am
Wow! I really love this new look. The round corners captured my eyes into a “Wow I want that!” type. Really can’t wait for it!!
October 21st, 2008 at 12:03 pm
I like it.
October 21st, 2008 at 12:08 pm
wow, this feature i most waiting for… i’m ready for this magnificent of changes…
October 21st, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Great design!!! I like it.
October 21st, 2008 at 12:16 pm
wp 2.7 look like better than now.
i waiting for it.
October 21st, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Very Cool.
October 21st, 2008 at 12:49 pm
I have been happy with how it worked so far, but the new dashboard looks very promising, we will get access to a lot of info just with one click!!! Thanks!
October 21st, 2008 at 12:56 pm
i’m very excited. =D
October 21st, 2008 at 1:03 pm
can’t wait for it…
October 21st, 2008 at 1:11 pm
they’re excellente news..
thanks WorldPress..
October 21st, 2008 at 1:27 pm
J’attends impatiemment. Et j’ai remarqué quelques ajouts. Du courage
October 21st, 2008 at 2:07 pm
nice simplicity!
we’re definitely as excited as you are!
October 21st, 2008 at 2:44 pm
I just won’t be happy until the adsense functionality is added >|
October 21st, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Hello, Princess. AdSense is still on our radar as a potential upgrade, but it won’t be a part of the 2.7 administration redesign. Sorry I don’t have the answer you were hoping for, but hopefully there will be other 2.7 goodness to make you happy in the meantime.
October 21st, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Love wordpress..just love it, love it, love it….
1) I would expect an in improvement in cache to speed things up while posting etc.
Interface between design/widgets and IE explorer leaves much to be desired and is major weakness. I have to use Safari to copy and paste widgets becuase IE just wont do it.
2) I would like to see a robust and fully functional stat package which tracks IPs by region, area and locaiton
3) I would like to see comment managemnet as good as posting a page. Improved banning (though one can still do this), deleting, archiving of posts and comments would be great.
4) Most importantly I would like to see “Content Management”, Index Page, or Table of Content Management so that older posts are accessable.This would hugely increase traffic for our site and for WordPress
5) I would like to see google search for the site as a widget.
6) I would like to see better search then the one we have. The current search does not give us good access. The search in the dashboard in “manage” is the best one we have and that is not available to the users.
7) I would expect to see WordPress include 3rd party plugins/widgets at the click of a button.
9) Tracking origins of comments is very important to me as is managing traffic. Stats are good, but we need more info on where the stats are coming from. LiveStats, ShinySats etc help us a lot. Wish they were past of WordPress.
10) Improved email access by sitename. We should be able to see email sent to the site on the dashboard. “Letters to the Editor” feature would help a lot–more than the comments.
11) Automatic hookup to “forums” or google/yahoo groups should be great.
I LOVE WORDPRESSS…undoubtedly, it is the best bloggin system around…no questions on this
October 21st, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Moin Ansari:
1) We’re working on caching issues. In the meantime, we recommend using Google Gears (click the Turbo link in the upper right hand corner of your admin panel).
2) The wordpress.com stats plugin is undergoing revision currently and will be launching a new version soon.
3) Various new comment management features, including threading, paging and direct reply will be part of 2.7.
4) You can use Categories to create a table of contents. Lorelle VanFossen makes a good analogy: categories are your table of contents, tags are your index.
5) No plans for Google search as yet.
6) No changes to search for 2.7. Possibly in 2.8.
7) WordPress.com has extra security measures in place to keep your blogs safe, which is why all third-party widgets must be vetted and approved by Automattic.
8 ) There are many reasons not to use IE. In any case, widget management will be redone in 2.8.
9) If you submit a more specific request about which types of data you would find useful, we can consider it for future stats upgrades. Suggestions can be sent to support@wordpress.com.
10) WordPress.com does not offer an email server to its members. If you want a generic “letters to the editor” instead of comments on a specific post, I’d suggest creating a page for this purpose, since pages can also receive comments.
11) BuddyPress is due to be released in December. Keep your eyes open for possible integration in the new year.
I hope this answered your concerns.
October 21st, 2008 at 3:38 pm
can’t wait for it…
October 21st, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Hoping for more functionality rather than cosmetic changes.
October 21st, 2008 at 3:58 pm
I get so motivated writing in the beautyness of WordPress. The new version seems to make me even more excited with each post!
October 21st, 2008 at 4:11 pm
gr8…gr8………….
October 21st, 2008 at 4:18 pm
October 21st, 2008 at 4:36 pm
thanks for all new
October 21st, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Fantastic!
October 21st, 2008 at 4:40 pm
10th november is a national warrior hero day in my country. It’s a good day to launch wordpress 2.7
October 21st, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Wow, i can’t wait,
I think the quickpress is a good idea.
October 21st, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Hey guys and gals at WP,
You really rock!!! I like the new look!
If you could find a way to include a music widget, that would be great!
October 21st, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Alien earthling: no new music widget specifically in 2.7, but we’re always looking at possible additions that our users request. Your vote for a music widget is officially recorded.
October 21st, 2008 at 5:31 pm
So, is this something we will need to learn how to do, or something that will just happen? I’m hoping for the latter.
October 21st, 2008 at 5:32 pm
helenl: The upgrade will happen automatically, like magic, and you won’t have to do anything other than write us a nice post on your blog about how awesome it is.
Seriously, though, the upgrade will happen on our end, and we will have support resources available for anyone who feels nervous about the transition.
October 21st, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Waiting for it!
October 21st, 2008 at 6:01 pm
wow
October 21st, 2008 at 6:06 pm
I can’t wait.
October 21st, 2008 at 6:06 pm
looks nice and powerfull!
October 21st, 2008 at 6:19 pm
by the way what are the features
October 21st, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Game Dame and stickmasta: the links in the post above go to long posts that describe quite a few of the features in 2.7. More posts over the next two weeks will describe the rest of the coming features, including things like comment threading.
October 21st, 2008 at 6:28 pm
A wider choice of dark layouts suitable for photographs is on my wish list.
October 21st, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Yay!