I saw the announcements for the full release of WordPress 2.7 early, but didn’t get to check it out until a few minutes ago. The update kills some bugs, but also totally AJAXes the admin screen, adding a lot of flexibility and control, and updates the whole experience. I’m really excited with it so far. Check out the video that got me grabbing at my nearest shell session to get the update installed. If you have been blogging for a while with WP, you need this update. It’s the slickest 5-minute upgrade in WP’s fine history!
seamless again
The upgrade process for WordPress has again gone incredibly seamlessly. I tend to be a little bit meticulous about getting the files updated correctly before squeezing the trigger, and maybe even too meticulous with it, but for at least five updates now, it has been solid. One of those updates was a major version, too!
Another seamless upgrade
I did another upgrade of WordPress without a hitch the other night. I was talking on the phone with my aunt at the time. I often hear tales of woe when people talk about doing the upgrades. I think the issues that they run into must have something to do with the plugins. Some sites, like a certain one that will go unmentioned in this particular post, have loads and loads of plugins, so a core upgrade can turn into a true nightmare of dependencies. There was one major update (maybe a year ago now) where WP added features that used to be handled by the most popular plugins. How often do you review the plugins you have installed? Are any past their prime? I currently have three that I don’t really use at all anymore, and maybe 6 or 7 beyond that.
Thanks, Amie Street!
A little while back, I got a comment from Zane over at AmieStreet.com which kicked off an email conversation about this whole Amie Street Music Wednesday meme. Apparently, The crew over at AmieStreet have been noticing a difference in sales and traffic from this bit of blogger activity, and wanted to show some love by sending a slick tee shirt. It is a gray American Apparel Tee with an awesome pinball table theme in pink featuring a bunch of terms used in the amie street community and on the site in general. I really dig it a lot!
Since a post like this is “nothing without pics,” I have a few shots here in my back pocket. (just ignore the pocket lint and empty gum wrapper):
They were out of my size, so this one is really huge now. I’m hoping that it shrinks up a bit when I launder it the first time.
The meme was thought up by Mark over at Mouseclone after some discussions about all the new music we were finding regularly on the AmieStreet website. After putting together the original tracker, he was able to get in touch with some of the development team, who helped in providing the embedded player with the “skinning” options, and then Mark’s work on the WordPress plugin started to really take shape.
I’m glad to see the sites doing well, and have found amiestreet to be a great place as a music consumer to find new and interesting bands, and see it as a hot spot for independent artists to promote and sell their tracks, find new fans, and to connect with the community.
Stepping Up
I was putting off the 2.5 upgrade for WordPress for a few days, then I saw a list of the security issues it solved, and figured that I may as well go ahead with it. The upgrade was smooth and clean, as usual, and the look-and-feel changes in the admin area are going to need a few days.
The docs page at WP says that the admin area is totally widgetized, so I may be able to tweak the placement of things to an extent. The important thing is that the upgrade was minimally invasive, quick and relatively painless. All of my plugins seem to be working without a hitch, and I think that the load time of my homepage may have dropped by a couple of seconds, too. Bonus!
Dubya Pea, 2 dot three
Yesterday, the WordPress group released an update to the butt-kicking blog software I’ve been using for years now. I did the upgrade in about 10 minutes total, then found a couple of spots where some old plugin code that’s outdated now (read: UTW) was mangling a page here and there, and I think it’s all Kosher now, easily fixed by editing the templates.
There are a ton of bugfixes, and some really groovy enhancements. The main enhancement is that tagging is handled by WP rather than by any number of plugins. I’m still roaming through, noticing the updates, but I can say after a short while using it that the admin area is responding a lot faster for me, and it’s not my connection. I’ve noticed the speed using three different internet connections.
Mouseclone Did the upgrade, though, and something went awry… I’m not sure of the details, because I had to run off for a bit, and when I’d returned, it looked like a tornado had passed through his database. Word to the wise: backups. Backups BACKUPS!
The mantra is and has always been:
“If you don’t have at least three copies of a piece of data on different media, the data does not exist.”
I say this, knowing full well that I didn’t make a new, full backup before doing the update to the WP bits, but here’s the cool part of the story: he made a backup, and looking at it right now, everything is back up and rocking out.
Got Duke!
I upgraded the blog to WordPress 2.0, lovingly dubbed “Duke” by the coding team. The upgrade was a snap, no plugin snafus, and the admin interface got a major makover. Tis pretty swank. If you’re hesitating the upgrade, get off your butt and click it!
The issues with the heat in my house are all resolved. Again. For the moment. We’ll see. We got a new outside unit, and it is working much better than ever before. It hasn’t been cold since we got it all settled, though. I’m thinking of going ahead with a new thermostat and getting some programmable sensors as well.
I scored some used laser printers and jetdirect devices from work. The price was cheap. And cheap is close to free. And you can’t beat free. I need to fish some network lines around the house for convenience and high-speed data flow… :]
BTW, the first comment that quotes the famous Fark adage about Duke will earn a special ass-whoopin’.