Download WordPress 3
I’ve been developing more and more complex websites using WordPress as a CMS lately. I find that building themes for WordPress is faster and easier for me then on any other CMS I have played with. WordPress 3 will take wordpress as a CMS to new levels allowing me to make more flexible layouts that my clients will really appreciate.
I’m really looking forward to the custom post types. This is going to be huge. Recently I have really been hitting a wall when it comes to handing over sites that require different template layouts for posts. I’ve played with custom fields to archive specific looks within categories but this has proven to be to complex for some clients to continue with after the hand off of their theme.
The other feature that I am looking forward to is the integration of MU. I have tried to implement other methods for MU but none of them were easy enough and most came with some limitations that simple did not make them worthwhile for my needs.
This is the nightly build version but it will give you plenty to play with while we wait for the official launch of WordPress 3.0. Hopefully it will be released May 1st.
Retrieve Specific Post Type with WordPress 3
To retrieve posts of a specific type from a WordPress database, you can use the following loop, which will get the artist post type:
<ul>
<?php global $wp_query;
$wp_query = new WP_Query("post_type=artist&post_status=publish");
while ($wp_query->have_posts()) : $wp_query->the_post(); ?>
<li>
<a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark"><?php the_title(); ?></a>
</li>
<?php endwhile; ?>
</ul>
How to Create a Network with WordPress 3
In WordPress 3.0, you can create a network of sites that was previously available in WordPress MU. To enable the Network menu item, you must first define multisite in the wp-config.php file.
Open up wp-config.php and add this line
define ('WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true);You are given the choice between subdomains or subdirectories. This means each additional site in your network will be created as a new virtual subdomain or subdirectory. you have to pick one or the other, and you cannot change this unless you reconfigure your install.
WordPress 3.0 Themes
I have yet to find any great themes that have been specifically optimized for WordPress 3. With all the great designers and developers out there is should not be long. Feel free to comment with a link to any awesome WP3 themes that you come across.
