AAAARGH!!!!

One of the characteristics of working with self-hosted WordPress is the need to be constantly updating the basic WP software, and also the themes (i.e. the design templates) and the plugins used to tweak the whole process. Usually, updating is straightforward: I get a notification that something needs updating, I check the relevant box, and everything is done for me. Simple.

Usually - but not always. This morning, I did a routine update to the theme I’ve been using for the past year (“Magazine Basic”), and thought nothing more of it - until I previewed a post. I’ve now discovered, to my horror, that the update process has destroyed all the peripheral content that I’d laboriously put together in the side bars, and in the horizontal navigation menus at the top of the page. (It’s not just me: a look at the theme support page shows that other users have had the same problem.)

Bear with me while I sort this out. For now, the unpopulated side bars are going to be looking bleak and bare. The upside though, is that while I repopulate them, I’ll have the opportunity to do a comprehensive rethink, resulting in a more coherent structure than I’ve had up to now.

(UPDATE: I’ve now retrieved some of the missing material, but still having trouble getting them to appear where they should - and the left hand sidebar is absurdly narrow. Working on it.)