Free Technology Tutorials

Note: The following is made available under GPL from http://codex.wordpress.org/GPL. It may be edited a little from its original form, but probably not a lot. There is no guarantee this information is accurate…use at your own risk.
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To get information about your server, you can use the PHP Info function:

• Type the code shown below into a text file

• Save as info.php
• Upload to server. Visit in your browser (www.example.com/info.php)

That will give you info about your php version, mod_rewrite, and lots of other server “stuff”.  Read more... (101 words, 1 image, estimated 24 secs reading time)

Note: The following is made available under GPL from http://codex.wordpress.org/GPL. It has been edited significantly from its original form. There is no guarantee this information is accurate…use at your own risk.
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My WordPress blog has been hacked; or at least I think its been hacked. What do I do now?

The WordPress Exploit Scanner plugin can help detect damage so that it can be cleaned up. Other things you should do:  Read more... (253 words, estimated 1:01 mins reading time)

• Change passwords for all blog users, including your own, with a role higher than Subscriber
• If you upload files to your site via FTP, change your FTP password

Note: The following is made available under GPL from http://codex.wordpress.org/GPL. It may be edited a little from its original form, but probably not a lot. There is no guarantee this information is accurate…use at your own risk.
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Delete Old or Unwanted Plugins — Keeps Your Site Running Well and Increases Security

Many times a plugin doesn’t fit your site or you don’t need it, but you leave it there just in case. These tend to pile up in your Administration > Plugins Panel, making your plugin list long and cumbersome to scroll through. If left there long enough, they might become obsolete with the new WordPress versions and they could get outdated and cause problems–including security vulnerabilities. Check your Plugins list often and clean out the stuff you know you won’t use.  Read more... (335 words, estimated 1:20 mins reading time)

Note: The following is made available under GPL from http://codex.wordpress.org/GPL. It may be edited a little from its original form, but probably not a lot. There is no guarantee this information is accurate…use at your own risk.
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Ping

Within the WordPress interface, “ping” is sometimes used to refer to Pingbacks and Trackbacks.

In general computer terms, “ping” is a common utility used in a TCP/IP environment to determine if a given IP Address exists or is reachable. Typically, Ping is used to diagnose a network connection problem. Many times you will be asked, “Can you ping that address?”. That means, does the Ping utility return a success message trying to reach the “problem” IP Address?  Read more... (180 words, estimated 43 secs reading time)

Note: The following is made available under GPL from http://codex.wordpress.org/GPL. It may be edited a little from its original form, but probably not a lot. There is no guarantee this information is accurate…use at your own risk.
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Trackbacks in WordPress

Trackbacks were originally developed by SixApart, creators of the MovableType blog package.

In a nutshell, TrackBack was designed to provide a method of notification between websites: it is a method of person A saying to person B, “This is something you may be interested in.” To do that, person A sends a TrackBack ping to person B.  Read more... (304 words, estimated 1:13 mins reading time)

Note: The following is made available under GPL from http://codex.wordpress.org/GPL. It may be edited a little from its original form, but probably not a lot. There is no guarantee this information is accurate…use at your own risk.
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To change your password in WordPress v2.7 or later:

1. In the Admin Panel, go to USERS
2. Click on your username in the list to edit
3. In the Edit User screen, scroll down to the New Password section and type in a new password in the two boxes provided. The strength box will show how good (strong) your password is.
4. Click the UPDATE USER button  Read more... (382 words, estimated 1:32 mins reading time)

Note: The following is made available under GPL from http://codex.wordpress.org/GPL. It may be edited a little from its original form, but probably not a lot. There is no guarantee this information is accurate…use at your own risk.
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Best Practices For Posting

Practice Accessibility
To be compliant with web standards for accessibility, be sure to include ALT and TITLE descriptions on links and images.

Use Paragraphs
No one likes to read writing that never pauses for a line break. To break your writing up into paragraphs, use double spaces between your paragraphs. WordPress will automatically detect these and insert HTML paragraph tags into your writing.  Read more... (953 words, estimated 3:49 mins reading time)

Note: The following is made available under GPL from http://codex.wordpress.org/GPL. It may be edited a little from its original form, but probably not a lot. There is no guarantee this information is accurate…use at your own risk.
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WordPress Security Keys

In WordPress 2.8 there are four  (4) security keys , AUTH_KEY, SECURE_AUTH_KEY, LOGGED_IN_KEY, and NONCE_KEY that you can optionally add to your wp-config.php file to ensure better encryption of information stored in the user’s cookies. You can use the online generator to automatically generate random keys for your WordPress install…see the default wp-config-sample.php file for the url to the online generator.  Read more... (188 words, 1 image, estimated 45 secs reading time)

Note: The following is made available under GPL from http://codex.wordpress.org/GPL. It may be edited a little from its original form, but probably not a lot. There is no guarantee this information is accurate…use at your own risk.
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Content visibility is about controlling who can see your blog content. WordPress allows you to control the visibility of your posts and Pages on an individual basis. By default, all posts and Pages are visible.

There are several ways to set the visible for your blog content. You can set it on a per post/Page basis for public, private, or Password Protected, or make the entire blog private and Password Protected through the use of WordPress Plugins.  Read more... (564 words, 5 images, estimated 2:15 mins reading time)

Note: The following is made available under GPL from http://codex.wordpress.org/GPL. It may be edited a little from its original form, but probably not a lot. There is no guarantee this information is accurate…use at your own risk.
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WordPress Pages

In WordPress, you can write either posts or pages. When you’re writing a regular blog entry, you write a post. Posts automatically appear in reverse chronological order on your blog’s home page. Pages, on the other hand, are for content such as “About Me,” “Contact Me,” etc. Pages live outside of the normal blog chronology, and are often used to present information about yourself or your site that is somehow timeless — information that is always applicable. You can use Pages to organize and manage any amount of content. Other examples of common pages include Copyright, Legal Information, Reprint Permissions, Company Information, and Accessibility Statement.  Read more... (1204 words, 1 image, estimated 4:49 mins reading time)

Note: The following is made available under GPL from http://codex.wordpress.org/GPL. It may be edited a little from its original form, but probably not a lot. There is no guarantee this information is accurate…use at your own risk.
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Comment moderation is a feature in WordPress that allows you to prevent comments from appearing on your site without your express approval. Moderation can be very useful in addressing Comment Spam, but it has more general applications as well. If you would like to learn more about comment spam, see Fighting Comment Spam.  Read more... (511 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

Note: The following is made available under GPL from http://codex.wordpress.org/GPL. It may be edited a little from its original form, but probably not a lot. There is no guarantee this information is accurate…use at your own risk.
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To write a post:

1. Log in to your WordPress Administration Panel.
2. Click the Posts tab.
3. Click the Add New Sub Tab
4. Start filling in the blanks.
5. As needed, select a category, add tags, and make other selections from the sections below the post. Each of these sections is explained below.
6. When you are ready, click Publish.  Read more... (1192 words, estimated 4:46 mins reading time)

Note: The following is made available under GPL from http://codex.wordpress.org/GPL. It may be edited a little from its original form, but probably not a lot. There is no guarantee this information is accurate…use at your own risk.
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I see lots of Headers already sent errors. How do I fix this?

You probably introduced a syntax error in editing wp-config.php.  Read more... (455 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

Note: The following is made available under GPL from http://codex.wordpress.org/GPL. It may be edited a little from its original form, but probably not a lot. There is no guarantee this information is accurate…use at your own risk.
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Stepping Into Templates
Template files are the building blocks of your WordPress site. They fit together like the pieces of a puzzle to generate the web pages on your site. Some templates (the header and footer template files for example) are used on all the web pages, while others are used only under specific conditions.
A traditional web page consists of two files:  Read more... (183 words, estimated 44 secs reading time)

Note: The following is made available under GPL from http://codex.wordpress.org/GPL. It may be edited a little from its original form, but probably not a lot. There is no guarantee this information is accurate…use at your own risk.
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Step 1: Download and Extract

Download and unzip the WordPress package from http://wordpress.org/download/.

* If you will be uploading WordPress to a remote web server, download the WordPress package to your computer with your favorite web browser and unzip the package.
* If you have shell access to your web server, and are comfortable using console-based tools, you may wish to download WordPress directly to your web server using wget (or lynx or another console-based web browser) if you want to avoid FTPing:
o wget http://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz
o Then unzip the package using:
tar -xzvf latest.tar.gz  Read more... (1942 words, estimated 7:46 mins reading time)