Author Archive

Mountain Lion Server … changes

July 27th, 2012

Who moved my cheese?

There are a number of changes that may make OS X Server admins work a little harder to make the transition.

Removed

  • dhcp
  • ipfilter
  • notification
  • pcast
  • pcastlibrary
  • xgrid
  • xsan

New or Restored

  • ftp
  • san

Here are some links to more information about these changes:

Where Did All My Server Commands Go In Mountain Lion Server?

10.8 Mountain Lion Server: What Changed?

Changes in Mountain Lion Server

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Comments Off | OS X Server

The Web is a Customer Service Medium

May 21st, 2012

Just what is the fundamental question of the web? Paul Ford (@ftrain) attempts to explain how “Why Wasn’t I Consulted” is the driving force of web as a communication medium.

What do you think makes the web important for some and a failure for others?

Here is the article: http://www.ftrain.com/wwic.html

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1 comment | Communications

HMAUS Starts Web Weavers Workshop Series on WordPress

April 14th, 2012

HMAUS will present a series of WordPress classes over the coming months providing basic to advanced instruction. This workshop is designed to give students the understanding and skills needed to plan, create and deploy effective Internet web sites using the WordPress system. Students will receive a total of 36 hours of class and hands-on lab work over six classes.

The classes are limited to only 12 students and there is a fee to cover materials and tools.

The workshop’s six classes will be grouped into three modules:

Module One – Basics (2 classes / 6 hours per class / 12 hours total)

Module Two – Intermediate (2 classes / 6 hours per class / 12 hours total)

Module Three – Advanced (2 classes / 6 hours per class / 12 hours total)

The first class will be held at the ING Direct Cafe, 1958 Kalakaua Avenue. Future dates and locations are subject to change.

Workshop Fees:

HMAUS Members $120 (all 6 classes)

Non Members $180 (all 6 classes)

Signal Core Team Members $70 (all 6 classes)

Signal Core Team Members Certification $30 (Module A only, first 2 classes)

HMAUS members who volunteer to serve on the Signal Core Team may register at the discounted rate of $70 (6 classes) or $30 (Module A only, first 2 classes). The Signal Core Team is responsible for planning, developing, maintaining and creating content for the HMAUS web sites and other communications technology assets. The certification class is the minimum level required to serve on the team. If you would like to serve on the Signal Core Team, please contact Terrence Young at 808-722-9298 or send him email at: http://www.hmaus.org/contact/

Non Members may join HMAUS prior to workshop registration and be given the member rate. Submit your membership application first at this link: http://www.hmaus.org/membership/

For additional information, call Eugene at 808-735-0402.

Registration:

Module One – Class A – Basics

Saturday, April 21, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
ING Direct Cafe 1958 Kalakaua Avenue

Module One – Class B – Basics

Saturday, May 19, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
ING Direct Cafe 1958 Kalakaua Avenue

Module Two – Class C – Intermediate

Saturday, June 9, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
ING Direct Cafe 1958 Kalakaua Avenue

Class A Material

Getting Started

  • What is WordPress?
  • WordPress Features
  • Before You Install WordPress
  • Website Host Requirements
  • Text Editor Software
  • FTP Client Software
  • Creating a Blueprint (plan) for your Site

Installing WordPress

  • Hosting WordPress
  • Upgrading WordPress
  • Common Installation Problems

Set Up

  • The Dashboard (administration pages)
  • Creating Users and User Permissions
  • Site Preferences
  • Choosing Themes
  • Creating Pages

Selecting a Theme

  • Theme Resources
  • Theme Settings and Preferences
  • Theme Structure: Headers, Footers, Bodies and Sidebars

Plugins

  • Plugin Resources
  • Using Plugins
  • Managing Plugins

Blogging

  • What is a Blog?
  • Creating Posts (blog entries)
  • Discussion Options

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Comments Off | On WordPress

WordPress 3.3.1 Security and Maintenance Release

January 4th, 2012

WordPress 3.3.1 just released last night.

This maintenance release fixes 15 issues with WordPress 3.3. It also fixes a cross-site scripting vulnerability that affected version 3.3.

Link to WordPress 3.3.1: http://wordpress.org/news/2012/01/wordpress-3-3-1/

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Comments Off | On WordPress

Sara Cannon On Responsive Web Design From WordCamp Boston

September 22nd, 2011

Technology has enabled the Internet for many devices of various screen sizes. The challenge is to build web pages that fluidly transitions well among them. Here is a great introduction into the concept of building “responsiveness” into WordPress based sites.

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Comments Off | On WordPress

Essential WordPress Plugins

September 1st, 2011

Plugins greatly extend the capabilities of a WordPress driven web site. Here is a list of some that are commonly used in many web sites. There are many more than just these, of course. WordPress.Org is a generally a good place to locate plugins. And they are fairly safe to use as the WordPress development team and the WordPress community has vetted them before making them available to the public.

RESOURCES

Web Log Tools Collection
http://weblogtoolscollection.com/

WordPress Develoment Community
http://wordpress.org

CONTACT

Dagon Design Form Mailer 5.8
The WordPress plugin version of my secure php form mailer script.
http://www.dagondesign.com/articles/secure-form-mailer-plugin-for-wordpress/

WP_ContactMe 2.6.28
WP_ContactMe is a free WordPress plug-in that provides you with a very configurable contact form. Allowing multiple subject and also SPAM protection.
http://www.dcoda.co.uk/

DESIGN AND INTERFACE

Shutter Reloaded 2.4
Darkens the current page and displays an image on top like Lightbox, Thickbox, etc. However this script is a lot smaller and faster.
http://www.laptoptips.ca/projects/wp-shutter-reloaded/

WPtouch iPhone Theme 1.9
A plugin which reformats your site with a mobile theme when viewing with an  Apple iPhone, Apple iPod touch, Google Android or Blackberry Storm touch mobile device.
http://bravenewcode.com/wptouch/

E-COMMERCE

WP Shopping Cart 3.8.6
A plugin that provides a WordPress Shopping Cart.
http://www.instinct.co.nz/

MAINTENANCE

Maintenance Mode 5.4
Adds a splash page to your blog that lets visitors know your blog is down for maintenance. Logged in administrators get full access to the blog including the front-end.
http://sw-guide.de/wordpress/plugins/maintenance-mode/

Theme Test Drive 2.8.1
Safely test drive any theme while visitors are using the default one. Includes instant theme preview via thumbnail.
http://www.prelovac.com/vladimir/wordpress-plugins/theme-test-drive

WP-DBManager 2.63
Manages your WordPress database. Allows you to optimize database, repair database, backup database, restore database, delete backup database , drop/empty tables and run selected queries. Supports automatic scheduling of backing up and optimizing of database.
http://lesterchan.net/portfolio/programming/php/#wp-dbmanager

PRODUCTIVITY

Event Calendar 3.2.beta1
Manage future events as an online calendar. Display upcoming events in a dynamic calendar, on a listings page, or as a list in the sidebar. You can subscribe to the calendar from iCal (OSX) or Sunbird.
http://wpcal.firetree.net/

ShareThis 5.0.0
Let your visitors share a post/page with others. Supports e-mail and posting to social bookmarking sites.
http://sharethis.com/

Twitter Tools 2.4
A complete integration between your WordPress blog and Twitter. Bring your tweets into your blog and pass your blog posts to Twitter.
http://alexking.org/projects/wordpress

WP-Polls 2.62
Adds an AJAX poll system to your WordPress blog. You can easily include a poll into your WordPress’s blog post/page. WP-Polls is extremely customizable via templates and css styles and there are tons of options for you to choose to ensure that WP-Polls runs the way you wanted. It now supports multiple selection of answers.
http://lesterchan.net/portfolio/programming/php/

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

All in One SEO Pack 1.6.13.4
Out-of-the-box SEO for your WordPress blog.
http://semperfiwebdesign.com/

SECURITY

Limit Login Attempts 1.6.2
Blocks an Internet address after a specified limit on retries is reached, making a brute-force attack difficult or impossible.
http://devel.kostdoktorn.se/limit-login-attempts

TAC (Theme Authenticity Checker) 1.4
TAC scans all of your theme files for potentially malicious and unwanted code.
http://builtbackwards.com/projects/tac/

SPAM PROTECTION

Akismet 2.5.3
Akismet checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam or not.
http://akismet.com/

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Comments Off | On WordPress

Web Weavers Workshop August 20

July 25th, 2011

Learn how web development skills. Workshop attendees will learn how to create web sites, setup web services and create content. Additional topics will include domain name system, search engine optimization and web site security.

Seating is limited to 12 students. All skill levels welcome — but be aware that this is not an introductory workshop. Bring your laptop or mobile device if you wish.

No fee. Open to members and guests. Registration required. (Submit your registration here)

Hosted by HMAUS.

Location

ING Direct Cafe (Google map here)
1958 Kalakaua Avenue

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Comments Off | Announcements, On WordPress

Inside WordPress – Workshop

June 7th, 2011

Learn how WordPress works by tearing it apart and rebuilding it. Workshop attendees will learn how to create a WordPress powered web site, setup web services and create content. Additional topics will include domain name system, search engine optimization and web site security.

Seating is limited to 12 students. All skill levels welcome — but be aware that this is not an introductory workshop. Bring your laptop or mobile device if you wish.

No fee. Open to members and guests. Registration required. (Submit your registration here)

Hosted by HMAUS.

Location

ING Direct Cafe (Google map here)
1958 Kalakaua Avenue

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Comments Off | Announcements, On WordPress

Stuck in Maintenance Mode

January 21st, 2011

Getting stuck in maintenance mode sometimes occurs when performing some WordPress upgrades.  After performing a WordPress version upgrade this error message presents itself:

“Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance. Check back in a minute.”

And it appears that nothing else can be done in the Dashboard and the web site cannot even be viewed.

If you find yourself in this predicament the quick fix is to delete the file called “.maintenance” in the root folder of the WordPress site. Use terminal to securely log into your site’s server. In the root directory issue this command:

sudo rm .maintenance

When this is done your WordPress web site returns to functionality.

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Comments Off | On WordPress

How to keep WordPress secure

September 7th, 2009

Matt Mullenweg talks about the need to keep up-to-date with upgrades to guard against security threats:

http://wordpress.org/development/2009/09/keep-wordpress-secure/

Matt discusses a new worm which exploits a vulnerability in older versions of WordPress. The attack creates an admin user and executes code through the “permalinks” functions. The current version of WordPress, 2.8.4, is not vulnerable to this attack.

Keeping updates current is one of the best ways to guard against hacks. If you haven’t upgraded yet, don’t put it off any longer.

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Comments Off | On WordPress