WordPress 2.7 Admin Notes
I decided to update a few of my sites to the latest WordPress 2.7 beta so I could see all the new changes. This post will cover some of the changes/details that are beyond the new look and feel of the WordPress Admin. WordPress 2.7 is scheduled to be released in the next few days. I will write more posts on WordPress 2.7 and the more technical changes in the next few days-weeks.
The Customizable Screen Options
There is now a handy tab “Screen Options” at the top of the admin window (right under Turbo/Logout) that allows you to customize each screen very easily.
Here is an example of how you can easily customize the Dashboard screen:
If you click on the “Screen Options” tab on the post page, you will get completely different options:
This is very handy if you want to trim down the admin area or just remove items you do not use.
Media
WordPress users are adding more media to their posts/pages than ever before.
(You could edit media previously outside of a post (Media Library) but having a “Media” menu item is a great addition.
Appearance Menu
Where to put “Themes”, “Widgets” and “Editor” was always a big mystery. 
(Notice how the icon next to the menu title (Appearance) has a color hover state – another nice touch.
Time/Date Stamp
Overall – I think the 2.7 update really makes an impact for users that are not as comfortable with technical settings as us developers. 
While options like this may seem small and something you can overlook – I know my clients will appreciate them.
Word Count
There are a number of really nice touches to WordPress 2.7 and I am happy to see this be one of them. A number of my clients are very word count conscious and this will make them all very happy. 
Show One WordPress Post
There is a great function you might be aware of that allows you to get one WordPress post and display it anywhere you would like (header, sidebar, home page, etc).
To show only one post, use the function get_post.
Example:
post_title; $sdac_content = $show_post_id->post_content; ?> <h2></h2>
The code above will show the title and content of the post with the post ID of 10. If you are not sure what your post ID is, go to the manage screen in the WP-Admin, and hover over the post title. In your browser status bar, you will see the URL – and the post ID is the number at the end of the URL.
WordPress 2.6.3 is Released
WordPress 2.6.3 has officially been released. The update contains a security fix to a library (Snoopy) used to fetch RSS feeds. For more information on WordPress version 2.6.3, read the official WordPress version 2.6.3 documentation.
Download the latest versions of WordPress: WordPress 2.6.3
ShareThis Button Cut Off Fix
I have seen a lot of sites using the ShareThis button (including a few of mine) where the button in Safari was getting cut off (clipped) at the bottom. If this is happening to you – there is a quickfix. Add this line of CSS to your stylesheet and your button will no longer be cut off.
.stbutton {display:block;height:16px;}
Keep Up to Date With Your WordPress Version
WordPress is a great tool, but make sure you keep it up to date to avoid security vulnerabilities. I have fixed a number of outdated and hacked versions of WordPress over the past few years which could have easily been taken care of by keeping up to date with WordPress updates a few times a year. If you are using WordPress 2.5+ it is really easy to be notified when a plugin or WordPress has a new version available when you log in.
If you do not want to go through the process of using svn or ftp to update your files, WordPress even gives you the option to automatically update.
If you suspect you were hacked, feel free to contact us and we will update and clean your site.
WordPress 2.6.2 is Released
WordPress 2.6.2 has officially been released. The update is primarily a security update along with a few bug fixes (see full list). For more information on WordPress version 2.6.2, read the official WordPress version 2.6.2 documentation.
Download the latest versions of WordPress: WordPress 2.6.2
WordPress 2.6.1 is Released
WordPress 2.6.1 has officially been released. The updated includes almost 60 bugfixes (see full list). For more information on WordPress version 2.6.1, read the official WordPress version 2.6.1 documentation.
Download the latest versions of WordPress: WordPress 2.6.1
WordPress 2.6 is Released
WordPress 2.6 has officially been released. The new version includes almost 200 bugfixes (see full list) and now includes some of new features as well like post versioning, drag and drop sorting for galleries, word count, image captions, separation of active and inactive plugins, and more. For more information on WordPress version 2.6, read the official WordPress version 2.6 documentation.
Download the latest versions of WordPress: WordPress 2.6
Show Only Category (Not Subcategory) Content
If you ever wanted to only show the content of the category you were on in the category view of WordPress (instead of the category you are on plus all of it’s subcategories – you can easily do so by adding the code below to the template that is used to show your category content
You would start your loop with this:
Put your title, content functions here
and where you normally see the call, put to close the additional (in_category) if statement.
This code gets the current category and then only displays categories that are in that category (not sub category)
WordPress Import/Export Option
Not too long ago whenever I had to move clients from one server to another, I would make a backup of the files and the database and then use SSH or FTP to move the files and then import the SQL file into MySQL. Over the past few months – I have switched to using the Import/Export option(Manage > Import/Export) to move simple sites. If you are moving your site to/from WordPress.com or from another server, take a look at the Import/Export option in WordPress to easily move all your data and attachments.
The Import/Export Process
You first need to log into your current WordPress installation and export your existing site data so you can import it on your new host. To do this, go to the WordPress Admin > Manage > Export. WordPress will create an XML file that you will then use to import. This is a really quick and easy way to move from one host to another if you are not comfortable with MySQL or phpMyAdmin (or any other database tool).
Import all your data (Import posts, comments, custom fields, pages, and categories from a WordPress export file) into your new WordPress installation. You can even import all your attachments which makes this even easier to migrate from one host to another.
You will also need to move your plugins, theme files, and any other files you might have – but this is a really easy way for most to move their data from one site to another – and it works great!