A WordPress Update Gotcha

I manage about a dozen WordPress sites and really love the ease with which you can update it. Basically, all you have to do is click a few links, and your WordPress installation automatically upgrades itself.  I’ve performed dozens of updates, and despite the admonition to back up your site, they’ve all gone without a hitch.

Until yesterday. Yesterday, I upgraded to 3.2.1 on a FFE Specifier, a website for buyers and sellers of “furniture, fixtures, and equipment.” After the update, instead of the familiar dashboard, I found myself staring at an Error 500 screen. Bad news.

As is often the case, it was Google to the rescue. I typed in “error 500 after upgrading to wordpress 3.2.1 arras” (Arras is the theme on ffespecifer.com), and voila. One of the first listings was Issues upgrading to WordPress 3.2 with the Arras Theme. This blog post explained that there was a bug in the Arras theme, and that all I had to do was to upgrade the theme. I did this, and now all is well.

The point of all this is to warn you to upgrade your theme, plugins, and widgets before upgrading your WP software. This should help you avoid that dreaded Error 500 screen and that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach.