If you’re a WordPress.com user or managing a Jetpack enabled website, then you’re in for an awesome treat! Auttomatic has just released a new WordPress.com desktop app for Mac that allows its users to manage their blogs and websites (update pages, reply to comments, etc.).
This new app named Calypso enables the user to access and manage their WordPress.com blog or website from one central location or any device that has the app installed. With this, users can spend more time making awesome content and spend less time managing their sites.
Here’s an excerpt from Matt Mullenweg’s blog post about Calypso:
Today we’re announcing something brand new, a new approach to WordPress, and open-sourcing the code behind it. The project, codenamed Calypso, is the culmination of more than 20 months of work by dozens of the most talented engineers and designers I’ve had the pleasure of working with (127 contributors with over 26,000 commits!).
Additional details about Calypso:
- Incredibly fast. It’ll charm you.
- Written purely in JavaScript, leveraging libraries like Node and React.
- 100% API-powered. Those APIs are open, and now available to every developer in the world.
- A great place to read, allowing you to follow sites across the web (even if they’re not using WordPress).
- Social, with stats, likes, and notifications baked in.
- Fully responsive. Make it small and put it in your sidebar, or go full-screen.
- Really fun to write in, especially the drag-and-drop image uploads.
- Fully multi-site for advanced users, so you can manage hundreds of WordPresses from one place.
- Able to manage plugins and themes on Jetpack sites, including auto-upgrading them!
- 100% open source, with all future development happening in the open.
- Available for anyone to adapt to make their own, including building custom interfaces, distributions, or working with web services besides WordPress.com.
Preview of the New WordPress.com
The launch of the Calypso desktop app is just part of a bigger project which involves major changes and improvements on WordPress.com’s features, functions, and configuration. Check out the chart below to see the difference between the old and new WordPress.com.
Although the new WordPress.com desktop app is designed and geared towards WordPress.com blogs & websites, it can be used to manage any Jetpack enabled website and that includes self-hosted WordPress.org blogs & websites. But for it to work, the Jetpack Manage feature must be enabled.
I’ve already downloaded and installed Calypso on my iMac but I haven’t gotten the chance to test it with my WordPress.com account or use it to connect and manage JaypeeOnline.
Anyone here tried or are currently using the new WordPress.com desktop app called Calypso? How do you like it so far? What are the features you like best? What feature/s would you like to see added to future updates/versions? Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.
