Since I just got around to upgrading FreshBlogger to WordPress 2.1, I thought I would write a bit about my first impressions of the new version. I’ve always used WordPress as the blogging software on this blog and I’ve never really had a problem with it. One of the few things I didn’t really like was the WYSIWYG editor for writing posts. It was easy enough to deselect that option in the user profile. Other than that, I’ve really liked WordPress.

With the latest version there were a number of changes, including a reported 550 bug fixes. It never seemed to me that there were that many bugs, but I didn’t get into the code of WordPress too much and would like to stay out of it if I can. That’s another reason why I like using it; it’s actively supported and maintained. If there’s a problem found in the software, it’s usually patched within a few days. Likewise, if I have a problem, I can go to any number of places on the web and find plenty of help as well as quick answers for most common questions.

With that said, there don’t appear to be a lot of big changes on the surface. Visually, the dashboard looks slightly different, but not enough to be confusing at all. The admin login screen is quite obviously different looking, but that’s not a big deal. There may be other visual changes here and there that I haven’t noticed yet, but, most importantly, it feels the same and it wasn’t a problem at all to upgrade and then get right back to work.

The biggest change that I’ve noticed, though, is that the dashboard does seem faster. The whole interface has a snappier feel to it and seems more solid. I know this is a sort of non-technical description, but most users of WordPress are non-technical. Again, I want my WordPress experience to be non-technical. That’s one of the biggest appeals of using it.

This speed increase is one of the new features officially listed by WordPress.org and it does seem legitimately faster in my experience. Another thing that I’ve noted is that the visual editor now has a tab so that you can look at the code if you’d like. I’ll play with that a bit and see if it works any better for me this time. Other than that, the autosave feature is absolutely awesome. I don’t have to worry about losing a post that I’m writing anymore! That alone is worth the trouble of upgrading.

The bottom line is that the new WordPress is better than the old and if you’re waiting to upgrade, don’t. It was a typically painless upgrade for me and well worth it to take advantage of the new features and newly streamlined code. A couple of words of caution, though: Make sure your web host is on a high enough version of PHP and MySQL. WordPress 2.1 requires PHP 4.2 or higher and MySQL 4.0 or higher. If you don’t have these on your web server, there is a new version of WordPress that you can use (I think it’s 2.0.7).

Also, don’t forget to deactivate all plugins before you begin installing files. The first time I ever upgraded WordPress, I forgot to do this and had to restore everything and do it again. Good luck on your upgrades to WordPress. Don’t forget to leave a comment here and tell me how it goes for you.