Splash of Style...Macs, Photography, Design, and other Passions

WordPress Maintenance

January 12, 2006 by debbie T | WordPress

I have decided to work on a little maintenance behind the scenes in the WordPress software. In the past, I have been using Textile 1 for formatting my entries. I like Textile, but lately it has been bugging me, so I am going to try Markdown.

When I initially switch, there might be problems with the formatting of my entries, but I hope to check through all of them, so eventually all should be well.

UPDATE: So far, Markdown seems to be working for me. I think I like it better than Textile. I am trying to look at all my posts, and so far, it is not too messed up. I have seen a few problems with underscores (Markdown uses the underscore for \_emphasis\_) but they can be fixed by escaping with a \

I also am preparing to upgrade to WordPress 2.0, but I want to make sure all my files and database tables are backed up first.

WordPress.com vs Blogsome.com

December 2, 2005 by debbie T | WordPress

After I signed up for a free blog account at WordPress.com, someone mentioned there was also a multi-user WordPress hosted blog service at Blogsome.com. I rushed right over and signed up. I was shocked that the username “debbie” was still available!

So, now that I have both accounts, which one is better?

### Pros/Cons WordPress.com

* No advertising in the Control Panel
* Free API key for Akismet to use in any WordPress blog.
* Not much control over blog settings and prefs.
* They are utilizing version 2.0 – very cool drag and drop! Love that Ajax stuff!
* As of now, no way to download/backup your posts and comments.
* Even though there are only a few theme choices, for some reason, I like the unity of almost every WordPress.com blog looking the same. It feels like a community. When I visit a wordpress.com web site, I *know* I am on a wordpress.com site, just by the design. Am I crazy to feel this way? And would I feel this way if it were my only blog and I couldn’t utilize my own design style? hmm, maybe not.

### Pros/Cons Blogsome.com

* Feels a little too commercial with banner ads in the Control Panel
* No access to spam prevention with an Akismet key
* A lot more control in the Admin area. Direct access to template coding.
* There is a future plan to allow download/backup of posts and comments.

Bottom line is, I will probably not use either account for anything truly special. I have my own blogging accounts for that. Either would be great for testing.

But if I had to choose one account, it would probably be the original one at wordpress.com. It just feels more modern, and there is no advertising. Now, if blogsome.com updates to wordpress 2.0, I might feel differently. We’ll see.

Akismet – Spam Control for WordPress

November 29, 2005 by debbie T | WordPress

Since it didn’t work out so well with SpamKarma 2, I decided to give Akismet a shot.

I found my API key in the Admin area in my WordPress.com blog account. (note: the only way to get an API key is to open a free blogging account at WordPress.com)

I guess once it is activated, it’s supposed to just work….

Update: (01/14/06) I have been using Akismet and it works great. I works silently in the background, but when I check on it, there is always a list of blocked spam comments. So far, I haven’t noticed any false positives.

WordPress.com Open Accounts

November 28, 2005 by debbie T | WordPress

Great news! WordPress.com has opened the doors for sign-ups without an invitation.

I signed up for my account this afternoon. I have no idea what to do with the blog, but it is fun to have. Kind of like a gmail.com account.

Spam Karma Apology

November 18, 2005 by debbie T | WordPress

I apologize to any legitimate commenter who has been caught in my SpamKarma’s spam blocker.

http://unknowngenius.com/blog/wordpress/spam-karma/

It is a complex plug-in with many back-end settings, so I am still experimenting with the levels.

UPDATE (11-21): After SpamKarma blocked another comment from Miraz, I decided to deactivate it. The comment was originally posted on the 18th, and the script failed to let me know it was held. It was supposed to send me an email every 24 hours. I don’t have time to mess around with the settings again, so I am just leaving it up to WordPress right now for comment moderation. I will revisit this again if spam becomes a problem.

Textpattern

November 16, 2005 by debbie T | Textpattern • Web Development • WordPress

I have started to research a new CMS or blogging for one of my other web sites (DisDatDesigns) and have taken a fresh look at Textpattern.

I installed Textpattern twice before (for two separate blogs), but did not upgrade from the pre-release version until recently. I updated to version 4.0.2 and it appears that there are lots of changes.

### My Textpattern 4.0.2 Observations

* Separate text files are no longer needed for separate site ‘sections’ – when I upgraded, the diagnostics page informed me to delete the three sections files I had on the server. Originally, the .htaccess file would also need to be manually edited to reflect each section. I am assuming it will be much easier now to set up sections or areas of a web site.
* I panicked when I tried to view my web site, and the page was blank. Found out that the admin preferences was in ‘testing’ mode, so after changing it to ‘live’ my web site was back. Found the answer in the Textpattern FAQ
* Comment expiration has been added; this is something that I cannot seem to find in a WordPress plug-in. You can also update the comment expiration to prior articles. I love this option in Expression Engine. The only problem I see right now, is when comments are disabled for an entry, there is no text message stating comments are closed. This will be something I will research. It could just be because my original design coding is based on older install.
* There is an option to set the default (output) coding to Textile, line breaks, or none. This will not affect prior articles, and the setting can be changed for any new (or old) article on that page’s advanced settings. For WordPress, it appears to be all or nothing. I haven’t found a way to set different output coding for each article.
* On the Content>Articles tab, articles can be selected very easily and batch deleted. There is also an batch option to change section and status. This means it will be so simple to change a collection of articles to hidden. WordPress doesn’t offer this option.
* Comments can also be batch processed in the same manner as articles. This is very convenient for deleting spammer comments. But I have heard Textpattern includes very powerful anti-spam features.
* Textpattern offers tools to import articles from other blogging programs, like Movable Type, B2, Blogger, and WordPress. Hmm, I might be tempted to convert Splash of Style to Textpattern someday.
* Just like WordPress, Textpattern also offers link management. I miss this feature in Expression Engine. Textpattern also offers file and image management.
* A option I didn’t notice in the pre-release is sticky articles. I also like that you can hide articles. In WordPress, I believe there is a sticky plug in, and there are options to save an article as private.
* To discourage spammer comments, there is an option to use nofollow on comment posts. At this point, I don’t see a need to go that far, but in the future I like knowing it is available.
* In the pre-release version, I remember I was a little frustrated with code editability, or lack of it. That is something I will be working with over the next few days. Hopefully, the code is a little more accessible for easier editing.

### Textpattern Resources:

* Textpattern Home Page – http://textpattern.com
* Textpattern Resources – http://textpattern.org/
* Textbook Wiki – http://textpattern.net/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
* Textpattern Forum – http://forum.textpattern.com/
* TextDrive Weblog – http://weblog.textdrive.com/

Combatting WordPress Spam

October 15, 2005 by debbie T | WordPress

This entry is a reminder list (to myself) of ways to control comment spam in WordPress’ blogging system.

WordPress Comment Spam wiki page

Since I don’t use trackbacks, I deleted my wp-trackback file.

By default, WordPress adds the ‘nofollow’ attribute to all links listed in comment text; google will not give ranking credit to any links with this attribute. I am undecided if this is the way to go for my blog. It appears that it might not be the most efficient way to combat spam and might just hurt those that deserve google credit.

Initially I installed and activated Spam Karma. We’ll see if it works, or if it is too stringent. Another choice would be Hashcach and I will activate it if Spam Karma doesn’t work out for me.

Upgrading WordPress 1.2 to 1.5

April 24, 2005 by debbie T | WordPress

I followed the upgrade instructions, and it worked well.

I hit just one snag. My comment area was displaying a php error concerning the missing file “wp-comments.php”, so I did a little research and realized that WP is using themes now, and the comments file has been renamed. So, I uploaded the comments.php file from the themes directory and recoded my index.php file to reference the new file name.

So far, it all looks okay. I think I like the new version. I am looking forward to learning WordPress all over again. The new themes look promising, and the slight changes to the control panel look pretty good.

WordPress Links

October 31, 2004 by debbie T | WordPress

While searching on the WordPress support forum, I came across some good links:

* WordPress Spam information – includes a lot of information on keeping spam out of a WordPress blog. Including a modification that informs a commenter that comments are moderated.
* Comment moderation bulk delete
* Auto Shut off for Comments Help: automatically shuts off comments after a certain expiration time.
the plugin
support forum notes
More support
Close comments installation
Closing comments
Auto Closing problem
Add comment-close coding on index page.
Error when using plugin
* Renaming the wp-comments file.
* Showing all posts for printing or exporting.
* Additional comment spam advice and codes.
* Mass deletion of spam comments
* Get Posts – customizing how posts are displayed.
* Sticky posts plugin – with descriptive notes.
* Smilies and More smilies and another smilies post
* BBCode plugin
* WP-Amazon 1.2
* Category customization
* Backup and Restore WordPress data
* WP plugin Code viewer

WordForm??

October 31, 2004 by debbie T | WordPress

Funny, I few blogging buddies were recently joking, wishing we could branch out and create our own “perfect” blog tool.

I am jealous, because Shelly from Burningbird is doing just that! Oh to be that efficient in php and programming! I could rule the world! Or at the very least, rule my own blog!