Archive for the ‘WordPress Blogging’ Category
Security Plugins for WordPress
Thursday, June 23rd, 2011
In this day and age of the Internet, technology, and everything in between, more people are going online for a variety of reasons. Many will have their own websites or blogs, sharing thoughts, ideas, and abilities with the world at large. WordPress is one of the most popular places to not only host blogs, but that of websites as well.
WordPress itself started as a tool for those up and coming bloggers and has since not only become the most popular place for blogs, but has a decent interface for those that are looking to get a website started as well.
Just as computer users need to be vigilant in regards to keeping their files and documents safe from spam and viruses, administrators of their blogs and websites need to keep out spammers and those who would want to bring down their talents and hard work.
Most bloggers and web admins will no doubt be loading their content from their computers, so of course it is important to keep your computer safe. But what about your WordPress blog or website? Is there any way to keep that safe from the villains of the web?
The answer is yes and in most cases, WordPress will provide the plugins that are needed to make sure that your blog or website is protected. Here are some ways to protect your site.
Akismet - Akismet is probably one of the best plugins that is offered for anyone online. A spam blocker, for those using WordPress, Akismet is a free add on that will scan all of your comments to see if they are spam. While some mistakes can happen, Akismet has a high probability that it will correctly detect a spam message.
WP-Spam Free – an alternative to Akismet, this plugin basically does the same thing, filtering comments to discover which are real and which is spam. However, unlike Akismet – which still needs the blogger to state if something flagged for spam is indeed spam – Spam Free works in the background without having users go through captchas or questions to make comments.
Challenge - Challenge is another anti-spam plugin that requires a commenter a question that is needs to answer in order to get their comment to post. This might be a hassle for some readers, but depending on the question (which you can choose), readers won’t mind answering something quickly. It does of course keep out automated spam that may come in.
Did You Pass Math? – another plugin that requires legitimate commenters to solve a math problem. As with Challenge, the admin is able to choose the math question, as well as the difficulty level, in order to keep out spam bots.
These are just four of the free plugins that you can add in to your WordPress blog or website that will help keep out spammers. Depending on the size of your WP site, you may need to use only one or a combination of plugins, to ensure that you aren’t spending your time differentiating between spam comments and real comments.
I hope that with these tips your blog or website will be sufficiently protected. For further questions and suggestions don’t hesitate to contact me.
Margaret Saunders
About the Author: Margaret Saunders is a webhosting consultant for IXwebhosting – a Web Hosting company based in Ohio.
8 Great WordPress Plugins
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011
When WordPress came out, it changed my life, and not only because it was a lot easier than managing static pages, once you get to learn it, you’re going to realize that there are so many things that you can do in terms of customization and more. (more…)
Customizing the Theme for the WordPress Administration Area
Friday, December 24th, 2010
Though WordPress has made a name for itself as being one of the most user-friendly and powerful blogging platforms/CMSs available, it’s admin interface can leave a great deal to be desired.
Dull, gray and not always the easiest to use, WordPress’ interface has its fans, but more than its share of detractors.
Display More Than 15 Posts with WordPress Recent Posts Widget
Monday, December 13th, 2010
The recent posts widget that comes default with every installation of WordPress allows you to display the hyper-linked titles of the most recent posts from a widget. Although (in widget configuration), you can set any number of posts to display, only a maximum of 15 posts can be displayed.
This can be a real pain for WordPress users who want to use the recent posts widget to display links to all of their posts in a widgetized area.
To eliminate the cap on posts to display, you’ll need to remove two lines of code in default-widgets.php, contained in the wp-includes folder.
At lines 542 and 543, simply remove:
else >if ( $number > 15 ) $number = 15;
If you don’t have code editing software that displays line numbers, simply search for ’15′ in default-widgets.php to find the above lines of code.
Once that’s done, you’ll be able to set the recent posts widget to display any number of posts.
Removing Gravatars/Avatars in WordPress 2.7+ Themes
Monday, July 19th, 2010
In WordPress 2.7, the wp_list_comments function was introduced, putting all of the elements of comments in one easy function. The new function comes with an imitation of the old get_avatar function built-in.
So how do you remove the avatars without removing the wp_list_comments function, which is much needed for outputting all of the other elements of the comment section?
The answer is to use CSS to hide the avatar. Place the following code into style.css:
.avatar { display:none; }
Hat tip: rhysboy84 from Sitepoint.
WordPress Custom Post Taxonomies
Thursday, June 24th, 2010
Custom post taxonomies in WordPress are little different from post tags and categories. To borrow the words found in a reply to an inquiry email I sent to WordPress lead developer Mark Jaquith, “taxonomies are used to tie groups of posts (or any content type) together, and come with a URL structure to access them.”
Installing Custom Taxonomies in WordPress Themes
Saturday, June 19th, 2010
This guide is meant for individuals who want to learn what custom taxonomies are in WordPress, how to install them and how to display them in WordPress themes. You do not need to be familiar with the WordPress core coding or know the nitty-gritties of PHP programming to understand this guide.
(more…)
WordPress 3.0 Released: Merge with MU, Custom Post Types, Custom Menus and More
Friday, June 18th, 2010
What some once considered to be a leading open-source CMS and blogging platform that exchanged flexibility for a more difficult learning curve, has transformed over the years into the very essence of user-friendly web publishing.
After two beta releases and a release candidate (called RC1), the WordPress development team released WordPress 3.0 (dubbed “Thelonious” after the American jazz musician) jam-packed with enough nifty features to make any web socialite spin in his swivel chair in utter delight, right round like a record baby, right round round round.
Writing Image Paths in WordPress Themes the Right Way
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
WordPress themes with hard-coded image paths are nightmares in the making. If the location of the theme files are moved or if any of the folder names are changed, the theme will no longer work. That is why the WordPress development team took the time to create a very useful function that finds the location of theme files.
Installing the Facebook Like Button on a WordPress Blog
Saturday, June 12th, 2010
If you are a WordPress Blogger, you probably have an immediate need to install the new Facebook Like button on your blog. With the Facebook Like Button, readers can like a web page and a link to the page will appear on their Facebook profile.
A WordPress Plugin That Will Solve All Your Liking Needs
The Facebook Like for Marketers plugin allows you to place a like button at the bottom of every post and much more. With the plugin, you can:
- Add the like button the the bottom of your posts
- Change the height and width of the area which your like button will take up
- Choose whether to show the profile pictures of people who have liked the post
- Choose between two layouts (standard or button count)
- Choose whether to display “like” or “recommend”
- Choose a light, dark or “evil” color scheme
- Choose the title, site name and thumbnail to display on Facebook within the post editor.
WordPress Threaded Comments – How to Install Them on Your Theme [A Guide for Dummies]
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010
So you’ve got an archaic WordPress theme and you would like to install threaded comments on it?
You’ve come to the right place.
Here’s what you will need to complete this guide:
- Absolutely no knowledge of HTML/CSS or PHP
- An IQ over 55 (borderline retarded)
- A computer and an old WordPress theme that needs comments threaded
Let’s get started.
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MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate for WordPress Review
Monday, June 7th, 2010
If you have any hopes of earning money from affiliate products, MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate is one high-priced plugin that you must have.
The program automatically replaces words and phrases on your blog with affiliate links, allowing you to earn a commission every time someone purchases a product through those links. For example, I set the key phrase “ninja affiliate” to link to the official product sales page. Should you purchase the product through my link, I would earn a commission on the $97 purchase price. I have a maximum of 3 linkable key phrases set, so not every occurrence of the “ninja affiliate” keyphrase will be automatically linked in this post.
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