WordPress 2.3? You're Soaking In It!

WordPress 2.3 has been released, and there is much rejoicing! PressHarbor users have no need to upgrade to WordPress 2.3 – you’re soaking in it! (thanks Madge!)
All PressHarbor blogs have been running the pre-release version of WordPress 2.3 until tonight, and we’ve just upgraded all blogs to the release version  of 2.3.
Please enjoy blogging with this new release!

PressHarbor Users Not Affected by Recent WordPress Security Issues

A security release for the 2.2 series of WordPress was recently announced.
At PressHarbor, your site will automatically receive WordPress security updates and your version of WordPress is not affected by any of the issues in this release.
For your information, you are currently hosted on the 2.3 series of WordPress; our service has been running this series since July 2007. When the 2.3 version of WordPress is released later this month, we will continue to follow this branch and maintain regular updates to your site along the 2.3 branch.

How Do I Preview My Site Before Updating DNS?

If you are transferring an existing blog site from another service to PressHarbor, you will want to configure your site and preview before committing to making the DNS changes which will make it live on our servers.
To be able to access your domain before you make the DNS changes which will allow the world to see it on its new server, you can make a change to your local DNS settings so that your computer will see the domain at its future home.

Mac OS X

Open the Terminal application and type:
sudo pico -w /etc/hosts
You will see some text like the following:

##
# Host Database
#
# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
# when the system is booting.  Do not change this entry.
##
127.0.0.1       localhost
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1             localhost

Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move to the bottom of the file. Enter the following:

123.456.78.90             domain.com
123.456.78.90             www.domain.com

where 123.456.78.90 is the IP address sent in the Hosting Order Status message sent to you when your hosting account was created, and of course domain.com is your own domain name. The white space between the IP address and the domain is a tab.
Hit Control-O and the editor will prompt you with:
File Name to Write: /etc/hosts
Hit Return to save the file, then Control-X to exit the editor. Now type this into the Terminal:
sudo lookupd -flushcache
Or type this if you are using Mac OS X 10.5 or higher :
sudo dscacheutil -flushcache
Quit your web browser and reopen it, and you will now be able to view your PressHarbor account even though you have not changed the DNS settings at your registrar.
To reverse your changes (don’t forget to do so before you make the DNS changes at your registrar), remove the lines you added to the /etc/hosts file, save the file, and run lookupd -flushcache one more time.

Windows

On Windows, the Hosts file is located at different places depending on your version of Windows:
Windows 95/98/Me
c:\windows\hosts
Windows NT/2000/XP Pro
c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Windows XP
c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Windows Vista/7
The file will also be at this location in Windows Vista/7:
c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
But you will need to edit the file as Administrator. See this article from Microsoft on how to edit the file as Administrator.
If you have difficulty finding the hosts file, you can go to Find on the Windows Start menu and type in hosts.
Open the hosts file with Notepad, and enter the following at the bottom of the file:

123.456.78.90             domain.com
123.456.78.90             www.domain.com

where 123.456.78.90 is the IP address sent in the Hosting Order Status message sent to you when your hosting account was created, and of course domain.com is your own domain name. The white space between the IP address and the domain is a tab.

Where can I get more WordPress Plugins?

An excellent source of a variety of plugins to enhancne your site’s functionality is available at the WordPress Plugins page at:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/
Simply download the Plugins to your local computer, then upload them to your site.

What WordPress Plugins are Pre-Installed on My Site?

Plugins are tools that can be added to your WordPress blog to enhance or alter the functionality of your WordPress weblog. For your convenience, PressHarbor pre-installs the following Plugins on all sites:

Our WordPress Auto-Update System will install the latest version of these Plugins whenever they are updated. Please do not customize or deactivate any of the pre-installed Plugins as your changes would be erased when our Auto-Update System writes over your revised version of the plugin with an updated version.

How do I upload new Plugins to my WordPress blog?

Plugins are tools that can be added to your WordPress blog to enhance or alter the functionality of your WordPress weblog. Plugins are located in the following path on your web server:
/httpdocs/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/
You can access this directory on your web server using an FTP program like SmartFTP, FileZilla, CuteFTP, or WS_FTP.
We have preinstalled several Plugins on all sites.

How do I upload new Themes to my WordPress blog?

Themes are located in the following path on your web server:
/httpdocs/wordpress/wp-content/themes/
You can access this directory on your web server using an FTP program like SmartFTP, FileZilla, CuteFTP, or WS_FTP.
We have preinstalled several themes on all sites.
To learn more about themes, check out Using Themes in the WordPress Docs.

Where can I get more WordPress Themes?

A treasure trove of WordPress themes is available at the WordPress Theme Viewer at:

http://themes.wordpress.net/

Simply download the themes to your local computer, then upload them to your site.

What WordPress Themes are Pre-Installed on My Site?

For your convenience, PressHarbor pre-installs a variety of themes to your site.
Our WordPress Auto-Update System will install the latest version of these themes whenever they are updated. For this reason, you should not customize any of the pre-installed themes as your changes would be erased when our Auto-Update System writes over your revised version of the theme with an updated version of the original theme.
If you would like to customize one of the pre-installed themes, you should first download a copy of it to your computer. Make your customizations locally, then re-upload the customized version of your theme to a new directory within the themes directory of your web server.