Do you upgrade as soon as a new version of WordPress comes out? Do you wait a little while to make sure all the kinks are worked out? Or are you still running a much older version like 2.0 and refuse to upgrade?
I’m in the middle on this one. I like to upgrade but I am cautious and careful about it. First, I like to see what happens. Are as many bugs introduced as were corrected? Are people reporting problems with the upgrade? I usually wait until the .1 update before upgrading. Before upgrading, however, I do a little bit of research. I check to see if my must have plugins are compatible with the upgrade as plugins are frequently the reason why an upgrade goes awry. If certain plugins aren’t compatible, I might wait or I will look for an alternative. Sometimes I will decide that I no longer need the plugin.
I also use a staging server to test themes, code tweaks, and layout changes before using them on my live site. I may install 2.7 there first to test it before installing it here.
I didn’t always used to be so cautious. For some reason, I used to get into my head to upgrade at 11pm at night when I was tired and something would always go wrong. I don’t know why I thought I could quickly upgrade and then go to bed. Maybe it was because I wasn’t as serious about those sites or because I didn’t know as much about WordPress then. Or maybe I’m just getting older :-)
WordPress 2.7, which comes out next month, is going to have some significant changes, especially in the visual interface of the administration area. I think it will be especially important to do some research and to be familiar with the changes before upgrading.
I do not plan to discuss all of the planned changes in 2.7 in this article but I did want to give an example of one change that could slowdown your workflow if you were not aware of it in advance.
One of the most noticeable changes will be that the navigation menu will now be a vertical menu on the left side of the screen. This was done to maximize the work space and minimize the amount of scrolling. I don’t know if it will be in the 2.7 release but ultimately the left side menu will be collapsible which will maximize the workspace even more. In addition, the header area has been reduced and their will be breadcrumb navigation links.
If you want to know more about the planned changes and updates, please read the WordPress 2.7 Wireframes pdf.
So, what kind of upgrader are you? Do you have to have the newest release as soon as it comes out? Are you more like me and wait a little bit to make sure there are no serious problems and that your plugins are compatible? Or are you still running version 1.5 ;-)
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I tend to not upgrade as soon as something new comes out. I currently have three widgets and needs upgrading and I haven’t even upgraded to the new WordPress version yet. I cant believe there is yet, another one! My issue is, it seems like every time I upgrade, I screw something up and/or there is a bug in the software. If it’s not broken or critical to to use of WP, I ignore it until I really have to.
Carla’s last blog post – Paraben and Sulfate Free Body Wash
I am an upgrade junkie, I just like conflict or something. aggravation! you know like transferring hosts! what was I thinking. so easy a caveman can do it, I should have known. they promised intermittent down time, I wasn’t thinking 30 hours down (and counting) was intermittent! and I am totally at their mercy! thanks for letting me scream here!
I usually wait for the.1 update before upgrading, and I will be especially cautious with the WordPress 2.7 upgrade. Here I am constrained not only by the plugins I use, but by the theme I use — Thesis — as well. I will wait untl Chris Pearson, the author, gives the go-ahead to upgrade.
I have a blog under development where I usually try out all the new things such as plugins and code modifications, and I’m sure I will try any new WordPress updates there first as well.
The bottom line is that I want my blog to be rock solid for my readers, and I cannot afford to experiment on my main blog and risk the chance of being blown up for even an hour. Therefore, I am very conservative about introducing new things until I am sure of them. You know, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Mike Nichols’s last blog post – A National Shame: The Mentally Ill Homeless
Upgrade right away! What’s the worst that can happen?
A few bugs, some plugins breaking, a hacker destroying the site, turning it into a spamfest, ruining everything I’ve achieved in the past year and sinking my business.
Actually, now that I think about it…
Dave’s last blog post – Alexa goes up, PageRank goes down, does it matter?
@Dave – For me, the worst that can happen is I screw everything up and don’t know how to get myself out of my hole I dug. It’s happened before and I end up paying someone $15 on scriptlance to fix my blog or website.
Carla’s last blog post – Paraben and Sulfate Free Body Wash
I hate updating because I have to learn WordPress all over again. I never update my WordPress blogs and only use a new version when I create a new blog.
Wesley’s last blog post – Freaky Evidence of the Law of Attraction? I don’t know what to believe!
@Carla – I’ve found that many upgrade problems are related to the plugins and widgets.
$15 is quite a deal. I hope they did a good job.
@BloggerNewbie – I like your new gravatar :-) Sorry about the troubles with your webhost. We really can be at their mercy at times – that seems like an excessive downtime to me.
@Mike Me too. I like to wait until the .1 version. I’m not as cautious as you are but close. And having a theme like Thesis does add an entire dimension to upgrading. Is the theme that tied into the WordPress version? Or does Chris Pearson test everything for the users?
@Dave Ok, you are seriously cracking me up today :-) It’s interesting to monitor Twitter on the day of a new releases. All of these people are like “Upgrading WP now”. And then a little bit later they are saying “My blog is broken!!!!”
@Wesley – That can pose a security problem. But I agree that the upgrade process can be overly complicated. I do have an article that provides step by step instructions that you might find useful.
Ok everyone. Do you think your upgrade style is related to your personality. For example, Mike is very cautious about upgrading and doesn’t break anything. Mike, do you think you are as cautious in other aspects of your life?
I am a little slow to upgrade to minor versions (e.g 2.5.2 -> 2.6.2, I am still sitting on the former). However, if major versions are available with significantly enhanced features and security, I might consider early adoption.
However, the hosting services are a little slow to wrt to the fantastico support which is my favorite upgrade tool. I do not upgrade manually.
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I usually wait. If there’s a security patch I install that, but I always wait before I do the entire upgrade.
Vered – MomGrind’s last blog post – Chocolate-Covered Strawberries
I’m not particularly risk-averse in other parts of my life — it’s just with the things that are important to me, like my blog. Since it is a service for others, I am quite conservative with what I do there nuts-and-bolts wise. I think that if I were a bit more comfortable with WordPress, CSS, and php, I’d be a little braver (but only a little).
I’m an early adopter with a lot of software upgrades, but just those that affect only me. With upgrades that affect others, such as software that is used by the whole family, I will try it out on myself first then upgrade my wife, son and daughter if everything is ok.
Thesis is fairly dependent on WordPress 2.6, which is the minimum version usable by the theme. WP 2.7 will change a lot of things, and I’m sure Pearson will test it asap to make sure it doesn’t break anything. I really don’t mind waiting, though, since Thesis and its support forum are world-class, in my opinion.
Mike Nichols’s last blog post – Suicide and Anxiety Disorders: What Is the Risk?
Ajith,
How long does it generally take the web host to upgrade fantastico? Do they also provide WordPress support?
I installed WordPress one time using fantastico and thought it was fine but didn’t like the way it named everything for me – at least I think it named the database and created the user and everything.
@Vered – Do you wait long or just to make sure that there won’t be any major problems or conflicts?
@Mike – That’s probably the best way to be :-) I agree with you about Thesis. I’m not entirely a supporter of the premium theme model but if all of them had the kind of support that Thesis does, I think I would like them more. And Chris Pearson really knows what he’s doing – I learn so much from his blog.
The fantastico upgrade for 2.6.2 was available only about three weeks back though the release was done a couple of months back.
Ajith,
Thanks! That’s not so bad.
I took years to drag Sciencebase out of the 1.x version even though 2.3.y had been well used before I made the leap. I now keep it up to date on a 48h lag. I figure that any serious bugs will be spotted within that timeframe and grit my teeth and upgrade after that. I’ve not had any serious problems yet, thankfully. Not upgrading is foolhardy as there are known security issues with previous versions, but again there are often new security issues that appear in new versions…hence the need for the 48h timelag.
I don’t think it is wise to rush into updates as some updates tend to make things not for the better. I will wait for awhile and if everything is ok then I will go for the updates
@David – I’m glad you aren’t still running 1.5 :-) 48 hours seems like a good timeframe to wait before the upgrade. You aren’t waiting very long but long enough for the kinks to be worked out. I tend to go longer than that.
@kuanhoong – That’s basically what I do. I wait and make sure upgrading won’t cause any new problems for me.
I have been a procrastinator when it comes to upgrades ever since working as a networking tech. It seemed like everytime a Windows updated came through, something on someone’s machine would mess up, and we would have to uninstall it and wait for a patch. So I figure if I wait on the WordPress update, then if there are any bugs, they will be found out by the early birds and a fix will be made, without any harm to my site.
~ Kristi
I may wait to see how it performs before installing it right away…I like to see how things shake out before upgrading.
@Kristi – It’s funny how experiences, especially work, can affect they way we respond to different situations.
@Susan – I think that’s the general consensus :-)
I am very slow when it comes to upgrade. I am still using WordPress 2.3 . Will be upgrading soon ( I Keep saying that )
Madhur Kapoor’s last blog post – Clipdiary – Free Clipboard Manager
Hi Madhur – hmmm … that is bit behind :-) Maybe you can plan on upgrading to 2.7 a couple of weeks after it is released.
I’m eagerly waiting for the 2.7 version… I have heard that there are many new changes and features…
@TechnoSamrat – Thanks for visiting and for commenting. It looks like it’s going to be a good release. The changes in the admin interface will take some getting used to but ultimately they will create more workspace.
I believe we will also be able to reply to comments from within the admin area as well.