Sofie Estolloso Hofmann Designs International

Yesterday, I finally finished upgrading the last site that I maintain using WordPress as CMS. I upgraded three (3) sites and one (1) blog on Sunday, Sehdi.com, SofieHofmann.com Blog, Pandan.ph and Tugbong.pandan.ph. I upgraded them first in my local computer as a test and so far, no WordPress Plugins were broken. Once everything were ok, I performed the upgrade process just like the usual and everything went well.

I experimented on Pandan.ph though, and it has to do with WordPress Stats Plugin. I did not deactivate the WordPress Stats Plugin so I do not have to write the API Key again. To note, once you deactivate the WordPress Stats Plugin and activate it again, it will always ask for the API Key unlike the Akismet Plugin. The Akismet Plugin, once deactivated and activated, the API Key do not have to be supplied again.

Anyway, what happened? I was not able to access the dashboard at all. So, I deleted the WordPress Stats Plugin at the control panel as I know it was probably the cause. But it remained the same, I was not able to access the dashboard. So I deleted all the Plugins at the control panel as well, not at the Plugins menu. You can delete the Plugins via FTP too. Then uploaded the Plugins, activated them, and everything went fine.

Then I upgraded two (2) more sites on Monday, Pandan.gov.ph News and Pagtatap.org, and yesterday, LADiosolibrary.org, and everything went fine as well.

With Weggis.net, I upgraded it using the one-click upgrade by the web host and so far, everything went well too. Of course, I deactivated all the Plugins first, and only activated them afterwards.

Before that, I tested both WordPress 2.5 Release Candidate 1 and WordPress 2.5 Release Candidate 2 but did not write anything about it right away. I had issues with the built-in gallery then. I wanted to write about it but decided to wait for the official WordPress 2.5 release. I was relieved because what I wanted to do with the gallery can actually be done with the official release. I did not see those features of the built-in gallery at the Release Candidates 1 and 2. I probably overlooked those features but I will not discuss that further as it will only make this entry long. I’m still testing the gallery up to now anyway. I’m trying to explore what more could it do.

Anyway, as I have said in my last entry, I would take note of the database changes but the database did not really change that much, no additional tables at all, except for some which I’m not going to reiterate as you can read about it at the Weblog Tools Collection, 2.3 to 2.5 Database Changes.

I also said that the changes were not just minor changes. Indeed, it was not, WordPress 2.5 had a lot of major improvements. Let me say it, improvements. I will also not write about it as Matt Mullenweg wrote so extensively about it at the WordPress Development Blog, WordPress 2.5.

Regarding the WordPress Plugins I am using, I will also not write them here, just browse my past blog entries to know the Plugins that I have in my sites. One thing though, I no longer use the Filosofo Home-Page Control Plugin WordPress since using WordPress 2.3. Regarding Upgrading WordPress process, I just did the same, just like what I wrote in my past blog entries too, similar to Upgrading WordPress Extended.

I’m getting used to WordPress 2.5, and I’m liking it. Way to go WordPress People! Thanks to all of you!

Finally, WordPress 2.5 Release Candidate 1 is out. It was supposed to be out on March 10, 2008, but was delayed as they still fixed a lot of things. I have patiently waited for this as I am already revising a lot of websites using WordPress as CMS (Content Management System).

By just reading what Matt posted a few hours ago, 2.5 Sneak Peek (a sneak peek at the WordPress 2.5 Release Candidate 1), it seems like a lot of changes have been made at the administration side, at the dashboard, navigation, write and manage screens. As I see it, I do not think that they are just minor changes.

Just to quote Matt, 2.5 Sneak Peek:

A customizable dashboard, multi-file upload, built-in galleries, one-click plugin upgrades, tag management, built-in Gravatars, full text feeds, and faster load times sound interesting? Then WordPress 2.5 might be the release for you. It’s been in the oven for a while, and we’re finally ready to open the doors a bit to give you a taste.

Let us see if it is to my liking. I have been waiting for the new built-in galleries. I did not want to use any image or photo plugins so I just used the pages for photo albums instead of the post as I use category and date features to archive the news articles and blog entries, and I do not want that with the photo galleries.

Let us tackle more about it later once I already tested it. I will especially pay attention to the database as I do not like the way files are being saved at the database at the past WordPress versions. In my opinion, if it could be done, pages and posts should not be on the same table. The images or photos as attachments should not be on the same table too with the pages and posts. Links, tags and categories should also be on separate tables.

Anyway, as I have said, let us discuss this further later. I will have to download it now and test it in my local computer.

Read 2.5 Sneak Peek at WordPress.org Blog for more information, and link to the zip file if you want to download it.