Upgrade notice
If an analogy were necessary, I would say that I have just completed the blog equivalent of replacing the transmission using a bent pair of pliers and a butterknife. I let the two-year anniversary of this site pass without mention, but that unmarked occasion rekindled in me the sense of the lazy, the Luddite, and the pessimist that arises whenever I think about updating the blogging engine that makes this site run. It’s been over 15 months since the last major update was released, and I’ve been avoiding installing it ever since.
It wasn’t an uncharacteristic sense of competence that finally convinced me to do the upgrade, but rather a sudden eruption of cranky bugs in the old version. The site’s appearance was taken hostage and WordPress claimed to have no idea where the necessary files were although I could see them sitting right there on the remote server. In fact, for the last week or so no one should have been able to see the site at all, according to WordPress 1.5. After trying to work out why, and fooling around for longer than seemed reasonable, I figured that if I was going to waste that kind of time I might as well waste it thoroughly and do a full data backup and upgrade to the just-released WordPress 2.1.2. The touted “Five-Step Upgrade” turned into a much more involved project than advertised, though I was more or less prepared for that (see ‘pessimist’ above).
I mention all of this not because of the radical redesign (the appearance, after much cursing and uploading, finally returns to the theme of the last year, and you shouldn’t see anything new), but to ask the help of our various readers in identifying bugs, if any; when I first assembled from chewing gum and coathangers installed the comment preview page there were some problems various readers alerted me to, for example, and then there was the famous lame-browser display issue more recently. So please drop us a comment (if possible) or an email should this upgrade in any way impinge on your isoglossia experience.
And I had hoped to have time to do some really important blogging business today, such as posting some amusing pictures of pugs or kitties.
I find that, having upgraded twice now, the upgrade itself is virtually painless compared to the ridiculous amount of fretting I do before and during said upgrade. This last time, I had one minor sidebar formatting issue* that I was able to fix with minimum drama.
My isoglossia experience is undamaged.
*An issue that, admittedly, didn’t initially seem so minor when it prevented 99% of the content of the site from uploading.
Comment by Jane — Monday 19 March 07 @ 21.51 MDT+2.00
the change is, from here, inapparent.
and pugs! and kitties! thank you, sir.
Comment by kilowatthour — Tuesday 20 March 07 @ 22.01 MDT+2.00
Good job! Did my making fun of you in the Flickr comments have any affect on the change or was it already planned? :-)
Comment by Erik R. — Thursday 22 March 07 @ 11.06 MDT+2.00
The screenshot you commented on, Erik, was taken just moments after making the upgrade — that’s the 2.1.2 dashboard, which looks a good deal newer than 1.5’s.
Comment by sgazzetti — Thursday 22 March 07 @ 13.54 MDT+2.00
Ha. Having lost my Wordpress virginity at 2.0.1, I didn’t know.
Comment by Erik R. — Thursday 22 March 07 @ 16.28 MDT+2.00