Here’s a WordPress 3.0 video tour in HD.

You can also see my review of the new WordPress 3.0 changes here.

What I like most about this new version of Wordpress is the Network of WordPress Sites. This is great if you have an existing WordPress installation and want to change it into a WordPress MU installation. All it takes is (1) a directory creation, (2) a click; and (3) a few minor php modifications.

Custom Post Types

It’s terrific that the developers considered this for WordPress. It’ll be much easier to post or have different templates per post type.

Imagine having a real estate website, you’ll have a different layout for your real estate posts and your normal blog posts.

It really makes blogging more organized and of course, makes it easy for your clients.

[Custom Post Types screenshots from kovshenin.com]

Another thing, you don’t have to upgrade your 2.xx WordPress themes, it can easily be installed in your WordPress 3.0 installation.

Our Wordpress MU installation was more than a year old that time and because of spam we have more than 10,000 users and blogs; and more than 5GB of database. And because of the size of the database, I can’t view the database via phpMyAdmin.

What I’ve noticed though, through the admin panel, was that all of the blogs don’t have any users attached or vice versa.

I’ve deleted wp-config.php and .htaccess to re-install Wordpress MU; and removed all the plugins as per suggestions from websites and forums.

The only thing that worked was exporting the wp_usermeta table, then on the meta_key column, look for wp_(id no.)_capabilities, meta value should be a:1:{s:13:”administrator”;b:1;} and also wp_(id no.)_user_level, meta value should be 10. After changing the meta values, I imported the table and, voila, it works!

1. Global undo/”trash” feature
2. Built-in image editor
3. Batch plugin update and compatibility checking
4. Easier video embeds

And here are also some of the improvements:

• support for canonical urls
• upgraded the TinyMCE WYSIWYG editor and Simplepie
• automatic database optimization support
• sidebar descriptions
• improved Press This bookmarklet
• and a lot more

Read the official release post here.

So you’ve finally decided to start a web blog and decided what to blog about, the question is where will you host it?

Hosted vs standalone (self-hosted)

Hosted blogs are those that run under blogger.com, livejournal.com, wordpress.com, multiply.com, etc.

Pros

• It’s FREE!
• You don’t have to worry about updating the blog application since the administrators/moderators do it for you
• Some of these hosted blogs have a social networking feature which will alert or inform the other users once you’ve updated your blog

Cons

• These hosted blogs can not be fully customized.
• You and about 50 more others will have the same theme/template as you, unless you have a bit of CSS, HTML or PHP knowledge.
• You get a http://yourname.thehostedblog.com url.
• Some services also places ad in your website.

Standalone

Standalone blogs are those that are hosted under your own web server, and the application is usually installed by you. Most web hosting control panel has an automated web applications installer like Fantastico for cPanel, etc. which can be used to easily install and upgrade a web application.

Pros

• A http://www.yourname.com domain gives a more professional/personal feel.
• Since the application is in your web server, it’s easier to customize it; you can choose which plugins and themes to use.
• It has SEO advantages.
• You can create backups as much as you like.

Cons

• If you don’t have much knowledge and isn’t willing to learn a few html, css, php, database, etc. then this isn’t the one for you.

If you’re on a tight budget, then a hosted blog is the one for you. Although you can shell out about $10/year for a domain and point it to your hosted blog (yes, some hosted blogs allows it).

If you’re planning to blog in the long run, then get a domain and web hosting service.

Whatever blog application you choose, make sure you choose the right one that will fit your budget and won’t give you headaches in the future.

Login to your cPanel (http://yourdomain.com/cpanel or http://yourdomain.com:2082)

Go to Mail

In the Mail Manager Main Menu, click on Add/Remove/Manage Accounts

Go to Add Account

Enter your desired email, password and inbox quota

And, it’s done!