Out of sheer boredom, I decided to install and try out WordPress 2.7-hemorrhage, and so far, I like the changes made to the admin UI. The animated dropdown menus are quite smooth, but it takes some getting used to, with it being on the left side and is vertically oriented. By default, the Content tree is expanded. This section is not quite new since it is just a renamed Manage page, but with more focus on content-related stuff. From here, you can manage Posts, Comments, Links, Pages, etc. The Media Library can also be found here. What I like about this section is that you don't need a plugin anymore to quickly reply to a comment. I believe Ozh's Absolute Comments plugin made it to core. This makes replying to comments A LOT easier. Also, the Quick Edit feature of the Posts page in this section lets you change the title, slug, date published, category, tags, and status without needing to edit the whole post. You can also make it a sticky post, but I believe this is dependent on the theme to be able to use this feature properly. Writing a new post has been improved, as the page is beefed up with settings that lets you display or not certain post properties. The tags and categories section is also moved to the right side of the post entry box. Finally. Of course, the Dashboard is still there. It was revamped to show a posting area where you don't have to go to the Write Post page. This makes for quick posting, hence the term "QuickPress." There's also an Inbox, which I don't have an idea what it does except show comments from some post I have no idea what about. I'm guessing this is simply a placeholder for something the developers will be rolling out as a surprise. And I don't think it has anything to do with email, but I'm suspecting it would be in line with showing comments from WordPress.com posts. It may be another use for the WordPress.com API. The Design tab is replaced by the Themes section, which allows you to do the same things as before: browse the installed themes, manage widgets, and edit template files. It basically has the same features as 2.6, with the theme preview before activating the theme. However, the developers are planning to automate the addition or installation of new themes from the Directory page of the Themes section. It's not yet implemented with the current nightly, and maybe added past 2.7, but it will surely make it there. Managing categories, tags, users and user profiles, the Import and Export feature, and link categories are now in the Utilities section, with the addition of the Inbox. With my installation of this nightly, the Inbox is still not manageable. Nothing new here except the layout. The developers simply organized what can be managed into more sensible sections - Content for content-related stuff, and Utilities for content meta(?)-related stuff. [gallery] One other thing that really caught my eye and made me want to deploy it immediately to my photoblog is the new image management features added. With the current stable version of WordPress, you can manage your thumbnail- and medium-size maximum dimensions from the Miscellaneous page of the Settings section. With the upcoming release, still in the same page, you can also control the large-size maximum dimensions and set the default posting settings for the image size, image alignment, and image link. What I'm wishing the developers add to this is the ability to resize the existing images without having to re-upload them whenever you change one of the image size settings. Although far from being a photoblogging platform, these features, together with a photoblog-focused theme, would make a great alternative to other photoblogging or photo gallery platforms. Although it's all spiffy and such, 2.7-hemorrhage still has a lot of kinks to be worked out. The automated installation of plugins for one, and the Inbox, obviously. The automated installation of plugins does not quite work for me, although I was able to upgrade my plugins with a pre-2.7 install with no issues. I wonder if this will be addressed when the stable version is released come November. So far, this is the only issue I am having with 2.7-hemorrhage. Hopefully, the latest release will have all the features listed here fully functioning. And about the Inbox, it would be really helpful if there was more information about this new feature. Another thing to look forward to is the automated upgrade of the WordPress install itself, though there are a lot of things that could go wrong here. It may be included in 2.7, but your mileage may vary. Nothing to do but to keep those fingers crossed. I finally had a small taste of 2.7, and I am wanting more. I can't wait to have this installed on my blog. When's November coming?