Activate WordPress Plugins via the Database

Recently a reader named Chris asked, “how can we turn ON a plugin from the database?” He mentioned reading my previous article, Quickly Disable or Enable All WordPress Plugins via the Database, but for circumstantial slash technical reasons needed to do the opposite and enable a plugin directly via the WordPress database. I thought it was an interesting question that might actually be useful to discuss here at Perishable Press. Continue reading »

X Theme Leftover Code Snippets

While working on the site’s 24th redesign, I ended up with about 10 code snippets that were awesome but ultimately not needed. So rather than just delete these tasty functions, I am posting them here for future reference. Who knows, during the next site update I may decide to implement or repurpose some of these techniques. And of course sharing is caring, so feel free to use any of these code snippets in your own projects. Check out the Table […] Continue reading »

404 Fix: Block Nuisance Requests for Non-Existent Files

[ Han Solo shutting up C-3PO in Empire Strikes Back ]

As I’ve written before, blocking nuisance requests can help save you money by cutting down on wasted server resources, memory, and so forth. It also saves you time, as your server access and error logs won’t be full of nuisance request spam. So you will have more resources and time for things that matter, like running your business, helping customers, improving code, etc. So to continue the proud tradition of blocking malicious traffic, this post builds upon previous blocking techniques […] Continue reading »

WordPress and the Blank Target Vulnerability

For those who haven’t yet noticed, WordPress now adds rel="noopener" attributes for any external links added via the link Quicktag in the Visual/RTE. So if you enable the option, “Open link in a new tab”, WordPress automatically will add the rel noopener attribute to the link. This is to protect against CORS and other exploits that take advantage of blank-target links. It’s a smart move that may escape many in the WordPress community. So in an effort to help foster […] Continue reading »

Blocking the “ReallyLongRequest” Bandit

While browsing server logs, I kept seeing these super long request URIs that begin with “YesThisIsAReallyLongRequest…” and then the request string just keeps going for like 1 kilobyte worth of characters. Not just a few times, but many. In other words, somebody is going around and repeatedly hitting servers with gigantic-size requests. Probably to test server response using other people’s servers. Ummm, yeah kinda malicious. So I did some research and then blocked the “ReallyLongRequest” Bandit. Continue reading »

WP Cron HTTP Auth

Welcome to the official homepage for my free WordPress plugin, WP Cron HTTP Auth. This page explains what the plugin does, how it works, and where to download and get support. The plugin actually is very simple, however, so there is not a lot to explain. If you are looking for plugin documentation, visit WP Cron HTTP Auth at WordPress.org. There you will find installation steps, support forum, translation tools, and more. Continue reading »

WordPress Plugin: Disable WP REST API

Welcome to the official homepage for my free WordPress plugin, Disable WP REST API. This page explains what the plugin does, how it works, how to test the plugin, and why anyone would anyone on earth want to disable the REST API, for crying out loud, all explained on this page. If that sounds like you, you’re in the right place. If you are looking for plugin documentation, visit Disable WP REST API at WordPress.org. There you will find installation […] Continue reading »

Contact Form X

Welcome to the official homepage for my free WordPress plugin, Contact Form X (CFX). This is a more personal look at the plugin, aimed at readers who are familiar with my work. Here you’ll find some screenshots, cool features, and of course some rambling backstory (because there is one). If you are looking for official plugin documentation, visit Contact Form X at WordPress.org. There you will find docs, download, installation steps, support forum, translation tools, and more. Continue reading »

BAM: 5 New WordPress Plugins. Ahh Yeh.

I’ve been super busy this year, cranking out some useful new plugins. Nothing as awesome as Banhammer Pro, but some pretty useful new plugins nonetheless. So I’m launching a total of five new WordPress plugins. The first four basically are utility plugins designed to make WordPress life easier. The 5th and final plugin (for awhile at least), is Contact Form X, which I am now using as the contact form here at Perishable Press. Contact Form X I know what […] Continue reading »

WordPress Plugin: Disable Gutenberg

For those still in the dark, WordPress 5.0 will bring HUGE changes to the post editor. Dubbed Gutenberg, the new WP post editor replaces the entire “classic” post editing screen. So as of WordPress 5.0 and beyond, the “Edit Post” screen will be completely replaced by a giant WYSIWYG content builder called “Gutenberg”. So much more is being replaced than just the content editor. The list of things that are replaced by Gutenberg include the RTE/Visual Editor, Plain Text Editor, […] Continue reading »

WordPress Plugin: Custom Fields for Gutenberg Block Editor

Currently Gutenberg does not display the Custom Fields meta box. Before Gutenberg, in WordPress 4.9 and earlier, the “Edit” screens in the WP Admin Area optionally displayed the Custom Fields meta box. The Custom Fields meta box is employed by millions of sites, themes and plugins. Including my own collection of WordPress plugins, which use custom fields for Posts, Pages, and many Custom Post Types. Basically Custom Fields are a critical part of WordPress functionality, so I wrote a plugin […] Continue reading »

Banhammer WordPress Plugin

[ Banhammer - Protect your site from enemy hordes! ]

Banhammer makes monitoring traffic and banning visitors crazy easy and fun. Say your forum is being harassed by some dirtbag. Or your admin directory is crawling with bad bots. Or some script kiddie is trying to brute-force your login page. Don’t just sit there and watch it happen.. drop the Banhammer on those fools and block them forever. Continue reading »

New WordPress Security Plugin: Host Header Injection Fix

Since version 2.3, WordPress has been vulnerable to a Host Header Injection attack in certain server environments. Over the years, there has been some discussion about fixing the vulnerability, but as of WP 4.9 (beta) nothing has been implemented. So to help those in the WP community who may be concerned (including myself), I developed a new security plugin that fixes the issue: Host Header Injection Fix (HHIF). Continue reading »

WordPress: Plugin Development

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 »

FAQs for User Submitted Posts

This post contains overflow FAQs for the free version of User Submitted Posts (hosted at WordPress.org). I am moving a bunch of the FAQs to this post in order to clean up the plugin’s ever-growing readme.txt file. For FAQs about the Pro version of USP, check out USP Pro – FAQs & Presales over at Plugin Planet. Note that these FAQs are in no particular order. So without further ado.. Continue reading »

Blackhole for Bad Bots – Quick Start

Welcome to the Quick Start Guide for the standalone PHP version of Blackhole for Bad Bots. This post basically is a condensed summary of the original Blackhole tutorial. So if you are new to the concept of blocking bad bots, check out the original tutorial. Otherwise, for those that are familiar, the following guide should simplify things and help you get started with Blackhole as quickly as possible. Continue reading »

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