WebHelperMagazine.com

Welcome to WebHelperMagazine.com. Please consider signing up for our RSS feed. Check out our job board, and be sure to leave comments -- we post your name and a link to your site as a way to thank you for joining the WHMag conversation.

by Scott Frangos

It’s here — WordPress 2.5, which you know if you pay attention to the notices in your admin. area. Should you upgrade now? Yes… if you want to enjoy a reorganized and streamlined new administration interface. No… if you want assurances that all of your plugins will work. You can afford to wait a bit and check in with plugin programmers (follow the links to their sites in the Plugin list). Leave a comment — this is all a big conversation you know — and better yet, tip your plugin authors if you benefit from their work. That’s a good way to encourage developers to keep working on their plugins.

Below, I’ll list some options for your consideration if a key plugin just doesn’t work. First, though let’s take a look at the best processes for upgrading, some great new features, some traps to avoid, and some tips to get the most out of the new interface..

Stand by to Launch Upgrade

Ok. You’re ready? Let’s review your BlogMaster WordPress Upgrade checklist:

• Check the list of plugins known not to work at the WordPress Codex. Any of yours there? Are they mission critical, or are there workarounds? We can discuss what that means here, but you should be able to find an alternative plugin that can serve for the time being.
• You’ve backed up WordPress. You’ve done an XHTML export (Manage>Export). Check. You’re double covered.
• You’ve downloaded the latest, greatest version of WordPress from WordPress.org.
• You’ve turned off all of your plugins (if you have a lot of them, you may wish to save the page first so you’ll remember which you had on, and which you had off).
• You’ve fired up FileZilla, the great open source FTP program, and have found the proper directory containing the installation of WordPress you wish to upgrade (any FTP program will do the trick).
• You have saved the “wp-config.php” file — because it contains the details of your database hook-up.
• Next you delete the wp-admin, and wp-includes files. TIP: Shown at right, FileZilla, the free FTP program is shown (click to enlarge), with WordPress downloaded and unzipped on my local hard disk (left window) ready to upload into the right window — the remote web hosting server. Note wp-admin and wp-includes files are highlighted prior to deleting.
• You’re almost ready to launch. Now… upload all files from your local computer EXCEPT the wp-content folder (that’s why it’s not hilighted in the illustration at right) to correct directory on your web server. Why not overwrite the wp-content folder? Because then you would lose all of your plugins and themes. Do upload the index.php file in that folder, and the newest versions of the plugins and themes inside their respective folders. Do not (I say it again) overwrite any of the directories for the plugins or themes or wp-content itself.
• If you overwrote the wp-config.php, upload the one you saved earlier. You did save it? If you didn’t, you will simply have to open the new wp-config.php file and input the proper database connection values.
• Lastly… aim your browser at DOMAIN/wp-admin/upgrade.php. Follow the onscreen instructions.
• You’re done.

Now for the fun part. Do your plugins work? I suggest you turn them on one or two at a time, then take a browse through your site. Check the list of known plugins with problems. Ok… maybe this isn’t “fun”, but it must be done.

So far, I’ve been able to live without the plugins that don’t work. How do you know when they’re not working? You might see a “fatal error” when you try to upgrade, or the problem might not show up until you surf a bit and look at your sidebar and website. I’ve seen a lot of plugin developers updating their programs to work with 2.5 — and to encourage them, now would be a good time to send them a donation via that PayPal link you’ve seen in your admin. area, or at their websites. You really want those plugins you love to be upgraded, don’t you? Ok… then share the love.

Now what about traps to avoid and things that I really like? Unfortunately, my first item is an example of both — the new ability to do automatic plugin upgrades. The long and short of it is that they’ve built in an FTP method to click and upgrade your plugins. Great — it’s a timesaver. But, I had a couple of situations where it hung up my browser. Be careful, and you might want to use good old FileZilla and FTP your plugins a while longer.

Four WordPress 2.5 Features You’ll Really Like (click pics to enlarge)

1. The New Editor (and full-screen mode). Below is an example of the blog writing interface expanded into full-screen mode. What a joy to write cleanly (the HTML is nicely done without strange coding when you use the WYSIWYG editor), in a simple expanded view (right… click to expand).
2. The New Media Management. Now you can add images and audio and video files easily using buttons at the top of the Post editor. There’s a built in gallery, and the controls are all nicely updated and modernized. A smooth AJAX interface controls uploading gallery management. TIP: Use the Manage>Media Library link for complete access to your images so you can add titles for SEO, etc. You can drop images into posts individually or in a gallery (right… click to expand).
3. The Post Management. Post Management is redone with an excellent overview screen giving access to current posts, published posts, and draft posts. Title, author, categories and tags are shown which link to the post itself (in the first case) or filter you through to posts with the same author, in the same category or with the same tag. And the comment count appears in a speech icon — nice (right… click to expand).
4. The New Widget Management. This new interface takes a bit to get used to, but it’s worth it. One thing I like a lot, and is a TIP for you — you can sort the widgets (on right of screen) to show only those that are unused (click open illustration at right). Via an AJAX interface, you can slide widgets up and down to reposition them in your sidebars. If you theme has more than one sidebar, you need to view and manage them one at a time, which throws some BlogMasters when you first see it — but I like the focus that brings (right… click to expand).

Well… I haven’t even mentioned how much I like the Tags editor (under post editor), and a number of other features, but you’ll see them after you upgrade and I predict you’ll be pleased. Kudos to the WordPress team.

About the Author: Scott Frangos is Managing Editor for WebHelperMagazine, and as Managing Partner for WebFadds.com he installs and develops Blogs and CMS website solutions based on the WordPress platform, for a variety of clients. He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife, Pepper, and their three dogs: Wisdom, Spirit, and Steggman.