Automattic, the makers of popular blogging software WordPress (this site is based on the self-hosted version), has released a newly revamped set of tools and software around the blogging platform. The idea appears to be pushing WordPress into the new generation of web tools.

With this new version, Automattic has rolled out the entire tool base and admin interface online. It’s quick and it looks nice. They’ve also created a Mac app that essentially mirrors the same interface on the desktop (with the apparent ability to write offline).

The Mac app is slick and works well. Much of the interface still holds true to what you’d expect in the WordPress dashboard (with the new and different design). I’m writing this post now in the Mac app, and while I like it, I’m disappointed to see a lack of a spell checker.

For those running self-hosted blogs, the situation is a little more tricky. WordPress can’t just be immediately forked into this new code base, so if you want to look into some of the new features (like using the Mac app), you’ll have to install the Jetpack plugin. From there, you can enable specific integrations into wordpress.com (and access to other features such as plugin auto-updates). This will require you to create a wordpress.com account if you don’t have one.

After installing Jetpack, my site’s responsiveness dropped quite a bit – 50% actually [1]. So, using this tool is not going to work for everyone. Especially not if all you’re after is the Mac app.

I’m really looking forward to where this all goes.

1. Since some features can be enabled and disabled in Jetpack, it may be possible some of them are related to slowing my site. I don’t think it’s worth the trouble right now to install and take the hit.