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27 Mar 2008 mellow_bunny

A matter of spring cleaning.

It’s time for a little refresher. If you haven’t thought about it already now is the time to do so. Does your blog need an upgrade? A new theme? Why not plan it out now. It can make a big difference to the way you look at your blog and the way you use it.

There are a few things to look at.

1) Check your plugins.

It seriously pays to take a look and do an audit of your plugins. Do you really need all their features? Is there a better plugin available? Take a look and see what would be needed if you upgraded to the latest Wordpress 2.3.x version. Make sure to take note of any changes in the usage of upgraded plugins too. Sometimes the code that is used to call a sidebar poll for instance can change. If you are looking for mainly sidebar plugins look for the widgetised ones. They are supremely easy to install and activate.

2) Grab a backup.

This is something to do perhaps on a monthly basis and a MUST when contemplating an upgrade. Update your local copy of your website through FTP. This should mainly be everything in your ‘wp-content’ folder but if you’ve made changes to the code elsewhere be sure to grab that too. Once you’ve done your file backup run a backup of your database. If you have access to the database direct you might be able to do an export there. If not, see if you can grab a recommended backup plugin off the Wordpress Plugin directory.

3) Check your theme.

If you are going to install a new theme see if you can get one that is already Widget ready. Widgets have made sidebar management a breeze. If you are going to stick with your current theme it might be an idea to enable Widgets on your theme. Be careful though, once again make sure you backup and only attempt this if you are comfortable altering code.

Once you’ve completed these steps make sure you make a local backup of your ‘wp-config.php’ file. This is SUPER important. For a successful upgrade you will need to update the database. Which means you’ll need your database details which are contained in said file.

These are the basic steps you will need to look at. When you have gone through these things open up the Wordpress upgrade documentation and read thoroughly. Also this is merely a guide to the things that I do when I make upgrades. Always check with your admin as to whether there is anything else you need to take into account. Remember, the person that manages the files and installs for you is your friend. Ask them the questions :D! If not leave a comment here and i’ll try and help.

Anywho enjoy some pictures.