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WordPress 2.8.1 has recently been released as stable version. This release fixes some errors in version 2.8 released just over a month ago. The changes and improvements are detailed in the Wordpress development blog.

Here are some of the changes made in WordPress 2.8.1. The focus was on fixing a number of bugs and correcting some security issues with the plugin administration:

• Certain themes were calling get_categories() in such a way that it would fail in 2.8. 2.8.1 works around this so these themes won’t have to change.
• Dashboard memory usage is reduced.  Some people were running out of memory when loading the dashboard, resulting in an incomplete page.
• The automatic upgrade no longer accidentally deletes files when cleaning up from a failed upgrade.
• A problem where the rich text editor wasn’t being loaded due to compression issues has been worked around.
• Extra security has been put in place to better protect you from plugins that do not do explicit permission checks.
• Translation of role names fixed.
• wp_page_menu() defaults to sorting by the user specified menu order rather than the page title.
• Upload error messages are now correctly reported.
• Autosave error experienced by some IE users is fixed.
• Styling glitch in the plugin editor fixed.
• SSH2 filesystem requirements updated.
• Switched back to curl as the default transport.
• Updated the translation library to avoid a problem with mbstring.func_overload.
• Stricter inline style sanitization.
• Stricter menu security.
• Disabled code highlighting due to browser incompatibilities.
• RTL layout fixes.

For the full list of changes made since version 2.8. click here.

WordPress, one of the most popular of our free Value Applications that come with each of our hosting plans has released the second beta of version 2.8. This was announced on the WordPress blog just one week after the initial beta release. Being still in beta it is not recommended to use it in a production blog and it will only be available for upgrading at Hosting Direct 24 after thorough testing.

The most significant changes in the new version are in widget management and in the installation of themes. From now on it will be possible to browse and install new themes like a plugin without leaving the backend of your blog.

For a full list of new features click here.

Social networks are a popular way of how people communicate these days and collect information on the Web. Elgg is an open source platform to create a social network to bring together people for all kinds of interaction, be it for academic purposes or for exchanging views on their favorite pets. It offers blogging, networking, community, news feeds and file sharing just like any commercial social network like Facebook or MySpace. The main difference is the degree of control each user has over their content. Each profile item, blog post, or uploaded file can be assigned its own access restrictions—from fully public to readable only by a particular group or individual.

Elgg is an easy way to create your own fully customized, hosted social network for your business, organization, or group of friends. The open source approach provides for numerous plug-ins with nearly unlimited extensions. Elgg was originally started in 2004 by Ben Werdmuller and David Tosh, who subsequently founded Curverider to provide Elgg-related services.

Each Elgg site can take advantage of granular RSS, Open Social, OpenID (client and server), FOAF, an extensible RESTful API with results in JSON, serialised PHP or XML, alternate views on a site which allow for easily creating rich mobile applications and powerful event, plugin and widget APIs. The Elgg comprehensive activity stream keeps users updated. Their own actions and the actions of their friends across the site appear in the activity stream. Users can choose to get notifications about friends’ activity. Notifications are sent by a variety of methods including internal messaging and email.

Beyond closed groups of friends and colleagues Elgg has also a powerful handle for businesses. For example, you can enhance your e-commerce website with a social networking facility to connect directly to your customers. By creating online communities for your products you can strengthen your brand and significantly increase customer loyalty and revenues.

Elgg Features

• Blogging – Share your ideas with others.
• File Repository – Elgg includes a storage system compatible with a variety of file formats.
• Tagging – Content tags make it easy to locate users with similar interests.
• Customizable & Extensible – Elgg includes a variety of themes and an assortment of plugins.
• Multiple Views – Allows for traditional web browser views as well as mobile applications and embeddable widgets.
• User Controls – Closely manage your network’s privacy settings.
• XML-RPC – Use external blogging software to create a post for your Elgg website.
• User Profile – Link to other users and/or resources through your profile.
• Content Syndication – RSS, FOAF & XFN.

At Hosting Direct 24 Elgg comes as free addition to all Linux hosting plans alongside many other great offerings at absolutely no cost.