canny granny

Yes, I’m getting an image for my Blog Header, a design from Anything and Everything in Between.

Vhiel Romion-Vance designs funky little headers as well as the rest of the things she does in her busy life.

I managed to snaffle a free design (there may be one or two left, have a look at Win a personalised header for your blog) and I’m looking forward to putting it up here.

Following up from my initial post on Wordpress 2.5 I must say something that really pleases me about the new release.

When I’m working in the code mode it stays in the code mode. I don’t know how many times I’ve had to edit and re-edit posts in wordpress 2.3.5 because, after “Save and Continue Editing”, the darned contraption has slipped back into WYSIWYG! I’ve savagely turned off the Visual Editor altogether only to have it inexplicably revert back. Why does it do that?

Anyhow, in the new release I’ve had none of this mindless slipping into WYSIWYG.

But I still haven’t worked out the images. Keep getting this message of “Unable to create directory … Is its parent directory writable by the server?” And this is where my lamentable lack of knowledge of basic computer workings really shows up. I’m assuming it’s me and not the Wordpress itself.

I’m not a technologically minded person. It took me three hours to figure out how to plug in a new DVD player and I still haven’t the foggiest how the remote works. I’m unsure of what’s actually inside my computer, I took it to a technician to install some new drivers and once, when my HD expired, I installed a new OS myself when I should have taken the darn thing to the tech. (Don’t ask what happened then, I just want to forget the whole miserable business)

I can, however, handle a WP. There’s nothing difficult about it even for a chump like me, and I want to take this opportunity to reassure Matt Mullenweg of his place in Heaven.

So I gaily grabbed the long awaited new release and uploaded the new wordpress 2.5 twice. One for an upgrade, and one for a new installation on a new domain.

Let me quickly get the new installation on a previously WordPress-free domain out of the way.

New installation

Did I imagine it, or was it a teeny bit longer to upload? How many more bits and pieces are in there? Is the Includes folder much larger? In any case, these questions are academic because there is one glaring drawback in WP 2.5 in a new installation. Where is the ability to change your password? Is a new User expected to manage with one of the randomly generated passwords forever? Gosh. That’s a worry. Nowhere, nowhere can I find a page to add a nickname or change the password to something more suited.

Back to the new installation later. Much later at this rate.

The Upgrade.

Fortunately for me, I upgraded a private wordpress that I keep tucked away for testing purposes. Oh my, what’s the new image upload section? Maybe that’s me, not being the best at understanding why WP keeps asking me “is the image folder writable?” I even made the damnable thing writable but still get error messages. I give up on this one till I acquire some more brain cells or a fairy godmother.

But where are my draft posts? Instead of being neatly displayed at the top of my Write screen so I can zap in and polish some mad thought I had previously left as a draft, I have to search the whole of the Manage Posts section. This is going to drive me around the bend as my blog is powered by a hundred draft posts that I retrieve when I feel intelligent.

What’s with the Widgets? Why are they laid out so that I have to put on my glasses to see which widgets I’m using ? Aha! There are the widgets I’m using stuck in a dark corner while the widgets I am not using are smackbang in the middle of the screen. Why would the widget arrangement have to be changed? Surely the old adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” should apply here.

Perhaps I am being uncharitable. Perhaps I am too dull to grasp the simplicity of the new release. Perhaps some fixes will come out. Perhaps I will get used to it. Perhaps I need a kick up the bum.

Thoughts on Wordpress 2.5 a few days later