While you can use these instructions without using WPEngine, you’ll need to make sure you have a backup of your site before proceeding.
Learning Center
Why Twitter share is not working with your test server website links
Was trying to wrap my head around why the twitter share URL was not working on the test server, as it would say the tweet is too long even though the url should be shortened by Twitter automatically. It seemed I had to use wp_get_shortlink() or a bit.ly link rather than the full URL. Turns out it… Read more »
WordPress plugins now show active installs instead of downloads
I didn’t see anything come through on make.wordpress.org but now “Active Installs” is shown for plugins in the wordpress.org repository instead of downloads: I initially thought this was just because I was logged in but it’s now the default. You can still see number of downloads by hopping over to the Stats page: I think… Read more »
How does the WPEngine GeoIP service work?
Today WPEngine launched their new GeoIP service, and I was excited to check it out. After doing a presentation on handling Geolocation in WordPress I know it can be a difficult problem to solve at scale, especially with any kind of caching. The way it works is by having a plugin installed that gives you functions to grab… Read more »
Just because WordPress still supports PHP 5.2 doesn’t mean you have to
WordPress still has a minimum PHP 5.2 requirement, which has many known security issues and reached end-of-life back in 2011. 4 years ago. A lot has changed in PHP and software development in general since then, and while WordPress should perhaps be taking more of a leadership role to push for change, it doesn’t mean we… Read more »
How to change the WordPress permalink structure to remove dates from the URL
If the content you write isn’t date specific (ie. news), it’s a good idea to remove the date from the URL of your WordPress site. This is also good if, like me, you don’t blog on a super regular basis and don’t want people to know the awesome content you wrote is actually a few months… Read more »
How to fix slow sendmail on a Digital Ocean Ubuntu droplet
I recently switched over to Digital Ocean for my main server thanks to Bryan Poetz‘s suggestion, and was running into an issue where mail was sending but slowly. Turns out there were two problems. First, I had named the droplet “main” (since it was, you know, the main server), but this really should be a… Read more »
Introduction to Backbone.js
I recently spoke again at WordCamp Buffalo. I saw a lot of great talks and met some passionate WordPress designers, developers and users I normally wouldn’t have! The talk was an Introduction to Backbone.js and the slides are available here along with an example plugin you can use to get started. TweetShareShare
How to Protect Yourself When Having Custom Software Developed
I was recently brought in to assess a site that was developed. Though it was supposed to have been custom written to fit the needs of the business, it turns out the local company simply purchased a pre-written (originally from 2004) piece of software but tried to pass it off as custom developed by changing… Read more »
HackerNest Construct Hackathon
The HackerNest Construct Hackathon took place a couple weeks back, and myself, Garth Gutenberg, Connie Leung and Tom Pepper competed as Team ISIS. The whole event was super well organized, and we got a chance to play with the soon to be released Kiwi Move. Our idea was to create a cookie aid app where with… Read more »