Elliott Rodgers

WordPress 3.3 has now been released, with a host of improvements to the back end admin area and improvements in speed. It’s always a good idea to keep a WordPress installation updated, if only to make sure you get the latest security updates and fixes. Every version and update of WordPress just keeps getting better and better.

I’ve picked some of the new things in 3.3 from the massive list:

• New drag-and-drop multi-file uploading (except older IE – no surprise there!)
• Hover menus for the navigation
• New toolbar
• New Tumblr importer
• Better touch support on the iPad and other tablets
• Improved Editor API/li>
• Add support for rar and 7z file uploading
• Mew jQuery version (jQuery 1.7.1 and jQuery UI 1.8.16)
• Better ways to hook into the help screens
• Avoid losing widgets when switching themes
• More on the improvements in version 3.3 can be found on the Codex

There’s going to be some changes coming to my website soon, some of the features and items here are evolving into websites of their own, a few things moving around on the menu and so on. In the main I’m moving a lot of the work stuff away from my personal site and my personal site is becoming well kinda more personal. I hope that makes sense.

Web Store – is going very soon, it was an experiment to test the (very good) plugins from Tips and Tricks – WP eStore and WP Affiliate Platform both of which I hold in high regard.

ERS Web Solutions – as I mentioned above the whole work thing is getting a site of it’s own very soon, so watch this space. I will be keeping the tools that are on the site, here and probably adding some more soon. The whole menu is going to be named “Web Tools” to reflect this.

Sheppie – the Sheppie page is moving to the top of the menu, rather than being stuck in Other Stuff… he hasn’t quite earnt his own website and blog (yet!).

Please bear with me while I make these changes.

This post is a round up of some of useful tutorials and resources I’ve recently found during my wandering around the internet.

Roots WordPress Theme
Roots WordPress Theme – is a good theme for designers to start with that uses HTML5 and CSS3 and is packed to bursting point with extra features.

Beginner’s Guide to WordPress Plugin Development
Beginner’s Guide to WordPress Plugin Development – A really good tutorial for someone who wants to start learning how to make a WordPress plugin.

Crimes Against WordPress
Crimes Against WordPress/ – Really good article with several well thought ‘avoid doing this’ items. I love the title.

10 WordPress Tips to Make Your Blog Look Like a Website (for Beginners)
10 WordPress Tips to Make Your Blog Look Like a Website (for Beginners) – If you are using WordPress to build a static non blog site this article has some great tips.

Huge Compilation of WordPress Code
Huge Compilation of WordPress Code – this page has a load of really handy little “quick wins” of code for WordPress including: Dynamic Title Tags, Display Most Recent Twitter Entry and Display Gravatars (WordPress 2.5+ Only)

Hiding The WordPress Version Number
Hiding The WordPress Version Number – this tutorial covers good ways to hide the WordPress version numbers. My personal opinion is that you should obscure the WP version number. if a hacker knows what version of WordPress you are using it makes it easier for them to research exploits and hacks. Security through Obscurity as some people refer to it. You can’t secure any site 100% but you can do enough, that they go to another easy to hack site.You should of course always keep your WordPress installation updated.

WordPress FTP Data With Constant
WordPress FTP Data With Constant – Fantastic little bit of code which means you don’t have to keep remembering the FTP details. Great if you manage multiple WP sites or you often use internet cafes and don’t want to keep typing in passwords.

After seeing a reference to it in my visit logs, I was reminded to revisit a feature I’d been planning on adding to my site for a while. A shortened link to posts via Bit.ly. A couple of months ago I randomly found the excellent plugin Bit.ly Linker created by Andrew Gaukrodger which sorted the problem out.

I highly reccomend Andrew’s plugin which solved the problem for me quickly and easily. One brilliant thing for was that it deals with old posts as well, vital when slipping in a new feature, resaving every old post would take a while and be a real pain in neck. It also handles pages without a problem which was really handy for me given that my site now has over a hundred of them.

So there you have it bit.ly links on every post.

At ERS Web Solutions we enjoy helping our customers get their first website underway, WordPress is our favourite plaform for doing this. One of these websites needed a contact form that was as flexible as possible and easy to adapt without resorting to getting down and dirty with coding. Add a field here, tweak a little bit here.

A quick hunt through the WordPress Plugin Directory found a brilliant plugin which ticked all the boxes I needed ticking – Custom Contact Form.

It’s so good that I will probably end up using it here at ElliottRodgers.com.