Wordpress upgrade

So, it looks like the fine people who make WordPress have released a new version… and man is it sweet. At least it seems sweet so far (3 minutes).

It has a completely new interface design and has finally shaken off the vestiges of the older, clunkier management interface. It definitely seems snappier, even on my bargain basement hosting provider. Lots of very smart use of AJAX (not used for every damned thing, but applied in nice little dollops throughout). Example: They’ve added a Quick Post function that exposes only a small set of editing tools, but lets you post a quick short note. I started to put this post together in the Quick Post element and then realized that i wanted to add a link to the WordPress site… no linking in the Quick Post? No problem. I click the “Save Draft” button, expecting to the go the “Manage->Posts->Edit” in order to pick up where I left of, but as I wait for the AJAX spinner to finish spinning, I see that as soon as the draft is saved, the list of drafts, placed handily right below the Quick Post element, has been updated. Click. Edit.

It may seem like something very obvious, but I can tell you that getting this kind of interaction right can be tricky… especially when you have a lot of people involved. More people means more opinions, and while the likelihood that you will hear the Right(tm) answer increases when you add more smart people, the likelihood that you will either recognized it for what it is, or actually be allowed to implement it decreases. Getting more smart people is awesome, but it makes it that much more challenging to get the subtle things, like the interaction described above, right.

Nice work.

Oh, and the tag selection is actually usable!