WordPress Help and Discussion – Comments Are Closed

Mar 14, 2011

Comments on This Page Are Closed.

This page was formerly called “Free WordPress Help”, but you can no longer ask questions here.

Here are my suggestions for WordPress resources: WordPress.org support (WordPress support for self-hosted sites), WordPress.com support (WordPress support for sites hosted on WordPress.com), WordPress Answers, the Seattle WordPress Meetup discussion board, and Bob Dunn’s WP Chatter on Google+.

Got a question about Search Engine Optimization? Check out this video tutorial on Search Engine Optimization and WordPress recorded at WordCamp Portland 2010. You can post SEO questions in the comments on that page, and we will answer for FREE! (Please note that McBuzz Communications, McBuzz.com and Mark McLaren are not affiliated with Automattic, WordPress.com or the WordPress.org website.)

You can also search for Answers to WordPress Questions that have already been answered on these help pages:
WordPress Q&A: More Answers to WordPress Questions
Questions About WordPress? Ask Them Here!
More WordPress Questions? Ask Them Here!

I have added a new search feature to the www.McBuzz.com site (at the top of the page up there on the right). Looks terrible, but it works great. If you are looking for something specific, try putting it in quotes, like “free wordpress help” or “submit xml sitemap”. You can also put only part of your search term in quotes, like theme “navigation menu”. This search feature does a much better job of searching through comments, where there are lots of questions and answers about WordPress, SEO, Online Marketing and such.

WordPress Q&A – Comments Are Closed

Oct 4, 2010

Comments on This Page Are Closed.

This page was formerly called “WordPress Q&A: More Answers to WordPress Questions”, but you can no longer ask questions here.

Here are my suggestions for WordPress resources: WordPress.org support (WordPress support for self-hosted sites), WordPress.com support (WordPress support for sites hosted on WordPress.com), WordPress Answers, the Seattle WordPress Meetup discussion board, and Bob Dunn’s WP Chatter on Google+.

P.S. If you’re into WordPress, follow Mark McLaren on Twitter for free tips and howto’s. And if you are in Seattle, check out the Seattle WordPress Meetup on Meetup.com.

Please note that McBuzz Communications, the McBuzz.com website and Mark McLaren are not affiliated with Automattic (parent company of WordPress) or WordPress.com.

More WordPress Questions? – Comments Are Closed

May 3, 2010

Comments on This Page Are Closed.

This page was formerly called “More WordPress Questions? Ask Them Here!”, but you can no longer ask questions here.

Here are my suggestions for WordPress resources: WordPress.org support (WordPress support for self-hosted sites), WordPress.com support (WordPress support for sites hosted on WordPress.com), WordPress Answers, the Seattle WordPress Meetup discussion board, and Bob Dunn’s WP Chatter on Google+.

WordPress Problem with Atahualpa Theme and Bullets

Apr 21, 2010

A reader was having trouble adding bullets to text in the Atahualpa theme for WordPress. I did a test install of Atahualpa and the bullets are working for me. Be sure to note the order of the steps. You can click on the blue text below to see a screen shot of each step.

1. Enter your text. (Put a hard return after each line you want to make into a bullet.)
2. Highlight the text you want to make into a list of bullets – either numbered or unnumbered (ordered or unordered).
3. Click the bullet/list button – either numbered or unnumbered. (Be sure click Publish or Update.)
4. Done.

WordPress Tutorial – How to Upload and Insert an Image Using WordPress

Mar 17, 2010

WordPress Websites Tutorial by Mark McLaren – How to Upload and Insert an Image

This video tutorial replaces my earlier “How to Insert an Image” tutorial for WordPress that was done using screen captures, text descriptions and WordPress version 2.1 or so, which is a bit outdated today.

Some people prefer text tutorials with screen captures. My “How to Make a Text Link” WordPress Tutorial is still a straight-forward explanation of the process, which hasn’t changed.

Questions About WordPress? – Comments Are Closed

Mar 17, 2010

Comments on This Page Are Closed.

This page was formerly called “Questions About WordPress? Ask Them Here!”, but you can no longer ask questions here.

Here are my suggestions for WordPress resources: WordPress.org support (WordPress support for self-hosted sites), WordPress.com support (WordPress support for sites hosted on WordPress.com), WordPress Answers, the Seattle WordPress Meetup discussion board, and Bob Dunn’s WP Chatter on Google+.

P.S. If you’re into WordPress, follow Mark McLaren on Twitter for free tips and howto’s.
And if you are in Seattle, check out the Seattle WordPress Meetup on Meetup.com.

WordPress Security: Create a New User and Delete the Default “admin” Account

Nov 4, 2009

This post tells you the simplest way to improve security on your WordPress website or blog.

Recently there was a big security scare for WordPress users. A “worm” (a form of automated malicious software) was traveling around the Internet trying to break into unsuspecting WordPress users’ sites. Even high-profile bloggers like Robert Scoble were caught without adequate file and database backups in place. Scoble lost a bunch of posts, and said he felt less certain of WordPress as a result.

But the fact is, Scoble should have backed up his site. At the very least, he should have checked with his host to see if they create automatic backups. (You should do the same with your host. Why wait until after something goes wrong to find out?!) If you don’t know how to backup your MySQL database and the files in your wp-content directory, now is a good time to learn. Your web host should be able to help. If not, let me know. If your site is hosted on WordPress.com, no worries! They make backups for you. However, you might want to do a Tools > Export in the WordPress Dashboard (save the .xml file to your hard drive) just in case! Unless you have an explicit agreement with WordPress.com about backing up your data, don’t expect to hold them responsible for data loss on your site.

Here are two good posts about WordPress security inspired by the latest worm scare:

How to Keep WordPress Secure
by Matt Mullenweg – WordPress.org

Old WordPress Versions Under Attack by Lorelle VanFossen

The first thing everyone with a self-hosted (non-WordPress.com) WordPress site should do is this:
Create a new User account with a not-so-simple username. The default username that comes with WordPress is “admin”. That usually comes with a crazy-difficult password. Unfortunately, most people then change the password to something easy like “mydogname” or whatever.

Worms trying to hack into your WordPress site know to try “admin” as a username because it works probably 70% or the time or more! Then they just have to hack your simple password and they’re done.

So do yourself a favor. Login to WordPress. Go to Users (under Appearance) > Add New User. Use a difficult username, something with upper and lower case letters at the very least. Not something obvious. Then use a difficult password, something with upper and lower case letters, at least one numeral and one special character like * or ( or % etc. Don’t worry about the username displaying as your name on the site. You can enter your first and last name, and then use the dropdown menu to tell WordPress to use that instead of the username after blog posts and such. Be sure to note the email address you use for your site admin (under Settings > General). You can use a different email address for each new user account you create.

After you have created the new user account, log out and then login with the new account to make sure it works. After you have done that, you can delete the admin user account. That way, worms won’t be able to use that username to hack into your site.

Again, this is the simplest way to improve security on your WordPress website or blog.