Search For wordpress

Firefox Add-ons for Web Developers

Advanced Web Development by AskApache is a Firefox Collection I created since I’m always trying new Addons out and using multiple computers and I wanted a quick and easy way to install my favorite’s and keep a running list.

As this screenshot shows, I only use a handful of add-ons at a time. These buttons allow me to clear the DNS/Cookies/Cache for whichever site I’m on when I click it. Very very helpful for me as a web designer. The 4th button there is just a restart button. Other than those, Firebug, YSlow, LastPass, and Web Developer are the only ones I always use regularly.

I like the idea of the last.fm but it’s not as powerful as the site, which is awesome. Lately listening to Kings of Leon Radio…

Tagged: askapache, Firebug, Firefox, Firefox Addons, Web Development, webdev, YSlow | 2 Comments | Continue...

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Optimizing Servers and Processes for Speed with ionice, nice, ulimit

To prepare for several upcoming articles on AskApache that are focused on optimizing Servers and Sites from a server admin level, here is an article to introduce the main tools that we will be using. These tools are used to optimize CPU time for each process using nice and renice, and other tools like ionice are used to optimize the Disk IO, or Disk speed / Disk traffic for each process. Then you can make sure your mysqld and httpd processes are always fast and prioritized.

Tagged: bash, chrt, CPU Scheduling, Disk IO, ionice, iostat, Nice, optimize processes, Renice, servers, Shell Scripting, taskset | 1 Comment | Continue...

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Advanced WordPress wp-config.php Tweaks

The bottom line for this article is that I want to make WordPress as fast, secure, and easy to install, run, and manage because I am using it more and more for client production sites, I will work for days in order to solve an issue so that I never have to spend time on that issue again. Time is money in this industry and that is ultimately (time) what there is to gain by tweaking WordPress.

Note: I spent no time on readability, this is primarily a read the code and figure it out article.. This is for advanced users looking for a reference or discussion and for those of you looking to advance. Feedback would be great if you make it that far..

Tagged: admin, advanced, Cookies, debugging, htaccess, mod_rewrite, PHP, phpinfo, WordPress, wp-config.php | 4 Comments | Continue...

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Protecting Files with Advanced Mod_Rewrite Anti-Hotlinking

If you have files on your site that you don’t want indexed by malicious search engines, grabbed and leeched by malicious spammers, or stolen and made available elsewhere, you can use mod_rewrite to drastically reduce or totally reduce that activity.

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Hire AskApache

Hi there, do you want help with a project (SEO, site/server optimization, setup, wordpress plugin development, other programming, server issues, security issues, etc.) or need some expert consulting? I’m very comfortable working freelance for clients from all across the globe. I enjoy helping good causes or sites/webmasters similar to mine, and I enjoy making new friends and networking.
Personally, I love to chat on the phone or instant message with fellow webmasters and web entrepreneurs, and I like networking with like-minded individuals. Once my services are retained we will communicate any way that works best for you.. Billing is pretty flexible for all services other than SEO, which is billed aggressively: one word: skills.
Work Policy
I will never waste my time and your money by doing just enough to get paid or meet simple requirements. I deal only in results. I like to understand the root of the problem and discern what the task ultimately is meant to accomplish, and cut straight towards that. I dislike temporary fixes that will need to be re-addressed, preferring a “once-and-for-all” type of solution.
Refunds
If I can’t meet or exceed your expectations initially agreed upon then I will instantly refund 100% of any payments made other then the retainer. I’ve never had anyone request a refund.
Retainer
If you’d like to hire me, please pay this $25 retainer by clicking the paypal image or here. This is non-refundable but if I can’t help you and didn’t spend time figuring that out I’ll refund it. That also allows us to trust each other’s identity as I don’t reveal much about myself online to anonymous netizens. Once I have the retainer I will email you all my contact info so we can figure out all the details. The $25 …

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An AskApache Plugin Upgrade to Rule them All

So my blog as been rather quiet for almost a year now, and very few updates if any have been released for my Password Protection PLugin, my Google 404 Plugin, and definately not for my AskApache CrazyCache plugin, which I will be releasing last… So for all of you who’ve helped me out by sending me suggestions and notifying me of errors and sticking with it… Just wanted to say sorry about that, and thanks for all the great ideas.. Well, I’ve been sticking with it as well believe it our not. I manage to get free days once in a while, and then its time to jam.

Tagged: AskApache Google 404, AskApache Password Protection, Fsockopen, WordPress Plugins, wordpress security | 1 Comment | Continue...

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Mirroring an Entire Site using Rsync over SSH

Sometimes there is an urgent need for creating an exact duplicate or “mirror” of a web site on a separate server. This could be needed for creating Round Robin Setups, Load-Balancing, Failovers, or for just plain vanilla backups. In the past I have used a lot of different methods to copy data from one server to another, including creating an archive of the whole directory and then using scp to send the file over, creating an archive and then encrypting it and then sending that file over using ftp, curl, etc., and my persistence at learning new ways to do things has paid off because now I use rsync to keep an exact replica of the entire directory on an external server, without having to use all the CPU and resources of other mirroring methods.

Tagged: backup, bash, encryption, mirror, password, rsync, ssh | 1 Comment | Continue...

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AskApache Debug Viewer Plugin for WordPress

The story behind this plugin is sorta wack, but in a good way :). While doing tons of security research on permissions, authorization, access, etc.. for the Password Protection plugin (still being worked on), I needed to have unheard of debugging capabilities while working on the plugin on the various websites, webhosts, and test servers that I use to test in different environments. So I hacked together a bunch of php code that helped me debug, actually I pretty much went overkill and tried to get as much debugging info as programmatically possible, and it ended up being so much code that I took it out of my Password Protection code and made it its own plugin.

Tagged: debugging, wordpress development | 1 Comment | Continue...

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Advanced Htaccess – SSI, ErrorDocuments, DirectoryIndexing SEO

3-Part article covering practical implementation of 3 advanced .htaccess features. Discover an easy way to boost your SEO the AskApache way (focus on visitors), a tip you might keep and use for life. Get some cool security tricks to use against spammers, crackers, and other nefarious sorts. Take your site’s error handling to the next level, enhanced ErrorDocuments that go beyond 404’s.

Tagged: errordocument, htaccess, htaccess rewrite, mod_include, Server Side Includes, SSI | 1 Comment | Continue...

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Password Protection Plugin Status

I wanted to address why the update to the AskApache Password Protection plugin didn’t happen pre-2009 as I had hoped.. Mostly due to my job but I thought I could at least fill you in. Oh and this is going to get very boring very fast, unless you’re ready to rumble in the zone.

Tagged: .htaccess plugin, Apache, askapache, htaccess, password protection, Security, WordPress | 1 Comment | Continue...

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Ultimate Htaccess Tutorial for .htaccess files

This is not an introduction to .htaccess… This is the evolution of .htaccess… The BEST, the ORIGINAL, the NEWEST, and the most HIGHEST, FLYEST .htaccess tricks I can find.

Originally known as the “Ultimate .htaccess Guide”, its changed over the years by adding new .htaccess tricks and .htaccess examples to it.. I also add my favorite .htaccess links, the best .htaccess articles on AskApache, the coolest .htaccess experiments, the Web’s best .htaccess hacks, and update this article on the regular.

Tagged: .htaccess examples, Apache, Cache, caching, Files, FilesMatch, Google, Hacking, howto, htaccess, htaccess guide, htaccess help, htaccess howto, htaccess rewrite, htaccess tricks, htaccess tutorial, httpd, mod_rewrite, Mod_Security, rewritecond, rewriterule, sample .htaccess, Security, SEO, seo secrets, SetEnvIf, ssl, ultimate htaccess | 55 Comments | Continue...

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Advanced .htaccess Tricks for Securing Sites

This is all new, experimental, and very very cool. It literally uses .htaccess techniques to create several virtual “locked gates” that require a specific key to unlock, in a specific order that cannot be bypassed. It uses whitelisting .htaccess tricks to specify exactly what is allowed, instead of trying to specify everything that isn’t allowed. Also, by setting specific cookies/tokens after successfully passing through a gate, we can then require the exact cookie/token from the previous gate, which stops an attacker from skipping or bypassing gates.

Tagged: advanced, Hacking, htaccess, mod_rewrite, phpBB, Security, ssl | 6 Comments | Continue...

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.htaccess Plugin Blocks Spam, Hackers, and Password Protects Blog

Well what can I say, other than this is sooo DOPE! Here is a list of the modules this plugin (version 4.7 unreleased) will automatically detect. I compiled the list myself using every module included with any default Apache installation for ALL the versions listed below, 1.3 to 2.2+

Want to know something else I’m including in this plugin? For each and every module that is detected, this plugin can then detect ALL of the modules .htaccess Directives! For instance, RewriteRule, AccessFileName, AddHandler, etc.. are each a directive belonging to a module that is allowed to be used from within .htaccess files.

Talk about sick.. these tricks have the diamond disease!

Tagged: Hacking, htaccess, htaccess rewrites, mod_rewrite, Security | 33 Comments | Continue...

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.htaccess trick to show Alternate CSS file based on IP

This past week I updated my sites apache.css file for a site-redesign. I wanted to make changes to the .css file that only I could see, so that my regular traffic and site-visitors would still see the old version. Here’s the elegant solution I came up with using .htaccess and mod_rewrite that works so well I’m sharing it with all you wonderful and incredible people reading my blog :)

Tagged: CSS, htaccess, mod_rewrite, trick, tutorial | 4 Comments | Continue...

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Optimize a Website for Speed, Security, and Easy Management

Learn how to setup, configure, secure, optimize, and create a low-maintenance website the AskApache way. I’m piecing together all the hacks, tricks, methods, and ideas discussed throughout this blog and all across Netdom and glueing them all together to show you how to have the most optimized, crazy fastest, and best website setup I can think of.

Tagged: Apache, Cache, compression, hosting, htaccess, optimization, Security, server | 5 Comments | Continue...

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SEO Secrets of AskApache Part 2

This is part II of the Advanced SEO used on AskApache.com Series and describes how to control which urls are indexed by Search Engines and how to move them higher up in Search Results.

Tagged: askapache, Pagerank, SEO, seo secrets | 3 Comments | Continue...

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About AskApache

Purpose and Goal of AskApache
To provide free access to knowledge and data with the goal of empowering people.. or more melodramatically: “Power to the People!”
Why the name AskApache? AskApache was chosen to show and pay respect to the contributors of the Apache Web Server. Literally it means to ask Apache when facing a problem, by searching the Open-Source, contacting a board/list, or browsing the documentation.

The Author
I work for a multimedia production / brand development & marketing company here in Indianapolis, the greatest city in the world! I started this blog in Dec., ‘06 to familiarize myself with WordPress as a blogging platform among other things for my job. I help expand/create a growing companies market-share online (and offline) by managing and building the brand and developing high-quality leads and loyal customers by building online funnels fed by SEO traffic and on/offline marketing campaigns. Other than the design and development costs for our minimum 12 month contract, we operate using a gain-share formula where we receive a percentage of the increased revenue that results from our services. This translates to fanatical attention to improving the bottom-line, and focus on long-term sustainable growth and overall success.
My Background
I started on MS-DOS, then Windows 2.11 (released 1989), and learned BASIC for my first language. I frequented BBS’s for awhile before the “Internet Browser” became available.. meaning I would use term and super slow modem connection.
Security Focus
Most people like me who were lucky enough to discover the Internet (gopher, ftp, etc.) at the time when you could only surf the web using text-based tools were also lucky to learn alot of great security information that was freely shared all over the world by various hackers and groups.
Security Path
From those early days on I was heavily involved in …

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Online Tool compares Packer, JSMin, Dojo, and YUI Compressor

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New Version of Password Protection Plugin

4.6 just released…. Check It Out.

:p

9 Comments | Continue...

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Encrypted WordPress / phpBB Backups

Enter your DOMAIN_ROOT and the location of your wp-config.php or config.php, and this script finds all the mysql settings by parsing the phpbb or wordpress config file, then creates GPG encrypted backups, and saves your settings for future automation.

1 Comment | Continue...

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Fsockopen Power Plays

PHP’s fsockopen function lets you open an Internet or Unix domain socket connection for connecting to a resource, and is one of the most powerful functions available in the php language.

Tagged: Cache, Fsockopen, Hacking, HTTO, linux, Networking, Performance, PHP, Pipelining, Socket | 3 Comments | Continue...

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SEO Boost from Google 404 Plugin

1 minute Install!
Turns every 404 Not Found error into a SEO traffic generating event! Now you have many unique users with unique IP addresses and cookies searching your blog on all of the Google Indexes… Sweet!

«Take My 404 for a Test-Drive

112 Comments | Continue...

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Fast and Easy Custom WordPress New User Registration

Registering on a WP blog requires entering a username and email then checking your email for an auto password.

Too much work to put your users through?

This uses just email and password and does it all.

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Adding Akismet Anti-Spam Protection Anywhere

Wouldn’t you love to have Akismet Anti-spam protection for non-wordpress forms and pages?

Tagged: Anti-Spam, PHP, Security | 5 Comments | Continue...

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SEO Secrets of AskApache.com

Learn how in a year, with no previous blogging experience this blog was able to rank so high in search engines and achieve 15,000 unique visitors every day. Uses combination of tricks and tips from throughout AskApache.com for Search Engine Optimization.

Tagged: askapache, SEO, seo secrets | 5 Comments | Continue...

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Mod_Security .htaccess tricks

Mod_Security rivals Mod_Rewrite in the amount of features it provides. I decided to go ahead and post what I learned about it today, even though its tough to give away such awesome htaccess and apache tricks.. Learn how to control spam once and for all, conditionally log/deny/allow/redirect requests based on IP, username, etc.. Mod_Security is so fine!

Tagged: Hacking, htaccess, Mod_Security, Security | 7 Comments | Continue...

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.Htaccess rewrites, Mod_Rewrite Tricks and Tips

htaccess rewrite / Mod_Rewrite Tips and Tricks is as glamorous as it sounds! htaccess rewrite mod_rewrite is just possibly one of the most useful Apache modules and features. The ability to rewrite requests internally as well as externally is extremely powerful.

Tagged: htaccess, htaccess rewrite, mod_rewrite, Redirecting URLS, rewrite, Rewrite Tricks, rewritecond, rewriterule | 47 Comments | Continue...

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Crazy Cache WordPress Plugin Released

A WordPress plugin that caches your entire blog for WP-Cache, I love this plugin and finally released it to the public!

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AskApache Password Protection, For WordPress

AskApache Password Protect adds some serious password protection to your WordPress Blog. Not only does it protect your wp-admin directory, but also your wp-includes, wp-content, plugins, etc. plugins as well. Imagine a HUGE brick wall protecting your frail .php scripts from the endless attacks of automated web robots and password-guessing exploit-serving scripts.

85 Comments | Continue...

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PHP Sessions/Cookies On The Fly

This article shows how to save and modify php session data, cookies, do anything really… without using ajax or iframes or forcing the user make a request.

Tagged: Cookies, PHP, Sessions | 1 Comment | Continue...

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Updated robots.txt for WordPress

Implementing an effective SEO robots.txt file for WordPress will help your blog to rank higher in Search Engines, receive higher paying relevant Ads, and increase your blog traffic. Get a search robots point of view… Sweet!

Tagged: robots.txt, SEO | 38 Comments | Continue...

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Hack WP-Cache for Maximum Speed

If you desire SPEED from your WordPress blog, the #1 speed improvement comes from using the WP-Cache Plugin. If you still desire SPEED after installing the Plugin, you can modify the WP-Cache Plugin code to make your blog even faster!

2 Comments | Continue...

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Removing Category Base from WordPress URLs

How To remove the /category/ from WordPress category urls.

James
We’re using WP as a CMS with pages and posts. Done a bit of customization, so it looks sweet. Problem – i have some child categories that throw 404 when the category redirect is in place. How did you remove the category base from the url structure in wordpress?

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Update: AskApache Password Protect Plugin

WordPress plugin gives you control over HTTP Basic Authentication for your WordPress blog which among other things, stops most automated hacking attempts and exploits being attempted, cutting down on the number of requests, connections, and mysql queries for all WordPress blogs on the Internet.

14 Comments | Continue...

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Hacking WP Super Cache for Speed

A plugin built to generate static files from php+mysql for Apache to serve the way its supposed to be.. My dream. Conclusion: Needs some improvement, pretty sweet though.

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Search Engine Verify Plugin Updated

This plugin has been updated for WordPress 2.5 and includes more options to get your site indexed by Google and Yahoo.

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Advanced WordPress 404.php

For the AskApache Google 404 WordPress Plugin update I added a new 404.php that is more advanced than anything previously seen for a 404.php

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Is Your Password Crackable?

I’ve put up a new tool to check the strength of your password hash, that locates weak passwords by searching Rainbow Tables for md5 or sha1 hash match. Locate and fix this common security vulnerability before being exploited.

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Firefox Adsense WordPress Plugin

If your WordPress blog uses AdSense, and you love Firefox you will love this plugin. When a user downloads and installs Firefox through your referral, we’ll credit your account with up to $1.00 (more details).

16 Comments | Continue...

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Skeleton .htaccess file for Powweb Hosting

If you have a Powweb Webhosting account, you will appreciate this simple skeleton .htaccess file for use on their systems.

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