Well, after finalizing the blogs theme and plugins yesterday, I was ready to kick back and relax to an easy day of content writing. That was until I logged in the Admin control panel and was greeted by the news that the new version of WorPress, version 2.6 (A.K.A. “Tyner”), had just been released.

Firstoff, I would like to congratulate the WordPress team on the release and thank them for supplying us with such a great blogging platform. The new release brings with it some nifty new features, my favourite of which are the ability to track changes to a post. That feature alone makes it worth the time it took me to upgrade.

The WordPress team has also released a video detailing some of the changes in 2.6. I have embedded it into this post for your viewing pleasure. There are also loads of improvements to some of the features introduced in version 2.5.

WordPress is not only a great blogging platform, it can be used as a full featured CMS. I use it to power 95% of my sites. Now I better be off as I have a full days work ahead upgrading all my sites to the latest version.

I’m a sucker for taking on work for friends and family. Usually I do this work for free as I feel it is almost expected of me. This undoubtedly affects my ability to make money online. Late, last night a friend of my wife called me to do a project for her. Being the fool I am I got right onto it without even talking about a price. Would it be wrong if I call her up and talk about a contract for the work?

I have done countless projects for free and many of these projects have gone on to become massive successess, but not a penny has come my way. It does make me feel bad, I know it was my fault for not setting up a formal arrangment, but I also feel that I should be offered compensation.

Today is the day that I put my foot down. If someone wants me to do work for them, I will charge. Except for direct family. I don’t feel this is unreasonable, as I waste my own time and resources to make these projects work. I should be compensated for all of this.