Trying WPEngine DevKit

October 30, 2019 by 1 Comment

Seems DevKit, a new offering currently in beta by WPEngine, is getting stronger by the day. I joined the beta a few months ago and couldn’t set it up easily enough, but this time around it seems to be much easier.

What is WPEngine DevKit?

DevKit takes your git-based WordPress development to the next level! It’s a software automation available to WPEngine customers that lets you spin up local copies of your WordPress environments in a matter of minutes.

WPEngine DevKit uses Docker and builds a mini infrastructure to run each environment: a load balancer, a caching layer, a PHP processor, a web server and a database server. Latest version of your website and database are downloaded to your laptop or desktop with just one command:

$ wpe clone unixtutorial

After all is done, all you need to do is cd into directory and start local webserver:

$ cd unixtutorial
$ wpe start 

Here’s how the list of Docker containers looks for one of the websites:

greys@macos:~/proj/wpengine/unixtutorial $ docker ps | grep unixtutorial
7e0269af4942 wpengine/devkit_memcached:0.15.7 "docker-entrypoint.s…" 18 minutes ago Up 18 minutes 11211/tcp unixtutorial_memcache_1
e5d9ee9354de wpengine/devkit_mailhog:0.15.7 "MailHog mysqld --ss…" 18 minutes ago Up 18 minutes 1025/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32782->8025/tcp unixtutorial_mail_1
50d7921d39ed wpengine/devkit_nginx:0.15.7 "nginx -g 'daemon of…" 18 minutes ago Up 18 minutes 0.0.0.0:32781->80/tcp unixtutorial_nginx_1
be03695720b2 wpengine/devkit_php_7_3:0.15.7 "/entrypoint.sh php-…" 18 minutes ago Up 18 minutes 9000/tcp unixtutorial_php_1
282468464aee wpengine/devkit_mysql_5_7:0.15.7 "docker-entrypoint.s…" 18 minutes ago Up 18 minutes 33060/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32780->3306/tcp unixtutorial_db_1
c8723b7f4b70 wpengine/devkit_mitmproxy:0.15.7 "docker-entrypoint.s…" 18 minutes ago Up 18 minutes 8080/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32778->8081/tcp unixtutorial_proxy_1

Pretty cool! I’ve just downloaded 3 of my websites in under 20min, just need to get comfortable with making updates back to the WPEngine hosted copies now!

See Also

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Multi-language Widgets in WordPress with WPML

October 5, 2019 by Leave a Comment
WordPress

WordPress

I have recently launched a Unix Tutorial RU, Russian language version of my Unix Tutorial blog. After careful consideration, I have decided to use WPML plugin for managing translated copies of pages and posts.

How Multi-Site Works with WPML

From what I can see, WPML is a redicretion and page query parameters based magic. It allows you to host multi-language sites from a single hosting setup, so essentially it’s just one WordPress installation with WPML plugin helping it manage multiple translated copies of the same pages and posts.

In my setup, I chose to use a separate domain: www.UnixTutorial.RU with Russian translations of www.UnixTutorial.org pages.

Multi-Language Support in WordPress Widgets

Turns out, it’s very simple to manage multi-language sidebar content.

Step 1: Add another instance of same widget to sidebar

Create a copy of your existing sidebar widget, by selecting the same widget type and adding it to the same sidebar. I ended up with having two widgets like this:

Screen Shot 2019-10-05 at 10.55.52.png

Step 2: Populate new widget with translation

Edit to make sure the newly copied widget contains the desired translation:

Screen Shot 2019-10-05 at 10.56.00.pngStep 3: Select when to show new widget (pick a language)

Select a new language for the template:

Screen Shot 2019-10-05 at 10.56.07.png

This means that new sidebar widget will only be shown on the translated version of my website.

That’s it, enjoy!

See Also

 

 

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Make WordPress admin panel use HTTP

December 13, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Quick but super useful tip for WordPress development: when you’re coding your website locally on your desktop or laptop, this wp-config.php option will help you accept HTTP logins to WordPress admin panel:

define( 'FORCE_SSL_ADMIN', false );

Took me whole 5 minutes to figure out why local website worked fine but admin panel was not connecting.

Now it looks much better:

Screen Shot 2018-12-13 at 18.51.29.png

pS: if you’re using an old WordPress installation or just kept auto-updating it in the last few years without a full reinstall, the option name could be slightly different for you:

define( 'FORCE_SSL_LOGIN', false );
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WordPress Gutenberg

October 24, 2018 by 2 Comments

Just a quick note to say that Gutenberg editor in WordPress is AWESOME!

After using it for a few days on my Unix Tutorial blog, I’m really impressed with how intuitive the new editing experience is.

Having to create a separate content blog for each element may sound like a really daunting task, but the way it’s implemented is super intuitive: you type as you always would, but things like lists and paragraphs end up created automatically.

I also really like the way content is so much easier to rearrange now that it’s split into blocks.

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StudioPress Theme Pack in On Sale For Just a Few Days

September 3, 2018 by Leave a Comment

StudioPress

StudioPress


Some of you may know that my most favourite theme pack StudioPress.com has been acquired by WordPress hosting company WPengine.net.

This means this current sale of the StudioPress lifetime membership is probably your last chance ever, unless you buy a hosting plan from WPengine (in which case StudioPress themes will be available for free).

I’ve been a very happy user of the StudioPress themes and the Genesis framework for a number of years now, so their themes come highly recommended:

FLASH SALE! Pro Plus All-Theme Package – $100 off!

Click the link above to receive a discount. Given the number of themes you get, I think it’s a great offer.

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WordPress OSX app is awesome!

January 11, 2016 by 1 Comment

New WordPress.com admin interface is using Calypso, a JavaScript framework – that’s been made official a few weeks ago to much appraise.

In addition to the WordPress.com, it’s also possible to download desktop apps for Windows and OSX to manage all your Jetpack-enabled blogs.

I’m still in the process of Jetpack-enabling all of my blogs, but those that have been switched already are a breeze to manage now: I can see pending core and plugin updates, moderate new comments, see website stats and can add new posts.

Have you given a native WordPress.com app a try yet? I think it’s awesome!

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31 Days to a Better Blog

December 8, 2015 by 1 Comment

There’s never a better time that to start working on that dream blog of yours right now. This is especially true if said blog had been unattended for the past few months (or years!).

Check out ProBlogger’s 31 Days to a Better Blog, it’s a great e-book that’s 50% off this week with the GOODBYE2015 coupon code.

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WordPress Admin Bar tricks

May 8, 2011 by 1 Comment

If you like the WordPress admin bar introduced recently, you’re going to love the way it can be expanded to do pretty much anything you want.

DigWP.com blog has a great collection of links in a single post with some very good ideas: Admin Bar Tricks.

My personal favorites are: move admin bar to the bottom of screen and disabling admin bar for non-admins.

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Upgrade to WordPress 2.6.2!

September 9, 2008 by 1 Comment

Looks like WordPress 2.6.2 with a few fixes is out, so I’ve just upgraded all my blogs to this new milestone.

For all the details, read the official WordPress 2.6.2 announcement or glance through the list of bugs fixed in 2.6.2 release.

See also:

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WordPress 2.3 is released!

September 26, 2007 by 2 Comments

WordPress

Finally, the new release of WordPress is here. WordPress 2.3, codenamed “Dexter”, brings many long-awaited features and fixes 350+ issues found in previous versions.

Most interesting features in WordPress 2.3

  • Tags – now with native support. Strangely enough, you’ll need to download separate plugins to manage the tags.
  • Canonical URLs – will allow you to change slugs of any post and have WordPress automatically redirect old slug URL to the new URL of your post. Brilliant idea, great for SEO! Mark Jaquith has a great post explaining how it all works: Canonical URLs in WordPress 2.3
  • Advanced editing options in WYSIWYG editor for posts and pages are finally accessible via a special button. The trusty Shift+Alt+V combination for doing the same still works, of course.
  • Update notification functionality will let you know when there’s a new version of the WordPress engine or any of the plugins you use. Must save us all tons of time we usually spend tracking the updates, downloading new versions and troubleshooting the upgrades of all the plugins.

If you want to learn more, there’s a traditional 10 Things You Need To Know About WordPress 2.3 review posted at Technosailor. As always, a highly recommended post!

Before you rush it to download the latest WordPress and get your upgrade started, please be sure to verify all your plugins are up to date and will be supported in the 2.3 release. I’ve done this for all the plugins on Perfect Blogger, and so my upgrade happened in a matter of seconds and without a single problem.

If you think you need help upgrading your WordPress – feel free to contact me and we’ll see what can be done.

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