“Briefly Unavailable For maintenance. Check back in a minute” – and a minute later it is still there! In fact it stays there and doesn’t go away, how annoying eh? This is one of WP 3.o’s nicest touches and even though I understand why I must admit, I do agree that it can be very annoying. Especially when it keeps on happening. The question being raised by many bloggers who are not tech savvy and don’t understand the hows and whys is, how do I get rid of it and gain access to my blog?  Read more... (190 words, estimated 46 secs reading time)

WordPress V3.0 coming soon near your blog – be prepared for something(s) special!

The guys over at WordPress have been hard at work preparing the all cool all new version of WordPress – WordPress V3.0 is due for release any time soon!

So what can you expect with this new version?

I have tested and installed WordPress 3.0 (Not yet available for public use) on one of my new sites and it was a breeze and with this new version comes the first major change – The installation welcome screen and the ability to pick a name for the admin and set your own password with a strength meter.  Read more... (588 words, 7 images, estimated 2:21 mins reading time)

Most of you will already be aware of the latest announcement on the release of WordPress 2.9 – as always a major release comes with a bunch of cool new features. Here’s a short video showcasing just a few of the coolest features that come fully loaded with this latest major release.

The coolest new stuff from a user point of view are:  Read more... (326 words, estimated 1:18 mins reading time)

Update: Upgrade your wordpress blog NOW!

The vulnerability is far serious than first mentioned from the extract from WordPress.org bellow and an immediate upgrade is now advised. The security breach hole can allow for a script to add files to the site’s root directory which can lead to major disruption of your blog. Files such as index.html can be added to your site root via this security hole, this can include warez, viruses and porn type files. Thanks to the prompt action of those who spotted the breach and to wordpress for prompt release of the latest secure version we can now eliminate the problem by upgrading immediately.  Read more... (584 words, estimated 2:20 mins reading time)

Staying updated and current with wordpress releases is always a good thing and highly recommended. And hot on the heels of 2.8.3 is yet another security release 2.8.4 which is being made available to all as I type this. I have just upgraded this blog and all is good

2.8.4 addresses a security vulnerability discovered a couple of days ago -

A specially crafted URL could be requested that would allow an attacker to bypass a security check to verify a user requested a password reset. As a result, the first account without a key in the database (usually the admin account) would have its password reset and a new password would be emailed to the account owner. This doesn’t allow remote access, but it is very annoying.  Read more... (334 words, estimated 1:20 mins reading time)

If you are a regular at wordpress.org/support forum you may well be aware of the problem with this error. This problem has two faces to it as listed bellow:

Problem #1

• Content writing limitations – when writing a post or page, the text area limits the amount of content entered to a few paragraphs.
• Even if you manage to write the full content, on publish only a portion of your input appears on the rendered post/page.

Problem #2  Read more... (433 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

• When attempting to edit previous post/page, the permalink title is displayed – but there is no content in the text area.

Today saw the release of the next installment of wordpress version 2.8 (WP 2.8.2) and already there are problems being reported. These problems are not necessarily an issue with the new version of wp or bugs, but more so a problem with some webmaster not following the simple upgrade guidelines.  Read more... (396 words, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

• Back up your core files and database.
• Deactivate all plugins.
• Upgrade your installation.
• Make sure all is working fine before reactivating the plugins.
• Plugins should be reactivated one by one all the while checking that everything is still working fine.

Update #1: Re fatal error after upgrading and reactivating the plug-ins – Read more in the forum

WordPress version 2.8 is only 3 days old and some bloggers are already up in arms and complaining. And from what I have seen over on wordpress.org the ones complaining are the ones who failed to follow the upgrade instructions.

That little nagging “New version of wordpress is now available, click here to upgrade” should be disabled was one of the sighted issue as a problem.  Read more... (438 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)