Bypass Firewalls : How to Access Banned WordPress.com Blogs

Lorelle wrote down an article on how to access banned WordPress.com with various ways, client side proxy software, online web proxy bypass sites, a peer to peer CDN, TOR. I think we can use resources in the article to access other banned sites as well

Modify WordPress RSS2 Preview

I made an aggregator site weeks a go. One of the aggregated site got lower expectation. I think it’s because anyone prefer to read from this aggregator site than go to a “real” site. The aggreator used RSS tech, i should modify WordPress RSS. The aggregator site only read the title and author. How about the content? The idea is to make people go to a “real” site, that’s why i don’t need the content shows in RSS.

I choose to modify RSS2 because it is suitable with the theme.
WordPress RSS2 file located inside wp-includes folder. Duplicate feed-rss2.php to avoid any mistakes in the future, you can use the duplicate file is something goes wrong. Open feed-rss2.php with notepad or other editors.

We don’t need the content, find this line :

<guid isPermaLink="false"><?php the_guid(); ?></guid>

You’ll get the content xml code.

<?php if (get_option('rss_use_excerpt')) : ?>
<description>
<![CDATA[<?php the_excerpt_rss() ?>]]>
</description>
<?php else : ?>
<description>
<![CDATA[<?php the_excerpt_rss() ?>]]>
</description>
<?php if ( strlen( $post->post_content ) > 0 ) : ?>
<content:encoded>
<![CDATA[<?php the_content() ?>]]>
</content:encoded>
<?php else : ?>
<content:encoded>
<![CDATA[<?php the_excerpt_rss() ?>]]>
</content:encoded>
<?php endif; ?>
<?php endif; ?>
<wfw:commentRss>
<?php echo comments_rss(); ?>
</wfw:commentRss>

Delete all. Save and upload. Test the new RSS2 feed by clicking the link from theme

Posting to The Future in WordPress

I just got back from out of town. I visited my mom and sister, who will go to Switzerland next month. I have a tech blog and I wrote a few post before went out of town. You probably read about posting to the future in WordPress on WordPress FAQ. I used the technique. The posts publish automatically when the day and time sets in the posts come.

Write post as usual. Open “Post Timestamp” on right bar. Pick the date and time when you want the post to appear automatically. Click Publish button.
The post won’t show on your current view, if the date and time not same with your set.

This technique come handy when you are on vacation or away.

Write and Edit WordPress content using Safari

My last post said about Safari error when we write and edit WordPress content. However there is an easy way to override this error, i turned off visual editing option on User tabs, so Easy!. This way you can write and edit WordPress content without worry about the final result, no apple span style!

Missing Part : Transfer accounts, blog and databases

I forgot to re-setup Permalinks after transferred. WOW! one mistake can drops your visitor numbers. Now the permalinks is back normal again, no more 404 pages

Transfer accounts, blogs and databases Part 2

Now open blog or website, you’ll find scrambled layout and errors. Do Not worry.
It’s time to upgrade.

I put an empty index.html file on server with title, “We’re Upgrading”. The html file won’t make conflict with WordPress’ index.php file.
Why do I put an empty index.html file?
1. I want to tell my visitors that My Blog or Website is in upgrading stages. So they can come back later
2. We need to delete old WordPress files, and we don’t want your visitors see the process.

I learn this from my previous mistakes, when i was upgrading my blog, i just copied the new WordPress on Old Wordpress files, i got errors on WP ADMIN (these also related to Plugins compatibility). I decided to re-run the process

Turned off WordPress’ plugins, delete all old WordPress files, except wp-content directory, wp-connfig.php (you can read WordPress Upgrade Manual). Upload new WordPress files, except wp-content directory, wp-config.php. Run /wp-admin/upgrade.php.

You must check Plugins Compatibility with this list from WordPress before turned on the Plugins. These plugins can cause errors on WP Admin.

Delete index.html file from your blog/website directory. Your blog/website showed.

Note : Upgrade Google Sitemaps Plugin to the latest version, which is compatible with WordPress 2.3.1

Transfer accounts, blogs and databases Part 1

I am busy since last weekend, moving or transferring accounts from one server to another. I managed to wrote some proccess here. Moving accounts between servers is new experience for me. But I learn a lot from the process.

I wrote about transfer accounts from one cpanel server to another cpanel server, and i didn’t aware the transfer effected email system on the server. So if you use my way to transfer accounts on CPanel like the way i did, please consult your host.

I’m not only moving accounts, but also moving and upgrade blogs, in the case WordPress blogs.
Moving and upgrade WordPress between server has same way with upgrading WordPress in one server. First step, you must copy identical blogs on both servers. If you transfer accounts like the way before and it has the same WordpPress version, it’s easy, you only upgrade WordPress, but if you can’t move your accounts like CPanel did and it has different WordPress version you must :
1. Backup your WordPress database. Export yourWordPress database to sql format with options ADD DROP TABLE and COMPLETE INSERTS
2. Backup your WordPress files to your local harddisk. It’s okay if you backup with your plugins all enabled.
3. Import your backup database to your new server.
4. Upload your backup WordPress files to your new server with wp-config.php settings to your new server’s database.

[Continue to Part 2]

How to make a youtube video appear on WordPress?

I had a problem when embedding a youtube’s code on WordPress. The video didn’t show after we did copy and paste the code inside the post, this was also happened when we did copy and paste inside html editor.

Go to Users tabs and deactivate ‘Use the visual rich editor when writing’. Update the profile and go back to your post where you place a youtube’s code. Copy and paste the code. You can choose to Save and Continue Editing to see if the video is working or you can choose to Publish the post.