Google has long been wise to ways of comment spammers, but that doesn’t stop many comment threads degenerating into spammy lists of “work from home” comments and link spam. Akismet and similar spam filters catch most of it, but judging by the sites I see every day, these filters let plenty of spam through. Although […]

As any blogger or publisher will tell you, managing publishing workflows takes a dedication to organization. There are any number of general productivity tools an editor might use, but if you’re managing a site that publishes multiple authors, a dedicated tool is the best option. A workflow management tool that’s integrated with your content management […]

If you’re a regular user of the WordPress editor interface, you might want to make your thoughts known by completing the Editor Experience Survey. The survey, part of the WordPress project’s attempt to understand how WordPress bloggers and professionals use the tools WordPress provides shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to complete and will […]

Bugs are an inevitable part of the software development process. As hard as developers try to avoid them — and they try very hard indeed — mistakes will be made and some of those mistakes will cause security vulnerabilities. What’s important is how developers handle vulnerabilities when they do occur, including how they communicate about […]

We’re happy to announce the introduction of secure OpenVPN accounts to our dedicated server and enterprise cluster hosting plans. OpenVPN allows site owners to use a secure encrypted login process to access services on dedicated servers that would otherwise be unencrypted, including HTTP and FTP services. OpenVPN will be available on all 400 and 500–level […]

Google has announced the retirement of its popular WordPress AdSense plugin, which was embraced by bloggers and publishers as a simple way to monetize content on WordPress sites. Existing ads aren’t affected, but within a couple of months, users will no longer be able to change the layout of their ads or visit the front-end […]

Varying Vagrant Vagrants, a tool for creating WordPress development environments, hit the big 2.0 recently, with the addition of a feature that many WordPress developers have been asking for: a YAML-based configuration system that makes it easier to tweak your development environment. VVV solves a common problem in WordPress development and web development more generally: […]

WordPress’ editing interface is great for writing – and it’s only going to get better – but collaboration is a weak point. It is possible to collaborate on a WordPress article, but only if writers and editors take it in turns. Several contributors can’t work on the same document at the same time, which is […]

WordPress security plugins help improve the security of WordPress sites, but they’re no substitute for an understanding of basic security precautions. Any web application is vulnerable if its developers and users don’t follow security best practices. WordPress is no different, and because WordPress is used by millions of non-technical users, it’s reasonable to assume that […]

The release of WordPress 3.7 introduced a feature that was met with mixed reactions: automatic background updates. In all versions after 3.7, WordPress completes minor updates without asking for permission. Left to their own devices, site owners often neglect to perform updates. Updates – particularly the minor updates that can be applied automatically – include […]