please provide the working version (1.9) via wordpress

surocharg
(@surocharg)

10 years, 8 months ago

My larges mistake this year was obviously to upgrade to NextGEN 2.0. I was relatively lucky, I could at least access my site afterwards and I thought I could live with 2.0 until a proper version was released.

At least I thought so until I realised just how many instances of “no images found” I have on my travel blog.

For example this shortcode:
[singlepic id=2935 w=480 h=400 float=]Instead of generating an impressive pic of the old Palais des Papes in Avignon it says “no images found” (see example here).

I know that rolling back a version probably (hopefully) would be a quick fix but I am not particularly at ease with FTP which is why I have a suggestion.

Since WordPress users vary from total newbies to advanced hackers I think Photocrati should make a change.

Please provide the working version via wordpress

It would be great for newbies (and the reputation of NextGEN) if the version available through the wordpress interface was the working one (1.9.3). Easy to install. No hassle. No newbie has to feel that it is beyond their skill to get NextGEN up and running.

And the new versions (2.0, 2.07) should be available for the slightly more advanced users to download from nextgen/phtocrate website and upload to the users websites via FTP.

Then everyone that is interested in the new features and interested in web development could download and test the new versions but the rest of us could spend our time on something else.

http://wordpress.org/plugins/nextgen-gallery/

Viewing 13 replies - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)

tedcullen1949
(@tedcullen1949)

10 years, 8 months ago

I AGREE! Let us have a working version until this gets fixed!

tiboine
(@tiboine)

10 years, 8 months ago

I agree as well. Even bought the Nextgen pro before I realized that the 2.x doesnt play well with other important plugins. here´s a way to downgrade at least http://www.nextgen-gallery.com/how-to-rollback-a-version/

Thread Starter surocharg
(@surocharg)

10 years, 8 months ago

Thanks @tedcullen1949 and @tiboine for your vote.

I also thinks Photocrati would benefit from this solution. No company brand is helped by adding more people to the group of unhappy users.

johnny_n
(@johnny_n)

10 years, 8 months ago

I think this request is impossible – the WordPress admin updater doesn’t allow multiple versions of a plugin, it always updates to the latest.

If you’re looking for 1.9.13 (or all other recent versions) they’re here:

https://bitbucket.org/photocrati/nextgen-gallery/downloads

Thread Starter surocharg
(@surocharg)

10 years, 8 months ago

Thanks @johnny_n but I didn’t mean multiple versions of the plugin – just 1.9.13.

My argument is that the WordPress admin updater is used by many users who can’t spell to FTP and using the WordPress admin updates is the absolut limit of their knowledge about the back-end of their website. And they are not helped very much by a list of old versions because it is like giving them a recepie in mandarin and asking them to bake a cake with it while doing a hand-stand.

Of course there is always the argument that there are loads of web developers out there fluent in all sorts of languages that are happy to help those unfortunate that trusted in NextGEN.

But I think that for the sake of their repuration Photocrati should take the 2.0 out of business for a while.

behadel
(@behadel)

10 years, 8 months ago

BUMP

Oh yes @photocrati. Please do it the surocharg-way and provide us with 1.9.13 automatically via admin update.

Thread Starter surocharg
(@surocharg)

10 years, 8 months ago

Thanks @behadel

It looks like Photocrati has decided not go down this road. (Open letter here).

They think they can solve the problem quickly enough.

It’s their decision but I am thinking that what this upgrade has thought a lot of users is that you should never trust an upgrade. It is always better to stick to your old version that is working and not mess with new versions that might crash your entire website and leave you at the mercy of skilled friends that can help you restore your website. And everyone that speaks about the importance of always upgrade to the latest version of WordPress in the interest of safety will meet a few more deaf ears after this.

photoMaldives
(@photomaldives)

10 years, 8 months ago

Yes – I also think this would be the best move. Many people will be jumping ship now, and finding different plugins to manage their images (especially those users with only a few images and slideshows).

What photocrati could do is bump the version number of 1.x to 3.x – thereby enabling the WP auto-update to the working version for all users.

Then 2.x can remain in the dev channel for 6 months till it’s thoroughly tested, or even better it can get forked out to a completely new plugin “NextGEN-Plus” (along with the “NextGEN-Plus-PRO”) to run alongside.

J
(@jeroen1973)

10 years, 8 months ago

It is very unfortunate for people that they had so much trouble with this update. But like you said surocharg, lets hope that people will learn from this.

A few tips from someone who is speaking from experience:
1. First, make it a habit to do a back-up of your site before you update or install any plugins or update WordPress itself.
2. Test to make sure that you can restore your website with the back-up.
3. Create a test site on the server where your main site is. If there are updates, update your test site first and see if everything seems to be working like it should. Only then do you update your main website (after making a back-up).
4. Don’t use auto updaters!
5. Since this process takes time, decide if you really need to update (right away). Don’t just update because there is an update with new functions you won’t use.

Hope this helps.
Jeroen

Thread Starter surocharg
(@surocharg)

10 years, 8 months ago

@photomaldives – that’s a good idea.

Another idea from @MagnaCuda (hope I spellt it correctly) is that the version presently called NGG 1.9.13 is renamed NGG Classic and listed as a new plugin in the WordPress directory. His/her suggestion is here. That way users who don’t know what FTP is can roll-back easily.

Both alternative would be useful for a certain category of users I am sure. And happy users would be be more likely to stay with the solution they’ve got and then perhaps upgrade to the PRO version when it is ready.

Thanks @jeroen for your suggestion.

Plugin Contributor photocrati
(@photocrati)

10 years, 8 months ago

@surocharg: There are some major technical concerns with rolling most users back to 1.9.x, and some equally significant concerns around making an alternative version available. We’ve considered both. Right now, we think our time is going to be better spent just pushing hard to solve problems. I comment a bit on this here:

http://www.nextgen-gallery.com/open-letter-to-the-nextgen-community-from-erick-danzer/

For surocharg and others here, one thing I’d ask is that if you have issues significant enough to roll back, and you’re not comfortable with FTP, can you submit a bug report with the details for the issues you are having? I’d rather solve them if they’re serious. If so, say Erick asked for credentials and linkk to this or any other thread in the forum if you’ve already reported the issue here:

http://www.nextgen-gallery.com/report-bug/

Plugin Contributor photocrati
(@photocrati)

10 years, 8 months ago

Hey all – one other thought. If you really are having serious problems, and you’re not comfortable with FTP, if you send a bug report with your FTP credentials and ask me to do so, I’ll personally handle rolling you back myself. Just say “Erick said he’d help me roll back to 1.9.13, so please forward this to him.”

Again, just submit details here if you’d like me to do that:
http://www.nextgen-gallery.com/report-bug/

Thanks,
Erick

Thread Starter surocharg
(@surocharg)

10 years, 8 months ago

Thanks @photocrati/Erick for that very genorous offer!

I wish you a lot of success with the work and keep my fingers crossed that the new release on Monday will do the trick.