Extra, extra, read all about it.

I am very happy to announce that the first release of WordPress is now available for download. A full change log is available, but here is a brief overview of the new features.

• Texturize — So good it’ll make your quotes curl.
• WordPress Links — A link manager with everything you’d expect, from Weblogs.com support to a handy bookmarklet. Manage as many blogrolls as you like, and have complete control over their display.
• XHTML 1.1 — WordPress is complaint with XHTML standards up to 1.1, though by default it sends a 1.0 document type to avoid compatibility issues.
• Highly Intelligent Line Breaks — Occasionally called “nl2br on steroids,” this brand new function adds line breaks except where there is already a block level tag or another line break.
• New Administration Interface — We’ve made it as simple as possible, and no more. Everything has been restructured from the ground up in a fully compliant XHTML/CSS interface.
• Manual Excerpts — This allows you to handcraft summaries of your posts to appear in your RSS feed and other places.
• New Default Templates — Again we’ve streamlined theses with the latest in simple, easy-to-understand standard XHTML and CSS. And not a CSS hack in sight.
• Plus numerous behind the scenes code cleanups, making this release faster and more stable than ever.

WordPress is available completely free of charge under the GPL license. Enjoy!

Go get it, and then go tell everybody about it. Many thanks! And now, it’s time for a party.