The WordPress Foundation is a charitable organization founded by Matt Mullenweg to further the mission of the WordPress open source project: to democratize publishing through Open Source, GPL software.

Visit the site here: http://wordpressfoundation.org/ or go directly to their Philosophy page here: http://wordpressfoundation.org/philosophy/

WordPress 2.9 provides the smoothest ride yet because of a number of improvements under the hood and more subtle improvements you’ll begin to appreciate once you’ve been around the block a few times. WordPress 2.9 came about packed with a lot of new features from which the WordPress Dev team has pointed out the following:

Global undo/”trash” feature, which means that if you accidentally delete a post or comment you can bring it back from the grave (i.e., the Trash). This also eliminates those annoying “are you sure” messages we used to have on every delete.

Built-in image editor allows you to crop, edit, rotate, flip, and scale your images to show them who’s boss. This is the first wave of our many planned media-handling improvements.

Batch plugin update and compatibility checking, which means you can update 10 plugins at once, versus having to do multiple clicks for each one, and we’re using the new compatibility data from the plugins directory to give you a better idea of whether your plugins are compatible with new releases of WordPress. This should take the fear and hassle out of upgrading.

Easier video embeds that allow you to just paste a URL on its own line and have it magically turn it into the proper embed code, with Oembed support for YouTube, Daily Motion, Blip.tv, Flickr, Hulu, Viddler, Qik, Revision3, Scribd, Google Video, Photobucket, PollDaddy, and WordPress.tv (and more in the next release).

Read more here: http://wordpress.org/development/2009/12/wordpress-2-9/

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I go out for lunch whenever I can, which fits well with my preference for no meetings before 11 AM. There’s something very personal about sharing food with someone; it’s a deeper connection than shaking hands in a boardroom. Often when I’m in town I’ll have lunch with Toni Schneider, my CEO. He and I get along super well which is one of the reasons I think the business has worked. He brings gravitas because he’s a digital native but also has great startup experience including being the CEO of Oddpost, a webmail company Yahoo acquired in 2004. Sometimes we’ll go to lunch at 12:30 and stay until 5.

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For WordPress we’re trying to set up a community that will be around 10 to 30 years from now, one that’s independent from the whims of the market. My role is somewhat like Linus for Linux or Shuttleworth for Ubuntu, affectionately referred to as BDFL, and it’s my responsibility to meet as many users as possible and direct the software in a way that reflects their interest. Last year I probably met 5,000 or 6,000 WordPress users, about half of them who make their living from it. We want to be like Google, eBay, Amazon — they all enable other people to make far more money than the company captures. That’s ultimately what we’re trying to do, we’re trying to create a movement.

My Mom started a blog a couple of months ago. Six years into this, and we finally made it easy enough for my Mom to use. (She hates it when I say that.)

I enjoyed it very much. All I can say is: thanks Matt for giving us the pleasure.

Kubrick - Default WordPress Theme

Lately I have been part of a debate about removing the default WordPress theme, “Kubrick”,  over at WeblogTools Collection, where Jeff Chandler introduced a topic about  a ticket in Trac outlining his proposal for a new theme to be based on the current WordPress code-base. Actually, the track author clarified in a comment that he did not intend to have a theme to replace the default Kubrick theme, rather he would explain that:  ”It was never my aim to replace Kubrick, or to have it included as a WordPress ‘default’ theme, rather just an included theme.” However, Jeff the above-mentioned, put into trial the default WordPress theme by claiming:

The way I see it, if you attack the root of the problem and replace Kubrick with a base theme that contains everything DD32 mentioned, this could do nothing but positive things for the WordPress community.

Was He Right?

As a WordPress theme developer, I agree that the default Kubrick theme should be removed from being the default WordPress theme. I do not know what the WrorPress team expect the default theme to do, but, from my position, I think the Kubrick is unnecessary to be there as it does not offer much. All it does right now is being used as a blog theme. I have never used it as the base code of the themes that I have developed, it is too messy and it has a lot of files. I have used the Classic theme several times as it would do better, however, it required heavy recoding too.

What would be the best theme to be included as the default theme or at least come along with them. There are several features that I would like the default theme to contain and come along with. Here they are:

• Is updated with the latest WordPress template tags
• Have Clean Markup
• Make use of WordPress default CSS styling tags
• Is easy to modify without compromising the look and feel
• Is easy to add other features, such as extra sidebars
• Be widgetized without using a list
• Have a simple comprehensive functions.php file

Why All This?

What would all this bring to most interested group, the WordPress users? If WordPress developer have a better example to follow and to built upon, which is updated and at the same time light and valid coded, they would produce eventually better themes and child themes for the vast WordPress community. So, the theme developers are shown a white path to follow which would led them to better products.

Right or Wrong?

I might be wrong, that is human. I would like to hear that. At the same time, I might be right and my post needs to be enreached with other features for the visionary new WordPress theme. What do you think?

new menu arrangement

Yeah, I am very busy, I know. However I managed to dedicate some time to my little cute blog. I did some code optimization work to improve the performance and speed. Also I rearranged the main top menu to improve accessibility to my content and also rearranged the footer of the site to make it more attractive to visitors eye. I hope you guys will spend less time browsing my blog and love it more.

Having in mind the fact that I am in the middle of a lot of work, I am keeping this post short. I wish you a great time!

WordPress 2.7.1 Notification

My dashboard says that WordPress 2.7.1 is out, but no post has been written yet in the development blog of WordPress.org to notify and welcome the new version. I know a lot of bugs have been fixed and perhaps a couple of new features have been introduced, but let’s wait and see what the official version will be.

Update:

Yes, we’re serious: 100%. If you buy 5 PDFs for $29.95, then $29.95 is donated. Our ambitious target is to raise more than $50,000 to help the families and communities affected by this tragedy.

We’re offering our entire range of books — from PHP to Project Management — for the sale; designers, developers, freelancers, managers, and business owners alike will all be able to choose a selection of professional books to enjoy.

You have just 3 days to treat yourself to this amazing deal, courtesy of SitePoint, and know that you’re helping Australian families in need. What are you waiting for?

Go now at SitePoint and get five books at the price of one and feel it in yourself that you are being helpful to other human beings and other beings in the planet. Do it now, they need you!

PS: I just bought mine and donated at the same time.

Do I have to pay for the theme?

No, the theme will be available for free download and usage. The theme in fact is being released under the GPL license which is the same license that WordPress uses. The theme will also have free updates and upgrades forever. Also, I hope we guys build a great support forum for this theme and others to come which will also be free to access, ask and answer.

What do I have to pay for than?

You might never have to pay for anything. But, in case you need help to set up the theme, configure the plugins etc, you might want to buy one of the five (5) service packages that will come along with the theme. These packages vary from setup to theme enhancements and even PSD to the actual theme. More information about this topic will come along with the theme release.

How much do I have to wait for the theme?

Hopefully, not much. I have submitted the theme to WordPress theme directory and as soon as the guys of WordPress make the theme come live, I will make it available for my readers too. I fact I want the theme to be downloaded only from WordPress theme directory, that is why I am not releasing it right now, even thought the theme can be called finished. I think the guys at WordPress won’t need more than 2-3 days to approve it.

Where can I preview the theme?

Just below. I am attaching an image preview of the theme for the curious guys to have a look and hopefully make comments, suggestions and constructive criticism if there is needed any.

Bottom line

This is what I wanted to share with you this time. If you have not yet subscribed to my RSS feeds or by Email, this is a great chance to do so and stay tuned for great themes, services and resources to come. Also, I would love to hear your thoughts, so post a comment and you will be rewarded with a back-link from my site.

What you can see at my portfolio is about 1/4 of all sites I have been working on. The websites that I have featured are the ones I enjoyed the most developing and are almost 100% my own work. I have been working on other great sites, but for some reason I  chose not to present them at my portfolio. However, you can find more about my works just googling  the “by WPlancer” phrase.

I’m not going to talk any longer, I think I said enough. I would love to hear how you find my new portfolio and the works I have done. Also, if you are in need of a WordPress designer or a WordPress coder or you just need other WordPress related services, you have found the right person – just contact me and you will see we will have a wonderful experience together.