As you may or may not know (or have guessed) I make use of the popular WordPress blogging “engine” for this site. When I first started this site I was more than happy to let GoDaddy do all the heavy lifting of installing the program, setting up the database, etc. However WordPress just launched a greatly revised version of their program, WordPress 2.5. This was a major revision from the version I was using (2.3.3) and since my blog is still relatively fledgling I figured I’d take my chances and go ahead and make the jump to the new version. Here’s a quick rundown of how it went and what I think …
First of all let me say that the WordPress folks have made this program pretty darn easy to upgrade. I took the extra step of backing up my existing install (database and files just to be safe) and dove in. The basic process is as follows:
- Download the new files
- Copy the files to your server
- Tell WordPress to upgrade your database (if needed)
And that’s it! For most of the files you can simply overwrite or delete the old files completely, with the exception of things like themes and plugins. I didn’t time how long the upgrade process took, but I’m sure it was 15 minutes or less.
So what did I get for all my (not-so) hard work? The main focus of this revision to WordPress is a completely revamped “back end” where I write posts, manage comments, and do other blogger-ly things. That means that readers won’t see much of a difference, but trust me things are better over here than they were! There is a new theme and layout which is much easier on the eyes and has better usability. There also are some nifty new upload features that make putting my photos and artwork on the site a lot easier. Overall I’ve been very pleased with the upgrade thus far and would recommend it to others.
The one change that readers may notice is that articles in the RSS feeds are no longer truncated the same way they are on the front page of the blog. Therefore, you’ll now get complete articles if you choose to subscribe. (I know that some people actually prefer to get the shorter synopses. If you are one of these people, make some noise in the comments and I might think about changing this!)
Any of you other WordPress bloggers out there make the switch to 2.5 yet? What do you think of it? If not, are you going to? Let’s hear about it in the comments …
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