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WordPress, as most of us experience, is so strong and flexible. It is hard to think of a website that can't be brought to life with it.

Besides this power, it is still simple which is great. This simplicity sometimes ends up in some non-existing features which would actually be nice if they were available when needed -seems like the definition of plugins: )-.

As a designer/developer who spend lots of time with WordPress, I want to share a list of plugins which I use for almost every WordPress setup and they end up saving lots of time.

First of all, of course, I'll begin with a shameless self-promotion. The first plugin (Reporteur) is developed by me but I assure you that it fits the title of this post perfectly (else, I'm sure that the editor would probably remove it without even me knowing).

Oh, I'm also going to include the author's names, especially for avoiding mix-ups. There are many plugins so closely named but so far apart on features, usefulness and quality.

Reporteur

It is a simple Google Analytics reporting tool.

If you want to get your information right in the WordPress admin instead of going to the Google Analytics website, this is for you.

The plugin gives a basic information about your website (which were useful enough for my family and friends who forced and tortured me to create this plugin).
Author: stildv

Google Analytics for WordPress

This is a stable Google Analytics code including plugin.

We all know that, things work by just copy-pasting the Analytics code to the footer. Or was it better to the header? And how do we track outgoing link clicks or downloads?

Well, with this plugin, you don't need to worry about all that.
Author: Joost de Valk

Google XML Sitemaps

This plugin is good for creating XML sitemaps of your posts, categories and everything else for Google to index.

There is definitely a need for automation for this processand you need a dependable tool for that.

Also, the plugin notifies Google, Bing and Ask.com when there is anything fresh in the sitemap.
Author: Arne Brachhold

Q2W3 Post Order

This plugin was AStickyPostOrderER by AndreSC and Max Bond improved + continued developing it.

It is useful for ordering your posts when listed under different taxonomies, categories or tags. And they all can be different.

You can show a post as first under some category and as third under one of its tags.
Author: Max Bond, AndreSC

BackWPup

BackWPup is a vital plugin as you should always backup everything and never trust no computer!

If you are moving to another server, you'll use it. If you are working locally and going to deploy it, you'll use it. If you want to feel safe and don't want any data loss, you'll use it. If you want your database to be mailed to your home email every night, (it's completely not weird) you'll use it. Simply, you'll use it.
Author: Daniel Hüsken

Contact Form 7

There are several contact form plugins to choose from. On several occasions, there has been times which I've forgotten that I had a contact form setup on one of my websites, till the day that Takayuki's Contact Form sends me a mail.
Author: Takayuki Miyoshi

File Gallery

This is an extremely useful plugin, that should definitely be a part of the core.

When you add a picture or any media to any post in WordPress, it adds a database entry to a table that attaches the media to the post.. but WordPress does not show you that.

File Gallery does. And it does not stop there. You can order the media with it or set one as a featured image.Or, you can make a theme that uses a real gallery with it including a chance to order your images and without the need to use custom fields or embedding images into your post.

Also, you can attach PDF files (any files) and list them separately from your post as related files.
Author: Bruno "Aesqe" Babic

My Category Order

You have ordered your posts but you didn't order your categories.

My Category Order allows you to set the order in which categories will appear in the sidebar by using a drag 'n' drop interface for ordering.

It also adds a widget with additional options for easy installation on widgetized themes.
Author: Andrew Charlton

Platinum SEO Pack

A complete SEO solution for your WordPress blog.

I like it because it adds automated tags and categories to the head meta blocks and when you change a permalink for your posts, it will handle this without giving you any trouble.

Again, there are several SEO plugins available, but this one makes you work less for the result you want to get.
Author: Rajesh – Techblissonline Dot Com

Regenerate Thumbnails

This plugin will save your life many times if you are the developer but not the designer of your website or you work with a customer that measures the screen with a ruler (believe me, I saw that). There is always a possiblity to change the thumbnail and medium image sizes after you coded the theme and uploaded all thousand images to WordPress.

When such an update is needed, just ask this plugin to kindly regenerate every image for every size again. Oh my, life saver.
Author: Viper007Bond

Search Everything

Let's face it, WordPress does not search everything. As the name suggests, this plugin does.

It adds search functionality without modifying any template pages: activate, configure and search.

Options Include: search highlight, search pages, excerpts, attachments, drafts, comments, tags and custom fields (metadata). Also offers the ability to exclude specific pages and posts or password-protected contents.
Author: Dan Cameron of Sprout Venture

W3 Total Cache

After changing two hosting providers, one because I blamed them for being so slow, other because they blamed me for using so much resource, I met this plugin.

WordPress may use server resources, that's normal. But with this plugin, you can cache everything and make static copies of the pages instead of regenerating them for every request.

It also minifies your assets and may even put them to CDN for you. That's nice.
Author: Frederick Townes

WP-PostRatings

This plugin is actually both fun and useful.

It adds an Ajax rating system for your WordPress blog's post/page. You can use it to put simple hearts or like buttons for your own blog. Or, create a rating-based website easily.
Author: Lester 'GaMerZ' Chan

WP-PostViews

Of course there is Google Analytics. But ,WP-Postviews satisfy another need; viewing the number of views each post get in real-time.

You can make a list of most visited or -my favorite- least visited posts lists for your sidebars. Because your least visited posts are the ones that actually need more visitors.
Author: Lester 'GaMerZ' Chan

WP-PageNavi

Everyone uses PageNavi as it adds a more advanced paging navigation to your WordPress blog. Enough said.
Author: Lester 'GaMerZ' Chan & scribu

qTranslate

If you need to create a multilingual website, first you need patience, than you need content in multiple languages. And, finally, you need a plugin that does not make your life a hell.

Writing multilingual content is already hard enough, why use a plugin even more complicated?

qTranslate makes creation of multilingual content as easy as working with a single language with an easy to use interface.

It supports infinite languages which can be easily added/modified/deleted via the comfortable configuration page.

All you need to do is activate the plugin and start writing the content!
Author: Qian Qin

Editorial Calendar

Do you schedule posts? Remember which post will be published for next Tuesday? What about the Friday after that?

WordPress doesn't make it easy to see when your posts are scheduled. The Editorial Calendar gives you an overview of your blog and when each post will be published. You can drag 'n' drop to move posts, edit posts right in the calendar, and manage your entire blog.
Author: Colin Vernon, Justin Evans, Joachim Kudish, Mary Vogt, and Zack Grossbart

Missed Scheduled

Ok, you schedule posts. Did you realize that WordPress sometimes misses them? This plugin fixes that. Comes to rescue and that's all it does. But, does it well.
Author: obus3000

WP Maintenance Mode

This plugin adds a splash page to your blog that lets visitors to know that your blog is down for maintenance.

Logged in users can get full access to the blog including the front-end (depends of the settings you configure).
Author: Frank Bültge

Sidebar Login

Sidebar-Login has both a widget and a template tag to allows you to have a login form in the sidebar of your blog. It lets users to login and redirects them back to "the page they logged in" rather than the backend
Author: Mike Jolley

Category Checklist Expander

If you have gazillions of categories you'll definitely love this (and the next plugin).

It increases the height of the category checklist meta box on the post editing screen so that all categories are shown. No more scrolling! All of your categories will be visible.
Author: Mark Jaquith

Searchable Categories

This plugin is actually a categories autocomplete for the admin. It will make the process quick and easy for your writers to select categories. As they type in the search box, categories will be shown and hidden in real time, allowing them to easily select what is relevant to their content without having to scroll through possibly hundreds of items.
Author: Jason Corradino

ShareThis

Let your visitors share a post/page with others. Supports e-mail and posting to social bookmarking sites. You need a publisher key if you want to view you sharing stats or getting a weekly report. That's always nice.
Author: ShareThis, Manu Mukerji

Disqus

You know you need this plugin after finding its perks one by one when you start using it.

It will definitely make your life easier by replacing your WordPress comment system with your comments hosted and powered by Disqus.
Author: Disqus

 

Author: Devrim Vardar

Devrim Vardar is a talented web developer who also writes fiction and non-fiction besides code.

He can be found at Stild.com and via Twitter.

Special Downloads:
Ajaxed Add-To-Basket Scenarios With jQuery And PHP
Free Admin Template For Web Applications
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meet·up \mēt-əp\ noun
A meeting, especially a regular meeting of people who share a particular interest and have connected with each other through a social-networking Web site: a meetup for new moms in the neighborhood; a meetup to plan the trip; a meetup for WordPress users.¹

So what is a WordPress Meetup? Basically, it’s people in a community getting together — meeting up — who share an interest in WordPress, whether they be bloggers, business users, developers, consultants, or any other category of person able to say, “I use WordPress in some way and I like it, and I want to meet other people who can say the same.” Meetups come in different shapes and sizes, but they all carry the benefit of connecting you with potential collaborators and friends, and helping you learn more about what you can do with WordPress. Here are some of the common types of WordPress meetups:

• Hang out and work on your WordPress sites together
• Social/happy hour type gatherings
• Mini-lectures/presentations
• Developer hacking meetups
• Show & tell of how group members are using WordPress
• Formal instruction on how to use WordPress
• Lecture series (possibly with visiting speakers)
• Genius bar/help desk

There’s no prescribed format, as each local group can decide for itself what they want to do. Some groups mix it up from month to month, while others have multiple events each month to satisfy the needs of their community.

The tough part? Running a popular group takes time and money. Just as we worked last year to remove the financial burden for WordCamp organizers and provide logistical support so they could focus more on their event content and experience, we want to start extending that kind of support to meetup groups as well. We don’t want it to cost anything for someone to run a WordPress meetup, or to attend one — building local communities should be as free as WordPress itself!

Since there are so many more meetups than there are WordCamps, we’re going to start with the cost that is the same for every group: meetup.com organizer dues. We’re setting up an official WordPress account on Meetup.com right now, and over the next couple of weeks will be working with existing meetup group organizers, people who want to start a new meetup group, and the helpful folks at Meetup.com to put this program in place. WordPress meetup groups that choose to have their group become part of the WordPress account will no longer pay organizer dues for that group, as the WordPress Foundation will be footing the bill.

This is exciting for several reasons. First, it means local organizers who are giving something back to the project by way of their time won’t also have shell out $12-19/month for the privilege. That alone is a big step. Second, it will open the door to more events and leaders within a community, since leadership and event planning won’t need to be tied to “owning” the meetup group. Third, more active meetup groups means more WordCamps, yay!

In addition to the financial aspects, we’ll be working on ways to improve social recognition of meetup activity by incorporating feeds from the official meetup groups into the WordPress.org site, and including meetup group participation in the activity stream on your WordPress.org profile.² I’m also hoping we can do something around providing video equipment to meetup groups (like we already do for WordCamps) to record presentations and tutorials that can be posted to WordPress.tv, helping meetup groups offer WordPress classes in their community, and getting involved with mentoring WordPress clubs at local schools and universities. Oh, and we’ll send out some WordPress buttons and stickers to the groups that join in, because everyone loves buttons and stickers.

We’re also putting together some cool resources for people who want to start a new meetup group. There will be a field guide to getting started and some supplies to help you get your group going, and a forum for organizers to talk to and learn from each other.

Over time, we’ll be talking to organizers and looking at what other expenses we can absorb and what other support we can provide to local groups. For now, we’re starting with the organizer dues. If you currently run a WordPress meetup group (whether you are using Meetup.com or not) or would like to start a WordPress meetup group in your area, please fill out our WordPress Meetup Groups survey. Filling in the survey doesn’t obligate you to join the official group, it just gives us a starting point to a) find out what groups are around/interested, and b) get some information on existing groups and their expenses and needs. Meetup.com will contact the group organizers who’ve said they’d like to join the new program, and will walk them through the logistics of the change and answer questions before helping them to opt-in officially.

So, if you currently run a WordPress meetup group, or you would like to start one, please  fill out our WordPress Meetup Groups survey. I can’t wait to see more meetups!

1 – Adapted from “meetup” definition at dictionary.com.
2 – Didn’t know about profiles? Check out http://profiles.wordpress.org/users/yourwordpressdotorgusernamehere (put in the username you use in the WordPress.org forums) to see yours!

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WordPress offers a huge space for creativity and flexibility when designing and developing new websites.

Any type of website can be built on top of it: from blogs to newspapers, corporate websites to landing pages and even social networks. All you need is a theme coded to handle that functionality.

Yes, WordPress theme development. That is an easy process for experienced hands who knows the capabilities of the application and familiar with its functions and "not too hard" for others.

To simplify developing new themes, there are awesome WordPress theme frameworks and starter themes that you can use as a base for skipping the repetitive steps and begin with an optimized playground.

Here are the 34 free and good-quality ones that will save your time from searching them. And, in the bottom, you can find a comparison table for these WordPress theme frameworks.

Roots

The main power of this framework is its extremely clean WordPress code output, clean head and URLs (even for the head, CSS and JS paths).

Upon its activation, it automatically applies many useful customizations (like creating a homepage, defining the permalink structure, etc.).

Roots has 2 widget areas and it includes Blueprint CSS, 960.gs, the 1140px Grid, Adapt.js, Less Framework 4, Foundation by Zurb, and Bootstrap by Twitter.

Skeleton

It is a theme aimed at helping you build simple, uncluttered, useable, and mobile-friendly websites.

Skeleton has styling for typography and form elements + includes simple tabs and accordions.

The theme is based on and inspired from Skeleton Responsive Boilerplate, Theme Options Framework, Thematic Framework, Formalize and TwentyTen Theme.

P.S. There are also optional styles for bbPress and Jigoshop.

Bones

Bones is a theme following the mobile first approach that has a detailed + organized CSS, in-depth documentation with tutorials and details on every level.

There are 3 versions:

• classic
• responsive
• HTML version for projects

Many useful features exist including page navi, breadcrumbs, related posts and HTML5 video with fallback.

It is based on 960.gs, 320 and Up Extension, HTML5 Boilerplate.

Gantry

Gantry has a detailed admin interface with 65 base widget positions and 38 layout combinations that provide a huge space for customization.

There are lots of built-in features including the CSS and JS compression, speed-optimized codebase, several widgets and gizmos such as font-sizer, Google Analytics, to-top smooth slider, IE6 warning message, etc.

Starkers

Starkers is a completely naked  WordPress theme built to be a starting point for theme designers.

It’s a stripped-back version of the ‘Twenty Ten’ theme that is bundled with each WordPress download.

The theme is based on YUI Reset and it is totally unstyled.

Wonderflux

Wonderflux is a solid, easy to update and flexible platform you can use for any WordPress project.

It has location-aware template parts that allow you to concentrate on the content, not the code.

The framework comes with a fully dynamic CSS grid system, simple administration controls and over 100 display hooks.

Reverie

Reverie is a HTML5 WordPress framework based on ZURB's Foundation and HTML5 Boilerplate.

It can almost be used out-of-the-box. There are 2 widget areas; sidebar and footer and 2 menus (top navigation menu and footer information menu). Also works with bbPress 2.0.

Thematic

Thematic is a good option for using as-is or as a blank WordPress theme for development.

There are built-in with styles for popular plugins and many theme filters + hooks are available.

The theme has 13 widget areas + multiple layout options and it is strongly advised to use a child theme for customization.

Whiteboard

Whiteboard focuses on simplicity and includes only the core WP functionality.

it supports WordPress features such as manageable menus, background, and header image besides featured images, several widget areas, and more.

The framework uses LESS for mobile support and responsive outputs. The code is lightweight + well-commented and there is support for child themes.

Presswork

The big thing that separates this PressWork from others is its unique front-end editor.

Google fonts selector is integrated to this front-end editor to easily select your fonts. A PSD file is included to customize the design and it has 2 widget + 2 menu areas.

Constellation Theme

The Constellation theme is a great base for any WordPress-powered website.

It has the styles for creating responsive pages, has a HTML5 code and comes with a flexible grid system.

The theme is based on the HTML5 Boilerplate.

TwentyTen Five

This theme is an HTML5-powered version of the default WordPress TwentyTen theme.

It is cleanly coded, using the theme and integrating new features on it is pretty easy.

Elastic

There are several important stuff behind Elastic: a visual theme editor, a theme engine, and a set of protocols that link these two.

It aims to bring a new approach to editing and creating themes which both developers and end-users will find easy to work with.

Flexible

Flexible is a carefully-coded child theme of the default Twenty Ten theme and built-with any browser size in mind.

It has a Facebook FanGate integration and packed with Themekit (which is a plugin for plain simple customization via WordPress editor).

WP Paintbrush

WP Paintbrush comes with a built in front-end editor that enables anyone willing to quickly create a unique design for their website.

The editor has a drag 'n' drop interface for placing theme sections, comes with fixed or fluid layouts and much more.

Html5 Shell

mimoYmima has implemented an improved body tag that includes many valuable information about the page loaded.

There are smart sidebar disabling methods which could come handy, several @font-face examples and dynamic sidebar + custom template examples packaged with the framework

The code is commented clearly for easing the production process and it uses Modernizr + HTML5 reset css

Gantry is based on 960.gs.

Hybrid

This framework has many custom widget areas, widgets, hooks, shortcodes, page templates and many options to easily customize your website.

It is being improved continuously and has a community growing around it.

HTML5 Reset

This blank theme focuses on making a solid HTML5 compatible starting point for WordPress theme development.

It also has some additional features such as built-in analytics and starter CSS declarations for basic WP elements.

HTML5 Reset is based on digwp.com's Blank WordPress Theme, Modernizr and HTML5 Reset.

The Buffet

The framework has many SEO features including breadcrumbs and jQuery improvements such as comments form validation, SuperSleight for IE6, superfish menus or jBreadcrumb.

It is also compatible with many plugins and fully localized, ready for translation.

The theme includes 960.gs and Blueprint CSS.

Simon

This framework includes useful options such as free icons, typography, breadcrumbs and form designs.

There are also multiple post formats to ease theme customizations.

It has support for widgets, child themes and comes with a clean code.

Handcrafted WP

This one may not count as a framework, but it is an almost-naked starter theme with many useful features such as cleaner head code, integrated analytics, support for menus, post formats and custom post types.

The theme also has a widget-ready sidebar and dashboard.

Handcrafted WP is based on Toolbox Starter theme and HTML5 Boilerplate.

ToolBox

If you want to make your own theme and want it to be ready for HTML5, ToolBox may satisfy your needs.

It is a blank theme in plain and semantic HTML5 markup with almost no CSS.

Thematic-html5boilerplate

This is a WordPress theme using HTML5 Boilerplate and based on Thematic ToolBox (and other Thematic themes).

H5 Theme Template

H5 includes a full pack of theme files and folders with each file having all the latest WordPress functionality.

It is built with easy customization and personalization in mind and serves as a solid starting point for your next HTML-5-based theme.

Brave New World

This theme has no layout and styling except the modified version of Eric Meyer’s reset CSS and a baseline typography.

Although it is such a plain theme, it is built with HTML5, WAI-ARIA in mind and supports hCard + hAtom microformats.

1140 Fluid Starkers

This theme is the combination of Starkers + the 1140 CSS Grid and great for anyone looking for a responsive naked theme.

Indeziner

Indeziner is a starting point for creating websites using WordPress with no hassle.

It has a fully customizable homepage, almost every section can be enabled/disabled and bundled with a slideshow, gallery page and Flickr integration.

Blank Themes

Blank Themes offer 1, 2, 3 column blank themes to start from with the variations of sidebar locations.

There is also a blank portfolio theme that can be easily customized and used for your own portfolio.

rtPanel

rtPanel has a developer centric framework which is useful for developers willing to tweak codes with hooks and functions.

The framework also provides control over content and design for anyone who is not so familiar with coding and web-development.

Sandbox

Sandbox and various other themes from plaintxt.org provide a strong and clean structure with rich semantic classes powered by dynamic functions and microformats.

The themes are minimal and can be good starting points for new themes.

Suffusion

Suffusion is a cross-browser theme with a bunch of options.

It has 19 widget areas, one/two/three column, fixed-width and flexible-width formats, 10 pre-defined templates, 18 pre-defined color schemes, 2 customizable multi-level drop-down menus, featured posts, a magazine layout, tabbed sidebars, widgets for Twitter, social networks, Google Translate and more.

Foundation

Foundation is a blank starter theme that has all the core features needed to creating a new theme.

It is a nice kit for developing responsive websites, uses Orbit as a content slider and based on ZURB's Foundation Framework + HTML5 Boilerplate.

StartBox

StartBox is a theme framework that makes rapid web development and WP theme creation simple for both designers and developers.

It comes pre-loaded with customizable theme options, several widget-ready areas and custom widgets, 6 pre-defined layouts and a comprehensive documentation.

Yoko

Yoko is a modern three-column blog theme and it comes with a custom social links widget and shortcodes for text columns, info boxes and highlighted text.

It also provides various post formats and uses Google Web Fonts.

Comparison Of WordPress Theme Frameworks

Themes	Capabilities
	HTML5	Responsive	Mobile	SEO	Admin Int.	Micro formats	IE Hacks	Basic Styles
Roots
Skeleton
Bones
Gantry
Starkers
Wonderflux
Reverie
Thematic
Whiteboard
Presswork
Constellation Theme
TwentyTen..
Elastic
Flexible
WP Paintbrush
Html5 Shell
Hybrid
HTML5 Reset
The Buffet
Simon
Handcrafted
ToolBox
Thematic-html5boil.
H5 Theme Template
Brave New World
1140 Fluid Starkers
Indeziner
Blank Themes
rtPanel
Sandbox
Suffusion
Foundation
StartBox
Yoko

 

Author: Devrim Vardar

Devrim Vardar is a talented web developer who also writes fiction and non-fiction besides code.

He can be found at Stild.com and via Twitter.

Special Downloads:
Ajaxed Add-To-Basket Scenarios With jQuery And PHP
Free Admin Template For Web Applications
jQuery Dynamic Drag’n Drop
ScheduledTweets

Advertisements:
Professional XHTML Admin Template ($15 Discount With The Code: WRD.)
Psd to Xhtml
SSLmatic – Cheap SSL Certificates (from $19.99/year)

On January 18, 2012 many sites around the web — from small personal blogs to internet institutions like Mozilla, Wikipedia, reddit, and I Can Has Cheezburger? – will be going dark in protest and to drive their visitors to sites like americancensorship.org to take action and help fight the passage of the Protect IP Act. So will WordPress.org.

If you want to join the protest by blacking out your WordPress site or applying a ribbon, there is now a variety of blackout plugins in the WordPress.org plugins directory. While joining the protest in this manner is laudable, please don’t forget to also make those phone calls to U.S. Senators — they’re the ones with the voting power.

• Get a protest plugin
• Take action at americancensorship.org

Normally we stay away from from politics here at the official WordPress project — having users from all over the globe that span the political spectrum is evidence that we are doing our job and democratizing publishing, and we don’t want to alienate any of our users no matter how much some of us may disagree with some of them personally. Today, I’m breaking our no-politics rule, because there’s something going on in U.S. politics right now that we need to make sure you know about and understand, because it affects us all.

Using WordPress to blog, to publish, to communicate things online that once upon a time would have been relegated to an unread private journal (or simply remained unspoken, uncreated, unshared) makes you a part of one of the biggest changes in modern history: the democratization of publishing and the independent web. Every time you click Publish, you are a part of that change, whether you are posting canny political insight or a cat that makes you LOL. How would you feel if the web stopped being so free and independent? I’m concerned freaked right the heck out about the bills that threaten to do this, and as a participant in one of the biggest changes in modern history, you should be, too.

You may have heard people talking/blogging/twittering about SOPA — the Stop Online Piracy Act. The recent SOPA-related boycott of GoDaddy was all over the news, with many people expressing their outrage over the possibilities of SOPA, but when I ask people about SOPA and its sister bill in the Senate, PIPA (Protect IP Act), many don’t really know what the bills propose, or what we stand to lose. If you are not freaked out by SOPA/PIPA, please: for the next four minutes, instead of checking Facebook statuses, seeing who mentioned you on Twitter, or watching the latest episode of Sherlock*, watch this video (by Fight for the Future).

Some thoughts:

• In the U.S. our legal system maintains that the burden of proof is on the accuser, and that people are innocent until proven guilty. This tenet seems to be on the chopping block when it comes to the web if these bills pass, as companies could shut down sites based on accusation alone.
• Laws are not like lines of PHP; they are not easily reverted if someone wakes up and realizes there is a better way to do things. We should not be so quick to codify something this far-reaching.
• The people writing these laws are not the people writing the independent web, and they are not out to protect it. We have to stand up for it ourselves.

Blogging is a form of activism. You can be an agent of change. Some people will tell you that taking action is useless, that online petitions, phone calls to representatives, and other actions won’t change a single mind, especially one that’s been convinced of something by lobbyist dollars. To those people, I repeat the words of Margaret Mead:

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

We are not a small group. More than 60 million people use WordPress — it’s said to power about 15% of the web. We can make an impact, and you can be an agent of change. Go to Stop American Censorship for more information and a bunch of ways you can take action quickly, easily, and painlessly. The Senate votes in two weeks, and we need to help at least 41 more senators see reason before then. Please. Make your voice heard.

*Yes, the latest episode of Sherlock is good. Stephen Moffatt + Russell Tovey = always good

Download 3.3.1 or visit Dashboard → Updates in your site admin.

WordPress has had over 65 million downloads since version 3.0 was released, and in this third major iteration we’ve added significant polish around the new user experience, navigation, uploading, and imports. Check out this short video that summarizes the things we think you’ll find are the cat’s pajamas:

For Users

Experienced users will appreciate the new drag-and-drop uploader, hover menus for the navigation, the new toolbar, improved co-editing support, and the new Tumblr importer. We’ve also been thinking a ton about what the WordPress experience is like for people completely new to the software. Version 3.3 has significant improvements there with pointer tips for new features included in each update, a friendly welcome message for first-time users, and revamped help tabs throughout the interface. Finally we’ve improved the dashboard experience on the iPad and other tablets with better touch support.

For Developers

There is a ton of candy for developers as well. I’d recommend starting your exploration with the new editor API, new jQuery version, better ways to hook into the help screens, more performant post-slug-only permalinks, and of course the entire list of improvements on the Codex and in Trac.

Roll the Credits

The Credits tab on the new About WordPress screen in the WordPress dashboard provides recognition for contributors to each release, but we like to thank them here as well.

Aaron D. Campbell, Aaron Jorbin, Adam Backstrom, Adam Harley, Alex Concha, Alex King, Alex Mills (Viper007Bond), amereservant, ampt, Andrei Freeman, Andre Renaut, andrewfrazier, Andrew Nacin, Andrew Ozz, Andrew Ryno, Andy Skelton, Anthony Atkinson, Austin Matzko, Bartosz Kaszubowski, Benjamin J. Balter, Brandon Dove, carlospaulino, Caspie, cebradesign, Chelsea Otakan, Chip Bennett, Chris Jean, Coen Jacobs, Curtiss Grymala, Daniel Bachhuber, Daryl Koopersmith, Daryl L. L. Houston, David, David Cowgill, David Gwyer, Da^MsT, deltafactory, demetris, Derek Herman, Devin Reams, Digital Raindrops, Dion Hulse (@dd32), Dominik Schilling (ocean90), Doug Provencio, dragoonis, DrewAPicture, Dylan Kuhn, eduplessis, Eightamrock, eko-fr, Elpie, elyobo, Empireoflight, Erick Hitter, Eric Mann, Evan Anderson, Evan Solomon, fonglh, garyc40, Gary Jones, Gaurav Aggarwal, George Stephanis, goldenapples, goto10, hakre, Helen Hou-Sandi, Ian Stewart, Ipstenu, Jackson, Jacob Gillespie, Jake Goldman, James Collins, Jane Wells, jeremyclarke, Jesper Johansen (Jayjdk), jgadbois, Jick, Joe Hoyle, John Blackbourn, John Hawkins, John James Jacoby, JohnONolan, John P. Bloch, Jon Cave, Jorge Bernal, Joseph Scott, jtclarke, Jurica Zuanovic, Justin Givens, Justin Sainton, Kailey Lampert (trepmal), kevinB, kitchin, Konstantin Kovshenin, Kuraishi, Kurt Payne, Lance Willett, Latz, linuxologos, Lloyd Budd, Luc De Brouwer, lukeschlather, Mako, Mantas Malcius, MarcusPope, mark-k, Mark Jaquith, Mark McWilliams, Marko Heijnen, Martin Lormes, masonjames, Matias Ventura, Matt Mullenweg, Matt Thomas, Matt Wiebe, MattyRob, Mert Yazicioglu, Michael Adams (mdawaffe), Michael Fields, Michal “Mau” Pliska, Mike Bijon, Mike Schroder, Milan Dinic, mitchoyoshitaka, Mohammad Jangda, Morten Hauan, Mr Papa, mrtorrent, Naoko McCracken, natebedortha, Nikolay Bachiyski, olivM, olleicua, Otto, pagesimplify, paulhastings0, pavelevap, pete.mall, Peter Westwood, peterwilsoncc, ppaire, Ptah Dunbar, r-a-y, Rami Y, Rasheed Bydousi, Robert Chapin (miqrogroove), Ron Rennick, Ross Hanney, ruslany, Ryan Boren, ryanhellyer, Ryan Imel, Safirul Alredha, Samir Shah, Sam Margulies, saracannon, Scott Basgaard, Scott Bressler, Scott Cariss, scottconnerly, Scott Reilly, Scott Taylor, scribu, Sergey Biryukov, Sheri Bigelow, Simon Wheatley, sirzooro, Stephanie Leary, tech163, TheDeadMedic, Tim Moore, Tom Auger, Travis Ballard, Ulrich Sossou, vnsavage, wpweaver, WraithKenny, Yoav Farhi, and Ze Fontainhas.

As well, we’d like to give a shout out to these users who have been particularly active on the support forums since the release of 3.2:

alchymyth, Andrea_r, ClaytonJames, cubecolour, Eran Miller, esmi, Frederick Townes, govpatel, Ipstenu, keesiemeijer, kmessinger, Marcus, Otto, peredur, Rev. Voodoo, Samuel B, Tobias, vtxyzzy, and zoonini.

Our goal is to release version 3.3 early next week, so plugin and theme authors, this is your last pre-release chance to  test your plugins and themes  to find any compatibility issues before the final release. We’ve published a number of posts on the development blog that explain important things you need to know as you prepare for WordPress 3.3. Please review this information immediately if you have not done so already.

If you think you’ve found a bug, you can post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. Or, if you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac. Known issues that crop up will be listed here, but let’s all keep our fingers crossed for a quiet Sunday so we can get these new features into your hands early next week!

To test WordPress 3.3, try the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (you’ll want “bleeding edge nightlies”). Or you can download the release candidate here (zip).

Last year we wanted to do a video town hall, but ran into technical and scheduling difficulties. This year we’re planning ahead, and will definitely make it happen. We’re currently taking questions, and will record a series of town hall-style videos where we answer your questions. Ask about the roadmap, code, community, contributing, WordCamps, meetups, themes, plugins, features, you name it. No topic (as long as it is about WordPress) is off limits, and we’ll do our best to answer as many questions as we can while we are together. The videos will be posted to this blog and archived at WordPress.tv.

Last year the people who were in attendance also posted pictures and updates to Twitter using the #wptybee tag. We’ll use the same tag this year, so if you’re interested in following along, add it to your Twitter client as a search.

What do you want to know from us? Ask away!

As the first release candidate was well-received, we think we’re really close to a final release. Primarily, we’ve ensured that new toolbar (the admin bar in 3.2) has a consistent appearance across all browsers, and the API for developers is now final. You can check our bug tracker for the complete list of changes.

Plugin and theme authors, please test your plugins and themes now, so that if there is a compatibility issue, we can figure it out before the final release. On our development blog, we’ve published a number of posts that explain important things you need to know as you prepare for WordPress 3.3.

If you haven’t tested WordPress 3.3 yet, now is the time — please though, not on your live site unless you’re adventurous. Once you install RC2, you can visit About WordPress page (hover over the WordPress logo in the top left) to see an overview of what’s to come in WordPress 3.3 (and what to test, of course).

If you think you’ve found a bug, you can post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. Or, if you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac. Known issues that crop up will be listed here.

Enjoy!

To test WordPress 3.3, try the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (you’ll want “bleeding edge nightlies”). Or you can download the release candidate here (zip).

Sometimes time slows down
between releases – like now
This is RC2