You Know It Don’t Come Easy
OK, I’ll admit, as a self-taught blogger and webmaster, I suppose my computer techie skills could be deemed slightly above those of the average bear. However, there are certain talents that come out of the moth balls only once or twice a year at most for which I need repeated and explicit instructions… like upgrading the software on this blog, for example.
I got the notice of the ‘Fabulous New Upgrade’ for my Thesis WordPress Theme weeks ago. This is one project I’ve been avoiding like the plague. You see, I’ve done one upgrade before and it was like tight-roping over Niagara Falls throughout the entire process; I was THAT tense! You can follow all the instructions to the letter, but you still won’t know if you are doing it right until you click that ‘Big-Ass Save Button’ after the very last step. (see actual screen shot from my WordPress Thesis Design Option page shown above)
Do it right, you can breathe a very heavy sigh of relief.
Do it wrong… SOWWY! You just lost EVWYTHING! Um, you DID back up your files, didn’t you? Well, DIDN’T YOU?
STOOOO-PID!
Oh yeah, to unleash his full sense of humor, this geek has the nerve to imply, “So easy, even a babbling buffoon could do it.” Well, I’m sure if I wrote programming code EVERYDAY like this particular geek, it would be ‘Stupid Simple’ for me, too. Just like yesterday; for Maggie’s birthday I cooked up one helluva dinner. It was easy, well… because I cook for the family every day. However, I only do cakes a couple times a year… I needed to read and re-read the cake mix box (yes, I cheated) every step of the way.
I’m babbling.
It’s OK; go ahead and laugh – AFTER you’ve read the next three sections. These are the EXACT complete instructions I downloaded and executed in order to upgrade my site. I added my commentary following each section. Nothing else was edited!
Before You Begin
Do this before upgrading! If you’ve renamed your active Thesis folder to just /thesis, you must rename it to /thesis_16 (or whatever your corresponding version number is—it really doesn’t matter as long as your folder is not named /thesis). For best results, you should switch to the default WordPress theme before changing the folder name, and then after you’ve changed the name, you should switch back to your newly-renamed Thesis folder. Also, if you want to protect yourself against potential upgrade problems, it’s a good idea to back up your Thesis database now. Once you’ve done that, you’re ready to proceed with the upgrade!
(Note from Russy: See, this guy ASSUMES way too much… like, you know what the hell he’s talking about here, right? It gets better, my friends; way better. Keep reading.)
You’ve Got to Back Up Before You Can Move Forward
Here’s how to BACK UP in 14 easy steps:
Using phpMyAdmin
1. Login to phpMyAdmin.
2. Select your WordPress database on the left.
3. Select the wp_options table on the left.
4. Click the Search tab.
5. For the option_name Field:
* select LIKE %…% for the Operator
* enter thesis_ for the Value
6. Click the GO button (bottom right).
7. Click Check All beneath the listed options.
8. To the right of where it says With selected: click the Export icon.
WARNING: Do not click the red X icon – this will delete all of the selected options!
9. In the Export section, make sure SQL is selected.
10. In the Options section, make sure Structure is checked, and then in that section, make sure that only the following are also checked:
* Add DROP TABLE
* Add IF NOT EXISTS
* Add AUTO_INCREMENT value
* Enclose table and field names with backquotes
11. In the Options section, make sure Data is checked, but leave all the other boxes inside the Data section unchecked.
12. Make sure Save as file is checked.
13. Click the GO button (bottom right).
14. You’ll be prompted to download the file – save it to your local computer.
(Another Note from Russy: Have your eyes crossed yet? It really is easy if you know where all this stuff is, meaning you’ve had to have done this before at least once or twice. Otherwise, hilarious Mr. Geek is still assuming; and you know what they say about people who assume…
OK, on with our last part – oh, yes Chicken Little, there’s MORE!)
Time to Put It In Forward Gear, Dear!
1. Back up the /custom folder from your existing Thesis installation to your hard drive. If you’re upgrading from Thesis 1.5.1 or older, you’ll need to place your /rotator folder and your layout.css file inside your /custom folder.
2. Upload the new Thesis 1.7 folder (/thesis_17) to your /wp-content/themes folder.
3. If you’re upgrading from Thesis 1.6, simply upload your backed-up /custom folder to your new /thesis_17 folder, and then skip to Step 5. If you’re upgrading from a version of Thesis prior to 1.6, rename the /custom-sample folder to /custom, and do not overwrite this folder with your existing /custom folder! Then proceed to Step 4.
4. (This step only applies if you’re upgrading from a version of Thesis prior to 1.6) Instead of overwriting the new /custom folder with the one you just backed up (as you are probably accustomed to doing with previous versions), drag the contents of the /custom folder you backed up in Step 1, and drop it all into your new /custom folder, which should also contain layout.css.
5. Set the permissions of your new layout.css file to 666.
6. Make sure your /cache folder’s permissions are set to 775.
7. Inside your WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance ? Themes, and then activate Thesis 1.7.
8. Visit the Design Options page from the new Thesis links on the left side of your WordPress dashboard, ensure that Thesis is not giving you a warning about the file permissions on your layout.css file, and then hit the Big Ass Save Button.
Oh, Yeah Baby!
See, I wasn’t kidding you. Mr. Geek really does call it the Big Ass Save Button. And when you press it, and all goes well, you feel like dancing the Dora song, “We did it, we DID it!”
Supposedly there are some new exciting features in this upgraded version.
“No, DUH!”
Why the hell else would they upgrade? So I’m off to test my nerves again, staggering up that steep learning curve. For sure, I’ll improve the navigation functions so I can qualify for that Bright Blog Award I was telling you about a couple of days ago.
Remember to always Keep It Stupid Simple kids, ’cause when you do, you’re gonna Love That Feeling!
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=8219b7e5-d541-477c-94d3-5040ec677373)
Hi Russ, I recently upgraded myself andI know what you mean about being tense about the upgrade. I’ve still got a niggle I need to sort out but I’ll get there. Thanks for the great guide.
Hi Russ,
I do like that BIG ASS SAVE BUTTON. As a matter of fact I have a yellow post-it on my PC here at work and yes it reads S A V E !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! in big black marker. Just jumps right out at me every day.
As always love reading your weekly newsletter…keep ‘em coming!!!!