WordPress Weekend – now that’s an upgrade!
So… what did you do this weekend? Take a walk by the ocean? Eat at Pajo’s Fish and Chips? Maybe catch some rays at the top of your favorite ski hill? Before I tell you what I did, let me tell you why I did it…
Last week, I’d been notified that this very blog (running on WordPress Version 2.2.2) was being exploited, and that I needed to upgrade to the latest version.
Now you can guess what I did this weekend. I not only upgraded JenTekk Blog, but also 5 other WordPress websites to the newly released WordPress v. 2.3.3 ! Oh yeah, and then I made a bee-line to my favorite tanning salon! 
That I can upgrade a WordPress website delights me. I am more the creative spirit. Sure, I occassionaly dabble with the more technical stuff, but usually leave that to my awesome business partner and friend Rastin Mehr of rmd Studio.
Hmmm… with that being said, I’m not so sure that upgrading a WordPress website really can be passed off as ‘technical’, but run with me on this will ya!
So, for those of you who are somewhat adventerous, and would also like to give it a whirl, here ya go!
How to upgrade your WordPress Website
- Download and Extract the latest version of WordPress files.
- Back-up your WordPress Database and WordPress Website Files. Verify that your back-ups are useable.
- Deactivate your WordPress Plugins, simply by clicking on the ‘Deactivate’ buttons in the Admin Panel – so easy!!
- Delete the Old WordPress Files
You may want to be careful here! There are a half dozen files you definitely don’t want to delete, and doing so may lead you to hair pulling, that is until you realize you’ve backed them up and have no reason to see a shrink! - Upload the New Files. This is where it starts to get really exciting. You’re coming down the home stretch at this point.
- Run the WordPress Upgrade Program.
Okay, this is the good stuff. You’ve followed the instructions like a pro right?? Now its time to see what you’re made of.- first you type in the url to run upgrade.php and click “Go” on your browser
- if all goes well you get a page that tells you your Database needs upgrading
- click “Continue”, and you arrive at a page that says your Database is up to date,
- finally click “Continue” to view your wordpress site. Its at this point, (with every upgrade), that I subconciously hold my breath, cross my fingers… and… bingo… just one more reason to go shopping!
I did it! 6 for 6 successful WordPress Website upgrades. And not because I am a technical wizard, but all because WordPress is simply that amazing.
After dancing around and kissing my 2 cats, I completed my installation by updating Permalinks and .htaccess, reactivating my plugins and checking to see if anything ‘broke’ in my WordPress sites, and there was nothing that I could see at this point. Will keep you in the loop!
While I sing the praises of Joomla quite openly, I must admit again that WordPress definitely has its place out there as a quality CMS for either blogs or basic websites.
Thank you to all the people at WordPress who keep on top of security updates, new features, and make it easy for gals like me to play the upgrade game!
Technorati Tags: WordPress Upgrade, WordPress, WordPress 2.3.3, CMS, blog, website, jentekk
April 7th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Hi Jenn:
I think they’ve just released wordpress version 2.5! Off we go upgrading again. Unfortunately, there is a problem upgrading on yahoo accounts, so I think I might have to find a new host… drat…
Cheers,
Patricia
April 8th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Hi Patricia!
Yes, WordPress v2.5 has been released recently. Its quite cool, but there is a down-side to it at this point. Many of the plugins are not yet compatible with WordPress v2.5
I’ve updated this blog to v2.5 already, and the Gregarious plugin – http://lipidity.com/web/wordpress/wp-plugin-gregarious/ – no longer works.
If you’re thinking about upgrading, you may want to wait till more plugins have been updated to work with the newer version.
Cheers!
April 9th, 2008 at 9:42 am
You’re lucky you can upgrade. Yahoo hosting makes it pretty impossible. They initially offered automatic upgrades, but discontinued almost right away because they didn’t really want to support wordpress outside of the one-click install.
I’ll be looking for a new host shortly where I can do that. On the upside my new theme is more compatible with the version that I have, my old blix theme didn’t work well with 2.02 (my php contact page function didn’t work, and when it cached I would get these crazy “A”s peppered throughout my pages and posts until I cleared the cache). The problems disappeared when I added my new theme. I haven’t really been using much in terms of plug-ins, so I figure if I start fresh I won’t have much to worry about.