A notification pops up at the top of your window that looks like this:

Just click on the update link (after backing up your WordPress folder and database) and follow the prompts.

In rare situations you may get the following (or similar) notification:

In this instance, you have to log in to your hosting account to find out about upgrading to the appropriate version of php. With my host, which is Godaddy, I have to go into Hosting Control Center, then select Content >> Programming Languages from the menu.

Then select the appropriate version of php from the options available:

Once that’s done you will be able to follow the prompts from the upgrade page in the WP control panel. You may need to log out and then back in to WP in order for the php upgrade to be recognized.

Many hosts offer  one click installs of WP which can be really helpful in getting you off and running with your WordPress site. You may also want to look at hosting that is specialized in WordPress, which can be good for security updates and help with other issues that you encounter with WP.

Once you have it narrowed down to a few companies, a good test is to send each a quick email. If they don’t get back to you within an hour, they’re not worth their salt!

‘Collapsible elements’— Creates the ± toggle.

‘Post types order’— Allows me to rearrange my posts into alphabetical order on the posts page

and ‘WP SNAP!’— Allows me to rearrange my posts into alphabetical order on the individual categories pages

The custom code was some CSS to hide some of the meta information I didn’t want visible (post date, post author etc.) and some further styling. I also did a little tweaking of the PHP so that the title of the post wasn’t linking to the individual entry anymore.

I have had much better luck finding the plugin I need on Google and then copying and pasting the plug-in name into WP’s plugin search.

For example, I searched ‘reorder posts’ in the WP plugin search and tried the five most appropriate results— All were duds.

I then typed ‘reorder posts, WordPress’ into google and I immediately get ‘Post Types Order’- A plugin with easy, drag-and-drop reordering of posts. Exactly what I needed!

I copied the plugin name, ‘Post Types Order’ into WP’s plugin search and used the Control Panel to install and activate. Easy-peasy!

I haven’t been working on any WordPress sites in a while. Lots of new stuff coming up though— I will have loads of new content to share!

I have been working on a forum site done in Buddypress with hacks. And although I do love Buddypress, sometimes all you need is a forum and BuddyPress can be a bit of overkill with its groups and other social networking functions. Unfortunately bbpress won’t be ready in time to save me hours of work on this project, but I am looking forward to using it in the future!

I’m curious to know how it will work with theming, if it will use WP themes, Buddypress themes or a whole new theming system. It would be great if I could parlay a WordPress theme easily into a BB-press one. Fingers crossed!

(Also, hope they change the name to something less vague/ easily confused with Buddypress!)

Plugins are easy to install— through the WP admin interface, navigate to ‘Plugins>>Add New’ and use the search to browse through the available options. Installing is as simple as clicking on the plugin link and then on ‘Install Now’ and then ‘Activate Plugin’ on the next screen. Once the plugin has been installed and activated you are ready to go!

You can manage your plugins (including install, uninstall, activate and deactivate) all from the Plugins area in WP interface. Alternatively, you can access your plugins via FTP at yoursite/wp-content/plugins/ (you may need to delete a plugin at the source rather than going through the WP interface if a plugin breaks your site) .

A theme is an independently developed set of files that can be added to customize the look and feel of your site and enhance functionality. A theme consists of one or more CSS files and 1 or more php files. These files live in a folder that in turn lives in the theme directory of your WordPress installation (/wp-content/themes/).

You can install themes either by dropping the theme folder (here I mean the unique theme as illustrated below) into the theme directory (in the wp-content folder) or by using the theme installer in the WP admin interface.

Above: This blog displayed with the Twenty Ten theme that comes with the WP installation package.

Above: This blog displayed with one of the many, many free themes available (this one’s called Food Recipe)

There are also many paid themes out there which add value by offering technical support or some enhanced functionality.

Credit to Meagan and Seb for the beautiful logo!

The advantage of using a child theme is that you can create a new look and feel for your site, without having to recreate a bunch of functionality (as when you create a new theme from scratch). It also saves you a lot of hassle if the theme you are using as a base requires updates.

When I first started developing for WordPress, I used to grab a theme that was close to my design, and then make the changes directly in that theme folder. I would upgrade my theme when I got the notification, and all my styling would be gone!

I puzzled over why this was happening, and then I realized that the entire theme folder was being replaced when I upgraded (including all the css files where I had made my changes).

So it is really important to use child themes when you are working from an existing theme. It’s not that hard either. Basically  you need to insert a snippet of code, create a new folder (with your child theme name) and create at least one file within this folder. Detailed instructions can be found on the WordPress Codex.