WordPress 2.8.1 Is Out Soon After 2.8: Looks Like Bye-Bye Flashy New Editor

One of my biggest complaints with the release of WordPress 2.8 (you can read my WordPress 2.8 Review here) was the clunky and super slow new code editor.  Sure, it had all the syntax stuff and it seemed more like a full fledged code editor, but it was painfully slow.  And not only that, after if would finally load, it liked to drop you to the very bottom of your code page for some reason.  It was almost as if it enjoyed scrolling so much that it wanted the user to have to scroll the entire length of the page, just to get started with the actual editing process.

Anyway, I just popped into the WordPress dashboard for frugalTheme.com and saw the WordPress update message for 2.8.1 and thought, “Man, I just updated to 2.8?!”  A quick note to all those non-developers out there.  When a software product gets updated that fast, it’s because there was either and awesome new feature that the developers just couldn’t wait to release, or there was a bug that needed fixing and couldn’t really wait for the next ‘normal’ release.  The latter is usually the case.  Even with the frugal Theme, I’ll occasionally run into a glitch that really can’t wait for the next release cycle and I push it out early to effectively address the issue.  So I’m not bashing WordPress here, just giving a little play-by-play.

So when I saw this new update I figured they were addressing this not-so-hot editor feature.  (Search google for ‘wordpress 2.8 slow editor’ or ‘wordpress 2.8 editor not working’ etc… and you’ll see that there was already some complaining going on.)  After the update finished (a process that is now silky smooth, I might add…YOU GO WordPress! ) I went straight to the WordPress Editor.  Sure enough, the simple, old, reliable verison was there and the new one was no where to be found.  That new car smell was gone, but I was happy to get my old buddy back.

Hopefully Matt-and-company are working on a better new WordPress editor, as I really liked the idea.  This time I just hope they’ll wait a bit longer to release it.  At least not until it’s functioning as fast and smooth as the rest of their great software product.

Eric