This post explains all the different “x” characters currently available in HTML. It covers the various HTML entities and provides some examples and tips. Also explains the difference between the often confused “Multiplication X” and “Multiplication Sign”, and which is better for symmetrical buttons and links. Continue reading »
I have thought a lot about making an nG WordPress plugin. The problem is that writing to .htaccess via PHP/plugin is risky with lots of ways to fail and make users confused and angry. And nobody wants that, in fact just the opposite: my plugins strive to give users the most awesome experience possible. Continue reading »
I’ve always made use of CSS text-decoration properties in my theme designs and other dev work. From underlining text to making hyperlinks look great, text-decoration is essential CSS. Until recently I was not aware of a couple of related properties, text-underline-offset and text-underline-position. I am currently planning the next redesign of Perishable Press and thinking about using text-underline-offset to add some style to various link elements. So this post is to bring these related CSS properties together on paper, forever […] Continue reading »
Simple Download Counter is a free WordPress plugin that does exactly what it says: counts the number of times your files are downloaded. SDC is designed for maximum ease of use. The goal is a clean, lightweight “set it and forget it” solution for keeping track of downloads. Simply add your files via the plugin settings and display download links via shortcodes. Simple Download Counter does the rest. Continue reading »
New WordPress plugin! Simple Login Notification does one thing and does it well: sends an email alert whenever an admin-level user logs in to your site. I use this plugin on all of my sites to keep an eye on any unauthorized activity. Not that I’m expecting any, but if it does happen I definitely want to know about it. The plugin size is only 4 KB (zipped) with virtually zero impact on performance or anything else. Win win win, […] Continue reading »
I’ve been developing WordPress chat plugins for over 10 years, and have received tons of great user feedback for the free version of Simple Ajax Chat (SAC). So many ideas and ways to improve the plugin that it just made sense to bring it all together and build a new “pro” version. So after several months of intense plugin development, I am excited to launch my latest WordPress plugin, SAC Pro. SAC Pro is completely rewritten from the ground up, […] Continue reading »
“Quick” post about an error that may occur with WordPress 6.0 (and possibly other versions). After updating to WordPress 6, the JavaScript Errors Notifier extension was showing a “QTags is not defined” error on sites where custom Quicktags are configured (via plugins or custom scripts). Because of the error, custom Quicktags were broken and not added to the editor toolbar. This quick post explains why the error is happening and how to fix it (easily). Continue reading »
Heads up about the JavaScript Errors Notifier extension for Google Chrome. Looks like it was removed from the Chrome store sometime last year. Not sure of the reason behind it, but can tell you that currently there are no suitable extensions to replace it. Kinda sucks because JavaScript Errors Notifier was one of my favorite “always on” extensions. It makes it easy to spot any JavaScript errors as you develop, design, or browse the Web. Fortunately there’s still a way […] Continue reading »
It’s sad that we’ve arrived at a place where it needs to be said. Unfortunately, 3rd-party email services such as Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, and so forth have to deal with tons and tons of spam. So they tend to use very aggressive spam-filtering rules. Overly aggressive, in many cases. Continue reading »
This year, 2022, will be the 18th year that Perishable Press is online. The first year (2004–2005) was mostly behind-the-scenes development and site building. If you do a Whois lookup for the domain name, perishablepress.com, you’ll find the creation date is 2004-07-14. I had to look that up myself for this post. It was so long ago.. lol. So once the site went live in 2005, it was off to the races. Fast forward 18 years and here we are, […] Continue reading »
For years, I’ve not used ModSecurity for any of my own sites. Way back when I first tried ModSecurity, there were just too many false positives, so I stayed away from it, opting instead to develop my own fast Apache/.htaccess firewall. But my web host now is telling me that ModSecurity is required on all of their managed VPS plans. Continue reading »
I’m excited to launch my latest web-dev book, Wizard’s SQL Recipes for WordPress. I got the idea for this book way back when I was first learning how to build dynamic websites. I thought it would be useful to bring together all of the best SQL snippets in sort of a “spellbook” or “cookbook”. After all, SQL queries can seem like magic to the uninitiated. By entering concise, well-crafted commands, SQL enables anyone to interact with any relational database. It’s […] Continue reading »