From the change log:

• Clean up version, before going xml
• One-click install
• Spanish localization by El Hipocratico
• Strawberry Cream skin by Antonella Pavese
• Tweaked the data that will get displayed via the print link plugin
• Optimized the header and footer nav queries
• Optimized the interaction with the sidebar tile plugin
• Optimized sem_theme_init() — it now runs after all wp caching occurs

There are also a few plugin updates:

• Markdown fix (obsolete) is no longer required if you are using Markdown 1.0.1b
• Search reloaded now searches in excerpts and will no longer crash while indexing tons of posts
• Sidebar tile (obsolete) got optimized — upgrade if you are using my CMS package or smart link
• Smart links got optimized — upgrade if you are using sidebar tile

Upgrading from 2.4 to 2.5 is as simple as simple can get: simply overwrite all files. If you've skipped a version, you'll want to check:

• Upgrade instructions to v.2.4, from v.2.3
• Upgrade instructions to v.2.3

The first is a bug/feature that you bump into whenever a user inserts code in a comment. Invariably, do_something_method() will format a dosomethingmethod() because the user did not insert backticks. To make things worse, users do not insert backticks even when explicitly invited to. And even if they did, it is a pathetic way to solve the problem. Markdown must change.

I'm thinking of fixing this by automatically translating do_something_method() to do\_something\_method() outside of code blocks. Obviously, it's a bit more complex, because of things like __foo(), but it might very well work out by trying to match symmetric patterns based on word boundaries, which arguably looks more like a user inserting an emphasis. The same goes, to a lesser extent, with * (as in 2*3=6).

The second common bug/feature that you bump into is related to the way Markdown processes line breaks. Some users insert paragraphs in their comments… using a single line break to insert a paragraph. Whereby Markdown will transform a perfectly formatted text into a horrendous single text block.

I think there is room for auto-correction here too. For instance, by adding line feeds and double spaces where they are obviously missing, outside of code blocks.

I'd be curious to know your thoughts on the two topics, if any.

Update: Michel Fortin released a Markdown Extra plugin, that does the above.

For those of you who wonder, Markdown is a highly usable text formatting syntax by John Gruber.

• Recent comments displays the latest comments on a WordPress blog, grouped by post
• Recent posts and Recent news display the latest from your 'blog' and 'news' categories
• Recent updates displays a list of recently updated pages on your WordPress blog

I've several other plugins in the pipe:

• Smart Links, which I am currently beta testing on this web site, and which I think is set to create a huge increase in usability and maintainability for WordPress blogs
• Fancy Excerpt is a fancy excerpt generator for WordPress blogs, that I think is set to enjoy a huge success
• Markdown fix, will hopefully solve any Markdown-related bugs that will remain once I'm done with the two previous

Update:

• The recent plugins are obsolete, and have been replaced by the Fuzzy Widgets plugin
• Markdown Fix has been dropped.

I tried over 30 Content Management Systems lately. It's creepy to see how worthless they all are.

What I would need if you feel like programming:

• Single type of data (i.e. "node", "resource", whatever you prefer)
• Node graph editor (i.e. multi-categorization and clustering)
• Node tags, to add features to individual nodes (e.g. tagging a node as a "feed" would lists posts by date; tagging it as a directory would list posts by name
• Simple to use plugin API
• Wysigyg text editor

With the above, you can manage 99% of web sites in a user friendly way

Examples:

• [Semiologic](http://www.semiologic.com): Semiologic
• __strong emphasis__: strong emphasis

Update — Markdown is disabled in comments due to incessant bugs in comments with code blocks.