One of the most popular blogging platforms for bloggers – WordPress – has come out with its 13th major release on June 17th 2010. The new WordPress is named Thelonious – meaning ruler of the people.

Approximately 218 volunteers had contributed in the making of the WordPress Version 3.0. For the new WordPress version 3.0 the database version has changed to 15260. In this article let us check out what’s new?

The new WordPress with a light interface for the user has made it possible for WordPress and WordPress MU to merge. This multi site functionality means you can run not just one, but many blogs using just one WordPress installation.  A new default theme has been introduced known as the ‘Twenty-Ten’ which looks good on public sites.

Moreover the new version makes it possible for bulk updating of themes. The admin color scheme is now lighter which makes the blog content more prominent.  There is also a contextual help available for all the screens. There is also a new feature for custom menu management. This allows in creating custom menus with options such as posts, pages, tags, categories, links etc.

Also there is marked improvement in the custom post types. Now WordPress users can easily create and manage videos, chats, podcasts, portfolios etc using the custom post types. Similarly custom taxonomies have been improved for categories. A user can now enable custom taxonomy user interface for both post and pages.

There is also support for short links in the new version but you still require a plugin. It also makes login simple and easy with anytime, anywhere access due to a new wp-login_form. For those trying to make a mark with SEO but are too forgetful about what they do, there is a new alert known as the ‘search engines blocked’ which when placed in the admin header alerts you from accidental delisting.

You can also check out the new logo of WordPress in the admin header. In the dashboard you can see that themes, core upgrades and plugins are now under one panel. In your blog post you can use quick edit and remove all tags in one go. There is some good improvement in the post revision feature too.

The new version also makes it possible to add additional columns to view post comments. Moreover you can now see when a comment is made on another comment and link them to the parent comment.The above were only some of the top highlights of the new WordPress Version 3.0.