WordPress

I’m developing a new blog and decided to check the validity of what I was doing. Once I recovered from the shock of 67 errors I realised that 2 embedded YouTube videos may well have been contributing problems. So I went searching and found this excellent advice:

If you’re looking to embed a YouTube video in your website’s code and want to retain your validity, … use the following

<object type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” style=”width:425px; height:350px;” data=”http://www.youtube.com/v/7_6B6vwE83U”><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/7_6B6vwE83U” /></object>

[Via : Embedding YouTube Videos as Valid XHTML 1.0, Bernie Zimmermann.]

Of course, you need to substitute the correct URL in two places.

In my new blog I fixed up a few other coding errors, used the above technique for the youTube videos and soon had the thrill of seeing the green ‘valid’ ribbon.

Popularity: 52% [?]

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After upgrading from WordPress 2.3.3 to 2.5 the first, most obvious difference is in the Dashboard. The screenshot on the left above is from my Oddity59 blog, not yet upgraded, while that on the right is from TiKouka.

The colour scheme has changed, information and links have been moved around, fonts reduced in size, and some previously ‘fixed’ items have been made mutable. Overall things seem slicker and sleeker, more efficient and more compact.

A nice touch is the summary of your blog — how many posts and pages and so on. Here’s what mine says right now:

You have 2,325 posts, 12 pages, 2 scheduled posts, contained within 34 categories and 558 tags.

You are using Neoclassical theme with 13 widgets. Change Theme This is WordPress version 2.5.

Immediately below that are lists of Recent Comments and Incoming Links.

Very obvious are the buttons to go straight to write a new Post or a new Page.

Changes continue through each individual Admin screen. New features include a Media Library that displays all the images and other media you’ve uploaded, and tells you which posts they’ve been used in.

WordPress 2.5 is a new version, rather than a minor point upgrade. If you’re not a confident WordPress user, I suggest you do some reading before you upgrade, and maybe watch the 4 minute screencast.

Popularity: 50% [?]

A brand new version of WordPress, the software that runs this blog has been available for at least 5 minutes now. Sensible people wait a week or two before they install such things. They wait for others to discover the flaws and problems, to see which plugins need to be updated, and cautiously make sure all will be well before they upgrade.

I, on the other hand, just rush in.

As I write this post I’m downloading version 2.5. There may be weirdness while I update. Or there may not.

Oh, I guess I will at least back up the important stuff: my database that contains all the posts etc, my wp-config file that contains crucial settings, and my theme folder.

Back soon. I hope.

Update: the upgrade went well. I’m still checking for possible problems, but so far, so good.

Popularity: 16% [?]