News about Wordpress software, Linux and security

What Exactly is Wordpress, Explained for Beginners

If we think about all those internet users who happily access Facebook and Twitter but don't know the difference between Wordpress and Snapchat, it maybe difficult to explain what Wordpress is. That's what this article tries to do. Comparing Wordpress to an operating system that is powering a web site isn't, however, the simplest way to explain what it is. 99.9% of people don't have a clue what an operating system is. How about something like: Wordpress is a publishing system with a database that manages all the content you create.

How to identify which files are eating all the disk space on a Wordpress server

We have been there, and done that. The commands like the ones introduced in this article were the keys to success when the disk space on our Wordpress server was running out. The second vital piece of information was this article that explained how to free unused space from a Mysql database.

Introduction to Wordpress plugin development

For programmers without earlier experience on Wordpress plugin development, the process of creating a custom plugin seems like black magic that is not meant for ordinary programmers. Once a talented developer gets a grip on the secret ingredients of the magic, it gets easier. Cameron Jones does an excellent job of explaining how to create the world's simplest Wordpress plugin. He gave a talk at Wordcamp Australia where this video was recorded.

Virtualization versus Containers: Is there a clear winner? Does it really matter?

When choosing a hosting service for a Wordpress site, an admin usually makes choices between VPS (virtual servers), dedicated servers, cloud services and containers (often known by the brand Docker). Here is the best article so far that can explain the fundamental difference between the container and virtual server software technologies.

PHP team fixes nasty site-owning remote execution bug

Wordpress relies on PHP programming language on the server, which means that security problems in PHP are Wordpress problems as well. This serious bug that has been fixed affects only servers that run on Nginx web server. Every Nginx Wordpress site with PHP 7.1, 7.2 or 7.3 should be checked if the vulnerability is still there.

Even Wordpress admins have to eat - a cookbook for nerds has the specs

It is probably a safe bet to claim that you never seen a cookbook like this: The Engineer's Cookbook. Written by an engineer, in language and structure that every engineer instantly understands.

Maintenance release Wordpress 5.2.4 patches security holes

A number of vulnerabilities in Wordpress core software were fixed in version 5.2.4. The development team encourages everyone to update their sites, even though the version 5.3. is just around the corner to be available by mid-November 2019.

Which e-reader can open Epub, Kindle, and PDF ebooks?

Although Wordpress plugins are available that can create an ebook from selected posts, that is not the way commercial books that are marketed at bookstores are made. A set of dedicated ebook creation tools are used for publishing books in Epub, Kindle and sometimes in other formats. A book lover probably only wants to know which ereader to acquire for reading as many types of ebooks as possible. The article has an answer for that question.

5 tips for getting started with Linux server security

Every Wordpress admin must spend some time on the Linux command line. Wordpress admin panel is for managing users, content and settings in Wordpress, but the world outside - Mariadb, Mysql, Php, Linux - requires maintenance and management as well. Red Hat has listed five fundamental items to learn about Linux security.