Tips, web design book reviews, resources and observations for teaching and learning web development.
The TEDTalk by Daphne Koller. She talks about online education and her company Coursera. Her quote from Thomas Friedman gives you a sense of what she talked about.
The big breakthroughs happen when what is suddenly possible meets what is desperately necessary.
These slides are from Pamela Fox’s presentation called The Developer Experience. she also has a video available of the presentation. The presentation is from Summit, San Francisco. If you look around there, you’ll find more interesting presentations.
I’m reading an inspiring book called What’s Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption
At collaborativecomsumption.com there are dozens of examples of websites where you can share, exchange, swap, barter or, sell collaboratively. The list is a gold mine.
Here’s a video explaining what collaborative comsumption is all about.
One thing I searched for on the site and couldn’t find was a recommendation of helpful open source software that might let me build something for my own little neighborhood such as a tool borrowing resource or a ride exchange. Do you know of such a pre-built but modifiable software package? I found a few on Sourceforge, but nothing that looks exactly like what I want.
I’m working on a much more in depth post about the notion of collaborative consumption that will be published tomorrow on BlogHer.com. If you are interested in learning more, check there tomorrow afternoon.
I reviewed the web site creation tool Weebly in 2008. See A Look at Weebly. Now they’ve created an app for iPhone that lets you create posts from your mobile. It’s really simple and may appeal to many people who want to do easy blogging and posting while on the go. Since I already have a history with Weebly, and because they’ve managed to survive and thrive all this time in a competitive niche, I thought a look at their app was in order.
The app is free from the App Store. It works on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad and requires iOS 4.3 or later. I’d head to the App Store first. If you go to the weebly site, they ask for your mobile number before they send you a link to the app. You may ultimately have to give them your mobile number to use the app, but I found it really annoying that they asked for it even before you’d had a chance to take a look.
Photo by Schill via Flickr
Most everyone that has a WordPress website or blog does so out of the necessity to be creative and to generally express the thoughts that are screaming to dome out of your head onto paper (or in this case the screen). That effort to be me is where I get most of my fuel to carry on even on the worst days of cyber-attacks. A favorite quote comes from henry Ward Beecher, – In himself is a man’s true state of riches and power.
As most of you know WordPress is the very popular software that allows each of us to be who we perceive ourselves to be. With its ease of use and versatile approach to fulfilling each individual’s needs WordPress opens the doors to the virtual universe.
Thesis WordPress themes are responsible for that seamless creative time that you spend when setting up your site. But users beware! As great as this software is for the majority of people who are not techies, WordPress offers a wide open opportunity for hackers.
Thesis WordPress themes are great software products and it is an absolute necessity that you spend the little extra time that it requires to secure your blog or website against invasion by the cyber scum that inhabits our planet! With its vast library of plugins users can seamlessly manage their website without the added expense of a webmaster.
1. Akismet is a program that checks comments left on your blog or website to see if they appear to be spam and then allows you to review the spam it does catch through the blog “Comments” admin screen. Akismet comes pre-installed with Thesis WordPress themes, and once you apply for and install your API key you will find the controls for it in your options panel in your Dashboard.
2. Website Defender WordPress Security plug-in is a free and comprehensive security tool that helps you secure your Thesis WordPress themes installation and offers suggestions for strengthening your passwords, securing your database, and lots more.
3. BackWPUp is a plugin that backs up your Thesis WordPress themes files and database and store them wherever you decide. You can schedule automatic backups and pick out which folders and tables you want to backup.
4. WP Security Scan raises the level of the security for your Thesis WordPress themes installation. It does this by scanning your site for security issues then suggests the methods you can use to fix them.
5. WP Secure plug-in provides security for your Thesis WordPress themes installation by hiding your plug-in directory and WP version from hackers and others. This is important to do because the cyber scum that inhabits our virtual world use the version and the list of plugins to locate one that they have hacked before to hack their way into your blog! Add this plug-in to protect your website or blog.
6. WP-MalWatch is designed to alert you when hackers have invaded your blog. When hackers do get into your Thesis WordPress themes blog site, they infest your site or blog with links to their sites. When you know they have invaded you can take the necessary actions to remove them from your world.
It is very advisable that you only use the plugins that are approved by the WordPress folks. They always test each plugin prior to posting it as available on their website. This is in no way speaking ill of the third party plugins that abound on the internet. It does suggest that you must do your own investigation of third party products so that you get a feeling of trust from the vendor.
Worrying about the safety of your site is not nearly as productive as installing the proper plugins to ensure that safety. Spend the time that it takes you to install the plugins that will protect your site! Like William Plomer once said, – The power to connect the seemingly unconnected lied within creativity.
Guest Author Bio: As a freelance writer and research hound Jason Monroe is a young (mid 20’s) single man adding content for clients from within the WordPress Dashboard. Jason has been online since 2003 and has been a huge fan of WordPress and the StudioPress themes since their inception. When he’s not writing premium WordPress Genesis themes reviews you might find him spending quality time with nature by walking the nearby mountain trails.
If you want to make using WordPress an easier process, or just want to make the most out of what WordPress has to offer, check out these ten tools.
The great thing about this content package is that it is more than just beneficial for WordPress bloggers. It is also a charity package, which gives 100% of their proceeds to emergency programs through UNICEF. It comes with access to nine different services: Site5 Web Hosting, The Hello Bar, Themify, Pippity WP Plugin, Mad Mimi, CodeGuard, Sendible, OrganicThemes ‘Bold Theme’ and Themes Kingdom (5 different themes). Some of these, such as the themes, are one time purchases that give you full use rights. As for the services, they are between three and six month plans. In all, this is a $630 value package for $59, and all to help UNICEF. Definitely worth getting.
When you first go onto this site you might be a little confused. The format is a fantastic clone of the WP dashboard, complete with matching side icons. In itself, it is the perfect guide for the WP beginner. It goes through every element of the website, giving you a total tutorial to use. They also have a list of useful WordPress books you can read if you want to learn even more.
As a blog owner, you are responsible for the content that is posted on your site. The biggest issue with this comes with guest bloggers. While you can easily control the genre or topics they write on, it is harder to handle format. Most writers will try to follow by the general layout used on other posts, or follow your instructions, they can often forget something. Which leads to more work for you in edit. That is why having a checklist for guest post formatting is a great idea. You can make your own, or use this one by the great Ann Smarty. Download and customize it.
Copyblogger is a very informative site, and they aim to provide simple posts with plenty of advice for the average blog owner. In this edition, they give you seven tips on how to make WP work for you. It includes tricks for your sidebar, navigation advice and more.
WordPress has a large selection of templates for you to use. Most of them are free, and some of them cost between $15 and $200. All of them are customizable and easily adapted for your needs. However, you might want something entirely your own. In that case, you will have to create one. Luckily, this isn’t as difficult as creating other coding, such as traditional graphic design. This video will show you how to make a template for WP, step by step.
If you want more information on design for WordPress, this series is a good place to start. They have a few videos explaining the finer points of the topic, starting from the Starkers theme rather than a default. In all, the video series runs about two hours and fifteen minutes.
Sometimes you love a theme, but you hate the header that it generates. Which is fine, because it is very simple to create your own header. On this video it will break it down for you, showing exactly how to make a header that will fit your blog. You will be ready in a manner of minutes.
The most confusing part of customizing a blog for more WorPress users is modifying an existing theme. It doesn’t take that much to learn what you are doing. Each part is in a different area of the coding box. This video breaks it down for you and shows you how to make changes.
ScribeFire is a great plugin tool for Firefox, Chrome, Safari or Opera. It allows users to turn their browser into a full blog updater. Create new posts, edit old ones, work on SEO and more through the plugin itself. But best of all is that it allows you to work on all of your blogs in one place.
An official tool from WP, this allows you to check for any broken links in your posts. This makes it really easy to keep track of them, and to be alerted to any problems in the future.
If you want to make WordPress really work for you, then these ten tools can help. From getting advice on how to create a better blog to learning how to properly code your theme, they have everything you need to get things started.
Guest Author Jessy is the tech blogger for VIP Reality blog. Vip Reality is a Dallas real estate company preaching a high-quality approach to online marketing. All images courtesy Jessy.
There is no web server existing within our society that proves fail proof. Web servers are often targeted in organizations because of the sensitive information they contain. Securing a web server proves as momentous as securing web or website applications and the networks surrounding them. If you have a secure web application that is paired with an unsecured web server or if this is reciprocated, your business will remain a substantial risk.
Securing web servers can prove frustrating and tedious along with requiring expertise, but it is not an impossible task. Ensuring the company web servers are secured will save your company from various headaches and data breaches in the future. No matter the operating system you have or web server software you are using, an out of the box configuration is always unstable. Companies should implement necessary tasks to increase the security of their web servers.
The following is a list of steps that should be taken to protect business web servers:
Server administrators should always log onto local web servers. If remote access is warranted, you must ensure that the remote connection is properly secured. This is achieved by tunneling and following encryption protocols. It never hurts to use security tokens and other sign-on equipment. Do not use public computers or networks when you are accessing business servers remotely. This means that when you are enjoying a cup of java in the cafÈ, do not try logging onto business servers.
Default configurations and operating system installations are never safe. In standard default installations, network services that will not be used in web server configurations are installed. Some great examples of this are printer server services, RAS and registry services. When your operating system has an abundance of services running on it, this leaves open more ports, thus leaving more ìbackdoorsî for hackers to take advantage of. Disable and turn off all unnecessary services and this will ensure the next time you boot up your server, they will not start automatically. This task will also provide that extra boost to your serverís performance with freeing up hardware resources.
Web applications and or website scripts and files should always be on separate partitions and not that of your operating system, system files or logs. Hackers can easily gain access to the web root directory and exploit vulnerabilities.
It proves faster and easier for developers to develop new versions of web applications on production servers. It also proves standard that testing and development of these applications are performed directly on the production servers. Because these types of web applications are in early development stages, they usually have different vulnerabilities, cannot handle exceptions properly and they lack input validation. These applications can easily be exploited and found by hackers with using ordinary, free tools found on the Internet.
To deal with this issue, developers have begun to develop internal applications that allow access to the databases, web servers and other resources. The applications typically do not have any restrictions because they are merely testing applications that normally are only accessed by developers. If testing and development is not performed on a production server, they can easily be found by hackers which can help them gain access to the production server.
Testing and development of web applications should be performed on remote servers from the Internet and should never connect to or use real life databases and information.
Just because your web server contains fully-patched software does not assure its security. Ensure that you pay close attention to updating the operating system, and software running on it. Any hacker will admit that one of the easiest ways to take advantage of operating systems is through unpatched software and servers.
Logs should always be stored in a segregated section in web servers. Network services logs, database server logs, operating system logs and website access logs should be monitored regularly. If you see suspicious activity occurring on the server, the action should immediately be investigated to see what exactly is going on.
Network and file services play a vital part in the security of web servers. If a web server becomes compromised through network service software, hackers can use the account where the network service is running from to carry out their evil deeds. It proves necessary to assign privileges warranted for network services to run. It is necessary to backend databases and information.
Scanners prove to be practical tools that aid in automating and easing the process of web application and web server security. Scanners that include port scanners can enable port scans on the web server hosting web applications being scanned. Scanners will initiate various security checks in reviewing network services and open ports that are running on your web server.
Remove software extensions and unused modules
Default Apache installations contain various predefined modules that are enabled. Ensure that you turn off these modules to prevent attacks to these modules. This also applies to Internet Information Services (Microsoftís web server). By default, IIS is configured to serve various large application types such as ASP. NET, ASP and more. The application list extensions should only contain the extensions the web applications or website are using. Each application extension should be restricted to using HTTP verbs only, whenever possible.
Any default user account creating when an operation system is installed should be immediately disabled afterwards. It proves necessary to examine the long list of softwareís that have been installed on the server. This software should be checked regularly and frequently. The admin account should be renamed and should not be used; the same applies to the root user on a Linux/ Unix install. Any admin accessing the server should have their own user account with privileges. It is also highly recommended not to share your user account information with anyone.
In our modern era, tips and information on software and operating systems can easily be found on the Internet. It proves useful to stay informed while educating yourself about new tools and malicious attacks. One easy way to accomplish this task is by reading security-type magazines, forums, newsletters or other types of communities. Knowledge is power and the more you learn, the more you will be able to protect the security of server-side scripting.
Guest author Alfred Richards an experienced web designer and has profound knowledge of web hosting and web marketing, to know more visit his site VPN service.