I installed 3.5.1 on a site where 3.4.6 had been running. I had one new widget area. I didn't notice at first, but the new widget area was lost in the process. I had to put it in the Above the Loop area of the center column, visit the front page, and then it showed up in the New Widget Area creation section, as well as in Appearance/Widgets. The text widget inside it was also there at that point.

Odd, I can't recreate this

I've tested this again. Using 3.4.6, I create a new widget area in the center column with a text widget. It's fine. Then I switch to 3.5.1, and the new widget area is gone. The widget itself no longer appears in the widgets list in dashboard. If you'd like to troubleshoot, I'll PM you the login info.

please send me the login info in a PM, I just tried again and can not cause it, the widget area works fine. Did you go back to 3.4.6 and then get into phpMyAdmin and delete teh bfa_ata4.. record so it is fresh when you switch to 3.5.1?

The reason you lost the new widget area is that after upgrading, you must have imported one of the new styles.

When you use the import styles, it wipes out all the previous options. Since the new widget areas is an option you put in The LOOP, it got wiped out.

I deleted th bfa_ata4 record so it would rebuild it from the 3.4.6 settings and the widget area is now back.

So for a site with a lot of new widget areas, what would be the proper way to upgrade from 3.4.6 to 3.5.1 so as not to lose the widget areas? Let's assume I'd want to import the rounded style. Perhaps a step-by-step 'best practices' would be helpful to me and others.

So, I have a site running Atahualpa 3.4.6, with many new widget areas containing several kinds of widgets, most of them added to the center column/Loop area of the Atahulapa theme options.

I want to upgrade to Atahualpa 3.5.1, use the rounded style, and preserve those new widget areas. How do I go about this, step by step? (Also assume I'll be running Wordpress 3.0, either now or soon.)

You're on, Juggledad!