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WordPress, the most popular blogging platform, has won the Overall Best Open Source CMS Award 2009 for the first time in the past four years.

The other two finalists MODx and SilverStripe tied for the first runner up position. (Sorry, first time I heard of them!)

In addition, WordPress also won 2nd place of the Best Open Source PHP CMS Category in 2009 Open Source CMS Award, ahead of Joomla! (3rd place). Drupal won in this category.

Matt, WordPress Co-Founder, wrote about the news, too.

WordPress as CMS?

Personally, I still treat WordPress as a blogging platform and not a CMS. Yes, you can use it as a CMS but it is not a out-of-box CMS script.

What do you think? Do you use WordPress for your CMS site?

Some CMS books for you: Beginning Drupal 7, Joomla! 1.5: A User’s Guide: Building a Successful Joomla! Powered Website (2nd Edition)
, WordPress: Visual QuickStart Guide

Well, here is another update of WordPress 2.8 (23 days after the 2.8.5 upgrade), the WordPress 2.8.6 Security Release.

[WordPress] 2.8.6 fixes two security problems that can be exploited by registered, logged in users who have posting privileges.

If you blog has untrusted authors, then upgrading to 2.8.6 (download) is recommended.

My blog has only me and my proofreader. I skipped this update. How about you?

Yes, WordPress just released another update — WordPress 2.8.5. Everyone should upgrade your WordPress blog to the latest version. Why?

The latest release will secure and protect your WordPress blog from hackers. It is not 100% bullet proof but hardening your blog security.

Here are the highlights in the new release:

• A fix for the Trackback Denial-of-Service attack that is currently being seen.
• Removal of areas within the code where php code in variables was evaluated.
• Switched the file upload functionality to be whitelisted for all users including Admins.
• Retiring of the two importers of Tag data from old plugins.

Click Here to Continue Reading »

WordPress 2.9 is coming soon. The beta version is expected to be available at the end of October 2009. Let’s see what’s new in WordPress 2.9 for a blogger.

• Post Thumbnails — you can add an image to be automatically displayed with the post (need not insert into the post). The style is popular in WordPress magazine type themes.
• Trash — just like your Windows’ “Recycle Bin” (or “Trash” for Mac), all the deleted items such as posts, pages, and comments will go into “Trash” on WordPress, and can be recovered later.
• Image editing — you can do simple image editing within the WordPress editor, such as rotate, flip, resize, and crop image.
• Media Embeds — easier to embed a web media (photos & videos) to your blog post. Supports YouTube, Google Video, PollDaddy, and DailyMotion, or any service that supports oEmbed standard.

Read more at WordPress 2.9 Features, by Dougal.

My two cents

WordPress 2.9 will have a even more powerful blog editor. Do we still need a standalone blog writer?

Currently, I will still be sticking to my blog writer, ecto. The new features of version 2.9 doesn’t mean much to me…

It would be great if the “Post Thumbnails” feature will automatically generate a thumbnail based on the picture I includ in a post. Any plugin for that?

More Information:

• “WordPress For Dummies listing at Amazon.com
• “WordPress Theme Design” listing at Amazon.com
• “WordPress for Business Bloggers” listing at Amazon.com

My friend, HongKiat, is having a contest to giveaway 3 premium wordpress themes from FlashMint.

How to win the free premium themes?

All you have to do is head to the FlashMint’s wordpress themes list, pick a theme you like and tell them in the comment box of the blog post.

The contest will be closed at Monday, 27th April 2008.

FlashMint wordpress themes

There are only 10 wordpress themes on FlashMint. Each cost USD$55. 7, all of them have very similar layout, with differences in theme colors and graphics used.

Though they are suitable for CMS, cooperate and personal blogs, none of them is my pick. Ah.. I am picky one!

If you would like to get any of the premium theme for free, drop your comment at the contest page. Good luck!

Related books:

• "WordPress Theme Design: A complete guide to creating professional WordPress themes" listing at Amazon.com
• "How to Theme WordPress: From Blank to Beautiful in 2 Hours" listing at Amazon.com