How to Install WordPress Alpha, Beta and Nightly Build.

Word­Press is the most used con­tent manage­ment sys­tem world­wi­de. Tha­t’s the reason why it is con­stant­ly updated. New func­tions are made available in a beta ver­si­on for web­mas­ters and deve­lo­pers.

With the beta ver­si­on, Word­Press enables deve­lo­pers to check their the­mes and plug­ins for com­pa­ti­bi­li­ty and, if neces­sa­ry, to pro­vi­de an update.

How do you install the beta version of WordPress? #

The beta ver­si­on can be down­loa­ded as a plug­in via the Word­Press Plug­in Mana­ger. So it is very easy and does not requi­re any pro­gramming know­ledge.

Step 1: Log into the Word­Press dash­board of your web­site.

Step 2: Switch to Plug­ins > Install.

Step 3: Search for: Word­Press Beta.

Step 4: Click on: Install now.

Step 5: Click on: Acti­va­te.

The Word­Press beta tes­ter plug­in is now instal­led and acti­va­ted. In the next step, we will learn how to con­fi­gu­re the plug­in.

How to configure the WordPress Beta Tester plugin. #

Via the Set­tings Tools> Beta Test­ing you can spe­ci­fy which updates you would like to recei­ve. You can dif­fe­ren­tia­te bet­ween lar­ger and smal­ler ver­si­ons.

Smal­ler ver­si­ons (minor ver­si­on updates) usual­ly run sta­ble, sin­ce no big­ger new func­tions are added here and no obso­le­te func­tions are remo­ved.

Major ver­si­on updates, on the other hand, are the lar­ger jumps in which some­thing chan­ges in the core of Word­Press or new and big­ger func­tions are added.

The fol­lo­wing steps will help you defi­ne the set­tings of your choice:

Step 1: Switch to: Tools > Beta Test­ing.

Step 2: Sel­ect your pre­fer­red update build.

• Point Release Updates
  Recom­men­ded for more sta­ble updates. The­re may still be errors here, but most of them should be fixed so that the chan­ce of your Word­Press web­site beco­ming unsta­ble is mini­mal.
  
• Blee­ding edge Updates
  Recom­men­ded for deve­lo­pers only. Updates can con­tain errors that affect your Word­Press web­site / Woo­Com­mer­ce shop or Word­Press appli­ca­ti­on.

Step 3: Click on: Save chan­ges.

Once you have cho­sen your desi­red set­tings, all you have to do is save your set­tings.

Let’s go to the final step. Update your Word­Press ver­si­on to the sel­ec­ted build.

How to update WordPress #

Fol­low the­se steps to update your Word­Press ver­si­on to the sel­ec­ted beta build.

Step 1: Switch to Dash­board > Updates.

Step 2: Click on: Update now.

Tha­t’s it. After the instal­la­ti­on, you should be on the defi­ned Word­Press beta build.

Do you need help pre­pa­ring your web­site or online shop for the latest Word­Press ver­si­on? Then do not hesi­ta­te to cont­act us. As a Word­Press agen­cy we are spe­cia­li­zed on Word­Press, Woo­Com­mer­ce and Web deve­lo­p­ment.

Summary #

The instal­la­ti­on and update to the latest Word­Press beta ver­si­on is quick and easy. With only a few clicks, you can choo­se bet­ween major and minor updates.

Despi­te ever­y­thing, you should never use the beta ver­si­on for live ope­ra­ti­on. It may con­tain errors, and the­re may be incom­pa­ti­bi­li­ties bet­ween the plug­ins, the the­me and the Word­Press beta ver­si­on.

But if you alre­a­dy want to test the new Word­Press func­tions on a sta­ging or deve­lo­p­ment envi­ron­ment, this is the way how to do it.

I hope you enjoy­ed the litt­le tuto­ri­al about how to install the Word­Press beta build. If you have any ques­ti­ons, plea­se feel free to lea­ve a com­ment.