WordPress 2.5 has finally been released! Now before getting into the praise and changes, I just wanted to give the WordPress team credit for one thing. Out of all the major WordPress upgrades I have done, this is the first time nothing has screwed up after I made the move. Big congrats to the entire WordPress team.

This release does a lot for the visual aspect of WordPress and well, to put it in terms that everybody can understand – everything is a lot prettier. The entire interface has been redesigned, and it shows. Not only a visual update, it also looks like they did a lot to add functionality to the new admin section to where the important stuff is biggest and in your face while the not so important stuff is tucked away so that when you need it you can get to it.

When writing a post they have added a few new key features that are really exciting. The new “Add media” section allows you to quickly pull in audio, video, and images to your posts without doing a wacky dance to figure out the right special plugin code you should be using.

I just recently started using Windows Live Writer to do all my publishing to my various Web projects, but this latest WordPress release makes me want to go play with that interface some more instead. If you have not upgraded yet then you really have nothing to lose.

Note: Also be sure to check out the new WordPress.org too. It has been redesigned to match the new WordPress interface.