Theme Playground

On the way home last night I was browsing through unread feeds and saw someone talking about installing the new WordPress app on their iPhone. I jumped straight into the App Store and downloaded it for free (look for it under “Utilities”). The download was quick (even on an Edge connection), and within seconds I was setting up my own blogs and checking out the available feature set.

There has been all sorts of positive buzz about the application today. I found the most interesting to be Dan’s write-up on WPCandy and (obviously) the announcement post at WordPress for iPhone. I would also watch Matt’s post, if I were you. Interesting conversations tend to happen in the comments of his blog.

Setting up blogs is very simple, with setup taking only as long as it takes to feed your phone a URL, user name and password. There is also a setting available for choosing how many of your recent posts you would like to view.

As Dan mentioned in his post, this isn’t really something which will appeal to many “hardcore bloggers”. At least, not right away. This really is the sort of app that may not be used right away, but you can bet on everyone who uses WordPress downloading it and keeping it pretty close to their home screen.

What’s next?

What’s most exciting to me about this new application isn’t what it can do now. It’s what it will be able to do before long. Matt Thomas confirmed, on the WordPress for iPhone blog, that the documentation is following closely behind the application itself. But this is just the beginning.

Starting drafts will no doubt prove useful at some point, but the real utility will come through when we’re able to view comments as they are posted to our blogs, no matter where we are. I see this as the most interesting opportunity, when it comes to taking my blog with me. Managing blog settings, updating Plugins, et cetera is great. But carrying my comments in my pocket — that I could get excited about.

Keep an eye out here for updates. How will this app open up new opportunities for theme and Plugin developers? Anyone have ideas? Let me know in the comments.