WordPress 2.6 is scheduled for release, July 7 or 14, 2008. (This information is subject to change.)

Yap, sooner or later a WordPress version 2.6 will be ready for download. Listed below is what been added and improved from the WordPress version 2.5 to WordPress 2.6

• Version/revision saves a copy of a post every time you edit it, allows you to view (not edit) each of those copies (revisions), Shows forward (in time) diffs between any two revisions.
• Add paging of Themes in Design panel
• Word Count displayed when writing and editing posts and pages
• Press This bookmarklet
• Add sorting to gallery
• Export/import post excerpts
• Theme Previewer
• Check (assigned) Ccategories at top Category box in Write/Manage Post
• Show when a term is both a tag and a category
• Wider Profile fields
• TinyMCE 3.1

Developer:

• The default meta boxes on the post, page, and link edit page can be removed and replaced. They can be added via add_meta_box()
• Support for Google Gears managed offline storage
• Latest JQuery update
• Allow wp-config.php to exist one level up from WordPress root directory. New file wp-load.php designates location of wp-config.php file.

• WP_CONTENT_DIR – full path
• WP_CONTENT_URL – full url
• WP_PLUGIN_DIR – full path
• WP_PLUGIN_URL – full url
• WP_LANG_DIR – full path
• Deprecated constants declared with limited backwards compatibility.

• PLUGINDIR
• LANGDIR

• Add current_category option to wp_list_categories.

Here is added information on the breakthrough of the development as of today in a compile list of features and enhancement that will be added in the next major version release as we approach the release date.

• Admin SSL support — The WordPress 2.6 admin should be able to be visited via either HTTP (normal connection) or HTTPS (encrypted connection), with the option to make admin HTTPS mandatory. [via]
• Remote publishing disabled by default — Having the main avenue of attack for WordPress blogs be disabled by default will be great for WordPress security. [via]
• Plugin Auto-Installation — In WordPress 2.5, you were able to upgrade plugins automatically; in WordPress 2.6, you may have similar functionality for new installations.
• WordPress Auto-Upgrade — There’s been some early progress on incorporating auto-upgrade for WordPress itself into version 2.6.
• Theme preview — Theme preview functionality would allow you to see what a new theme would look like on your blog before you activate it.
• Theme paging — For those of you with a ton of WordPress themes (more than 15), you’ll be able to page through them in the administration. This should be especially useful for WordPress MU blogs that have large theme collections.
• Ability to move wp-config.php — In WordPress 2.6, you’ll be able to move wp-config.php one directory level below the public root. Perhaps this could also allow multiple WordPress installations to share the same config file?
• Google Gears support — Now integrated into the WordPress trunk (current working version), this feature will allow Google Gears users to experience a faster admin interface, and possibly manage their WordPress blogs while offline (how cool would that be?).
• Identicons — In WordPress 2.6 you’ll have the ability to select a default Gravatar for those who don’t have one.
• Post Revisions — Wiki-style revisions management for blog posts: a cool new power-feature, just announced on the WordPress Development Updates blog.
• Shift-Click Checkbox Selection — In WordPress 2.6, you should be able to select a range of checkboxes in the category, comment, tag, post, page, and media administration sections by checking the “start” checkbox, holding the Shift key, and then checking the “end” checkbox… Gmail style.
• Post Word Count — A WordPress.com feature that might be making its way into WordPress 2.6.
• “Press This” Bookmarklet — The bookmarklet (which existed in WordPress 2.3 and prior but was removed in WordPress 2.5) has returned, new and improved.

Matt Mullenweg talked a bit about WordPress 2.6. while at WordCamp Dallas