Sofie Estolloso Hofmann Designs International

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.

Today, as we just stayed at home, I upgraded all the sites using WordPress as CMS from WordPress 2.3.2 to WordPress 2.3.3. I started with Sehdi.com as a test. I had no problem at all, so I also upgraded SofieHofmann.com Blog, Pandan.ph, Tugbong.pandan.ph, Pandan.gov.ph News, Pagtatap.org, Weggis.net and LADiosoLibrary.org. But, is there really a need to upgrade from WordPress 2.3.2 to WordPress 2.3.3? My answer would be YES and NO!

YES, it is recommended to upgrade if you have your registration enabled and you have any other users aside from you. If not, you can leave it as it is, as it won’t really affect your site. If you still worry, you can just upload the fixed version of xmlrpc.php.

When I read about this security release, I just uploaded the fixed version of xmlrpc.php. But I kept on reading this text “A new version of WordPress is available! Please update now.” every time I logged in. So after 13 days I finally gave in. I upgraded all the 8 sites.

There’s a way, of course, if you don’t want to read that message anymore. All you have to do is upload the version.php file under the wp-includes folder. But I’m not comfortable doing it that way, so I upgraded the sites just like I normally do.

And NO, you don’t have to upgrade if your registration is disabled and you’re the only one who has access to your blog or site. Regarding the other minor bug fixes, if those few minor bugs do not also affect your site, then there’s really no need to upgrade. When I read what they fixed, the problems were at the version 2.2, 2.3 and 2.3.1. If you upgraded to WordPress 2.3.2 already, and you encountered no problem at all, then you have the option not to upgrade.

But if you haven’t upgraded to WordPress 2.3.2 yet, then you might be affected, so I suggest that you should upgrade to WordPress 2.3.3. That’s for your own security too. Remember before you upgrade, always backup your files and database.

Note from Sofie: This is just my opinion. It is always your decision whether to upgrade or not.

Last Friday and Saturday, I finished upgrading the sites using WordPress as CMS. I upgraded the sites, Sehdi.com, SofieHofmann.com Blog, Pandan.ph, Tugbong.pandan.ph, Pagtatap.org, Pandan.gov.ph News, Weggis.net, and LADiosoLibrary.org, from WordPress 2.3.1 to WordPress 2.3.2.

There was no problem at all. I just followed my own 10 steps when I upgraded to WordPress 2.3.1 from WordPress 2.3. WordPress 2.3.2 is a bug-fix release just like WordPress 2.3.1. You are advised to upgrade immediately as the prior release can be used to expose your draft posts. It also suppresses some error messages that can give away information about your database table structure and limits. For more information, please read the entire blog entry at WordPress.org Blog about WordPress 2.3.2.

The good news is, the Counterize II WordPress Plugin that I deactivated in some sites is now doing fine, not anymore in conflict with google search, so I activated it again in all the other sites. I didn’t do anything at all, it was just fixed when I used the latest version of Counterize II WordPress Plugin, version 2.12.3.

I use the same WordPress Plugins and you can read about them when I upgraded to WordPress 2.1 Ella.

You can download the new release WordPress 2.3.2 at WordPress.org.

I finally finished upgrading all my weblogs and websites using WordPress from WordPress 2.3 to WordPress 2.3.1, which is actually just a bug-fix and security release for the WordPress 2.3 series. Read the details at the WordPress.org Blog, WordPress 2.3.1.

I upgraded the sites Sehdi.com, SofieHofmann.com Blog, Pandan.ph, Tugbong.pandan.ph, Pagtatap.org, Pandan.gov.ph News, and Weggis.net.

Every time I upgraded, I also wrote some details on how did I do it. So here it goes again. 🙂

My 10 steps to upgrading WordPress:

First, I downloaded the latest WordPress release in my hard disk. I downloaded it from the download page of WordPress.

Second, I extracted/unzipped the new files in my hard disk. With this, I was able to check the site locally because I installed IIS in my hard disk.

Third, I made a back-up of my database in my hard disk. I just accessed phpmyadmin online and then exported the whole database.

Fourth, I copied the old files to another folder, and also to my hard disk. If anything happens during the upgrade and the pages are not showing up properly, I can always revert to the old files.

Fifth, I changed the content of the index file at the root or at the folder where the WordPress was installed. I did it using the web control panel, sometimes via FTP. The message goes like this, “Sorry, I’m upgrading the site right now. Please come back after a few minutes.” With this, visitors will know that nothing is wrong with the site or else visitors might get the internal server error message.

Sixth, I deactivated all the WordPress Plugins. This is just to avoid any pages not showing up properly in case the plugin is not compatible with the latest release of WordPress. I logged-in first of course at the admin page.

Seventh, I deleted the files except the index.php file, wp-content folder and config.php file. I deleted the files using the web control panel, it’s easier because if I do it via FTP, I just can’t delete the folder. I have to delete the contents of the subfolder first, if there’s any, then the contents of the folder, and then the folder.

Some notes though, I just visited the site of WordPress and read that there was no need for me to delete the files anymore. I could have just uploaded the files and the old files will be replaced. Copying the entire folder will overwrite the old files.

Eight, I uploaded the entire folder of the extracted files even including the wp-content folder via FTP. There were no plugins yet, except Akismet being always part of the release, at the wp-content folder of the new extracted release version, so no plugins have been replaced other than Akismet.

Take note, be very careful when deleting or overwriting files, read the details at the codex of WordPress on Upgrading WordPress. I noticed that they have rewritten the content here. So kindly check it out. I didn’t read it before I upgraded the sites to WordPress 2.3.1.

Ninth, I replaced the index file with the original content. With this, the pages will again show up properly.

<?php define(‘WP_USE_THEMES’, true);
require(‘./wp-blog-header.php’);
?>

Tenth, lastly, I checked the pages, and reactivated the plugins one at a time.

I didn’t have any problem with the upgrade and with the plugins. Everything just went smooth. You can read this entry, Upgraded to WordPress 2.1 Ella, to know what WordPress Plugins have I been using. I still use the same plugins. Check each site for new versions.

Anyway, if you notice at the Plugins section, there should be a message there if the plugin you use have a new version. Also, once you logged-in to your admin, there will also be a message that you are using an old version of WordPress and that you can download the latest version from the website of WordPress.

I finally finished upgrading all the Websites using WordPress from WordPress 2.1.3 to WordPress 2.3 “Dexter”. I really had issues with WordPress 2.2 that’s why I didn’t upgrade the sites from WordPress 2.1.3 to WordPress 2.2 neither to WordPress versions 2.2.1, 2.2.2 and 2.2.3. I first tried upgrading Sehdi.com last Tuesday, and I didn’t have any problems. So I decided to upgrade all the other Websites the next day except for Weggis.net which I only did on Friday.

SofieHofmann.com Blog, Sehdi.com, Pandan.ph, Pandan.gov.ph News, Tugbong.pandan.ph were still using WordPress 2.1.3 before the upgrade. Pagtatap.org was the only one that I upgraded from WordPress 2.1.3 to WordPress 2.2.1, not WordPress 2.2. Actually with Weggis.net, I didn’t have to do it myself, as my webhost has one click upgrade feature. I wanted to upgrade Weggis.net last Wednesday too, but my webhost haven’t installed WordPress 2.3 yet. As I haven’t upgraded the site from WordPress 2.2.2, I just upgraded it to WordPress 2.2.3, only to be upgraded again last Friday to WordPress 2.2.3 as my webhost finally installed it.

I never really had major problems with the WordPress Plugins, everything went well. If there were any problems, they were just minor ones, and they were fixed in just a few seconds.

I don’t have more than 7 WordPress Plugins in any of my sites but if you combine all the different sites, then I’m using more or less 11 but not more than 15 WordPress Plugins. What are those WordPress Plugins then? Kindly check this past entry, Upgraded to WordPress 2.1 Ella. So far I’m using the same WordPress Plugins and nothing really changed that much except for using its new versions, of course. Check the sites of these WordPress Plugins for new versions compatible to WordPress 2.3.