WordPress Update

[billbenson]

I have a Wordpress site that was written for me. I also have a ecommerce plugin called Shopp. I am not very familiar with Wordpress. The site hasn't been updated since 2016 or so. I want to do an update to both WordPress and the Shopp plugin. Are there any pitfalls, recommendations etc., for bringing the site current in software. Also, if anybody is familiar with Shopp, I need to update all the pricing which has several thousand products. What's the best way to do this?

[Owen]

I have a Wordpress site that was written for me. I also have a ecommerce plugin called Shopp. I am not very familiar with Wordpress. The site hasn't been updated since 2016 or so. I want to do an update to both WordPress and the Shopp plugin. Are there any pitfalls, recommendations etc., for bringing the site current in software. Also, if anybody is familiar with Shopp, I need to update all the pricing which has several thousand products. What's the best way to do this?

Wait... why would you not use Woocommerce???

[Harold Mansfield]

It's been a while since I updated a WordPress install that was 2 years out of date. At the time I would only go ahead 2 versions at a time or you would run into issues.

So yes, there are possible pitfalls. First and foremost your theme and some of the plugins you're running may not be compatible with the current version of WordPress.
You'd have to check each to make sure they've been updated frequently. Of the ones that haven't, you'll likely have to uninstall them and find another way to do whatever it is they were doing.

If the theme isn't compatible that's another story. It may be fine, or it could break the site completely.
And in total, whether or not the theme, the Shopp plug in and all others can be updated, and are still compatible with each other is another variable.

Never used Shopp so I couldn't tell you how to do a batch price update. I would think if it's raising everything a percentage across the board that there's a solution. Raising each to a different price with no common mathematical reasoning, probably not an easy solution.

[billbenson]

Wait... why would you not use Woocommerce???

What does Woocommerce offer that would make me want to change plugin's? I was going to change to Zencart because it would allow me to keep the entire cart seperate in it's own folder. That way it is transportable. I think I figured out how to do the price update which is the major thing I need to do right now. It affects a couple of database tables, so it's not completely straightforward, but a script for the price update should be pretty easy to write. So why do you like Woocommerce anyway?

Thanks Harold, that's helpful. I'll go slow with the updates. Not knowing WP that well, I don't want to end up with a disaster.

[Owen]

What does Woocommerce offer that would make me want to change plugin's? I was going to change to Zencart because it would allow me to keep the entire cart seperate in it's own folder. That way it is transportable. I think I figured out how to do the price update which is the major thing I need to do right now. It affects a couple of database tables, so it's not completely straightforward, but a script for the price update should be pretty easy to write. So why do you like Woocommerce anyway?

Thanks Harold, that's helpful. I'll go slow with the updates. Not knowing WP that well, I don't want to end up with a disaster.

Woocommerce by far has the largest community. Every problem you have someone else has had. It supports all major payment gateways. It's also made by Automattic which is the owner of Wordpress.com.

[Harold Mansfield]

Thanks Harold, that's helpful. I'll go slow with the updates. Not knowing WP that well, I don't want to end up with a disaster.

And watch the PHP versions. As you upgrade, newer versions ( and the corresponding plug ins that upgrade) will be looking for newer versions of PHP. There's no rule on how far back things are compatible, so watch out for isolated issues that are just one thing, and not the entire installation.

Along the way it will say it needs to update your database every so often. That's why you don't want to skip too far ahead, just in case.

So make sure you make note of what version of PHP you're running before you start, as well as MySQL. Both are also 2+ years behind at the moment.