Version 3.0 Features

One of the things I want is to retain users on the site.

Right now, if a blog requires registration in order to comment, a user has to register and then manually navigate back to the post in question in order to comment.

This is, in part, due to the way wp-signup.php and wp-activate.php work.

By the time a user registers, they’ll have lost the motivation to comment.

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This is a low-level request, but I would like to see some way to automatically redirect a new, registered user to the last viewed post so that person can easily comment.

I agree with SillyBean, it is becoming obvious that WordPress is more that just blogging software! SSL integration for pages would be nice as well.

1. Domain mapping with the MU integration
2. Drag and drop menu management akin to the current widget management

SVN Awareness – as stated from Jane’s list.

This is so broad, and I actually posted something about this here…
https://www.ads-software.com/extend/ideas/topic.php?id=3347#post-14131

Please don’t take that post too literally, it is more about the thought process than a specific implementation. I tried to give examples of specifics, but of course there could be something so simple that I failed to mention, I would rather leave it open for some brainstorming.

This kind of change is in my opinion the holy grail for most, if not all developers who are debating what open-source platform to go with for their next big project.

I had this big speech prepared on why this is so important in open collaborative development. Instead, I decided to hold back, and just say for you to look one year from now, January 2011, to a WordPress that has still not yet implemented something like this, then tell me what you see. Even more still, look to a post-WordPress 3.0 development community, and how to even comprehend to implement this with each passing release, WordCamp, and developer joining said community.

Try not to think of the current consequences of implementing this, and instead think of the longterm effect of continuing the practices of the current plugin, core, theme development process.
The consequences are insignificant compared to the overall benefits this would have on the project as a whole. They are far too great to push for a later release, because with each release this kind of change becomes increasingly more difficult.

It’s like building a skyscraper on a fault line, then when your at the top floor and you find out the foundation could have been build to withstand minor earthquakes. Then planning for room access remains on top of the priority list, instead of addressing the newfound possibility of extended longevity and safety.

I haven’t the whole thread, but to add some of my thoughts. However I would like to be able to manage with less plugins, I would love to be able to control how I install WP. WP is getting bigger and bigger with more and more functions I don’t need. I don’t need MU-functionality, all kinds of Ajax, Java, image resizing, etc., etc. functionalities. Wouldn’t it be great if the automatic install would ask me what I want to install and what not? Butterflymedia said something similar: “There’s a tiny step from “feature rich” to “bloated”. Simplify it, make it fastloading, implement more plugins (the ones that are the most used), remove features that are not used.” Mercime suggests: “Enable or disable multiple blogging system.” These are the things I think about myself.

Then Designoyssey: “Improve CMS capabilities to cement WordPress as most flexible/extendible platform.” That would be a wish of myself too. I can manage with the (plugins) functionalities of WP at the moment, but WP could be more of a CMS.

Also, I miss an important subject in this discussion: security. Some simple things could be done to improve it, such as:
– Don’t make the default user “admin”, but ask for a username upon install (and enforce editing passwords every once in a while);
– Don’t make the default table prefix wp_, but force the user to choose it upon install;
– Don’t make the default uploads folder “uploads”, but have the user choose a folder on first upload;
– Take over a few elements of the Ask Apache plugin and allow people to put certain folders behind (htaccess) passwords;
– Flexibility with default WP folders (renaming or replacing perhaps).

There are undoubtely a few more things to mention regarding security, but these are the first that come to my mind.

The ability to have one set of users for the whole blog “system” or multiple blogs. Creating new blogs but don’t force people to log in each time they want to post a comment on a blog install.

The ability to move blog entries from one blog to another and keep the comments intact.

The ability to moderate all the comments on all the blogs from one page.

The ability to display all the blog entries from all the blogs on one page.

Otherwise, besides convenience, what’s the point of having multiple blogs from one install if you can’t get the content to interact with each other?

I think the 3.0 will better than the 2.9 and look forward to publishing it .

OMG! What a list! Well, you asked for it. ??

Why not make 3.0 the integration version of WP and WPMU?

Thus, only including some features – for example (sub) domain support – to make WordPress rock for both single blog users and multiblog users. Any other added features would be part of 3.1.

It might save you a headache not having to worry about new features AND integrating WPMU at the same time. Besides, this way the community has some time to come up with a nice list of feature requests for 3.1 (and possibly 3.2). I mean, it’s not that WP 2.9 is totally useless without new added features. ?? So maybe you should take your time to integrate first.

Anywayz, just my two cents…

@edde My thoughts EXACTLY.

Forget all the other feature-requests

Just make the integration with WPMU rock-solid AND include WPMU core support for individual domain names (one blog can be https://myblog.com, another can be https://anysite.com, another can be https://anothersitehere.com – etc.) – and I’ll be happy as a clam.

WordPress MU merging with WordPress doesn’t really offer me anything. So, while that would be a good thing for many, there needs to be something in the mix for “the rest of us” who primarily use WP as a convenient way to quickly set up/maintain a “traditional” website.

I think that canonical plugins should be a major part of the 3.0 release. This actually ties in well with merging WP-MU. Anything that is not essential to core functionality should be spun off into a separate plug-in. Go ahead and distribute them with WP3.0 (and possibly default to activated) so no one screams “what happened?!” when stuff stops working because it is no longer part of the feature set. This would allow some of these features to be maintained and updated regularly in-between releases.

The only downside to canonical plugins is that if something in the core changes that breaks these plugins, what happens? Either insert backwards-compatible code until the plugin is updated or support the plug-ins to *get* them updated whenever a change happens.

Some of the things I would like to see spun off…

• User administration. I only use the admin account on most of my sites, so I generally have no need for visitors being able to create accounts.
• Graphical editor. I use the graphical editor, but I know many who don’t for whom it creates tremendous overhead
• Image/Media handling. Same as above.
• Comments. I often don’t allow comments on my blogs, since I’m trying to use them as traditional websites.
• RSS feeds.

“The ability to have one set of users for the whole blog “system” or multiple blogs. Creating new blogs but don’t force people to log in each time they want to post a comment on a blog install.”

On one MU site, this is currently possible.

“The ability to move blog entries from one blog to another and keep the comments intact.”

Import – Export. ??

“The ability to display all the blog entries from all the blogs on one page.”

Done via plugin.

no point in reinventing wheels here. ??

@janeforshort while I definitely did think @demetris was out of line regarding his “frivolous” comments, I do think he had a point about the bulleted list. I for one found your list very hard to read and comprehend given how you formatted it. But don’t take my word for it, see what Jakob Nielsen has to say on the subject:

https://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html

BTW, a bulleted list implies no hierarchy; that’s what numbered lists are for. ??

Could you once and for all really and truly stop the visual editor from changing HTML code that I enter into the HTML editor? Please?

This was almost working in 2.8.x, but 2.9 has completely hosed it.

I’d have to agree with @edde and @casabsolute and others who have suggested that v3.0 should focus primarily on the merge of WP and WPMU and making WordPress work better with multiple sites/domains.

If efforts were focussed solely on this, it could be a much quicker release cycle than normal…

In my opinion, the must frustrating thing about WordPress is its WYSIWYG editor. Every time I setup WordPress as the CMS for a client, I invariably have to apologize for its extremely finicky behavior. I have been using the editor for years so I know most of its quirks, but I still have issues getting it to do what I want it to.

I understand that the editor was initially built with the idea of restricting the user’s ability to add complex HTML and styling, which makes sense since WP was initially designed to be a simple blogging platform. Now that WP is evolving into a full-featured CMS, the needs of the editor are much greater.

It would be a great service to the WP community if some serious thought was put into this. Maybe there should be simple and advanced modes for the editor. Maybe it should be completely rebuilt from the ground up. All I know is it’s in major need of an overhaul. I get irritated every time I use it.

My priorities for WP 3.0 would be the editor (and other related UX issues) and the integration of MU.