I am currently running WordPress 3.0 using the K2 theme nightly version 1.1 r1105. When I previewed the theme first the format was not showing up correctly. I had to re-select ‘Use K2 Styling’ in order for the site to be displayed correctly. I only mention this because on two other sites with a different hosts I did not have to do this. Strange – no matter everything is working.
Also, I had to re-select ‘Header Menu Home tab’ selection of Custom and re-enter ‘Custom Home tab’ name: Start under the K2 Options tab.
I have never been able to use the automatic update feature for WordPress or plugins with the host of this site. I did some research on the host’s forum and on the wordpress.org forum but never found anything that could help. I just did the manual upgrade in the past. It only takes a few minutes.
I decided to finally figure out the issue. I found a few old files that were causing problems. After deleting them everything seemed to work as expected. I upgraded from WordPress 2.9.2 to version 3.0 with no problem automatically after de-activating all of my plugins.
Then I started to upgrade some plugins, 7. The first few upgraded automatically just fine, but by the 4th my blog got stuck in maintenance mode for over 15 minutes. That seemed a bit long to me. I checked my site and tried to return to my admin page and all I got was –
Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance. Check back in a minute.
After a quick Google search of ‘wordpress stuck in maintenance mode’, I found the answer on the wordpress.org forum.
The answer – looked for a file called .maintentance (dot maintenance). Once deleted everything came back.
This issue was a bit scary at first. Before I freak out and sent emails/phone calls to my host I always search major problems in Google or appropriate forum for an answer.
I am still using the K2 theme, now revision r791 with the current version of WordPress 2.7.1. I still need to adapt to widgets vs K2′s SBM (sidebar manager). I liked K2′s SBM much better than widgets due to the ease of use, flexibility, and customizability. I will need to hunt down more plugins or widgets to get back what I miss, mainly Pages display control.
For as often as I post, does this matter? A little. Time for some experimentation.
My current blog set-up:
WordPress 2.7.1
theme K2 r764
Everything works great as expected. I stopped using the K2 Sidebar Manager (SBM), since it was being phased out. I prefer the SBM. The widgets manager does not give you enough options or settings for displaying individual widgets. Mainly, the lack of options with the Pages widget compared to the K2 SBM version.
There is supposed to be a K2 SBM to widget importer in the works. It will be interesting to see how they handle the reduced options.
Final test using Flock. Very basic, too basic. Category list shows up after you select publish.
I recently updated to WordPress 2.5 using the most recent nightly version of the K2 theme. Everything went smooth as usual. I small glitch, when I select a theme version to use, I initially get a fatal error when reloading due to my last.fm plugin. I just refresh the page and everyrhing works great from then on.
The new look of WordPress 2.5 is very cool and has some welcomed refined touches/changes/advancements.
I have been using WordPress for awhile with the K2 theme and I would say that these two together make a powerful combination that is easy to use. I have not had any real problems that I did not cause myself from experimenting. Of course everyone should BACK-UP their websites in case of problems.
The current version of WordPress is 2.3 and works great the K2 theme. I am currently using K2 revision 562. The most recent versions of K2 know give you that option to run WordPress widgets or K2 sidebar modules. Keeping up-to-date is easy with upgrade plugins. I use InstantUpgrade version 0.2 by Alex Günsche.
View a list of plugins I use to run this site or see it on an About page subpage.
Anyone interested in starting blog should definitely consider WordPress with K2.
I noticed a serious issue with the Jaiku badge that requires shockwave-flash. If the browser does not have the proper plugin the page rendering becomes extremely random. My sidebar was everywhere except on the right side. I removed the Jaiku badge from the previous post due to this problem. If the browser does not have the correct plugin there should just be a blank spot asking for or stating condition of plugin needed. This should not confuse the format to the point of making an unreadable page.
My main computer is a Mac. My main browser currently is Safari. I also use Firefox 2.0.0.7 and Flock 0.9.1.3. Occasionally, I use Camino 1.5.1 or Shiira 2.2.
I know a simple cure for me would be to make sure any and all browsers I use have up-to-date plugins. But what about the rest of the world? Not everyone is on top of updating.
I am still using WordPress v2.2.1, although 2.2.2 is available. I upgraded the K2 theme to beta revision 377 and I have the Disable WordPress Widgets plugin activated. Everything seems to be working.
Since the sidebar modules are not working within the K2 theme using WordPress 2.2.1 I am just going to use the WordPress widgets for now. I hope a future SVN of K2 will fix this problem. I am currently sticking with K2 version 0.9.6.
