WordPress 2.5 New Security Feature

Chris Kasten from Solo Technology wrote about a new security feature found in WordPress 2.5 that a lot of you upgrading may have missed.

WP 2.5 introduced a “security key” that you add to your wp-config.php file. When I upgrade, I don’t touch that file, and there you go. Missed.

I usually check that file after an upgrade, but I didn’t this time. That’s what I get for being lazy! So, thanks to Chris, I was able to add the security key.

How do you add the security key? It’s easy, in fact even the updated wp-config.php file tells you where to go. Head to the WordPress site and it will generate one for you automatically.

What does it do?

Doing this will invalidate all your logins, so everybody on your site will have to relogin, but doing it will greatly increase the cookie strength of WordPress 2.5. This means that your login cookies, if intercepted, won’t be able to be reproduced as easily. It also means that somebody who gains read-only access to your database through some other means won’t be able to login to your site.

Chris says more about this on his blog. I recommended reading it so you don’t miss this important security feature!

Theme/Blog Update

I decided to move away from the magazine layout and go back to the blog layout. I also decided to choose a different theme for this and I like it. I still like the old one, just wanted something new and different to go along with the new WordPress.

I’m still making sure there are no errors and changing things here and there, but you shouldn’t notice too much. I think the blog also loads faster than it did before.

I apologize for the lack of posts, but I’ve been really busy with work and it’s hard to make time to come up with new content to write about when most of the time I’m learning new things for work. I will not give up on this blog. Subscribe to the feed if you want to be notified when I write a new post, which shouldn’t be too long from now.

If you have any suggestions or comments, please let me know by leaving a comment.

WordPress 2.5

I just upgraded to WordPress 2.5 and it went smoothly. There weren’t any problems and all of the plugins appear to work fine.

I’ve seen some of what WordPress 2.5 would look like before trying it out. It looks so much better; it’s clean and easy on the eyes. Some may not agree with me when I say that this version is a little easier to use than previous ones. It just seems like I can login and find what I need to find right away, whether it’s writing a new post, viewing spam comments or changing the settings.

There are some newer features with this version. The most changed is probably the Dashboard. When first logging in, the Dashboard displays useful information such as new comments and incoming links.

I like that the more useful information is at the top and the WordPress Development Blog and Other WordPress News are at the bottom. If I wanted, I could also change those two to display other RSS feeds.

I also like how the Manage Posts screen looks now. It is much easier to read. I like the font size used, doesn’t feel like I’m looking at something for the blind, although I do have poor eyesight.

I don’t like that all of the options that were off to the side in the Write Post screen were moved to the bottom of the page. Why should I scroll when it would be faster to change options on the right side of the post? I think those options would be better where they were in previous versions.

Overall though, I like WordPress 2.5. Anyone else have something you don’t like about WordPress 2.5?

Read more about the WordPress 2.5 features at the WordPress Development Blog.

Redesign Natali Del Conte’s Site

Here’s a little challenge for those of you who can design sites. WordPress ones to be exact.

For those of you who don’t know who Natali Del Conte is, she appeared on the TeXtra shows and now has a new show, Loaded, on CNET TV. She posted up a challenge on her blog today. She is challenging anyone to design her site and she will pay you $100 via PayPal. That might sound like a low amount, but you will receive credit for designing the site and you can put her on your resume as a reference.

I think designing Natali’s site would be enough to do it! Hurry and start designing, this ends on February 29, 2008!

This is what she says she is looking for:

Here is what I am looking for: I would like to get rid of this aquatic-looking color scheme. Perhaps something a bit more gender-neutral. Even a gray scale would be nice. I don’t like the font that my name is written in above either. I would also like to use either one of the two photos below in the header. I’m not really all that picky about it but one is quite formal and the other is more casual. I’m sorry I can’t give too many more guidelines. Like I said, I have no vision.

I hope someone will take up this challenge, because I’d like to see what it will look like redesigned. She deserves a redesign. Here is what it looks like now:

Two WordPress Theme Giveaways

I love giveaways. Unlike last time when I posted about a giveaway, I’m not entering. I’m just informing you, the readers, about this giveaway in case you are interested in winning a new WordPress theme for your blog. These are nice looking premium themes!

There are instructions for entering to win. Don’t feel too rushed, they both end on January 28, 2008 and are hosted by Blogging Mix.

• Win Your Blog a New WordPress Theme
• Win a Block Magazine WordPress Theme Designed By WordPress Rockstar Adii

Good luck everyone.