I'm currently on 1.2 and I've customised quite a few little things in the template/theme/portal to make my forum look how it is does. There are a few more plugins I was hoping to run too but haven't done so yet in case I upgrade.
Newer is normally better, but I'm having zero problems with my current version and would like to know why I should upgrade. I don't like implementing change on members... it scares them.
We will stop supporting 1.2 in a little under 5 months - You can take as long as you want to prepare, but you should upgrade by then. This is because we can't continually provide security patches for older versions forever and you'd eventually end up on old technology. 1.4 contains many speed improvements, along with hundreds of updated or new features and a completely rewritten ACP designed for you, the end user.
1.2 will become unsupported within a couple of months.
You should upgrade for new features, better performance, and security updates (these won't be made anymore for 1.2 when we drop the 1.2 support)
You will only benefit from upgrading, most plugins can be accessed now, and the user end has hardly changed so your members shouldn't mind.
I started developing with 1.2, and made tons of modifications, which include changes to source code and templates.
I changed alot to intergrate things into
Dokuwiki and
Flyspray, as well as a (rather) complicated website. Believe it when I say, it's really easy to take all your customizations to 1.4 - I did it in an hour...
If you're really worried, simply change the upgrade process. Make a new 1.4 installation somewhere in a testing area and make your modifications to it in private. Then, when you're ready, switch it - then your members won't be complaining about downtime and errors when you're changing it.
Yeah that's the best thing to do, make a test forum, don't tell anyone it exists, upload 1.4.2, and a backup (so you have a forum with content, even though it won't be an active forum) and play around with it to get a feel for it. You live forum will be on 1.2 still, but your test one will only be viewed by you. Then if you like 1.4, you upgrade your live forums.
You could also ask some of your members to test out the test 1.4 forum so they can give you feedback.
PM me if you want any help on doing this.
Well I'm about to bite the bullet and upgrade. I've had a little time with 1.4 running on a test forum like you suggested. It should be alright, my main worry is rearranging all the boxes on the portal page again.
I'll definitely message you if I stumble along the way.
Remember to backup everything you have currently before proceeding, and good luck with the process.
I've backed up everything twice
My first question, I renamed my admin directory for security. For the upgrade do I just change the name of the admin directory in the upload folder or should I just turn back my current directory to the default one. If so, which files do I need to change it up in? I can't remember where exactly it modded.
thanks
