Students registering for the January session of the blogging studio course, Blogging for Fun, Fame and Fortune will have the opportunity to win a free premium theme from StudioPress. Over the holidays, StudioPress had a contest for a free premium theme and I won! Lucky me

I already have a Pro Plus All Theme membership for my freelance work so I already own all of the themes. So, I asked permission to transfer the theme to a lucky student and StudioPress graciously agreed. On January 16, I will randomly select a student from the Blogging for Fun, Fame and Fortune class to receive a free premium theme. The lucky student will be able to select any theme from StudioPress that best meets their needs.

In the Blogging Basics course, we focus on the widely available free themes but there are some situations where a premium theme can be advantageous. This is particularly true for photoblogs and for when you want your blog to be an integrated part of your web site. You can utilize WordPress to control your entire web site with one of these quality themes.

These themes retail for an average of $60, so don’t miss out on this opportunity. Registration closes on January 6th, so register at LVS Online today!

WordPress 2.9 has been eagerly anticipated by bloggers seeking image management improvements. WP 2.9 does boast some cool new image tools but as Matt Mullenweg points out:

This is the first wave of our many planned media-handling improvements.

In other words, like a kid the day after Christmas, I can choose to delight in what I did get or I can lament about what didn’t end up in my stocking. Don’t worry, there is plenty to appreciate in WordPress 2.9.

The new image features in WordPress 2.9 will please those of you that love to populate your blogs with lots of images. Now you can do some rudimentary image editing such as cropping, rotating, flipping and scaling, all inside of WordPress. They have also made the built in image gallery much easier to use by allowing you to easily add images from other blog posts to this image gallery.  Dynamic image resizing and more image functions will be implemented in WordPress 3.0, which is scheduled for late spring.

But some of the coolest things about this version of WordPress 2.9 may not be readily apparent to the basic user. That is because a lot of the changes are “under the hood” and are were implemented to make it easier for WordPress developers and theme designers to do some really cool things. Expect some development delay until these new plug ins and themes are ready for distribution. I am pretty excited about the possibilities!

As with many new releases on a complex program, there have been some glitches for some people in upgrading. Most of these issues are related to running PHP 4 instead of PHP5 on your web server.  PHP 4 is no longer supported but many web hosts have been reluctant to upgrade to the current version of PHP. Other people are having problems with some plugins, particularly Twitter Tools.  WordPress is working hard on a patch so expect WP 2.9.1 in the next couple of days.

A lot of us dread to upgrade our software because of messages just like this

your attempt to edit this post has failed

Most often it is due to an incompatibility with a plugin. It appears that is the problem here as well. The very popular plugin Twitter Tools is the most likely culprit. If you see this message when you first try to save or publish a post in WordPress 2.9, the first thing you want to do is to de-activate the Twitter Tools plugin. That cleared up the problem for me.

A few people have reported this error with the All in One SEO plugin as well but it has not caused a problem on any of the 12 blogs that I manage. If you continue to have problems, deactivate ALL of your plugins. Then try to save a new post. If that works, reactivate your plug-ins until you find the source of your trouble.

What happened to WordPress 2.9 checking for plug-in compatibility? Well WordPress 2.9 does and lots of people have had no problems with the Twitter Tool plug in on their WordPress 2.9 blog. Alex King, the developer of Twitter Tools is hard with the WordPress developers trying to isolate the cause. I can tell you that this is one of the most difficult times to debug, when something works for most set ups but not for a small group of others.

Should I upgrade?

WordPress 2.9 is a feature upgrade. It is not a security upgrade, which should ALWAYS be installed as soon as possible. You could wait a week or so for some of the dust to settle before upgrading. Many people will make that choice if it is a feature vs security upgrade, as it is in this situation. You can wait and take one of the blogging classes that start after the new year to have my assistance and guidance when you upgrade. Check out Blogging Basics and Blogging for Fun, Fame and Fortune to see which class is the best fit for you.

A few weeks ago, I warned students about the necessity of keeping their WordPress blog updated. If your blog is hosted on wordpress.com, it is updated. This warning is for self hosted blogs. The latest version, WordPress 2.8.4, closes a hole in previous versions that allowed hackers to create a backdoor administrator account on your blog.

Unfortunately, a lot of WordPress bloggers did NOT heed the warning to update that appeared at the top of their blog administration panel. A serious attack has been launched this weekend and hundreds of blogs have already been affected. Mashable it doing their part to spread the word about this attack and the need to upgrade immediately to WordPress 2.8.4.

How serious is this threat? Lorelle VanFossen tells her readers to stop reading her post until the reader is sure that their blog is updated. Don’t worry about finding out if your blog is affected first. She instructs WordPress bloggers to do the update first, then take a look to see if the blog was compromised. Lorelle offer two clues to look for:

There are strange additions to the pretty permalinks, such as example.com/category/post-title/%&(%7B$%7Beval(base64_decode($_SERVER%5BHTTP_REFERER%5D))%7D%7D|.+)&%/. The keywords are “eval” and “base64_decode.”

The second clue is that a “back door” was created by a “hidden” Administrator. Check your site users for “Administrator (2)” or a name you do not recognize. You will probably be unable to access that account, but Journey Etc. has a possible solution.

What to do if your blog is affected?

These hacks are digging down deep into WordPress installations, even the database may be affected. The severity of the attack will determine how much work you have to do to eradicate it. Lorelle’s post details options and instructions on how to repair the damage. In addition, prevention is always the best route and Lorelle reviews some of the best measures to secure your blog. Even if you blog is not affected, it is well worth your time to review her advice on securing your blog.

Please note: I have seen a number of bogus registration attempts on blogs this past week. Even if your blog is up to date, you can help secure your blog by turning off the Anyone can register option. Go to Settings > Membership options to turn off this feature.

I am so pleased to announce that Lorelle VanFossen,  aka the Fairy Blog Mother, will be a guest instructor for the Blogging for Fun, Fame and Fortune class at LVS Online this coming session!

Lorelle VanFossen has been around the WordPress and WordCamp map. She’s presented keynotes and programs at WordCamps in Israel, San Francisco, Hawaii, Dallas, Toronto, Whistler, Portland, and will be speaking in Holland, Israel, and other places in the world in the next few months. She is the host of the Lorelle on WordPress, providing WordPress and blogging tips for bloggers of all levels, and a long time contributor to the Blog Herald. A web publishing consultant, she also serves as the editor-in-chief of Woopra, the hot new web analtyics program that is changing the web, and works with Bitwire Media and hosts the Liz and Lorelle Show podcast with Liz Strauss and featured contributor on WordCast, the WordPress podcast with Dave Moyer and Kym Huynh. Lorelle is the author of the fast-selling book, “Blogging Tips: What Bloggers Won’t Tell You About Blogging”.

Lorelle VanFossen will be a guest instructor, presenting the content for one of the lessons in this six week blogging studio. In addition  to providing her expertise, insight and humor during the written lesson, Lorelle will be available that week of the course to answer your questions on the class message board. This is a great opportunity to interact with Lorelle and I am so grateful that she will be joining us this session.

The first lesson is on 8/29/09. The registration deadline is 8/26/09.

Fall is the season for going back to school (at least in the Northern hemisphere) and it the season for WordCamps!
WordCamps are informal conferences for WordPress users by WordPress users. Designed for the beginning blogger and the experienced professional, these WordCamps are community organized events created so WordPress users can learn and share together.  The topics covered range from everything imaginable about WordPress. This can include how to install WordPress, how to customize your themes,WordPress tips to make your post writing more efficient, using your WordPress installation as a Content Management System (CMS), writing plugins, setting up Multiple User networks like BuddyPress and more! WordCamps have been created the world over, from Alabama, to Mexico City to Romania to Nigeria to Texas.

The basic premise of WordCamp can be summed up as everyone has something to offer and something to learn, and that this about sharing not selling. WordCamps are inexpensive, so finances aren’t a barrier to participation. Attendees usually only pay a small portion of the actual cost of the conference, sponsors pay for the rest because they want to support community and blogging. Speakers usually speak for free, but in some cases their traveling expenses may be reimbursed. A loose set of rules have been established for WordCamps, but individual WordCamps may tweak them a little bit. This is the version of WordCamp ruled adopted by WordCamp Seattle.

1. All attendees must be treated equally. Everyone is a rock star.
2. All content created must be released under a Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ or compatible license such as GPL.
3. All attendees must be allowed to participate. (subject to limitations of physical space, of course)
4. All sessions must obey the Law of 2 Feet – if you’re not getting what you want out of the session, you can and should walk out and do something else. There are usually other sessions to choose from so you can find what you are looking for.
5. The event must be WordPress focused – but may crossover to other aspects of new media, including podcasting, video, etc.
6. The financials of a WordCamp must be fully disclosed in an open ledger, except for any donor/sponsor who wishes to remain anonymous.

Automattic, the company behind WordPress, offers support and guidance to groups that want to start a WordCamp in their area. You can find out where WordCamps are happening at WordCamp Central.  There are several scheduled this fall and I will be involved in two of them. Last year, I attended my first WordCamp in Portland. I will be returning again on September 19-20th for my second WordCamp Portland. I was so excited about WordCamp that I became an organizer for the first ever WordCamp Seattle! Word Camp Seattle is 9/26/09 and I am very excited about it.

If you don’t have a WordCamp scheduled in your area, you have two options. The first is to do what I did and plan one! If you aren’t ready to take the plunge, you can participate in WordCamp virtually.  Most WordCamp websites will host slides and videos of the presentation. WordPress even added a special section to WordPressTV just for WordCamp videos. You can search online for blog posts about WordCamp. Last year, I live blogged from WordCamp Portland. You can read my posts about WordCamp Portland 08. I will be live blogging from WordCamp Portland and will try to live blog WordCamp Seattle as well. Stay tuned for posts from both of those WordCamps!

If you aren’t running WordPress 2.8.4, you could be in trouble.
Since WordPress 2.8 was released last spring, WordPress has released four bug/security fixes. Each of these fixes are important. One of the drawbacks of being a popular open source platform is that you catch people’s attention, even hackers. One of the ways that WordPress helps keep your blog secure is by staying on top of potential security holes and repairing them as soon as possible.

One of the best ways that YOU can secure your blog is to make sure that you update your blog whenever a security update is available. On your dashboard, WordPress will tell you when and what kind of update is available. If it is a security update, you will want to update your blog as soon as possible.

1. Back up your files
2. Update any of your plug-ins that are flagged
3. Click the Update button on your Dashboard
4. Sit back and relax knowing that your blog is now more secure

WordPress 2.7.1 was released yesterday. This is a maintenance release that fixes some 68 minor bugs and provides some preventive security measures. Lorelle lists the changes in this release in her post on the WordPress 2.7.1 release.

This has been the first large scale test of the new WordPress automatic upgrade and it has hit some rough spots. If you are having difficulties with your automatic upgrade:

• Check the web host core update compatibilty grid. Your web host may prohibit this feature.
• If you have been using the WordPress Automatic Upgrade plugin, deactivate it. It is not compatible with the built in upgrade feature.
• Try deactivating all of your plugins and retry upgrade. Other plugins or combination of plugins may be preventing the upgrade.
• Change the permission on the  wp-contents folder to 777. Change back to 755 when the upgrade is complete.
• Clear the cache on your browser and retry upgrade
• Try a different browser, some people are reporting problems with the upgrade on Firefox and then upgrade easily on Internet Explorer!
• Be patient
  • Not all blogs are recognizing the update yet, and displaying the upgrade message. People are reporting that the message is showing up on more and more blogs over the last 24 hours.
  • The actual upgrade process can take 20 minutes depending on your set up and web host. There are not a lot of status messages during the process and you might only see a blank panel during the upgrade.

Some people are seeing  a failure to connect to their database error immediately after the upgrade. Simply close the browser window and visit your blog in another browser window to clear the error.

In summary, for the vast majority of WordPress users are finding the new automatic feature of WordPress 2.7 to be really easy to use  and loving it.  As it evolves and continues to improve, expect it become seamless and easy for more and more of us.

Two big announcements from WordPress today. Ryan unveiled the WordPress 2.7 Beta 1. Thats the good news, the bad news is that they are delaying the official release of WordPress 2.7 from November 10 to late November. ARRRGH! WordPress really should be more sensitive to the needs of MY students. I will have to readjust the lesson plans accordingly.  The Blogging Basics students will still learn how to set up their blogs in week 2 and the lesson will be ready for them Saturday morning. Once the new upgrade is released, they will get a supplemental lesson about the upgrade changes. The Blogging for Fun, Fame and Fortune students syllabus will change. I am still working it out and will announce it later this week.

The other good news is that overall, I do feel pretty good about this upgrade. It automates a lot of things that have been intimidating to some bloggers. I think it will make blogging even more accessible to more people. I appreciate the high level of customization that the new upgrade provides and I think the workflow is more intuitive.  You can see a screenshot of what the new post window can look like here.

I understand the reasons behind the delay on the release. I have been playing with the beta release a lot today and the browsers are not always playing nice. A lot of the delay is due to browser compatibility issues and the changes in the new Adobe Flash version 10. Basically that has meant that WordPress is having to make some sudden and serious tweaks to the flash image uploader in WP 2.7.

Good things come to those that wait, I hope In the meantime, if you want to try out the beta, it is available on the WordPress development blog. A release candidate, a not quite but almost ready for prime time version of WP 2.7, should be available on 11/10/08

The eagerly anticipated 2.7 WordPress is just around the corner. Ryan Boren announced that feature freeze is scheduled for today. That means that the new version will be ready for release in early to mid November. The last official release date I heard was during Jane Wall’s presentation at WordCamp Portland and it was 11/10/08.  She stated that release would be 30 days after feature freeze so maybe 11/13/08.  Then again WordPress 2.5 was a couple of weeks late and WordPress 2.6 was weeks early so if you are a gambler, join a WordPress release pool!

All kidding aside, there are a lot of of usabililty changes being made to WordPress administration panel. You can see a rough draft of the new admin panel via the Wireframes recently released by Automaticc. Wireframes are basically layout of a web site before the art is added. It shows the new layout of the new administration panel. It will require a lot less scrolling and gives you the opportunity to customize the admin panel to a greater degree. You can put the components that YOU use where they are handy for you and stow away the components that you don’t need.

I will start working with the daily test builds tomorrow and posting here to keep you updated.