I’ve been having a quick play around with the new WordPress 2.5 Release Candidate.   It’s mainly if not all about the user-interface, which has long needed tarting up.  And it’s been worth the wait because it really is like having a new WordPress.  What I like best is the ability to toggle the Write Post window into full screen.   Suddenly WordPress feels like a proper word processor.  There’s also a wonderful media browser which enables you to quickly review your uploaded pictures etc and edit the titles and so forth.  There’s loads more  - but in general this is the upgrade that makes WordPress look and feel like an expensive piece of (free) software.

Libsyn - the podcast hosting service - has a great new stats service.

(Full pic size on Flickr.)

I’ve spent the weekend coding up a new theme for Mallika’s Quick Indian Cooking blog.   It was a bit of a team effort.  Mallika and her photographer husband Andy mocked up how they wanted it to look.  I did the CSS and put it all into WordPress (using the ultra flexible Sandbox theme as a base).

It has a bit of a web-magazine look about it - with a slick YouTube video in the sidebar,  and post highlights using custom fields. 

I have a few things on the to-do list left - such as a different sidebar for inside pages and a better archive page.   But overall,  I think it’s a nice new look for Mallika’s blog - and I have a feeling that she is going places with her Quick Indian Cooking.