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WordPress 2.3 “Dexter” released was about 5 hours ago. I have been using the release candidate for a while.. and just logged in now to and I got alert asking me to upgrade.

I like the way it notifies me of new version, having clicked on the link it takes me to download page. Only if it was able to check for all the problem and give me a report to see if I’ll have any problem in upgrading and effectively allow me to upgrade to new version without having to download it.

I have been following the SVN version for a while as I have building my own theme and wanted to make sure it will work with this version. The new Tags feature means I’ll have to fix my theme before I can upgrade. Further to my list of new features; here is a good list of other features. Having read Andrew’s post it seems Robin and others have already upgraded to new version before the official announcement.

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The first release candidate for WordPress 2.3 is now available.

New User Features

• Tagging (for use in Themes see the_tags and wp_tag_cloud)
• The default Blogroll links to WordPress resources Development, Documentation, Plugins, Ideas, Support, Themes, and Planet WordPress.
• Improved Post and Draft Management using filters
  
• Improved publishing workflow with a new post status of Pending Review
  
• WordPress and plugins updates available notification
  
• If you change the post slug it redirects to the new one

The first release candidate for WordPress 2.3 is now available.

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Google officially launched Google Gadgets as an ad unit yesterday after about three months of pilot testing. Google’s AdWords platform now supports Google Gadget content in addition to existing text, image, and video offerings. The gadget ads feature an entirely new widget analytics platform for tracking gadget success and interaction, an open caching proxy hosted by Google’s geo-distributed servers, and the introduction of YouTube as a video hosting and transcoding platform free from any Google branding.

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Since reading Nick’s entry on Loading Javascript Libraries in Wordpress Plugins, I have decided to use the same techniques to get my custom Theme to load JavaScript using wp_enqueue_script().

There is two reasons why I wanted to load my custom JavaScript libraries:

1. Default jQuery library included with the latest version of WordPress is not up-to-date
2. My custom code does not work with the default version included with this release WordPress

As this is a custom theme I have a functions.php where I have defined all my custom functions. So to load the custom JavaScript.

< ? php
function my_add_js_libs() {
//Add the jquery framework to the header
//wp_enqueue_script('jquery'); // default jquery is not up-to-date
//wp_enqueue_script( $handle, $src = false, $deps = array(), $ver = false );
wp_enqueue_script('my_jquery', $src = '/wp-content/themes/[mythemename]/js/jquery-1.2.1.pack.js’, $deps = array(), $ver = ‘1.2.1′ );
wp_enqueue_script(’my_core_js’, $src = ‘/wp-content/themes/[mythemename]/js/core.js’, $deps = array(’my_jquery’));
}
? >


then make a call to the function in the header.php just before the wp_head();

< ? php
my_add_js_libs();
wp_head();
? >


This should now load the custom JavaScript Libraries required for your themes in the sequence that WordPress decides.

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Internet search engine giant Google has created a tool that lets users create simple, web-based presentations.

Coming as part of Google Docs, which includes word processing and spreadsheet features, the new presentation capability has been widely seen as a competitor with Microsoft’s popular PowerPoint tool.

The presentations service in Google Docs allows more than one user to view the slides while a moderator controls the presentation.

Google has reminded users, however, that the tool is still in ’simple, early stages’ and will change as time goes on.

‘Putting documents in the cloud surrounded by easy to use features for collaboration and sharing can save people hours of inefficiency and frustration and even enable new ways of working together,’ commented Sam Schillace, director of engineering for Google Docs.

The search engine also announced this week that it is launching its AdSense service, which displays targeted ads on websites, for publishers with websites developed specifically for mobile phones.

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Widgets and gadgets that users add on to their PCs could pose a security threat, according to Finnish security company Finjan.

Finjan’s Malicious Code Research Centre has found that add-ons that add functions to websites contain code which make the PC they are on more vulnerable to hackers.

The security model that gadgets and widgets have must now be completely revised to take these findings into account, Finjan stated.

Finjan chief technology officer Yuval Ben-Itzhak said: ‘As widgets become common in most modern computing environments, from operating system to web portals, their significance from a security standpoint rises.’

He added: ‘Vulnerabilities in widgets and gadgets enable attackers to gain control of user machines, and thus should be developed with security in mind.’

Corporations may need to deal with a ‘vast array’ of new security considerations, added Mr Ben-Itzhak.

Meanwhile, a new report from Symantec has warned that internet crime has gone from simply causing trouble to a multi-million pound industry.

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Creative Graphics and Communications, a website design and web development agency in Manchester, North West of England working across sectors developing attractive and user friendly websites.

CG&C provides web design and development consultancy services to businesses and organisations. Focusing on accessibility, design and usability whilst putting you in control of your website through innovative and intelligent content management systems. CG&C also offers business solution using open source solutions. Small and medium-sized web applications that we build often use Open Source software: Linux, Apache, PHP and MySQL or LAMP infrastructure.

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More than 400 million downloads of Mozilla’s Firefox browser have been made since it launched three years ago.

In an announcement on the spreadfirefox.com website, the firm recapped a history that saw 25 million downloads of the open source browser being made within the first 99 days of its availability, rising to 50 million in under six months.

About 200 million downloads of the browser, which is perceived by many as being more secure than its competitors, have taken place in the last 12 months, Mozilla stated.

“Firefox has reached 400 million downloads and demonstrated that not even the world’s most powerful companies can keep people from a better, safer and faster web experience,” the statement said.

Mozilla also offers the Thunderbird email client and is working on a number of other projects, including a calendar application and an open source version of the Eudora email software.

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