Blog-o-Goodness
While rooting through all my websites to bring them up to use SSL (so they have that nice https:// and a lock that shows google likes them), I removed a bunch of old plugins and themes that haven’t been updated in years (internet decades).
This first image is a true gem – the “default” WordPress theme — that came complete on installation along with insisting that “admin” be the default user
And here’s another special one — to give the internet the look like it would have had when I was a kid:
One final note on the SSL conversion from http to https:
Google Search Console had some serious issues with the robots.txt file for this site that took me a while to resolve.
It kept giving cryptic error messages and suggesting I read a page that didn’t really explain anything.
The instructions I followed from wpbeginner.com suggested adding this new secure site to the google search console.
And there I was told that my site was not mobile-friendly!
So I took a look for myself using mobiletest.me and…
One of the things that kept me from the change to SSL was that my hosting company, Pair.com, did not have any nice (convenient) way to use the free Let’s Encrypt SLL certificates.
Pair now offers an easy one click interface to set up SSL and they automatically renew the certificates, so there’s really no excuse to not do it.
Sign up for Pair.com now and enjoy 20% off your first pair Networks bill! Use code:
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What does the interface look like? You go to the Manage Your SSL page and look for the button next to your domain name that says:
Click the Let’s Encrypt button and you’re good to go!
After a few minutes (so that you think the computer was doing some really difficult task) it’ll present you with your domain name with a super-intelligent shade of green lock next to it. All done with the easy part!
Now for the less easy part…
This site launched on September 11, 2006.
At the time, I didn’t love the concept of running software on the server to create the site. I was also looking at this Blosxom software which generated a static site. It’s usage was a little programmer-like rather than writing-like, and WordPress promised a friendly interface for typing.
(If only Microsoft Frontpage had kept on developing…)
Running live website creation software on the server seemed like a bad idea to me. So open for all kinds of security issues, performance issues, and (as time has proved) software update issues. So much yuck for the sake of a certain type of convenience.
Note: that link to Blosxom is something I just found. It used to be at a URL like raelity.org and that seems to be some sort of copy on sourceforge. I don’t think Blosxom is updated anymore (although static site generation is becoming a thing again.)
There is a LOT that can be done with free online services — sometimes things that probably go way beyond what the service creators envisioned.
Holy mother of toad! Again! WordPress just loves to release those late in the week security updates. We already know how hackers work — they do a file compare of the old WordPress version to the new one, the write some code to exploit the vulnerability, and then they set the code loose on whatever … Read more
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