Congrats to the Automattic team and all of the contributors for the release of WordPress 2.6!

There are a host of new features, enhancements and bug fixes. Some of my favorites so far:

• Version control
• Better plugin management
• Enhanced security including full SSL support
• Better handling of very large numbers of categories and pages.

There’s plenty more, so check out WordPress 2.6 for yourself!

WordCamp Portland has been confirmed for Saturday, September 27, 2008 at CubeSpace.

Details are still being discussed on the Google Group for this event.

There will be great speakers, interesting topics and I’d really encourage anyone interested in WordPress, blogging, and website design and development to attend.

WordCamp Portland still needs sponsors so check the site for details on sponsorship opportunities.

Thanks to Charles and Jonathan of the WordPress Podcast for episode 42, where Matt Mullenweg answered an audio question from yours truly regarding using WordPress as a CMS.

Matt pointed out a user-maintained post on the WordPress Codex titled “WordPress CMS.”

There’s a lot of good info in this page. I’d love to see even more documentation and community spring up around using WordPress as a CMS for non-blog websites.

Maybe even a gallery where people can show off their latest WordPress-powered sites.

Hmm . . . maybe that should be part of my contribution to the WordPress community. 🙂

Of course, there’s plenty of invaluable information throughout the Codex and I use, and recommend, it regularly. With a little digging and forum forum posting, you can find answers to most questions.

Other links related to using WordPress as a CMS:

• WordPress Makes Sense For Many Non-Blog Websites
• Building alexking.org 2.0
• WordPress (as CMS) Hacking Tips
• Five WordPress ?CMS Enabling? Plugins
• WordPress as CMS

Of course, a quick Google search will turn up a lot of other helpful pages.

Looks like WordCamp Portland 2008 is tentatively scheduled for September 27th and Aaron Hockley started a Google Group to discuss it.

Matt Mullenweg announced new WordCamp dates, including WordCamp San Francisco 2008, which is set for Saturday August 16th at the Mission Bay Conference Center.

There’s a new listing of upcoming WordCamps at WordCamp Central.

One that’s not listed is WordCamp Portland, which is taking place this Sunday, May 4th during BarCamp Portland.