Stephen Burge's Blog, page 53
May 25, 2017
How to Deal with the AJAX Loading Error: Not Found Error
Did you ever face the dreaded "AJAX Loading Error: Not Found" error message when trying to update your Joomla site using the "Joomla! Update" core component?
In this tutorial, you will learn a few tips helping your to get rid of this error and smoothly run your Joomla update.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
In this tutorial, you will learn a few tips helping your to get rid of this error and smoothly run your Joomla update.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
May 24, 2017
5 Reasons Not to Require Composer in Your CMS
Some people love Composer.
They use it to build their PHP projects and manage all the external libraries and dependencies. They love it so much they say things like this: "Composer should be the only way to build a Drupal code base."
That approach is misguided, and I'm going to give you 5 reasons why.
Composer is a great tool, but it's far more limited than some people realize.
I'm going to mostly write about Drupal in this blog post, because it is further down the Composer path than any other CMS. But, some platforms like Magento and Typo3 are headed that way too.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
They use it to build their PHP projects and manage all the external libraries and dependencies. They love it so much they say things like this: "Composer should be the only way to build a Drupal code base."
That approach is misguided, and I'm going to give you 5 reasons why.
Composer is a great tool, but it's far more limited than some people realize.
I'm going to mostly write about Drupal in this blog post, because it is further down the Composer path than any other CMS. But, some platforms like Magento and Typo3 are headed that way too.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
May 22, 2017
How to Track Search Queries on Your Joomla Site
This tutorial will show you how to track search queries on your Joomla site.
Often these queries can be a great source of information about what your visitors want:
They show you what visitors can't find: If one search term is really popular, it might be because people can't find it using your current menus ... it might be time to add a new menu link.
They show you what visitors really want: You may think people want "pink widgets" but search terms might show that people really want "blue widgets".
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Often these queries can be a great source of information about what your visitors want:
They show you what visitors can't find: If one search term is really popular, it might be because people can't find it using your current menus ... it might be time to add a new menu link.
They show you what visitors really want: You may think people want "pink widgets" but search terms might show that people really want "blue widgets".
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Track Search Queries on Your Joomla Site
This tutorial will show you how to track search queries on your Joomla site.
Often these queries can be a great source of information about what your visitors want:
They show you what visitors can't find: If one search term is really popular, it might be because people can't find it using your current menus ... it might be time to add a new menu link.
They show you what visitors really want: You may think people want "pink widgets" but search terms might show that people really want "blue widgets".
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Often these queries can be a great source of information about what your visitors want:
They show you what visitors can't find: If one search term is really popular, it might be because people can't find it using your current menus ... it might be time to add a new menu link.
They show you what visitors really want: You may think people want "pink widgets" but search terms might show that people really want "blue widgets".
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
May 19, 2017
How to Block Spam Comments in WordPress with Akismet
Have you heard people complain that Windows computers get more viruses than Apple computers? There are many reasons for that. One of the most common is that there are just so many more Windows computers out there. That's why they make a much more inviting target.
The same is true with WordPress sites. More than 25% of all websites run on WordPress. Hence, they are a very attractive target for malicious users. It's common for WordPress beginners to end up with hundreds of spam comments on their posts.
The solution? Akismet.com. They provide a great spam-blocking service. You'll need it because around 83% of all comments are spam.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
The same is true with WordPress sites. More than 25% of all websites run on WordPress. Hence, they are a very attractive target for malicious users. It's common for WordPress beginners to end up with hundreds of spam comments on their posts.
The solution? Akismet.com. They provide a great spam-blocking service. You'll need it because around 83% of all comments are spam.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
May 18, 2017
Adding a Contact Form to Your WordPress Site
Unlike Joomla or Drupal, WordPress doesn't have a default contact form. However, there are many good options to choose from. We recommend a plugin called "Contact Form 7".
Learn in this tutorial how to install this plugin and use it to embed a basic contact form in your WordPress blog posts or pages.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Learn in this tutorial how to install this plugin and use it to embed a basic contact form in your WordPress blog posts or pages.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
May 15, 2017
How to Add a Sitemap to Your WordPress Site
Every website needs a sitemap, but it might not be for the reasons you expect.
Sitemaps do not improve your ranking in search engines. However, they do make sure more of your site's pages get indexed. They also make sure those pages get indexed more quickly. This article presents evidence that the difference is astounding:
Google with a sitemap: 14 minutes
Google without a sitemap: 1375 minutes
Yahoo with a sitemap: 245 minutes
Yahoo without a sitemap: 1773 minutes
I'm going to show you how to add a dynamic sitemap to your WordPress website.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Sitemaps do not improve your ranking in search engines. However, they do make sure more of your site's pages get indexed. They also make sure those pages get indexed more quickly. This article presents evidence that the difference is astounding:
Google with a sitemap: 14 minutes
Google without a sitemap: 1375 minutes
Yahoo with a sitemap: 245 minutes
Yahoo without a sitemap: 1773 minutes
I'm going to show you how to add a dynamic sitemap to your WordPress website.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
May 12, 2017
Dark Sidebar Menus with White Icons and Text
This week a friend commented to me that too many user interfaces look like WordPress.
That's crazy talk, I thought, until I started Googling around. Almost every open source project I looked at seemed to use a dark sidebar menu with white icons and text. WordPress didn't start this design pattern, but they certainly popularized it.
Here are some of the admin area design for about 20 non-WordPress open source projects.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
That's crazy talk, I thought, until I started Googling around. Almost every open source project I looked at seemed to use a dark sidebar menu with white icons and text. WordPress didn't start this design pattern, but they certainly popularized it.
Here are some of the admin area design for about 20 non-WordPress open source projects.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
May 11, 2017
How to Migrate Joomla to WordPress
This tutorial will show you how to migrate a Joomla site to WordPress.
We're going to do this with an out-of-the-box Joomla site with demo content and a brand-new WordPress site.
There are two things to note before we start:
This will move all of your Joomla articles and convert them into WordPress posts. However, it won't move any components, templates, modules or plugins. To achieve similar functionality with your WordPress site, use WordPress plugins.
Both the Joomla and WordPress sites need to be on the same database server. This won't migrate sites if they are hosted separately.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
We're going to do this with an out-of-the-box Joomla site with demo content and a brand-new WordPress site.
There are two things to note before we start:
This will move all of your Joomla articles and convert them into WordPress posts. However, it won't move any components, templates, modules or plugins. To achieve similar functionality with your WordPress site, use WordPress plugins.
Both the Joomla and WordPress sites need to be on the same database server. This won't migrate sites if they are hosted separately.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
May 10, 2017
How Does CMB2 Help WordPress Developers?
Have you heard about the WordPress plugin that seems to do nothing, but is installed on over 100,000 sites?
CMB2 is one of the most popular plugins in WordPress. We feature CMB2 heavily in the new class, "How to Develop WordPress Plugins".
However, you would never realize how important CMB2 just by installing it from WordPress.org. When you install CMB2, it is invisible - your site will not change in any way.
CMB2 is short for "Custom Metaboxes", but that name probably doesn't help if you're new to WordPress development.
All-in-all, I think it's time for some explanations ...
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
CMB2 is one of the most popular plugins in WordPress. We feature CMB2 heavily in the new class, "How to Develop WordPress Plugins".
However, you would never realize how important CMB2 just by installing it from WordPress.org. When you install CMB2, it is invisible - your site will not change in any way.
CMB2 is short for "Custom Metaboxes", but that name probably doesn't help if you're new to WordPress development.
All-in-all, I think it's time for some explanations ...
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
