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/
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.
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.
Web Log Tools Collection
http://weblogtoolscollection.com/
WordPress Develoment Community
http://wordpress.org
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/
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/
WP Shopping Cart 3.8.6
A plugin that provides a WordPress Shopping Cart.
http://www.instinct.co.nz/
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
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/
All in One SEO Pack 1.6.13.4
Out-of-the-box SEO for your WordPress blog.
http://semperfiwebdesign.com/
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/
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/
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
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
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.
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.
The next Web Weavers Workshop will explore easy modifications you can make to your WordPress powered web site. We’ll look at the components in a theme and learn how HTML, CSS and PHP relate to each other.
Seating to this workshop is very limited. You may bring your laptop to follow along with the exercises.
Date:
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Time:
1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Location:
Hawaii Self-Storage Conference Room
More information and registration:
http://www.hmaus.com/index.php/meetings-workshops/web-weavers-workshop/
EVERYONE CAN CREATE A WEBSITE OR BLOG WITH MINIMUM FUSS AND EXPENSE. FIND OUT HOW WITH MIRAZ JORDAN. SHE MAKES THE COMPLEX EASY TO UNDERSTAND
“I believe that we can all use technology such as computers and the Internet to bring change into the world, improving ourselves, others and this planet, our only home in the universe.” — Miraz Jordan
Miraz Jordan is a Wellington, New Zealand-based blogger and writer with a particular interest in Internet technology: where it’s going, what’s happening, and how that affects regular folks and community groups. She co-authored the very popular book WordPress 2 Visual QuickStart Guide, and has written extensively about making websites, using the Internet, and using Macintosh computers. She recently created a new blog called Paperchains whose purpose is to help reduce the amount of wasted paper in the world and thereby reduce fuel use, pollution and other negative impacts. Jordan regularly uses Twitter, and dips in to Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Flickr. She helped organize the successful Webstock 06 and 08 Web Conferences.
A short tutorial on how to add spaces around images placed into posts and pages.
Write post window
Start from the Dasboard. Create a new post/page or manage an existing post/page.
Click on image to show image editing icons
Clicking on the image will reveal two icons. The left “picture” icon will reveal two settings panels. The red (/) icon will delete the image from the editing area.
Edit image panel
Add appropriate information here. The image margin settings are in the Advanced Settings panel.
Advanced settings panel
More settings are found in the Advanced Settings panel. This panel has fields for setting horizontal and vertical margins around the image.
Image with 4 pixel margins
Enter values in the fields Horizontal space and Vertical space.