WordPress 3.0 Released! How My “push the update button” Adventure Turned Out

On May 1st I was at WordCamp San Francisco, which was the initial launch date of WordPress 3.0. Well, stuff happens, and the official launch didn’t happen until yesterday. Although I had been working on the beta versions on a test site of mine, I still looked forward to the official release: the bug-free version that let’s us all take a deep breath.

In the past, I have been reluctant to update any of our sites right after the release. Often I sat back and let the rest of the world fight it out and discover all the bugs. I simply watched the streams, especially on Twitter, and read the good, bad and ugly.

But with the this version, and all the testing, plus the two beta releases, I felt more confident this time. Why? Maybe a gut feeling, or just that it seemed they didn’t jump the gun on the release.

As a result…

Yesterday, less than two hours after the release, I went for it.

First, this site. It’s built on Headway, using several plugins, including Wishlist, and numerous widgets. I did the normal precautions, backed up everything using BackUp Buddy, updated all plugins, etc. Then I pushed the update button, held my breath and waited.

Slowly I opened my homepage and to my relief, it was still working. Everything seemed fine, and the only thing I saw missing was one widget. Hmmm, what used to be in that blank spot?

Oh, yes, my affiliate ads, via Ad Squares Widget. Strange. But what apparently happens with that widget is this: Before I do any major upgrade I deactivate all my plugins. As a result, I lost all my settings for this plugin. It just disappeared from its sidebar. So I had to drag it over again, and redo  the settings.

A little bit of a hassle, but that is all that went wrong!

Then  I did our catsyemarketing.com site, built with a StudioPress theme, and it went smooth as silk, no conflicts at all.

Lesson learned? Use up-to-date plugins and premium themes. Well worth the money.

Watch for our next post — we’ll be checking out the features of 3.0!

And have you updated? How did it go for you?