WordPress 2.5, designed by Happy Cog and built by Automattic, has been released. Download and enjoy.
[tags]wordpress, wordpress2.5, 2.5, happycog, automattic, blogs, blogging, tools[/tags]
Tag: Happy Cog™
Yesterday, Matt Mullenweg opened the kimono on WordPress 2.5, built by Automattic and designed by Happy Cog:
“For the past few months, we’ve been working with our friends at Happy Cog—Jeffrey Zeldman, Jason Santa Maria, and Liz Danzico—to redesign WordPress from the ground-up. The result is a new way of interacting with WordPress that will remain familiar to seasoned users while improving the experience for everyone. This isn’t just a fresh coat of paint—we’ve re-thought the look of WordPress, as well as how it’s organized so that you can forget about the software and focus on your own creative pursuits.”
Although 2.5 is still just in preview, the current build is solid enough to build a house on. I’m using it right now. (You’re soaking in it.)
Most of the buzz I’ve seen so far is enthusiastic about the new features, the new look, and the emphasis on usability.
There’s been some nice early press coverage, too. From a detailed review at Technosailor, “10 Things You Need To Know About WordPress 2.5:”
“By far the most comprehensive change in this release was the complete rethinking of how WordPressers do their administrative tasks. Happy Cog Studios was enlisted to do usability research and testing—with the emphasis being on usability research.”
And this, from Wired Magazine:
“Although WordPress 2.5 includes some nice new features like better plugin management, full-text feeds, and built-in photo galleries, the most immediately obvious change is the sleek new look, which comes courtesy of Jeffery [sic] Zeldman and the Happy Cog design team.”
Much more about WordPress 2.5 will soon be revealed. We love this product—it’s the tool that got me to stop hand-rolling zeldman.com after lo, these many millennia—and we’re thrilled to be part of its rejiggering.
[tags]wordpress, 2.5, happycog, design, redesigns[/tags]
- WCAG Samurai
- The WCAG Samurai Errata for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 are published as an alternative to WCAG 2. “You may comply with WCAG 2, or with these errata, or with neither, but not with both at once.” Published 26 February 2008. Read the intro first.
- Happy Cog Studios at SXSW Interactive
- Two hot panels, plus bowling.
- Alex King’s Twitter Tools
- Integrate your Twitter account with your WordPress blog. Archive your tweets, create a blog post from each tweet, create a daily digest of your tweets, post a tweet in your sidebar, and more.
- Chopsticks by Carlos Segura
- Brilliant! 51 chopstick bags by Carlos Segura assisted by Ryan Halvorsen. In EPS for your raster or vector pleasure.
- Can a Gas Station Really Be Green?
- Boston design firm builds green gas station in smoggy LA.
- 48 Unique Ways To Use WordPress
- CMS, city guide, history/timeline site, intranet, movie poster and trailer site, network hub, polling site, Feedburner alternative, Twitter clone, many more.
- Misleading Marketing Copy
- Words and phrases to avoid if you want an honest relationship with your customers.
- Pattern inspiration (Veerle’s Blog)
- Design inspiration via wallpaper and tiles.
- Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior (on Flickr)
- Illustrations from the newly published book by Indi Young (Rosenfeld Media, 2008).
- A Speck of Sunlight Is a Town’s Yearly Alarm Clock
- On March 8, the sun will rise again in Longyearbyen, the first time since October.
- Dockdrop
- Free Mac OS X application lets you share files fast. Drag any file or folder onto the Dockdrop dock icon, then choose how you want to send it. Dockdrop uploads it and puts a URL for your upload on the clipboard, ready for pasting into an email, chat program or website.
- Official Google Maps API Blog: Google Maps Without the Scripting
- The Google Static Maps API provides a simpler way to add maps to your website. Rather than use JavaScript, the Google Static Maps API creates map images on the fly via simple requests to the Static Maps service with HTTP requests.
[tags]zeldman, wcagsamurai, happycog, sxsw, googlemaps, wordpress, veerle, indiyoung, mentalmodels, wcag2, accessibility[/tags]