Think to yourself: if I dropped in, directly in the middle of a conversation, and was forced to figure out what needs to be done based on the information being presented only from this point forward, would I be able to do so? That’s what a support ticket is. It’s a conversation between you and…
So I’ve convinced you that switching plugins from Click to Tweet by the folks over at TodayMade (the makers of the top-notch content marketing editorial calendar CoSchedule) is worth it. But what about all of those tweet quotes you’ve already added to dozens (if not hundreds) of blog posts? Going back through to switch each quote manually…
You have an issue, and the first thing the folks on the support forum say is always “deactivate all plugins.” Here’s why:
My neighbors pay someone to cut their grass. As far as I can tell from being an only-mildly-nosy neighbor, here’s how the weekly-ish transaction goes: Yard guy (we’ll call him Pete) shows up to mow the whole lawn. Right before he starts, Pete walks up to a cushioned chair on the front porch, and picks…
As of version 4.7, users of my popular Better Click To Tweet WordPress Plugin have the ability to programmatically change the “via @username” on a per-box basis. Here’s how that works: If you use the visual editor, clicking the little blue birdie icon will produce the pop-up that you are used to, with one important…
I like themes, plugins, and websites that get out of the way. Why do you have a website? Too many folks start with “because we need a website,” and that’s immediately apparent when you look at their site. If they had a specific, measurable, written goal for the website, they’d have a website that gets…
Your plugins are the organs of your WordPress site. They are functional, and enhance content in ways other than just aesthetically. Your theme is the skin of your WordPress site. It’s aesthetic, not primarily functional. In fact, done correctly, your theme could be even more like clothes than skin. Themes change design and plugins change…
Recently in a facebook group someone posted this image, asking for clarification: I thought I’d use that as a jumping-off point to talk about “bargain” hosting. This user is on a large (Super-Bowl-ad-budget large) hosting company’s “shared” plan. The irony is that the user would have no way of knowing what version of PHP they are…
Here’s the thing: I am extremely tight with my money. Some might go so far as to call me stingy. I really don’t like spending money on things, as a rule. On top of that, as a developer I have released plugins into the WordPress ecosystem that are free to download. Even given those two…
I might get some flack for this: but I think most SEO experts are con artists. Sure, there’s room for legitimate folks who study Google (and other) algorithms. Some of them are extremely knowledgeable, and do great work. But there is a serious undercurrent of snake-oil salesmen and half-baked “consultants” in the field. Here’s my…
This is the guide to the hidden features of the Better Click To Tweet WordPress plugin. To start with, here’s a bit of philosophy. (If you want to get straight to the how-to, skip to the appropriate sections below) Why Hide the Power Features? WordPress is a fantastic tool for publishing. The low entry bar…
As of version 3.0, The Better Click To Tweet plugin now supports the option to use the built-in WordPress shortlink system. While this doesn’t change the allowable number of characters in the tweet (my plugin does the math based on Twitter’s built-in and unavoidable t.co shortened URL length), it does allow you to use the…
When you are driving on an icy road in a neighborhood, it makes sense to only go as fast as you are comfortable running into something. This has been the lesson I’ve learned looking out my front window over the past few days. The same can be said for web coding. Let me tell you…
Blogger.com is like your rich and slightly neurotic girlfriend Julie’s house: Great for visits, bad place to live. When you live there, at first it’s a storybook! She pays for everything, lets you live there rent free, makes it easy for you to do what you want, and you can just keep adding stuff to…
Based on my experience since becoming a web developer, I’m glad I don’t work in television, because I’d never enjoy shows the same way. Last week I went online to purchase a ticket to a local sporting event, and was greeted with the bright red text “Please refrain from using any special characters in your…
I don’t primarily sell web code; I sell peace of mind. I could easily market to fear. Fear sells extremely well: just check out the 24-hour news channel to see what I mean. The quickest way to make money in maintenance or insurance is to create a boogeyman and then be the hero who saves…
Today, I learned that if you are old-school and haven’t set up a site icon (a feature introduced in WordPress 4.3 I didn’t see the need for because I had already set a custom favicon using other methods back-in-the-day) , when your posts are embedded on someone else’s site (a feature introduced in 4.4 this…
“Im going to regret this moment” I said out loud as I ignored my own advice about having a server-level backup before I started messing around with my server settings. When I am working on client sites, I am beyond careful to never code on the live site, and to have multiple redundant backups, so…