Visual Editor

Will changing themes fix the stuff that the last update broke?

No idea at all. 😉

If it’s your current theme that’s causing your issues then probably. You can always temporarily switch to the Twenty Eleven theme and test. You won’t lose anything by trying and you can always switch back.

Visual Editor issues are often related to javascript and that’s something you may be able to get to the bottom of yourself.

Start with the easy stuff:

1. Deactivate all of your plugins. Really, everyone of them.
2. Switch to the Twenty Eleven theme. Someday, probably soon, I’ll tell people Twenty Twelve but for now use Twenty Eleven.
3. Clear your browsers cookies and cache. This is an important step because javascript files can be cached on your browser.
4. Re-login to your WordPress installation.
5. Create a new post and see if the Visual Editor works or not.

If it does work then (and this may be lengthy) leave the theme at Twenty Eleven and re-activate 1 plugin. Clear the cache and cookies and test again.

Rinse, wash, repeat until the problem comes back. Switch the theme back last.

That will tell you if it’s a plugin or your theme that’s causing you visual editor grief.

If that doesn’t work (don’t leave out any steps) then give the 3.5 Master List a read and see of any of that applies to your installation.

http://wordpress.org/support/topic/troubleshooting-wordpress-35-master-list?replies=4

Let us know one way or the other. There are things you can try that don’t really require you to be too geeky. 😉

if you have a good file backup AND a good database back up both from before the site went wrong, and you are able to restore both correctly, then YES you should get your old WordPress back.

Crap. They’re database backups. JUST database backups.

No no, that’s good if they’re complete copies of the database. That’s the part that people usually don’t backup. You can always get the WordPress files from the archive page.

http://wordpress.org/download/release-archive/

But be careful and make sure you have a full file and database backup of your installation as it is right now. If you mess up the restore you’ll really want that safety net.

http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Backups
http://codex.wordpress.org/Backing_Up_Your_Database
http://codex.wordpress.org/Restoring_Your_Database_From_Backup

So I could just take it all down and start over with 3.5?

Normally I would say no to that as that’s kind of a Nuclear Option…

The site is quite small. I can easily start over.

if you’re OK with that and want to do that then sure, full speed ahead! But try this out in case you get buyer’s remorse. Do this when you’re ready to.

– Make a copy of your current wp-config.php file for safe keeping.

– Using notepad or any other plain text editor edit wp-config.php and look for the line that says

$table_prefix  = 'wp_';

Change that to

$table_prefix  = 'wp2_';

Now visit your WordPress URL. You should get sent to the Installation page and you can start over that way.

If you change your mind later on then just restore that wp-config.php and you’ll be back where you were before.

What this trick does is creates new tables for your WordPress installation as if it were a brand new setup. And being able to go back like that isn’t a bad option in case you change your mind.