Blogs Upgrade July 15

The Michigan Tech Blogs server will be down for an upgrade on the morning of July 15. Expected downtime is 1-2 hours beginning at 8 a.m. Please save your work before this time to prevent any data loss.

This upgrade will bring the WordPress installation up to date with the latest version. The backend interface will receive an update as well, but will remain functionally similar. Feel free to contact us at webmaster@mtu.edu if you have any questions or trouble after the upgrade.

Here are some other changes that are in store for the upgrade:

Plugins

  • ShareThis has been removed and replaced by AddThis. The plugin can be enabled through the Plugins menu. Once enabled, you will be able to modify settings through the Settings menu.
  • Flickr plugin has been removed due to lack of use.
  • PollDaddy Polls has been removed due to lack of use.
  • Video QuickTags is remaining for legacy purposes. Please use the built-in oEmbed methods for embed videos from the internet.

Themes

The Michigan Tech Theme will be receiving several changes in both the front and the back.

  • Styles are updated to match the latest Michigan Tech web styles.
  • Post layout has been updated to fit with the latest styles. Support for WordPress’ Post Formats has also been added.
    • Standard: Displays title, date, author, categories, tags, and allows comments.
    • Aside: Displays date and tags. Intended to be a short update post.
    • Image: Displays title, date, author, categories, tags, and allows comments.
    • Video: Displays title, date, author, categories, tags, and allows comments.
    • Audio: Displays title, date, author, categories, tags, and allows comments.
    • Quote: Content is displayed as the quote. Title as the author. No comments.
    • Link: Displays date and tags. Should be a short update with a link.
    • Gallery: Photo gallery. Displays date, author, categories, tags, and allows comments.
    • Status: Displays author avatar (via Gravatar), name, date, time. Very short post. Think of it as similar to a Twitter post.
  • A new Widget area is available. Widgets can now be placed below the left navigation.
  • The theme has been updated to support WordPress’ Customize screen. You can change theme settings and see a preview before saving the settings.

If you have any questions or concerns about the upgrade, please contact us at webmaster@mtu.edu.