It is highly recommended to keep your WordPress installation up-to-date. It insures your website is safe, reliable, fast and pleasant to use. New WordPress versions are released 2 or 3 times a year and it is a good practice to keep your website running with the latest version. If you can’t upgrade every time a new version comes out – you should upgrade at least once a year to keep your website in good running condition.
Basic Upgrade
There was a time when upgrading WordPress was a technical process – not to complicated but it did require certain technical knowledge and tools. Then, in version 2.7, WordPress introduced a new upgrading feature which made upgrading much easier – as easy as clicking a button.
The upgrading feature was a very welcome feature – but there’s more to upgrading then meets the eye (and more then a click a button). Keeping WordPress up-to-date requires three kinds of upgrades:
- WordPress core installation – a process which is described in the WordPress codex.
- Plugins – additional components that are used to customize the WordPress installation.
- Theme – that contain the programming and visual elements that make your website appear and function the way it does.
Upgrading Plugins
Plugins are developed by many separate programmers. New plugin versions are released regardless of new WordPress versions. For example, new plugin versions may be released for fixing bugs, for enhancing behavior, for security enhancements, etc. But plugins depend on the core WordPress application – and when it changes sometimes the plugins need to change too.
Most widely used plugins are well maintained and kept up-to-date with new WordPress versions. Some plugins are updated at a later time and some aren’t updated at all. As a result:
- Some plugins are compatible with the latest version of WordPress without being updated.
- Some plugins are compatible with the latest of version only when they are upgraded.
- Some plugins are not updated and break (stop working) in an updated version WordPress.
- Some plugins are not updated and work bu with errors in an updated version of WordPress.
- Some plugins are updated and their behaviors change in an updated version of WordPress.
- etc…
Sometimes plugin upgrades is a smooth and easy process – and sometimes it is a bumpy ride. It is something of an unknown and it is different for each and every website. When it does get bumpy some problems can be solved easily (for example, by installing a replacement plugin that is compatible, reliable and functional) and sometimes changes need to made to the functionality of the website.
Upgrading Themes
WordPress Themes give your site form and function. Themes contain software that depends on WordPress itself and on plugins – so changes to them can effect your theme. Like plugins, some themes continue to work smoothly with new WordPress or plugin versions. But sometimes, again, like plugins, themes need to be changed and updated to stay compatible with the latest versions.
Some ready-made themes are kept up-to-date and compatible with new WordPress versions by their authors (they can be upgraded throught the “Appearance” section in the WordPress administration). But if you are using a custom-built theme, it may require some custom-work to keep it updated.
Sometimes the theme itself remains compatible without requiring any changes. But if, for example, your theme relies on a plugin that is no longer compatible, and that plugin provided a specific functionality that is no longer available or has changed – then your theme may require updating to reflect these changes.
Upgrade Surprises
I wasn’t planning to write this post today – bu the events of yesterday prompted me to give it priority …
Yesterday started as a peaceful day – I was planning to start work on a new theme-version of Feminitate. As part of the preparation process I installed the new (just released) version of WordPress 3.0. … and that’s when my day began to take on a less pleasant quality.
The first problem was that the automatic upgrade failed. So I resorted to a manual upgrade. That resulted in a crashed website. Though I didn’t (and don’t intend to) conduct a thorough investigation about it – the errors indicated that one of the plugins was the cause of the crash. The plugin was Extended Categories (which was a lifesaver when we first started using it). One of the quirks I encountered with this plugin was that it required that a change be made to one of the core WordPress files (taxonomy.php). After some manual editing of the file – the website was up and running with the updated WordPress installation.
Not long after – my hosting service crashed. ALL of the websites I am hosting stopped working completely. I quickly contacted the technical support of my hosting services and what they found was that the server was overloading. It seemed that someone was “attacking” the server by sending a huge number of requests – which caused the server to overload and crash. The IP addresses that were the source of the “attack” were blocked – and the server was up and running smoothly… then after a few minutes it crashed again… and again … we now had 5 IP addresses blocked … and it crashed again. We checked the IP addressed and found 4 of them in the site-statistics, and they appeared to be regular site-visitors and not some vicious source of attack.
Then we noticed that sometimes some of the pages of Feminitate were causing script errors on our computers. These pages had a component on them that placed 4 random posts in a shifting carousel using Javascript. At first I didn’t think much of it … then I wondered if this may be the source of the problem.
So I edited the theme and removed the component … and also asked the technical support people to remove the blocked IP addresses … and all the problems disappeared. The hosting is working fine, Feminitate is working fine … and we feel much better.
We were planning to stop using the random-posts component anyway in the new theme version – so we parted ways with it a bit earlier then planned. But I couldn’t ask for a better example of why upgrading is not always a simple thing. An unlucky combination of WordPress/Version/Theme led to a few worrisome hours and even to a theory that we were under attack (we were … but we were also the source of the “attack”).
I don’t mean to suggest that it’s always like this – usually it isn’t … sometimes it is!
Upgrading WordPress
It is highly recommended to keep your WordPress installation up-to-date. It insures your website is safe, reliable, fast and pleasant to use. New WordPress versions are released 2 or 3 times a year and it is a good practice to keep your website running with the latest version. If you can’t upgrade every time a new version comes out – you should upgrade at least once a year to keep your website in good running condition.
Basic Upgrade
There was a time when upgrading WordPress was a technical process – not to complicated but it did require certain technical knowledge and tools. Then, in version 2.7, WordPress introduced a new upgrading feature which made upgrading much easier – as easy as clicking a button.
The upgrading feature was a very welcome feature – but there’s more to upgrading then meets the eye (and more then a click a button). Keeping WordPress up-to-date requires three kinds of upgrades:
Upgrading Plugins
Plugins are developed by many separate programmers. New plugin versions are released regardless of new WordPress versions. For example, new plugin versions may be released for fixing bugs, for enhancing behavior, for security enhancements, etc. But plugins depend on the core WordPress application – and when it changes sometimes the plugins need to change too.
Most widely used plugins are well maintained and kept up-to-date with new WordPress versions. Some plugins are updated at a later time and some aren’t updated at all. As a result:
Sometimes plugin upgrades is a smooth and easy process – and sometimes it is a bumpy ride. It is something of an unknown and it is different for each and every website. When it does get bumpy some problems can be solved easily (for example, by installing a replacement plugin that is compatible, reliable and functional) and sometimes changes need to made to the functionality of the website.
Upgrading Themes
WordPress Themes give your site form and function. Themes contain software that depends on WordPress itself and on plugins – so changes to them can effect your theme. Like plugins, some themes continue to work smoothly with new WordPress or plugin versions. But sometimes, again, like plugins, themes need to be changed and updated to stay compatible with the latest versions.
Some ready-made themes are kept up-to-date and compatible with new WordPress versions by their authors (they can be upgraded throught the “Appearance” section in the WordPress administration). But if you are using a custom-built theme, it may require some custom-work to keep it updated.
Sometimes the theme itself remains compatible without requiring any changes. But if, for example, your theme relies on a plugin that is no longer compatible, and that plugin provided a specific functionality that is no longer available or has changed – then your theme may require updating to reflect these changes.
Upgrade Surprises
I wasn’t planning to write this post today – bu the events of yesterday prompted me to give it priority …
Yesterday started as a peaceful day – I was planning to start work on a new theme-version of Feminitate. As part of the preparation process I installed the new (just released) version of WordPress 3.0. … and that’s when my day began to take on a less pleasant quality.
The first problem was that the automatic upgrade failed. So I resorted to a manual upgrade. That resulted in a crashed website. Though I didn’t (and don’t intend to) conduct a thorough investigation about it – the errors indicated that one of the plugins was the cause of the crash. The plugin was Extended Categories (which was a lifesaver when we first started using it). One of the quirks I encountered with this plugin was that it required that a change be made to one of the core WordPress files (taxonomy.php). After some manual editing of the file – the website was up and running with the updated WordPress installation.
Not long after – my hosting service crashed. ALL of the websites I am hosting stopped working completely. I quickly contacted the technical support of my hosting services and what they found was that the server was overloading. It seemed that someone was “attacking” the server by sending a huge number of requests – which caused the server to overload and crash. The IP addresses that were the source of the “attack” were blocked – and the server was up and running smoothly… then after a few minutes it crashed again… and again … we now had 5 IP addresses blocked … and it crashed again. We checked the IP addressed and found 4 of them in the site-statistics, and they appeared to be regular site-visitors and not some vicious source of attack.
Then we noticed that sometimes some of the pages of Feminitate were causing script errors on our computers. These pages had a component on them that placed 4 random posts in a shifting carousel using Javascript. At first I didn’t think much of it … then I wondered if this may be the source of the problem.
So I edited the theme and removed the component … and also asked the technical support people to remove the blocked IP addresses … and all the problems disappeared. The hosting is working fine, Feminitate is working fine … and we feel much better.
We were planning to stop using the random-posts component anyway in the new theme version – so we parted ways with it a bit earlier then planned. But I couldn’t ask for a better example of why upgrading is not always a simple thing. An unlucky combination of WordPress/Version/Theme led to a few worrisome hours and even to a theory that we were under attack (we were … but we were also the source of the “attack”).
I don’t mean to suggest that it’s always like this – usually it isn’t … sometimes it is!