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Fancy up your quotes
Don’t you just hate it when… your quoted paragraphs look like this? Or have you ever even noticed? The typographic problem here is – the punctuation isn’t “hanging.” That’s when, in this case, the first quotation mark isn’t moved off to the left creating a smooth left margin. This is big problem! 🙂 I saw it,…
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Why can’t anyone find me?
If you’ve recently launched a website and are wondering why you aren’t showing at up in Google after a few days, there is one setting you should make sure to check. WordPress and other CMSs have a setting that blocks the site from being indexed. This is usually used during development so that you don’t…
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I never know what’s going to be on the rock.
Down the hill behind our deck is a – pond. Sort of. I think technically it’s a vernal pool, since in dry years it dries up. This time of year, if there is water, it is mostly green. Off to one side, sticking out in the water, is a rock. Almost every afternoon there are…
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I now have too much cache
Some days we simply have too much cache. For better or worse, we live in the era of cache (pronounced like the money), with local cache, browser cache, server cache, Google cache, CDNs, and sometimes double secret cache all seemingly conspiring against us as we make website edits and updates. Because what cache does is…
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Expectations, reality, and fans
Last month I had to replace a ceiling fan. When we moved in, this fan sort of worked. It was stuck on ‘low’ speed, and the part of the fan that controls the speed was broken. Parts were not available. So, finally, we ordered a new fan and I went to install it. Other than…
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Control those file names
In the olden days, file names on a PC could only have 8 characters. Then with Windows 95, all of a sudden… you could name files almost anything you wanted. And, as far as web servers go, things took a turn. 11+NAME+Resource+Reference2+Managing+Development+&+(1)Workshop+09132022.docx.pdf I downloaded something with that file name the other day (some words changed…
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Real world impact of image sizes
For websites, faster is better. One client’s site was loading slowly on phones, and asked me to take a look and see what could be improved. Sure, we all love high-res photos with glorious detail. And in some cases, that resolution is needed. But for thumbnail-sized images – 150x150pixels, for example, you don’t need all…
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That’ll put marzipan in your pie plate, bingo!
Right? No matter how you feel about Buffybot, we can agree that that line is confusing. (And yet I remember it years later… anyway…) I mean, she may as well have said “edit your A record to point to the new IP address, bingo!” What? You may think you know what a website is. Or…
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The perils of proprietary plugins
Just sit right backAnd you’ll read a taleA tale of an old web site, That launched back in Twenty-fourteenWith plugins full of plight. The site was working fine one dayUntil the plugins crashed. The pages used to work ok,But now the site is trashed,Now the site is trashed. The home page is a freakin’ mess,The…
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Gimme all your logins
All your links and passwords, too. Guess how many clients don’t have access to their own websites? More than you’d think. And even if you never log in, this is important information for every website owner to have, because sometimes this happens: Whether it’s a WordPress issue, a misplaced semicolon, a plugin incompatibility, or simply…
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Does it feel like your SEO isn’t working any more?
Maybe you can use a tip from some hawks. For the last several years, we’ve had Red-Shouldered hawks around (see photos – these are the actual hawks living here this year.) This year they are building a nest in our yard. We can see it from our living room – I can also see it…
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Google is at it again
Heads up – Google Analytics is changing, and we all need to change with it. If you are already using Google Analytics on your site, you may need to make some adjustments so your site keeps tracking after July 1, 2023. I have seen things that say if you didn’t do this in March 2023,…
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Have you ever seen a fatal error in WordPress?
It’s quite a ‘site’ to behold. Quick poll: Which version of PHP is your WordPress site using? __ What’s PHP? __ Huh? PHP is the scripting language that lives behind the scenes in WordPress (and other) website platforms. It’s software, and, like any other software, there are updates and patches and security releases over time. …
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Don’t get lost in your own site
Day after day I’m more confused Yet I look for the light through the pouring rain… So this song came up on the radio the other day and it reminded me – It doesn’t matter what it is, or how easy anyone else says it is, or how easy it’s supposed to be, if you…
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Plugin folks and pizza forms
Have you ever needed a pizza form? Last month I was asked to help out with streamlining a school lunch pizza ordering system, that seemed to rely on a series of spreadsheets and PDFs and Google docs and abaci. As part of the solution, I was looking at forms and ways to have the web…
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Still very simplified SEO 002
So – if you read part 1, you may recall that having relevant page titles and meta descriptions on your web site pages can help boost your SEO and search results. But you still need to know what words to put in there! The short answer is, put in words that your customers will use…
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Here I am, sailing by ash breeze.
(Is that good or bad? I think it’s good.) When I was a kid, one of my favorite books was “Carry on, Mr. Bowditch” by Jean Lee Latham.* It tells the story of Nathaniel Bowditch, who grew up in Salem, MA, in the late 1700s, in the time of tall ships and the spice trade. …
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Overly simplified SEO 001
So I had to make a pie. My Pie Poll called for apple. Though I am practically surrounded by cookbooks, my pie-making history has not been the best so I headed online. When you put “pie” (or any search) into Google, a few things happen. First it checks domain names for your search term(s). So…
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Line up those website ducks for 2023*
It’s almost the end of the year (how??), and like everyone, I am trying to get a head start on my 2023 – stuff – and encouraging my clients to do the same. As you plan your website needs for January and beyond, here are a few things to think about: Do you need a…
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Image shrinking, part 2
In part 1, we talked a little about the importance of having smaller images on your website. Here in part 2, we talk briefly about how to do it. There are two areas you may need to make smaller, and depending on your editor, you may see different numbers or terms. 1 – the image dimensions/area…
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Shrink those images, please
Not long ago, a client asked me to take a look at their home page and see if I could figure out why it was loading slower. I did, and, I did. I found a 42mb photo (that is way big!) loaded into the top banner area. They had loaded in a photo from a…
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What’s on our hat rack?
Here at RPS, we wear many hats. I personally wear several on any given day. And on any given project – our extended team is wearing even more. The Design hat. Custom code hat. WordPress hat. Development hat. Maintenance hat. Client Service hat. Red Sox hat (maybe not this season…) SEO hat. The “Just make…
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Fix your website’s leaking roof
Are you and your WordPress site ready for 2023? If you are still relying on the Classic Editor plugin, you may not be. When WordPress 5.0 (also known as Gutenberg or block editor) launched in late 2018, the Classic Editor plugin became one of the most popular plugins available. This plugin let you ignore the…
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The dark side of WordPress updates
Have you ever had an older phone and the operating system updated (intentionally or accidentally) and things started not working quite right or not working at all? That’s similar to what can happen with an older or outdated WordPress website when updated without care. Wonkiness. From pages not loading properly to missing styles to no…
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Keeping things current
So last week I talked about having too much stuff. This week – let’s talk about keeping your stuff updated. There are three parts to keeping WordPress updated. WordPress core, any themes, and any plugins you are using. If these updates aren’t done regularly, you can easily get a few versions out of date –…
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Don’t let your website be a hoarder
Old themes, old plugins, giant images, even entire old site versions can all be taking up too much space on your website’s server, and that server can become a hoarder if you’re not careful. And after a while, this can become a problem in a couple ways. First – sheer volume of files can put…
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Why hosting matters for WordPress sites
As someone on the sharp end of website development, I interact with a variety of web hosting companies. And over the years I’ve narrowed it down to a few I prefer to work with, and that I recommend to my clients. The reasons are simple – security, support, and features that save me time –…
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Is WordPress Current?
If you have a new-ish wordpress website, the best thing you can do to keep it safe and running smoothly is to it keep it updated.
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