TDL System Status Update

[UPDATE: Due to unexpected technical issues related to Shibboleth integration, TDL’s planned upgrade of its blog service to WordPress 3.0 on 7/8 was unsuccessful.

The TDL team will reattempt the upgrade to WordPress 3.0 next week, once it is satisfied that the Shibboleth compatibility issues are resolved. TDL will again notify all blog users when and if there will be downtime to the service.]

The Texas Digital Library will be bringing down the TDL blog service for several hours on Thursday, July 8, in order to upgrade the blogging software to the most current version of WordPress (version 3.0).

TDL members who use a TDL-hosted blog will be unable to log in or update their blogs during business hours while the upgrade is taking place. Once the upgrade is complete, TDL will notify users that they may resume work in their blogs.

When logging back in, all content and theme selections will remain the same, but there will be changes in the administrative interface. Because TDL has passed over several version upgrades between the old TDL Blogs (version 1.3) and the newest version, some of these changes will be fairly significant.

As a result of the upgrade, however, the TDL and its users will gain added functionality, flexibility, and stability.

For details about the changes to TDL Blogs, please visit this page in the TDL Wiki. You can also refer to documentation on the WordPress site, or watch this video about WordPress 3.0. For a summary version of these changes, read below.

Summary of Changes

Some changes resulting from the upgrade to WordPress 3.0, like the merging of WordPress and WordPress MultiUser (MU), are relevant only to TDL staff members who install and administer the TDL WordPress site.

Other new features will impact you directly. These include the following:

• Main menu navigation (in the admin interface) along the left-hand side of the screen, rather than across the top. These menu sections are expandable and collapsible, so you can see submenus without moving to a new screen.
• Changes in menu organization. For example, “Write” and “Manage” have been replaced by menu sections organized by type of content, like “Post” and “Page.”
• A new default theme called “Twenty Ten,” which replaces the old blue and white Kubrick theme. Twenty Ten takes full advantages of the other new features of WordPress and allows for greater flexibility in configuring the theme, including the ability to add customized page headers and background colors.
• A new TDL theme called “TDL Moderna.” TDL is including a new blog theme that matches the look-and-feel of the TDL website. It is an optional theme that can be found under the “Appearance” menu.
• A new Custom Menu Management feature, which allows for the creation of custom menus combining posts, pages, categories, tags, and links for use in theme menus or widgets.
• Contextual help text accessed under the Help tab of every screen in the WordPress administration.
• Improved Custom Post Types and Custom Taxonomies including hierarchical (category-style) support.
• A lighter admin color scheme to increase accessibility and put the focus more squarely on content.

TDL Helpdesk Support

If you have questions about WordPress 3.0 or need help navigating any changes to the administrative interface, please take advantage of the TDL Helpdesk. You can submit your questions via the Web form or email at support@tdl.org.