The current user is being initialized without using $wp->init()

and you cannot figure out where it is coming from ?

Most likely one of your plugins is calling a user related wordpress function a bit early (see wordpress action sequence).   You could try deactivating them until the debug message goes away.  The last plugin deactivated will be it.  Let the developer know because his/her code may not be quite working the way it was intended to.

eg: current_user_can()  or possibly  wp_set_current_user()

These need to be used after the init action.  The plugin or theme might have something like

add_action ('plugins_loaded', 'some_function');

The action should be added later, when the current user has been initialised.

add_action ('init', 'some_function');

If you are a free users, please use the wordpress forums.  Paid users who have not yet registered, please use contact form http://webdesign.anmari.com/about/contact/ to request access until later.

I dislike captcha’s even google’s ‘digitise the old books’ one and they don’t work that well.

Have looked at various other methods over the years – decided I’d rather put up with a few spamster users. Today  just got a bit much! and again today

Seems it is not just me. Scritch and Scratch having some fun (not) too.

There are many reasons why it is a bad idea and not many freasons to do it.   There are maybe a few special cases where it is ok – but is it ever really necessary?  Personally I like to control the opening of tabs myself – I use the right click frequently at times – when I’m researching I open heaps of tabs, then work my way through them.  That doesn’t mean I want a website to forcibly open those links in new windows for me!   Unless of course it is my webmail or feedreader service – then it’s practically obligatory.

Let us assume we are intelligent enough to adhere to standards and take advice from the experts.  Let us assume we all want

• a good usability experience,
• an accessible website,
• a w3c html valid website and
• of course maximised seo, good analytics and happy clients.

And of course we’d like our plugin developers, wordpress developers, tinymce developers to help us in this mission.   This research was done for my own use to determine what my plugins should do.

Summary:

• forcing new tabs or windows is bad for usability (seriously, studies have shown it is harmful)
• it is not recommended for accessibility
• the methods to do it can cause invalid html
• some folks think it doesn’t help your analytics (although one site had some thoughts on that)
• it is not necessary… so why do it?  maybe just indicate an external link? or allow for optional js.

Who says no?

• Famous usability experts say it doesn’t help
• The US government advocates against forcing new windows or tabs
• the United Nations also advocates against forcing new windows or tabs
• Web Designers say so (see below)

Possible reasons to force a new window on external links?

But I want to keep the user on my site…..

“Marketers love it because it allows them to link to external content without taking the reader off the page.”

This is a reasonable fear for a client to have. The user leaving the site and not being able to get back….In every single usability test I’ve done, opening external content in a new window makes this problem worse – not better.

quoted from the Stack exchange usability forum

Special cases perhaps?

• webmail,
• feed readers,
• long lists of external resources.

If we need to do it, what is best way to deal with external links?

Best ways to handle external links

Indicate the external link.

See how Wikipedia  does it.  It classes links as external with a css class.  That css class is then styled with a background image.  It provides a clear visual clue as suggested here.   The css is something like:

 a.external {    background: 
    url(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Icon_External_Link.svg") 
    no-repeat scroll right center transparent;
    padding-right: 13px;}

OR

style the rel=”external”

a[rel=external]....

Force it open anyway?

If you really truly must force  open a new tab or window on an external link, consider:

target=”_blank” is invalid html

• It works, but it is invalid html for all but html1 transitional doc types

 rel=”external” or rel=”external nofollow”

• needs javascript to load on your website (additional load)
• microformats.org/wiki/rel-external
• forums.digitalpoint.com/threads/what-is-rel-external-nofollow.136587/

data-rel=”external nofollow”

• data-* is allowed.
• a similar javascript solution can be used
• w3.org…embedding-custom-non-visible-data-with-the-data-attributes
• jquerymobile.com/demos/1.1.1/docs/api/data-attributes.html

WordPress and external links

I’m a wordpress plugin developer.  Sadly at stage of writing there doesn’t seem to be a consistent approach in wordpress. Perhaps it’s tinymc’s fault – can it be configured ?

post author or comment author links in twenty-twelve theme

• uses “rel=”external nofollow”,
• but by default there is no js to force a window open

wordpress.org links in meta sidebar or footer

• no attributes, so not an issue

Links or link manager plugin

• links are no longer a default feature in new sites, but can be added with link manager plugin
• option to add target=”" and rel=(but only real relationships), not forced

Links in posts

• (if added using visual editor’s insert link), then we get target=”_blank” ?
• it’s tinymce allowing users to select ‘open in new window’ – can it be disabled?

external link plugins

even plugins that aim to help you manage outbound links note that opening new windows may have detrimental effects.  Semilogic suggests users may think you used a pop-under.

 Wordpress related discussions and requests:

• lucdebrouwer.nl/cleaning-up-the-target_blank-in-your-wordpress-post/
• schutt.org/blog/2011/01/not-opening-windows/
• donkeymedia.eu/2010/08/29/remove-depreceated-target_blank-wordpress-tinymce/
• core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/22442#comment:8
• http://www.tyssendesign.com.au/articles/cms/removing-unwanted-fields-tinymce-image-link-popups/
• http://wordpress.org/support/topic/how-to-disable-open-in-new-window?replies=7
• http://wordpress.org/support/topic/removing-target-option-from-tinymce-link-popup?replies=1

References:

Accessibility guidelines:

• w3.org/TR/WCAG10-TECHS/#tech-avoid-pop-ups
• webaim.org/techniques/hypertext/hypertext_links#new_window

Usability advice on external links and new windows:

• http://www.nngroup.com/articles/top-10-mistakes-web-design/  (2012)
• http://www.nngroup.com/articles/the-top-ten-web-design-mistakes-of-1999/ (a debate since 1999)
• http://line25.com/articles/top-5-web-design-debates-that-cause-the-most-riots
• https://managewp.com/should-you-open-links-in-new-windows
• http://www.webpagemistakes.ca/linking-out/
• http://10up.com/blog/2012/08/usability-considerations-new-tab-window/
• http://usabilitygeek.com/15-usability-guidelines-for-designing-web-site-links/
• a satirical view – Seven Easy Ways to Annoy Visitors to Your Website
• http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2008/07/01/should-links-open-in-new-windows/

Web design advice on target=”_blank”

• http://evolvedigitallabs.com/blog/target-_blank-the-good-bad-and-ugly/
• http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/5397/whats-your-take-on-target-blank
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4666523/xhtml-strict-1-0-target-blank-not-valid
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3970746/html-how-to-force-links-to-open-in-a-new-tab-not-new-window

Contrary Arguments

One argument for new windows on external links, but many comments questioning this advice

• http://uxmovement.com/navigation/why-external-links-should-open-in-new-tabs/

Need help discussing with your clients?

Some tips on discussing decisions like these:

• http://000fff.org/design-discussion-principles-how-to-get-your-client-to-love-your-design/

Question mark graffiti by bilal-kamoon

I knocked myself around trying to figure out why my plugin was not coping with ‘foreign’, multi byte, Greek, Japanese, Chinese characters.  Those damn questions marks ‘????’ – I had it all sorted before in another plugin – what was going on here ?   I had all the multi-byte functions happening.    Then I remembered – the database tables – of course!

Default Mysql

MySQL’s default database charset is usually latin1 and  thecollation is latin1_swedish_ci.  This can vary based on server configuration.  This is usually set before wordpress is installed.

Default wordpress

WordPress usually creates it’s table with charset utf8 and collation utf8_general_ci.    You can overwrite this in the config file.

See http://codex.wordpress.org/Editing_wp-config.php#Database_character_set.

Fix your wordpress database

You can Alter the database after the fact.  This will help the plugins who haven’t figured out that many of us (you?) haven’t set up our databases as well as they could be.

ALTER DATABASE yourdb CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;

You may want to fix the individual tables and fields too – phpmyadmin has the tools to edit (or use the rename – it will let you change the collation).

Plugin authors

Make life easy on your self and others when creating custom tables.  Have a look at the wordpress db schema.  Note that there is a global $charset_collate.  Use it!

 global $wpdb, $charset_collate;
if (empty($charset_collate))
    $cachecollation = ' DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT COLLATE utf8_general_ci ';
else
    $cachecollation = $charset_collate;

if ($wpdb->get_var("show tables like '$table_name'") != $table_name) {
 $sql = "CREATE TABLE " . $table_name . " (
 id bigint NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
 field1 text NOT NULL,
 field2 text NOT NULL,
 PRIMARY KEY (id) )
 ".$cachecollation. ";";

require_once(ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/upgrade.php');

dbDelta($sql);

if($wpdb->get_var("show tables like '$table_name'") != $table_name) {
 error_log($table_name.' not created');
 return false;
 }
 else return true;

Resources:

• http://codex.wordpress.org/Editing_wp-config.php#Database_character_set
• http://hakre.wordpress.com/2010/12/26/wordpress-database-charset-and-collation-configuration/
• http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/charset.html

Update as at: Feb 2012

amr-ical-events-list

• free at wordpress (4 star rating, 2012 updates)
• input via  ics file subscription
• most customisable calendars, agendas, schedules etc, variety of views
• date navigation and pagination
• widgets

amr-events

• paid addon to the above ($40)
• full event creation, custom post types, taxonomies, locations
• filtering
• filters, pluggable functions
• variety of map plugin integrations
• multi lingual integration
• produce ics feeds
• uses wordpress as intended so you get benefits of being able to integrate other plugins

event espresso ($$$!)

• lite version at wordpress (3 star rating)
• paid version not cheap (lots of addons – top price $500, base at $90)
• registration, ticketing, payment gateways
• recurring events an addon

all in one event calendar

• free version at wordpress (5 star rating, 2012 update)
• is it error prone? (7 brokens for last version, but 13 works)
• paid support at $120 hour
• recurring, ics import/export, variety of views, widgets

events manager

• free version at wordpress (4 star rating, last update 2010/10)
• paid version $75
• bookings, paypal

• free at wordpress (4 star, but last update 2010)

events calendar

• free version at wordpress (3 star)
• create and present calendar for events

I thought I had done such a great job tightening up things and then seemed to get hit with some repetitive trackback spam notifications.  Since the notifications are coming from one of MY websites, they don’t get marked easily as spam.

A few minutes of googling and a timely post at question-defence.com, published a few days ago pin pointed the problem (Many thanks to google for thier quick search index updating!.. remember the old days?)

Ping status =  ‘open’

Many existing posts still had their ping status set to open.  So to stop trackback spam in it’s tracks (ha! lqtm), take action as follows:

Future posts:

1. Go to WordPress settings > Discussions >
2. untick “Allow Link Notifications From Other Blogs”

Past Posts:

1. Hop into your phpmyadmin
2. Find your posts table, note the name with your sites prefix
3. Goto the SQL view, type in

update  prefix-posts set ping_status = 'closed';

and you are done.  All posts and custom post types now set to NOT accept trackbacks.

Looking to set up a website using WordPress, one of the world most popular content management systems?

Assess your skills (ftp, html, css, php) and what you are prepared to do yourself, and how good you are at educatng yourself using the web.  Then consider your options.

WordPress.com PROS

• easy to get going even if no skills
• free, or can add premium feaures (they add up)
• videopress ($60/year)
• custom css for own styling or tweaks ($30/year)
• post or moderate using your phone (usa only)
• can map your existing  domain there ($12/year), or register a domain through them($17/year)
• they’ll keep you up to date with wordpress at least.
• language aspects are pre-loaded
• if you want to allow comments, wordpress.com has good antispam built in, althoiugh you can also add that feature (akismet) in to a self hosted site.
• you’re hosted by wordpress.com – so you are on a server where all the sites are running wordpress

WordPress.com CONS

What to do:

Consider

• your skill levels
• website requirements and it’s implications (eg:membership, comments – you need anti-spam)
• how much you are prepared to pay for someone to assist you if you need assistance.

It is free to open a wordpress.com site, so give it a go – you’ll need it anyway if you want to use their anti-spam service askimet, or the wordpress.com stats via the jetpack plugin.

If you are comfortable with doing many things yourself or are prepared to hire the skills you need, and know how to test your website and any plugins you add, consider going with a self hosted solution.  You can either do it yourself – there are heaps of guides out there.

If you want to get going quickly, I can have you up and running within a day if you use icdsoft as your host

What potential customers will see if they have an adblocker installed

• amr-events plugin registration is now at icalevents.com
• amr-user-templates plugin registration is soon at wpusersplugin.com

Your details have cloned and moved too

•  so you can access curremt and older versions here. New versions of the plugins will only be available at the new sites:
• Use the same usernames and passwords on all sites.

On;y forum or email subscription registrations here

• Any problems, please log it at the support forum or contact me asap.