Interview: with Doug Yuen

Meet Douglas Yuen, Doug is originally from Waldwick, New Jersey. During his time at Cornell University, he double majored in English Literature with a concentration on creative writing, as well as Philosophy. He was interested in the subject matter, and thought that one day he would become a writer and professor of creative writing. In 2008, he got into Content Management Systems because he was thinking about quitting his job and working for himself so he could travel the world. After evaluation of some of the most popular CMSs of that time, he decided to settle on WordPress. He has owned and operated EfficientWP (Efficient Websites LLC.) for the last 6.5 years.

Q: Tell me about yourself?

A: I’m a WordPress designer who’s expanding into the world of developing premium plugins. I’ve spent about 2.5 years traveling abroad, while growing my business, between 2012-2015. I’ve spoken at WordCamps 4 times (so far), have 3 publicly available plugins in WordPress.org, and co-host a WordPress podcast, WPcast.fm.

Interview with Bob Passaro

Bob Passaro is a partner in the branding/web development agency Figoli Quinn & Associates. He lives in Eugene, Oregon.

The following is from a phone conversation with Bob Passaro on November 20, 2015.

Bob’s Experience with WordPress

Bob has been using WordPress for around 6 years. His first development job using WordPress was for NW Book Lovers. The website is still active. Even though he has offered to redesign the site, the owners are happy with the original design.

How to Manually Update WordPress

This tutorial will show you how to manually update your WordPress site. There are many steps, and the auto-update feature of WordPress works typically with few issues, but if you need to do this process manually, this tutorial will aid you.

Begin the process by backing up your site first. Backup your current site data by going to Tools > Export.

Export your site contents and use that file to import the data in-case of installation failure and your site crashes.

Also take time to download all of the files of your site, especially any outside of the wp-content directory. After downloading, you may zip the files to keep them together and save space. Between these files and the XML file export, you should be able to restore your site if there are problems.

Prepare for the Upgrade

To prepare for the upgrade, you should create a maintenance file and download the latest version of WordPress.

WordPress automatic updates initiate a maintenance file, an HTML file with information that the site is in Maintenance mode and will be offline shortly. You can create one easily in a text editor by doing the following:

1. Create an HTML file with content that alerts visitor to the site’s maintenance mode.
2. Save the file as index.html.
3. Upload the file to the root directory of your web host server.
4. Uploading uploading it will overrule the index.php file and be active.
5. To “deactivate” the maintenance file, rename it from index.html to index.maintenance. When you wish to use it again in the future, rename it back to index.html.

Go to WordPress.org and download the latest WordPress zip (or tar.gz) file, and unzip it to its own directory/folder.

1. Update WordPress Themes: Either manually or using the auto-update feature, update all WordPress Themes. If you have Themes you are no longer using or need, consider deleting them.
2. Updfate WordPress Plugins: Either manually or using the auto-update feature, update all WordPress Plugins. If you have Plugins you are no longer using or need, consider deleting them.
3. Deactivate WordPress Plugins: Some manual installation methods recommend disabling WordPress Plugins, then turning them of again after the update. This is optional, but highly recommended.

The next step is to replace your existing WordPress files with the new ones.

Replace Your WordPress Files

Installing WordPress manually involves uploading files from your computer to the web server. While it might work to simply upload the files and replace the existing files, glitches in the Internet connection could result in partially uploaded files or file uploading errors. It is highly recommended that you manually delete the files before uploading to ensure a better chance at a clean upload, thus a clean update.

Ensure you protect and do not change the wp-config.php or .htaccess file and other files necessary for your site to function beyond WordPress files.

1. Delete the old wp-includes and wp-admin directories on your web host using an FTP client or Shell access.
2. Upload the new wp-includes folder and wp-admin. (Do not delete your existing wp-content folder, and only delete directories that you are going to replace.)
3. Upload any remaining loose files from the root directory of the new version to your existing WordPress root directory, protecting the wp-config.php, .htaccess, and other critical files not part of WordPress.

Run the Update

In a web browser, enter the address of the site followed by update.php such as http://example.com/wp-admin/update.php. This will run the update for WordPress to ensure any modifications to the database is complete.

Go to WP-Admin > Plugins to reactivate WordPress Plugins if you deactivated them.

If you have problems logging in, try clearing your cookies.

If your old site is still showing and you have caching enabled, you may need to clear the site cache.

If for any reason you can’t figure out how to complete your installation please view the WordPress Codex page for the extended upgrade instructions.

You can also restore your backup and replace the WordPress source files from your old version by visiting the release archive.

For More Information on Manually Installing WordPress

• The Ultimate Guide to Updating Your WordPress Site
• A Guide to Updating WordPress, Plugins and Themes
• How to Manually Update WordPress Using FTP
• Restoring Your Database From Backup – WordPress Codex
• Updating WordPress – WordPress Codex
• WordPress Backups – WordPress Codex

WordPress Words: DIV

A “DIV” is an HTML element that divides sections of your WordPress site.

Example: A user can customize their site by adding DIV tags around their content sections in the text editor. Then they can add custom CSS to their DIV’s by going to the Theme Editor in
Appearance–>Editor–>style.css and adding a new line in the file.

.main-grid-content {display:inline-block;background-color:#FFF;}

About the Word

The DIV tag in HTML is used widely on most websites today. By default, a DIV is a block level element, which means it will take up all of the horizontal space  in its current container. In WordPress DIV’s are used to create new sections of content within your site, that may be linked to current classes or new ones.

New sections can help you separate portions of your site to add embedded maps, special offers, promotions, contact information, images and other content.

For More Information

• MDN HTML Element: <div>
• How to Use DIV Tags in WordPress
• DIV Shortcode Plugin
• How to Use a DIV With WordPress

Interview with Danielle Baldwin: Social Media/Content Strategist, WordPress Developer

This is L. Danielle Baldwin. She is a Social Media/Content Strategist, WordPress Developer and The Founder of the very first WordCamp RDU in 2009.

Why did you start using WordPress?

I started using WordPress back in the day when it was called b2 cafelog around 2002. From there I have just followed the application and was able to watch it morph into what WordPress has become today. I started using it initially as a blogging tool but very soon after I got the hang of it, I started using it to create blogs for other people.

Interview with Daniel Payne

Daniel Payne of Tualatin Web has been developing commercial web sites since 1995 and programming since 1975. So it made sense to me to get some key insights from someone who has been in the business for a number of years.

Q: What made you decide to become a member of the WordPress community and to become involved in organizing the PDX WordPress meetups?

A: I first heard about WordPress in 2008, after I had already created and sold my own content management system, it become clear that the team at Automattic had a much superior product so I decided to focus on customizing WordPress for business users. Later on I signed up at MeetUp.com and then discovered the Portland WordPress Meetup group. After attending a few meetings I started to get more involved, and eventually became an organizer. I wanted to give something back to the WordPress community, and also at the same time raise awareness for my own web development company, Tualatin Web.

Q: How long have you been working with WordPress?

A: My first WordPress install was in 2008. I started coding web sites in 1995, and computer coding in 1975.

Q: What made you choose to use WordPress‘s CMS over other methods of content management systems?

A: I also looked at Joomla, Drupal, Concrete, Wix, etc. It seems like every month we have yet another CMS. WordPress was the most intuitive CMS to learn, use, and develop for. WordPress is also the #1 CMS in the world, so it makes most business sense to specialize on the leading tool.

Interview With Kaylee Allen Author Support And Web Developer

The following interview was obtained through conversation through a Skype SMS message conversation with Kaylee Allen.

Kayelle Allen is a published award winning Science Fiction Romance author. In 2006, she founded Marketing for Romance Writers and MFRW – Marketing for Romance Writers (on Blogspot), a peer-mentoring group open to the entire literary community. The site is now the largest online author group of its kind, and provides no-cost training in book marketing skills as well as promotional services.

In 2009, Kayelle opened her Romance Lives Forever blog (adult content warning) for authors, publishers, and blog tour companies. The blog has an online reach of over one million.

Advanced Imaging in WordPress

Not many are happy with the 3.9 WordPress update due to changes in the advanced image settings. Gregory Cornelius released a WordPress Plugin that enables and expands upon the old advanced image settings called Advanced Image Styles.

Hat Tip: WPTavern

Why “Post by Email”

This is the first time a core feature has been removed from a WordPress and replaced by a Plugin. There are some concerns about removing a core feature and what will actually occur with the code that is currently on websites. The new “Post by Email” plugin created by Kat Hagan is scheduled to replace the core feature.

WordPress Tavern reached out to WordPress core developer Andrew Nacin and

Andrew Nacin Indicated that “There were some nagging concerns that outright removing the feature from core could inconvenience users who still rely on it. That doesn’t detract from Kat’s work at all. Her plugin is fantastic and it’s definitely a huge improvement over what’s in core now. It was never designed to be pulled into core, but rather to provide us an opportunity to remove what’s in core now.”

For more information on the changes to the “Post by Email” function go to WordPress Codex “Post By Email”

Extending Your WordPress Plugin

Ian Dunn discusses different ways to customize WordPress plugins without losing your changes after upgrades. The main takeaway is to use the functionality and Code Snippets plugins to create and manage changes. Additionally users are encouraged to get in touch with the plugin creator.

For more information checkout Ian Dunn’s article, “The Right Way to Customize a WordPress Plugin” and WordPress Tavern’s article, “How To Extend A WordPress Plugin Without Losing Your Changes.”

How to Change Your WordPress Display Name

To change the display name on your WordPress site so it appears as you and not your username, Go to Users > My Profile > Display Name.

Type in your new name.

Is WordPress Always Best?

Mario Peshev has written a brilliant article exploring the talking points all who seek the best CMS question. Check it out here:
Is WordPress Always the Right Tool?

Interview with Jenn Quigley: WordPress Developer

I interviewed Jenn Quigley a WordPress developer who is a former WordPress student. Here is what she had to say:

Chelsea Olver: How long have you been using WordPress?

Jenn Quigley: I’ve been using WordPress for the last 3 years.

CO: What got you started using WordPress?

JQ: My bosses husband has an online business who knew nothing about using WordPress and asked me to take it over. I had not used WordPress before that.

CO: Why WordPress?

JQ: It is just much easier to work with over other sites.

Interview with WordPress Developer, Jeremy Wilson

By Isobel Lennox

For the Clark College WordPress class, each current student was assigned to give an interview regarding WordPress to any persons of our choice. I chose WordPress developer and cat enthusiast, Jeremy Wilson. The interview has been modified into a comic strip. You can also read the text version of the article.

Enjoy!

What You Need to Know About Hosting WordPress

“How should I host my site?”

That is a question that many of us have asked, or asking, and will continue to ask. There are a few different ways on how and where your WordPress site lives on the inter-webs: hosted, managed and self-hosted.

Managed

When choosing a hosting service (aka when you want use WordPress.org but not WordPress.com), many companies offer and a “managed” experience. This basically means that all the back end of WordPress is dealt with, and you can focus more on your theme updates, WordPress updates, plugin managing and updates, (when applicable) extreme traffic permission; all the stuff someone that just wants to blog doesn’t want to worry about, but they want the power of plugins and full use of WordPress.