WordPress 2.5 Released

WordPress 2.5 was released on March 29th and it includes a host of changes and improvements.

One of my favorite (although widely disputed) changes is the usability overhaul of the admin user interface.

While at WordCamp San Francisco last year, I attended a talk by Liz Danzico from Happy Cog Studios where she discussed the details of Happy Cog’s usability analysis of WordPress and their work on the UI overhaul. I found it extremely fascinating; definitely one of my favorite segments in WordCamp.

From a content management perspective, they’ve accomplished one very helpful thing: separating the administrative functions of the user interface (settings, plugins, and users) from the features that people use most (writing content, adding links, and adding media).

I’m quite fond of using WordPress as a CMS for customer sites, so I think this separation makes it less confusing for customers who maintain their own site content.

A quick glance at the WordPress forums or mailing lists reveals that not everyone’s as happy about the changes as I am.

Still, I think these changes are definitely steps in the right direction and I say kudos to the WordPress contributors and Happy Cog!