For the previous versions I’ve always upgraded my WordPress blog manually. Today I attempt to do the same thing so I hit the manual button, but to my surprise that my blog was upgraded automatically instead. I am thinking, “Is this a bug?” Or “Did I do something wrong?” I am wondering that anybody has the same experience as me. I hope I did not screw anything up. Good thing is I’ve always backuped my site.

For people who have versions earlier than WordPress 2.7.1, you have to upgrade your version to this new one manually. But first you have to find out whether your theme, plugins, or anything related to this upgrade are compatible or not. Then proceed to download WordPress 2.7.1 here.  For instructions of how to upgrade to it, follow this link here.

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I recently found a very useful RSS plugin that will allow you to monetize your blog with it. It will permit you to place  RSS feeds below each of your articles. With it you can now promote eBay’s products, ClickBank products, and any other affiliate products that allow you to generate RSS feeds with. I am so excited that I want to share this great tool with you.

This simple RSS plugin is called FirstRSS. Download it from its owner’s website. Did I mention that it is Free? After that unzip that file and upload it to your blog’s directory like this: /public_html/wp-content/plugins/. (assuming that you are using self-hosted WordPress blog too).

One drawback that I found out so far is you can only be allowed to show its default feeds which is 10. I don’t know about you but I think 10 feeds for an article is too many. I want to show less than 5 feeds or at most 5 feeds. Here is the solution for that:

• Log in to your WordPress admin erea.
• Click on Plugins/FirstRSS/Edit.
• Before you attempt to make any changes, make sure you save a copy of it.
• Find the following codes in firstRSS.php:
  

  foreach($rss->items as $item) { $title = $item[title]; $link = htmlentities($item[link]); $desc = $item[description]; if ($title != ”) $disp .= “\t<b><a href=’$link’>$title</a></b>\n<br />”; if ($desc  != ”) $disp .= “\t$desc\n<br />”; }

• And replace them with the codes below:
  

  $i=0; foreach($rss->items as $item) { if($i < 5) { $title = $item[title]; $link = htmlentities($item[link]); $desc = $item[description]; if ($title != ”) $disp .= “\t<b><a href=’$link’>$title</a></b>\n<br />”; if ($desc != ”) $disp .= “\t$desc\n<br />”; } $i++; }

This will allow you to control how many RSS feeds you’ve preferred. I like to display [rsspara:URL] instead of [rsslist:URL] below my post because [rsspara:URL] will allow me to show not only links but images and descriptions of the products as well. Make sure you get a RSS url from any affiliate site you’ve participated and replace the URL with the feed’s url that you’ve got. If you’ve done it right, you will see an example just like the one above.

Another drawback is that it shows what category and keywords with a logo in its feeds. I don’t like that. I am still searching an answer for it. I’ll keep you posted once I find the solution.

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• Log in to your WordPress 2.7 admin area.
• Expand Appearance (at the left side bar)if it is collapsed.
• Click on Editor/Stylesheet(style.css), find body { background: #fff; and chang #fff to be any other color you like.
• Now the problem is that your entire blog page color will be changed to whatever body color you’ve chosen. You need to find the following codes and add background: #fffff to the end of each code (change fffff to be any other color you prefer). See the changes below:
  

  #container { width: 970px; margin: 15px auto 0 auto; background: #fffff } #content_box { width: 970px; text-align: left; float: left; clear: both; background: #fffff } #content { width: 500px; padding: 0 20px 0 0; float: left; background: #fffff } #sidebar { width: 210px; padding: 0 0 0 15px; float: left; background: #fffff } #footer { width: 970px; padding: 1.2em 0 0 0; border-top: 2px solid #ccc; float: left; clear: both; background: #fffff }

• Now if you check your blog, you will find out that your navigational bar background color is still the same as your theme’s body color. Search the following codes and do the same procedure as above step:
  

  ul#nav { list-style: none; width: 950px; padding: 0 10px; background: url(’images/hr_dot_black.gif’) repeat-x; border-bottom: 3px solid #000; float: left; clear: both; background: #fffff } ul#nav li { padding: 0.85em 40px 0.7em 0; font: bold 1.4em Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; text-transform: uppercase; float: left; background: #fffff } ul#nav li a, ul#nav li a:visited { color: #000; text-decoration: none; background: #fffff } ul#nav li a:hover { color: #000; text-decoration: underline; background: #fffff } ul#nav li a.current, ul#nav li a.current:visited, ul#nav li a.current:hover { color: #090; text-decoration: underline; background: #fffff } ul#nav li.rss { padding: 0.85em 0 0.7em 0; float: right; background: #fffff } ul#nav li.rss a { padding: 0 18px 0 0; background: url(’images/icon_rss.gif’) 100% 50% no-repeat; background: #fffff }

• The last thing you need to do is to give your template some left and right margins. How can you do that? Find the code and see the changes I’ve made for you:
  

  #content { width: 468px; padding: 0 15px 0 15px; float: left; background: #fffff }

I also find out that I needed to change the number in my footer section. See the change below:

#footer { width: 955px; padding: 1.2em 0 0 0; border-top: 2px solid #ccc; float: left; clear: both; background: #fffff }

Now go to check your blog again. Did it come out the way you like? Hope you enjoy it.

WordPress 2.7 has a completely new look of its dashboard. It allows its users to arrange new modules by dragging and dropping them around.  It also provides new features such as  QuickPress, comment threading, paging, and the ability to reply to comments inside the dashboard. Moreover, it built in the ability to install any plugin directly from WordPress.org with a single click only. In the upper side corner there is a new feature named “Screen Options” which allow you to check or uncheck the choices of the modules to be shown in the dashboard. The most excited news about WordPress 2.7 is that it built in the ability to allow you to automatically upgrade your future WordPress version with a single click.

Although some people don’t like the new dashboard of WordPress 2.7, I don’t mind to have that. I can understand why some people are not easy to accept new ideas, new looks, new technologies, and etc. For me I am ready. So this is the last time you ever have to manually upgrade WordPress again. If you are readdy, here we go:

• Check to see your host is compatible with WordPress 2.7.

• Check to find out your plugins are compatible with WordPress 2.7.

• Check to be sure your theme is compatible with WordPress 2.7.

• If everything works fine for you, then you can download WordPress 2.7 here.

• Deactivate all your plugins before you proceed.

• You can use WordPress Automatic Upgrade Plugin to upgrade to WordPress 2.7 in about two minutes (after that say bye-bye to this plugin because you don’t need it any more). If you like to manually upgrade your existing WordPress version to WordPress 2.7, just follow along.

• Back up all your WordPress files to your laptop/PC.  You may use FTP to get the job done.

• Back up your database. If you don’t know how, follow these instructions here.

• You should double check to make sure that your backups are usable.

• Delete the old WordPress files except the following files:
  * wp-config.php file
  * wp-content folder
  * wp-images folder (only older installations from 1.5.x days will have this folder)
  * wp-includes/languages/folder; if you are using a language file, and it is here rather than in wp-content/languages/, do not delete this folder (you might want to move your language files to wp-content/languages/ for easier upgrading in the future)
  * .htaccess file (if you have added custom rules to your .htaccess, do not delete it)
  * Custom Content and/or Plugins (if you have any images or other custom content or Plugins inside the wp-content folder, do not delete them).

• You may use FTP to upload your unzipped WordPress 2.7 files to your WordPress directory.

• In your web browser, type http://www.yoursitename.com/wp-admin/ and hit enter. It will guide you whether you need to upgrade your database or not. It turns out that I needed to upgrade my database this time. (Make sure you replace yoursitename wiith your own domain name.)

• The final step is to reactivate all your plugins in the dashboard of your WordPress 2.7.

Now go ahead. Get familiar with the new features in WordPress 2.7 and enjoy!

Technorati Tags: new features, upgrade, upgrades, WordPress 2.7, WordPress blog

• First you have to find out whether you meet the minimum requirement. You can find the answer from you host account.

• Next you can get WordPress Automatic Upgrade Plugin to upgrade to WordPress 2.6.5 in about two minutes. For me I prefer to manually upgrade my WordPress blog.

• Next back up your database. If you don’t know how, these instructions will show you how.

• Then back up all your WordPress files to your laptop/PC.  I prefer using FTP.

• It is very important that you double check your backups to see whether they are usable.

• Next deactivate all your plugins since they may cause problems.

• Now go to download WordPress 2.6.5 to your laptop/PC.

• Delete the old WordPress files except the following files:
  • wp-config.php file
  • wp-content folder
  • wp-images folder (only older installations from 1.5.x days will have this folder)
  • wp-includes/languages/folder; if you are using a language file, and it is here rather than in wp-content/languages/, do not delete this folder (you might want to move your language files to wp-content/languages/ for easier upgrading in the future)
  • .htaccess file (if you have added custom rules to your .htaccess, do not delete it)
  • Custom Content and/or Plugins (if you have any images or other custom content or Plugins inside the wp-content folder, do not delete them).

• Upload your unzipped WordPress 2.6.5 files to your WordPress directory.

• Type http://www.yoursitename.com/wp-admin/ in your web browser and hit enter. It will direct you whether you need to upgrade your database or not. Make sure you replace yoursitename with your own domain name.

• Now head to reactivate your plugins and enjoy your WordPress 2.6.5 dashboard.

See it is not hard. Let me know if you run into any issues.

Technorati Tags: upgrade, upgrades, WordPress 2.6.5, WordPress blog

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• First I used FTP to back up my old WordPress blog files to my laptop.

• Second I upgraded my old WordPress 2.6.1 to be the newest version WordPress 2.6.5.

• Third I logged in to my host’s cPanel/phpMyAdmin to export my old WordPress blog’s database to my laptop. See WordPress Backup with phpMyAdmin here.

• Next I created a new folder named wp for the new domain. I then created a robots.txt in wp fold with the following contents:

  User-agent: *
  Disallow: /

  This is to prevent any search engines to crawl my site before it is ready.

• Next I used FTP to upload all my old WordPress blog’s files to public_html/wp folder.

• Next I created a new database in my host cPanel for this new domain. See WordPress Tutorial: Setting Up A MySQL Database With cPanel here.

• Next I typed the url of my website in my browse to run the install and input the information I’v got from the last step to finish the installation.

• Then I edited wp-config.php file which should be in your root directory and changed the high-lighted parts with the information I’ve got earlier.

define(’DB_NAME’, ‘databasename‘); // Change the high-lighted part to be your database name
define(’DB_USER’, ‘mysqlusername‘); // Change the high-lighted part to be your MySQL username
define(’DB_PASSWORD’, ‘mysqlpassword‘); // Change the high-lighted part to be your password
define(’DB_HOST’, ‘localhost’); // 99% chance you won’t need to change this value.

• Then I imported my old database to replace the new one I’ve created eariler. (if your database name, mysql username, and mysql password are the same as the old one, then you don’t need to do anything otherwise you have to change them before you can import it.)

• Then I logged in to my WordPress admin area and used Search and Replace plugin to search all my old WordPress urls in database to be replaced with my new urls.

• Then I double checked my website to see whether everything was working properly. After that I deleted the robots.txt file.

• Finally I added the following line in my old blog’s .htaccess file right after
  RewriteEngine On
  RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.yourdomainname.com/$1 [R=301,L]

You must change yourdomainname to be your actual domain name. Adding this line in my old blog’s .htaccess will ensure that all my old blog’s traffic will be redirected to my new blog with every single post I’ve created.

Any questions? or suggestions? Please share them with us.

Technorati Tags: cpanel, database name, FTP, mysql database, mysql tutorial, new domain, phpMyAdmin, transfer domain, transfer WordPress, WordPress blog

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However transferring your WordPress blog/website to a new host is not an easy job; especially if you are new to this realm. If one day for any reason you decide to transfer your current WordPress blog/website to a new host, these are the steps I make it as smooth as it could be for you:

• First find a host that meets all your needs.

• Second use FTP to backup your WordPress files to your computer or laptop.

• Third backup (export) your WordPRess database to your computer or laptop using phpMyAdmin in your current host’s cPanel. Check WordPress Backup with phpMyAdmin out for more details.

• Next use FTP to upload your WordPress files that you’ve backed up earlier to your new host’s root directory or any directory you prefer.

• Next create a new database using either MySQL ® Databases or MySQL ® Database Wizard in your new host’s cPanel. See WordPress Tutorial: Setting Up A MySQL Database With cPanel for more details.

• Next change the information about your database or the absolute path before uploading (importing) it to your new host. Make sure you choose binary from Character set of the file otherwise some punctuation like apostrophe will not show properly. See the screenshot below:

• Then download your wp_config.php file, which should be in your root directory, to your computer or laptop;  edit the following lines and then upload it back to the same directory:
  

  define(’DB_NAME’, ‘databasename‘); // Change database name to be your actual database name define(’DB_USER’, ‘mysqlusername‘); // Change mysql username to be your MySQL username define(’DB_PASSWORD’, ‘mysqlpassword‘); // Change mysql password to be your actual password define(’DB_HOST’, ‘localhost’); // 99% chance you won’t need to change this value.

• Finally point your domain to your new host’s name servers. In my case, they look like these: ns1.hostmonster.com and ns2.hostmonster.com. If you are not sure then you can ask your current host to have that done for you. Please be aware that DNS (Domain Name System) takes 24 to 48 hours to be completed due to DNS’ propagation.

Once you find out that everything is working properly, inform your current host to cancel your account. That is it. Any questions please ask in the comment section.

Technorati Tags: new host, transfer domain, transfer WordPress, WordPress blog

I just upgraded my existing WordPress version to WordPress 2.6.1 a moment ago. Everything went smoothly. If you are ready to upgrade to WordPress 2.6.1, then you may find the following steps useful:

• First of all you need to check whether you meet the minimum requirement. You can use the following code to check your minimum requirement.
  

  <?phpinfo();?>

  Here is what you need to do: Save the above code in a file as checkphpNmysql.php or any name you want. Then upload that file to your public_html directory, and run it as http://www.yoursitename.com/checkphpNmysql.php in your browser to find out your PHP version and MySQL version right away. Make sure you replace yoursitename with your own domain name.

• If you fulfill the minimum requirement, then you have two choices: (1) You can get WordPress Automatic Upgrade Plugin to upgrade for you in about two minutes. I’ve never tried it before so you are taking that choice on your own risk. (2) Alternatively you may upgrade to WordPress 2.6.1 manually.

• Next back up your database. Follow These instructions if you don’t know how.

• Use any FTP to back up ALL of your files in your WordPress directory to your PC (personal computer).

• Check your backups to see they are usable.

• Make sure you deactivate All your plugins.

• Download and unzip WordPress 2.6.1 here to your PC.

• Delete the old WordPress files except the following files:
  • wp-config.php file
  • wp-content folder
  • wp-images folder (only older installations from 1.5.x days will have this folder)
  • wp-includes/languages/folder; if you are using a language file, and it is here rather than in wp-content/languages/, do not delete this folder (you might want to move your language files to wp-content/languages/ for easier upgrading in the future)
  • .htaccess file (if you have added custom rules to your .htaccess, do not delete it)
  • Custom Content and/or Plugins (if you have any images or other custom content or Plugins inside the wp-content folder, do not delete them).

• Upload your unzipped wordpress-2.6.1 files to your WordPress directory.

• Run http://www.yoursitename.com/wp-admin/ as your normal login. From there it will direct you whether you need to upgrade your database or not. Make sure you replace yoursitename with your own domain name.

• If your WordPress is resided in a subdirectory called blog, then you need to run it as http://www.yoursitename.com/blog/wp-admin/ or http://www.blog/yoursitename.com/wp-admin/ depending on how you set up your blog.

• The last step is to make sure you reactivate those plugins that you deactivated earlier.

Did you see your new WordPress 2.6.1 interface? How do you like about it?

Technorati Tags: upgrade, upgrades, WordPress 2.6.1, WordPress blog

• Post Revisions: Wiki-like tracking of edits
  This feature allow you to view your changes of your posts and pages with a specific date.  If you make mistakes on your blog, this feature is handy in a way that it allows you to go back to your older version of the post. Thus saving your headache. It is even handier for multi-author blogs because it allows you to track changes being make by who or when.

• Press This!: Post from wherever you are on the web
  This is a feature that allows you to add a bookmark to your toolbar by simply clicking on Press This. It will provide you a fast and smart popup to do posts to your WordPress blog. It is quite convenient if you want to post video on your blog from YouTube or Flickr.

• Shift Gears: Turbo-speed your blogging
  Gears is one of the open source projects developed by Google. With this feature one can add more new features to your web browser. Gears can be installed with the following system requirements:
  • Windows XP/Vista
  • Firefox 1.5+ and Internet Explorer 6.0+

  It is optional that you want to install it or not. According to WordPress Blog in WordPress.org, your WordPress blog works fine without it.

• Theme Previews: See it before your audience does
  This feature allows you to view your selected theme in a pop-up window with your live contents in it. Therefore you don’t have to activate your theme in order to see it alive in public.

• Other small features and improvements included in WordPress 2.6 are:
  • Word count
  • Image captions
  • Bulk management of Plugins
  • A completed revamped image control
  • Reordering galleries
  • Plugin update notification bubble
  • Default avatars customization
  • Upload media in a full screen mode
  • Remote publishing via XML-RPC and APP is now secure by default.
  • Full SSL suport
  • No interface issues of having many thousands pages or categories
  • Allows you to move your wp-config file and wp-content directories to a custom location
  • Allows you to select a range of checkboxes with “shift-click”
  • Allows you to toggle between the Flash uploader and the classic one
  • Provides a number of proactive security enhancements
  • Develops stronger, better, and faster versions of TinyMCE, jQuery, and jQuery UI
  • Fixes approximately 194 bugs.

Next post I’ll show you how to upgrade your existing version to WordPress 2.6. So stay tuned…

Related article
Upgrading to WordPress 2.6.1? How?

Technorati Tags: bug fixes, features, new features, improvements, WordPress 2.6