WordPress may be giving out great new treats out by Halloween. With the WP 2.9 beta going live and the official WordPress 2.9 release scheduled soon after, we are really in for multimedia treats that many have long wanted.

New video oEmbed will be part of the WP2.9 core and make for ultra simple video posting. Perhaps the most amazing ‘treat’ is a ‘trick’ most have had to hack into themes and one of the most requested WordPress features of modern times: Post Image Integration! Yes, I am that excited, and when you see how simple a trick post embeds and thumbnails have become, so will you. Just as exciting are the possibilities with the integrated embeds, anyone can now be a multimedia pro code and plug-in free.

Integrated WordPress Post Thumbnails

With WordPress 2.9 the ability to add an image to a post has finally arrived. The image need not be inserted into the post, just like the ever-popular ‘Magazine’ and ‘Premium’ themes. The new feature the_post_image() controls where it will display.

In the template you can use the function the_post_image() to place the image anywhere you choose. Here is how to call the new function and the parameters for WordPress thumbnail image sizes.

<?php the_post_image(); ?>

the_post_image(); // without parameter = Thumbnail
the_post_image(’thumbnail’); // Thumbnail
the_post_image(’medium’); // Medium resolution

[img-src]

oEmbeds For WordPress 2.9

The oEmbed feature he has been developed into the core of the WordPress 2.9 release. To put it simple, oEmbeds will make it easier to embed remote content, such as images and videos, into your blog. To start using the new embeds you first ‘turn it on’ in your WP-admin section.

[img-src]

Once your WordPress install is set up for the new embed features, you get two ultra-simple options for use. To embed something, such as a YouTube video or Flickr image, you have two new easy options. First, for any supported site you simply paste a plain text, not hyperlinked, URL on its own line in your post. Second, by use of oEmbed discovery, virtually any site and any media can be included with plain text shortcode. To use the shortcode method you wrap the URL with the new [embed] shortcode in your posts.

Current oEmbed Supported Sites

At present 11 sites are ready the moment you start. With oEmbed discovery, virtually any site may be added on. By use of plugins virtually any site can be added even without full oEmbed support.

• Clearspring Widgets [ http://widgets.clearspring.com ]
• Flickr [ http://www.flickr.com ]
• Hulu [ http://www.hulu.com ]
• My Opera [ http://my.opera.com ]
• Poll Everywhere [ http://www.polleverywhere.com ]
• Qik [ http://qik.com]
• Revision3 [ http://revision3.com ]
• Viddler [ http://www.viddler.com ]
• Vimeo [ http://vimeo.com ]
• YouTube [ http://www.youtube.com ]
• oohEmbed [ http://oohembed.com ]

Both of the new features for WP2.9 are part of the WordPress core, so no plugins or coding are needed. The latest edition of WordPress seems to be custom-tailored to community requests. While light on major changes, it presents a large array of upgrades and user-level enhancements. The tricks and treats don’t end here, so watch for more to come as we get the details and testing done. New internal image editors and media management features are next on the list of features coming to WP2.9 and rumors of a ‘Windows’-like recycle bin.