While it may seem that WordPress releases upgrades every week, it’s important to install them. Hackers have made sport of seeking out securty holes in WordPress, and the longer you wait to patch them the more likely you are to be hacked. I’ve seen it, and it ain’t pretty. If you’re running a version of WordPress prior to 2.5.1, upgrade NOW.

If you’re using a self-hosted version of WordPress (in other words, you aren’t hosted at wordpress.com, in which case none of this applies to you, thanks for stopping by and have a great day!) there are a few ways to deal with upgrades.

1. Contact someone (like me!) who will take care of your upgrade for you for a fee. Or maybe you have a generous friend who knows how to upgrade.
2. Use Fantastico (via cPanel) or some other one step upgrade script offered by your webhost (not all hosts offer this, you may have to contact your host to find out what your options might be.)
3. Use the WordPress Automatic Upgrade plugin.
4. Manually upgrade yourself via FTP.

Each of these options has it’s pros and cons.

Hiring someone is a good solution if you have more money than time, but be aware that you need to hand over the keys (passwords) to your site, so make sure you trust that person completely. If a friend offers to help be sure that friend has experience with upgrading WordPress. It would be a stupid thing to ruin a friendship over, right?

Fantastico and other one-step upgrades are quick and easy, but if your site is highly customized you risk losing some of the customizations. It sometimes takes awhile for the lastest version of WordPress to become available (for example at this writing version 2.6 is not available via Fantastico.) Also if something goes wrong your timesaver just could have added hours of work to troubleshoot and correct the problem. Same with the WordPress Automatic Upgrade plugin, I’ve used it a few times with no problems but then there was that one time…

If you decide to go with one of these options be sure to backup your database and files first! Even if you think you don’t need to, do it anyway.

Upgrading yourself, while appearing at first to be complicated, may be your best and smartest option.

If you already have experience uploading files using an FTP client, upgrading yourself is actually quite easy. And you get that wonderful sense of pride and satisfaction knowing you did it yourself. There are step by step instructions at WordPress, but the key is “step by step.” Do not skip a step, and you’ll do fine. Remember these key points:

• Back up your database (using phpMyAdmin or something similar, or via the WP-DB-Backup plugin which works quite well), and the following files in your WordPress installation:
  • wp-config.php (this contains the information WordPress needs to speak to your database, it’s content is crucial.)
  • all the contents of your wp-content folder, in particular your theme folder if you are using anything but the default or classic themes as they arrived out of the box, any custom plugins, and the contents of your uploads folder.
  • your .htaccess & robots.txt files (which may appear in your web root.)

  If you have an older version of WordPress there may be other files to be aware of, so be sure to check the instructions at WordPress.

• Back up your content by going to Manage > Export in the admin panel. Your content is also in your database backup, but in some cases having the XML file this tool generates may make recovery (if necessary) a bit less painful.
• Ensure that these backups are safely set aside where you have easy access to them (I like to keep them on my desktop until the upgrade is complete, then I file them away just in case.)
• Be sure to deactivate ALL plugins prior to upgrading. (adding the bold because I’ve seen a few people on Twitter suffering from upgrade issues that I suspect were caused by skipping this step.)

Once you’ve done this preliminary stuff, the actual upgrade is simple. WordPress recommends that you delete and replace your WordPress files rather than overwriting them, and yes, that is the safest bet. Be careful with the wp-content folder, if you delete or overwrite it you’ll lose any custom themes or added plugins (which of course you’ve saved backups of so no big deal right? Right?) Save that folder for last, then open it and the theme and plugin folders within it to upload the new versions of the default themes and plugins individually.

After the files are uploaded, go to yoursite.com/wordpressfolder/wp-admin/upgrade.php and follow the instructions (which consist of a single mouse click.) Next reactivate your plugins via the admin panel, one by one. You may see a message that a particular plugin is out of date, and some may not install at all (if you’re upgrading from an old version in particular.) You can update your plugins by going to their individual sites and grabbing the latest version. You do in most cases have the ability to let WordPress do this for you but keep in mind this involves giving your credentials to a third party.

If you decide to upgrade yourself please do not rely on this post alone. There is important information at the links I’ve provided, particularly at Wordpress and I make no guarantees that reading this post will result in a flawless upgrade. Hopefully, though, I’ve taken a bit of the mystery out of the process. The most important step you can take is back up your database and custom theme. In fact, backing up is, in my opinion, the most complicated part of an upgrade, yet it’s something that you should be doing on a regular basis anyway. If you have backups any problems that occur can be easily overcome. And once you’ve done one upgrade you won’t hesitate to keep your WordPress installation up to date and secure. So go for it!

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A PodCamp is an “unconference”, based around podcasting and podcasters, but also including social media and social networking. The idea is not just to attend but to contribute. I had attended my first PodCamp, in Philadelphia in September 2007, as a sponge, soaking up as much knowledge as I could. This time I felt I had something to offer, and realizing that many of my new “Seesmic friends” would also be attending, I decided to put together this session about Video Conversations. And what better format than a panel, a live version of the type of conversations we were having online? A panel that would hopefully answer the questions What? Who? How? and most importantly- Why?

There are other services that allow you to have a video conversation. Seesmic is the one I’m most familiar with and the community I’m most connected with, but it’s not really about one particular service, it’s about this new way to connect, what it is and where it’s going.

I’d like to thank the people who made this session what it was: Phil Campbell, Seth Eagelfeld, Mike Gaines, Patty Hartwell, Jeff Hinz, Dan Patterson, Christian Payne, and most especially Christine Cavalier who saved me when I had the wrong connection from MacBook to projector and who gave me feedback as I developed the session. Also thank you to the many other Seesmic users who attended the session, provided insight, and helped fill seats ;).

What follows are videos that were sent to Seesmic during the session. The first two were uploaded by Christian Payne (aka Documentally), the remainder by Patty Hartwell. At the end are the slideshow itself and a video I put together of responses to the question “What is the Future of Video Conversation.” If you watch nothing else (and I wouldn’t blame you, it’s a lot!) I encourage you to watch the video at the end.

Seesmic is still in testing and you can become a member by invite only. If you would like to join, register by leaving a video comment here, contact me at annie@pixelcurrents.com, or if you are on twitter you can follow getseesmic and send a DM request for an invitation.
Above image originally uploaded to flickr by Filmosity, aka ChrisCavs, used with permission.

Documentally Part One

Documentally Part Two

Patty Hartwell Part One

Patty Hartwell Part Two

Patty Hartwell Part Three

Patty Hartwell Part Four

Patty Hartwell Part Five

Patty Hartwell Part Six

Presentation slideshow

What is the future of Video Conversation?

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It will be a lively and fun real life conversation about video conversation!

My friend (and PodCamp roomie) Christine Cavalier (known far and wide as purplecar) will be co-moderating with me, and I’ll be assisting her with a presentation on “Social Media Parenting” which will also take place on Friday. Christine has some brilliant thoughts on raising the next generation in a digital age.

I’ll also be running around helping out in the registration area both Friday and Saturday.

We may even try to record an episode of Push My Follow at some point, since four of the six of us will be there!

Did I mention how much fun this is going to be? A long weekend in NYC at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge!

If you see me please make sure to say hi! And ask for a Push My Follow sticker :).

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Original theme using client’s existing logo.

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Customization of the Misty Look theme. New header graphic.

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New original theme for my personal site based on hacked up Sandbox code, includes up to six widget boxes.

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hey twitter, write a blog post for me wouldja? kthxbai

I was joking- but not really. I knew I needed some content, some good content, but I was coming up with nothing.

Out of the tweeterstream came this from twitter friend Becky McCray.

We can do that.

A few quick direct message exchanges later, Becky sent me an amazing collection of wisdom she’d gathered from her twitter followers. She kindly offered it to me, to publish. What’s even better is this list is full of ideas and links that I can use myself, and happily share with my readers.

Becky has an incredible site called Small Biz Survival. On her site Becky offers a wealth of helpful information for small business owners. While her stated focus is on businesses in small towns, such as her own liquor store in Oklahoma, any small business will find great advice here. And even better, as proven by her offer to share this collection with me, Becky is quick to help and encourage fellow entrepreneurs. Check her site out, you won’t be sorry!

So, without further ado, Twitter Wisdom on Web Design and Small Business Resources, as collected by Becky McCray (after the jump!)

Web Design Ideas

dalecruse Everyone talks about the new hot technologies but no one talks about creating better content

GlendaWH measuring blog success………challenging!

khaynes Chatting with a contact off a LinkedIn question about services from one of our vendors. Social networking = Conversations

vaspers At Naturally Yours organic grocery client, I was shocked to see they had printed a business card devoted to the blog we designed for them!
Naturally Yours blog business card: Articles Opinions Videos Photos Interviews Product Reviews Giveaways. Made me smile really big.

communicatrix How stupidly happy does it make me when I see that someone’s spent 53 minutes reading my blog? Very happy.

vaspers Remember, the Web Revolution is about Transparency and User Empowerment, Consumer Info, Peer Recommendation. Base web strategy on these.

vaspers Hate “About” pages that contain vague text about “purpose”, but not names, bios, credentials, expertise, thus no credibility whatsoever.

Marti_L Whether you’re an author or not, JA Konrath has some great advice about web presence http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/

vaspers Don’t compare your humble podcast or vlog with mainstream media’s glitzy junk now. Compare it to the beginning fumblings of early MSM.

byosko Do bloggers always follow their own advice? What do you folks think? http://tinyurl.com/ysw6f8

TrevR Blogging lessons learned: http://tinyurl.com/27fqgg

vaspers I suggested showing After photos w/ text “Curious what these bathrooms looked like before our work? Click the photos above and see!”
…so customer clicks on After photo, which is a link to Before photos, to see what the bathrooms looked like before client remodeled them.

brightwings noticing i don’t care anymore about free reports, audios, videos. i just wanna get stuff done! if i need it i will find it thank you.

vaspers Soon our computers will start their own blogs, make their own music, upload their own videos to YouTube for other machines to enjoy.

vaspers My new post: “using blogs for business” http://tinyurl.com/27s8jz

chrisbrogan Do you have an activated community around your efforts: http://tinyurl.com/2fg4ve

vaspers Enjoying blog called The Buzz Bin. Deep thinking about blogs, marketing, buzz, authenticity, etc. http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog/

Resources

cspenn Screencast software makes corporate training easy. Record once, make employees watch over and over.

rickmahn Reading: ” The Future of the Press Release - Part I, Acceptance at PR 2.0″ (http://tinyurl.com/2xz9y3)

TatsuyaNakagawa Obvious but seldom applied: Even if you SUCK, any skill you spend 4 days/week training will become a strength - http://tinyurl.com/23vyre.

jbreazeale 7 critical rules to understanding people - http://tinyurl.com/25hn9m

cc_chapman Watching Greg Verdino talk about small business marketing at http://tinyurl.com/yvycg9

cspenn Borrow my C&D letter to drop the hammer on people syndicating YOUR stuff without permission: http://urltea.com/13s2

aidg Entrepreneurship Principles from the African Leadership Academy http://tinyurl.com/2wvgwo

cc_chapman New blog post: Inbox Productivity http://tinyurl.com/2bcq8b

rudy10 Updating my website http://www.disabilityresourcedirectory.com

pacificIT Link: Talkster - Truly free international calling, after you listen to an ad http://www.talkster.com/

brightwings Currently Browsing: http://www.motivator.ws/motivator/default.aspx wow just what I needed and it’s free

JasonCalacanis this is a cool “how to” on how to book cheap hotel rooms… http://tinyurl.com/2e4klt

chrisbrogan This is a MUST-READ for freelancers: http://tinyurl.com/24cvav

susanreynolds I am not here. But I wanted to share the hourly billing calculator at http://freelanceswitch.com/rates

vaspers “What is Open Source Marketing” by pal Valeria Maltoni http://tinyurl.com/yqoccv

springnet Startupping - A Community for Internet Entrepreneurs: Startupping is a one-of-a-kind community resource.. http://tinyurl.com/2jfsjl

goldiekatsu A friend of mine just sent me this example of a great cover letter: http://tinyurl.com/ypkrmq

vaspers My “Social Networking Tips for Business” in InterBusiness. http://tinyurl.com/ys797d

you can follow me on twitter at http://twitter.com/banannie

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It’s also important for clients to put in some thought and do a bit of homework before reaching out to a designer. The more clear an initial request for proposal is, the more quickly and accurately the proposal can be returned, and the less likely it is that additional costs will be incurred, and time wasted.

I’ve developed this simple list of questions/criteria for potential clients. These are WordPress specific, but can be applied to other design projects as well.

General Layout:

• Width:
  • fluid?
  • static?
  • narrow, wide, or something in between
• Header:
  • text?
  • graphic?
  • both?
• Columns:
  • number of sidebars
  • location of sidebars
  • width of main content and sidebars
• Footer
  • any special requirements?

Images: What images/graphics do you need for your site? Is there existing artwork to use or adapt?

• Header image
• Images in sidebars (as section headers, etc.)
• Other images (bullets, RSS, etc.)
• Footer image

Colors: What colors are necessary (corporate ID, etc) or what would you like to use?

• background
• focal (sidebar backgrounds, etc)
• accents

Inspiration: What have you seen elsewhere that has influenced or inspired you?

• Existing artwork or design
• Links to attractive sites
• Other inspiration or ideas

Content: What type of content will your site include?

• Text
• Photos
• Video
• Ads
• Types of badges
  • Flickr
  • Twitter
  • Etc.

Custom Pages:

• Static or blog front page?
• About
• Archive
• Links
• Other

Additional functionality:

• Photo gallery
• Forum
• Etc.

Not every client can, or should, answer every question, of course. If your answer to a question is “I don’t really care” or “Give me some ideas” those are perfectly valid responses. You might be hiring a designer because you don’t want to think about these things!

Hopefully these questions are helpful. Can you think of others I may have missed? Do you think there are too many? Add your voice in the comments!

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Upgrade of existing blog plus new theme design to complement existing logo.

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