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 »
Just a heads up! I’m in the process of migrating all book accounts to the new bookstore at Perishable Press Books. The goal is to streamline everything — all books and user accounts — under the new books domain. This will make everything much simpler for everyone. Eventually, the other book sites will be taken offline, after everything is migrated to the new bookstore here at Perishable Press. Continue reading »
![[ Jeff Starr (aka Perishable) ]](https://perishablepress.com/wp/wp-content/images/global/jeff-starr.jpg "Jeff Starr")
When I spend time on something, like an interview, I like to know that it was actually published somewhere. Below is an interview that I completed for a web-hosting company that apparently now is missing in action. It covers how I got into web development, upcoming projects, web security, work flow, writing books, WordPress, and more.. Continue reading »
![[ Perishable Press Books (screenshot) ]](https://perishablepress.com/wp/wp-content/images/2020/books-homepage.jpg)
After six months of on-again, off-again hard work (and plenty of unexpected challenges), I am excited to launch the new Perishable Press Bookstore. The old bookstore was located on a separate domain, but I wanted it to be better integrated with the main site here at Perishable Press. So now there is the site blog at perishablepress.com and the store at books.perishablepress.com. Continue reading »
![[ WordPress: Shared Hosting ]](https://perishablepress.com/wp/wp-content/images/2019/wordpress-shared-hosting.jpg)
After months of hard work, my latest LinkedIn/Lynda.com video course has launched! The course walks through the entire process of getting WordPress installed and running on shared hosting. If you’re new to WordPress or the Internet in general, and want to start your own WordPress-powered website, this course will help you do it as quickly and inexpensively as possible. Continue reading »
![[ WordPress: Plugin Development ]](https://perishablepress.com/wp/wp-content/images/2017/wordpress-plugin-development.jpg)
After months of hard work, I am excited to announce the launch of my new video course on developing WordPress plugins. It covers the entire process of building, securing, and optimizing your own plugins, including 50+ ready-to-go plugin demos and examples. The course is focused on developing plugins using the WP API and Standards. Covers basics and gets into advanced topics like HTTP API, REST API, and WP Cron. Truly packed with practical examples and techniques to help you create […] Continue reading »
In this tutorial, I’m going to walk you through how you can add a new menu in WordPress Admin Area, where your users will be able to import any demo content — including widgets, their positions and navigation as well — by a single click. The code follows the best WordPress practices, uses WP Filesystem for file management, includes escaping and all text strings are prepared for translation. It also passes the WordPress theme check plugin! Continue reading »
![[ WordPress: Developing Secure WordPress Sites ]](https://perishablepress.com/wp/wp-content/images/2016/secure-wordpress-sites.png)
After months of preparation and production, my new video course on developing secure WordPress sites is now available at Lynda.com. This is my second video course on securing WordPress; the first one was originally launched in 2011 and remained in Lynda’s library for over five years. I received a lot of great feedback on the course, and so I jumped on the opportunity to do another one. If there is one thing that I enjoy doing, it’s helping people with […] Continue reading »
![[User Enumeration ]](https://perishablepress.com/wp/wp-content/images/2016/user-enumeration.jpg)
This tutorial explains how to block user-enumeration scans in WordPress. As explained in greater depth here, user enumeration happens when some malicious script scans a WordPress site for user data by requesting numerical user IDs. For example, requests for author=1 through some number, say, author=1000, may reveal the usernames for all associated users. With a simple enumeration script, an attacker can scan your site and obtain a list of login names in a matter of seconds. Continue reading »
Just a quick post to let people know about the updates now available for my various books and plugins. Basically the entire month of May was spent on plugin and book updates, so here is a quick summary of what’s new. Continue reading »
Today I am pleased to announce the winners of the 2014 Book Giveaway, wherein 9 contestants win free copies of my books — The Tao of WordPress, WordPress Themes In Depth, and .htaccess made easy — including all bonus material and updates. Continue reading »
A few days ago, I launched a Thanksgiving-themed book giveaway for Digging Into WordPress. The post has received some great comments that reminded me of how absolutely awesome people can be. So to chase the feeling and keep the momentum going, I’m giving away more books to 9 lucky winners. Continue reading »
Book Launch! My fourth book, WordPress Themes In Depth, focuses entirely on WordPress theme development. It goes in-depth on how to build, customize, and distribute your own WordPress themes. It’s 10+ years of experience with WordPress jam-packed into 450 pages of non-stop theme-building action. Continue reading »
In this tutorial I am going to show you how to build a pure CSS drop down menu in WordPress. I will walk you through the steps of creating a menu in WordPress, customizing it with CSS, and then printing the menu in your theme file. This tutorial requires that you have access to edit your WordPress theme files and also a basic understanding of HTML and CSS. I will walk through the process step-by-step so don’t worry if you […] Continue reading »
New version of Ajax-Powered Error Logs for WordPress now available for download. The functionality is the same, but the script is rewritten for better design, performance, and security. Continue reading »
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to install and run WordPress MultiSite on a MAMP webserver. Running multiple sites from a single installation simplifies and streamlines administration, and serving it all from a locally installed version of MAMP gives you everything you need to develop your network of sites for the Web. Continue reading »
