Some major improvements have been made to WordPress. Version 8, code named “Baker”, incorporated some updates that will help bloggers get things done quicker. In addition, over 790 bugs were fixed. Some of the most dramatic changes are described here.

Other areas, such as the plugins, have a completely different view. Instead of the plugins being categories on screen, they are now combined all together in one list, with the active plugins being shaded. To see only those needing updates, a link at the top will let you trim the list to show just those.

Another area is in the widgets. Previously, you would have to make your changes to either individual sections, or all of them, then save all at once. Now however, each widget is saved on its own with changes viewable immediately on your site.

You can now have multiple copies of the same widget, drag and drop widgets between sidebars and save inactive widgets so you can save all their settings for future use.

Theme installations were also improved. You can now browse the entire theme directory and install a theme with one click from within your WordPress dashboard. If you make edits or tweaks to themes or plugins from your dashboard, the new CodePress editor now has syntax highlighting, where it previously had a plain-text editor.

The new Screen Options on each Dashboard page allows you to do things such as adjust the width to your monitor size. Smaller screens can have 2 columns, where wide screens can view the dashboard in 4 columns. This helps with faster navigation.

To see the entire list and watch a video of all changes, updates, and fixes, visit the WordPress Codex.

I highly recommend you upgrade all of your WordPress installations today and start managing your blogs easier and faster.

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