WPATX Combined Meet-up Notes —January 10, 2012 — Hosted by Cospace
Our WPATX January Meetup was a combined General and Hands-On WordPress meeting to address a WordPress upgrade that will effect us all. Automattic released WordPress 3.3 in mid-December. Pat Ramsey and Nick Batik reviewed the wonderful new features that will delight both new and experienced users, and make life a lot easier for WordPress Developers.
WPATX Announcements
Jackie Dana and Sandi Batik welcomed the WPATX members to our first meet-up of 2012 and shared some important announcements.
1. 2012 WordCamp Austin is Officially a GO!
Sandi Batik confirmed that WordCamp Central has approved WPATX and our WordCamp will be held on May 19th, 2012 at the AOMA South Austin Campus. We will be able to accommodate 230 attendees— that means a lot more people will be able to attend our 2012 WordCamp then our 2010 Camp! Tickets will be in the $20 range and will include meals and a t-shirt. But to make that happen, we need sponsors! If you know of a business that might like to sponsor the group, we will be seeking that information in February as well.The Organizing Committee will be contacting the WPATX for volunteers in February. Pat Ramsey and Clark Wimbery will wrangle the official 2012 WordCamp Austin Website and we hope to be selling tickets by mid-March.
2. Austin AIR: Accessible Internet Rally
Jackie Dana announced that Austin AIR needs need WordPress teams to participate in the competition to build an accessible website for a non-profit organization. Part of the program includes training on how to make a website accessible. Even if you’re a freelancer or individual who doesn’t have a team already, you can recruit from other folks in WordPress Austin or contact AIR to help you find others. Many members of WordPress Austin, including Pat, Nick, Sandi and Jackie, have served on teams in the past so feel free to seek us out if you want to learn more about how it works and what you can get out of the experience. For more information, visit AIR: Accessible Internet Rally
3. Austin Adobe User Group: InDesign Basics by Graphics Designer Veronica Primeaux at Friday January 13, 2012 (1:15 – 3:30) Place: New Horizons Computer Learning Center (300 E Highland Mall Blvd. Suite 100) turn north onto Jonathan and park in the Visitor parking area RSVP: To help our host New Horizons Computer Learning Center select a room that comfortably seats everyone, please RSVP to this free event. More info: http://austinadobeusergroup.com/
So What’s new with WordPress 3.3
Pat Ramsey and Nick Batik demonstrated some of the 3.3.1 highlights pointing out what’s new and fun.
Nick noted that in the short time it has been available WordPress 3.3 has been downloaded over 4.5 million times already! That’s a LOT of websites!
Pat reminded everyone that 3.3 was the major release and the 3.3.1 was a PATCH UPDATE.
The major changes / improvements that you will notice and appreciate are:
1. Uploading media
- Single upload button on the editor
- file-type detection
- drag and drop upload
2. Dashboard design
- Fly-out menus: keeps you from having to scroll a lot
- Persistent toolbar (combines admin bar and header)
- Responsive design: the admin area is more responsive for varying screen sizes
- The toolbar has links to make new posts, pages, etc., link to visit site, and other goodies
3. New feature pointer: boxes that open up announcing new features with the option to get more info or dismiss
4. New Welcome/About WordPress splash screen that loads when you update your version
5. Better co-editing: releases post-locks immediately when one person finishes editing so another can access the page etc.
6. Widgets get saved if you switch between themes – y0u no longer have to reset them if you swap out themes
7. Tumblr import
- Correctly handles post formats
- WP-Cron based background importing: start it up, then come back to see how far it’s gotten
- Duplicate checking, will not create duplicate imported posts
- Imports posts, drafts, pages
- Media side-loading (for audio, video and image posts)
8. %postname% permalinks
- Using just /%postname%/ used to cause a performance hit but no longer! We recommend leaving this alone for existing sites unless you redirect your links.
9. WP_Editor
- http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/wp_editor
- http://soderlind.no/archives/2011/09/25/front-end-editor-in-wordpress-3-3/
10. Help and screen API changes
11. is_main_query()
- Enables someone to hook into pre_get_posts and modify only the main query. Conditional function that will allow you to do one thing and ignore the others. Allows you are only modifying the part of the site you want. Simplifies life for developers.
12. More 3.3 dev goodness
- http://wpdevel.wordpress.com/tag/3-3-dev-notes/ – info on new features, background on what’s going on
Member Quick Q&A
Does 3.3.1 work with all browsers?
Yes, other than IE 6
What do you use for Backups?
Pat is a huge fan of Vault press. Nick likes Backup Buddy — both are are good paid backup services
Many of the major hosting companies like WP Engine, HostMonster, HostGator, and BlueHost will either do backups for you or will allow you to do global backups yourself.
You can find the notes for the WordPress 3.3.1 session at http://wp3.slash25.com/
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