All right, technically speaking, the plugin installer was added in Wordpress 2.7. But let’s face it, it was not quite up to speed back then.

Now, though, it’s a different story. No longer do you need to weed your way through the Wordpress Plugins page, download the plugin to your hard drive, unzip the package, upload it to your wordpress install and activate it.

Nope, now it all happens from within your plugins management page.

You can search for a plugin using a keyword or, if you know the name of the plugin you’re looking for, enter that. Wordpress will give you a list of plugins that match your search phrase. Click the install button next to the one you want to install, wait a few seconds, activate the plugin and voila, you’re done!

If you haven’t tried the plugin installer yet, go check it out. Though be careful: Installing plugins is so easy now you may find yourself going on a plugin binge!

And one word of caution, there are some plugins that have not been upgraded to work with Wordpress 2.8 yet. And some of them can actually crash your install – no you won’t lose your database. So, if possible, stick with plugins that have been tested up to WP 2.8.

If you’ve worked with Wordpress for any length of time, you’ve probably pulled your hair out as much as I have. It’s been frustrating to lose text widgets when you want to move them from one sidebar to another.

Wordpress 2.8 features a completely redesigned widget management panel. With the new and improved system you can now drag and drop widgets between sidebar areas. This is a vast improvement over the previous version. I would still like to see the ability to move text widgets back to the “holding area” since there are times when I want to remove a widget temporarily. For example, if I teach the same class every 3-months I might want a widget that I post in the sidebar for a few weeks before the start of each class. Still can’t do that.

But the ability to move widgets around is great!

And they’ve also added the option to automatically add paragraphs to text widgets. This is another big improvement. One of questions I get asked all the time is how to get paragraph breaks into a text widget. It’s not really a difficult process to enter the html code for paragraphs or breaks, but for folks just starting out can feel a bit intimidating. No need to worry about that anymore. Just put a checkmark in the box to “Automatically add paragraphs” and you’re good to go!

So if you haven’t upgraded to Wordpress 2.8, I’d say go for it. Just make sure you read my previous post on deactivating your plugins before upgrading wordpress!

Fortunately, this time actually did backup my database! So I didn’t freak out too much!

And a quick google search led me to this Wordpress.org forum topic about similar problems with the upgrade. The consensus seemed to be that the error was being caused by a plugin. Unfortunately, I could not get into my plugins admin page to deactivate them.

So, I FTP’d into my plugins directory, downloaded all of my plugin files to a folder on my hard drive, and then deleted all of the plugins from my server.

Voila! Site was back, admin panel was back, all was good once again in the world.

After that, I selectively reinstalled my plugins. There were a few plugins that I was no longer using, so I have not installed those. And, obviously, one of them is the culprit, since my site is still working! So I apologize that I can’t inform you which plugin was causing the error.

But, what I can say, is that when I upgrade to Wordpress 2.8 for my other sites, I will definitely deactivate any plugins that have not proven themselves worthy!

The plugins that are definitely working are:

• Akismet
• CformsII
• Google Sitemap Generator
• Platinum SEO Pack
• WP DB Manager
• Redirection
• Stray Quotes
• WP-Cumulus

All of those guys work fine.

Bottom line: Backup your database and deactivate your plugins before upgrading to Wordpress 2.8!

Are you wondering whether it makes sense to hire a web developer to build it for you or whether you should do it yourself?

The web development options and information available are numerous, often contradictory and usually overwhelming.

Especially for a conscious business owner, like you, navigating the web development landscape can be disorienting. As conscious business owners  we tend to shy away from the technical stuff. And yet, to reach more people, grow towards our potential, and bring more positive change to the world, we must expand. And that expansion includes the World Wide Web!

This free 60-minute teleseminar will cut through the clutter and chaos and, in clear, easy to understand language help you determine which web development path is best for you. We’ll explore several of the web development options available to you and the key factors you must take into consideration when deciding which one to choose.

Some of the questions we’ll address include:

• If I hire someone how much will it cost?
• If someone builds it for me, what will happen when I want to make updates?
• If I build it myself how much time will it take?
• How much will I have to learn?
• How tech savvy do I need to be?
• Is it possible to have someone just do the really technical stuff for me?

Now I’ll be honest with you: In my opinion, the important question to ask, when it comes to having a web presence is not IF you will build a site, it’s not even WHEN you will build it (NOW would be a good a time!) the important question is HOW will you build your site!

Will you do it yourself? Or will you hire someone to do it for you? And if you hire someone, will you hire a full service web development company to do everything from design to copywriting to SEO, or will you have someone set up the back end and put together the site framework so that you can add your own content?

This decision is far more important than many people think and there are definitely some long-term consequences that will affect your business potentially for years.

This fre-e teleseminar will help you understand the key considerations as you make this important business decision. After this seminar you will have the information necessary to make this decision with confidence and clarity.

Please join us on Wednesday, April 29^th from 3:00pm – 4:00pm Pacific Time.

To register for this seminar, visit the link below.

YES I Want to Attend This FREE One-Time-Only Special Event.

The Teleclass is on Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
3:00pm Pacific/ 12pm Eastern
$47.00

FREE

Go browse their how to videos here.

And here’s just one of their videos showing you how to set your home page to a static page. This is a great way to setup Wordpress to act and look like a “traditional” website.