WordPress News Roundup November 2010: WordPress 3.1 Beta 1 and the 3.0.2 Security Update

November 2010 brought WordPress 3.1 to testers and a security update to everyone else. The first 3.1 beta arrived on November 25, showcasing post formats, the new admin bar and internal linking, and on November 30 WordPress 3.0.2 was released as a required security update for all earlier versions.

It was also a month for milestones. WordPress was inducted into the Open Source CMS Hall of Fame after head-to-head voting against Joomla and Drupal, the WordPress mobile apps passed one million users, and post formats prompted plenty of commentary about WordPress becoming more like Tumblr.

WordPress Core Updates

• WordPress 3.1 Beta 1: Released on November 25, the beta was presented as largely feature-complete, with the team now focused on fixing bugs. Users were warned not to run it on production sites. Highlights included post formats, the admin bar, an internal linking tool in the editor, a separate network admin for multisite, advanced taxonomy queries and archive pages for custom post types.
• Post formats explained: Post formats let themes present asides, galleries, links, quotes, status updates and other types of content differently, standardising something theme developers had been building in incompatible ways. The feature was discussed on WordPress Weekly with Gil Rutkowski of the theme review team.
• WordPress 3.0.2: Released on November 30, 3.0.2 fixed a moderate security issue that could let a malicious Author-level user gain further access to a site.
• Andrew Nacin, one year in: The core developer reflected on his first year of heavy involvement in WordPress development, during which he had become one of the project’s most active contributors.

Other WordPress News

• Hall of Fame: On November 19 WordPress.org announced that WordPress had won the Open Source CMS Hall of Fame award in the 2010 Open Source Awards, beating Joomla and Drupal in the final vote.
• One million mobile users: The WordPress mobile apps reached a combined user base of one million, and a WordPress app for Nokia phones was released.
• Android 1.3.8: On November 25 Dan Roundhill announced an Android update that fixed numerous bugs and let users set a post’s status in the app.
• VaultPress and ServInt: Hosting company ServInt announced a partnership to offer VaultPress backup and security scanning to its customers.
• Matt Mullenweg on public television: KTEH’s This Is Us profiled Matt Mullenweg, covering Automattic, WordCamps and the GPL. On his own blog, he published an essay arguing for shipping software early rather than waiting for perfection.
• WordPress Weekly returns: Jeff Chandler resumed live episodes of WordPress Weekly after a months-long break, with guests including Brad Williams and Headway’s Grant Griffiths.
• Disqus and spam: WP Tavern noted that comments marked as spam in Disqus were hidden there but remained in the WordPress database.

Security Alerts and Plugin Vulnerabilities

WordPress 3.0.2 was described as a required update for all previous versions. The vulnerability needed an account with at least Author privileges, so open-registration sites with only subscribers were at low risk, but multi-author blogs and publications were urged to update quickly. It was the first security release of the 3.0 branch and the start of a run of three security updates in the space of a month.

Industry Trends and Insights

Post formats captured a shift in how people published. Tumblr had shown the appeal of quick, typed posts such as quotes, links and photos, and WordPress’s answer was to make those types a standard part of the platform rather than leave each theme to invent its own approach.

• Mobile growth: A million users across WordPress’s mobile apps showed how much publishing and moderation was moving to phones.
• Hosts bundle services: ServInt’s VaultPress deal pointed to hosts packaging WordPress-specific services such as backups and security scanning with their plans.
• Recognition: The Hall of Fame award, a year after WordPress’s first Best Open Source CMS win, confirmed its standing among general-purpose CMSs.

Theme of the Month: Twenty Ten

With post formats arriving in 3.1, theme developers watched to see how Twenty Ten, the default theme since June, would handle them. It already offered distinct styling for asides and galleries, and its approach served as a reference for how themes could support the new formats.

Plugin of the Month: Disqus Comment System

The Disqus plugin replaced WordPress’s native comments with a hosted discussion system that synced comments back to the WordPress database. It was popular with publishers who wanted social logins and cross-site profiles, though November’s spam discussion showed the trade-offs of splitting moderation across two systems.

Host of the Month: ServInt

Virginia-based ServInt, a managed VPS provider, announced in November that it would offer its customers VaultPress backup and security scanning. It was an early example of a host packaging a WordPress-specific service with its servers.

Founder of the Month: Clay Griffiths

Clay Griffiths created Headway, the visual theme framework that had been drawing attention all year, and the company’s autumn push toward Headway 2.0 was discussed on WordPress Weekly in November. Headway’s drag-and-drop approach anticipated the page builders that would later reshape WordPress design.

Looking Ahead to December 2010

December was expected to bring further 3.1 betas and the string freeze planned for December 1, with a release candidate to follow. The original plan targeted a 3.1 release in mid-December, though the beta schedule suggested it could slip.