Couple of weeks ago, I decided to upgrade the version of my WordPress from 2.9.2 to 3.0.
The install was smooth as expected, but things started to go pear shaped as most of my plugins decided not to work.
It got so bad that must-have plugins were crashing my site.
At this stage it was quite obvious that my plugins weren’t compatible with the new version of WordPress.

After spending some time offloading some of the plugins and a bit of faffing around, I decided to rollback WordPress to version 2.9.2.

Here what I did

(1) Back up database using PHPAdmin and plugin
(2) Downloaded and extracted WordPress version 2.9.2
(3) Using an FTP client, I simply uploaded and replaced existing WordPress files with version 2.9.2, preserving wp-config.php
(4) Refreshed my admin
(5) That’s it

I was quite surprised that this method worked – took about 10 mins to do.
I’m sure there are better and more systematic ways to approach this. But in my case, I simply wanted to get the task done in record time.

I’m sure I’ll eventually upgrade to 3.0 in the future, but for now 2.9.2 does the job for me.
Have you had any issues with WordPress 3.0?

(1) When you select “Save Draft” and the “Publish” button appears to be loading…

“what the deuce!!” – Stewie
This is sometimes uncomfortable to watch, especially if your content isn’t ready for public viewing. I’m getting used to it now, but I still watch it just to make sure.

(2) When presented with a white screen right upgrading WordPress

“errm, what do I do now??”
From experience, a simple page refresh normally brings things back to normal again.

(3) Dodgy WordPress plugins that breaks everything on your blog.

“arghh”
In some cases, it takes a while to identify the culprit plugin.
Before installing a plugin, I normal check its compatibility status . This can be found at wordpress.org/extend

Do you have any moments to share?

Ever had the urge to quickly push out a blog post?
And straight after doing so, you find yourself going back to make some urgent adjustments.
To some of you who regularly publish, these reminders may not directly apply to you.

Personally, I have had one or two blooper moments, which has led me to keep a mental note of 4 things to do before hitting the publish button.

(1) Set Your Permalink

Permalinks are unique URL that points to your blog post.
Set your permalink to something short, descriptive and search engine friendly.
For this post I have adjusted my permalink to (before-you-publish)
So my URL now reads:

http://www.yourblogtools.com/before-you-publish

instead of:

http://www.yourblogtools.com/4-things-to-check-before-hitting-the-publish-button

(2) Use Relevant Tags In Your Post.

Picking relevant tags helps to connect related topics together.

(3) Select Appropriate Categories

If a post belongs to a particular category then specify it.
It helps with the overall content organisation of your blog.

(4) Spell Check Your Title.

To avoid embarrassment, double check your post titleS.
By default, title text fields does not spell check your words.
However, there’s a quick hack that can enable spell checks within text fields.
The magic happens within your browser settings

In Firefox

- Simply type about:config into your browser address bar and press enter.
- You should now be prompted with confirmation screen, press OK to continue
- In the filter field, type the value layout.spellcheckDefault
- Once value has been located from list, change parameter value of layout.spellcheckDefault from 1 to 2 (by double-clicking it)
- Close the configuration page
- All Done, Now go ahead and check your text field. It should now underline any spelling mistakes.

Although, I haven’t tried this with other browsers yet? but Google Chrome appears to have acknowledge the change.
Does it work for you?
Do you keep a checklist of things to do before publishing?

If you regularly tweek your blog’s design, layout or test plugins – I would recommend having a local version of your blog.
Hosting locally means running a duplicate copy of your live blog on your local machine. In other words, your PC becomes your web and database server.
Having your own development area is a bit like having your own playground, with freedom to test and tweek as you please without affecting the live system. Web developers generally adopt this approach before deploying.

Hosting your blog locally is a very straight forward process, and would require the following;

• Installing a web server on your computer.

• Creating a database.

• Downloading the latest version of wordpress.

• Tweeking one wordpress file.

There are several ways to achieve this, but one the easiest ways is using a tool called XAMPP, which happens to work across most operating systems.

Step 1

Install a local web server

PC

This is quite straight forward on a PC, simply visit http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html to download and install XAMMP Lite executable file.

Linux

For Linux users, applying a few commands in your terminal should get you up and running. Simply visit http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-linux.html for download and install instructions.

MAC

MAC users, download and extract XAMPP file from here http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-macosx.html

Step 2

Create and active your database
Using the downloaded XAMPP tool, you can create a new database for your local blog. Simply open XAMPP control panel and select the Admin button next to MySQL. This should then take you phpMyAdmin page.

On this page, under MySQL Localhost section,  you can create a new database name.

At this stage, to make sure everything is working fine, start the Apache and MySQL services, it will notify you once it starts.
You should also see the XAMPP splash screen when you type “localhost” into your browser.

Step 3

Download and Extract WordPress
You can download the latest version of WordPress by visiting wordpress.com Once downloaded, extract the zipped file and move it inside the htdoc folder. On a windows machine, this can be located under c:\xampp\htdoc

Step 4

Update your wp-config.php file
In this file, you will have to define your database parameters to enable connection.
In your wordpress folder, c:\xampp\htdoc\wordpress\

1. Rename the file wp-config-sample.php to wp-config.php
2. Define your database name – (‘DB_NAME’, ‘test‘);
3. Define your database username – (‘DB_USER’, ‘root‘);
4. Define your database password – (‘DB_PASSWORD’, ‘test‘);

You can find your database information from the phpMyAdmin page, located under the MySQL section

Step 5 and final step

Configure and Install
Run install.php file by pointing your browser to http://localhost/wordpress/wp-admin/install.php and hit enter.

1. At this stage, you then see the configuration file, complete the fields with the same information as your wp-config.php file.
   
2. Complete your blog title along with your email address and hit Run install
   
3. ALL DONE – You now have a copy locally.

To transfer files from server to local machine, I would recommend using a an FTP client such as FileZilla.

What are your thoughts on testing locally?

Have you ever had moments when you’ve been hit with a wave of blog post ideas?
Those special moments when you get one brilliant idea after another?
Inspired either by your surroundings or are sparked off during your travels – And then there’s this big scramble for a pen and paper or a digital notpad…

Well, check out this standalone WordPress for BlackBerry application that connects to your existing WordPress server. It gives you the flexibility to create or modify existing drafts and even publish posts on the go.

I have been using WordPress for BlackBerry for several months now -
it is a must have blogging tool. WordPress is also available on the Iphone.

To install:

Simply point your BlackBerry browser to http://blackberry.wordpress.org/install and then follow the instructions.