In an effort to address performance issues with my blog I decided to upgrade to the latest version of WordPress. Unfortunately the process of upgrading my blog did not go smoothly. After accidentally over writing my database, the equivalent of erasing all entries from the past year and half, my heart became firmly lodged in my throat. Fortunately my web host, he.net whom I highly recommend, was able to restore the database and I was then able to properly install the upgrade. Sadly my theme is no longer compatible with the new version of WordPress and I ran out of time in finding and configuring a replacement. As a result my blog now has a rather generic feel. Over the next few days more changes will be taking effect here so please bear with me as I finalize my blog configuration and theme selection.
dude? wtf?
glad you were able to recover your stuff.
Ouch, that must have been quite quite a scare.
But I’m glad you managed to recover all you data.
If you need any help with your theme, just give me a shout.
At least it loads faster now. What a flashback with the WP 1.5 default theme! 🙂
One of the things that always caused your blog to load slow for me was the theme, the black background bit. As the page was loading, the black was visible with the text in front of it, but not the white framing for the text…it was like the theme was waiting to load something before rendering the white…it was a tad annoying…but I did most of my reading via your RSS feed, so it didn’t bother me too much.
Something to keep in mind while you shop around for a new theme… 🙂
Glad that you were able to recover the DB and Posts last night!
Thanks everyone.
I won’t be making the same mistake twice.
@latoga the issue with the last theme was more how the stylesheet handled the data and graphics. The flaw with my last theme was very noticeable with slower connections. The background graphic is a very light weight gif file so there should have been no performance hit because of that. Either way I want to make sure that I improve overall performance to the blog and theme choice will definitely be a factor.
OMG I feel the pain. So happy for you to get the DB back. That woulda been a heart-crusher. A reminder to us all, back up our weblog DB files just like we do with our images and web site files.
I’m sure you’ll find a great new theme.
Every time I get ready to update my WordPress version, I swallow hard before I hit the update button. I have to say that I have been pretty lucky so far. I am hosted by GoDaddy and they actually perform the installs for me, along with the option of rolling back if I don’t like it. So far, so good. The only problem I have had is incompatibility with some plug-ins. I hope you can find a theme that works for you. I really did like the old look. It’s a shame it won’t work. Good luck in finding a replacement.
Jeff
@Gary Thanks. Knowing how many problems you’ve had I know you’d understand. Backups are essential. I started having problems with my auto back up sometime ago and was dreading any problems. I’ll be putting in the necessary safeguards for sure after this incident.
@Jeff You’re lucky and it’s good to hear that GoDaddy is providing great service. I use them for my domain registrations but not my hosting. Although I liked the old look and feel from what I’m seeing I think I’m going to be able to find a new layout that will exceed the old version. Stay tuned!
You are a braver soul than I am Jim. This is the third story I have read on the blogs I visit on how the WP upgrade didn’t go so well. I am definitely sticking with the older version now. Don’t know how the WP folks really botched this upgrade – all of the ones in the past were fairly painless for me.
@Mark well I can’t blame WP for this one. This was purely user error. I will say they could have updated their documentation to make it clearer what link to load if you’re upgrading versus installing a new instance of WP. I should have read more carefully. Upgrades shouldn’t be taken lightly and as Gary mentioned earlier backing up your blog DB is as important as backing up any digital image.
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