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Web Dev + WordPress + Security

Launching My Latest WordPress Plugin: REST Pro Tools

REST Pro Tools

Very excited to launch my latest WordPress plugin, REST Pro Tools. This is the premium/pro version of the free plugin hosted at WordPress.org, Disable WP REST API. The free version is very basic and does exactly what it says: disables the WP REST API, no options just activate and done. But some users wanted more features, like denying access to specific routes while allowing others. So I packed the pro version with all of the REST API tools most requested […] Continue reading »

Micro API for Simple Download Counter WordPress Plugin

Simple Download Counter (SDC) version 2.3 features a very basic API that returns the number of times a specified file has been downloaded. For lack of a better name, I call it the “Micro API”. This tutorial explains how it works, and provides a real-world example showing how to use it. Continue reading »

Check 404 URLs in Database

There are many ways to do this. I wanted the quickest and easiest. I run Yourls on several sites to create shortlinks for my books. Each instance of Yourls contains many URLs. I like to keep my books current. URLs tend to change and break over time. It is a chore to check 800+ links in each of my books, page after page. So I wanted a quick way to check for 404 and other broken links. In this post, […] Continue reading »

Blackhole Cleaner

My free WordPress plugin, Blackhole for Bad Bots, and the pro version, Blackhole Pro are not compatible with cache plugins. This is stated on the plugin home page, installation page, support page, readme.txt, documentation, plugin settings page, help tab, and just about every other possible location. Continue reading »

Notes on Logging Into WordPress.org via Authenticator App

Screenshot showing the Two-factor authentication screen at WordPress.org

So yesterday I got a new phone and could not log in to my account at WordPress.org. Why? Because I had enabled Two-factor authentication (2FA) on my account as an extra layer of security. I had been completing this 2FA step on my old phone using the Google Authenticator app, which works great. The problem is that I had not yet transferred my Authenticator codes to my new phone. So when I tried to log in to my WordPress.org account, […] Continue reading »

Rules Guiding My Web Dev Work

Was thinking of the things that are absolutely essential for my line of work, at least for my own operation working with WordPress and web development. Not so much the technical and code side of things, but more of the “meta” or “big picture” type of stuff. Some are simple and others require a bit of explanation. Some are specific to working on the Web, and some probably would apply to any line of work. But I am a web […] Continue reading »

Pro Version of Head Meta Data WordPress Plugin

Head Meta Pro

Super pumped to finally launch Head Meta Pro! This is the premium/pro version of the free plugin hosted at WordPress.org, Head Meta Data. While the free version is great and serves many sites, there are more features that I wanted to add, like complete support for all the different page-views generated by WordPress. So with the free version, you can define one set of meta tags for the entire site. With the pro version, you can define unique sets of […] Continue reading »

Custom Headers with Simple Download Counter WordPress Plugin

Quick tip for my free WordPress plugin, Simple Download Counter. SDC is optimized for successful downloads in most server environments, but there always is an exception to the rule. For example, on some servers, a download’s content-length header may be calculated incorrectly for GZIP and possibly other file formats. This tutorial explains how to define your own headers for downloads when using Simple Download Counter, so you can dial in perfect downloads for any server configuration. Continue reading »

WordPress pre_get_posts + Combined Category Archives

This is a quick post following from the latest redesign of my WordPress plugins website, Plugin Planet. There, I make use of WordPress great query functionality to display archives of multiple categories. For example, here is the combined archive for BBQ Pro and Docs. So that category archive displays all documentation posts for BBQ Pro. Likewise for other categories, for example here is the combined archive for Banhammer Pro and Tutorials. That category archive displays all tutorial posts for Banhammer […] Continue reading »

BBQ Firewall – Count Blocked Requests

BBQ Firewall

BBQ Firewall is built to be powerful, lightweight, fast and flexible. It’s code base is kept super lean, leaving extra functionality out of core while supporting new features via simple addons. For example, this tutorial shows how to use an addon to display the total number of blocked HTTP requests on the plugin settings page. This can help you get a basic idea of the plugin’s effectiveness. Continue reading »

Enable Contact Form 7 to Work with Disable WP REST API

Screenshot of Firefox console

My free WordPress plugin, Disable WP REST API, disables the REST API for all users who are not logged in to WordPress. So if you’re using a plugin such as Contact Form 7 that requires the REST API, it’s not going to work if Disable WP REST API is active on site. But there is a way to make it work. This quick tutorial explains how to set it up in two steps. Continue reading »

WordPress: Display Posts on a Page with Paging and Navigation

In WordPress themes and plugins, the Loop is used to display posts on the front end. Typically the Loop displays either a single post (like when you’re viewing a blog post), or multiple posts (like when you’re viewing a category archive). Things get more tricky however, when you want to display posts on a page. Continue reading »

Filtered Language Menus with Prismatic WordPress Plugin

Prismatic Icon

Prismatic is a free WordPress plugin that adds syntax highlighting to code samples. You can use either Highlight.js or Prism.js to make your code snippets look amazing. This quick tutorial shares a way to customize Prismatic to save time scrolling thru a bunch of language options. Huge time-saver and simple to implement in a few minutes. Continue reading »

Why is there no 7G WordPress Plugin?

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 »

WordPress Plugin: Simple Download Counter

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

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 »

Welcome
Perishable Press is operated by Jeff Starr, a professional web developer and book author with two decades of experience. Here you will find posts about web development, WordPress, security, and more »
Head Meta Pro: Perfect Meta Tags for WordPress
Thoughts
The Office is Cheers with more irony.
More fine-grained control of macOS screen brightness: hold down Option + Shift before pressing either of the brightness keys. You get 64 increments instead of the usual 16.
REST Pro Tools featured in David McCan’s new video on locking down WordPress.
Gonna try exercise.
Launching my new plugin, REST Pro Tools 🛠️ Granular control of the WP REST API.
The algorithm is way too hypersensitive.
Working on a new pro WP plugin :)
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