by guest author Richard
I’ve been looking through the closed tickets on the WordPress 2.5 Roadmap and there are some interesting things that will most likely show up at WordPress.com at some point in the not too distant future. Given the similarities between how the admin and blogging interface works in the self-hosted version of WordPress, and WordPress.com, I expect we will see all of the following although there is no way I can know for sure until the upgrade actually happens.
Images
- Those who upload and use a lot of images will appreciate the ability to upload multiple image files at one time. This has been requested quite a number of times in the WordPress.com forums and I’m sure it will be welcome.
- Standard thumbnail size has changed from 128×96 px to 150×150 px, but it can be scaled down in the editor by half without losing resolution. For self-hosted bloggers, there is a “hook” that allows a plugin that can add additional thumbnail sizes, but there is no way of knowing if WordPress.com will have include such a plugin.
- When you get ready to send an image to the editor, there will now be three size choices: Thumbnail, medium and full. The dimensions for thumbnails and medium size images can be set in the options > writing tab. Browser scaling is used to fit the images within the specified dimensions, so image quality will suffer some.
Visual Rich Text Editor
- The new version of TinyMCE (the editor WordPress uses) will now fully support Safari 3 on Mac and Windows. It is however not fully compatible with prior versions of Safari.
- In addition to ordered and unordered lists, and blockquotes, it looks like we are getting a standard indent function much like on MS Word. It uses padding to create the indent (without bullets). [ Example: <p style="padding-left: 30px;">This text is indented 30 pixels.</p> ] This indent function is located on the extended tool bar. In addition, the icon for the blockquote on the main toolbar is now a quote symbol ( ” ).
Again, the above changes should show up at WordPress.com. I can see absolutely no reason for them not too, but we won’t know for sure until the upgrade happens.
Related posts:
WordPress 2.5: An Easy Upgrade Guide
WordPress 2.5 Demo Site
Teck
March 26, 2008
Hello, timethief, The 2.5 upgrade would be a plus for wp.com bloggers I hope they add it. :)
timethief
March 26, 2008
This is not a matter of speculation. Of course wordpress.com will be upgraded. It’s being upgraded progressively now and Mark has stated on the forum that the eye candy (admin interface changes – new dashboard) will happen soon. I would suggest that you use the link and go to the demo site and test drive the new dashboard. I’ve given it a couple of runs now so when the conversion happens I won’t be perplexed.
puttysauce
March 26, 2008
not really related to your post, but thanks for the tip on Blog Surfer. i’ll definitely take your advice.
billa1083
March 26, 2008
hi thanks for your help. but I’m still struggling here. I’m new to blogging and have no clue of what I’m doing to be honest. I have backed up what is on my blog currently at wordpress.com as a XML.
How do I go about finding an alternative blog site? You talked about web hosting…..what does it mean and is it expensive? Would it be possible for me to do that myself? At wordpress.org do I need to pay for hosting? Also, I was thinking of taking the blog to my google account, seeing as I wish to monetize it by using adsense.
sorry for these, probably to you, very basic questions, but as you can see I have a lot to learn
timethief
March 26, 2008
Hi there,
I’m going to shoot from the lip so prepare yourself because you are probably not going to like to hear what I’m about to say.
(1) If your only motivation for leaving wordpress.com is to make money from adsense I’m here to tell you that you will make only pennies. The preposterous claims about ordinary everyday people making money on the internet rarely amounts to anything more than “hot air”. Take note that the bloggers, who do make money are professionals with specialized knowledge in particular occupational niches that they blog on.
(2) I have seen your blog and it consists of nothing but embeds primarily, youtubes. All of the embeds that appear on your blog are readily available and are already seen on many blogs. There is nothing original or unique on your site in terms of written composition or photography or art so, IMO the likelihood that you will make any significant amount of adsense income is extremely low.
(3) Simply exporting and xml file is not helpful in your case because there is no writing to speak of in your blog. The youtubes and all the other embeds in your blog cannot be exported and will not be included in the xml file. Each embed would have to be uploaded individually one at a time into a wordpress.org install or into another site.
(4) You also lack the skills and the experience required to set up, maintain and self-host your own wordpress.org install, after hiring a web host, so IMO then it makes no sense at all for you to try.
My recommendation is that you go to Blogger where push button blogging for unskilled people, who want to make pennies from running adsense on their blogs is available.
Teck
March 26, 2008
Hello, timethief, I check out the new dashboard on the demo site. It’s looking very nice so far and can’t wait for the upgrade on wp.com. :)
timethief
March 26, 2008
@puttysauce
You’re welcome. IMO this annoyance will probably be “fixed” when the upgrade is done.
timethief
March 26, 2008
@Teck
I’m glad you like the new dashboard. I’m not sure yet if I do or not. The real test will be when we have to use it because the old one is gone.
billa1083
March 26, 2008
Well thanks for your opinion on my blog, which I did not ask for. You first suggested about monetizing my blog and for your information I’m not interested in generating high levels of traffic, as my blog is quite a personal thing. AdSense was suggested to me and I was just enquiring why I could not get it to work.
Thanks all the same.
timethief
March 26, 2008
I’m sorry I misunderstood you.
I noticed that you have had help in the forum. The references are:
(1) blogger initiated advertising is not allowed on wordpress.com blogs;
(2) the only exceptions made are for VIP bloggers;
(3) wordpress.com is already running adsense on our blogs and, on the global tag pages.
Also in the FAQs you will find this reference Types of Blogs
And, if you scroll to the very bottom of the Feature page I have linked to and look for “Advertising” you will find more.
Adsense and Ads Off Upgrades
At the very top of the forum there is a sticky post titled “wordpress.com and wordpress.org: the difference”. There is also another entry in the FAQs
Self-Hosting
If you are a blogger who wishes to have a monetized blog, you will be better served by hiring a web host (it’s not expensive) and downloading the free software from wordpress.org. That software is different and you can run as much advertising as you like on it provided you aren’t violating the Terms of Service of the web host you would have to hire. Here’s a link to some hosting information http://wordpress.org/hosting/ and there are many plugins for adsense available to choose from.
This may also be helpful Planning to Self-Host Your Blog
Lastly, exporting an xml file out of wp.com and importing it into a new wp.org install is not helpful in your case because there is no writing to speak of in your blog. The youtubes and all the other embeds in your blog cannot be exported. Each embed would have to be uploaded individually one at a time.
Richard
March 26, 2008
@billa1083
The code for embedding a youtube into WordPress.com blogs, and into self-hosted blogs is different, so each post with a youtube or other video in your current .com blog would have to edited and changed to the standard “embed” code.
When thinking about going self-hosted to monazite your blog, you have to figure in the cost of the hosting and the domain registration. I have my domain registered for 5 years, which lowers the calculated cost per month, and at my host, A Small Orange, I’m using the “Tiny” shared hosting package. With the domain registration and the hosting fee, I’m paying about $4.50 per month, and with the number of hits I get per month, adsense might pay for my monthly costs. Sadly Google ties adsense users down and they are not allowed to say how much they make. If they did allow that information out, few would sign up for it.
That said, I do know of a couple bloggers (I will not reveal their URL’s or names to keep them out of trouble with Google) that are averaging about 20,000 hits per month, and their adsense does not cover their hosting costs (their hosting +domain registration costs are about $20 per month because they need more bandwidth than I do).
Self-hosting your own blog isn’t too difficult, and gives you a lot more freedom when it comes to embeds and plugins and themes and such, but what I want to emphasize is that your advertising may not cover your self-hosting costs.
I don’t care who advertises since I have the adblockplus addon installed in Firefox and have it set to zap virtually all ads on any site I visit so they simply don’t show for me. Text ads don’t bother me too much, but any animated ad sends me to my adblockplus control panel to zap it. I’m now to the point where I can visit all my normal haunts ad-free.
ian in hamburg
March 27, 2008
Just want to add that the greater flexibility in uploading / posting photos is long overdue and I hope they implement the improvements you mention asap.
timethief
March 27, 2008
Hi Ian,
Yes I do agree with you on that. I also would welcome a bulk means of changing categories as well.
Teck
April 4, 2008
Hello, Time Thief, I was trying to posted article and took 5mins to get published to my site I was wondering what was going on. Then I found one of post need broken link fixed so I choose to edit the post and little be hold there sat the 2.5 dash board. :)
timethief
April 4, 2008
Hi Teck,
I’m thinking that you must be glad that you test drove the new dashboard at the demo site. Hopefully you have all the contents of your text widgets secured away in a draft post because I expect there will be some bloggers who will be gob smacked when they experience the widget changes. :-)