Download Wordpress 2.1 Ella or Wait for Plugin Updates

Just few days before WordPress 2.1 RC1 was released and now you can upgrade to the final version of Wordpress 2.1 Ella. What is Ella? This version is named for jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald.

Some important changes are that WordPress 2.1 requires MySQL 4.0 Database. So if your hosting is still stuck with an older MySQL version, you need to upgrade your database first.

Some amazing features are
* Autosave
* Switch between WYSIWYG and code editing
* Lossless XML import and export
* Spell checking.
* New search engine privacy option
* You can set any “page” to be the front page
* More efficient database code
* blogroll now support sub-categories
* Redesigned login screen
* More AJAX for instant actions
* Pages can now be drafts, or private.
* Admin loads faster
* Dashboard brings RSS feeds asynchronously
* Comment feeds now include all the comments
* Better internationalization
* Efficient upload manager
* A new version of the Akismet plugin

Have I upgraded? No. There are still some compatibility issues of Wordpress plugins with Wordpress 2.1. Not all your favorite plugins will work now with Wordpress 2.1. Here is a list of plugins compatibile with WordPress version 2.1. Plugin Developers were warned of the MySQL changes and were instructed to upgrade to make their plugins compatible. I am still staying with Wordpress 2.0.7, the last recommended upgrade that fixed PHP security and feedburner bugs.