newbie upgrade questions

I finally have my store ready to go on 1.3.0 something...
what issues can I expect with upgrading?
is it essential to upgrade?

of course there is backup, but is there anyway to minimise errors etc when upgrading?

any advice or pointers to old advice is appreciated

thanks

If you are using a base version of Zen Cart, have only edited template files and are using the over-ride system properly, then upgrading 1.3.0.x to 1.3.6 is pretty straightforward.

If you are using add-on modules, then it will depend on their compatibility with 1.3.6. Most modules designed to work with 1.3.0.x will also work with 1.3.6, but may reintroduce security vulnerabilities fixed in 1.3.5 and 1.3.6. However, there are often later versions in the downloads section.

If you have changed core code yourself then you would need to reapply the changes to the current version of the code and tools like WinMerge can make this relatively painless providing you have reasonable documentation or can remember why you made the changes.

In all events, moving from 1.3.0.x to 1.3.6 is much easier than moving from 1.2 series Zen Cart to 1.3 series.

thanks, probably better I give it a go before I launch my store

is there anyway I can easily revert to the old system if it all goes astray?
would I just reload my backed up version?