KeyLock

TL;DR (You can skip this and go directly to the bottom)

——
security patch is always first priority.

Until I realized
No matter how long, how much revision made over and over everything will never be perfect.

however, every new upgrade most likely old themes/plug-ins & such won’t work in new version, this is the most problematic & dilemma for everyone, specially for general user that didn’t know basic at all.
these what I do every upgrade (and probably anyone else who use WP for their site)
– Test new version with Theme/Plugins
– if everything screw up, check on theme/plugins provider
– if there’s update, test it again, if they don’t provide anything (project stop/delay/or provider didn’t bother at all) then check on alternatives.
– worst case if there’s no alternatives, change everything.
Result: Whole new design/concept

Some developers I know are quit update their themes/plugins for WP already because they can’t update frequently.

For big sites which use WP as a core, some of them didn’t even bother to upgrade at all since everything is custom, instead they only patch/fix security hole. (Okay this might not entirely true, just happen to few site that my friend manage since he is a web developer)

Back in the past, when blogging is still “new” and “booming”, people often ask me for advice, and I recommend them to use WP, but most people use it give up after 1 year, the longest is 2 years. Most reason why they close their account is because they can’t maintain it. Sure there’s auto-update in most Control Panel, but it’s for engine only, not make-up’s. So now, if anyone still ask advice for blogging I just recommend them using WordPress.com and redirect their domain to their blog on WordPress.com

End Rants
Sorry for long story =)
——-

For Localhost testing, personally I use Xampp, because I’m working under windows OS and it can be use for any other apps Php/Sql apps, btw it also had Mac OS and Linux version.

Cheers.

lot’s of people doing same mistake over and over.
like fixing something isn’t broken, or try to “tweak” but getting worse result after tweaking, in your case upgrading but haven’t tested yet.

WordPress did upgrade mainly for blogging, if you use it just to serve a text/graphic, why bother upgrading.

some advice.
1. Make sure, ask your self. Does this website really need upgrade?
2. if yes, what feature/bug fix make it so important to update for you case?, if no case is closed.
3. If you really need to upgrade it, test it on your personal blog or just like anyone else do, make your own localhost web sample to test version of wordpress and testing any other add-on/plugin.

this question was always comes in my mind back in the past everytime wp releasing new version, the only reason I have to upgrade was because I was forced by my host due security reason.

Cheers