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Opinion

3 Crucial Improvements That WordPress Must Have

November 25, 2017 By Scott Fichter Leave a Comment

Three Crucial WordPress Improvements

WordPress is the best Content Management system without a doubt. Sure Drupal has a superior code structure, and Joomla has super flexible theme and user control, but you can’t ignore WordPress’s user base and the fact just about every strange need you may have has already been thought of and figured out with a plugin.

This isn’t to say that WordPress is perfect. There can be more improvements, and I’m going to write about what I think are the top 3 most crucial improvements that WordPress should have.

#1 The Media Library

When you upload a photo to WordPress, it automatically creates multiple sizes. These extra images at first glance don’t seem to be much of an issue but if you have an active blog run by a team of people the size of the wp-content/uploads folder (which is where the photos reside) explodes in size.

These extra and unused JPG and PNGs create unneeded website bloat. When the files pile up backups can become an issue because it takes too long to compile the archive. The lengthened backup process taxes server CPU usage and many hosts will shut down the process. Now you have to exclude /wp-content/uploads to get the backup to run which means it’s not a 100% backup. It’s a headache.

Zeroing Out the Sizes in Media Settings Does Not Fix The Issue.

You’ll read everywhere that the solution to the file bloat is to place zeros in settings > media but unfortunately this does not resolve the issue because it’s not the only place where image sizes are defined. The commands found in your theme’s function.php file also create files sizes.

Solution #1 Create Images if Needed vs. Create Before Needed.

Why is it that WordPress has to create the multiple sizes before they are used on the site? For example you post a 500px by 500px image. You upload the image to the media library and place it in your post. When realizing it’s too big, you click the image options and define what smaller size you need. Then and only then would WordPress create the reduced size

Solution #2 Give the User the Option to Exclude it Multiple Size Generation when posting pages/posts.

In this example, you create an image that’s the perfect size for your blog. When you upload it to the post, there is a checkbox that reads, “Multiple sizes are not needed” when checked it overrides all size creation parameters in both the core and the theme’s function.php file.

#2 Replacing Images In The Media Library Create New Images

The following situation happens thousand times a day with WordPress. The designer creates an image and places it on the site as a background image, logo, banner, etc. After reviewing the updated page, you realize that the image is the wrong size, color or aspect, etc. You jump back into Photoshop and make the change. If you upload the filename a second time, WordPress does not overwrite the file. WordPress takes the file and appends a “-1” to the name and creates a second post (yes, images in the Media Library are post types). Now, if the system is producing four extra sizes for each photo that’s eight photos created when there should only be one.

 To fix the issue, you have to go back to the library and remove the original which is a major PITA.  

Solution: WordPress should execute an if/then statement replacing an image with the same name. WordPress should automatically overwrite image images like an FTP client. I realize that the Media library is a post type just like pages and posts, image uploads should behave like the image are being overwritten no duplicated.

#3 Automatically Highlighting Text View Code

This feature would be fantastic. Many times when you have complex HTML in a page or post it’s difficult to find the code that generates specific parts of the page. What I do is place a series of X’s near the area that I need to edit which helps me find the area needing attention. If WordPress could automatically highlight the section that was selected in the visual tab, it would make development so much faster and easier. Dreamweaver used to do this back when I built static sites. It is the only feature I miss with that program.

INCREDIBLE – Update 4.9 Which Occurred on November 15th, 2017 Just Resolved The Code Highlighting Need

I’ve been waiting for this capability for seven years, and the day I write this blog post highlighting the need for this feature BOOM WordPress releases the solution. Thank you, Lord. This update is one of the most significant they have occurred in a while.

Thank you, WordPress Community!

Filed Under: Opinion, WordPress

Two Big Website Owner Misconceptions

October 25, 2017 By Scott Fichter Leave a Comment

I want traffic now

#1 I Want Traffic Yesterday

One of the most prevalent website owner misconceptions is the desire for instant traffic.  Here’s the bottom line, high traffic amounts are are grown  over an extended length of time . Yes, you could pay for traffic, but if your site consists of just a few of pages, your money will be wasted. It happens to site owners over and over again, and Google makes a killing from this need for instant gratification. It’s like taking candy from a baby. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Be The Turtle Consistent, Committed, Slow

turtle
Be the turtle because in this race there is no finish line.

It’s best to start traffic development with blogging. Blogging allows you to test the waters to reveal where the interest lies in your market. It can take six to 12 months of writing to gain this insight. This requirement stops most site owners in their tracks. Most owners understand the importance of writing and agree that it’s needed. Most try it for an extended length of time but stop after realizing how much work it takes. If you dive in and try to accomplish too much too fast, I guarantee you’ll get burned out. The best way to blog is by slowly chipping away at it every day. Be the turtle because blogging requires a slow and steady commitment.

Write During Times of Peace – My Time is In the Morning

My Cat
My cat keeps me company every morning while I work on my posts.

I blog in the morning (7 AM – 8 AM) Monday through Friday. I’m sitting in my recliner right now. My cat has her paw on my arm, and I’m typing away. I do my best to write a new post at least twice a week. Approach it mentally by chipping away at it. Blog writing is a marathon, not a sprint.

Old Posts Are Never Finished

I also update the posts that I’ve already written. I modify them on a regular basis. When the spiders visit my site, they see that the pages have changed. It sends a loud message that you are a player in your niche.

I don’t care how perfect your site looks. If you want traffic and you not blogging your loosing.

#2 What’s Best for Me Is Best For My Visitors

It can be difficult relinquish power when you’re buying a custom product like a website. It’s your money, and you want the site function your way. Don’t lose sight of your website goals. Are you looking to keep users on the site for as long as possible? Do you want users to act on a call to action like buying a product? There are design techniques that support these objectives. Make it a point to convey the end game to your designer and relinquish layout and design to him or her. When the beta site is complete, question the design elements. There is a science to designing, and I’m betting you will be fascinated as to why things are arranged in certain ways.

Below is a summary of just a few layout techniques;

  • Front page slideshows are bad
  • Navigation sub choices are not optimum
  • popups are not effective
  • color choice for buttons and links are crucial
  • Intelligent usage of space is vital
  • white on black text is not smart
  • links that open new pages are circumventing assumed function

And the list goes on and on and on. Want to learn more? Read Jakob Nielsen’s blog.

Filed Under: Opinion

What Hosting Companies are Best?

December 19, 2014 By Scott Fichter Leave a Comment

The 800 Pound Gorillas of Hosting

I’m sure you have surfed around on the net and found the big players in the web hosting industry. Let me take a guess, do these companies sound familiar?

  • 1&1
  • GoDaddy
  • Endurance International Group (HostGator, BlueHost, here’s the entire list)

Before you make your decision on who you are going to choose, It’s important you understand what you’re getting for your money. Although these hosting companies make grandiose promises about unlimited storage and 99.9% uptime, I suggest you consider issues that are swept under the rug. Don’t get sucked in by their cunning marketing techniques. This information is created by me a guy who builds sites for a living.  Although I’ve worked in this business for over 15 years, I don’t think you should consider my opinion as 100% fact.  Do your own research online. Then make an intelligent decision after developing your own global perspective on what’s going on.

Fast & Knowledgeable Phone Support is Crucial

If you purchase hosting from the big boys (listed above) get ready for 20 minutes + hold times during the 9:30 am to a 4:30pm time slot.  Hold times will be even worse when you attempt to contact their “live chat” systems accessible from their front pages. Beware! Email support is even slower.

In respect to support, their high volume of clients is your loss.  It’s referred to as being “Oversold, ” and it means that the ratio of customer service representatives falls below the number of rising customer accounts.  When things go bad for the big hosts, the phones ring off the hook and support falls apart like a 1971 Chevrolet Vega.

If you finally get in contact with your support person take note of their communication skills.  Receiving a well-educated person who speaks clear English is not a guarantee. For example 1&1 support staff is not from the United States.  Many have broken English and depending on who you get can barely be understood. Godaddy and the EIG companies are ok on this.

Receiving staff who have a comprehensive understanding of how web servers function is also a roll of the dice.  It’s not uncommon to hang up the phone, apply the solution only to learn that it does not work and they you must call back only to be placed back in the 40-minute queue again.  It’s painful, to say the least.

Carrots On A Stick

99.9% Uptime – What is this percentage based upon?  Is it a month/year / lifetime? The percentage is worthless if it’s based upon any length greater than a year.  If the percentage is based upon a period of a year, 99.9% is the same as saying .1% which is a whopping eight hours.  If you’re running a successful online store, this could mean lots of lost money so move to a host with 100% uptime.  To be fair, there are times when the server must be upgraded.  During the upgrade, the server must be taken off-line. These are controlled outages and are usually executed from 2 am to 4 am. Hosts usually execute these updates at night when everyone is asleep. Good hosts will send a notice via email warning you about it.

Unlimited Transfer and Storage – Before I begin to explain the next carrot, transfer refers to the amount of data being sent and received from your site.  Storage is the total file size of your site. When you hear hosts talk about “Unlimited” transfer and storage its best to take this with a grain of salt. When hosts say Unlimited what they really mean is “reasonable” usage.  Take HostGator for example. They explain unlimited by writing, customers who use 25% or more of system resources for longer than 90 seconds will be in violation.  In other words, if your site uses 25% of the server’s resources storage or processor resources your site will be stopped. How is that unlimited? In fairness if your site is small you shouldn’t have an issue with this limitation but, if your site begins to grow and your site generates revenue, you should consider moving your site to a more robust host with superior service and performance.

 cPanel Vs. Customized Software

1&1, Godaddy and many others have custom software control panels that’ll drive you insane due to their convoluted and antiquated design. Godaddy is the worst. The number of clicks to accomplish simple tasks like setting up email forwarding is insane. The number of attempts to upsell you on similar products is also irritating. Make sure the hosting company you choose uses cPanel as the control panel.  It allows you to see all the controls on one page. The need for clicking is minimized. Finding things is easy.

 So What Hosting Companies are Best?

If you’re on a small budget and you’re just starting out MDD Hosting is an excellent choice.  Support is by email only, and their response is fast. They employ cPanel and their up time is fantastic.  They also use something called LightSpeed which accelerates PHP processing. In other words, your WordPress website will Fly! They also understand the intricacies of WordPress which great.

 

Yoast (actually spelled Joost) is a highly respected WordPress, and SEO guy out of the Netherlands. He recommends a shared hosting company called WestHost out of Providence Utah.  I have used them for a few clients, and their service is excellent. Hold times are minimal, they are knowledgeable, and their monthly fees are small for small sites.  They provide the cPanel software, and they offer FREE nightly backups which are fantastic.

If you’re interested in researching further avoid the sites that list in the “Top Website Hosts” sites. There has been talk online that these rating sites are paid off by the big boys. It’s affiliate marketing. Your best bet is to read what other designers are saying on forum sites. These websites will give you real human opinion on every company.  After reading these forums, you will get a bird’s eye view on what companies you should avoid.

Below is a list of web hosting forums that you can browse.

  • WebHostingTalk
  • DevShed.com
  • HostingDiscussion.com
  • DigitalPoint.com

Filed Under: Opinion, Tips

Understanding Domain Name Pitfalls

November 13, 2014 By Tom Collins Leave a Comment

Domain Name Pitfall #1 – Ownership

domain nameThe next sentence I write for you will be the most important info on this page. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES LET A THIRD PARTY REGISTER YOUR DOMAIN FOR YOU. Your domain name may not seem valuable now but as time passes it could be worth thousands or more.  Ask yourself how much is pepsi.com worth?  What if back in 1998 Pepsico had some average Joe register pepsi.com for them.  Who owns the name in that situation?  Is it Pepsico? No Way! The person who controls it is the person who registers it.  Don’t let a third party register your domain for you. It is also very important not to allow the registrar to host your site.  If your host crashes, gets hacked, or goes out of business all you have to do is log into the registrar, change a few settings, and your site will be up and running in a few hours.

Finding Alternate Domain Names

To check if your domain name is available visit NameCheap and enter your desired name. A report showing what names are available for each TLD will be returned.  I recommend NameCheap because they are fair and honest and their site’s interface is easy to understand.  If you find your name in .com or .net, fantastic! If not you have options. One option is to invent an alternate name.  Thankfully there are websites that can help.

The sites listed below provide free online tools that create alternate domain names. Check them out.

  1. LeanDomainSearch – You type in the word you want and the site returns a massive three column list of alternatives that could work.  It’s a great brain storming system.
  2. BustAName – You type in a few words you want and the first column allows you to select synonyms. The system will use those new words to create your new name. Excellent system!
  3. Name Mesh –  Very similar to LeanDomainSearch except that it sorts the columns into categories like SEO, Short, Fun, Mix and others.
  4. Domize –  This is great to use if you looking for a quick search.  You type in a few words and the system will hyphenate them and tell you if they are taken.  It responds FAST.
  5. Wordoid – The column on the left is where you enter your word.  Then select the word limit.  Now click the blue button named “Create Wordoids”.  This site creates abstract words.

I think you will be very happy with some of the alternatives that these links provide.  I should also tell you that .com .net and .org are not the only choices. ICANN, which is the domain name governing body, has released over 400 new top level domains.  This release started in late 2013 and they have been pouring in.  This means you could substitute .com with .dance .business. .info.  Check out the full list here.

Registration Pitfalls

[pullquote]Always register with a real email address and don’t forget to add a renewal reminder on your calendar. Domain Squatters are waiting to snatch up your domain the second it gets released.[/pullquote]So you found the name.  Cool!  Now its time to lock it in. Go to NameCheap (Stay clear of Godaddy and Network Solutions) and sign up with them.  They will ask you for your contact information.  Please take note of the following:

  1. Your email address (not your phone number) will be used as the primary method of communication between you and the registrar.  Expiration warnings concerning your domain will be sent to this email address.  If you fail to read these messages, your domain will expire and a domain squatter will buy it and offer to sell it back to you for hundreds of dollars. Choose an email address that you will be able to read for a long time. Don’t lose this account. Consider a Gmail account..
  2. Your personal information will be available to the public through a “Whois” search.  This means the phone number and email address you use will be seen publicly.  If you’re not comfortable with this exposure, consider paying for Whois protection.  It will hide your information.  A domain name registrar called NameCheap charges $15 for five years for this service.
  3. Some folks recommend registering your domain for a single year but I like to register mine for five to ten years. My life is complex enough and I don’t want to worry about it.
  4. When I register my domain I always place reminders on my calendar a few weeks before it expires.  It’s best to have that reminder just in case you lose the email account on file with the register.

I have no affiliation with companies that I endorse on this page.  I’m not reselling their services for personal gain. I’m simply speaking from my experience in the industry.  My opinion comes from the heart and not from dollar signs.

Filed Under: Opinion, Tips

WordPress Vs. Joomla

May 13, 2014 By Tom Collins Leave a Comment

What’s Better?

I’ve had thousands of hours in both content management systems.  I feel fortunate that I have a good foundation in both Joomla and WordPress systems.  Below explains the pros and cons from a guy who is a visual learner and who loves to dig.  My goal at this page is to help you decide what’s right for your next web development project.


Joomla

Pros

Joomla is a great solution for larger organizations or companies needing to have the flexibility to control the placement of content on all pages. For example, imagine there’s a company with six departments. Each department has its own branding and mission.  It’s possible with Joomla to customize pages so each department gets its own logo, footer information, and column content along with body copy. When you install a template in Joomla you must define where the information is to be placed on your pages.

Joomla also has a powerful user control system.  Users can be assigned access to any level of pages on your site.  This can be useful for large companies needing to control who contributes to the site.  Users can be allowed to change one page, a group of pages or the entire site.

Cons

Joomla requires a longer set-up time because of content placement requirements and user control flexibility.  Understanding where to go in the administration panel to make site updates can be confusing because of this flexibility. This leads to a higher learning curve for the average person. The amount of plugins (extensions) for Joomla are plentiful but they come at a price.  Most free plugins don’t have the quality and value that the paid ones have. Updating and migrating Joolmla can also be difficult.  The administration panel is also confusing.  The code structure is complex and difficult to navigate.


 WordPress

Pros

The variety of design styles is almost limitless.  WordPress has a company called Themeforest comprised of a large group of designers who are releasing designs daily.  Based upon my experience I’ve learned that their themes are of the highest quality and encompass designs that create a high level of impact; however Themeforest is not the only game in town. There are many companies offering high quality themes. The list is long.

The WordPress administration panel is very easy to understand.  It does not take long to understand how it works and site setup is faster than with Joomla.  Wordpress also has a fantastic way to manage photos and media right out of the box.

Cons

There are no strong cons with WordPress.  It can do everything Joomla does. To be fair I will list a few things that poke me in the ribs. If not set up correctly the system will create too many images which may cause problems with your web host..  Multiple plugins sometimes can create conflicts with each other. The on-line plugin library needs refinement. I prefer Joomla’s Extension Directory because it’s easier to use.

That’s it for the Cons and let me tell you I was being overly critical.

Scott’s Opinion

WordPress is the winner and here’s why. The community spirit is amazing, there are WordPress meetups all over the world, and the amount of online help is incredible. The core of WordPress is built on a simplistic elegance which is similar to Mac computers. I feel lucky to have walked down the Joomla road first because it helped me realize what’s important about content management systems.  Simplicity of use is worth more than a higher level of flexibility; and WordPress is just as powerful and flexible as Joomla.

UPDATE: 9/22/14

Google Has Backed Up My Opinion On WordPress vs. Joomla

I was reviewing this post and decided to run a Google trends analysis on both systems to see what showed up. The graph below is revealing and  supports my opinion.

To see the current stats click this link.

Google Trends Logo

WordPress Vs. Joomla

The writing is on the wall. The 2014 spike is most likely the result of WordPress’s 4.0 release.  FYI: If you click the link to the current stats click “Forecast”  Google will predict the trend. Hint: WordPress does not go down.

 

 

Filed Under: Opinion

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