Reasons to Upgrade to WordPress 2.5 and beyond
May 18th, 2008 | Post By: Daisy | Category: WordPress
I’ve had several people ask my for reasons to upgrade to WordPress 2.5 instead of staying with an older version. I happen to like the new interface, and the new image handling system shows a lot of promise. There is one overwhelming reason, in my opinion, to stay up to date with the most current version of WordPress whether you like the cosmetic features or not. It all boils down to security. Each version of WordPress closes up gaps that hackers can use to weasel their way into your site. Some might fill the hidden corners of your site with spam links, which will trash your search engine standing without you even realize anything has happened. Other hackers can do more serious damage. A site I manage was hacked, recently, in order to use the site as a portal for illegal file downloads. I don’t want to leave any holes that they can get through if there is a readily available fix.
In case security is not enough of a reason for you to upgrade, here are a few others to think on:
- Once you get accustomed to it, the new backend interface actually makes more sense. Things are grouped together more logically and the things most bloggers use the most are given more exposure on the page. Things used less often are put in a more out of the way location on the screen. It’s not perfect and there are a few inconveniences here and there but overall the improvements outweigh the problems.
- The new image handling system has a lot of potential. I don’t think it’s quite there yet in terms of features but with a few tweaks it has the potential of being a really functional way of handling images and galleries in WordPress. Even without all the features I can envision being implemented it’s a huge improvement over the way things were handled in previous versions.
- Plugin Authors are moving on. Staying current with plugins is important and actively developed and new plugins will be coded with 2.5 in mind.
- Things will only move forward from here. While upgrading across several versions of WordPress is not impossible it’s much better, in my opinion, to keep the system structure as close to current as possible.
I stand behind the development process of WordPress and once you get past the initial shock of a big visual change you won’t even remember that old dashboard after awhile.
If upgrading your WordPress installation is a challenge to daunting for you to contemplate contact me. For a reasonable rate I can bring your WordPress installation up to the current version and, if necessary, make sure that nothing else breaks in the process.
The Reasons to Upgrade to WordPress 2.5 and beyond by Daisy Olsen, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Hey there Ms Daisy!
I only upgraded this morning. The main thing putting me off was the difficulty in doing so. I dub myself a blonde mac user. Even with instructions from people like @markdavidson on Twitter, I found the whole process very daunting. In an ideal world, Wordpress would come up with a way of updating in an easier fashion, rather than backing up and downloading and uploading and praying that it all goes well! That being said, I like the new interface and so far have found it relatively easy to use!
Fionas last blog post..Masterated?
Daisy,
I haven’t done it yet since I’ve been out of town and away from my desktop so much lately. Kind of a thin excuse, esp. since I HAVE been hacked by yukky spammers and am very glad to have discovered it before suffering a googlish demise.
Top on my list to do when : (I) I am finished galivanting all over Arizona; (2) I figure out why my Pheedo ad aren’t showing up; (3) my Grandson and his mommie go back home so that I can actually focus on office stuff.
Katies last blog post..Calling all Prescott AZ Knitters
opppsss my bad.. sorry.. completely missed the “share” guy!!!!
Dugg it :)
Elles last blog post..Quick Fix For Uploading Images in Wordpress 2.5