Wordpress enthusiasts have another reason to rejoice – WordPress 2.1 Release Candidate 1 is now available for download.

There are some cool new features in Wordpress 2.1. The first thing you will note is the more efficient database code (much faster than previous versions), Autosave, Tabbed editor, WYSIWYG spellchecker and a Redesigned login screen. There will be more AJAX fun to make wordpress actions faster, pages can now be drafts (or private), Links with sub-categories and you can set any page to be the front page of your site! They have arranged for lossless XML import and export for moving between WordPress blogs and search engine blocker for private blogs.

Wordpress Developers will like the Psuedo-cron functionality, Users admin can now comfortably handle thousands of users, New WP_Error class, Javascript loader and many new hooks and APIs.

Before you run WordPress 2.1 RC1, Boren.nu warns that

“If you decide to try out the Release Candidate, please back up your database before upgrading. With a backup of your 2.0.x database you will be able to revert if RC1 does not work out for you. Once WordPress upgrades your database to 2.1, you cannot go back to your 2.0.x database unless you restore it from a backup.”

Wordpress plugin developers were advised of MySQL changes and the need to update the plugins to make them compatible with Wordpress 2.1. They have compiled a list of plugins compatibile with WordPress version 2.1 (pre-release).

Download WordPress 2.1 RC1 (.zip). if you wish to sit back and run the official public final version of Wordpress, then upgrade to Wordpress 2.0.7 today and wait for the final release of Wordpress 2.1 in a few days. Wordpress 2.2 is now in the works and they plan to do a release every four months and give wordpress users new features more often.

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