Upgraded to WordPress 3.4.1

Thursday, July 5, 2012 @ 10:38 pm by Sofie Hofmann

I upgraded at least seventeen (17) sites and blogs that I maintain using WordPress as a blog publishing platform as well as WordPress as CMS. I upgraded straight to WordPress 3.4.1 version as I was not able to upgrade to WordPress 3.4 “Green” immediately.

I did not have problems with the sixteen (16) sites and blogs hosted with Dreamhost and two (2) other hosts in Switzerland. Everything went fine but I had a problem with the site hosted at Yahoo! Webhosting. The first time I attempted to upgrade the site, it failed because of bad gateway.

So I waited for two (2) days before upgrading it. I did not do anything but waited. The next time I upgraded the site, I did not have any problem at all.

I do not know exactly what happened when I got the message “bad gateway” the first time I upgraded the site but at least not proceeding to upgrade it when I got the “bad gateway” was not a bad idea.

I still have three (3) more sites to be upgraded. I did not upgrade them because of a certain problem, a recurring problem actually. The problem was the same with the problem that I mentioned when I upgraded to WordPress 3.0 “Thelonious”.

Actually, before I upgrade the sites and blogs, I normally upgrade them locally. I installed locally all the sites and blogs in my local computer where no one can see them except me which is ideal for testing. If there are any problems that would occur I would know exactly which sites and blogs should not be upgraded.

If you would like to know more about WordPress 3.4 “Green”, watch the video clip below.


WordPress 3.4.1 is a maintenance and security release which addresses several bugs found in WordPress 3.4 version.

Before you upgrade though or every time you upgrade, make sure to backup your database and files. Make it a habit please, backup your database and files.

Upgraded to WordPress 3.3.1

Wednesday, February 22, 2012 @ 10:45 pm by Sofie Hofmann

Four weeks ago, I finished upgrading and updating at least 20 blogs and sites using WordPress as a blog publishing platform as well as CMS (Content Management System) from WordPress 3.2.1 to WordPress 3.3.1. Everything went smoothly. I did not encounter any hitches or problems at all.

I directly upgraded from WordPress 3.2.1 to WordPress 3.3.1 fix release skipping the new WordPress 3.3 “Sonny”, the latest version of WordPress before the release of WordPress 3.3.1 security and maintenance release.

There are nice new improvements at the latest WordPress 3.3 “Sonny” version. You can watch the video, Introducing WordPress 3.3 “Sonny”, below or read the blog entry, WordPress 3.3 “Sonny”, at WordPress.org.


Highlights of the WordPress 3.3 “Sonny” version are the new drag-and-drop uploader, hover menus for the navigation, the new toolbar, improved co-editing support, and the new Tumblr importer.

Thanks a lot to the WordPress Team!

Upgraded to WordPress 3.2.1

Tuesday, August 9, 2011 @ 7:08 pm by Sofie Hofmann

I finished upgrading the sites and blogs that I maintain using WordPress as a blog publishing platform as well as a CMS from WordPress 3.1 to WordPress 3.2.1. It went smooth and fine.

If you noticed, I directly upgraded from WordPress 3.1 to WordPress 3.2.1. I was not able to upgrade the 18 sites and blogs even to WordPress 3.2 “Gershwin” after I upgraded to WordPress 3.1 “Reinhardt”. I just skipped the fix releases and upgraded to the latest version of WordPress.

I even upgraded the sites that I mentioned where I encountered a problem when I upgraded to WordPress 3.0 “Thelonius”. This time, I did not encounter any problems at all when I upgraded the sites and blogs from WordPress 3.1 directly to WordPress 3.2.1.

There are quite a few improvements at the WordPress 3.2 release but you can read all about it at the blog entry, WordPress 3.2 now available, at WordPress.org.

Thank you very much, WordPress Team!

Fluid Two-Column WordPress Theme for Pagtatap.org

Thursday, March 17, 2011 @ 1:48 pm by Sofie Hofmann

I created the new fluid two-column WordPress theme for Pagtatap.org within a week.

Pagtatap.org version four used WordPress as CMS (Content Management System) in this site.

The new web design was based on the older version of Pagtatap.org which was Pagtatap.org version three.

I also made use of the new fluid two-column WordPress theme for SofieHofmann.com (version three) and the new fluid two-column WordPress theme for Pandan.ph (version three) as frameworks.

The new Pagtatap.org WordPress web design was uploaded and became available to the public on March 11, 2011.

Pagtatap.org WordPress theme has one main column situated on the right side and one sidebar situated on the left just like the older version.

The navigation menu was still on the sidebar and on top of the page under the logo and pictures.

The other page menu was still on the top corner on the right side. The three logos were still on top of the page.

The colors were not changed too.

But the rotating pictures on top of the navigation menu were transferred to the sidebar. I just maintained two rotating collage type of pictures on that particular area where the rotating pictures used to be located.

The fixed-width page was changed into a fluid page. The width of the page wrapper, the main column, and the sidebar of this theme were all fluid unlike the version three.

The paging was the same and the category feature was still being used as dynamic pages for any updates.

The other necessary details on this new fluid two-column WordPress theme for Pagtatap.org were done by just tweaking the cascading style sheets.

Just like the newly designed sites, SofieHofmann.com version three, Sehdi.com version four, and Pandan.ph version three, Pagtatap.org version four looked fine with Safari 5.0.3 and 5.0.4, Firefox 3.5.16, and Opera 9.20 with 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×1024 screen resolutions and even bigger than 1280×1024.

Fluid Two-Column WordPress Theme for Pandan.ph

Tuesday, March 15, 2011 @ 1:25 pm by Sofie Hofmann

I created the new fluid two-column WordPress theme for Pandan.ph within two weeks.

Pandan.ph version three used WordPress as CMS (Content Management System) in this site.

The new web design was based on the older version of Pandan.ph which was Pandan.ph version two and also made use of SofieHofmann.com version three as the framework.

The new Pandan.ph WordPress theme or web design was uploaded and became available to the public on March 4, 2011.

The changes were not that much. I made those changes by just tweaking the cascading style sheets of the framework.

Pandan.ph WordPress theme has one main column and one sidebar situated on the left.

The navigation menu on the sidebar was transferred at the top area under the logo and made use of the drop down menu feature of WordPress.

The Page feature was used as it is and the Category feature was used as a submenu to the Blog section.

But as the framework where this new web design was based was not totally finished yet, I needed to make a few changes on the header, footer and sidebar just like with the other sites and blogs which made use of the framework.

I created a frontpage template to show a few text with slideshow on the front page.

The width of the page wrapper, the main column, and the sidebar of this theme were also fluid just like the other new WordPress themes that I designed.

The other necessary details on this new fluid two-column WordPress theme for Pandan.ph were done by just tweaking the cascading style sheets.

Just like SofieHofmann.com version three and Sehdi.com version four, Pandan.ph version three looked fine with Safari 5.0.3 and 5.0.4, Firefox 3.5.16, and Opera 9.20 with 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×1024 screen resolutions and even bigger than 1280×1024.

Fluid Two-Column WordPress Theme for Sehdi.com

Monday, March 7, 2011 @ 8:38 pm by Sofie Hofmann

I created the new fluid two-column WordPress theme for Sehdi.com within two days only. I already had a basis which was the new fluid two-column WordPress theme for SofieHofmann.com, and so, it took me only two days to create Sehdi.com version four web design.

Just like SofieHofmann.com version three, Sehdi.com version four looked fine with Safari 5.0.3, Firefox 3.5.16, and Opera 9.20 with 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×1024 screen resolutions and even bigger than 1280×1024.

This new WordPress theme has one main column on the left and one sidebar on the right just like SofieHofmann.com version three.

Sehdi.com version four was almost the same with SofieHofmann.com version three except for the front page, the design page, font style, the colors, and the categories. I just changed the font style and the colors by tweaking the cascading style sheets. The topics or categories at Sehdi.com were placed on the sidebar instead of below the main menu bar.

But as the new fluid two-column WordPress theme for SofieHofmann.com was not totally finished yet as a framework, I needed to make a few changes on the header, footer and sidebar. I created a frontpage template to show a few text on the front page instead of the blog entries only. There were also internal codes that I needed to input. I did not apply the child theme here yet, so I really made some changes on the templates.

The width of the page wrapper, the main column, and the sidebar of this theme were also all fluid just like SofieHofmann.com version three.

The other necessary details on this new fluid two-column WordPress theme for Sehdi.com were almost done by just tweaking the cascading style sheets.

Fluid Two-Column WordPress Theme for SofieHofmann.com

Friday, March 4, 2011 @ 9:20 pm by Sofie Hofmann

I worked on this new fluid two-column WordPress theme for SofieHofmann.com for at least a month. It would have been finished within two weeks only but I was also at the same time designing three other WordPress themes based on this web design.

The new three fluid two-column WordPress themes were uploaded on February 15, 2011 and have been used since then but I have not written about those sites yet.

The new theme for SofieHofmann.com, now entitled Simple Happiness, was actually a sort of a framework for the other three WordPress themes that I was working on. I also intend to use it as a framework for my future WordPress designs.

This WordPress theme in combination with the Sehdi.com design version three was also the basis of the new Sehdi.com WordPress theme version four. I just uploaded and used the SofieHofmann.com design version three later than the Sehdi.com design version four.

I have tested it with Safari 5.0.3, Firefox 3.5.16, and Opera 9.20 with 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×1024 screen resolutions and even bigger than 1280×1024. It worked fine with the three browsers but I have not tested it with the earlier versions of the three browsers and other browsers like Internet Explorer.

This theme has only one sidebar but the cascading style sheets (CSS) can easily be tweaked to position it on the right side or the left side. With SofieHofmann.com, I decided to position the sidebar on the right side.

The width of the page wrapper of this theme was not fixed but it was also limited to 940px so as not to expand the content if the screen resolution of the browser is bigger than 1440×900.

Both the main column and the sidebar of this theme were fluid not only the page wrapper. I used the percentage instead of the fixed width and then defined the fixed width of the minimum width and the maximum width to make the fluidity of the theme works.

It used the shades of gray color for simplicity. I just changed the colors of the other web designs, the page borders, and the other necessary details by tweaking the cascading style sheets.

This theme is not actually really finished yet as a framework. It is still undergoing a lot of revisions to make it really a very good framework for my future designs. But it is making my web design work easier than before as it is already at least a usable framework.

I decided to upload and use it already for SofieHofmann.com or Simple Happiness as it is already working totally fine.

Upgraded to WordPress 3.1 “Reinhardt”

Monday, February 28, 2011 @ 5:45 pm by Sofie Hofmann

I have upgraded the sites and blogs that I maintain using WordPress as a blog publishing platform as well as a CMS from WordPress 3.0.5 to WordPress 3.1 “Reinhardt”. But I did not upgrade all the sites because I encountered the same problem that I mentioned when I upgraded to WordPress 3.0 “Thelonius”.

I will just wait for the bug fix release of WordPress 3.1 before I upgrade the three other sites. Just like what I did the last time, I also did not upgrade the three sites but waited for the next release. When I upgraded to WordPress 3.0.1, WordPress fixed the problem by itself.

I also noticed that the new WordPress release has the latest version of Akismet now, which is Akismet version 2.5.3.

Regarding the new features, I immediately noticed the admin bar on top of the page. The admin bar only appears on the page itself when you are logged in. It does not appear when you are inside the dashboard or any part of the dashboard.

It is actually a good feature because logging out became easier when you are on the page. I, myself, when I design a WordPress theme, I normally do not include the login and logout functions on the sidebar or any part of the site or blog.

That is why, I am really wondering why some people would like to deactivate this new feature when the regular readers do not even see that admin bar unless they are registered members and, add to that, logged in.

On the writing interface, most of the panels have been hidden. If you are using custom fields, that panel is hidden too. If you would like to see it always visible under the post box, just click the Screen Options on the top right to get the panel back.

On the Posts side, if you click posts, you will see your list of posts under the Title column. Other columns are the Author, Categories, Tags, Comments and Date. A new column was added, the Views column.

As I see it, the Views column is only available to those who installed the WordPress Stats plugin. If you installed the WordPress Stats plugin but did not activate it, you will not see this new feature.

I especially checked another site without the WordPress Stats plugin and I did not see the Views column.

The new Views column is actually very convenient. I also would like to see how many views my posts have but I am not really fond of checking the statistics that often. Adding the Views column is a very good idea. I really like this new feature.

There are more new features but I have not really explored them that much yet.

Well then, if you are upgrading to WordPress 3.1 now, please do not forget to back up your files and databases.

If you need any information on how to back up your database via phpMyAdmin, just read the blog entry.

Updated on March 15, 2011

I checked the Views column again on the Posts section. I realized that it is only available to those who installed the WP-PostViews plugin (not the WordPress Stats plugin). If you installed the WP-PostViews plugin but did not activate it, you will not see this new feature.

Upgraded to WordPress 3.0.5

Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 3:48 pm by Sofie Hofmann

I finished upgrading all the blogs and sites using WordPress as CMS from WordPress 3.0.4 to WordPress 3.0.5. I did not encounter any problems at all. Everything went fine.

I just noticed something though. WordPress 3.0.5 has the old version of Akismet. It still has the version 2.4.0. It was also like that when I upgraded to WordPress 3.0.4 from WordPress 3.0.3.

So, if you already have the latest version of Akismet which is version 2.5.3 right now, then you will have to upgrade again from version 2.4.0 to version 2.5.3 even if you upgraded it already, just because WordPress 3.0.5 has still the version 2.4.0.

Before you upgrade using the WordPress automatic upgrade feature, remember to back up your database and files.

Upgrading is easy but backing up the databases of 13 blogs and sites using WordPress normally takes some time.

Upgraded to WordPress 3.0.4

Friday, January 7, 2011 @ 10:55 pm by Sofie Hofmann

I already upgraded the blogs and sites that I maintain using WordPress as a blog publishing platform as well as WordPress as CMS from WordPress 3.0.3 to WordPress 3.0.4.

I actually upgraded the sites and blogs right after WordPress 3.0.4 was released on December 29, 2010. I was just not able to write about it.

Sofie Hofmann dot com
Sofie Estolloso Hofmann Designs International
Pro Blog it | ProBlogging Venture Tips and Ideas, Reviews and Opinions
ISYU.INFO Around the World
PANDAN.PH Pandan Antique Philippines
Weggis along Lake Lucerne Switzerland
PAGTATAP Foundation
Philippine Seafarers Assistance Programme
Leocadio Alonsagay Dioso Memorial Public Library
Tugbong Festival
Patria Diesel Power Plant Issue
Semirara Dumpsite Issue
Official Website of the Municipality of Pandan, Antique, Philippines

As Matt said, an update during the holidays was no fun but I did it anyway as he rated the release as “critical”.

Thanks goodness that everything went well. I did not encounter any problems during the upgrade. So, that was a consolation.

If you have not upgraded yet, it is advisable to upgrade to WordPress 3.0.4 now.

But remember to back up your database and files first before you upgrade.

If you need any information on how to back up the database via phpMyAdmin, just read the blog entry.