The Caveena Solutions Blog
One particular morning, as I was eating my breakfast of oatmeal and almond milk, I realized I had forgotten to bring my iPad with me. Deprived of morning entertainment, I picked up the box of almond milk and started reading the label (yes kids, that’s what we did to entertain ourselves before tablets and smart phones). Something on the box caught my eye — proudly displayed on the side was a bold, star-burst proclamation that the almond milk in my hands was made with 98% Australian ingredients.
So that got me thinking: What would a 100% Bruneian Website look like?
Read more »
Did you know you can disable Jetpack’s Downtime Monitoring module using the ever-so-useful WP-CLI? Perhaps you’re doing some routine Website Maintenance and don’t want to be barraged by emails alerting you to the planned website downtime (and if you’re the type to never do maintenance on your website, you really should think about starting).
As divisive as the Jetpack WordPress plugin is, the Downtime Monitoring module is an easy, free way to be alerted when your WordPress website goes down. The problem is that Jetpack has been very indecisive about how to allow users to disable the Downtime Monitoring module.
Currently you can toggle it from your WordPress Admin but previous versions redirected you to the linked WordPress.com account where, in my experience anyway, it failed more often than not. So if you’ve been having trouble disabling the Downtime Monitor and if you happen to have WP-CLI installed (why wouldn’t you?), you can use this nifty command:
wp jetpack module deactivate monitorSimple, isn’t it? Just don’t forget to turn it back on when you’re done!
Sometimes all you need is a simple plugin to add custom CSS to WordPress websites. Heaven knows there’s no lack of them in the WordPress repository.
I prefer to keep all CSS in the theme’s folder but sometimes I need to add some custom CSS on-the-fly without having to go through the trouble of updating the actual theme code. Maybe the client has reported a visual anomaly or I spotted something off while browsing their website. Either way, it’s much easier to log into the WordPress admin and add the CSS code. Migrating it to the theme can be done at a properly scheduled time.
Read more »
Every so often something new is introduced designed to make things easier. But sometimes it also accidentally making things a bit harder. This is one of those times.
cPanel v58 introduced AutoSSL which automatically installs and renews SSL Certificates. All websites can use a Domain Validated SSL Certificate but AutoSSL can also be used to work with Let’s Encrypt. As a quick primer, SSL certificates allow a website to encrypt the communication between the web host and website visitors which is particularly important when you’re sending sensitive information like passwords and Credit Card details. Google also appears to be moving in the direction of recommending websites that use SSL. So if your webhost is using cPanel they can easily offer automated SSL Certificates to all their customers costing them practically nothing.
Great, right? Well, if you’re using a Content Distribution Network (CDN) or third-party Website Firewall, things may not be so great.
Read more »
We were doing routine maintenance on a client’s WordPress website when we noticed that they’d installed a plugin. Installing plugins is something we don’t normally encourage (or even allow) our clients to do but there are of course exceptions to the rule. We wanted to learn more about the plugin so we could determine if it could safely be removed and to cut a long story short we ended up going through the code itself only to find the plugin displays, without permission, a hyperlink to an external website. This was ad injection.
Caveena Solutions would like to offer our heartiest congratulations to the Brunei Amateur Dramatic Society (BADS) for successfully putting on 3 shows of “Mystery at Bagshot Manor” aka “Murdered to Death”! You have all put in so much work and it paid off. Thank you for the opportunity to support creativity in Brunei and the local performing arts scene.
At first glance, it may seem a stage play has little to do with building websites but creativity can be expressed in any field. More importantly it is vital we all continue to deliberately exercise that creativity in order to develop our capacity for it whether our field is programming, visual design or stage performance.
In a previous post on WordPress Plugins I use while developing a WordPress website I mentioned WP Maintenance Mode which blocks public access to the website and returns an HTTP status code of 503 for search engines. But did you know you can change the returned HTTP status code?
Google has started notifying webmasters (via their Search Console) that starting in October 2017 Chrome (version 62) will show a “NOT SECURE” warning when users enter text in a form on an HTTP page, and for all HTTP pages in Incognito mode.
This is in line with their efforts to move everyone towards a more secure web.
Is your website using secure communications with HTTPS/SSL?
The Adminimize WordPress Plugin is one of those things I wish I had found sooner. To protect our clients from themselves, we remove and block access to certain WordPress Admin pages that we feel could accidentally allow them to mess up their website. We use to do this through a combination of WordPress Roles and custom code that had to be painstakingly collected and tested. Most, if not all, that code is now redundant thanks to Adminimize.
There are lots of things in the WordPress admin area that your users don’t need to see or use. [The Adminimize WordPress] plugin help [sic] you to hide unnecessary items from WordPress admin area.
Read more »
Unless you make a living building websites, you’ve probably never asked yourself Why SEO Matters. CEOs and business owners have more pressing matters to deal with like growing a business and establishing a customer base. Sure, maybe you’ve taken the time to put together a quick website and stay engaged on social media with a myriad of phone apps but who’s got time for Search Engine Optimization and all that malarkey?
Social Media Links