Wordpress 2.7 is Released with New Interface

Wordpress 2.7 (Codename “Coltrane”) has been released and I have upgraded all my blogs with the new version the most noticeable thing about Wordpress 2.7 is the change to the dashboard in the administration page.

The nagivation is now to the left side of the dashboad. You have all the same functions its just a different look and feel. The usuability is still excellent.

There should be no learning curve for this it is extremely straighforward to use. I used the Wordpress Automatic Update plugin and it worked without flaws also.

I will post feedback and upadates as I dig around more.

You can download Wordpress 2.7 here.

You can download the Wordpress automatic upgrade here.

Please not I upgraded from v2.6.1. If you have an earlier version please make sure you read the details if you have previous versions of Wordpress.

Wordpress 2.6.3 Released

Wordpress released a new version to Wordpress. It addresses a security vulnerability. You can reinstall or just update two files.

You can download Wordpress here.

Two files will need to be replaced:

wp-includes/class-snoopy.php

wp-includes/version.php

Thats all you need to do. Just ftp into your web hosting account and replace those files.

Setting up a Wordpress Testing Environment with Virtual PC

This details how to setup a virtual testing environment with Windows XP and Virtual PC. You can setup a wordpress testing environment on your machine but using a virtual testing environment leaves minimal footprint and modifications to your current machine. The same principles apply when working with other virtual environments but this is catered toward Windows XP and Windows Vista Users. If you would like to install Wordpress on your PC instead of a virtual environment check out these instructions on how to install a Wordpress testing environment on a PC.


System Requirements:
• Windows XP SP3 or Windows Vista SP1
• Atleast 4 GB RAM
• 10 GB of availabile disk space


Here is what you need to do:
NOTE: The XP virtual hard drive will expire after a certain date. You want to make sure you backup your files in case it expires. If you want a long term solution, install xampplite directly on your machine. Here are the instructions to install Wordpress and Xampplite directly onto your workstation.

1. Download Virtual PC 2007 – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=28C97D22-6EB8-4A09-A7F7-F6C7A1F000B5&displaylang=en
2. Download the virtual PC image of your choice. I have only tested this on Windows XP, but is should work on Vista also. - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=21EABB90-958F-4B64-B5F1-73D0A413C8EF&displaylang=en (XP SP3 with IE6 is recommended).
3. Download XAMPP Lite (.exe is recommended) – http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html#646
4. Download Wordpress - http://wordpress.org/download/
5. Install Virtual PC 2007
6. Expand the downloaded image that was downloaded in Step 2.
7. Start Virtual PC and add the VHD.
a. Click on the New button on the Virtual PC Console.
b. Click Next.
c. Select Create a virtual machine.
d. Enter a name for the virtual machine.
e. Select the Windows XP as the Operating System.
f. Adjust the RAM if needed, I recommend atleast 500 MB or up to 1GB if you have enough RAM.,
g. Select An existing virtual hard disk.
h. Click Browse to find the expanded virtual PC image. For this example we are using the XP SP3 with IE6 VHD. Select XP SP3 with IE6.vhd.
i. You can choose Enabled undo disks to revert back and commit any change. For this case I have chosen not to enable the undo disks.
j. Click Finish.
8. Go back to the Virtual PC console.
9. Highlight your Virtual Machine you just created, click Settings.
10. Click on Networking, on the right side select your network adapter. If you want Internet access from the virtual machine, select your network adapter that is connected to the Internet.
11. Click OK
12. Click Start to start your virtual machine.


Install Xampplite – Xampplite provides an apache server emulation. You can install this on your machine without Virtual PC. With the Virtual PC, you have the ability to uninstall things and to have an actual server like environment.
1. Drag Xampplite-w3.exe to the Virtual Machine window.
2. Double click on Xmapplite-w3.exe, extract xampplite to C:\
3. Click Extract.
4. Open the xampplite folder on your C:
5. Click setup_xampp.bat
6. Press any key when prompted.
7. Click on xampp-control.exe.
8. Click on the Start Button for Apache. Click Unblock if prompted.
9. Click on the Start Button for MySQL. Click Unblock if prompted.


Create the wordpress database
1. Open the browser in the virtual machine.
2. Type in http://localhost/xampp/splash.php for the address.
3. Click on your language.
4. On the left side under Tools, click on phpMyAdmin.
5. Look for the Create new database fields on the right side.
6. Enter wordpress for the database name.
7. Select utf8_unicode_ci .
8. Click Create


Install Wordpress
1. Extract the wordpress files from the wordpress zip file.
2. Extract the files to c:\xampplite\htdocs
3. open c:\xampplite\htdocs\wordpress\wp-config-sample.php.
4. Modify the following


define(’DB_NAME’, ‘wordpress’); // The name of the database
define(’DB_USER’, ‘root’); // Your MySQL username
define(’DB_PASSWORD’, ”); // …and password
define(’DB_HOST’, ‘localhost’); // 99% chance you won’t need to

Your database name should be wordpress.
Your db_user name should be root.
The db_password should be left blank

5. Save the file as wp-config.php.
6. In the browser window go to http://localhost/wordpress/wp-admin/install.php
7. Enter your blog title.
8. Click Install Wordpress.
9. Copy the username and password.
10. Click Login.
11. Change the password to a password you can remember.
12. Wordpress is now configured.

Goto http://localhost/wordpress/wp-admin to access your Wordpress admin page.

Goto http://localhost/wordpress to see you wordpress website.

Plugins and themes can be copied to


C:\xampplite\htdocs\wordpress\wp-content\plugins
C:\xampplite\htdocs\wordpress\wp-content\themes