WordPress and Their Constant “Development”
Is there anyone besides me who isn’t Web-design/developer-inclined and gets frustrated every time WP decides to upgrade? Why can’t they just wait until one version is secure before upgrading? It doesn’t even give the theme designers or plugin developers a chance to update their own work to be compatible with the “latest and greatest” version. So unless the end user is Web-design/developer-inclined, or hasn’t started a blog yet, or is just switching over from a different platform, they — WE! — are screwed!
i probably shouldn’t admit this, but i only upgrade every third release or so. yeah, i’m exposing myself to some vulnerabilities, but i figure that’s a risk i’m willing to take.
September 27, 2007 9:16 pm
A very big annoyance for me. Which is one of the reasons I switched the Expression Engine. They say you get what you pay for, right? Meh…Wordpress pissed me off too many times.
September 28, 2007 3:00 am
megan and KG, I totally see both of your points. Obviously, I’m willing to take the risk myself, though since my WP 2.2 fiasco over the summer or whenever it was, I’ve seriously been considering switching to Expression Engine. The only things keeping me back are some of the WP plugins that I really like and not being able to add and remove things from my sidebars as I please because I wouldn’t know how. However, I will e-mail you about this, KG!
September 29, 2007 4:18 pm
Guess I just got lucky. I upgraded to WP 2.3 with no problems. All my plugins worked, except one. I had to replace the one I was using for polls.
I’ve kept up with each new release of WordPress and have never had a problem. Knock on wood, I guess.
September 30, 2007 7:52 pm
Hi, Len — thanks for your comment! If only I was so lucky. Part of the problem is that I’m so picky about my template. I had one custom-designed, but I think it was for WP 2.0. It doesn’t work completely in 2.1.3, which is what I’m currently using, and I’m afraid that it won’t work for 2.3, either.
I’m pretty bummed that I can’t use it because I absolutely love, love, LOVE it! This particular template has grown on me, but at least as of Thursday, even this one, which is a free WP template, hasn’t been updated for 2.3.
September 30, 2007 8:38 pm
Honestly, this is one of the major reasons why I’m not a Wordpress-blogger anymore. I switched to typepad (yes, I pay now) but, it’s been much less anxiety-ridden.
October 1, 2007 11:43 am
One of the big misconceptions about releases is that you have to install them all. You can wait for mayor releases instead of updating your software all the time.
As far as doing it very often… the process is pretty simple and painless if you disable all pluggins before installation and access your files VIA FTP program…
October 1, 2007 2:30 pm
rayhedrick, ironically, I switched from TypePad to WP! And now I can’t even remember why.
logtar, you lost me somewhere in the 2nd paragraph, but you were around when I went through hell trying to upgrade to WP 2.0 on my own. Part of it is because I’m not all that familiar with doing stuff via FTP — that’s what I pay my host for, and my host at the time was in the process of shutting down the business.
My current host is more established, but I want to be sure that all my plugins work before I upgrade. They do the upgrading for me, which yes, I have to pay for, but at least I know it’ll be done right. The downside with that is that I don’t think I could downgrade back to my previous version without having to pay if it turns out not all the plugins work.
But you’re right about not having to install each and every release — this time, I’m going to wait until the designers and developers have a chance to update their themes and plugins before upgrading. And if they don’t, I’ll just stick with 2.1.3 because it suits me just fine!
I’d really like my old theme back, though.
But maybe it’s time to move on. The last theme used the Headline Images plugin, which doesn’t even work in 2.1.3, so I imagine it probably doesn’t work in 2.3, either. *sigh*
October 2, 2007 2:03 pm
… YOU PAY FOR YOUR UPGRADES
One of the reasons WP is so popular is because it is very simple to work with. If you are paying someone to upgrade it for you I think you should always have a working blog… WoW I had never considered the thought of actually someone paying for an upgrade that in a bad day takes about an hour (that is if all of your pluggins fail).
We should chat one of these days, because I think with just some little help you can manage your own install.
October 2, 2007 2:18 pm
Yes, but now I don’t have to worry about my blog not working, and the fee is part of a template design. The time that it got all screwed up was because I tried to upgrade it myself! So I’d rather pay a fee to make sure that it works than do it myself and mess it all up.
Upgrading WP may be simple for some people, but not for all of us.
Also, I have enough other crap to deal with, that if some else will do this for me, great!
October 2, 2007 2:37 pm