The Simple Press train continues down the path for our much anticipated 5.0 release. We are inside two weeks of launching an initial alpha testing period for 5.0. The primary purpose of that alpha will be to put our theme and plugin APIs through the ringer.
But, 5.0 is not all about plugins and themes. Another feature we have incorporated into 5.0 is a built in upgrader (sometimes referred to as auto update or one click update). Gone are the days of FTP or uploading through your host’s control panel. From 5.0 on, you will be able to upgrade Simple:Press and all of its hosted plugins and themes directly from within the WP admin just you would do with other plugins and the WP core itself.
We also have taken steps to alert you to any available updates. On any Simple:Press admin page, in the SP header, if you have enabled update checks, you will be notified of any core, plugin or theme updates with links to perform the updates. Currently, any of the plugins or themes checked will have to be hosted within our repository though the needed hooks and actions exist for users to add their own update checks. We just use the WP updater, so an SP plugin could duplicate what we have done for their plugin or theme if they did not want to host it with us.
Additionally, if you visit the SP themes or plugins admin panels, any theme or plugin you have installed will show any available updates. We provide some information on the upgrade and provide links to take you directly to the updater.
And last, but not least, if you visit the WP updates screen in the WP dashboard in the admin, you will also see a list of available SP core, theme and plugin updates right there with the WP other plugins and themes updates. Unfortunately, due to WP limitations, we are currently unable to affect the little bubble number in the left side nav menu showing the number of available updates for anything except SP core update. I have opened a WP Trac ticket to get that rectified (just need a simple filter on the update count) and are working with the WP devs to get it incorporated. With WP in RC for 3.2, it really has no chance to make that release, so more than likely it won’t make SP 5.0 but hopefully we can get done in the future.
So there you have it. Complete updates of Simple:Press core, themes and plugins right from the comfort of your WP admin.