As usual, on the new website, I created few backup jobs in BackWPup (Free) – my favorite WordPress backup plugin, setup the scheduled start time with WordPress cron. Because I setup one daily backup also send a copy to Box.Com via email, which will trigger an automatic notification email from Box.Com, I get to know if the scheduled backup is executed on time. But something strange happened after the following two days. The scheduled backup didn’t start as expected.
Troubleshooting: Archive Link Not Working
On one of my WordPress website, the archive link is not working. The site has over 2 dozen plugins installed, and just been handed over to me a week ago. I have no clue when and what was done to the site, neither did my client. Instead of the usual routine of disabling all the plugins, I turned to Google Search. There are few possible solutions, I quickly located mine.
Missing User Registration Date?
Default users list in WordPress dashboard yield limited information, only userame, name, email, role & posts. Once we customize the website with membership, more requests related with member registration information start emerging. For example, I want to know the user registration date.
Change Howdy User Greeting Message on WordPress Admin Bar
“Howdy, $user” is the default greeting message on the top right corner after successful user login. I didn’t give it a second thought until today. I got a request asking me to change the greeting from “Howdy” to “Hello”.
Sounds simple?
Troubleshooting: This Webpage Has a Redirect Loop
While working on a website, adjusting the custom logo for WordPress login form, I suddenly run into an error: After unusual long page loading time, I got a “This webpage has a redirect loop” error on browser window, instead of the login form. The page URL is: http://yoursiteurl/wp-login.php
The last thing I did was to add one line code in style.css, and there is no problem there. It is weird and out of blue. Well, giving this is a live website, I have to fix it immediately.
List All WordPress Posts by Category
If you are looking for a way to automatically generate a post index page, with all the post title & link in a WordPress website, the simple way is to use WP_Query, with “posts_per_page=-1” as $args.
There are ways to organize the list, for example, group the post by Category. In this case, we can add a new parameter in $args, which is “cat”, and put the query inside a category loop. Here are the code snippets.
Manually Reset WordPress User Password
From time to time, we need to reset user’s password because user forgets his / her password on a WordPress website. There are few ways to do so. Either use “Lost your password?” function on login page to reset the password, or to change password with the help of one of the site administrators. In very rare cases, none of this works.
Password Protect wp-login.php
In previous post, I mentioned a security tip called “Password Protect WordPress Admin Directory (wp-admin) for Enhanced Security“. Beside http://your-url/wp-admin, there is another login link to your site, which is http://your-url/wp-login.php. Matter of fact, http://your-url/wp-admin still requires access to file wp-login.php, a file seating outside wp-admin folder. It makes sense to extend password protection strategy to wp-login.php as well.
Password Protect WordPress Admin Directory (wp-admin) for Enhanced Security
Everyone knows WordPress well type http://URL/wp-admin for login, so does hacker. Other than using stronger password, there is another way to protect yourself. That is “password protect admin directory”. It adds and additional level of security, works somewhat like two-step authentication. This can be very easy to implement and effective for website with handful of users.
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Safe and Easy Terminal Login with SSH Config File
Managing so many WordPress websites, dealing with Terminal & command lines is inevitable. I use Mac OS X, so Terminal app and SSH command are the tools get me connected with remote machines occasionally. Although Coda 2 is my main code editor, FTP client & Terminal app, there is time I like to pop up the simple Terminal app, and use few command lines for a quick checkup.
