Want to know how to upgrade WordPress? See my post: How to Upgrade WordPress
Looking back at my first upgrade of WordPress in late 2008 . . .
My blog was fully optimized. I was happy.
Then WordPress (WP) announced that it was time to upgrade to the new version.
It’s best to upgrade WordPress because each upgrade makes WordPress easier to use, particularly for beginners, and it includes bug fixes.
Upgrading most programs is usually simple. No tech knowledge is needed.
But I was new to upgrading at that point so a lot of time was spent figuring out how to upgrade before any action could be taken. WPs tutorials can be confusing for a beginner.
Finally I found the Upgrade WordPress Guide by Jeff Houdyschell, and it was a LOT easier to understand than anything else I could find!
Thanks for creating it Jeff! Upgrading was the simplest part of the upgrade process, ironically.
Why?
After the upgrade was complete there was a problem with my Rss feed. Correcting that took over an hour.
It was 2 hours of tech hell total to upgrade WP. No complaints about Jeff’s guide, of course. That part was fine.
~ Lillea Woodlyns
2010 update: Now upgrading WordPress is easier than ever before. I want to thank Jeff again for his clear guide – that information helped me tremendously when I was a newbie.
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There are many other things that can go wrong with an upgrade especially if you have a lot of plugins installed. Some plugins are not compatible with new versions of WP, some are not compatible with others…. the possible combination of issues are endless. But then I have done many an upgrade for people with no issues at all.
I used to say not to upgrade with every new version to avoid the hassle, but then when you do upgrade from 2 to 3 or even more versions back the possibility of issues arising are compounded with each version you skip. Now I believe it best to do each new release to deal with any issue that may arise in small increments than dealing with the snowball effect!
Thanks, Jeff. This is helpful to know. And thank you again for the information on your site. I’ll visit again.
First of all congratulation for such a great site. I learned a lot reading article here today. I will make sure i visit this site once a day so i can learn more.
Thank you Edward! That’s wonderful that you find it helpful.
I’m happy that you’ll come back again. I signed up at your site. I really like the layout.
[...] Upgrading WordPress [...]
A friend of mine read your article and referred me to go through it as it will prove very helpful to me for upgrading my WordPress. Thanks its very good and helpful.
Hi Avon Articles. I’m really glad it helped you. WordPress has a bit of a learning curve. I struggled a lot with it but now manage quite well
because I bought the guide I reviewed here:
http://www.speedonlinewealth.com/blog/wordpress-for-internet-marketers-leanne-king-review/
If you have any WordPress related questions, let me know and I’ll see if I can help.
I’ll check out your site tonight. I really like the name!
Great posts on things WordPress. One is never too old to learn and sometimes even if one thinks they know how to do it, a new perspective helps
WordPress is getting easier and supposedly in 2.9 WordPress and WordPressMU will merge. Now with the Automatic Upgrade plug-in and the same ease with Changing Themes it is getting cl osier to point and click.
But both new Themes can “bork”(mess up) your site as well as plug-ins that don’t keep up with the latest WP version. Never automatically reactivate your plug-ins after a upgrade,instead activate them one at a time which will reveal any possible problems. It is then just a matter of deactivating the offending plug-in. Take time to check out your WP’s Admin(or back end) area as well as one’s cpanel(web host provided item)
Thank you Robert! Excellent advice about how to handle plugins. Yes, you have to be very careful.
I wonder what 2.9 will bring. Each time there is an upgrade there are usually improvements that I like, but I always get a bit nervous wondering if I’ll have to trouble-shoot problems with my theme, etc.