What Is this?

This site documents a number of things that I use when I create a WordPress Site.  It is meant as a general resource showing the tools, plugins, widgets and other programs, conventions, etc. that I find helpful.  I also use this site to show Active Previews of themes.  There are website demos of most themes.  I have included many of the core example formats for posts and pages.  Looking at how things change from one theme to another can make picking a theme a lot easier. This site may load slowly. WordPress sites can run faster with 'caching' on. This is one of my development sites. I leave caching off on sites under 'construction'. Here is an example of a site that has caching on https://garyjohnson53.wordpress.com/. It usually loads pretty quickly, even though its on a server with thousands of wordpress sites.

I am #gmgj

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Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy - The google will collect some stuff to make there stuff work, the WP will do the same. If you publish a comment, I guess you will see something. We don't actively track anything

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WP Security Considerations

My Short Story on Hardening WordPress

  • Use and require long passwords with upper,lower case, numbers and special characters
  • Limit user registration
  • Use a good hosting site, a current version of Linux, PHP, MYSQL etc and make sure they are updated
  • Know the vendors of your Themes, Plugins and Widgets
  • Install to a different directory than the default
  • Change the default Database prefix
  • Configure a set of “Authentication Unique Keys and Salts” in wp-config
  • Don't use admin, root etc. for usernames
  • Do you own scans of the PHP and JavaScript files etc.
  • Lock down uploads directory and comments
  • Stay current, make sure it is doing auto updates
  • Lock down PHP: https://www.owasp.org/index.php/PHP_Security_Cheat_Sheet

I use the Wordfence security plugin
I am evaluating Securi

I use BackWPup

Use SSL. Here is a place you can get a free certificate: https://letsencrypt.org/
A list of site security scanners from OWASP (Open Web Application Security Web) web site scanners

I use Dashboard Widgets Suite by Jeff Starr, it has a security tab for some of the common things

  • Register Globals: Disabled
  • Safe Mode: Disabled
  • Display Errors: Disabled
  • allow_url_include: Enabled
  • allow_url_fopen: Enabled
  • Magic Quotes: Disabled
  • Server Signature: Enabled
  • WP Unique Keys: Enabled
  • mod_security: Not Installed
  • open_basedir: Disabled
  • upload_tmp_dir: /tmp
  • expose_php: Disabled

Read this: WP Codex: “Hardening WordPress”

More from Jeff Starr's Book The Tao of WordPress
example .htacess for uploads

#secure uploads directory
<Files ~ ".*..*">
Order Allow,Deny
Deny from all
</Files>
<FilesMatch ".(jpg|jpeg|jpe|gif|png|tif|tiff|mov|wmv)$">
Order Deny,Allow
Allow from all
</FilesMatch>

Note: you need .htacess in parents directory as well, buy the book for more!

My parent directory .htacess

DirectoryIndex index.php

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>

# END WordPress

# This denies all web access to your wp-config file, error_logs, php.ini, and htaccess/htpasswds.
<FilesMatch "^.*(debug\.log|error_log|wp-config\.php|php\.ini|\.[hH][tT][aApP].*)$">
Order deny,allow
Deny from all
</FilesMatch>

# BEGIN gmgj per TAO

# [5G] BLOCK BAD BOTS
<IfModule mod_setenvif.c>
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent (binlar|casper|cmsworldmap|comodo|diavol|dotbot|feedfinder|flicky|ia_archiver|jakarta|kmccrew|nutch|planetwork|purebot|pycurl|skygrid|sucker|turnit|vikspider|zmeu|grimreaper) keep_out
<limit GET POST PUT>
Order Allow,Deny
Allow from all
Deny from env=keep_out
</limit>
</IfModule>

# END gmgj per Tao

 

Quick Tags

https://codex.wordpress.org/Write_Post_SubPanel#Quicktags

b <strong></strong> HTML tag for strong emphasis of text (i.e. bold).
i <em></em> HTML tag for emphasis of text (i.e. italicize).
b-quote <blockquote></blockquote> HTML tag to distinguish quoted or cited text.
del <del></del> HTML tag to label text considered deleted from a post. Most browsers display as striked through text. (Assigns datetime attribute with offset from GMT (UTC))
link <a href="http://..."></a> HTML tag to create a hyperlink.
ins <ins></ins> HTML tag to label text considered inserted into a post. Most browsers display as underlined text. (Assigns datetime attribute with offset from GMT (UTC))
ul <ul></ul> HTML tag will insert an unordered list, or wrap the selected text in same. An unordered list will typically be a bulleted list of items.
ol <ol></ol> HTML tag will insert a numbered list, or wrap the selected text in same. Each item in an ordered list are typically numbered.
li <li></li> HTML tag will insert or make the selected text a list item. Used in conjunction with the ul or ol tag.
code <code></code> HTML tag for preformatted styling of text. Generally sets text in a monospaced font, such as Courier.
more <!--more--> WordPress tag that breaks a post into "teaser" and content sections. Type a few paragraphs, insert this tag, then compose the rest of your post. On your blog's home page you'll see only those first paragraphs with a hyperlink ((more...)), which when followed displays the rest of the post's content.
page <!--nextpage--> WordPress tag similar to the more tag, except it can be used any number of times in a post, and each insert will "break" and paginate the post at that location. Hyperlinks to the paginated sections of the post are then generated in combination with the wp_link_pages() or link_pages() template tag.

lookup  ? how does this work?

 

ShortCodes

https://en.support.wordpress.com/shortcodes/
https://codex.wordpress.org/Shortcode
Examples of Shortcodes for Contact Forms

Please note, trying to get WordPress to format the ShortCode as Code was a futile gesture. I consistently changed my html entities back into code points and removed my code html designation.
Showing it as a picture is lame; however, I will be researching how to accomplish this. WordPress can do some funny things with the editor. Search for "wordpress editor problems". I think I might link to outside pages for code. I can control what happens in plain html and css. I can't always control what WordPress does.

Example Recipe

Summer Pasta with Basil, Tomatoes and Cheese

  • Servings: 4-6
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

A fresh, light, Italian-inspired pasta recipe perfect for a late summer dinner.


Credit: allrecipes.com

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds vine ripened tomatoes
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

Directions

  1. In a medium bowl, toss together tomatoes, garlic, basil, mint, salt and black pepper.
  2. Cook and drain pasta.
  3. Mix together.

Example Status

My Computer

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

More Humor

Example Quote

The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make Heaven of Hell, and a Hell of Heaven. -John Milton

The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.  The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are. -Marcus Aurelius

Man's most valuable trait is a judicious sense of what not to believe. -Euripides

Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway.  You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't. -Eleanor Roosevelt

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature. -Marcus Aurelius

I am just a poor boy though my story's seldom told
I have squandered my resistance for a pocketfull of mumbles
Such are promises. All lies in jest
'till a man hears what he wants to and disregards the rest -Paul Simon

More quotes