I’ve just had a mini heart attack after accidentally interrupting a plugin update in wordpress and being presented with “Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance. Check back in a minute” whenever I try and access the front or back end of my WordPress site. After much frantic searching online, I found a simple solution – just delete the .maintenance file from the root folder of your WordPress installation. You can do this easily with your FTP client, or if like me you’re just using the Cpanel file manager, then make sure that when you start up the file manager – you select to show the hidden files (it’s a tick box otpion), so that you can see the .maintenance file in the first place.
Continuing on from my last post about domain name alternatives (HERE), there are other tools freely available online that should be part of any webmaster’s toolbox. This post will include links to the ones that I use most frequently and have found easiest to use.
There’s no point in struggling through with your web site, you may as well take advantage of the free resources that are available to you – and there are lots! All you need to know is where to look for them.
So, you’ve decided you want to have your own web site – either for a personal blog, interest site, or some business venture (or whatever else) and now you need to decide on the domain name that you want. Unfortunately, there’s quite a lot of other people that have had exactly the same idea and there’s increasing competition for the best web names out there.
Even if you’ve decided on a really cool name, it may already have been taken by someone else that has launched their own web site – or could have been secured by a cyber-squatter, who’s going to try and charge an exorbitant amount to allow you to take it…. so, what’s the alternative?
I’ve come across another good plugin that I like and have decided to add to my site(s) – it’s called the WP Socializer.
It’s an all-in-one plugin that includes links to all of the popular social networking / media web sites, but importantly, it allows a fair amount of customisation too. If you click on the full version of this post, you can see the plugin in effect, with the email, print, facebook, linkedin and twitter icons appearing rather faintly just at the top of the post.
If you’ve noticed the NY Times or other online publications have now started using a slide out tool and thought it was pretty fancy – then you may be pleased to know (as I was) that there’s a helpful, free plugin that allows you to achieve the same effect on your WordPress blog.
Worryingly, Facebook have added an automatic photo tagging system now which suggests photos that you appear in, based on photo recognition, as opposed to relying on individuals physically tagging you in them. If you don’t want to have this feature active – which, incidentally, is enabled by default – follow these simple steps:
- Go to Account >> Privacy Settings
- Scroll down the page and click on Customise Settings
- Scroll down to the section that says “Things others share”
- Click on Edit Settings next to “Suggest Photos of Me to Friends”
- Click on the button on the right and hit “Disable”
It’s as simple as that!
There’s a relatively easy way of making sure your WordPress site or blog is readily accessible from the growing number of smartphones and mobile devices out there, whilst still retaining much of the functionality and style that you’ve worked so hard to create with your site.
WP Touch is a handy, free plugin that will simply reformat your WordPress site if it detects that is being viewed on a mobile browser. It doesn’t change the viewing experience in a traditional browser on a desktop or laptop, but works behind the scenes to make your site that much easier to view and navigate on a mobile device.
This is my first chance to use the Android WordPress plugin and I have to say that despite the small screen on my HTC, it’s actually fairly easy to use. In fact, this post is being written on my mobile!
I think my biggest reservation about the app was typing a long post and not being able to save it in draft format, or losing the info somehow. Well, the app allows me to save drafts and return to them at a later date to edit and/or publish. And it’s fast too; faster than I expected it to be.
I think the biggest advantage of the app will come from being able to view and moderate any blog posts whilst I’m on the move. It should help make the blog a bit more interactive, responding to visitors more quickly – but also allowing me to make micro-posts on the move.
I’d give it 4 stars out of 5 overall. It’s missing some of the advanced plugins I have on my desktop, but for remaining connected and up to date whilst mobile, I can see it becoming invaluable.
It’s a shame I’ve not come across any Android apps for Chester (there’s a niche in the market for any budding developers!) – but there are a couple of iPhone apps that look pretty handy.
The best of the bunch seems to be the Chester Races iPhone app. You download it HERE from the itunes store. It’s completely free and includes the following features:
I just had to post something about Admiral Multicar insurance after they’ve managed to nearly halve my insurance quote this year! And this is at a time when the press are regularly stating that insurance premiums are going up across the board too. My renewal quote from previous insurer, 1st Central, came in at more than £200 higher than the previous year, despite having an extra year’s No Claims Bonus as well. I had the distinct impression they were trying to price me out of their business… so maybe it’s a business tactic of theirs?!
Anyway, I spoke to a really nice and helpful guy at Admiral called Maurice and he helped process my order. The customer service was first class, but that’s really secondary to the policy stuff, which was really outstanding. Not only can I have my renewal on the date that I want (end of April), but as the other car policy isn’t due to renew until the start of August, I can let that existing policy finish before adding it to my multicar policy. When it does join in August, it’ll be a pro-rata payment to bring it in line with the first car policy. It really couldn’t be easier!
http://www.admiral.com/multicar/aboutMulticar.php
Or get a quote now by clicking here: http://www.admiral.com/splash/multicarQuote.php
The cheapest quote I had from either Monesupermarket.com, Confused.com or Beatthatquote.com – was more than £400 more expensive than the multicar policy and all of them had higher excesses too!