WordPress 2.6 Stable Release: Will You Upgrade?
After testing the WordPress 2.6 Beta 3 release, which caused problems with my TinyMCE, here comes WordPress 2.6 stable release ready for download. If you are still using either one of the Beta releases of WordPress 2.6 (Beta 1, Beta 2 or Beta 3), read these test results.
The Beta 3 release messed up my TinyMCE. TinyMCE is the software that controls your user interface in WordPress, (i.e., your dashboard). Your Write/Manage/Settings/etc. pages are all controlled by TinyMCE. It is a separate software that can be used in many software applications but it comes built-in with WordPress installations. Errors in TinyMCE prevented me to write articles normally. When writing new posts, a javascript error pops up stating that the javascript is either busy or may have stopped responding. I had to stop the script from loading and write as usual. However, the tags section was always missing and there was no way to tag my posts. If you ever encounter any popups such as this one, the workaround here is simple. I found out that I can tag my posts at a later time by first saving the post as a draft. Immediately after that, I can open it under Manage à Posts. Editing a draft will enable posts to be tagged successfully. Older posts’ tags are intact so don’t worry about published articles. There had been many solutions recommended by other authors to fix this: disable compression of TinyMCE, delete cached files from browsers, download the latest TinyMCE version and use it, and more, but none of them worked in my tests.
Additionally, adding images in posts is a pain in the butt in the beta release (Beta 3) I’ve tried. While I was able to successfully upload photos and insert them into posts, the alignment of the images when viewed (after posting) remained aligned to the left. Those that were configured to align to the center of the page did not follow the configuration. The fix to this was to enter <center></center> codes before and after the images (in the HTML tab). It was only this time, the images were set to load in the center of the page when viewed in Firefox and IE.
It took me days to find out what’s wrong with the Beta releases of WordPress. Other errors will no longer be discussed here to cut the long story short (because the stable release is already out) and you might want to upgrade your WordPress version to 2.6 automatically using your web control panel like cPanel. Under Fantastico (if you have installed your previous WordPress version using it), you can upgrade your WordPress installation anytime you want without a hitch. SimpelScripts, available in select web hosting plans, provides an alternative installation of WordPress from your web administration control panel but beware! The configurations of Fantastico and SimpleScripts are different. The wp-config.php file settings are not the same and installing WordPress using SimpleScripts could cause errors in accessing your MySQL database and, in essence, your blog. There is, however, a guide in migrating installations from Fantastico to SimpleScripts. The guide is usually located from within your web control panel.
For manual installation of WordPress 2.6 over WordPress 2.5 or 2.5.1, read my simple guide on Troubleshooting Server Overload Problems and how to Backup Your WordPress Database to Handle Future Errors. Note that you have to preserve your old wp-config.php file and upload it at a later time through your FTP client. WordPress 2.6’s wp-config.php file settings are again different from the old wp-config.php file settings. I suggest you use the old file. Editing the wp-config-sample.php file and renaming it as wp-config.php (in the manual installation of WordPress 2.6) may not work, that is, you may not be able to access your MySQL database even if you set the database name, username and password correctly.
Now, the features of WordPress 2.6:
* Word count! Never guess how many words are in your post anymore (which is a very nice feature when you’re into paid blogging). I just love this simple feature. It saved me lots of time copying and pasting my post onto a website designed to count words in an article.
* Image captions, so you can add sweet captions like Political Ticker does under your images.
* Bulk management of plugins.
* A completely revamped image control to allow for easier inserting, floating, and resizing. It’s now fully integrated with the WYSIWYG.
* Drag-and-drop reordering of Galleries.
* Plugin update notification bubble.
* Customizable default avatars.
* You can now upload media when in full-screen mode.
* Remote publishing via XML-RPC and APP is now secure (off) by default, but you can turn it on easily through the options screen.
* Full SSL support in the core, and the ability to force SSL for security.
* You can now have many thousands of pages or categories with no interface issues.
* Ability to move your wp-config file and wp-content directories to a custom location, for “clean” SVN checkouts.
* Select a range of checkboxes with “shift-click.”
* You can toggle between the Flash uploader (when uploading images or any media objects) and the classic one.
* A number of proactive security enhancements, including cookies and database interactions.
* Stronger better faster versions of TinyMCE, jQuery, and jQuery UI (which were the primary sources of errors in the Beta 3 I’ve tested)
* Version 2.6 fixes approximately 194 bugs.
In addition to this, I like the “Insert Gallery” function of WordPress 2.6 where you can actually automate the creation of a photo gallery (or photo galleries) into posts, saving you lots of time in aligning the images and videos, and setting the spaces between photos when uploading multiple images and/or videos into your post. For bloggers who love posting articles with lots of photos, this one is for you.
For now, these are partial test results. The new WordPress 2.6 was just released last night while I was troubleshooting the old release candidates and it’s not fair to claim that these results are conclusive. Some of you may disagree with these results. That’s fine. We run across a variety of problems even with the same settings and server. So far, in my end, the manual installation of Wordpress (because of the unavailability of the auto-upgrade function in Fantastico) is doing just fine. Take note, the wp-config.php file is the key. As said above, keep your old wp-config.php file intact for future use in the upgrade process. If the new wp-config.php file won’t work, use the old one.
You may share your own experiences in your comments for the information of other readers. They will be highly appreciated.
Follow-up articles will be published on this subject at a later time in this blog. This is the early stage of WordPress 2.6. As a programmer, I’m pretty sure more bugs will be discovered by techie users in the near future. I hope to discover one myself when I will have tested it more thoroughly in the coming days or weeks.
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Tags: personal, Technology, WordPress, WordPress 2.6 Upgrade, WordPress Upgrade
Mag a-upgrade pa lang ako ngayon dahil meron na rin sa Fantastico. Usually kasi sa Fantastico lang ako nag re-rely sa mga updates hehe. And as usual I have to back-up my dbase muna, baka magkaproblema pa.
Offtopic: visit ko profile mo sa Friendster, when i checked on our connection, we’re connected pala through my sister and janice inovejas, friend mo cguro yun na friend din pala ng ate ko.
In-add kita ha! 
Amor’s last blog post..Best Pinoy Humor Bloggers
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jessie reply on July 18th, 2008:
Amor,
I can’t upgrade automatically yet using Fantastico because it’s not yet available in my web hosting plan that’s why I was forced to upgrade manually.
jessie’s last blog post..Various Quotes #3
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Meron akong Wordpress but di ko alam kong 2.6 ba yun lols! bago lang kasi….I am having a little difficulty withy Wordpress but know that eventually I will learn it all.
ivy’s last blog post..Goodbye Trailer
[Reply]
jessie reply on July 18th, 2008:
Ivy,
I’m pretty sure you will love WordPress when you get the hang of it. It’s natural for you to get lost in some of it’s functions at first but you’ll get over the confusion a little later.
jessie’s last blog post..Miss Universe 2008 Winners and Results: Miss Venezuela Wins
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HI Kuya, the word count feature seems really nice.
Pero medyo tamad pa ako mag upgrade. Just wondering, bakit parang napapadalas yata ang upgrade, hassle kaya yun. Sana ayusin muna nila ng mabuti bago nila irelease considering hindi naman ganun kalayo ang agwat ng time frame ng pag-a-upgrade nila.
elaine’s last blog post..Time’s pick for 50 Best Websites of 2008
[Reply]
jessie reply on July 18th, 2008:
Elaine,
That’s exactly what I discussed in my earlier post about the Wordpress upgrade. The developers are hasty in releasing new versions which infuriated some WordPress users.
jessie’s last blog post..Free Resume Samples for Teachers and Healthcare Managers
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I’m about to upgrade fren pero naisip ko dumaan dito kasi sabi mo mag update ka..kinakabahan tuloy ako…may plug in ako ng auto upgrade so ok kaya yun? Naloka ako dun sa travel photo blog ko kasi di ako maka add ng category since naconvert ko lahat into tags..incomplete yata pag upload ko..
So dimo pa na upgrade version mo dito fren?
Joy’s last blog post..Paalam “Daboy”
[Reply]
jessie reply on July 18th, 2008:
I cannot recommend the plugin friend. Maraming nagka-errors ang Wordpress installations dahil sa plugins. Hindi pa kasi compatible ang maraming plugins sa Wordpress 2.6
jessie’s last blog post..Free Resume Samples for Teachers and Healthcare Managers
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Kuyaaaaaaaaaa, kakainis, nag-upgrade ako sa Random Chronicles…disaster! what’s the best way to upgrade? kahit ftp client ko ayaw mag-connect sa server.
elaine’s last blog post..Taking Care of My Hair
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Elaine,
Try to upgrade WordPress 2.6 using the auto-upgrade feature provided by your web host. Don’t try the manual upgrade. Sometimes, the manual upgrade is tricky.
jessie’s last blog post..Free Resume Samples for Teachers and Healthcare Managers
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You need a list of things before the upgrade and yes, it is really tricky. don’t rely on the 5 minutes easy installation/upgrade.
dimaks’s last blog post..By: dimaks
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Yes, I agree. The 5-minute automatic upgrade of WordPress is not realiable. For one, the MySQL database in one of my test sites was not fully backed up.
jessie’s last blog post..Browse the Internet Using Your Mobile Phone and Opera Mini
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