This week I’ve downloaded and installed locally the much anticipated wordpress 3 version. the much talked about version where wordpress Mu will no longer exist and will merge into wordpress, it will be called WordPress Multi Site. apart from that feature there are numerous new and exciting features in wordpress 3.0, here are some of them:

New Registration Details, No More Admin and generated password

WordPress 3.0 is changing right from the very first stage, installation and registration, no more default admin user name and generated password, now the admin can set is own username and insert the desired password by himself.

New Default Theme – twentyten

finally the default wordpress theme is changing. there are lots of new features in the new default theme called “twentyten” (2010) like Drop Down Page Menus, 6 Widget Areas, Gallery Posts Styling, HTML 5 Validation, Header Image , Background changing support and much more.

Menu Manager

Now you can add menu manager to your theme and let your users create their own menu, not just by pages but also from categories, posts and custom links. excellent feature.

Custom Header Support

WordPress 3.0 supports changes in your header built in without any need of theme options. you can let your theme users upload new header images and use them, they can also choose the colors of the header and many more options.

Custom Background Support

In the new version you will be able to add your own background and change the colors of it. as long as the theme support it.

Network – the WordPress mu part of the story

When WordPress version 3.0 will be released (they talk about may 2010), wordpress mu will cease to exist and the two platform will merge into one will be called – WordPress Multi Site. there suppose to be a script to tranform your WPMu to reular wordpress. more details about this in the near future.

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Download wordpress 3.0 alpha !!! – http://wordpress.org/nightly-builds/wordpress-latest.zip

read about Custom Post Types – http://kovshenin.com/archives/custom-post-types-in-wordpress-3-0/1

more about the new default theme – http://2010dev.wordpress.com/ and here – http://blog.ashfame.com/2010/02/wordpress-3-new-default-theme-twentyten/

more about Background support – http://wpengineer.com/wordpress-3-0-custom-background-support/

Popularity: 36% [?]

Buddypress is gaining more and more popularity each day, latest versions are more friendly and there are much less bugs in it. here’s a list of very useful and helpful buddypress plugins:

Buddypress-Ajax-Chat

This plugin will extend Buddypress to have an Ajax Chat client that works with Buddypress groups,
as well as all WordPress users. As of version 1.1.8 Buddypress Ajax Chat works with both
Wordpress MU and WordPress Single User.
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BuddyPress Classifieds

A Classifieds ad components that’s fully integrated into BuddyPress.

Features :

Write your ad directly from the frontend, WYSIWYG
Allow/disallow moderation
Browse by category, tags, …
Breadcrumbs
Add to favorites (”follow)
Upload pictures with your classified
Link classifieds to groups
Define a map (Google map) to locate your classified (powered by BuddyPress Maps)
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Seo for Buddypress

It gives you the possibility to enter title, description and keywords for the main blog, the user blogs and the buddypress pages.
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BuddyPress Sitemap Generator

This plugin will generate a sitemapindex and various component sitemap xml files for search engines: Google, Bing, Yahoo and Ask.com to better index BuddyPress.
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BuddyPress QuickPress

This plugin allows the users to write simple posts outside the dashboard (just like QuickPress from the Dashboard).

It adds a “Quickpress” submenu under /blog from which you can easily add a post to any of your blogs.
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Login With Ajax

Add smooth ajax during login, avoid screen refreshes and choose where users get redirected to upon login/logout. Supports SSL, MU, and BuddyPress.
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Invite Anyone

By default, BuddyPress only allows group admins to invite their friends to groups. In some communities, you might want members to be able to invite non-friends to groups as well. This plugin allows you to do so, by populating the invitation checklist with the entire membership of the site, rather than just a friend list.
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BuddyPress Like

Requires BuddyPress 1.2 or higher.

Adds a ‘Like’ button to activities in the stream, allowing users to ‘like’ the item and see who else has done the same.

Updates are constantly being made, and feature requests are more than welcome!
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BuddyPress Maps

BuddyPress Maps is a component that displays maps (from Google Maps) into your BuddyPress website.
This component can be used by others plugins to edit/save map markers and to display maps easily.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/buddypress-maps

BuddyPress Links

BuddyPress Links is a drop in link and rich media sharing component for BuddyPress 1.2.x
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Remove BuddyPress AdminBar Plugin

This plugin removes the admin bar completely from the public and admin areas of the website. Can be used either as a normal or MU plugin.
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BuddyPress Events Calendar

the bp-events plugin will add an option to the user menu called “Events”. From this menu users can create events and invite friends to join. – the plugin will add an “Events” option to tne main menu system for the events directory view – add the “Events” widget to list the upcoming/newest/active/popular events on your front page
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Helpful Buddypress plugins resources:

buddypress Original Plugins zone: http://buddypress.org/extend/plugins/

netweblogic – a very helpful buddypress plugins blog – http://netweblogic.com/

Buddypress Dev – BuddyPressDEV is a community of developers that shares code to extend BuddyPress features. – http://bp-dev.org/

wpmu.org – http://wpmu.org/

Popularity: 25% [?]

Sometimes you find yourself in need for maps in your blog. here’s a list of the top wordpress and google maps plugins:

PREMIUM

WP Geo Tagger

The WP Geo Tagger plugin can be used to add your current location to posts or to add an event location, so your readers can get directions in a snap. It even integrates Google Maps right on your posts!

• Add locations to your posts
• Include a Google Map using that location
• Creates a “Master Map” for your site, including all sitewide geo-tags
• Takes about a minute to install
• Includes full documentation and a screencast for any customization needs

DOWNLOAD

5sec Google Maps

• no API keys, no setup, no code editing
• works in sidebars, posts, pages and custom post types out of the box
• full screen support
• default shortcode, [gmap], can be changed
• multiple maps per post/page are supported
• 12 predefined markers/icons
• fully customizable HTML bubble/description
• uses local cache for Geocoding (address to lat/lng mapping) for max speed
• extensive documentation and examples
• works on WordPress versions 2.8 and newer

DOWNLOAD

Route Planner for WordPress

This plugin enables you to insert Google Maps widgets into your posts and pages, and by utilizing the Directions API , lets your user find directions to you (or any other address).

Built on the 5 star rated jQuery Route Planner plugin!

DOWNLOAD

User Locations

A WordPress Plugin which enables you to show your registered users locations on a frontend map from Google Maps. Comes packed with administrational settings for you to customize what information you want to display about your users and much more.

DOWNLOAD

FREE

Google Maps for WordPress

This plugin allows you to easily insert Google Maps into your blog, making use of the new shortCode system in WordPress 2.5. The maps can be configured to offer directions to or from the location, show or hide the zoom/pan controls, show/hide map type (street view, satellite, etc), activate zoom using mouse wheel, and more. PHP5 Required.

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XML Google Maps

This plugin allows you to easily insert Google Map or Google Earth Plugin Maps into your blog. You just have to add a link to your self defined Map from My Google Maps, Picasa Webalbum Picture Map, any geoRSS Feed (like Flickr), your uploaded Google Earth file (kmz, kml) or any other dynamic or static Google Earth file (umapper.com, flickr.com, etc.)

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WP Google Maps

With the Google Maps Plugin for WordPress you can easily add Google Maps to your WordPress blog.

To add Google Maps to a post or page you just have to enter [wp-google-maps (map-settings)], where (map-settings) is replaced with your map settings.

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Mappress

MapPress is the easiest way to create great-looking Google Maps and driving directions in your blog.

MapPress adds an interactive map to the wordpress editing screens. When editing a post or page just enter any addresses you’d like to map.

The plugin will automatically insert a great-looking interactive map into your blog. Your readers can get directions right in your blog and you can even create custom HTML for the map markers (including pictures, links, etc.)!

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Google Maps Plugin for WordPress

This plugin will let you easily create from simple maps with one marker and a text balloon, to complex multimarker maps with hypertext balloons as this page.

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Google Maps All In One

Google Maps is the internet standard for mapping and direction. And why not? Their latest APIs make for the easiest, most streamlined experience available. This plugin does all the work for you. No creating an account. No copying of links from google’s site. No need to go to google maps at all.

This plugin does it all, providing a solution for the everyday blogger, the ma and pa business owner, and even the most particular of power users! And it’s ready to be used in any environment – WordPress, BuddyPress, and Multisite – it’s never been easier than it is now!

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WordPress Geo Mashup

This plugin lets you save location information with posts, pages, and other WordPress objects. These objects can then be presented on interactive Google maps in many ways.

There are often two versions of the plugin available, stable and BETA. The BETA version includes all the stable version features, and also new features that need further testing.

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Popularity: 25% [?]