My Radical Blogs

I have ventured into the latest WordPress 2.5 upgrade with a little trepidation. There is always this underlying fear of losing all that has been done on my sites. I have a distrust of backups particularly when it comes to upgrades.

However I decided it had to be done at some stage and putting it off would not get the job done so I selected one of my lesser sights, one that I have only just started in the last month, and gave it the upgrade. The end result. It was very easy. A breeze in fact.

My first piece of advice is to use a good FTP client. They make the transfer files easy and quick. Here is a basic summary of what you need to do to upgrade. The information is also available from WordPress.org.

1. deactivate all plugins,
2. download the upgrade package and extract it on your desktop,
3. delete the admin and includes folders from your sites – this is where a good FTP client comes in handy,
4. upload the new admin and includes folders to your site,
5. leave the content folder intact – just copy the new files from the wp-content folder on your desktop to the wp-content folder on your site,
6. if you need them – copy the classic and default themes across – I always keep the default theme in place in case of emergency,
7. copy the files from the root directory of the upgrade folder to the WP root directory on your site,
8. you can manually find the upgrade file and run that, or simply load your site and upgrade the database from there,
9. reactivate your plugins – try one at time testing the site after each has been activated,
10. done.

It couldn’t be easier. It took me about 30 minutes to complete the upgrade, but then again I have a very slow broadband connection.

What do I like about the new WordPress

It looks sleek and looks new. It seems to be a little quicker as well. The plugins can be updated through the plugins menu so for me that will probably mean I can remove the onestep install plugin – one less plugin to stress the system.

What don’t I like – I will get back to you on that. The look and feel is fairly good but with all change comes a little settling period. If there is one I don’t like straight away it would have to be the widget interface. To me, the important area is the current widget installation area. For some reason that has been shunted off to the right with the center of the screen devoted to the widgets available. To me that is a little back to front – I want to see clearly what is currently installed, particularly if I am going in to edit a text box.

Otherwise, installation is quick and smooth. The new interface feels good and it is certainly a little faster. From the end users point of view, there is no change (which is how it should be), a visitor would not know if you had upgraded or not. If I comes across any major issues you will be the first to know. If you have been holding back, don’t – it is pretty drama free.

In the mean time, my installation went smoothly, no loss of hair or turning gray (too late), no bleary eyes or cranky tantrums but plenty of relief from skin redness – don’t ask.

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