Sofie Estolloso Hofmann Designs International

WordPress Flash Uploader, Adobe Flash Player 10, Userplane Applications

Wednesday, October 29, 2008 @ 12:40 pm by Sofie Hofmann

I just redesigned Pandan.ph Website and made use of the gallery feature of WordPress. The downside was I was not able to use the WordPress Image Flash Uploader to upload the photos, only the normal WordPress Image Browser Uploader.

For clarification, Flash uploader is an image uploader making use of the flash so you can upload pictures in bulk while the Browser uploader is when you can only choose one file or photo to upload to your WordPress site.

I did not mind using the Browser uploader because I did not have too many pictures to upload. I was able to upload everything and Pandan.ph Website is now online with the new photo gallery.

When I finally uploaded the new WordPress theme of Pandan.ph, activated it, and then announced that it has been redesigned, I thought of changing its front page look and put a Live Web Chat into it. I already have an account with Userplane, so I thought of using one of its applications. Unfortunately, it was not showing up unless I upgrade my Adobe Flash Player. I downloaded the new Adobe Flash Player 10 and installed it.

With the new installation, I tested 3 Userplane applications to no avail. I surfed the web and looked for answers to the problem. According to Adobe site, and to my understanding, I should have uninstalled the Adobe Flash Player first before installing the new one. That I didn’t know. I do not even remember what version of Adobe Flash Player I was using before I installed the Adobe Flash Player 10. With the new information, the only way to uninstall the software was by using the Adobe Flash Player Uninstaller. I downloaded the Adobe Flash Player Uninstaller available at the Adobe site. I uninstalled the Adobe Flash Player and installed it again.

I thought everything will be resolved but no, the Userplane application was still giving me the message that I should upgrade to the new Adobe Flash Player. I thought again, maybe something went wrong with the installation and the Adobe Flash Player 10 I downloaded before was corrupted. So I downloaded the Adobe Flash Player 10 again. I uninstalled and installed the software but still to no avail.

I did not implement the Live Web Chat at the site. I also looked for other WordPress Live Web Chat Plugins but at that time I did not like to register again with another site. I thought that I will just implement the Live Web Chat later. I will still have to look for an alternative.

I resumed working as I am redesigning several of my sites right now especially the photo galleries. I tested uploading photos to my other WordPress sites, the Flash uploader was still not working. I surfed the web and again, looked for answers to this problem. I found out that WordPress Image Flash Uploader is not compatible with Adobe Flash Player 10.

I do not work too much with flash, so having read that it is better to use Adobe Flash Player 9 for the meantime, I downloaded Adobe Flash Player 9 from the Adobe site. I uninstalled Adobe Flash Player 10 and installed Adobe Flash Player 9.

Well, WordPress Image Flash Uploader worked but only in one of my sites. That site is in fact hosted with Dreamhost. I find it really funny because I always like my web hosts here in Switzerland but right now I’m getting quite satisfied with Dreamhost so far. I can only use the Browser uploader at the other sites being hosted at my 2 other web hosts. The Flash uploader does not work at all. The reason why I was not able to use the WordPress Image Flash Uploader with Pandan.ph because it is being hosted at one of my web hosts here, and not with Dreamhost. I will have to contact my other web hosts to know what is wrong.

I hope that this problem will be resolved soon. It’s not fun uploading photos one by one, you know. 🙂

Related Links: WordPress, Adobe, Userplane, Dreamhost

References:
WordPress › Support » Image/Media Uploader problems?
WordPress › Support » Flash Player 10 Beta breaks file upload
Flash Player 10 Beta | SWFUpload
Flash Player 10 – Continued | SWFUpload
Troubleshoot Adobe Flash Player for Intel-based Macs
How to uninstall the Adobe Flash Player plug-in and ActiveX control

Adobe,Dreamhost,Userplane,Web Hosting,WordPress

New WordPress Theme for Pandan.ph Website

Monday, October 27, 2008 @ 11:48 pm by Sofie Hofmann

Finally, I was able to redesign Pandan.ph Website, still using WordPress as a CMS, and still based on the old web design of the site. There’s really nothing major that changed externally but internally a lot were needed to be updated. I revised the CSS and PHP scripts to make use of the photo gallery feature of WordPress.

I was using a javascript within WordPress for the automatic slide of the old photo gallery. I removed those javascripts and made use of the gallery feature of WordPress. There are no more automatic slide shows, just a simple gallery but at least site visitors can write their comments now at the individual pictures.

Regarding color, I finally changed the background color from dark blue to light blue. This is one thing that some of the site visitors suggested as they have a hard time looking at the site longer because of the dark blue color. One suggestion was to change the background into green. I use the green color at the bottom and at the main menu instead.

The image below was the old WordPress theme of Pandan.ph Pandan Antique Philippines Website.

Old WordPress theme of Pandan.ph Website

Other additional changes are the latest comments on the side bar instead of the web links, and the RSS feed subscription, making it quite really visible, now being linked to feedburner using feedproxy.google.com instead of being at the domain itself.

I now also use the WordPress Plugin FeedBurner FeedSmith to redirect the old RSS feed pandan.ph/feed to the new one at feedproxy.google.com/pandanph, WordPress Plugin ©Feed for copyright notice at the RSS feed, and Simple Recent Comments.

The WordPress Plugins are very useful, so if you like them, just grab them. 🙂

Updated on November 01, 2008

The old web design of Pandan.ph Website had two layouts. The front page, the other pages and its subpages were using a three-column layout while the News section was using a two-column layout, both with fixed width.

The new web design of Pandan.ph have also two layouts. The front page is using a three-column layout but the rest of the pages are using a two-column layout.

New WordPress theme of Pandan.ph Website

The images above are the three-column and two-column layouts of Pandan.ph Website.

Web Design,WordPress

Upgraded to WordPress 2.6.3

Friday, October 24, 2008 @ 2:03 pm by Sofie Hofmann

I was guessing the other day that perhaps there will be no more WordPress upgrading to do. But in reality, at the back of my mind, anything could happen before a major release of WordPress 2.7 on November 10, 2008.

Well, yesterday, it was announced that there was a vulnerability at the Snoopy library. WordPress uses Snoopy in fetching the feeds that are being shown at the Dashboard. Have you seen those errors at the Dashboard too? Maybe this is related, I saw some incoming links appeared in my Dashboard when in fact, those sites are not really linking to your site.

So WordPress 2.6.3 was released as a security fix. Although the risk is not that high, WordPress opted to update immediately.

Don’t worry, you do not have to do the normal upgrading of WordPress. You have the option to just upload the file needed to fix the Snoopy library and the version file so to update it so that you will not see that message reminding you all the time that there’s a new version of WordPress. That’s exactly what I did.

Download WordPress 2.6.3, extract it, and upload class-snoopy.php and version.php files under the wp-includes folder. You can also opt to download the two files only at WordPress.2.6.3.

That’s it! It’s that easy!

Related links: Snoopy Vulnerability, Snoopy

WordPress

Upgraded to WordPress 2.6.2, WordPress Plugin Automatic Upgrade

Wednesday, October 22, 2008 @ 11:45 pm by Sofie Hofmann

I finished upgrading all the sites using WordPress. I really had no plan to upgrade from WordPress 2.6 to WordPress 2.6.2 as I did not have any problem with it. I even skipped upgrading to WordPress 2.6.1. I know that WordPress 2.7 is going to be released this coming November. So, I thought I will just wait for WordPress 2.7.

But I changed my mind, so I finally upgraded all the websites using the publishing platform WordPress as a CMS (Content Management System). Upgrading to WordPress 2.6.2 did not cause any problem. Even when I upgraded several WordPress Plugins by clicking “upgrade automatically”. It worked just fine and no problem at all.

I actually just tested the WordPress Plugin Automatic Upgrade to see if it works, and if it is safe to use it. It worked, that is because I did the testing at the site where Dreamhost is the web hosting company. The last time I made use of it with a different web host, it did not work. I just got errors. But clicking “upgrade automatically” works with Dreamhost. I think this is again a plus for Dreamhost.

I will try to test this WordPress Plugin Automatic Upgrade at my other sites hosted at a different web host other than Dreamhost. I will see if I will still encounter any problems. As of the moment, there’s nothing to upgrade as I also upgraded all the WordPress Plugins by uploading them together with the WordPress 2.6.2 files.

By the way, I’m not talking about a certain WordPress Automatic Update Plugin here but the built-in One-click or Automatic Upgrade feature of WordPress which was included in WordPress 2.5 when it was released on March 29, 2008. It is different from the update notification which lets you know if ever there’s a new release of WordPress or there’s a new available updated version of a WordPress Plugin that you are using. The update notification feature was included when WordPress 2.3 was released on September 24, 2007.

I guess, no upgrading will be done until WordPress 2.7 which will be released on November 10, 2008 if everything will be fine as planned by WordPress.org.

Dreamhost,Web Hosting,WordPress

Web Hosting Unlimited Disk Storage and Unlimited Bandwidth/Transfer

Tuesday, September 30, 2008 @ 11:54 pm by Sofie Hofmann

I have several web hosting accounts with different web hosts and I feel that it’s about time for me to review one of them but not so detailed though. I will be writing about Dreamhost Web Hosting.

It’s been a year since I signed up for a web hosting at Dreamhost. I have compared its web hosting packages with other web hosts and could say that Dreamhost has quite good and really competitive offers.

During that time, other web hosts offered more disk storage and more monthly bandwidth than Dreamhost. But what I did considering that Dreamhost increases its storage and bandwidth every week in terms of Gigabytes, I just compared how much it will be at the end of the year. I realized that if the other web hosts will not increase theirs at the end of the year, then I eventually will get a good deal from Dreamhost aside from all the other great features included with the packages.

I often check the web hosting packages of Dreamhost. I was surprised when I read that Dreamhost is now offering Unlimited Disk Storage and Unlimited Monthly Bandwidth/Transfer for the next 1111 new customers. It’s a limited offer but it is great. With this offer, you will never worry about your disk storage nor your monthly bandwidth usage any more. But remember not to abuse this offer. Please read its Unlimited Policy at the site.

To add, what I really find good with Dreamhost is the One-Click Install of WordPress which I am using as CMS in a lot of my sites. If you are using WordPress or plan to use WordPress, I suggest that you use its One-Click Install. This way, if you need to upgrade WordPress, you will also be able to use its One-Click Upgrade. You have the option to install or upgrade WordPress by yourself but I find it really easy using its One-Click Install and One-Click Upgrade. I sometimes upgrade it on my own the traditional way following the Upgrade Instructions of WordPress just not to be able to forget how to do it. But most often, I use the One-Click Upgrade of Dreamhost.

Other than that, I also have been writing its support team every time I needed some clarification and they have been always very quick to answer and really very helpful.

Disclosure: I would like to inform you that this is not a paid advertisement. But considering that I joined the referral program of Dreamhost, I will eventually be benefiting from it if you will sign-up for a web hosting at Dreamhost using my referral link. This is the first time that I’m using the referral program of Dreamhost. This is valid as of this writing but I don’t know if it will still be useful in the next few years. I will be very grateful if you use my Dreamhost referral link. Please read the disclaimer page too. Thank you everyone.

Please kindly click http://www.dreamhost.com/r.cgi?342709 and then sign up without entering any promo code or referrer.

Dreamhost,Web Hosting,WordPress

PSAP-PAROLA.ORG converted to CMS using WordPress

Sunday, August 31, 2008 @ 11:52 pm by Sofie Hofmann

Before we went for a vacation on July 7-19, 2008, I finished revising the Website of Philippine Seafarers Assistance Programme. I used WordPress as CMS for the site, and it took me several months to finish it as I was not really working on it regularly. When WordPress 2.5 came out, I started working regularly on the site utilizing WordPress as CMS. WordPress 2.5 has a built-in gallery and I wanted that, not just a Plugin.

I made use of the built-in gallery for the Photo Gallery under Profile section and also for the Ship and Crew of the Month under Seafarers section.

The web design is not at all new, it was based on the original web design of the site. While I was working on the PSAP-PAROLA.ORG theme based on the original web design, I thought of not using any WordPress Plugin. Indeed I did not use any, not a single one, not even Akismet as the comments section for all the articles are all closed.

I just used Post instead of Page for the articles to make the sections dynamic. I used the word section instead of category as the site is not at all a blog. I just created several category and single category pages so the article belonging to a section will only appear in that section. I used category and postname for the Permalinks. I was able to make everything dynamic without using any WordPress Plugin.

I used two lay-outs for this site, a three-column page for the front page using one column for the sidebar positioned on the left, and a two-column page for the other pages in which one column is a sidebar also positioned on the left.

If you navigate the site, you will notice that the background color of the sidebar and the topbar changes in Profile, Seafarers, Volunteers, Resources, and Parola sections. I used the conditional if else for that and it worked. As I’ve said, I did not want to use any WordPress Plugin.

I was proud having been able to redesign the site. The newly redesigned Website of Philippine Seafarers Assistance Programme had been online since then.

Web Design,WordPress

Upgraded to WordPress 2.6 “Tyner”

Thursday, July 31, 2008 @ 12:29 pm by Sofie Hofmann

I finally upgraded all the eight (8) sites that I maintain using WordPress as CMS. I spent the whole day yesterday backing up the database, saving some files, upgrading the sites except for my personal blog, and also upgrading all the WordPress Plugins that I’m using with the different sites.

All the WordPress Plugins that I’m using are all compatible with WordPress 2.6. So far, no major problems occurred. Everything went fine. I followed the same procedure when I upgraded the sites before. Just kindly read my other blog entries on Upgrading WordPress as I will not explain about it here anymore.

Just a reminder though, when you upgrade to WordPress 2.6 and upgrade WordPress Plugins that you are using, make sure you deactivated all the WordPress Plugins. I suggest that you delete all the old versions of the WordPress Plugins not just overwrite them and upload the new ones to avoid scripting errors.

I will also not discuss about the new features of the new WordPress version. So if you would like to know more about it, read about WordPress 2.6 “Tyner” at the WordPress site. Once again, Matt discussed the new features extensively.

Well, that’s all and have fun exploring WordPress 2.6 “Tyner”.

WordPress

Counterize II WordPress Statistics Plugin

Monday, June 30, 2008 @ 11:30 pm by Sofie Hofmann

I have been using Counterize II WordPress Plugin for quite sometime now. Counterize II is actually a very good and a very useful WordPress Statistics Plugin. It is always handy as I see the statistics at the WordPress admin panel as it saves the statistics data in my database. This is actually my problem now, as it is not using external libs, and I don’t want to delete the data, they are occupying too much space of my database.

My dilemma now is whether I should stop using this WordPress Plugin or just delete the data before so as not to occupy too much space of my database. I am not very particular about statistics but once in a while it just makes me smile looking at the data. Although I am not a Statistics freak, I am also using WordPress.com Stats and Google Analytics. I like both WordPress.com Stats and Google Analytics but Counterize II has features which I like too which I did not find at Google Analytics nor WordPress.com Stats. Maybe I have not fully explored WordPress.com Stats and Google Analytics yet as I do not often check my statistics anyway.

While writing this, I thought, ok, I will give it a try one more time. I will check WordPress.com Stats and Google Analytics thoroughly first. If I think it is time to let go of the Counterize II WordPress Statistics Plugin, then I will just let it go.

And oh, I am hoping that one of these days, that people who developed WordPress.com Stats would try to get hold of the Counterize II Plugin developer and maybe come up of an idea of combining the other features of Counterize II with WordPress.com Stats.

Wouldn’t it be great? 🙂

Google,WordPress

Upgraded to WordPress 2.5.1

Thursday, May 29, 2008 @ 3:22 pm by Sofie Hofmann

Several weeks ago WordPress 2.5.1 was released but it was only last week that I was able to upgrade my blog (SofieHofmann.com Blog) and all the sites (Sehdi.com, Weggis.net, Pandan.ph among others) that I manage and maintain using WordPress. I was on vacation for at least 3 1/2 weeks.

Well, upgrading the blog and the sites went fine. I just followed my 10 Steps to upgrading WordPress.

I noticed something though at the Plugins section regarding Widgets before I upgraded the blog and sites using WordPress 2.5 and even after upgrading to WordPress 2.5.1. Did you notice those remarks stating that a plugin has a new version available? Well, the link of the supposed new version of the Widget mentioned does not match to the particular Widget being used.

Let me illustrate it…

First Example:

There is a new version of Simple Recent Comments Widget available. Download version 1.2.1.20070210b here or upgrade automatically.

Wordpress Plugin Simple Recent Comments Widget

This text “Download version 1.2.1.20070210b here” is being linked to the Sidebar Widgets page in WordPress.org (as of this writing, the version is 1.2.1.20070210b as it may change later on) and not to the Simple Recent Comments Widget page (if there is any as I did not find the page when I search WordPress.org for it).

Second Example:

There is a new version of WP-PostViews Widget available. Download version 2.20 here or upgrade automatically.

Wordpress Plugin Post Views Widget

This text “Download version 2.20 here” is being linked to WP-DBManager page in WordPress.org (as of this writing, the version is 2.20 as it may change later on) and not to the WP-PostViews Widget page in WordPress.org (as of this writing, the version is 1.20 as it may change later on). I am actually using the simple WP-PostViews (current version 1.20) and not WP-PostViews Widget.

Then I saw a discussion about WP-PostViews Widget at the WordPress Forum, and Lester Chan (GaMerZ), the WP-PostViews and WP-DBManager Plugins developer, have explained why. Kindly click “wp-dbmanager is showing as an upgrade for wp-postViews Widget” for information.

Well, we’ll just have to bear with it, sooner or later, they’ll find the solutions for it. Creating Plugins for WordPress is voluntary and we should be grateful that we are benefiting from each developer’s work.

Kudos to the WordPress Plugins Developers!

WordPress

Upgraded to WordPress 2.5 Brecker

Thursday, April 3, 2008 @ 2:28 pm by Sofie Hofmann

Yesterday, I finally finished upgrading the last site that I maintain using WordPress as CMS. I upgraded three (3) sites and one (1) blog on Sunday, Sehdi.com, SofieHofmann.com Blog, Pandan.ph and Tugbong.pandan.ph. I upgraded them first in my local computer as a test and so far, no WordPress Plugins were broken. Once everything were ok, I performed the upgrade process just like the usual and everything went well.

I experimented on Pandan.ph though, and it has to do with WordPress Stats Plugin. I did not deactivate the WordPress Stats Plugin so I do not have to write the API Key again. To note, once you deactivate the WordPress Stats Plugin and activate it again, it will always ask for the API Key unlike the Akismet Plugin. The Akismet Plugin, once deactivated and activated, the API Key do not have to be supplied again.

Anyway, what happened? I was not able to access the dashboard at all. So, I deleted the WordPress Stats Plugin at the control panel as I know it was probably the cause. But it remained the same, I was not able to access the dashboard. So I deleted all the Plugins at the control panel as well, not at the Plugins menu. You can delete the Plugins via FTP too. Then uploaded the Plugins, activated them, and everything went fine.

Then I upgraded two (2) more sites on Monday, Pandan.gov.ph News and Pagtatap.org, and yesterday, LADiosolibrary.org, and everything went fine as well.

With Weggis.net, I upgraded it using the one-click upgrade by the web host and so far, everything went well too. Of course, I deactivated all the Plugins first, and only activated them afterwards.

Before that, I tested both WordPress 2.5 Release Candidate 1 and WordPress 2.5 Release Candidate 2 but did not write anything about it right away. I had issues with the built-in gallery then. I wanted to write about it but decided to wait for the official WordPress 2.5 release. I was relieved because what I wanted to do with the gallery can actually be done with the official release. I did not see those features of the built-in gallery at the Release Candidates 1 and 2. I probably overlooked those features but I will not discuss that further as it will only make this entry long. 🙂 I’m still testing the gallery up to now anyway. I’m trying to explore what more could it do. 🙂

Anyway, as I have said in my last entry, I would take note of the database changes but the database did not really change that much, no additional tables at all, except for some which I’m not going to reiterate as you can read about it at the Weblog Tools Collection, 2.3 to 2.5 Database Changes.

I also said that the changes were not just minor changes. Indeed, it was not, WordPress 2.5 had a lot of major improvements. Let me say it, improvements. 🙂 I will also not write about it as Matt Mullenweg wrote so extensively about it at the WordPress Development Blog, WordPress 2.5.

Regarding the WordPress Plugins I am using, I will also not write them here, just browse my past blog entries to know the Plugins that I have in my sites. One thing though, I no longer use the Filosofo Home-Page Control Plugin WordPress since using WordPress 2.3. Regarding Upgrading WordPress process, I just did the same, just like what I wrote in my past blog entries too, similar to Upgrading WordPress Extended.

I’m getting used to WordPress 2.5, and I’m liking it. Way to go WordPress People! Thanks to all of you!

WordPress