There has been a lot going on this week with WordPress and myself. WordPress released version 2.8, I held the monthly Blog Talk Radio WordPress Q and A and re-launched WordPress Made Easy.
So some of the comments and question have not gotten answered. Time to correct that as much as I can.
The first was a question on the subscription pop that I use. It is a light box pop. There are a few available. The one I like the best and use on my Mike Paetzold Recommends blog is a paid version of Optin Pop plugin.
It has a free version there too. The difference is the paid version allows you to rotate different pops. For me I like that and use it for more than just adding subscribers.
I will offer different items for the signup or use it to refer people to various Butterfly Marketing style sites too. This way people see different offers each time they stop by. You can use a site like Instant Bonus Pages to find quite a few of these type sites and then target the offer to your audience. You can set it to load on entrance, time delayed or on exit.
The other question that I saw I missed was on widgets with the new WordPress 2.8. You do need to save the widget once you drag it.
As soon as you drag a new widget it expands so you can set the options. Even if you are using the defaults you need to hit the save button.
Think that catches up on what I have missed. As always if you have questions on WordPress and blogging use the comments below.
WordPress 2.8 released last night. Still finding new things that have been added each time I play around. The syntax highlighting was a surprise but a nice one. If you are editing your theme it color codes things like your favorite desk top code editor does.
Check out the video below from WordPress.tv
Last nights Blog Talk Radio is available for replay. Thanks to all that attended and to my co-host Steve Roye of Real First Steps. Lots of good information and we always have fun.
Have not seen any problems with upgrading through my main blogs. All have upgraded and seem seem to be working well. Power WordPress Users now have the new files available in the member’s download area.
Well got up way too early this morning as the dampness and my back are not getting along well but it did allow me to get this out much earlier than I normally would.
Finally , a shameless plug – The $20 discount on the re-launch of WordPress Made Easy (upgraded to include all the new features in 2.8) is only available until Saturday
Lots happening about WordPress today. WordPress 2.8 is being released, WordPress Made Easy has been totally redone to include the changes in 2.8 and finally tonight at 7 pm is the monthly WordPress Q and A Show on Blog Talk Radio. Now to the details.
Not announced 100% as I write this in the early morning but WordPress 2.8 should be out today per their blog. The post before this covers the steps for upgrading and what to be aware of to make it a smooth process. You can get my team and I to do the upgrade for you if you prefer. Once it is released we will also be updating the file for Power WordPress Users.
WordPress Made Easy – Just finished redoing all of the videos and instructions to cover all the changes in WordPress since the original release. Added bonuses that were not included to make it even easier for you to not only install and tweak out your WordPress blog easily but to get started with traffic generation and even included a complete explanation of the new dashboard.
Everything that you need ot get your blog working for you. Then I went a bit nuts and cut the price by $20 but just through Saturday. Check out WordPress Made Easy today before the savings disappears.
Last but certainly not least is the monthly WordPress Q and A Call tonight at 7pm edt. I will once again have my good friend Steve Roye on the line to keep it funny and avoid any techno-babble. You can call in or listen online and ask your questions live. Feel free to leave any questions in the comments below.
So all in all a Wacky WordPress Wednesday. Talk to you tonight.
More concerned with the ones listed as known problems then whether the plugin or theme is listed in the compatible area as quite a few authors don’t bother to submit their information but testers that have problems do.
So once you are aware of any of those problems it is time to get your backups ready. Go pull the database whether you use PHPMyAdmin to export it or use the WP Database Backup plugin.
The other files I want to back up are the wp-config.php and any themes or plugins that I have edited the code in.
Once I have that you can use the auto upgrade in WordPress and let it upgrade. I may just be a paranoid old bald guy and have only once ever needed the files I pull but if Murphy lives at your house like he does at mine the time you don’t do the backups will be the time you need it.
Video below to walk you through the upgrade as the process hasn’t changed from the last time.
So be like the Boy Scout and be prepared for the changes.
Reminder: Tomorrow night will be the monthly Q and A on Blog Talk Radio. Leave your questions in the comments and mark your calendar for June 10th 7pm edt to attend.
I am excited about the new WordPress 2.8 but there are a few steps you need to take before you decide to upgrade. The very first thing is to start checking compatibility problems.
The advantage of open source that allows us to have access to all of the various plugins and themes can have a real bad downside when WordPress makes a major change between versions.
There are tons of free plugins and themes but because they are free it does not really give the developer a reason to worry about staying current. Now to give credit the vast majority of plugin developers do and they are greatly appreciated.
The good thing is that WordPress has resources available to see if the plugins and themes that you use are compatible. They list the plugins and themes that have been tested and also the ones that have been shown to cause problems. If yours is not on either list you can invite the author to add their status to the page.
So take a few minutes now ahead of time to check your plugins and themes status.
Previously I had written about the changes in 2.8 which is do to go live next week on the 10th (always subject to change ). The big things was the ability to add themes but I missed another big change in the widgets.
This is a great change for those that use mult sidebar themes like Flexibility that I use here.
It used to be a real pain to set the widgets for each sidebar. You had to choose each one separately then add what you wanted and save. It was tough to remember (at least for old bald guys) which item I had placed on which sidebar when you have 4 choices.
Now you can see all of them at once and drag and drop to the appropriate area. This old bald guy is loving this feature.
The other thing they have added here that is nice is the ability to keep inactive widgets.
Let me explain. You set up an opt in box for a specific product, do all the html and graphics and want to try a different one. Before you would lose all the html unless you copied it saved it on your computer then could remember where you saved it.
Now you drag that text widget to the inactive area and it saves all the original information there. No need to copy and paste and no need to remember where you saved it or take the time to recreate it.
So you can save all your settings you have edited on any widget while testing other items.
Looking forward to the release of 2.8 on Wednesday.
Well for those looking for the newest version of WordPress they released the first beta version of 2.8 yesterday. I have added it to this blog today and it seems to be working fine so far.
Have been running the latest nightly builds on the beta blog so was not really surprised and did not expect any problems but Murphy does live at my house. Previously I covered some of the changes such as being able to add new themes the way that you can add plugins now.
So just a heads up that if the beta goes well and so far at least for me it has then you can expect the live release shortly.
Well as April ends we are fast approaching the release of WordPress 2.8 next month. So far will not be the big culture shock that was there for 2.7.
Dashboard has had no major changes so far. A few things have changed. Plugins area has gone back to the old look. All the plugins show in the same area instead of the 3 separate areas of active, recently removed and inactive.
Fortunately so far all my plugins have worked fine so my guess is that there are not any major changes to the way they interact.
The biggest changes have been in the appearance area for themes. You can now activate or preview or delete direct from the themes area. For those that are listed you can also see if there have been upgrades and in some cases upgrade directly from there.
You can now install themes directly from the dashboard like you can plugins too.
You will be able to do a sorted search, upload from a zip file on your computer, check the featured themes, newest and recently updated.
This should definitely be helpful for new bloggers to be able to change things without having to ftp. You can preview the themes before adding them and delete easily any that you are no longer using.
The search feature looks interesting and I may write more about it as I play around a bit more. You can sort with quite a few criteria.
Just a reminder all of these pictures are from the beta version and some of these features may change before the final release comes out. I am sure there are probably more things that have changed but these are what I have noticed so far in playing around (the truth but I really should call it testing extensively )
All in all though looks like this will be an easy upgrade and the features will make things easier especially for changing themes.
). The big things was the ability to add themes but I missed another big change in the widgets.
You can now install themes directly from the dashboard like you can plugins too.
