Tips For Updating WordPress
Posted on September 12, 2007, under Blogging, How To, WordPress.
WordPress has made it fairly simple to update to a new version, but there are some little quirks that come along with it. Here are a couple of tips I have implemented over the years for a smooth upgrade path.
Your Do Not Need To Be The First:
Unless you are doing a review or enjoy being the guinea pig, never be the first to upgrade. I usually give a new release about a week to see what, if any, troubles come up in the headlines. Sometimes a security flaw is found right out of the gate, and WordPress will release a fix. If you wait a week you do not have to deploy this fix, because it will be included in the most recent download.
Use a Sandbox Environment:
This is a lot more feasible these days, with hosting providers allowing more than one domain or even subdomains. You can easily replicate a WordPress deployment and database to make a sandbox environment of your blog or website. Deploying an upgrade to a sandbox install will give you a chance to solve any problems before taking your blog down for an upgrade.
Check Your Plug ins:
Much like Firefox, some of your plug ins might not be compatible with a new version of WordPress. You should check with every plug in to see if there is a new version available that has been tested with the version of WordPress you are upgrading to. Any problems with your plug ins can be found in your sandbox installation noted above. If you have problems with a particular plug in, most authors are quick to release a new version; or you might have to wait a little longer to deploy the WordPress upgrade.
Backup, Backup, Backup:
I will never hold back on how important backups are with any data. Your Blog is not different. Right before you are about to do an upgrade to WordPress, make a backup copy of all WordPress files and your database. Even if you are doing automatic backups to your web server, which you should, if you need to rollback for any reason you want to roll back to the point right before the upgrade.
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