Hello!
No worries, I will answer your questions here.
First, when updating from a very outdated version of an extensions, chances are that that extension improved over the years, and you may run into some backward incompatibilities.
So, I am not surprised you ran into issues.
A wonderful place to know what you may encounter is the 'updating older versions' for each extension. For Latest News Enhanced (LNE), you can find it here :
simplifyyourweb.com/documentation/latest...ating-older-versions.
And ideally, you would update an outdated version of any extension on a test site if possible.
Now, for not seeing the changes on the public side of the site: you are certainly running into cache issues. Caching has improved in LNE to ensure the pages load as fast as possible.
This exhaustive article will help you troubleshoot it:
simplifyyourweb.com/documentation/tutori...-no-matter-what-i-do.
Furthermore, if you look closely and check the documentation, you will notice the CSS overrides now take place in the 'theming' tab (an area where it makes more sense to find that setting).
simplifyyourweb.com/documentation/latest...t-of-options/theming
Finally, links take the look of the template links on purpose. It makes for a more consistent overall look. You can change the link color (and hover) in the 'theming' tab, once again.
You will find it under the section 'Themes overrides'.
I think that should cover it! Of course, get back to me if you run into more issues!