We have recently updated the OM4 platform to include the latest WordPress (3.1) features, bug fixes and improvements.

There are quite a few improvements, including:

• Internal Linking, which makes it much easier to create a link to your existing posts and pages. See screenshot below.
• Admin Bar, which means you’re only ever one click away from the most common Dashboard features.
• Simplified Writing Interface, with the post and page editor now display fewer options (metaboxes) by default. Visit Screen Options in the top right to get old panels back.
• Sortable Dashboard List Screens, making it easier to find information in your Dashboard.
• Improved Importer/Exporter, which allows you to export just post or pages (instead of everything), as well as only exporting certain date ranges, categories, authors, statuses, and more.
• Internet Explorer 9 Compatibility – the Visual Editor should now work as expected with IE9.
• and many more

The full list of over 800 new features, bug fixes and improvements can be found here.

We hope these improvements make administering and using your OM4 website a much more enjoyable task.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask below or post your question on our support desk.

WordPress 3.1: Internal Linking, Admin Bar, IE9 and More

We have recently upgraded the OM4 platform to include the lastest WordPress (2.8 and 2.8.1) features.

There are quite a few improvements, including:

• A much faster dashboard interface
• A new drag-and-drop sidebar widgets interface
• New screen options on every dashboard page (the tab at the top right)
• Improved timezone support with automatic daylight savings time adjustment
• Support for more than one image gallery on a single page
• and many more

The full list of over 180 new features, changes upgrades and improvements can be found here.

Our Own Performance Benchmarks

Our own before and after testing has demonstrated an average of a 55% decrease in dashboard page load times:

• Main Dashboard
  • Before: 50 file requests,  366KB total file size
  • After: 13 file requests,  167KB total file size
• Write Post Screen (with visual editor and kitchen sink enabled)
  • Before: 108 file requests,  774KB total file size
  • After: 23 file requests,  340KB total file size
• Manage Pages Screen
  • Before: 16 file requests,  289KB total file size
  • After: 11 file requests,  173KB total file size

We hope these performance improvements make administering your website a much more enjoyable task.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask below or post your question on our forums.

WordPress 2.8 Upgrade: Improved Dashboard Performance and Widgets

There have been a few reports recently about the WordPress dashboard sometimes responding slowly. This was occurring for some of our OM4 WordPressMU client sites.

Occasionally a dashboard page load could take up to 15-30 seconds to complete. This is much longer than a typical page load, and could be quite frustrating.

The problem was caused by a bug in WordPress MU – we’ve applied a fix to our platform because it was so annoying but the problem is due to be fixed in the next version of WordPress MU (2.7.1) as well.

We’re always on the lookout for performance issues with our OM4 WordPress sites and fix them if they occur. So if you notice any problems, please let us know.

Intermittent WordPress dashboard performance problems resolved

As promised last week, we have upgraded the OM4 platform to include the lastest WordPress (2.7) features.

There are quite a few improvements, including:

• Completely new Dashboard design and navigation menu
• Threaded comments, paging and the ability to reply to comments directly from your dashboard
• Bulk post/page editing
• Quick editing of posts/pages
• Drag and drop rearranging of dashboard widgets/boxes
• Ability to upload files without having to create a post or page first
• Easy moderation of comments using keyboard shortcuts
• and many more

The video below also illustrates some of these changes. Alternatively a more detailed list of the changes is available here.

The new dashboard will take a little bit of getting used to, but once you’ve used it for a few days you should find that it’s a lot easier to use.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask below or post your question on our forums.

WordPress 2.7 Upgrade: New Dashboard Design and Features