Jim,

Tell me about this auto saving feature of wordpress . I don’t have that wordpress back up plug in turned on. When I download a back up through my wenhost the size of the file containg my whole website is getting really large 15mb. I don’t see autosaving on this site (wordpress 2.5)

I’ve noticed autosaving, which I hate, on a site I have that has the most recent version of wordpress (2.7). How can I turn it off.

Thanks Jim,

Roger

Jim,
If I have the IP address of my connection to my ISP excluded from awstats, when I make changes to my wordpress site through wordpress, do you think the contacts made between wordpress editing and my site show up on awstats?

Roger

Jim,
A programmer installed supercache on my site and it didn’t make it any faster and I worried about the extra 2 .htaccess files it put on my site conflicting with my original .htacces file. I looked inside the files and found this code

# BEGIN supercache
<IfModule mod_mime.c>
AddEncoding gzip .gz
AddType text/html .gz
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_deflate.c>
SetEnvIfNoCase Request_URI .gz$ no-gzip
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_headers.c>
Header set Cache-Control ‘max-age=300, must-revalidate’
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_expires.c>
ExpiresActive On
ExpiresByType text/html A300
</IfModule>
# END supercache

It may look like gibberish to some but it’s not to hard to pick out the functions the file is calling for

mod_mime
gzip
mod_deflate
mod_header
mod_expires

If your webhost doesn’t have these functions enabled on their server, supercache isn’t going to do anything at all. I know for a fact that my webhost doesn’t have two of them enabled – gzip amd mod_deflate because they serve hundreds of thousands of accounts and these functions cause unnecessary strain on their servers. They recommend using wp-cache, although for visitors I have no idea what the wp-cache .htaccess file looks like, including the .htaccess file for the newer wp-cache called wp-cache2.

Roger

Jim,
In the comments.php file is a line
<?php echo get_avatar( $comment, 32 ); ?>

It creates or fetches this
gravatar.com/avatar/ ea8e8362504da45acddad5538552db1f ?s=32&d=http%3A%2F %2Fwww.gravatar.com %2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435 acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D32&r=G

(a faceless avatar)

which was revealed with this site

ircache.net/cgi-bin/cacheability.py? query=http%3A%2F%2Fwww. actualcures .com&descend=on

The site shows that the link won’t validate and causes server errors. ahoo’s YSlow also showed an error. But if you put the link in the address bar by hand, the avatar comes up fine. I really don’t care for the avatar so I took the php code out, and now I don’t get the error. There’s an option in wordpress settings to use or not use the avatar and if you choose to use it the php code I took out reappears. Do you have any experience with this?

Roger

Jim,
I was using weblink validator relsoftware.com/wlv/downloads/ to find errors on my site and came up with this:

" Broken links sorted by page

Page #1:mysite.com/xmlrpc.php?rsd

1. Link: mysite.com/wp-app.php/service
Error: 500 Internal Server Error
Comment: Line: 11 "

when I go to mysite.com/xmlrpc.php?rsd

I get a web page that looks like this:

" This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below.

−
<rsd version="1.0">
−
<service>
<engineName>WordPress</engineName>
<engineLink>wordpress.org/</engineLink>
<homePageLink>mysite.com</homePageLink>
−
<apis>
<api name="WordPress" blogID="1" preferred="true" apiLink="mysite.com/xmlrpc.php"/>
<api name="Movable Type" blogID="1" preferred="false" apiLink="mysite.com/xmlrpc.php"/>
<api name="MetaWeblog" blogID="1" preferred="false" apiLink="mysite.com/xmlrpc.php"/>
<api name="Blogger" blogID="1" preferred="false" apiLink="mysite.com/xmlrpc.php"/>
<api name="Atom" blogID="" preferred="false" apiLink="mysite.com/wp-app.php/service"/>
</apis>
</service>
</rsd> "

When I go to
mysite.com/wp-app.php/service
I get a webpage that says
"401 Unauthorized

Credentials required."

What’s wrong, why all these errors?

Thanks,

Roger

Jim,

In my HTAccess file I have

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>

If I wanted an expires header to get people’s browsers to cash my images (located at mysite.com/myimages), can I just add these two lines (for apache 2.2) anywhere between the open and close ifModule lines;

ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 2 years"
ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access plus 2 years" ?

Thank Jim,

Roger

Jim,

I was looking inside the database for my site by using the table function my webhost has for customers. I went in and cleared out the comments just for fun (becuase they were all spam comments) but what are these other rows in the table
wp-links
wp-options
wp=postmeta (looks like storage for the code I have in sidebar right and left)
wp-posts (never did undertand the difference between a page and a post)
wp-terms
wp-terms-relationships
wp-term-taxonomy (?!)
wp-usermeta
wp-users

Thanks,

Roger

Jim,
I have a wordpress site but my programmer set it up for me. What are the steps for using my theme again for a different site.

Roger

Jim,

‘ Been getting this error on Google Webmaster:
Pages with missing title tags
‎/xmlrpc.php

What can I do to fix it? I’ve opened this page to see what it’s for and it says, "XML-RPC server accepts POST requests only."

Roger

I was reading about this antispam plug in
sw-guide.de/wordpress/plugins…am-protection/

but I think it’s overkill – encryption? why? Spam bots can’t think, let alone read and comprehend, and answer what it can’t read and comprehend.

A PHP programmer helped me out with this code

<?php

if (isset ($_POST['submit'])) {
$answer = $_POST['answer'];

if (!empty ($answer)) {
if ($answer == 8) {
// answer IS 8
header (‘location: http ://yoursite.com’);
} else {
// answer is NOT 8
header (‘location: http ://google.com’);
}
} else {
// no answer was given
echo ‘You must enter the Answer!’;
}
} else {
echo ‘<form method="POST" action="bot.php">
<label for="answer">5 plus 3= (Required – protects website from spam bots)</label>
<input type="text" value="" name="answer" id="answer" />
<input name="submit" value="enter answer" type="submit" />
<div class="clearfix"></div>
</form>’;
}

?>

where If "answer" does not = 8 (or some other constant), go to mysite.com or something to throw the bots off course or have it erase the inuputted answer and ready for another answer/try.

If "answer"=8 then go to next line.

I read that spam bots will fill in all fields, but others say spam bots can tell when a quiz question is being asked. Maybe the variable for the quiz question should be "zip code" or something to throw off the bots.

I used 8 for an answer, but 8 should be a string and not an integer in order to ad flexibilty to changing the question, so the the question can be changed to something like – what is the 5th month of the year.

Any thoughts?

Thanks Jim,

Roger

Curious what bed bugs look like? Then check out this site which is designed completely around WordPress.

If you ever plan on staying at a hotel, then you had better take a few minutes and check the room for bed bugs before you stay. It’s a very real and very serious problem that hotels around the world are dealing with!

There is a checklist and pictures that show you what to look for.

The site is also a great example of what can be done using only WordPress. I’ll post more examples as I find them.

Jim,

I was really lost when I started the Step By Step WordPress thread. Now I’m only half as lost.

What operating system do I need to use WordPress.
Wordpress is software that runs on your webhost’s server, not on your computer, so whatever you’ve already been using and is working with your webhost should be fine with WordPress.

How much RAM do I need to use WordPress.
Wordpress is software that runs on your webhost’s server, not on your computer, so whatever you’ve already been using and is working with your webhost should be fine with WordPress.

WordPress is software designed to use your typed text (or copy and pasted text) to create a website or weblog ("blog"). A blog is a type of website where writings (posts) are arranged in chronological order. The advantage of WordPress is that you don’t do any computer programming – if you’re satified with the look of the WordPress theme you decided on. WordPress computer programming is very well written and search engine friendly. (WordPress is one form or category of Content Management System (CMS).)

A WordPress theme is a layout or template or structure of website, such as a theme with three colums. Some themes have many more capabilities (plugins and widgets) than others, and some are designed with SEO (search engine optimization) in mind more so than others. There are many WordPress themes to choose from and are found in many places on the internet.

Jim, why should anyone be interested in WordPress to begin with? What can WordPress do for me?

" To compete, your site has to be dynamic. If it isn’t, you’ll be spending all your time making changes to individual pages, correcting errors, adding content and more. Automate all that and you’ll have time to concentrate on your content. Without good content, forget about having a successful long-term site!

Another benefit are themes, literally thousands of them to chose from and they are all free! For those that get themes from sites other than WordPress, watch out! I just came across a footer file that had obfuscated code that gave the creator full control of the links that appear on your site. This is the second time I’ve found code like this! I’ll show you how to spot and fix these themes later.

Plugins – little add on programs are another major benefit, such as WP-DB-Backup, WP-Cache, Translation tools, adsense formatting tools, seo tools and so much more. These programs with the right WordPress configuration will allow you to stand head to head with the big guys (and most times, beat them).

These are just a few of the reasons why you should use WordPress. There are other CMS packages out there as well, such as Joomla, but my experience is with WordPress. "

WordPress software is likely already on the server of whoever your webhost is. But the WordPress software has to be activated for your webhost account and a wordpress theme installed. You also have to create a database. To get this accomplished, it’s a good idea to search your webhost’s "knowledge base" or call your webhost for help, or find someone who has the same webhost and has a WordPress site up, or even find a teacher to help you.

If you have a website you want to convert to WordPress, before activating WordPress, create a back up of your website (your webhost also likely has a back up feature you can use for this) and create a subdomain named "whatevernameyouchoose" (which means create a folder named "whatevernameyouchoose" where you have or will have the list of files of your webpages that make up your website.

Do all your setting up of your website or blog in "whatevernameyouchoose". When you’re finished setting up, you can move "whatevernameyouchoose" up from a sub domain to a domain in order to make use of the domain name you have.

Changing the colors of your WordPress theme and changing or removing headings in you WordPress theme is more involved.

Jim, this is where I am. You know since you thought that the Anaconda theme I found (http://anaconda.taragana.net/) was pretty good, maybe we could work on changing the colors and text to look more like what I and others are looking for.

Thanks Jim,

Roger

Hi
I recently set up a a wordpress blog and had a lot of people telling me that I should password protect the /wp-admin folder. There is even a plugin called AskApache Passpro that sets up the .htaccess files for you.

The thing is, when a user first logs in after he/she registers they are redirected to the profile page which located at /wp-admin/profile.php and they are presented with the admin login window.

I would have thought that this was a common enough problem, since everyone suggests to protect this folder but my 2 wordpress support forum posts (bumped three times so that could be called 6), my email to the AskApache guy and googling and reading readme’s and blogs has turned up nothing.
Nada.
Nary an typed syllable.

I wonder has anyone had this problem? It has to be common – I am only using the software with default settings etcetera.

Ed

If you need to search and replace text in your wordpress blog, such as all comments, there are two ways to do this, the manual way or using a plugin.

BEFORE you do anything, back up your database just to play it safe

For those of you doing it manually, you’ll need phpmyadmin. If your webhost doesn’t have this free administration tool for mySQL, then you’ll need to download it from http://www.phpmyadmin.net/home_page/index.php

Upload the phpmyadmin directory to your website.

Locate the file config.sample.inc.php and rename it to config.inc.php, then visit yourwebsite/phpmyadmin

Click on the sql tab and enter the following:

UPDATE wp_comments SET comment_content = REPLACE (
comment_content,
‘badword’,
‘goodword’);

Substitute the bad word or term for badword and the good word or term for goodword.

Then click ‘Go’ and you should see the number of rows changed.

That’s it for manual instructions.

To do it the easy way, simply visit wordpress and download the search and replace plugin. Once the plugin is installed, searching and replacing text is a snap!

Jim,

I’m going to document my every move in getting my regular html site onto WordPress. When I’m done I’ll write the steps in as simple a matter as I can, and if you want to, use it on your site so people can ask you more particular questions instead of "step" questions. If it doesn’t drive you crazy, please answer the questions in any order you like but number your answers incoordination with my questions. Here goes….

Considering there’s stuff you have to download for the making my regualr website into a WordPress website

1) Can I do this transition to wordpress using Windows ME? I know it’s old but I just don’t have any problems with it, and I haven’t had any time to work with my new computer with XP Pro. (Forget Vista)

2) Are there any well known operating systems that would be difficult to use for this transition?

3) How much RAM do you think I need?

3) What should I make sure my Webhost has in place before I start this transition?

4) What do you think of this question to ask my webhost – Is there anything I should know before I transfer my site to wordpress?

Thanks a bunch Jim,

Roger

I do a lot of work with WordPress and consider it one of the very best content management systems on the net. It really is the way to start a new site and this forum is dedicated to helping you get wordpress up and running.

There’s not a lot to installing WordPress, but the initial steps are more important that you would think. For example, making sure YOU host the wordpress site on YOUR server (this is easy), choosing the right domain name and using the right plugins!

Get those three wrong and you’ll kick yourself real hard a year or two down the road!

If you have questions, ask away.

Best regards,

Jim.

Jim,
Don’t long winded blog questions and or responses reduce keyword density if the keyword(s) is not used as fequently in the blog? If so, what is the purpose of a blog as far as SEO goes?

Thanks Jim,

Roger