Tag Archive | "Upgrade"
Posted on 09 September 2011. Tags: Just, Lion, Might, Reasons, Upgrade, Want
class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/lion-300x300.jpg" alt="" />Apple users are renowned for being fans of new gadgets and operating system releases. With every new iOS release there are people worldwide lining up outside Apple stores overnight to get in first. So, it’s hardly surprising this stereotype has come about. In the pool of Mac users, amongst the die-hard “Cult of Mac” fans, there still remain plenty of sceptics who would prefer to sit back and watch how each new product is received before they rush out and buy it.
With Mac OS X’s latest release,
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/osx-lion/">Lion, it seems that the sceptics are feeling quite vindicated about now. In fact, many users are deciding that maybe “just waiting a little longer” is the best move after all. Sure, we’ll probably all upgrade eventually – but not just yet. Here’s why so many of us are still using
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/snow-leopard/">Snow Leopard.
1. I Feel Like I Have Only Just Upgraded To Snow Leopard!
It’s hard to get excited about paying for a new OS release if you feel as if you only just paid for the last one. When the last release is still new and shiny to you, where’s the incentive?
2. There Are Far Too Many People Complaining About Lion Issues
One of the things Mac lovers really appreciate about Macs is that they just work. This is usually the Mac user’s final argument in any Windows/Linux/MacOS flame war – the Mac just works. So, when there are Mac fans all over the Internet complaining that Lion isn’t working for some reason, there’s a problem.
Why would anyone pay money and spend time to move from a perfectly usable, stable OS to one which isn’t yet stable? Okay, so some people might have their reasons, but for those people who just want their Mac to work with no worries, the point of upgrading to Lion just now is easily lost.
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Lion-Do-You-Think-Apple-Tested-It.png" alt="" />
Most of the problems seem to occur around installation too, which is not something you want to be wasting your time on. Although it’s possible to
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/downloading-installing-developers-build-os-lion-mac/">prepare yourself well for the upgrade, make backup discs, follow all
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/extensive-guide-upgrading-osx-lion-making-installation-disks-mac/">best practices for upgrading to Lion and even
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/install-osx-lion-external-drive-test-mac/">test drive Lion on an external drive before fully taking the plunge, you may still find that the online upgrade doesn’t work and you need to get the
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/trouble-installing-os-lion-thumb-drives-bring-hope-news/">Lion thumb drive sent to you. And even if it does work, you’ll probably spend the best part of a day
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-tips-taming-os-lion/">tweaking Lion to your liking.
3. I Don’t Have The Time To Get Used To The New Trackpad Gestures
Rumour has it that the new trackpad gestures are actually far better than the old ones, and it really is worth embracing the change. But personally, when I’m trying to work the last thing I need is to be yelling at myself for gesturing backwards. I just want to get the work done. Getting used to new gestures is just something I plan to deal with later.
4. Lion Has So Many Features I Will Never Use
While many of the
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/apples-mac-osx-lion-news/">new Lion features are fantastic and groundbreaking, there are plenty of new Lion features that many people know they will never use or appreciate. In the end, these users start to wonder why they should pay for something they won’t make use of.
New Lion features which fail to be universally loved include those inside Mail, Address Book and iCal, Autocorrect and Launchpad. Personally, I use web applications for calendars, email and contacts, I can type precisely what I mean to type and do not appreciate programs which change my words for me and I have far too many applications installed to even consider using Launchpad.
5. Conversely, There Are A Few Great Reasons For Upgrading
Some of the new Lion features are so universally loved that even the most reluctant Mac user might be tempted to upgrade to Lion. Mission control and Autosaving are two primary features which many users appreciate and love about Lion. But is it enough?
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/lion-mission-control.jpg" alt="" />
Remaining On The Fence
Lion continues to tweak and upgrade, fixing the problems people are complaining about. It may be a couple more updates in the future before these fence-sitters are ready to take the plunge and install Lion.
Have you upgraded to
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/osx-lion/">Lion yet? Will you? Why or why not?
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Posted in Useful APPs
Posted on 19 July 2011. Tags: Check, Looking, MakeUseOf, store, TShirt, Upgrade, Wardrobe
class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/linux_tshirt.jpg?54167" alt="" />Are the t-shirts in your wardrobe starting to look a little tatty? Are the holes in your favorite shirt so big that it’s become positively embarrassing when you have company round? Do you want to impress those around you with your impeccable fashion tastes? If that’s the case, can we interest you in a
class="vt-p" href="http://splitreason.com/makeuseof">cool geeky MakeUseOf T-shirt?
The cash registers have been steadily “ker-chinging” since our T-shirt store first opened last year. We now have 10 designs, including some in baby tee size for the slim petite female readers among us. Some Mac OSX-related designs are currently being developed and we’ll be sure to let you know about them as soon as they become available!
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/tshirt_store.gif?54167" alt="" width="576" height="610" />
The price for each T-shirt is $16.95 and shipping to anywhere in the world. Each shirt is made of very high quality material and is well worth the money! Mine have been through the wash countless times and they still look good! Why not buy in bulk and save on shipping costs? Just
class="vt-p" href="http://splitreason.com/makeuseof">head on over to the store and see if anything strikes your fancy.
If you have already bought a MakeUseOf T-shirt, what did you think of it? Are you happy with your purchase?
Why not send us a photo of you wearing it and we may post it here on the site for all to see!
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href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/upgrade-wardrobe-check-makeuseof-tshirt-store/">Looking To Upgrade Your Wardrobe? Then Check Out The MakeUseOf T-Shirt Store! is a post from:
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Posted in Useful APPs
Posted on 06 July 2011. Tags: Features, Should, Upgrade, Wordpress
class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/wordpress-logo-300x300.png?54167">If you haven’t noticed already from your blog dashboard, WordPress has just released version 3.2, the next major release. Quite a lot has changed, so let’s take a closer look at why you might want to upgrade. There’s a whole host of speed and UI improvements awaiting you, as well as a brand new default theme.
New Minimum Requirements
First up, WordPress has raised the bar for your server requirements, and you absolutely must be running PHP 5.2.4 and MySQL 5.0 or higher. If you’re not sure what versions you’re running, an easy way to check is to create a php file in the root of your website (any filename will do as long as it ends in .php, but for the sake of demonstration I’ll call mine phpinfo.php) – then add the following single line of code to the file:
class="wp_syntax">
class="code">
<?php phpinfo();?>
Save, and access the file using your browser. Directly at the top will be a line saying which version of php you have, and if you do a text search for “Client API version”, you’ll see what version of MySQL you have too.
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/phpversion.jpg?54167">
Ready To Upgrade?
Having checked the minimum requirements, take a full backup of your files and database. I described
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/backup-website-ssh-command-line/">how to do this via the command line before, or you can
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/2-methods-storing-wordpress-blog-backups/">try the non-techie method if you don’t have SSH access.
Bear in mind that while the majority of plugins generally don’t have an issue, if you’re using something particularly hardcore such as caching or major functionality changes then you may run into some problems. In that case your only option is to either restore from a backup or find alternative plugins. Make sure all of your plugins are up to date before proceeding with the core WordPress update through the admin panel.
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/wordpress-updateme.jpg?54167">
What Do To If Things Go Wrong
The first step is to try a manual installation. Download a fresh copy of the files from
href="http://wordpress.org">WordPress.org and re-upload everything to your FTP server EXCEPT wp-content. If you overwrite your wp-content folder, all your uploads and pictures etc will be gone, as I found out once. Be careful! Once fully uploaded, manually visit yourdomain.com/wp-admin/upgrade.php to run the upgrade process manually on the database.
If you’ve upgraded but you’re getting errors or a blank screen, it may be a particular plugin. Rename your plugins folder to temporarily deactivate them all, then move them back one by one to find the culprit.
So, What’s New?
Speed!
For those of us with larger sites, speed is a major issue. 3.2 brings a ton of speed improvements, most notably in the admin side of things where you’ll find yourself zipping around now. The core code has been updated too, removing unnecessary functions and optimising database queries.
Distraction Free Writing
Wow – this is actually really cool. When using the visual editor to write your post, there’s a new button on the toolbar. Click that to hide all interface elements, and jump straight into a WriteRoom-esque fullscreen distraction-free UI.
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/fullscreen-button.jpg?54167">
Moving the mouse will cause a minimal set of buttons to display as well as the exit fullscreen, but they soon fade to this:
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/distraction-free-writing.jpg?54167">
Beautiful… and combined with the speed improvements I think this will really cause a lot of people to stop writing offline in tools such as Windows Live Writer. Fullscreen mode also works in HTML view, but the button the toolbar is labelled as simply “fullscreen”, so it’s easier to find.
New Default Theme
Twenty-Eleven is the new included theme, and it’s simple incredible. Built from the ground up to take advantage of HTML5, it now offers far more customisation than ever before, including options such as layout. It’s going to set new standards in theme design and puts many premium templates even to shame. Let’s have a closer look.
Post Formats
Built into the theme are now Tumblr-like post format options – asides, links, quotes, gallery. I haven’t had time to explore these formats in much depth, but for many these are going to be the highlight of the new theme I think.
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/twenty-eleven-dark.jpg?54167">
Layout & Style Options
Choose between either light or dark, sidebar on left or right or none at all, and change the default link color. You can get a dramatically unique look in seconds. The underlying look and feel of the theme is fantastically clean and tidy.
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/theme-options.jpg?54167">
Random Headers
Upload more than one file to use as a header and you’ll now be able to rotate through them randomly, which is nice.
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/random-images-header.jpg?54167">
For some rather odd reason, they decided to remove the sidebar from single post pages, a rather obvious oversight but one that is easily fixed by downloading a
href="http://futurewebblog.com/add-sidebar-support-posts-twenty-eleven-theme/">slightly modified child theme from here.
Better Admin Toolbar
It was an interesting feature added in version 3, but to be honest I never saw much point to the admin bar. Thankfully, it’s been updated with lots more useful links on the Add New menu, so I might re-enable it.
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/better-admin-bar.jpg?54167">
Should You Upgrade?
The underlying code in WordPress 3.2 has been cleaned up so that not only the backend is faster but core functions too, so for that alone it’s worth upgrading. The new default theme is such a vast improvement that hopefully it’ll prevent some of the cookie-cutter default installs I see so many of when people just can’t be bothered to customise their blog at all.
That’s all for today – if you have problems upgrading then let us know in the comments or crowd source your problem to the
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/answers/">tech support community part of MakeUseOf. I’m nearing completion of my upcoming WordPress guide too, so subscribe today to be the first one to know when that’s released, and don’t forget to check through all our previous
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/service/wordpress-tutorials/">WordPress tutorials.
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href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/features-wordpress-32-upgrade/">The New Features In WordPress 3.2 & Why You Should Upgrade is a post from:
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Do you know how to use a computer? Of course you do. But how familiar are you with what’s inside that shiny metal box of yours? For as complicated as the inner workings of computers may seem, they are really only made up of a few key pieces. If you ever have a hardware problem or would simply like to upgrade one of those pieces, it helps to know what they do and where they are located.
