You CAN use your old WordPress 1.2 index with WordPress 1.5. Not that it is recommended, nor will the wonderful theme features of WordPress 1.5 work, but it can be done with relatively little effort. (PS: if you have not noticed, this blog has been upgraded, but is using the old template)
- Backup your index.php and your wp-layout.css (and all other files and the database, in my opinion)
- Perform a normal upgrade of your blog
- Open your old index.php and add the following line to the top of your file, right after the <?php
Add the line:
define(‘WP_USE_THEMES’, false); - Copy your old index.php and layout.css to your blog
Caveats:
- Things might break. Hacks will need to be reapplied and plugins might need reworking, just like any other upgrade
- Your theme might have deprecated functions, variables in it which will need to be weeded out.
- You WILL NOT be able to use any of the WordPress 1.5 Theme features
The reason for this post is because I see too many WordPress bloggers that are afraid of upgrading because they believe that their templates will break or be unusable when they upgrade.
pardon my ignorance but, i got lost in step 3.
it says : Open your old index.php and add the following to the top of your file, right after the
Why not ask them to transfer their index and css file over to a theme folder. and telling them what to add to their css file for it to be recognised as a theme instead.
thank you for updating the instructions! 🙂