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One of the trade-offs involved with using blog software that resides on your server is that you may have to endure updates to add new features and fix potential security risks. Hosted services such as TypePad or Compendium Blogware simply push these live without any work on the part of the user. I for one think the benefit of hosting the software on my domain outstrips any hassle involved in updates.
Especially when you employ the WordPress Automatic Ugrade Plugin. I upgraded my entire blog to WordPress 2.6 in less than 5 minutes using this plug in. The tool also backs up all your files and database before it starts. That’s one of the nice things about open source software. If something doesn’t work just right somebody will write a fix.
By the way, lots of new features and little added toys in this upgrade - seems well worth doing.
Comments
This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 at Jul 23, 08 | 11:16 am and is filed under Blogging, Social Media, Tools I Use, WordPress. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Hi John,
I have one of my blogs on WP. I like it, but, as a one man show, Typepad is the way to go…for this blogger.
Joel Libava
You rock! This is a great plugin.
As a side note, if you can’t log back in after you run the plug-in, just delete all your cookies…
I used to have wordpress on my own server, but there were the frequent upgrade problems, plus other miscellaneous parts that never did work right. Too much hassle and too much time involvement for a person who is trying to run his own business. Now that I’ve switched the blog to be hosted at wordpress.com, it’s running much smoother, wordpress handles the upgrades instead of me, and I’m a happier camper. Simplicity is key, and for me the wordpress.com hosting is the way to go.
So glad for the tip! I love my WP blog — and that’s usually the platform I recommend for clients — but I was holding off on the upgrade because I heard too many Twitter tweets about problems with the 2.6 upgrade.
Adrianne Machina, Duct Tape Coach
Thanks for the tip John. I love my WP blog, but I was holding off on the upgrade because I heard lots of Twitter tweets that the upgrade itself could be fraught with technical trouble. If your blog can be done in 5 minutes, mine should take 5 seconds!
Adrianne Machina, DTM Coach
Very cool feature.
One small issue with wordpress 2.6 is that PodPress doesn’t work with it yet. Though, PP should be fixed in a week or so.
Too bad that a new WordPress update crashes plugins. How often does that happen? PP is my first to go haywire after an update.
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@allan - I have not had many issues with plugins crashing but obviously PodPress is a big one to get fixed. Some of this comes from the fact that a lot of really good plugins are developed for free by people doing it in their spare time.
Yeah, I used this plug-in and the dynamic update is much less hassle compared to backing up a few .wp files manually.
These types of plugins are pretty cool and definitely make the mass amounts of Wordpress updates easier to handle.
I’m always scared about access to my server though. Anything that has access to write to my server means that there are holes elsewhere.
I’ve had my blog hacked before and its such a pain.
Interesting. My my main blogs are on Typepad but I do have a couple of wordpress blogs but the upgrade fears have certainly constrained me because I’m just not technical.
I agree, this plugin is a godsend. I have used it a couple times on a couple blogs and have not had any problems to date.
Simple to use, safe auto backup, and takes he guess work out of upgrading. Can’t ask for much more.
I am a confirmed wordpress junkie, with four of my own blogs and 15 client sites, i can’t imagine switching.
One of the main reasons I love it, is the vibrant WP community that creates and shares so many plug ins !
For people like me, this plugin is great. I’ve been procrastinating since the new version of WP came out, but after reading your post and downloading the plugin I managed to upgrade my version of WP in less than 5 minutes flat. And I’ll definitely be much quicker about upgrading in the future. Thanks.
Good tip. I started using blogger as installing wordpress on my server and then updating / backing it up was a pain for a technical novice like me.
Easier than the plugin is to use a Web host with Fantastico Deluxe (a collection of installer scripts).
It automatically creates the backups and fires the upgrade (takes less than 15 seconds), so you never even have to download the new version.
Check and see if your Web host has it.