Mark Dalton

The personal blog of a self confessed geek!

Browsing Posts tagged WordPress

Site Updates & WordPress 2.8

3EAE0177-150F-4BD4-9972-D9EEF7C049A6.jpgFollowing on from the post where I discussed the upgrade to WordPress 2.8 I committed to not adding any new features and I have stuck to my word.

However what I should have guessed was that the existing plug-in’s the site uses would be updated to ensure they were still compatible. So far about 5 of the 20 plug-in’s have been updated and I have installed them on the site without any issues. Some of these plug-in’s have updated the functionality that they offer within the updates, and where possible I have tested them and not found any issues, however if you do notice any strange issues then please let me know.

3EAE0177-150F-4BD4-9972-D9EEF7C049A6.jpgOn Thursday this week WordPress announced the release of the WordPress 2.8 Software, code named “Baker”. The major change with 2.8 is it’s way faster due to changes in how WordPress does styles and scripting. What’s this got to do with this website, well this website runs on WordPress.

In WordPress 2.7 the ability to automatically upgrade was introduced into the core software (It had previously been available via a plugin). Thursday during a quiet period at work I backed up the database and the site and carried out the upgrade. The process was very smooth and the whole process was complete in about 5 minutes.

I am still checking out a lot of the new features and bug fixes but hopefully you should all notice a few improvements. If you do however come across any problems let me know. Otherwise it should be business as usual and the way you use and interact with the site should be exactly the same as before as I haven’t introduced any other elements, and don’t plan to for the foreseeable future.

Web Site Update

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WordPress 2.7.1.jpgOkay I took the plunge this evening and upgraded the web site software to WordPress 2.7.1 and thankfully the latest version has fixed all of the problems I was having, including the Photo Gallery, and has allowed me to improve a couple of the features including the search function.

However in doing so I seem to have corrupted the folder that contained all the images that are contained in the blog posts.

I have logged a ticket with my hosting company to see if they have a backup and hope this will be resolved soon.

[Update 16/03/09 13:33] My hosting provider has sucessfully restored the folder in question and everything looks to be running as it should be once again (Thanks Allen).

Getting things done!

My Website.jpg Okay so it has been a mad couple of weeks at work and I have felt like I have done nothing but work, sleep, eat, and work some more. Not that its a completely bad thing, as I prefer to be busy but gee it’s left me feeling shattered.

So last weekend I decided on some retail therapy, nothing to stressful, a little clothes shopping and a “TOY“. Well it’s been a while since I purchased anything with flashing lights, so I opted for a Play Station Portable 3000 (PSP). I managed to get a package deal that included a couple of games. It took me most of the week to figure out but I finally got the hang of it. Now it wasn’t completely a rash purchase. I had been looking for a while, but hadn’t been able to make my mind up between the PSP and the DSLite. However at the end of the day I decided I wanted mindless violence and not brain training. The graphics were far better on the PSP and it also doubles as a media device (Not that I need another one). I am still working my way through WALL-E but so far it’s good fun and occupies some time during the daily commute.

This weekend I once again opted for a little bit of retail therapy, but this was a lot more aligned to my plans. There was a little more clothes shopping (well since coming back from India the washing powder seems to have shrunk all my trousers). This is something I have been meaning to do for a while, and has gone hand in hand with me cleaning out my closet and throwing out (donating to charity) all those items that I know will never come back into fashion / fit me ever again.

I also purchased myself a new sound system for my computer. I spend a lot more time playing now than I used to and quite enjoy listening to some tunes or a PodCast while searching out the latest bargains. I opted for the Bose Companion 5 set after listening to them in India and the UK, and finding them absolutely amazing. This however was all part of my getting organized resolution and my tidying up the office project (A project under the “Sort the house out” program).

So yesterday after returning from my shopping spree I set about pulling my desk apart and removingClean Desk everything from it, including all the cables. I then positioned everything so it was where I wanted it, and then reran all the cables so I wasn’t getting tangled up in them. It’s quite surprising how long something like that takes, and I still need to get some cable tidies to ensure it stays organized, but it was well worth it.

This morning I popped round to Mum & Dad’s as they had picked up a Malware program called A 360 that basically pretends to be Anti-Virus software but is nothing more than a pain in the ass. I am still connected in remotely running scan’s and updating it, but it now appears to be clean (thanks to LogMeIn.com). Removed CablesAt the same time I have been going through my study and emptying all the old cables, keyboard, mice, discarded gadgets from the toy cupboards, and working out what to eBay and what to trash. I have three black bags worth of cables and an assortment of other junk that I will need to take to the recycling centre next weekend and am still only about 25% of the way there. The remainder however is putting all the stuff that is pilled up into the spaces that I have freed up, nicely. A job for the evening I think!

The other main thing I have done this weekend is apply a new theme to the web site. I was getting a little tired of the old theme and thought a change was due. What do you think?

WordPress 2.7 Problems Cont…

WordPress.jpgOkay the problems with Permalinks and WordPress 2.7 continue to annoy me. I have scoured the WordPress forums and it would seem that I am not the only person suffering, but there doesn’t appear to be a solution, well that I can find, at present.

Playing around I have found that the default permalinks setting allows everything to function correctly, it just doesn’t look very pretty. It also means that the gallery doesn’t work as the plugin requires anything but the default permalinks setting to function. So for now I have disabled the Photo Gallery. If you are looking for my photo’s you can still find them over at Flickr.