Stephen Burge's Blog, page 167
November 26, 2013
Video Introduction to MP6, the New WordPress Admin
WordPress 3.8 is due to launch in December.
The biggest change will be a major redesign of the admin area.
At the beginning of this year, Matt Mullenweg and a team of developers started work on a plugin called MP6. We first wrote about MP6 back in May and outlined many of the new features.
MP6 has slowly improved over many months and it's now ready to become part of the WordPress core.
In this exclusive video, I'm going to show what to expect when version 3.8 comes out. How different will WordPress look? Watch and find out ...
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
The biggest change will be a major redesign of the admin area.
At the beginning of this year, Matt Mullenweg and a team of developers started work on a plugin called MP6. We first wrote about MP6 back in May and outlined many of the new features.
MP6 has slowly improved over many months and it's now ready to become part of the WordPress core.
In this exclusive video, I'm going to show what to expect when version 3.8 comes out. How different will WordPress look? Watch and find out ...
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
What's Your Favorite Work-Life Balance Book?
This week is Thanksgiving here in the U.S.
The normal way to think about Thanksgiving is that it's a family holiday. People don't go on vacation; they mostly focus on getting together with their families.
But, Thanksgiving is also a time to think about work. You've been working really hard for 11 months. If you have kids, they've been in school since the summer without a break. Everyone is feeling tired.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
The normal way to think about Thanksgiving is that it's a family holiday. People don't go on vacation; they mostly focus on getting together with their families.
But, Thanksgiving is also a time to think about work. You've been working really hard for 11 months. If you have kids, they've been in school since the summer without a break. Everyone is feeling tired.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
November 23, 2013
Drupal 7.24 and 6.29: tmp directory and .htaccess
Drupal 7.24 and 6.29 were released in mid-November.
Both versions contained security fixes.
One of the fixes is described as "Code execution prevention". The Drupal security wanted to add an extra layer of protection to stop hackers from uploading malicious files.
This fix requires some people to make a manual change to their site and this tutorial will show you how.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Both versions contained security fixes.
One of the fixes is described as "Code execution prevention". The Drupal security wanted to add an extra layer of protection to stop hackers from uploading malicious files.
This fix requires some people to make a manual change to their site and this tutorial will show you how.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
November 20, 2013
Fixing a Broken Captcha in Joomla 2.5 and 3
If you're like me, you have a "captcha" function on your contact form where your users have to type in the squiggly letters to prove that they're human and not spam bots.
This is a good thing. Using Captchas ;can greatly reduce the amount of spam you receive. This tutorial shows you how to use captchas with Joomla.
However, many of these forms (including mine) stopped working because Google changed the URL used for ReCaptchas.
This is mostly impacting Joomla 2.5 and 3.0+ sites at the minimum. This fix will be included in the next Joomla 3 release but in the meantime, it's not good to have a broken contact form.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
This is a good thing. Using Captchas ;can greatly reduce the amount of spam you receive. This tutorial shows you how to use captchas with Joomla.
However, many of these forms (including mine) stopped working because Google changed the URL used for ReCaptchas.
This is mostly impacting Joomla 2.5 and 3.0+ sites at the minimum. This fix will be included in the next Joomla 3 release but in the meantime, it's not good to have a broken contact form.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
What Riding a Motocycle Taught Me About Writing
I’ve owned five motorcycles in the past 30 years and ridden tens of thousands of prayer-packed, injury-free miles.
The lessons I’ve learned from riding motorcycles profoundly illustrate virtually every aspect of life.
Among the lessons I’ve learned are four that relate to writing.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
The lessons I’ve learned from riding motorcycles profoundly illustrate virtually every aspect of life.
Among the lessons I’ve learned are four that relate to writing.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Learning Launch: WordPress Jetpack Part 2
Jetpack is one of the most popular plugins in WordPress.
Created by Automattic, the team behind WordPress.com, Jetpack adds lots of important features to WordPress, from social sharing to statistics and email updates.
Jetpack has been downloaded over 7 million times and is installed automatically by many hositng companies.
This week we release the second batch of videos from our Jetpack class.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Created by Automattic, the team behind WordPress.com, Jetpack adds lots of important features to WordPress, from social sharing to statistics and email updates.
Jetpack has been downloaded over 7 million times and is installed automatically by many hositng companies.
This week we release the second batch of videos from our Jetpack class.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
November 19, 2013
We're Hiring a PHP Developer
We're looking to hire a PHP developer.
As our company grows, we have an increasing number of development projects on OSTraining.com and for client projects.
If you're a talented developer and live in North, Central or South Amercia, we'd love to hear from you.
Here's an overview of what we can offer you and what we're looking for in a developer.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
As our company grows, we have an increasing number of development projects on OSTraining.com and for client projects.
If you're a talented developer and live in North, Central or South Amercia, we'd love to hear from you.
Here's an overview of what we can offer you and what we're looking for in a developer.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Matt Mullenweg: Users Should Never Know WordPress Has Updated
Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress, gave one of the keynote addresses at this year's Joomla World Conference.
Of course, it was interesting that the JWC invited Matt and that he accepted.
Equally interesting was that he used the keynote to talk about several issues that were news even to WordPress junkies. For example, he mentioned that WordPress 3.8 woud ship on its intended release date of December 12th. With previous versions, WordPress release dates have been much more flexible.
However, despite all of the people in the audience and watching on the livestream, perhaps the most revolutionary idea has been missed.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Of course, it was interesting that the JWC invited Matt and that he accepted.
Equally interesting was that he used the keynote to talk about several issues that were news even to WordPress junkies. For example, he mentioned that WordPress 3.8 woud ship on its intended release date of December 12th. With previous versions, WordPress release dates have been much more flexible.
However, despite all of the people in the audience and watching on the livestream, perhaps the most revolutionary idea has been missed.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Dede CMS, the Most Popular CMS in China
Earlier this month, I gave a presentation about the importance of making open source more international.
At one point I claimed that "no country needs open source more than China".
Well, it turns out that a Chinese guy was in the audience and he was keen to talk.
He explained that most big, western open source projects are unknown in China. It turns out that the most popular open source CMS in China is entirely home-grown. Its name is Dede CMS, which translates as "chasing a dream".
Out of curiosity, I decided to take Dede CMS for a test drive. What I found has interesting implications for people interested in internationalization, usability, interfaces and of course, China.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
At one point I claimed that "no country needs open source more than China".
Well, it turns out that a Chinese guy was in the audience and he was keen to talk.
He explained that most big, western open source projects are unknown in China. It turns out that the most popular open source CMS in China is entirely home-grown. Its name is Dede CMS, which translates as "chasing a dream".
Out of curiosity, I decided to take Dede CMS for a test drive. What I found has interesting implications for people interested in internationalization, usability, interfaces and of course, China.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Drupal Menu Permissions Explained
With some CMSs such as Joomla, menus are very powerful features. They can control layouts, permissions, metadata and much more.
In Drupal, menus have almost no power at all. By default, menus are not capable of controlling much more than the destination of their link. So, we end up with a lot of questions from students about menus.
This week a student asked us how they control who can see menu links. This tutorial is our answer.
We're going to show how Drupal menu permissions work and how you can make them more powerful.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
In Drupal, menus have almost no power at all. By default, menus are not capable of controlling much more than the destination of their link. So, we end up with a lot of questions from students about menus.
This week a student asked us how they control who can see menu links. This tutorial is our answer.
We're going to show how Drupal menu permissions work and how you can make them more powerful.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
