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SQL Security - $wpdb->prepare() Back in WordPress 2.3, the prepare() first emerged, initially unused… but there. The method was very experimental at the time and was not ready for prime-time so, though it was included, it was not yet used. We started to see its emergence in WordPress 2.5 and in WordPress 2.6 it is being used just about everywhere.

Shift-Click Selection of Multiple Checkboxes in WP-Admin As the backend of WordPress continues to evolve after the release of the drastically redesigned admin in WP 2.5, usability enhancements are also making their way in.

More Avatar Options With the Automattic acquisition of Gravatar last year, in-built support for Gravatars was introduced in WordPress 2.5. WordPress 2.6 gives the blogger more options by allowing for selection of the “default” avatar. Out of the box, the default Gravatar can be “Mystery Man”, a generic grey avatar with a white silhouette of someone. Default avatars can also be “blank” (self-explanatory), the Gravatar logo, Identicons, Wavatars or MonsterIDs. These have all been a part of WordPress.com for some time and now come to the rest of us. For more information, Matt wrote a post for the WP.com community that you should probably check out. The difference here being, of course, that WordPress.com offers “dashboard avatars” and WPFROU (WordPress for the Rest of Us) does not include this functionality.

Page Templates over XML-RPC In addition to the XML-RPC/APP security measures listed above, a new key bit of functionality has now been exposed for API editors (and also, if you think about it, demonstrates the power behind XML-RPC and why you might want to turn it off if you don’t use it). The XML-RPC interface now allows for managing page templates from an API editor. To the best of my knowledge, no editor supports this yet and may not. However, increasingly there is the ability to remotely post content from places like YouTube, Utterz and others. None of these services would have any real use for this functionality either, however I want to point out that because they can post remotely anything that is exposed to the remote world can also be managed.

Press This Press this! is a new enhancement of a long-existing concept. Bookmarklets. In fact, WordPress used to have a bookmarklet included that would allow a user to quickly start a new post from the browser toolbar, but the functionality was limited.

Integrated Theme Preview Theme previewing has been a bugaboo for many a theme designer. How do we check and develop without affecting the rest of the site. Some folks resorted to using Ryan’s venerable Theme Preview plugin. Others setup a beta version of a site that was sandboxed off from the rest of the world. Lots of different approaches, all of which remain valid.

Plugin Management Overhaul Finally, the plugin management interface has received a face-lift and some added functionality. Active plugins and inactive plugins are segregated and with that new fangled Shift-click functionality I talked about before, plugin management just got really freaking simple. Note that Active plugins can be deactivated in bulk and Deactivated plugins can be activated or even deleted in bulk. Clean up that stale plugin list in a snap. But… there’s always a but… make a backup before you go nuts.

In many cases, the built-in Text Widget can be used to add new abilities to your sidebar. The Widget Plugin allows you to specify how many text widgets you need. Once you have specified the number of text widgets you need, each of those widgets is added to the "Available Widgets" column in the Presentation, Sidebar Widget Administration Panel. Clicking on the icon on the right side of the widget allows you to enter the widget Options. There you can enter a description or title for that particular widget and also enter (in the large text box) the text or HTML code for the widget. Here's a list of content known to work via text widgets. Each of these content providers supplies the necessary code for you to copy and paste into your widget to display their content on your blog.

The built-in RSS Widget can be used to add feeds to your sidebar. The Widget Plugin allows you to specify how many RSS widgets you need. Once you have specified the number of RSS widgets you need, each of those widgets is added to the "Available Widgets" column in the Presentation, Sidebar Widget Administration Panel. Clicking on the icon on the right side of the widget allows you to enter the URL for the feed, a description of the feed, and how many items from the feed you want displayed. Here's a sample of RSS feeds you can use in your widgets.