I was recently upgrading my blogs (including adding the WordPress install code I talked about in the May ’08 ActiveBlogging Report), and I found a couple sites with old – very old – versions of ABTheme on them.

In updating those sites, I found myself grateful I had standardized the theme over the last couple of years, which made upgrading from even year-old plugins very easy. Many of the settings carried through, and for some of the sites I could just drop in the new plugin and theme and be ready to go.

This does remind me however that there are different versions out there – so if you’re wondering about the various ABTheme incarnations, here’s a short guide:

• Version 4.06 The current version, it comes in two flavors – free and paid. The paid version involves using an unlock license you purchase to unlock all features permanently for a specific blog. The free version (which is simply the paid version without an unlock key used) has fewer options available, but includes the design tools and some other settings (like being able to add advertising). You can get the ABTheme theme for WordPress on this website.

  To further muddy the waters, ActiveBlogging members currently get credits each month, redeemable for ABTheme license keys – while this may change in the future, currently it means members get to unlock one blog per month at the Platinum level (details are here).

• Version 4.05 As I’ve already mentioned to members, this version is the last to use the online monitoring (the plugin checked in with ActiveBlogging.com periodically, and verified the member was still active). I decided to go the key-only route to simplify management – rather than handling both online keys and paid keys, now everyone can use the same ones. Since the online monitoring is being phased out, I recommend upgrading to 4.06 ASAP.
• Version 3.04 More limited, this is the last ‘unlocked’ version available (later versions use Ioncube to protect the Intellectual Property). You can get this version by buying my Report “Top 10 Tricks To Conquer Your Niche With WordPress‘ (just from this site however – while other sites do carry the report, they are actually selling the original 2005 edition which does not include this plugin). The plugin has pluses and minuses: while it has fewer features, is is possible to place it on all your blogs, saving money if you have a number of sites.
• ‘Top10Tricks’, ‘v1.00′, ‘Utopia3′, ‘ActiveBlogging’, etc. Various names for much earlier versions of this plugin, they are NOT compatible with later versions (although parts of them, such as the ad display system, usually are). If you’re using one of these, I recommend deactivating it, and using the 4.06 or 3.04 versions – you’ll see a huge difference in the capabilities.

As I went along with my installs, I was pleased to see how easily I could upgrade. It’s my goal to make the plugin as simple to work with as possible, while adding more and more features. So if you haven’t tried it yet, I recommend you give the free version of ABTheme a spin, and see if it doesn’t add to your ease of use with WordPress.