Some very long overdue system maintenance, delayed due to the festive season.

WordPress

Updated the version of WordPress running at http://blog.maskil.info from version 2.8.6 to 2.9.1 using SimpleScripts, by far the easiest way to perform these upgrades.  Every home blog should have one!

Thesis

NOT yet upgraded to Thesis 1.6.  I’ll probably schedule this for the week ending 2010/01/23.

Plugins

Updated the following plugins using the all new WP 2.9.x batch plugin upgrade feature.  The most difficult part of the whole exercise was to find the option on the WP Dashboard menu.  It appears under Tools, Upgrade and NOT under Plugins, Update Available (or whatever), where one might expect it to appear.  Hopefully they’ll fix this is a future release, as it seems to have been a "gotcha" for many.

Add to Any: Share/Bookmark/Email Button
Version .9.9.4.6

Akismet
Version 2.2.7

Broken Link Checker
Version 0.7.4

Google XML Sitemaps
Version 3.2.2

PostRank
Version 1.2

WordPress

The version of WordPress running at http://blog.maskil.info was updated from version 2.8.5 to 2.8.6. Once again, SimpleScripts made the whole process a non-event.

SimpleScripts | One Click Installs and More

Broken Link Checker

Plugin updated to version 0.6.4. (All plugins were updated using the option to “upgrade automatically”.)

Google XML Sitemaps

Plugin updated to version 3.1.9.

Subscription Options

Plugin updated to version 0.5.1.

Wibiya Plugin

Made some minor cosmetic changes to the settings on the Wibiya Wibar (toolbar at the bottom of pages on the blog).

Only routine, minor updates to the following WP plugins:

Add to Any: Share/Bookmark/Email Button

Upgraded to version Version .9.9.4.1

Broken Link Checker

Upgraded to Version 0.6.5

Google XML Sitemaps

Upgraded to Version 3.1.8

Broken Link Checker

There have been numerous minor updates to this essential plugin since my last Changelog entry. The latest version of Broken Link Checker is 0.6.1.

Google XML Sitemaps

This plugin is now at Version 3.1.7.

rpx

Plugin to use OpenID/Facebook/Twitter/MySpace authentication via the RPX web service. Version 0.2.4

Although I’ve implemented this plugin, I haven’t fully configured it yet to support the most commonly used login credentials.

Also, because I’m using the DISQUS Comment System rather than the native WP commenting, I’m not sure how much value it adds. I guess I just like the principle of supporting all the popular authentication methods.

Update Notifier

Sends email notifications to the admin if there is a new version of WordPress available. Notifications about updates for plugins and themes can also be sent. Version 1.2

Written by Jon Cave, this is another plugin I consider part of your essential “baseline” complement of WP plugins (unless you’ve made the WP Dashboard your home page!). You can download it here:

Lions Go Roar – Update Notifier

WordPress 2.8.5.

The automatic upgrade to WP 2.8.5 fell over with my initial attempt (although it was successful on my Test Blog). I decided to leave the manual upgrade for a few days, until I had more time. Yesterday, however, I was prompted to perform a SimpleScripts upgrade to WP (something I never even knew existed). It worked without a hitch, although it seemed to prefer the idea of installing each revision in succession, rather than leapfrogging to the latest. If you’ve installed your instance of WP using SimpleScripts, I would heartily recommend using it for any core upgrades.

Thesis 1.6

The latest version of Thesis – 1.6 – has just been released. I will be upgrading in the next week or so.

Technorati Tags: Broken Link Checker,Change Log,DISQUS Comment System,Google XML Sitemaps,RPX,SimpleScripts,Thesis 1.6,Update Notifier,WordPress 2.8.5.

Add to Any: Share/Bookmark/Email Button

Upgraded to Version .9.9.4 of Add to Any

Update Notifier Version 1.2 did its job by sending me e-mail notifications of the plugin upgrade being available.

DISQUS Comment System

This counts as a major change, although the transition was very smooth.

Continued…

A few – mostly cosmetic – changes on Maskil today.

FeedBurner FeedSmith

Based on the thread below in the DIYthemes Forums, I’m now relying on the FeedBurner FeedSmith plugin rather than the setting in Thesis Options.

Install feedburner – DIYthemes Forums

Checked to ensure that the FeedBurner FeedSmith plugin has been activated and appears to be functioning.

Under Thesis Options, Syndication/Feed, Set your feed URL, I’ve removed the FeedBurner details, i.e. http://feeds.feedburner.com/Maskil/Blog

I’ve also changed the RSS Feed URL in the Subscription Options widget to point to the default WP feed, i.e. http://blog.maskil.info/feed/.

Widgets

Cosmetic changes to the following sidebar widgets:

• Maskil: Widgets – MyBlogLog Communities
• Manage Your Blogs // BlogCatalog Widget // BlogCatalog
• Blogged – Widgets

Testing

Played around with a lot of stuff today, including:

• Gigya Socialize Plugin. Looks good, but I’ll have to collect all the API keys, etc myself. May or may not be worth the effort.
• Gigya Toolbar. Doesn’t work or look as good as the Wibiya wibar, so I think I’ll stick with Wibiya.
• Successfully installed the DISQUS comment system on Maskil Test. A much better look and feel than the other big players (Intense Debate and JS-Kit), so I’ll probably go with it on Maskil.
• Installed a Facebook Fan Box on Maskil, but it probably doesn’t add value with having the Fan Page and FB Community on Wibiya. Maybe just a Page Badge instead?
• Played around with TwitterRemote (from TwitterCounter), but I’m in two minds as to whether it adds value.

Sitemap

Included the human-readable Sitemap page (Plugin by dagondesign.com) in the top-level Navigation Menu. I just wish Thesis would have separate menus for Pages and Categories, though, or at least show them on 2 separate rows, like Carrington!

I notice that, even although Allow Comments is unchecked for the Sitemap page, Echo (JS-Kit) still displays a comment box. I’ll have to investigate whether that can be disabled. (There is a Thesis option to “Disable comments on all pages”.)

Add Noindex to Archive Pages

Under “Add Noindex to Archive Pages”, I’ve now also checked “Add noindex to monthly archives”. This was originally unchecked, based on the advice in an unnamed Thesis/SEO blog post. I noticed that it was generating exceptions on Google Webmaster Tools.

WordPress Plugins

A general note regarding plugins. I’ve been installing each plugin in its own folder within the plugins folder, just because it makes things easier to manage (especially when you need to delete all the files for deactivated plugin you want to uninstall). I read today that this is now a best practice, and that you’re likely to encounter problems by dumping all plugins into a common folder.

Installed the following WP plugins, after first doing some basic testing on http://test.maskil.info/ (I’ve finally started getting into that routine). Just a pity I’m not allowed to use Thesis on a Test as well as the Live blog.

Broken Link Checker

A plugin for WordPress that will check your posts (and pages), looking for broken links, and let you know if any are found.

Broken links are apparently not just irritating for humans, but also for search engine crawlers. You will lose points if the Google Bot keeps bumping up against broken links.

Broken Link Checker for WordPress – W-Shadow.com

No Self Pings

Prevents WP from pinging your own posts when you cross-link posts. Apparently there’s an SEO penalty for this behaviour!

Blogwaffe – WordPress plugin: No Self Pings

Update Notifier

Update Notifier is a WordPress plugin that sends daily email notifications to the admin if there is a new version of WordPress available for download. Notifications about updates for plugins and themes can also be sent.

Not the only plugin of this nature, but this one adds value by notifying for plugin and theme upgrades as well. How cool is that?

Lions Go Roar – Update Notifier