Category Archives: Blogs and Blogging
Geek Friday: WordPress Missing Scheduled Posts
When I moved the blogs around, I had forgotten this one little detail, and so I’m going to document it. I’m on Omnis Network, but I assume this will pretty much cover anywhere. Sometimes hosting sites turn off the cron jobs that cause posts scheduled for a specific time to get posted. This is a handy feature in WordPress where you can schedule an article to be posted at a specific time. This can come in handy, say for example, you want to post up a Geek Friday post the night before so that it isn’t too early.
So, what is “cron”, why should you care, why do hosting companies turn it off and what can be done about it?
First off, the why you should care only applies if you have some interest in running, updating, writing on a WordPress site. If you are only a reader, this might not interest you all that much unless, of course, you are planning to one day host your own company or personal website/blog on WordPress. In that case, perhaps you’ll want to bookmark this post somewhere in case the problem comes up.
Using WordPress as a Regular Website with a Static Front Page
WordPress is a great platform. Bloggers all over know and love the platform, and there aren’t many limits if you pay for hosting. There are many plugins you can add to it that can make it do just about anything short of backflips. For example, you can create a WordPress site that looks like a storefront selling products like store.johndscomputers.com does.
However, WordPress is really just a blogging platform, right? Turning it into a storefront is all well and good, but surely you couldn’t use it for a “regular” website, right? Right?
So, what is a “regular” website? Isn’t it just a website with a landing page, some other pages and perhaps some subpages to go to? So, how is this really different than a blog with static pages other than the fact that the landing page varies? Think about it. In WordPress, you create a page, and the page shows up on the top as a link that you click on to navigate to the page.
WordPress Scheduling and Load Issues
Well, you may have noticed some odd gaps in posting lately. True, I’ve been busy lately, but I have been posting at least three times a week. However, more than a few of them were scheduled in WordPress to publish at specific times, and that has not been happening.
It turns out that some hosting sites, including mine, have been changing the permissions on the PHP file that controls WordPress scheduling because it tends to be a resource hog. According to what I’ve read, every time a user loads a page, the file gets executed! I’m not sure why that is, but it is something to be aware of, especially if you have a lot of active users. If you are into the specifics, then read on.
Marketing and Blogging: A Winning Combination
Today, I’d like to invite you to read my Helium article on “Business marketing: Why blogging is effective”. Let’s face it, a blog is where someone has something to say, and who has more to say than a marketing department? The manner in which a company marketing department approaches blogging can benefit or hurt the company immensely. In order to do it correctly, I challenge companies to first investigate why blogging is such a great marketing tool before engaging in it and shooting themselves in the foot.
Review: WordPress for iOS
OK, I don’t blog a lot on a phone, even if it has a decent screen like the iPhone. It’s still too small. However, when you are in a pinch, it is nice to be able to do something with your blog, even if it is only to moderate comments. Well, the free WordPress app for the Apple iOS promises to do a lot more than that.
After installation, I started it up and was presented with a blank screen with “Blogs” on the top. OK, it was a little Spartan, perhaps, but if you are used to iOS, you will immediately recognize the “+” icon at the top. So, I clicked on it and filled out the information. It tried to connect, but I didn’t have XML-RPC turned on. What was really neat was that the app told me almost exactly how to fix it. I put the checkmark where it needed to go, and I was on!
The one odd thing was that it came up with comments rather than posts. I would have expected it the other way around. However, it is an app geared towards managing blogs rather than reading them. I was able to without any documentation make and approve a comment, as well as make a new post. Setting tags and categories was simple enough, and publishing the post was at the press of a button.
Granted, I didn’t play around with any media, as most of my blogging is written words. Of course, because of that, it isn’t going to replace my computer for regular blogging, but it should adequately bridge the gap if I’m not near it.
Blogspot.com (Blogger) Blogs and Why I Rarely Recommend “Free” Web Hosting
Well, this was an exciting (?) weekend around John D’s place this weekend. OK, “frustrating” might be a better term. However, it points out why I rarely recommend any company go the “free” route when it comes to web hosting.
Sure, there are lots of places out there that give you a page or more for free web hosting. Microsoft Live Spaces, Google Sites, Webs, etc. Ask yourself, though, if that is really how you want to run your business.
Just like at Blogspot.com, you are under the control of another entity who may or may not decide to yank your page with or without cause at any moment. While that strictly is true anywhere you go, the likelihood of it occurring and occurring without notice on a paid hosting facility is much smaller. Plus, even if it were to happen, you hopefully picked a company that really does have someone on call at all times you can get ahold of by phone, chat or email.
A Number of Blogger Blogs Removed This Morning
Blogger’s help center has reported “We’re investigating the blog removals reported this morning“.
Geek Friday: Setting Up Blogger Blog Subdomain on Omnis Hosted Site
If you know anything about how the Internet works at all, glancing over various pieces of information about setting up either a custom domain or custom subdomain on Google’s Blogger platform seems like an easy enough concept. However, as in most things technological, the devil is in the details.
This assumes you already have a hosted domain name and that it is hosted or aliased on Omnis. The example below will be for setting up “blog.johndscomputers.com”. I will assume you only want one subdomain pointing to Blogger. If you really want more than one, then be prepared to get a little less than what you bargained for, but at least settle on which is the most important one to use and set that one up first.
One of the first things I need to stress is that it does not matter if you are changing it for a domain name or an alias. Using Hosted Domains, you can setup a Domain Name, Domain Name Alias or a Subdomain. For example, johndscomputers.com is actually an alias to the domain name jdcnservices.com. The reasons for doing this can be varied, and some can be better than others.
The reason I stress this is because tech support told me that I need to create a “blog” subdomain first. Well, that not only turned out to be incorrect, but it caused more headaches in the process. It is important to have a lot of patience because changes to domain name services can take up to 24 hours in some cases.
So once you login to your Omnis Account Manager, you will be at your home screen. First, you will want to go to the Website Settings area and select Hosted Domains.
Based upon what I just told you make sure that everything is in order and that there is no “blog” subdomain for the domain name you want to change. Be sure that the domain names and aliases are all good before you proceed. If you are changing an alias, then note the real domain name so that you don’t get confused later.
Go back to the home screen, and now select the Modify Name Servers icon.
Up at the top, make sure that the correct domain is showing. If not, choose “Change”. For example, the following one would be incorrect for this example:
So, I need to click on Change and select the correct one from the list.
One very good thing about Omnis is that they give you the option to view your current settings.
Obviously, what we are doing is managing the DNS ourselves. So, click on the link that says “clicking here” to view your current entries.
Here is where things might get strange for some. Remember I said to note the real domain vs the alias before? If you don’t have an aliased domain, then there’s no need to worry; just select the domain you are changing. If you are adding “blog” subdomain to “johndscomputers.com”, though it is an aliased domain, and it won’t show in the list! Not to fear: just select the real domain that the alias points to.
The next screen is a little annoying, admittedly. You have to scroll all the way down to the bottom to view the information you want to see. Look for the section “DNS Records”. All of those entries will be important later. Write them down, take a screenshot or even open another tab to do your work and switch back and forth.
The only one you probably haven’t heard of yet is the “MX” record. Make sure you note that it has a priority, while the others normally do not.
Navigate back to the Modify Name Servers page now that you know the current information. Take note that the section “Useful Information” tells you exactly what you need to do on this page. As of this writing, custom DNS entries are only handled on dom1 and dom2. So, simply change “ns1” in the Name Server 1 text block to “dom1”, and change “ns2” in the Name Server 2 text block to “dom2”. Click on the Update button to save the changes.
Now, go home and choose Manage DNS.
You will receive a DNS Manager Warning. Not to try to scare you, but it essentially means that if you make a typo or other error, your website might not function. Click on Enable This Feature.
The name server records are already filled in for you (because you changed it earlier). Notice that the “bare” domain, annotated by “@”, and the “www” subdomain are already filled in as well. You will now have to fill in all the other records in the DNS Manager – New Record section. Note that only the subdomain, e.g. “ftp”, goes under “Name”. For each record, fill in the information, click on Add New Record, and it will appear below in the DNS Manager – Edit Existing Records section. Do this for all your current records.
Last, but not least, add the record for your “blog” subdomain. So, for my subdomain, I would put “blog” under Name, change Type to “CNAME”, put “ghs.google.com” for content, and then click on the Add New Record button.
Make sure to “Submit Changes” once all is good!
Now the fun begins. 
You will probably have to wait a couple of hours before you will be able to type in the address and get to a Google error page. If you get a generic “Server not found” error, then it hasn’t “took” yet. If it has been more than 8 hours, though, recheck for any typos.
Eventually, you should get a Google page that says “Not Found” on one line and “The requested URL / was not found on this server” on the next. Once you get to this page, now you can point your blog to the new URL. Be sure to use the “Advance” settings to change the subdomain only.
Geek Friday: Blogger & Intense Debate
This is somewhat of a geek topic, as it is about commenting systems on a blog. However, there are aspects for bloggers and readers alike, and, more to the point, it involves changes I am contemplating making to the blog you are currently reading.
Blogger is sort of a drag at times. It seems to me that by Google trying to be everything to everyone, they just wind up being mediocre at best. The Blogger platform has a lot going for it, yet it cannot do but about half the stuff that WordPress does – without any plug-ins. And yet, most people have a Google account (even people who don’t realize it). I’m not a big fan of trying to make people signup for a service just so they can make comments on my blogs.
Yet, my biggest beef at the moment is the entire commenting system. It’s about ten years behind the times. For example, you can either moderate comments or not. The only exception is that you can age the ability to comment so that posts over a certain number of days requires moderation. There isn’t too much wiggle room in that respect.
On the other hand, WordPress has an entire page of “Discussion Settings”, many of which affect moderation. One in particular I like is the setting that a comment author must have had a previously approved comment or it goes into moderation.
Well, my research indicates that the WordPress and IntenseDebate are owned by the same company, Automattic. So, there are some similarities. For one thing, you can set it so that a person has to reach a certain “reputation” score before automatic approval. You can also set it so that IntenseDebate and WordPress users who have previously been approved are automatically approved.
That means that having a Google account is not enough for comments. You can, however, use OpenID to make a comment, but that means you have to have a recognized blog or other site first. On Google, all you would have to do is setup a blog. It wouldn’t even have to have articles in it. Then, point OpenID to the URL of that blog.
Also, commenting can be setup for “Guest” posts, but if I read it correctly, that means it goes automatically into moderation.
Frankly, all the above is great, and it certainly adds appeal whenever something can be done to raise the level of comments on a blog, but there are also some direct user features that are attractive:
- The moderator can enable FaceBook logins for those who prefer that method.
- Users can vote comments up or down.
- Threads. If you don’t know what I mean, then you don’t know what you are missing.
- Choose between emails for replies or all comments on posts.
- “Report this comment” button. This is pretty cool. Users can flag a comment. If set to do so, that will throw it into moderation where the moderator can either delete it or re-approve it.
I’ve looked at Disqus and another (Echo, I think), but I had issues with both getting them to do just what I wanted them to do. I had trouble even finding a way in Disqus to automatically approve comments from users who had previously had approved comments. Frankly, it’s moderation settings are only slightly above the native Blogger settings.
It seems the options are:
1. Move the blog to another platform. This is always painful, full of errors, and there are people who won’t go with you for various different reasons.
2. Install something like IntenseDebate.
3. Turn on moderation for all comments.
That last one is, of course, an option. However, Blogger is not very friendly when all you have is a mobile phone and intermittent Internet otherwise. I found that out when I was travelling so much between Ohio and Colorado. Thankfully, Iowa has wi-fi at just about every rest stop, or I would have not been able to have done very much at all. Some Feast site locations are not even very cell phone friendly, so even that might not be an option at all times.
To put it another way: If the moderator is not available, then comments won’t get approved.
So, there are my cards, laying upon the table. Comments? Suggestions? Complaints?
