This guest post is written by Lara Kulpa, owner of Anubis Marketing. The company’s services include blog design and development, search engine optimization, and internet marketing.

Well it’s been a few weeks now and I’ve had the chance to play around with the new version of WordPress, 2.5. I have to say that so far I’m pretty pleased with it, but it definitely takes some getting used to.

For starters, let me assure you that as with any WordPress upgrade, it’s a simple process to do. You delete and reinstall a couple folders, overwrite the rest, and run the script. Quite the cake walk to be honest. That said, if you’re not familiar with all the WP files, or how to properly use an FTP program, it’s likely best to leave the upgrade process to your developer.

Once that’s done, you’ll have to get used to the fact that the administration interface is completely different than it was before. The links for tasks have been rearranged, but it’s not something that would take a rocket scientist to figure out. Things have simply “moved”.

Some benefits you’ll find right off the bat are better widget handling (if your theme uses widgets) and a really great Flash-based uploader (via the new “Add Media” link) for photos, mp3 files, and videos. You can now see more of your uploads at once, sorting by type, and the interface for the uploader is simply much cooler and faster than the old one. The best part is that you can now upload multiple files at once.

You can also create custom-sized thumbnails yourself, rather than accept the default. That’s great news for people who have very large images that they only want “thumbnailed” down to something that won’t break their design, but still want to provide a way for the visitor to be able to see the image full size.

Another great thing is that your plugins now show when they need updating (when the plugin author creates a new release) and you can almost always (unless something goes wrong, which is rare) perform the upgrade with one click right from your admin section. As a developer with many clients using WP, this is a dream come true. Before, you had to FTP the new files in, and then hope that the upgrade went well. Plus, this is the first time where your own installation of WordPress TELLS YOU when a new version has been released. Before, you had to check for yourself.

Speaking of plugins, the new version rids the need for the UTW (Ultimate Tag Warrior) plugin, because it’s now built into the interface. It’s different than the old plugin, because it doesn’t store them in a dropdown but you can easily manage them from the Tags page.

So that said, I’m highly recommending the upgrade for everyone. Given the security issues that have been added, the streamlined admin section, and all the new improvements, it’s just a good idea all around to stay up to date. Someone’s even already created a plugin that “widgetizes” your admin section! That’s when you know that the release is stable and you can really trust that the move will be a vast improvement!