This week, WordPress 3.2 became available to the public. According to Matt Mullenweg, "the focus for this release was making WordPress faster and lighter". While the new version of WordPress doesn't bring any revolutionary changes to blogging, it does move this CMS forward with confidence and style.

New features and changes in WordPress 3.2 include:

• A refreshed dashboard design that tightens the typography, design, and code behind the admin.
• The introduction of a HTML 5 theme,Twenty Eleven, that modern browser users will appreciate.
• A "just write" distraction-free writing or "zen mode" user interface.
• Minimum PHP version is now 5.2.4. PHP 4 is no longer supported.
• Minimum MySQL database version is now 5.0.
• Internet Explorer (IE6) and other outdated browsers are no longer supported.

As has been customary ever since I remember, WordPress 3.2 is also given the code name of one of the Jazz artists greats, this time "Gershwin". Enjoy the video, found below the fold, introducing WordPress 3.2.

PHP 5 CMS Framework Development - 2nd Edition is a new book from Packt that teaches readers about the design choices involved in the creation of advanced web oriented PHP systems. Written by Martin Brampton , this book will help readers to implement solid mechanisms for common features such as menus, presentation services, and user management, and to build a highly functional infrastructure for web applications.

PHP is a widely used, general-purpose scripting language that was originally designed for web development, allowing the production of dynamic web pages. This free software, which can be easily embedded into HTML, generally runs on a web server that needs to be configured to process PHP code and create content from it. PHP has evolved to include a command line interface capability and can also be used in standalone graphical applications.

PHP 5 CMS Framework Development - 2nd Edition starts off by discussing fundamental issues such as the automatic loading of code modules and interfaces to database systems, and goes on to explain deeper topics such as session handling, caches, and access control. Furthermore, the book also talks about the key issues that affect a wide range of specific content handlers by exploring a practical example in detail.

Using this book, developers will learn effective coding techniques through detailed explanations, along with technical functions such as handling user sessions and creating caches. Additionally, developers will learn flexible and efficient ways to support different world languages, to transform query string URLs to be more “friendly” for people and search engines, and alternative ways to deal with presentation services.

Written by a seasoned developer, this practical hands-on guide is ideal for professional PHP developers who want to learn more about web oriented frameworks and content management systems. The book is out now and available from Packt. For more information, please visit http://www.packtpub.com/php-5-cms-framework-development-second-edition/book

Over the weekend, version 1.7 of CMS Made Simple (CMSMS) was released. One of those most significant changes in this version of CMSMS is the drop of support for PHP 4 in favor of PHP 5.2 and PHP 5.3. 

Additional significant features in CMSMS 1.7 also include:

• Improvements to TinYMCE (WYSIWYG)
• Now not depending on admin-theme’s icons anymore. Thanks Nuno
• Updated to Tiny 3.3-final
• Added an option to generate CMS-compatible thumbnails when uploading files though the filepicker.
• Search 1.6.2
• Adds the detailpage param (can be overriden by modules)
• ModuleManager 1.3.3
• Remove the long-deprecated ImageGallery plugin

Additional details on CMSMS 1.7 can be found at CMSMadeSimple.org.