Did You Know?
Why it’s a bad idea to use text in background images
This is an awesome meme (the text at the bottom is intentionally cut off.) It nicely illustrates why including text on background images is a bad idea. Because background images get cropped as the screen changes sizes. On particularly small screens, the background image may also shrink too far to be readable. (This readability issue…
Read MoreDo I need to setup SMTP to get WordPress to send email?
Why do contact forms and password-recovery email messages work fine with some websites and not with others? A lot of it has to do with the way the web server is configured and/or the security settings for the client’s domain email. Most web servers can send simple email messages. Others, especially depending on what email…
Read MoreShould you give a developer access to your hosting account?
When you hire a WordPress professional to work on your site it’s pretty common for them to ask for It makes sense that they’d need to log into your website as an administrator. If they couldn’t they couldn’t add or remove plugins, make changes to the theme (colors, fonts, menus, widgets, footers), or run fairly…
Read MoreNote to self: fixing “weird” Unicode characters like ‘Â’ and ‘’’ in a WordPress SQL database
This post is based in part on a more detailed post from Jeff Starr at Digging Into WordPress. I’m posting it here so I can easily find the recipe I most often need. Definitely visit Jeff’s post for a full explanation. 99.999% of WordPress users are unlikely to need to import from an older archived…
Read MoreWhy every website needs a 50,000 mile checkup
Hey, if WordPress is so great why do so many web developers offer maintenance plans? Is WordPress really that insecure? Fragile? Hackable? No! A well-built WordPress site on a good hosting plan is surprisingly secure. So… why should you still get a good WordPress maintenance plan? Here’s how I explain things to my clients: WordPress…
Read MoreAnswering the question “Why is email through Wordpress so complicated?”
Why aren’t website’s contact form messages showing up in my inbox? It’s a common problem. It’s a common question. Here’s an answer. On a Reddit support forum for WordPress users, in a now-deleted post, someone said they were having trouble getting their contact forms and other email delivered when using 3rd-party email providers like Microsoft’s…
Read MoreFrom the horse’s mouth – what content does Google look for?
Summary: Cool set of questions that Google looks for when ranking website content. You’ll often hear people say the best way to boost your ranking with Google is to have great, useful, relevant content. Which to be honest ought to be pretty obvious… but isn’t, given the zillions of ways people come up with to…
Read MoreHow cheap is “cheap” hosting vs a “cheap” VPN?
We’ve updated this post with new hosting information In a private Facebook group for WordPress hosting someone who’s trying to save as much money as possible asked a specific question about two hosting plans. They’d initially bought a plan from commodity provider HostGator but had been advised to switch a more premium SiteGround account. It…
Read MoreDon’t just update WordPress, update your Zoom apps too
Just a reminder that for desktop users the Zoom app we use for meetings (including meetings to discuss maintaining, fixing, or building WordPress websites) doesn’t update automatically. And at least my Mac desktop version doesn’t even remind me to check for updates. Everyone else may have already known about this so maybe I only need…
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