Tag Archives: Wordpress

A Crude WordPress Based Microblogging System

Those of you who follow our Twitter feed are probably aware of an experimental project we launched last week. The goal of this trial was to determine the ease by which we can repurpose WordPress; a platform allowing bloggers to publish high quality content, into a microblogging site similar to F* My Life and Text From Last Night. The challenge itself isn’t all that difficult if one has basic programming knowledge. However, we wanted to demonstrate just how valuable the extensions created by the WordPress are and thus, placed a restriction on ourselves. To create our target site, we were only allowed to modify code created by other programmers in the WordPress community. As you may have guessed, the project was a complete success and  was completed in a little under 2 hours (give or take).

Microsoft WebMatrix Released

Looking for a free alternative to popular web development utilities such as Dreamweaver? If so, you may be interested in Microsoft’s new WebMatrix application. Currently supporting only Windows (it’s very similar to Coda if you’re on a mac), WebMatrix comes integrated with a server, database, php, and ASP.net, allowing you to test your code without messing around with configurations. The program comes pre bundled with open source script such as: WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and Umbraco, and supports one click installations (Perfect for individuals who want to create a plugin or theme for Worpdress without hosting everything live on the internet). Publishing your content directly from WebMatrix to a remote server is also possible via the integrated FTP client. For more information on WebMatrix’s features, please visit Microsoft’s website or view the video below.

Transferring a WordPress site between hosts

Recently, we decided to switch our hosting provider due to issues relating to uptime and server speed. The entire process of transferring our WordPress installation between hosts was documented and turned into a video tutorial to aid others wishing to do the same thing. The tutorial is about 8 minutes long and covers everything from backing up the data to changing the DNS settings. The end benefit of using the technique demonstrated in the video is, your visitors will see absolutely no downtime as you transfer between hosts.