Tag: WordPress

This could be easier

Al DenelsbeckLeave a comment

For the past several weeks, I’ve been getting messages in the WordPress dashboard about my site’s PHP version being beyond security updates, and that I should switch to a newer one. No sweat; the host has this easily accessible and lists numerous versions I can switch to. Only, the moment I do, any of them, the blog site goes down.

This is generally an indication that something on the site, usually a plugin, is incompatible with the version of PHP that I switched to. Okay, a little sweat now; this requires either a) checking the plugin/site compatibility with another plugin specific to that purpose, or b) disabling plugins until the site loads properly again, or c) both. Right in the warning that WordPress provides is a link to a compatibility checker, one that I already have installed.

Only thing is, this one is not anywhere near current, only checking up to three versions past the latest version of PHP. Guys, why are you recommending this damn thing? Nonetheless, I tried it out, identified two likely culprits, and disabled them. No go – the site still doesn’t load.

Ah, but you can get error logs with some editing of the wp-config file, which is easily done in a text editor! So, download the current version, edit that, re-upload it, and voila! All the errors displayed. Unfortunately, they display right inline with the site content itself, making it look shitty, but they can be copied from there. Those identified a couple of other plugins which might be the culprits, so I disabled them too. Still not loading properly.

Throughout all of this, I’m switching back and forth between versions, reloading pages, and then reversing what I’ve done. Did I mention backups? Yes, the entire WP database has been backed up right before I start, and the wp-config file as well.

Mind you, I’ve been updating the plugins and the main WordPress files routinely, so everything is ‘current’ as far as it can be. Now, this doesn’t apply to plugins that are no longer being supported or updated, which you would think the compatibility checker would flag. But just in case, I disabled all of the older ones that got flagged or indicated, one way or another. Still no go. Then I added a new plugin that would tell me when all of the other plugins were last updated, found all of the old ones, and deleted them. And the site still won’t load once PHP has been updated.

[Small sidetrack here: While I’m quite fond of open-source software because it’s almost always written better than what the large companies offer as well as the creators often being responsive to improvement suggestions, the major downside is, there is no motivation to maintain it – quite often, such projects are simply abandoned after a while. If you’re lucky, someone else has stepped in and created a new and improved version when this happens, but not always, and even then, you have to install the new version and get used to all of its quirks. This describes damn near all of the extras that can be added to WordPress, as well as numerous Linux/Ubuntu offerings and the firmware versions available for 3D printers. Still, it remains better than subscription bullshit.]

While doing this, I got a message at the top of the page while checking out the custom sidebar entries, the space over there to the left that has all of the extra doodads that I’ve added to make the site less boring – I mean, c’mon, what would it be like with only the posts? This message suggested making a change to a menu that was ostensibly linked within (basic html,) except it wasn’t, and I couldn’t locate that menu. Eventually, I think I found what it was referring to and disabled that function. Nada.

So at this point, the sidebar has been decimated, without allowing the upgrade to actually take place, which means I’m worse off than I started. And now I think I’m done. This kind of shit always takes so fucking long and rarely results in any improvement. While PHP might not be the most secure version that it could be, there is nothing on the site that actually needs security anyway: no payment portals, no personal information, no access to anything – just posts (and, in the main site, photos,) all of which are readily accessible anyway because that’s what the fucking site was designed for.

I was thinking this was related to a holiday, but if it is, I’m not going to observe it anyway. I’ll try to throw up another post shortly, though – I’d already written most of it before I decided to tackle this dumbass project, so it’ll offset this a little.

Almost had to get ugly there

Al Denelsbeck

Last night I was planning on doing a few housekeeping chores on the blog structure, so I performed the standard database backup (to ensure that I could always restore back to an older version as needed,) then set to work. As is my habit now, I check the functionality after each change, confirming that nothing bad happened.

Or, so I thought. Among the changes was catching up with updates, both with the current version of WordPress and with the installed plugins. Everything seemed fine until I went to create a new post this morning, and found some utter horseshit sitting where my normal post editor was. WordPress had been toying with a new editor function, something called Gutenberg, and finally decided to roll it out with version 5.0. I always wait for a couple of revisions following a whole new version, because bugs are virtually guaranteed, so I was updating to version 5.0.3 when I got greeted by this monstrosity.

Plenty of software developers get involved in the, “let’s revamp the whole structure to make it cooler,” nonsense, which is one of the reasons that I never started doing web development on my own; I’m very much of the, “If it ain’t broke,” school, and usually couldn’t care less about the stupid-user-interface changes. That’s not referring to a stupid interface (though that’s usually the result anyway,) but instead an interface for stupid users, often icon-based, and with most of the useful editing tools buried someplace so all the options don’t scare the timid touch-screen crowd. And that’s exactly where Gutenberg is aimed. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to insert a goddamn image! Trying to activate either the old editor or simply some more complete toolbars failed. After a few obscenity-laden Google searches (noticing how many negative comments Gutenberg was getting in the process,) I found that there is a plugin to permit/reinstall the classic editor. I loaded that, and thankfully it worked perfectly, allowing both the previous post and this one to be done back the way that I always had.

Meanwhile, the Impetuous Mr Bugg had changed his blog over to a new address, without warning or forwarding pages, making all of my links to him obsolete. This is no small number, and I was brainstorming how to go about updating these without a major headache, when I came across another plugin, Better Search Replace by Delicious Brains (I’m fairly certain that is not their birth name.) This allowed me to find all instances of his original URL and change them to the new one, including those to specific pages without needing to know each of them. Within a couple of minutes, all 41 links had been updated. Very smooth – I highly recommend this plugin if you find yourself in need. I should probably use it to correct all of my older references to Chinese mantises (there are several dozen) to reflect the new scientific name.

I have found no plugin to get Mr Bugg to put his name and info on his site yet, though…

I’m back, he says with hesitation

Al Denelsbeck

Okay, after a frustrating few hours, I think functionality has returned to the blog. The DNS switch was instant and painless, the mail server a bit confusing (a host that imparted conflicting info,) but the blog was a royal pain in the ass. Near as I can tell, one of my installed plugins, which worked fine on my old host, had radical disagreements with the new, and if you’ve had any experience with WordPress, you probably know that this can screw up damn near everything. It is most especially difficult to deal with when it prevents anything from displaying once you log in, a completely white screen, so you can’t even get to the menu to start shutting things off and seeing what works.

But enough about my greatly shortened life span. The main part of the site has been upgraded as least slightly almost all the way through, with new additions to most galleries, and most images resized (monitor resolutions have been going up,) and then a few new things here and there. For instance, I tacked on a new slideshow for recent images, photos that I liked but didn’t want to alter the galleries over, or make a new post. And if all you’ve ever shot has been digital, then you may want to check out this page.

So for anyone inconvenienced by the changeover, I apologize. I expected nothing less, even though I’d hoped for it, but I did remind myself why I never tried doing web work for a living. Then again, I might have been paid for all this time…