Posts by David Innes, RealBasics.com
Why I’m optimistic about all the open-source bug reports
So the intertubes are all abuzz about reports of newfound vulnerabilities in open-source software. For instance, consider this breathless headline: WordPress Tightens Bug Bounty Scope After Monthly Security Reports Nearly Double to 773 Sounds awful. But to see why I’m less concerned, see what I think is the key paragraph in that post “Last month…
Read MoreRebuilt Theme for an Older WordPress Site After the Original Theme “Expired.”
The office manager at Lincolnwood Acupuncture and Chiropractic Center contacted me because their website showed the infamous “critical error” message. A little digging showed that while the actual server, and happens with some older websites, the display software the site had been built with (a.k.a. the site’s “theme,”) no longer ran after their hosting company…
Read MoreRestored website: Letters of Charlotte Mary Yonge academic research site
This site restoration was a pure labor of love. A research website hosting by Newcastle University in Australia evidently had to be taken down because nobody was able to keep it running. In May of 2025 a distress call went out over an academic group on Facebook, and a member pinged me wondering if maybe…
Read MoreRoger Montti on why Cloudflare’s proposed EmDash CMS probably isn’t a “WordPress killer”
Roger Montti, on Search Engine Journal, lists “6 Reasons Why Cloudflare’s EmDash Can’t Compete With WordPress” in this article, but really only needed one reason to explain why EmDash probably can’t compete with WordPress. (Assuming Cloudflare’s announcement wasn’t just an April Fools prank to begin with.) 1. EmDash Is Not User Focused There are over…
Read MoreBusy day in the life of a WordPress website support specialist
After nearly 15 years working with WordPress, and more than 13 years supporting other people’s websites, I end up doing a lot of really cool stuff. So I just thought I’d mention what my workday was like today. So today I… Attended my weekly business networking meeting Moved two sites to new hosting after major cleanups…
Read MoreRedesigned site for The Akopyan Group
We first built the Akopyan & Company website back in 2018. The company has grown and rebranded as The Akopyan Group, CPAs. With style and branding guidelines provided by the excellent designers at Chalkbox Studio, and new copywriting from Mike Plaster of Plaster Consulting, we gave the site a very nice facelift.
Read MoreDo you need to know a coding language in order to learn WordPress?
Short answer: no. Longer answer: probably not. There are different levels of “learning WordPress.” Not to sound like clickbait but “the last answer may suprise you.” If (but maybe only if) you’re going to code plugins, themes, and blocks then yes, you’ll need to learn to code. If you’re going to routinely build sites for…
Read MoreCelebrating more than 10 years of WordPress maintenance and support
3,717 days! Almost every day since switching from building new WordPress sites to maintaining, refurbishing, and updating old ones, I’ve logged into my InfiniteWP console and backed up and updated all my maintenance clients’ websites. The reason I chose IWP all those years ago is that it is self-hosted and doesn’t have per-site charges. There…
Read MoreDo you have to pay “Domain Listings” $288? 2024 Edition
It must be that time of year again. A client sent me this scan with a short, to the point question. “Is this junk or is this a legit renewal for us?” Client to remain nameless As always, my short, to-the-point answer is no, this is not a “legit renewal.” As I’ve been saying since…
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