Social media and social networking are as popular as ever. People are updating their Facebook statuses, sending out pictures through Twitter, and connecting with fellow professionals on LinkedIn. They’re also sharing their locations and favorite places with Foursquare, so how can you best integrate that network onto your blog?

One way to do it is with the recently released Foursquare Map WordPress plug-in. After installing and configuring this plug-in, you can place a widget in your blog’s sidebar that displays your most recent Foursquare check-in. This not only provides the name of the place, but an actual map to the location as well.

This way, people can stay on top of your Foursquare activities without actually having to go to the Foursquare website or using a compatible client of some kind. The plug-in was built using the Foursquare and Google Maps APIs, so you can expect “blistering fast speeds” for the map loading on your site.

Head over to DigitalCortex.net for more information and to download the Foursquare Maps plug-in for your WordPress blog.

Here is the latest changelog.txt, too:

Changelog as of Jul 5, 2010
= Version 1.5.1 = - released: July 5, 2010 - published: July 26, 2010 - style updates for the `comment_form()` function = Version 1.5 = - released: July 5, 2010 - cleaned up code to meet WP Standards - adjusted content_width value - fixed page with comments closed message - removed feed links from header; using `add_theme_support( 'automatic-feed-links' );` - removed `legacy.comments.php` file as it is no longer referenced. - add the use of `comment_form()` ****************************** * Internet Browsers Reviewed * * ========================== * * * * Apple Safari v5.0 (Mac) * * Apple Safari v5.0 (PC) * * Firefox v3.6.6 * * Google Chrome v5.0 * * Internet Explorer v8.0 * * Opera v10.10 * * * ******************************

Now that Ground Floor v1.5.1 has been published it will go back into the queue for further updates. Given the recent changes to the WordPress Theme Review process and the features from version 3.0 that I still want to add there is more code to be written … in the meantime, Enjoy!

© 2010, BuyNowShop. All rights reserved.

Related posts:

1. Ground Floor 1.4
2. Ground Floor 1.3
3. Shades 1.5.1

If you are new to WordPress and are still experimenting with the permalink structure to best fit your needs, you might consider using this function to create internal links for your site. Using the URL generated by the_shortlink() will always resolve correctly, using the verbose URL of the permalink structure may cause issues if you change the structure and do not manually edit all the internal links you have previously posted.

Please note, by “internal links” I am refering to the links used within the content of a post or page on your site pointing to another post or page on your site. A WordPress installation has the “smarts” to correctly resolve the links it generates if you change the permalink structure but it will not go back and “fix” anything you manually typed yourself as part of your page or post entry.

There is great potential for the user, the designer, and the developer using this function. I recommend adding it to all themes. Here is the most basic default usage of the_shortlink():

<?php the_shortlink(); ?>

This is the code I have decided to use on this site:

<?php the_shortlink( __('Short Link'), '', ' &#124; ', '' ); ?>

… which you can see just after the comments or subscribe link in the post meta details.

Of course you can always use the ‘Get Shortlink’ button found on the page and post administration panels to get your shortlink, but making use of this single line of code allows your readers to gain that same benefit, too.



$blog_list = get_blog_list( 0, 'all' );
foreach ($blog_list AS $blog) {
echo 'Blog '.$blog['blog_id'].': '.$blog['domain'].$blog['path'].'
';
}

Paste that somewhere in a theme file or page template and there you go. Hope someone finds it handy and gets inspired to write a snazzy plugin, possibly a shortcode.

Random Posts

© andrea for WPMU Tutorials, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Need real genuine helpful support? MU Support.

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

• August 2, 2009 — WordPress MU Theme Stats (3)
• June 29, 2010 — BuddyPress Author Link (0)
• June 28, 2010 — Another Featured Posts update (12)
• June 27, 2010 — Network Privacy (9)
• June 21, 2010 — Everything you wanted to know about creating a network of multiple sites in 3.0 (45)

© Ron for WPMU Tutorials, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: network, statistics, stats, theme, WordPress 3.0

Need real genuine helpful support? MU Support.

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

You’ve surely encountered more than one blog out there that highlights a series of “related posts” at the end of each entry. This is a great feature to have on your blog, because it can direct interested visitors toward additional reading on your site that is relevant to what they just read. That much makes sense.

This kind of functionality is largely attained through the use of WordPress plugins, but the majority of the plugins are algorithm-based. In this way, the selection of the so-called “related” posts is done automatically by the plugin and these kinds of associations aren’t always completely accurate. You might be writing about the produce you found at the supermarket and it pulls up a “related post” on your new Apple iPod.

Offering a different take on the “related post” function is the Custom Post Relationships WordPress plugin. This allows for the manual selection of related posts, ensuring that you are indeed getting reading for your visitors that is relevant to the current post.

The integrated system lets you filter through based on category and you can type in a few words to narrow the search even further. From there, you can click to add posts to the “related posts” section and even organize their order. For more information, check out webtoolkit4.me.

Just a quick preview of one of the upcoming featured changes to the Desk Mess Mirrored theme: custom menus via the wp_nav_menu() function.

The current code for Desk Mess Mirrored version 1.6 in header.php for menus is this (cleaned up for display):

<?php if ( is_home() || is_front_page()) { ?> <?php wp_list_pages( 'title_li=&depth=1&include=2' ); ?> <?php wp_list_pages( 'title_li=&depth=1&exclude=2' ); ?>
<?php } else { ?> <li><a href="<?php bloginfo( 'url' ); ?>"><?php _e( 'Home', 'desk-mess-mirrored' ) ?></a></li> <?php wp_list_pages( 'title_li=&depth=1' ); ?>
<?php } ?>

All of that code is simply replaced by this line:

<?php dmm_nav_menu(); ?>

The function dmm_nav_menu() is referring to this section of code now found in the functions.php template file:

 // Add wp_nav_menu() custom menu support add_theme_support( 'menus' ); function dmm_nav_menu() { if ( function_exists( 'wp_nav_menu' ) ) wp_nav_menu( array( 'theme_location' => 'top-menu', 'depth' => 1, 'fallback_cb' => 'dmm_list_pages' ) ); else dmm_list_pages(); } function dmm_list_pages() { if ( is_home() || is_front_page() ) { wp_list_pages( 'title_li=&depth=1' ); } else { ?> <li><a href="<?php bloginfo( 'url' ); ?>"><?php _e( 'Home', 'desk-mess-mirrored' ) ?></a></li> <?php wp_list_pages( 'title_li=&depth=1' ); } } add_action( 'init', 'register_dmm_menu' ); function register_dmm_menu() { register_nav_menu( 'top-menu', __( 'Top Menu' ) ); } // wp_nav_menu() end

Notice the highlighted lines are identical which means at the default settings after updating to version 1.7 you should see no difference in how your site looks, but you are now able to set the menu links using the interface under Appearance | Menus. Also note, the menu is still set as a top-level or parent only menu. Future versions of DMM may offer drop-down menus and other options but they are not currently scheduled for a particular release date or version at this time.

All of these changes were based on the article I wrote at WPFirstAid.com titled: Upgrade wp_list_pages() to wp_nav_menu().

Enjoy!

© 2010, BuyNowShop. All rights reserved.

Related posts:

1. Desk Mess Mirrored 1.5
2. Desk Mess Mirrored 1.2
3. Desk Mess Mirrored 1.6

Let’s start with the same basic outline and list the default options for each function. We will start with wp_nav_menu() ¹ first:

wp_nav_menu( array( 'menu' => '', 'container' => 'div', 'container_class' => '', 'container_id' => '', 'menu_class' => 'menu', 'menu_id' => '', 'echo' => true, 'fallback_cb' => 'wp_page_menu', 'before' => '', 'after' => '', 'link_before' => '', 'link_after' => '', 'depth' => 0, 'walker' => '', 'theme_location' => '' ) );

We follow with wp_list_categories() ^{2, 3} which is often wrapped in a <ul class=”menu”> tag:

<ul class="menu">
wp_list_categories( array( 'include' => '', 'exclude' => '', 'exclude_tree' => '', 'child_of' => 0, 'hide_empty' => 1, 'orderby' => 'name', 'order' => 'ASC', 'use_desc_for_title'=> 1, 'number' => NULL, 'hierarchical' => true, 'show_count' => 0, 'pad_counts' => 0, 'style' => 'list', /* 'style' set to list "creates list items for an unordered list" */ 'show_option_all' => '', 'show_option_none' => __('No categories'), 'show_last_update' => 0, 'feed' => '', 'feed_type' => '', 'feed_image' => '', 'current_category' => 0, 'taxonomy' => 'category', 'title_li' => __( '' ), /* 'title_li' set to '' for menus from the default 'Categories' */ 'echo' => 1, 'depth' => 0, 'walker' => 'Walker_Category' ) );
</ul>

Here is the break-down of the wp_list_categories() default options from above:

• 'include' – not used
• 'exclude' – not used
• 'exclude_tree' – not used
• 'child_of' – not used
• 'hide_empty' – not used
• 'orderby' – not used
• 'order' – not used
• 'use_desc_for_title' – not used
• 'number' – not used
• 'hierarchical' – not used
• 'show_count' – not used
• 'pad_counts' – not used
• 'style' – not used
• 'show_option_all' – not available
• 'show_option_none' – not available
• 'show_last_update' – not available
• 'feed' – not available
• 'feed_type' – not available
• 'feed_image' – not available
• 'current_category' – not available
• 'taxonomy' – not available
• 'title_li' – not used
• 'echo' – similar to wp_nav_menu(); true versus 1 as value
• 'depth' – same as wp_nav_menu()
• 'walker' – see below for additional notes

Although there are great many options available to be used with wp_list_categoires() most are not used (as noted in the list above) in place of the user interface of wp_nav_menu() found under Appearance | Menu in the dashboard. The options that are marked as “not available” are currently not directly supported by wp_nav_menu() without the application of filters. The last few options remaining match up almost exactly with wp_page_nav() in a similar fashion as was shown with wp_list_pages().

Just like the wp_list_pages() consideration, the wp_nav_menu() fallback_cb option may be set to 'fallback_cb' => 'wp_list_categories'. This backward compatibility may also be addressed with a custom function as was noted, too.

Note: In most cases you would leave the wp_nav_menu() 'walker' option set to its default NULL although wp_list_categories() uses its own default walker class.

Surround that in php tags.

For added snazziness and extra bonus points on your homework, go grab a copy of the blank widget Blank Build-A-Widget (930) paste this code in there, and you’ve just made a network stats widget. Awesome, you rock

Random Posts

© andrea for WPMU Tutorials, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Need real genuine helpful support? MU Support.

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Andrea & I have had a fantastic time at every WordCamp we have attended and we enjoy meeting other people who use WordPress. If you have never been to one, this will be a great one for you to attend. Whatever you are doing with WordPress, you can be sure that you’ll have a chance to talk to others who have been or are interested in doing the same

• June 9, 2010 — I went to WordCamp Chicago and all you get is this lousy blog post (2)
• June 9, 2010 — BuddyPress Child Themes (2)
• December 1, 2009 — More video from WordCamp New York (1)
• October 19, 2009 — WordCamp New York (1)

© Ron for WPMU Tutorials, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: montreal, wordcamp

Need real genuine helpful support? MU Support.

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

The magic line is this in your config file:

define('WP_DEFAULT_THEME', 'classic');

In this example, the classic theme is used as the default when a site is created, or when a theme in use is removed. If you are starting fresh with 3.0, the default is the new TwentyTen, so this override is handy.

Added tip: if you have a lot of blogs using the Kubrick theme and wanted to remove it and set the other blogs, do this define first with your new default theme, then remove or rename the Kubrick theme folder (in my it was simply “default”). On a refresh, all blogs using the Kubrick theme will be switched to your new default.

If you just wanted the Kubrick theme to go away and have twentyten show up, you won’t need to do the define above. Just rename the /default/ theme folder. It’ll kick in.

(thanks to Ron for reminding me & MichaelH for the codex note I missed)

Random Posts

© andrea for WPMU Tutorials, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Need real genuine helpful support? MU Support.

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Like the last post in the series we will look at the default arguments used by each function, starting with wp_nav_menu() ¹:

wp_nav_menu( array( 'menu' => '', 'container' => 'div', 'container_class' => '', 'container_id' => '', 'menu_class' => 'menu', 'menu_id' => '', 'echo' => true, 'fallback_cb' => 'wp_page_menu', 'before' => '', 'after' => '', 'link_before' => '', 'link_after' => '', 'depth' => 0, 'walker' => '', 'theme_location' => '' ) );

The following is a default “menu” version of wp_list_pages() ^{2, 3}, often wrapped within a <ul class=”menu”> tag:

<ul class="menu">
<?php wp_list_pages( array( 'sort_column' => 'menu_order, post_title', 'include' => '', 'exclude' => '', 'exclude_tree' => '', 'child_of' => 0, 'show_date' => '', 'date_format' => get_option('date_format'), 'title_li' => __(''), /* 'title_li' set to '' for menus from the default 'Pages' */ 'authors' => '', 'echo' => 1, 'link_before' => '', 'link_after' => '', 'depth' => 0, 'walker' => '' ) ); ?>
</ul>

Here is the break-down of the wp_list_pages() default options from above:

• 'sort_column' – not used
• 'include' – not used
• 'exclude' – not used
• 'exclude_tree' – not used
• 'child_of' – not used
• 'show_date' – not used
• 'date_format' – not used
• 'title_li' – not used, see below for additional notes
• 'authors' – not used
• 'echo' – similar to wp_nav_menu(); true versus 1 as value
• 'link_before' – same as wp_nav_menu()
• 'link_after' – same as wp_nav_menu()
• 'depth' – same as wp_nav_menu()
• 'walker' – same as wp_nav_menu()

Similar to wp_page_menu(), the ‘sort_column’, ‘include’, ‘exclude’, ‘exclude_tree’, and ‘child_of’ are replaced via the end-user’s specific choices. The ‘show_date’ and its related ‘date_format’ option, as well as the ‘author’ argument, are not available within the default wp_nav_menu() structure. Once again, the balance of the default options in wp_list_pages() matches the defaults found in wp_nav_menu().

Also consider setting the wp_nav_menu() fallback_cb option to 'fallback_cb' => 'wp_list_pages'. This backward compatibility may also be addressed with a custom function as posted by Nicolas Kuttler.

Note: If the 'title_li' => __('') option was being used it may also require the removal of the wrapping <ul> tag in the existing menu structure created with wp_list_pages().

Have you heard?

Dave of ThinkDave.com summed it up the best:

1. Bill Erikson sent out a Tweet explaining that WordPress had dropped him as a developer because he suppports Thesis (they feel Thesis violates the GPL).
2. A bored 12-year old in Elbonia injected some malicious code into the Thesis 1.7 and 1.8 Beta releases, so that anyone installing the theme from these downloads got infected. It’s fixed now
3. Matt smacked Chris across the face with a wet fish, suggesting he doesn’t know how to code (how many times has a WordPress site been hacked, Matt?)
4. Chris shouted at Matt for an hour on Mixergy.
5. Matt sounded bored, like he was reading from a script his lawyers prepared.
6. Chris challenged Matt to a duel in the highest court in the land.
7. Matt said he might just do that.
8. Andrew Warner gave up trying to convince (a) Chris to go GPL with Thesis, and (b) Matt to leave Chris alone.
9. #thesiswp trended on Twitter and everybody from me to a dodgy affiliate in Delhi chimed in with an opinion that at the end of the day, doesn’t matter one little bit. Even so: [Read the rest of Dave's Post here]

For those panicking about their Thesis Installation

Nothing to fear – this could all fizzle away or land in courts for years on end. WordPress isn’t about to stop Thesis from working, nor could they according to their own license. And Thesis isn’t about to just leave WordPress – they can’t. So things are pretty well stuck for the time being. Your Thesis-ified sites are safe.

What is the GPL and why the fuss?

It is my understanding that the GNU GPL (General Public License) basically says that the source code of whatever you create must be available, and it is your choice whether you sell or give away your creation. The only restriction is that the GPL is passed on with any copies or derivative works.

WordPress’s position is that any theme or plugin created for WordPress is a derivative work and therefore MUST be licensed by the GPL as well.

Chris Pearson, and Thesis’ position is that his creation is not derivative and he can license it any way he pleases. And he pleases to make money. (As do we all!)

This is a problem, because Matt Mullenweg sees this contradiction as unethical and stunting the growth of the open source community by ‘taking away’ the thesis code from the GPL.

Whats with all the testosterone?

It has become a bit of a pi$$ing match, because Chris Pearson is a bit of a hot head. And I mean that in the nicest way, but seriously? I dont follow him on twitter any longer because he was making remarks years ago ‘in good fun’ that were just infuriating me. But I digress…

How do our themes measure up?

Unless otherwise requested, we use StudioPress themes as our preferred framework. They are licensed by the GPL in accordance with WordPress’s official position on their licensing. Studio Press offers their framework and themes for a fee. Under the GPL, I am free to just take that code, and give it away from my site here. The only restriction is that it contain a copy of the GPL as well.

Our themes? The majority of each theme is released under the GPL, because we use StudioPress, and as such, we are required to license our derivative works the same way. So theoretically, you could take what you purchase from DSWP, post it on your site, and let people take it – as long as they maintain the GPL on it.

The Exception to the Rule

The only thing that I can license separately are the images that we create and the css files that are separate css files from the StudioPress themes. So it gets a bit technical. But anyhow, it doesn’t really make a difference if I slap on a different license, most people want me to do that work for them, and each website to be customized to their specifications.

Strictly, Cathy Speaking

I suppose I’m old school, or I simply don’t understand the ‘freedom’ the GPL offers, but I’m a fan of traditional business models – you do GREAT work, and then people will pay for it. You do exceptional work, and people will pay more. You have great customer service, people will tell their friends. Seems kind of straight forward to me.

So you want a StudioPress theme for free?

You wont get it here. Sorry.

I will only distribute their GPL themes with my own modifications for a fee, and (regrettably) under the GPL license. Once it is yours, you are free to do with it as you please, except for the images and css files. But all my fabulous clients, value the theme that they have paid top dollar for, and will keep it locked away to be safely on display on their site alone.

The Trends for the Future

If Matt and the GNU GPL folks get their way, software will become more and more open-source. It will be available for the good of everybody, where anybody can contribute to create the best possible experience for the end user. The thing that you can’t package and license is the technical support. More and more, developers are offering technical support as a service, either packaged with a software product or alone. And for me, that is the most exciting part.

The exciting thing about WordPress is that for the life of your website, it can now be upgraded with the click of a button, extended with plugins, and content created by yourself. It brings website development into the hands of the everyday internet user. And where those users need an extra hand or dont want to be bothered with their own website, we are always here to assist in any way we can.

Last Updated Sites widget (39)

I tested it in the mu-plugins folder, but you should also be able to use it as a regular plugin as it only needs to run on one blog. It’s also the older widget code, so you can only use it once, not multiple times, and it has no options. Short, sweet & simple.

Random Posts

© andrea for WPMU Tutorials, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Need real genuine helpful support? MU Support.

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

So, if you’re looking to have a widget that will show the last ten blogs, go get it here.

Random Posts

© andrea for WPMU Tutorials, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Need real genuine helpful support? MU Support.

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Search engine optimization is a very important whether you are running a small blog or you are trying to promote your business website. If you have WordPress as your chosen content management system, you also have access to a wide range of plugins and customizations that can aid you in this effort.

An oldie but a goodie in this realm is SEO Slugs. This WordPress plug-in accomplishes one very simple task, but it does it very well. In short, it shortens the “post slug” portion of your URI, removing superfluous words. This generates a shorter URI and one that is more easily indexed by search engines like Google.

The example used in the plug-in main page has a blog post called “What You Can Do Immediately For Higher Rankings.” If left at default, the post slug in WordPress would be “/what-you-can-do-immediately-for-higher-rankings”. By using the plugin, the slug is automatically shortened to “/immediately-higher-rankings.” That’s shorter and more efficient.

For more information and to download SEO Slugs, head over to vretoolbar.com.

This post will be dealing with function arguments in common between wp_nav_menu() and wp_page_menu(). Follow-up posts will be covering wp_list_pages() and wp_list_categories(). I will not be covering the specific use for each function’s arguments; the idea is to help show how these options correlate to one another.

Let’s start with the full default of wp_nav_menu() ¹ explicitly displayed:

wp_nav_menu( array( 'menu' => '', 'container' => 'div', 'container_class' => '', 'container_id' => '', 'menu_class' => 'menu', 'menu_id' => '', 'echo' => true, 'fallback_cb' => 'wp_page_menu', 'before' => '', 'after' => '', 'link_before' => '', 'link_after' => '', 'depth' => 0, 'walker' => '', 'theme_location' => '' ) );

Followed by the same explicit defaults of wp_page_menu() ^{2, 3}:

wp_page_menu( array( 'sort_column' => 'menu_order, post_title', 'include' => '', 'exclude' => '', 'show_home' => false, 'menu_class' => 'menu', 'echo' => true, 'link_before' => '', 'link_after' => '' ) );

Now onto updating wp_page_menu() to wp_nav_menu(), which turns out to be rather simple.

Here is the break-down of the wp_page_menu() default options from above:

• 'sort_column' – not used
• 'include' – not used
• 'exclude' – not used
• 'show_home' – not used (see bonus section below)
• 'menu_class' – same as wp_nav_menu()
• 'echo' – same as wp_nav_menu()
• 'link_before' – same as wp_nav_menu()
• 'link_after' – same as wp_nav_menu()

First off ‘sort_column’, ‘include’, and ‘exclude’ are replaced by the end-user’s choices using the UI of wp_nav_menu() found under Appearance | Menu in the dashboard. The balance of the default options are the same in wp_nav_menu(), with the exception of 'show_home' => false which is the “bonus” content.

Upgrading from wp_page_menu() to wp_nav_menu() may be as easy as a simple find and replace operation.

In the mean time, you can download my updated version: WP125 Ads Plugin (74). If you have issues with it, please post those issues in the support thread linked above. I won’t be attempting to do other bug fixes or CSS changes.

• July 21, 2010 — Theme Stats Updated (0)
• June 29, 2010 — BuddyPress Author Link (0)
• June 28, 2010 — Another Featured Posts update (12)
• June 27, 2010 — Network Privacy (9)
• June 21, 2010 — Everything you wanted to know about creating a network of multiple sites in 3.0 (45)

© Ron for WPMU Tutorials, 2010. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Plugins, WordPress 3.0

Need real genuine helpful support? MU Support.

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

If you have a MySQL database, a simple mysqldump command can save the database as a file and you can potentially e-mail it to yourself if it’s small enough. With or without the dumped database file, you then have to back up the rest of the files. Dropbox is a creative solution, but an easier and more direct solution is to use Amazon’s Simple Storage Service, otherwise known as Amazon S3. S3 is a service that’s part of the much hyped cloud computing, a land of seemingly infinite data and virtualized resources. Amazon S3 is cheap, well-documented, robust, easy-to-use, and there are many good scripts to interface with S3. It is more than just a good backup option, but for this post I’ll only talk about it within the context of backups.

Amazon S3’s costs are pay-per-use / pay-as-you-go and are split into a few categories:

• Storage: starting at $0.15 per gigabyte
• Data transfer in: Free until November 1, 2010; usually starting at $0.10 per GB
• Data transfer out: starting at $0.15 per GB
• Put and similar requests: 0.01 per 1,000 requests (if you have lots of files this will be the initial input)

Account management in Amazon breaks this down really well into minute details. My blog is relatively small, as I’ve only accumulated about 100mb of files in 4 years and the database is less than 2mb compressed. My monthly cost for daily and weekly backups is less than 20 cents.

Here are a few ways to get the most out of using Amazon S3 for backups:

• Back up only what you need to. Most CMSs let you place all your modifications in one or only a few places. In the case of WordPress, if your entire site is contained in plugins, themes, and uploads, you might only need to back up the wp-content/ folder, since you could restore the rest of the site from a downloaded instance of WordPress.
• Look into some of S3’s extra features, such as versioning and access control by IP as discussed in its FAQ
• Although Amazon S3 claims to be designed to provide “99.999999999% durability and 99.99% availability of objects over a given year”, it could still fail at the same time that your server fails. To mitigate this already-small risk, you could back up to multiple S3 regions, or look at a supplementary backup service such as Rackspace Cloud Files
• To actually access the backed up files, you can use the web-based AWS Management Console to view and download files, make them publicly accessible if needed, create “buckets” (top-level folders, which you can store in different physical locations). One of the more useful tools is a Firefox plugin called S3Fox Organizer, which lets you do much of the same stuff in a familiar explorer-like, two-panel interface (where you can drag-and-drop between your local file system on the left and the remote files on the right):

If you need a step-by-step process to using Amazon S3 starting with the sign-up process, check out this post. Below are my notes on how to use the free s3sync and s3fs tools for the actual backup process. Both assume that you’ve already created a bucket via the AWS Management Console or S3Fox Organizer, although you can also use both tools to create buckets.

s3sync

s3sync is a script written in Ruby. Ruby is usually installed on Linux servers and is easy to install if needed.

There are 3 main steps to start using s3sync.

Download and extract the script

You can currently download the latest version of s3sync at:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/ServEdge_pub/s3sync/s3sync.tar.gz

Then, you can extract the file through your control panel or with a simple tar command:

tar -zxf s3ysnc.tar.gz

Create a configuration file

You’ll need to make a copy of the included s3config.yml.example file. It is very simple and has only two required lines:

aws_access_key_id: your_access_key_id
aws_secret_access_key: your_secret_access_key

You can get both the access key ID and the secret access key on your account when you sign in to Amazon Web Services. Go to Account > Security Credentials.

As for where to place the configuration file, take a look at s3config.rb. Line 15 shows:

confpath = ["#{ENV['S3CONF']}", "#{ENV['HOME']}/.s3conf", "/etc/s3conf"]

So you can either place the s3config.yml file in a self-defined environmental variable (if you have command line access); or in your user’s home directory (usually /home/yourusername/.s3conf/s3config.yml) or in etc/s3conf/s3config.yml. If all else fails, you can just edit s3config.rb and hardcode a path!

Run the script

Before you set up your full backup, you can test that your credentials and connection are working properly by listing the buckets on your account. The command is simply:

./s3cmd.rb listbuckets

Note that s3cmd.rb needs to have executable permissions. If you don’t have command line / shell access to your server, you likely have access to a control panel where you can set up a cron job to execute s3cmd.rb. Just make sure that the cron job either refers to the full path where s3cmd.rb sits, or that it first changes directory (cd) into the folder to which you’ve extracted s3sync.

If all is well, you can then run the full backup script and then set up a cron job to back up your files daily and weekly (or at whatever frequency you’d like).

/path/to/s3sync/s3sync.rb -r /path/to/your/site theblog:daily

The command would back up your site to an existing bucket “theblog” under a sub-folder “daily”.

s3sync can also do many other Amazon S3 management tasks. Check the well-detailed README file for more information.

s3fs

s3fs is a simple solution for VPS and dedicated servers that enables you to mount an Amazon S3 bucket via a local FUSE file system. You can thus access your backup and sync it more or less locally.

(A quick note to VPS users — first, make sure that FUSE has been installed on the hardware node of the VPS setup! Your hosting company will have to do this for you. Otherwise, you might struggle with errors that seem to be file permission related (“fuse: failed to open /dev/fuse: Permission denied”) but that are in fact not simply chmod, chown, or user group fixable!)

If needed, install the fuse, fuse-devel, and curl-devel packages on your server. If you’re on Red Hat, Fedora, or CentOS, you can make use of yum:

yum install fuse
yum install fuse-devel
yum install curl-devel

Then, download and extract the latest s3fs source files from the s3fs website. You’ll have to compile the source, but that’s usually a simple “make -f Makefile” command. Then, move the s3fs binary into /usr/bin and you’re ready to mount the Amazon S3 bucket!

/usr/bin/s3fs name_of_bucket -o accessKeyId=aaaa -o secretAccessKey=aaaa /mount_path


As noted in the above s3sync notes, you can get both the access key ID and the secret access key on your account when you sign in to Amazon Web Services. Go to Account > Security Credentials.

You can use the friendly rsync command to produce daily, weekly, or other frequency of backups:

rsync -av --delete /path/to/your/site/ /mount_path/daily


It’s not an unusual scenario for our customers to create a new version of a theme, install it separately, and then activate it. Often this also allows reverting to the old version of the theme if something unexpected happens at launch.

In this scenario, it’s often easy to check for the existence of a new option, migrated, or other seed data, but sometimes you want to do something like:

global $pagenow;
if ( is_admin() && 'themes.php' == $pagenow && isset( $_GET['activated'] ) ) { // When theme is activated this code runs. // Still be defensive if you need to be, and check if // your baby is already born
}

Hat tip Frank Bültge.