I recently migrated all of my sites to a new web host, which meant downloading all my files and databases from my old web host and uploading them to my new host. It’s not exactly that simple, because my new host does some things radically different than my old host, but it’s close to that simple. …read more…
Life with Ubuntu, part 1
For reasons that are too complicated to get into here, I have recently upgraded an old laptop to Ubuntu 14.04. It is fun, exciting, and just a little bit scary. This series of posts will document my adventure with Ubuntu, both to encourage others to take the leap, and to track my learning curve. This experiment is …read more…
Install WordPress Plugins from a Zip File
I often work with people who are completely new to WordPress, or to using a CMS in general. As a result, I’ve decided to put together a series of short video tutorials covering some of the more basic aspects of WordPress. Today, we learn how to install plugins from a zip file. If there is …read more…
Install WordPress Plugins from the Dashboard
I often work with people who are completely new to WordPress, or to using a CMS in general. As a result, I’ve decided to put together a series of short video tutorials covering some of the more basic aspects of WordPress. Today, we learn how to install plugins. Next time: installing plugins via a .zip …read more…
Creating Responsive Forms — An Introduction to Mobile Design
People are increasingly accessing the web on a mobile device. In fact, now that Google has begun using mobile-friendliness to rank sites, it’s more important than ever to add mobile stylesheets to websites you design. Because the desktop websites are more complex than mobile websites, it makes sense to design for mobile first, and then design …read more…
Make WordPress Post Formats All They Can Be
There is a movement afoot to remove post formats from the WordPress core. As Morten Rand-Hendriksen writes in this Trac ticket, it appears the feature has largely been left to pasture and implementation across themes is at best spotty and inconsistent. In other words, because so few themes use them, we should get ride of them. …read more…
WordPress Settings API Cheat Sheet
It took me longer than it should have to figure out the WordPress Settings API, largely because there are certain parameter names that must match if things are to work properly. However, after making good use of the Google and studying the WordPress Codex extensively, I finally figured it out. Two really helpful tutorials were: …read more…
DreamObjects Backups
I’ve been with a number of hosts over the years, but I have been with DreamHost the longest. They recently rolled out DreamObjects, which is their version of cloud-based storage. I tried it out (the price was right), but really couldn’t see myself using it, until I discovered the DreamObjects Backup plugin by Ipstenu. In …read more…
Useful WordPress Plugins
One of the great things about WordPress is that it is so easily extensible my means of plugins. Need to add a contact form, but don’t know how to code one? Grab a contact form plugin. Need to add some advertising to your site, but your theme doesn’t offer that option? Grab a plugin. In …read more…
