Ever need to find and replace something in your WordPress database? (perhaps you changed domain names and have the old domain name or folder structure hard coded into some of your posts) You can easily update your database by using phpMyAdmin or by using the following code in any SQL interface:

The first part of the command says "update the database table wp_posts" (where your content is stored). The later part of the command says "use the field "post_content" (where all your actual post content is stored" and then find "http://olddomain.com/blog" and replace ... [more]

Ever delete something with svn (svn del) and then realize you needed it again? You can get it back by using: svn copy -r HEAD filenameyoudeleted.extension filenameyoudeleted.extension

• svn copy is the command to get a working copy back
• -r is short for revision. I used HEAD which will give you the latest in repository. You can specify a revision number, revision right before you committed, etc (check out svn help copy)
• filename is what you deleted, then where it goes. I usually do something like this within the folder the file was located so you do not see any paths, ... [more]
  

Because I always forget...to change the text editor that svn uses with the commit messages, just type in this command (if you use bash):
export SVN_EDITOR=vi

*Substitute vi for your editor of choice.
**Personally, I once was a pico/nano fan, then I moved to emacs, and now I am a vi person.

In order to take a look at WordPress 2.5 before it was released, I used subversion to check out the latest code available using the instructions given on the WordPress site. Once WordPress 2.5 was released, I wanted to keep my sites using 2.5 and not the bleeding edge releases (2.6) so I needed to easily switch repositories from http://svn.automattic.com/wordpress/trunk/ to http://svn.automattic.com/wordpress/branches/2.5/.
I had never had to switch repositories, so it took some reading to figure it out. For future reference, the following command works when used in the directory you have the checked out files ... [more]

The last few weeks I have been extremely busy and on top of that I have been dealing with a sick child and also being sick myself. There is no time to be wasted so efficient use of the time I had was crucial. I feel that since owning my own business, I have had to work very hard to make the most of my time and have a few tips:

• Focus on 1-3 big tasks per day. Any more tasks than 3 will most likely cause you to spend too much time switching gears. I have begun making ... [more]
  

Finally - I stumbled upon an article that outlines how to use rsync, Mac OS X, Jungle Disk, and Amazon S3 (all which I use). This will simplify and speed up my backup process. (Especially when my external backup drive has been acting a little irregular this morning.) If you do not backup your files, or have not looked at Amazon S3 yet - this is your chance!

After spending an hour on something that should have taken me 20 minutes - I wanted to pass on something I should have caught right away. The problem: you use CSS to lay something out and it looks great in Firefox and Safari - but not in IE. At this point I validate the CSS to make sure I did not forget a bracket or something stupid. Next step - validate the XHTML. This is where I would have solved my problem, but I failed to take this step. At that point I would have ... [more]

If you do any sort of web development, it is more than likely that CPANEL and phpMyAdmin are good friends of yours...and you depend on them. Even though those are extremely handy to create/modify databases and create backups, it is extremely helpful to know how to do the same thing by using only SSH and command line utilities.

To backup (export) a database using the command line interface (CLI):

You will then need to provide your database password and the exported data will go into a file called "backup.sql" which is located ... [more]

I have been busy this week with a few really cool projects - one of them to create a widget for any site that will show the latest news items from a RSS feed - while not limiting the widget to servers with PHP. After putting that together, I had to add inline CSS to style the feed output. Everything looked great but I could not figure out how to add a :hover to an inline style...until I realized I could fake it by adding some basic javascript: onmouseover and onmouseout to change the font color.

[html]... [more]

WordPress has a great feature where it will make thumbnails out of any image you upload when creating a post. When you have PodPress installed (a great podcast plugin), the thumbnails option disappears. Finally I got sick of this and found the solution. If you ever run into this - now you know how to fix it as well!

Start the year of right - set up a backup system! A few years ago, I documented how to backup your web sites, databases, email, etc when your host uses CPanel to a remote FTP server. Since then, there have been several CPanel updates and Perl updates that the script no longer works so I have been looking for another option and finally found it. The new script is called: CPsafe (if that does not work, check out the cached version. Within 5 minutes, you can have your home directory backup set up ... [more]

After spending more time than I would have liked trying to figure out how to get any network shares/mounts to show up on my Desktop like they did before I upgraded to Leopard, I finally figured it out. It is possible and it is easy to set up. If you want to have your servers to appear as icons on the desktop:

1. Click anywhere in the Finder
2. Choose the Finder menu > Preferences
3. Click on the "General" tab
4. Check the "Connected servers" option

I have finally figured out how to do a 3 way call (phone manual is long gone). I have a Panasonic 2 Line phone, and for my reference later:

1. Dial first number
2. Press flash
3. Dial second number
4. Press flash
5. Talk

My company is working on one of the largest projects we have ever done and the entire project (a 153 field application form, admin, scoring admin, etc) has to be done in both English and Spanish. This has been a fun project all around. This is the first time I have worked with Ruby on Rails and with localization. Fortunately enough, I found a great tool which I had never used before: Babel Fish Translation. I can input all my form labels and text into the English to Spanish translator and viola! ... [more]

I have a decent size backyard and after years of raking - I finally figured out how to rake more effectively.

1. Don't be the first person on the block to start raking. People have a tendency to start raking way too early. If you are the first, other neighbor's leaves are going to just blow into your yard, and most likely you failed to look up and see a lot more leaves on the trees.
2. Only start raking after there has been a good wind or rain storm. I always wait until after a good wind storm or ... [more]
   

I ran into an issue earlier today where I could not connect to a SMB share after my upgrade to Mac OS X 10.5. After some research, I found a thread in Apple's Discussions.

Basically...you need to not use "Connect to Server..." - you need to mount/unmount the SMB share via the command line.

Basic Mount/Unmount Process

1. Create a directory (folder) where you want the mounted share to appear. I created a folder called "SMB" on my Desktop
2. Type in the following command: mount_smbfs //useyourusername@localhost/remote_share /Users/useyourusername/Desktop/SMB in the terminal
3. You will be prompted for your password, type it in
4. You now have access ... [more]
   

Usually when I get done with a web site and am ready to create a favicon (the little icon in your browser's address bar to the left of the URL) I end up having to create the image in PhotoShop, then save it as an ico file using Graphic Converter. A quicker way to do this would just be to use the incredibly simple to use favikon web site. Nice work!

There have been two great menu and navigation techniques I have used over the last few years:

1. Sliding Doors of CSS
2. Sons of Suckerfish (for drop down menus)

I have used both of these techniques on several web sites, but crazily not together...until a week ago when a client decided they wanted to move away from their antiquated menus that relied on hundreds of lines of javascript, HTML tables, and over 40 image files (for seven tabs). This technique works in IE 6, IE 7, Firefox, and Safari.

After I had put the code into place I thought it might be ... [more]

After having a kid recalls became more important to me, but I felt overwhelmed with trying to stay on top of all the recalls. Do I go to the toy store and spend a few minutes in front of their recall board and try to decipher what big had lead in it? Did I get that bib? My son has a ton of bibs! Yikes!! Luckily, I stumbled upon the U.S. Product Safety Commission Web Site which has a few recall RSS feeds that you can subscribe to. When a new notice is ... [more]

Stamps.com got my contact information a few weeks ago and have been hounding me every other day after answering their three initial questions:

1. How much does your company spend on postage a year? My response: I think I buy maybe 3-4 books of stamps.
2. How much do you spend on shipping packages? My response: I have never sent a package.
3. Do you wish you did not have to go to the post office to save time? My response: Yes.

From that, I got: "Well we have a great solution for all your postage needs. Our package starts out at $191 a year..." ... [more]