Great PhotoShop Tool for Designers

If you were at the Designers Tool Kit talk in the Atlanta WordCamp you may remember an app called Slicy by MacRabbit.

It takes a PSD and creates an individual and optimized PNG and JPEG etc. for each Photoshop layer.

Pretty freaking awesome right !?

But what happens if you are not on a Mac or don’t have the 30 $$ lying around to purchase it?

Well here is a great alternative for you.

It is a Photoshop extension that creates a panel right in Photoshop. It’s very easy-to-use and at the website you can download an example PSD file to see all the ins and outs.

If you use it and like it please give its developer at least five bucks as I’m sure took him many hours to create.

http://www.cutandslice.me

Does your website stack up?

Have you ever wondered what your website looks like to folks running other operating systems with the many different browser combinations?

Well wonder no more use this very cool online tool to take screenshots of your website.

http://www.browserstack.com/screenshots

Let us fix your Google Maps before they break on May 19th!

If you’re using the Google Maps JavaScript API v2 your maps will break on May 19th.

Please contact me at 864-735-8378 or use this form and I’ll fix your Google Map by upgrading it to the latest API

From Google, Google Maps JavaScript v2 (Deprecated)

The Google Maps JavaScript API Version 2 has been officially deprecated as of May 19, 2010. The V2 API will continue to work until May 19, 2013. We encourage you to migrate your code to version 3 of the Maps JavaScript API.

The Google Maps API lets you embed Google Maps in your own web pages with JavaScript. The API provides a number of utilities for manipulating maps (just like on the http://maps.google.com web page) and adding content to the map through a variety of services, allowing you to create robust maps applications on your website.

The Maps API is a free service, available for any web site that is free to consumers. Please see the terms of use for more information.

To use the Maps API on an intranet or in a non-publicly accessible application, please check out Google Maps API for Business.

WordPress Maintenance Plan

The WordPress maintenance service bundles premium WordPress services into one affordable WordPress Maintenance Package.

Greenville web is offering the following WordPress Maintenance Plan

Malware Monitoring, we scan your site up to 4 times a day
Malware Cleanup & and website restoration
Daily Off-site Backups
Website restoration in case of data loss due to hack or server failure
Weekly plugin updates
WordPress security updates within 24 hours of release date
Major WordPress updates tested on a development server for compatibility*
Rollback of plugins or WordPress CMS software if an update breaks your theme
Discounted development fees

Consultation time, web development, hosting migration and content changes would be a separate service, quoted & billed for as needed.

*dependant on the level of support.

Kudos for Greenville Web – the story of the $100 website

Hi Andrew,
Wow! I was impressed with the quality that you provided for such remarkable turn-around time, and the miniscule amount of time you needed to complete this project. In my failed attempt to produce my primitive version of this website, I read over 100 pages of instructions, completed tutorials on the internet, viewed “how-to-do-it” videos, skimmed two books, “published” (uploaded) each webpage countless times, and spent well over 40 hours failing to produce what you accomplished in minutes. Good for you (and of course, good for me to have found you)!

Steven Heller

Steven had called up the office because he was having a hard time building his website using Adobe Contribute. Greenville Web had an old article on building websites using Adobe Contribute and that’s how Steven found us.

After a quick consultation I could see that Contribute was not the right solution and about an hour after I had received the copy and images for Steven’s website I had him set up at WordPress.com with free hosting and a great looking website.

I don’t normally pat myself on the back but after reading what Steven wrote (above) I felt that I wanted to share it.

Give maybe a call at 864-735-8378 and maybe I can save you a lot of time and money too!

Be inspired ! By Street artist Joshua Allen Harris

Inflated and Animated

Using the subway exhausts and air vents of New York City to inflate and animate his garbage bag creatures street artist Joshua Allen Harris’ creations are an inspiration to all who walk by.

With few resources and an excess of imagination Joshua is able to make people stop, take a second look, maybe a photo while giving them something to at the very least talk about. Shouldn’t your website do the same?

Video by Jonah Green

Check out http://joshuaallenharris.com for more videos and information.

WordPress Security – The Weak link is YOU!

WordPress, as a Content Management System, is a secure platform. The Weak link is YOU!

Yup it’s your password the one that you use for every website from bank accounts to email. It could be your dog’s name, wife’s middle name and birthday, it’s something that no-one who didn’t know you would ever guess.

The problem is that Software can guess it

WPScan is a “WordPress Security Scanner” Sponsored by the RandomStorm Open Source Initiative *. WPScan like a scalpel is a great tool in the right hands, it’s just destructive when used by the malicious or the criminal.
WPScan is free and available to anyone with an internet connection.

Using WPScan a bad player can attack your login using the aptly named Brute Force Attack **.

A Brute Force Attack is when software like WPScan is used to figure out your website’s username, easy if it is admin, once it has that it will try every possible password until it succeeds.

If your password is letmein or jesus ***, God help you! You’ll be owned in a few hours.

This is where common sense can save you

Don’t ever use a password like the two above! Shame on you!
Don’t ever use admin as your username, if you do call me so I can come over and slap you. And YES you deserve it.
Update WordPress when a patch is released.
1. This is because any security fixes addressed by that patch are also common knowledge soon after the patch is pushed to you.
2. The major feature updates are normally released as point upgrades. As in 3.4 to 3.5. These updates you can wait on if your worried about a Theme or Plugin breaking.
Hire a professional to manage your site.
1. If you make money off your website and it is a crucial part of your business treat it with the respect it deserves. You’re not a web developer you’re a Lawyer, an Innkeeper, a fill in the blank. And your nephew with a computer is… well… you get it.
Install the Limit Login Attempts **** plugin.
1. This plugin will block software like WPScan from Brute Forcing your password. It works by blocking an IP address of a user after X amount of login attempts.
2. You can set the length in hours of the block and the number of failed attempts before the block kicks in.
3. If you forget your own password just remember to reset it before you get blocked.

* http://wpscan.org/ a black box WordPress vulnerability scanner.
** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Password_cracking
*** #7 and # 21 on CBS list of most common passwords for 2012 http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57539366/the-25-most-common-passwords-of-2012
**** Limit Login Attempts

WordPress 3.5 Requirements

Congratulations on WordPress 3.5, to everyone on the WordPress Core Development team. This is a truly smashing version.

I did get to spend a lot of time beta testing it so I know that many of my clients are going to love this new update, particularly the image editor.

The WordPress update system worked great on the ten or so WordPress websites I upgraded to day.

Back up your WordPress Website

I did, and recommend to anyone upgrading WordPress to, back up your database and wp-contents directory before you click the update button. 99.9 percent of the time you won’t need this, but if the server decides to go off line or crash during the update, well you know!

A ten minute back up will save you hours of time better spent else where in your life 🙂

WordPress Maintenance

If something does go horribly wrong during your WordPress update call me and I’ll sort it out.

Also if you’re interested I do offer a regular WordPress Back up and upgrade plan. If that’s just what you need call me at Greenville Web Design Tel. 864-735-8378 and I’ll get you fixed up ASAP!

PS: If you’d like to check you current server’s against the minimum requirements to run WordPress 3.5 I have just updated my plugin at WordPress.org’s Plugin Directory.

Here is the link: Is Your Server Ready for WordPress 3.5

Also please have a look at WordPress 3.5’s Change Log @ http://codex.wordpress.org/Version_3.5