Wes and Fam » Uncategorized

Roboform sucks on chrome… almost ready to change to “LastPass”

Wes — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 18:45:28 +0000

title says it all. it’s been like six months… roboform can’t seem to come up with a good way to integrate into chrome. Heard good things about lastpass… they even support importing of roboform logins. #fail

Youtube embed code for ipad ( not yet easy as of feb 2011 )

Wes — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 18:42:14 +0000

I google for youtube embed code for ipad … research shows that there is still no easy way to embed youtube videos on websites and have them show up on ipads, iphones, or other devices that don’t show flash. #fail

What is a “bridge post”

Wes — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 10:27:12 +0000

Image by shannonpatrick17 via Flickr

Let’s say you’re doing some research on the Internet and your not having any luck finding what you’re looking for…. later you try using different keywords and were able to find what you needed. What quite often happens with me is my search search queries will become more accurate as my research progresses. The purpose of a bridge post is to make a page/post specifically for other people out there who are starting out on the same branch of research that leads them directly to the answer you found.

Fullscreen seo friendly wordpress posts would be sweet

Wes — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 08:16:38 +0000

Click it to enlarge it and view it to understand it.

WordPress Time Machine Plugin….backing up to Amazon S3…Mixed results…

Wes — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 16:47:27 +0000

These are misc notes dealing with my efforts to backup all my wordpress sites ( db’s and all customized files plus the wp core files ) before upgrading to the latest version 3.0.4.

Today ( Dec 30th ) WordPress issued a critical update…. before upgrading your supposed to make full backups to your db and other customized files and themes. If you have one blog this is easy but if you administer several installations this quickly becomes a drag.

I’ll be working on this for the next day or so getting all blogs backed up and up to date so drop any comments if your having the same issues and want to share intel.

Goal: backup entire wp site ( db, uploads, everything ) to amazon s3 or dropbox using the wp Time Machine plugin.

Once the plugin is installed you need to enter in your amazon s3 key and s3 secret.

I’m new to Amazon s3 so here are my newbie notes:

Account setup is quick… enter in your credit card… get username and pass… all good here.
Find your s3 key and s3 secret key in the account manager area.
Time Machine will create your buckets so don’t worry about creating any in the s3 panel.

Quick notes for wp Time Machine :

The auto install option worked fine for me.
I put in my s3 key and secret key ( different from the amazon s3 login )

This post is in progress more coming soon….

Some of my blogs are backing up without problems… see screenshot of the success message and the files in my new s3 bucket:

But now sometimes I get this… not sure why. I just kept trying and finally it worked.

I eventually got all my wp blogs hosted on Dreamhost backed up and then upgraded.

You might find this article on how to ftp to your amazon s3 / cloudfront helpful.

Does backupbuddy work and restore to dreamhost?

Wes — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 16:19:09 +0000

I’m researching wordpress backup and restore solutions and found this one called backupbuddy. All looks good but does it really work when crap hits the fan… say all my wordpress sites are hacked at once…. what is the restore process look like with my host ( Dreamhost ).

This site http://fileslinger.com/2010/03/21/backupbuddy-the-holy-grail-of-wordpress-backups-is-almost-within-reach/ reviews the restore process to godaddy and says it fails.

I’m not seeing anything positive about that backupbuddy plus their site is confusing ( support forum not open to public, no trial option ) so I’m abandoning that route.

How about BlogVault ( $250 year for $15 sites ) … googling for “blogvault restore to Dreamhost” …. results no good results. .. hmm. This post compares VaultPress to BlogVault … but no info on real world restorations. So I tried the trial… the auto install of the plugin on my blog didn’t work… neither did the manual…. hmmm.. no confidence here.

Having better luck with wp Time Machine

How finished does an idea need to be?

Wes — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 14:32:55 +0000

I’ve often wanted to post about an idea that seemed exciting at the time and then decided not to post it because of vanity. Just not being sure if it is going to be of use to anyone ( including myself ). Then there is the fear that someone might take my idea. As if my idea were pure gold. sometimes it’s not an idea… it’s just a question… a curiosity. There is a distinct difference between making a private journal entry into a notebook and making a blog post to the Internet. When it’s on the Internet your idea is in the wild. And when you’re posting to the Internet and you know it’s going into the WILD your internal process of writing the post is different.

The irony is I’m not sure if I should post this. Is this complete?

Who stole your idea? (weblicht.at)
Diversity: The Dumbest Idea Ever? Part I (wmbriggs.com)
Be Your Own Hashtag (AuthenticOrganizations.com)

Micro review: Jot Form and Google Docs Forms

Wes — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 19:41:11 +0000

Here are two website form solutions I’ve been using lately:

www.Jotform.com
Free for light use ( up to 100 or so submissions a month I think ) … Embeddable via javascript or iframe or facebook. Nice themes.

https://docs.google.com

Free, simple form creation, minimal design options, embed via iframe. Send results to spreadsheet.

New Visualization Charts in Google Docs (freetech4teachers.com)

Find the cat

Wes — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 02:48:05 +0000

No title

Wes — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 23:28:59 +0000