Alert: WP-Spamfree plugin breaks WordPress 3.1

Last Updated on Thursday, 24 March 2011 10:20 Written by Theresa Thursday, 24 March 2011 10:20

ATTENTION ALL BLOG CLIENTS:
Please check your plugins list for the WP-Spamfree plugin. I installed this plugin for MANY of you. If you have it activated, please deactivate it. The plugin is no longer supported by the developers or WordPress. I’ve found that on some hosts, it actually breaks WordPress. A good alternative for an anti-spam plugin is the SI Captcha Anti-Spam plugin. Just go to Plugings–>Add New and search for that name and activate it. You won’t need to do anything after that.
Thanks!

Spring Special: Get Mobilized for free!

Last Updated on Monday, 14 March 2011 01:49 Written by Theresa Monday, 14 March 2011 12:21

How mobilized is your blog?  One of my goals this year was to learn how to create a mobile version of a blog or blogsite that is truly a “mini” version of the actual site.  I had a plugin working for a while that switched over to a mobile theme, but I found a lot of things wrong with it.  1) flash galleries weren’t being substituted for non-flash compatible ones that I set up, 2) post images by default don’t show up on the front page or show up too small and 3) I could never get it to look exactly the way I wanted.  #2 was a big point for me considering as photographers, we want our images to be seen and often seen as large as possible.

Well now, I can say I have it probably 85% figured out. I’ve worked hard in getting my photography blogsite working correctly on an iPhone and I think I now have it to where I’m quite happy with it. Here are some goals I was trying to accomplish:

• increase text size to increase readability on small devices
• format the width to increase visibility of post images and text (many blogs are wider than the default 980 pixels width allowed)
• insure that galleries are viewable (non-flash compatible)
• verify menu compatibility
• verify forms are operational
• overall formatting of theme structure works correctly

When I say that I’m 85% there, I have to admit that I can’t be 100% sure only because I don’t own an iPad, so I can’t verify the layout on that device.  THIS is one of the reasons why I’m offering a special this Spring.  For any custom blog or blogsite, I will create a mobile version of  your site for free. In actuality, you’ll be helping me out since I need more practice in creating mobile stylesheets.  If any of you have Androids or iPads, that would be a double bonus for me.  For blogsites, I always install a non-flash compatible photo gallery system, so portfolio galleries always show up.  I’ve also found a flash slideshow plugin that stacks photos in posts when viewed on a non-flash browser.

Here’s a side by side comparison of my blogsite that shows the difference between what it looks like on 1) Firefox for PC 2) Safari on an iPhone 4 and 3) mobile plugin called Wapple Architect.  Click on the thumbnail to see the pc screenshot.

Firefox on pc
(1440px widescreen reduced to 1200px):

custom mobile style on Safari on iPhone (320px wide):

Mobile theme using Wapple Architect plugin

As you can see, the iPhone version is more readable now with the text and width adjustments.  If I were to leave it alone and just let the default stylesheet load, the text would be TINY and the width of the blog would make image viewing difficult as well.  The mobile plugin theme is….yuck.  It doesn’t look much like my blogsite and images are small, and I had to hack it quite a bit to show the first image at all.

Spring Special: Free mobilized style for all Complete Blog and Blogsite Packages – sign up by April 30th, 2011. The cost to mobilize an existing blog theme is $50. After April 30th, the cost to add on a mobilized theme will be $100.

Broken Inline Comment Forms with WordPress 3.1

Last Updated on Friday, 4 March 2011 11:12 Written by Theresa Friday, 4 March 2011 08:51

I discovered this week that with all blogs (including this one) set up with inline commenting using the Ajax WordPress 2.8 plugin, the comment form will return an error message “ERROR RECEIVED:” in red when someone tries to submit a comment.  This only happens with the current upgrade of WordPress, which is now at 3.1.  BUT, the comment does still go through and is received by the blog owner, although the person leaving the comment doesn’t know that it has gone through because of the error message.  I’ve been researching on the problem and haven’t found any documentation on it and the plugin developer has yet to respond to my message regarding the issue.

I’m currently trying to figure out an easy fix, but seeing as the plugin has cornered the market on the inline comments and comment forms functionalities, I have yet to find an alternative.  For now, my only suggestion is that you DON’T upgrade to WordPress 3.1 if you haven’t already, at least until the plugin developer comes back with a fix, which hopefully will be soon.  He announced nearly 9 months ago that an upgrade was imminent so I’m crossing my fingers and toes that it will be very soon.  Maybe my message to him about the plugin being broken will prompt him to release it sooner.

Again, inline comment forms (typically on the front page of blogs, not individual posts) are returning error messages with the current WordPress 3.1 upgrade.  Comments are still coming through though, but at least you know to inform your blog visitors that their comments are still being received.