Urban Giraffe » » Software

Redirection beta-testing

John — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 03:04:36 +0000

I've got a substantial update to Redirection just about finished off and ready for release. Rather than dropping this out and running the risk of upsetting a lot of websites, I've decided to try a private beta-test to iron out any final problems.

The new version gives much better management of redirections and error logging, and adds very powerful support for native Apache .htaccess files (i.e. you can use Redirection to edit .htaccess). If this sounds like something you want to help out with then drop me a line. The only requirement for this is that you are familiar with backing up and restoring your site database, or that you have a test WordPress site. The biggest help will be from people who are already using Redirection and have data to import into the new version.

Thanks in advance for any help!

WordPress 2.3 - Tagging and HeadSpace

John — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 05:09:35 +0000

I upgraded to WordPress 2.3 over the weekend and other than a few bumps it seemed to go relatively smoothly. The bumps were very curious and coupled with a melt-down of the server resulted in the site being out of action for a few hours. Eventually everything magically resolved itself, so I'm going to chalk it down to just 'one of those things'.

One of the new features in WordPress 2.3 is tags, and I'm very happy with the way that they've been integrated. The developers have chosen a softly-softly approach, leaving the door open for others to take it further (as detailed by boren.nu). Being one of these others I've updated my HeadSpace plugin to make full use of the new 2.3 tagging facilities. HeadSpace takes the default tags further, adding many extra features, which I've decided to demonstrate in a short video.

HeadSpace2 3.2 - Modules, importers, and mass-editing

John — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 09:32:54 +0000

This is a biggie so I'll try and not write too much. HeadSpace is now running at version 3.2 and has had a thorough overhaul and feature boost that is designed to push it past other meta-data plugins. This includes:

Modularization - everything is now a module and can be enabled or disabled and re-ordered. You can decide exactly what meta-data you are interested in and how it should look
Site modules that affect the whole site and add Google Analytics, Mint, StatCounter, Crazy Egg, and more
Much better tagging, with a smart auto-suggestion that matches similar words
New modules for custom 'more tags' and no-index capability
Mass-editing mode that allows you to edit all your meta-data from one page
Importers - now you can easily import data from other meta-data plugins directly into HeadSpace. This includes UTW, SEO Title Tags, and All-in-one SEO

Phew!

Inside WordPress: A series of WordPress guides

John — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 16:47:30 +0000

I've started a series of WordPress guides which I've titled 'Inside WordPress'. My aim with these is to explain different aspects of WordPress from a practical point of view. That is, they will be focussed on showing you how to do things rather than telling you what to do. I've already made a start with several guides explaining some of the more simpler aspects of WordPress, as well as some going a little further. The guides will not always be aimed at beginners and, if there is enough interest, I already have plans to dig deep inside the belly of the beast.

HeadSpace2 3.1.4: Various fixes

John — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 03:36:09 +0000

Version 3.1.4 of HeadSpace2 brings with it:

Various fixes (multiple CSS files, page-specific plugins, static home page)

Anatomy Of An Attack

John — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 02:11:45 +0000

In an effort to remove all invalid links and redirections from my site I've been paying very close attention to my access logs. Courtesy of the list that Redirection maintains I've noticed that my site has been under a prolonged attack.

No, there's no panic just yet, and so far this is not something I'm worried about. The attacks appear to be part of a general 'find any weakness in any website' method, rather than a specific and directed attack.

Site redesign and new plugin

John — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 05:36:28 +0000

A new design! I decided I needed a new and fresh look and the result is the still-in-progress 'Guangzhou' theme. My hope is that it's both easier to navigate, as well as being lighter and more suitable for future work. Comments, as always, are welcomed.

In conjunction with the new theme I've made use of WP-Cache and Gravatar cache, which should result in a noticeable speed improvement. The site itself has undergone a good clean, with all invalid code being replaced, all dead-links now corrected, and the addition of new sections for software, articles, and about myself.

On top of that I've added a new plugin: HTML Purified. This plugin changes the default comment filter and replaces it with HTML Purifier, a very exhaustive library that checks, validates, and corrects HTML. Not that WordPress is insecure by default, but this just beefs it up a notch, and ensures that comments are both safe and XHTML valid.

Redirection 1.7.5: HTTP 410 status code added

John — Thu, 03 May 2007 09:06:53 +0000

Redirection 1.7.5 has been released and adds:

HTTP status code 410 added to list of options

HeadSpace2 3.1: Page-specific plugins

John — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 10:42:41 +0000

Version 3.1.0 of HeadSpace2 brings with it:

Page-specific plugins. Enable plugins on specific pages, perfect for restricting the scope of plugins to only those pages you want them to run.
Cleaned up advanced post options

Audit Trail 1.0: Major update, more AJAX, extensible auditing

John — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 07:44:37 +0000

Audit Trail 1.0 brings with it:

A major code rewrite
Graphical diff for versioning
Automatic version updates
Extensible auditing - other plugins can register auditable actions