Cannot Delete Admin Account in WordPress
To secure your WordPress blog, many experts will recommend that you create a new WordPress administrator account and delete the default WordPress admin account. The idea is that since every WordPress installation comes with an admin user, you’ve given away half of the battle for security. Automated hacker bots can come at your WordPress blog by using the default admin username and then all they have to try and get is the password.
Deleting the admin account removes it as a target for hackers. They can try all day long with automated or non-automated attacks to hack the admin account, but if it isn’t there, they’ll never get in that way.
There is a small glitch that most people fail to mention.
If you have already setup your WordPress blog before deciding to remove the admin account, chance are that WordPress won’t let you delete the admin account when you try and click delete.
Why won’t WordPress let you delete the admin account?
Because under Settings –> General there is a field where you enter an email address. That email address is the administrative email address contact. You cannot delete the account that the administrator email account is assigned to.
So, take one more step and switch the admin email address to match the one you setup with the new admin account. Then, you can go back to the Users screen and delete the admin account without any trouble.
FYI – If you have not created another User account and assigned it administrator rights, you won’t be able to delete the default admin account either. In WordPress, there always has to be at least one admin account, so you have to create the new admin account first, and then delete the old default administrator account.
Firefox Close Button On Every Tab Minimum Width Glitch
I have installed and uninstalled so many plug-ins for Firefox that I long ago lost count. As of this writing I have around 35 installed and maybe 20 or so enabled. So, when I get a little glitch here or there in the Firefox interface, I usually figure it’s probably my fault and that one of my add-ons is causing it either intentionally (for the add-on, not for me) or because I configured, or didn’t configure, something that messed up whatever it was that I noticed.
However, I don’t just let it go without doing some troubleshooting.
Today, I stumbled across the solution to one of my major annoyances. I routinely go into Firefox’s about:config to ensure that my browser.tabs.closeButtons is set to 1 which means that there should be a X one each and every tab in Firefox so that you can close any tab you want with a single click. In other words, there is no need to select the tab in order to close it.
The catch is that even though that parameter was indeed set, and reset, to 1 every time, my close buttons seemed to disappear after I had been using Firefox for a while.
browser.tabs.tabMinWidth
I’ve done a fair amount of reading about Firefox. Unfortunately, not everything out there is very good or very accurate. In particular, the numerous articles about how to make Firefox faster by adjusting about:config parameters are misleading at best, and untrue at worst.
Along the way, I read about setting your mimimum tab width in Firefox. The point is that by making it smaller, more tabs will fit across a single row. Google has made Title tags worthless by making every savvy webmaster fill them with keywords instead of a useful title. That means it really doesn’t matter how small your tabs are since most of the time, whatever text is displayed in the tab won’t be unique enough to distinguish one tab from another. So, like many others before me, I cranked the minimum tab width parameter down to 70 or 75 depending upon my mood.
It turns out, that on a tab that is too small, Firefox does not put an X to close the tab regardless of what the about:config browser.tabs.tabMinWidth setting is. With a small setting, the browser determines that you want a smaller tab and that there is no longer any room for a close button.
In my Firefox installation, testing has revealed that a minimum tab width setting of 138 is required to always have a close button displayed no matter how many tabs you have open. That number may be substantially different for your installation because I do have some plug-ins that do things to my tabs like color them and allow me to close all tabs to the right, and so on.
If you want a close button on all of your tabs and you already have set your browser.tabs.closeButtons to 1, check your browser.tabs.tabMinWidth setting. Try bumping it up to 140 or so and see if all of your tabs have close buttons now. Then, experiment with smaller numbers until you get the smallest tab size that will work. Then, it’s up to you to decide which you want more, smaller tabs, or easily accessible close buttons.
For me, I want that X on every tab all the time because sometimes I end up with dozens of tabs open while searching for some information, and once I find it, I just want to close all the other tabs about that topic fast and easy. That is, unless they are all grouped at the right end, in which case I can just Close All Tabs to Right.
Binaural Beats the True Scientific Results
I am frequently looking into various medications, technologies, and research with an eye on self-improvement. Frankly, there isn’t much wrong with me, so generally, I go looking for something that might be a little extra bonus. There isn’t much out there for that.
Recently I came across something called binaural beats which are two different beats, or sounds, played simultaneously to each ear that differ in frequency by some amount. The theory is that the brain perceives this stimulus in a specific manner and that this brain response can be used to create or improve certain mood states. Some sites claim an ability to mimic illegal drug affects by essentially making your brain feel like it is on cocaine through these beats. Less far-fetched claims include the ability to sleep better, improve mood, and give you more energy and alertness.
A quick Google search turns up two red flags. Red flag number one is that the only sites popping up are those from ardent proponents who are, of course, selling the secret to these beats. Red flag number two is that the Wikipedia entry is littered with those this section needs actual data type messages.
In cases like these, I turn to PubMed, the government’s online database of published research studies. At PubMed you can read the actual research and not just the pull quotes supporters use to make it sound like their science is a foregone conclusion.
It didn’t take long to find a slew of “No effect” conclusions from the research studies undertaken. This is where the pushers jump in with their “Yeah, but…”. Ironically, the “Yeah, but…” to everyone of their points is, “Yeah, but, no one actually has even the slightest proof that what you are saying is true, except for one scientist whose research is at least fifty years old.”
The newer and more current the research gets (the better the technology and methodology used) the worse the results get.
The real shocker about these beats was this binaural beat technology research study which found that there was an increase in depression and worse memory recall after using the binaural beats. Yikes!
I guess you can tell, this one is not something I’ll be getting into.
Facebook Screws Up and Gets Usernames Vanity URLs Wrong
One of the greatest things about Facebook has always been that it is the same for everyone. You don’t have to be a “power user” like on Digg to get anything about of it, and you didn’t have to join 3 years ago to get a decent username like on Google Gmail or Yahoo Mail.
But, at 12:01am, Facebook will allow people to pick a username. The blog entry makes it sound great. Now, it says, you can be www.facebook.com/bob.smith instead of www.facebook.com/profile=19837254. Mainstream media is already touting what they are calling “vanity URLs.”
Yeah, sure.
That will be true for about 37 seconds. According to Facebook’s numbers there are 200 million “active users.” How many of them have your name? Including middle initial? Your nickname? Your online persona name?
Don’t think for a second that there won’t be millions of cyber-geeks, opportunists, jerks, weasels, and just plain old Facebook users sitting up hitting refresh at midnight. By tomorrow morning, that oh, so great sounding blog post will look quaint and naive when you can be known as “bob.smith8201735” or “The-Bobster-O-Rooney-Ding-Dong.”
In other words, after tonight, things will be just like they are now for millions of Facebook users worldwide. You will have to email, link, or write down your profile address for people to find your Facebook profile.
The only difference is that a few thousand Facebook users with fast Internet connections and nothing better to do on a Thursday night that sit in front of their computer will have better links and web addresses than you do.
It’s kind of a bummer. One of the things I really liked about Facebook was that I got to use my real name, the one people might actually look for me with, instead of having to try and come up with something that was unique, but not embarrassing, yet memorable, but not too…
It seems every time Facebook makes a change, they make it worse. The funny thing is that their current platform is wildly popular. Why not look for things to ADD instead of things to CHANGE!
Coca-Cola did one of them in the 1980s and the other later on. Which one constantly ranks in the Top 10 Corporate Blunders of All-Time and which one increased revenue and market share around the world?
Those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it.
Facebook, get out the books. It’s time to study.
WordPress PSD Framework
A lot of people use WordPress to build and run their blogs.
A lot of people use Photoshop to mock-up an layout of their web site design and then use that layout to create the actual website layout, usually via some sort of grid.
There are a growing number of WordPress Theme frameworks than can be used as a starting point for WordPress blog design.
There aren’t really any WordPress-based PSD frameworks available for free. Not true.
The guys over at Area381, who I have never run across before today offer a WordPress PSD Framework file for free download.
Now, no matter how you start your website design, you have a solid jumping off point.
Top Online Deals Websites Demonstrate Concept of Tradeoffs in Web Design
I’ve been tinkering around with various website designs for an upcoming project. The idea was to take the best design elements of each website design that I like or that has top notch functionality and then combine them into a single great website design. Unfortunately, it isn’t possible to design a one-size-fits-all website layout that is the perfect solution for every online purpose, even for sites that are all related or in the same category.
Obviously, websites with different purposes or audiences require different page designs, but I thought I could find an overall template for webpage designs that would be usable for multiple websites in the same category that performed the same function. However, even similar websites can’t be shoehorned into a single design.
This morning I was doing what I always do for my morning break which is browsing through the handful of online deals websites that I like. I know there are hundreds of other deals sites out there or coupon sites or sites with free shipping codes, but the four sites I scroll through every day have turned out to the best deal websites on the Internet for the types of things that I buy and shop for.
In no particular order, my favorite deals websites are:
- Woot
- Slickdeals
- Dealnews
- GottaDeal
All four sites are in the same category of online shopping or Internet-based shopping tips. All four sites offer daily updates of the best deals they can offer. But, each one has a completely different design and layout to serve its readers best. The difference in designs and what that design offers, is very likely one of the main reasons I continue to use all four sites despite the fact that I just don’t buy stuff all that often.
Woot is the most well known. They offer a single great deal each day. If the deal happens to hit you with something you want or need, then you win. If not, then you wait another day. Either way, the site displays a single product including its picture and a tongue-in-cheek review of the product that doesn’t generally contain any real facts until the end. It is just accepted by users of the site that whatever the product and price is, that it is a good deal. The site makes no mention of how good of a deal, nor whether it is a better or worse deal than might be sniffed out elsewhere.
SlickDeals.net offers many features to its users including forums where visitors can discuss potentially good deals, coupons, discount codes, and even the quality and specifications of the products in question. However, the main landing page of SlickDeals is simply a list of text links. Each product is listed along with its price. No other information, pictures, or graphics are provided unless you click one of the links. Only the best of the best make the SlickDeals front page, no matter how many or how few deals that means the site has on any particular day. If only one item rises to the level demanded by the SlickDeals front page, then only one deal gets posted. There is no filler.
DealNews and GottaDeal, by contrast, both have more extensive listings including a picture of the sale item as well as notes such as when, if ever, the item was offered for less and whether or not it takes a rebate or coupon to get the low discount price.
While both DealNews and GottaDeal look similar at a glance, a closer look reveals that DealNews groups their big deals by type with computers and computer related deals at the top and other deals at the bottom. This layout promotes the ability to seek specific sale items.
GottaDeal on the other hand lists their items chronologically as they appeared on the site. The upside is that a regular user can stop looking once they encounter the deals they have already seen which can save time. The downside is that if someone is looking for a deal on a hard drive, for example, they would have to scroll through the whole listing to ensure that they didn’t miss something.
In the in, four sites all offering very similar functionality are laid out and designed completely differently based upon their needs and the needs of their readers. I guess the best a professional writer and web designer can do is build a collection of tools for their design and development toolbox and then pull each individual piece out as it is needed. It isn’t as sleek as a re-usable template, but if used properly can still save plenty of time and effort while still providing top quality websites.
Time to change the quest. No longer do I seek the one great website design. Now, I seek the great design elements and tools that build them.
Bugs Bunny Cartoons Teach Classical Music Appreciation
I couldn’t decide if this was really sad, or really funny. I’ve decided to be the optomistic glass half-full type this morning, so I’m going with funny.
From DealNews.com:
Amazon.com offers its 5 Hours of Classical Favorites, an assortment of 49 DRM-free classical music MP3 tracks, for $3.99. That’s easily the best total price we could find for such a collection. You may not recognize the individual names, but if you’ve watched a handful of Bugs Bunny cartoons, you’ve probably heard most of these. Amazon MP3 Downloader is required.
Google Profiles – New Feature A Smart Answer To A Potentially Tricky Problem
I happened to be on Google this morning for various things and noticed in one of their blogs, a post regarding Google Profiles. A Google Profile is an interesting potential solution to what is surely a growing issue on the Internet in general, and of course, in Google’s own search results.
One upon a time, Googling yourself was a potentially fun exercise in vanity and hubris. Whether or not you existed at all in Google’s search results was the first thing one looked at, and then one moved on to how you were listed. But, as the Internet becomes ever more commonly used for any number of tasks, how you are listed on Google is no longer just a cocktail party conversation starter.
Control Over Your Own Online Identity
Whether it is business colleagues, a former roommate, or a long lost girlfriend, there are plenty of people who might try to find you by typing your name into Google. For most of us, this is a relatively benign experience for which the only real issue is how to find YOU out of the others who share your name or similar names. However, for some people, a potentially unpleasant situation may be on the rise.
My name is very common and thus there are numerous versions of “me” in any search. That is to be expected when we are talking about the entire globe worth of people. Sorting through all of those people is the responsibility of Google’s oft touted search algorithm and the user running the query, but whose responsibility is it to make sure the data is correct, or at least not defamatory.
That is where things get tricky. Google is not in the business of verifying the data that appears on the Internet, merely indexing whatever data there is so that it can be found by those who are looking for it. There is little comfort in that for anyone who discovers that their name is linked with something inaccurate, or unpleasant.
There have been numerous news stories about Wikipedia entries for celebrities being modified with incorrect information, including their status among the living. Likewise, politicians are frequently pilloried, justly or not, on numerous sites. This category of people have endured such things since long before the Internet existed, and people are used to taking any information they find about them, whether in tabloids or online, with a grain of salt.
However, the pervasive nature of Google’s search now means that John Dough can end up on a website being called a liar and fraud over a dispute about a parking spot, and more importantly, that website can be easily found by someone looking for information on John Dough. Without any context or knowledge of the situation or the people involved, such data could come across in such a way to prevent someone from doing business with John, buying a used air hockey table from him, or even dating him, or hiring him.
It is even possible that someone could be impersonating Mr. Dough in any number of online places.
A Chance To Have Your Say About Who You Are
While a Google profile does nothing to remove such information from the Internet is does ensure that your own information is displayed along side such data. The best profiles will include information that can be used by those searching for someone to find good sources of information as well as provide some “from the horse’s mouth” data as well.
Additionally, a profile helps ensure that the data most likely to be sought by casual searchers of your name is present, or at least accessible in some form. That old college roommate is probably looking for a phone number or email address, and no matter how many times your name shows up in newspaper articles about how you invented cold fusion, there is likely no such info to be had at those links. Conversely, a Google Profile allows you to either display your contact information. In very well thought out touch, there is also the ability to let people contact you without divulging your actual information, something akin to the temporary forwarding email that Craigslist provides when you place an ad to sell that air hockey table. Thus, you can retain control over your contact information while still letting someone who knows you better as “Chugger” drop you a line to get in touch.
I updated my Google Profile today. I’m in the middle of other tasks, so the effort put into it was minimal, but in just a few minutes I was able to link my name with the name of my company, as well as head off at the pass the occasional person who contacts me thinking that I grew up in Buffalo (I didn’t). If that person puts up a Google Profile too, then maybe “Ripper” will be able to find “Chugger” a little bit faster, and without the embarrassment of contacting me first.
Don’t Buy Computer With Vista Home Basic – Vista Home Premium Is Minimum Requirement to Get Free Upgrade to Windows 7
I keep seeing computer ads for PCs or Laptops that have Microsoft Vista Home Basic installed. DO NOT BUY A COMPUTER WITH VISTA HOME BASIC unless you want to pay for your upgrade to Windows 7.
Microsoft has said that it will offer free OS upgrades to Windows 7, but only for Vista Home Premium and above. That means that you are really paying an extra $150 to $250 for that computer with Vista Home Basic on it. Unless, of course, you love Windows Vista and plan on keeping it on your computer instead of upgrading to Windows 7.
Oh yeah, and you have to buy your computer between certain dates to qualify. As of the latest information, you have to purchase your computer AFTER mid-June to get the free upgrade. It’s already late May, so just hold out another month before buying that new laptop or computer and then make sure it has Vista Home Premium or higher installed on it. Otherwise, you are just wasting money.
The only Windows Vista® versions eligible for the program are :
- Windows Vista® Home Premium
- Windows Vista® Business
- Windows Vista® Ultimate
* Microsoft Windows Vista® Home Basic, Windows Vista® Starter Edition, and Windows® XP (all editions) are not qualifying products under the program.
Also, note that the company you buy your computer from, called the OEM in the industry, has the option of participating or not in the program and also has the option of using shorter dates. Expect the full service computer manufacturers (brand name companies) to step up. Those “off-brand” vendors are going to be more of a gamble.
This info is all over the Internet, but everyone is getting it from the same place, Tech ARP.
The Top 10 Best Worst Google Features Inventions Of All Time
Does that title suck or what?
You bet it does, but it would rank awesome for search engine traffic if that was what you were going for. People always search for things like "Top 10" or "Best whatever". The problem is that everyone involved in building and designing websites knows that too.
Some web publishers will deliberately write articles for search terms and key phrases like these in order to generate maximum organic traffic. That is fine. There is nothing wrong with playing the game.
What I HATE though is unscrupulous websites who will title their articles like this, even when the article does not fulfill the title! Take this article which I have deliberately linked to in a way to be mostly worthless to the other site. The title of the article is “The World’s Best Dividend Stocks", clearly an attempt to hit some solid keywords. Again, I have no problem with this IF the article meets the expectations of the title! This one does not.
Instead, this article is about the much more prosaic (and not searched on) topic that foreign companies also pay good dividends and that you should look at them too.
WHAT?!?!
In what way does that satisfy “The World’s Best Dividend Stocks”?
It doesn’t. Not at all.
If someone, say me, were looking for some international equities that have historically paid high dividends, I would be interested in an article with such a title, as that website knew I would. Of course, upon reading this “No duh” article, I have no additional information about the world’s best dividend paying stocks. All I know is that there are 3 US stocks were the “best” S&P 500 stocks for 50 years or so. Later, the author reports that 40% of foreign dividend paying stocks that trade on a US exchange have doubled in the past six years. And, that makes them the world’s best paying dividend stocks how? Is it the author’s contention that all the foreign dividend paying stocks that do not trade on a US exchange cannot be some of the world’s best dividend paying stocks, or is the author simply too lazy to find a tool that would allow him to research non-US stocks?
It gets worse.
The next section is about how foreign countries may tax your dividends. NOT IF YOU ARE BUYING THE STOCKS THAT TRADE ON A US EXHANGE!
Before Google came along, this article might have had a more accurate title, something along the lines of “Don’t Forget International Stocks When Looking For Dividends.” But, that has too many “stop words,” and way more people search for “Top Dividend Stocks” or “Best Dividend Stocks”, so the world’s thinnest connection to a title optimized for search engines will have to satisfy those who actually want information about international high yielding dividend stocks, which will be how I refine my search to exclude the shifty and banal results I got from my last search.