How to save space in your WordPress site

// Handy #plugin  for #WordPress : WP-Optimize will give you the option to clear revisions, draft posts and spam/pending comments and also optimise your database tables, freeing up value disk space and speeding up all database access.

That said, if you use the Google+ Blog plugin http://bit.ly/yNwPxo by +Daniel Treadwell to import your G+ posts in WordPress, you may want to check the size of your posts table. With just 440 posts there were almost 130.000 rows in my posts table, the likely cause being the Google+ Blog plugin. 

Get WP-Optimize here http://bit.ly/WBF81q

How to stop SPAM trackbacks in Wordpress

// Nearly every #Wordpress  blog will start getting spam trackback requests shortly after they have it's first few visitors. If you're not familiar with trackbacks, it's an automated method to get notified (and add link back) when someone links to your blog. Trackbacks are by default enabled in WordPress installations. 

To the rescue come the Simple Trackback Validation #plugin by Tobias Koelligan (following previous work by Miachel) which runs several tests (like checking the IP of the request as well as the actual URL of the page that supposedly linked to you) on #trackback  requests and finds out if they are legitimate or not. 

See the screenshot of settings for more details and download here http://goo.gl/uolcm

Advanced text-around-image wrapping

Not magic, JavaScript

Here's a small gem of #jQuery coding: jQSlickWrap is a #plugin which allows for easily wrapping your text around images, respecting the image's content, as you would do in a DTP program.

The specs:
- Client-side, Sliced and Diced Sandbags using HTML 5's new <canvas /> element
- CSS-based padding
- Sandbag "resolution" is configurable
- Written with Progressive Enhancement in mind
- Optional "bloom" mode provides ultra-precise padding

Works in Firefox 3.5+, Chrome, Safari 4+, Opera 11+, but not in Internet Explorer (degrades to "regular" wrapping). See the image below for a demonstration and get it here http://bit.ly/wSG1ou

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Login log for your WordPress

Here is a companion #WordPress #plugin for the Limit Login Attempts one I posted about before ( http://bit.ly/z3q1gM ): Simple Login Log does exactly that. It keeps a log of all successful or not attempts to login on your site. You'll be surprised at the number of attempts (I certainly was when I found I had 600 attempts from bots in 3 days :))

Simple Login Log can be found at WordPress.org http://bit.ly/xeA67f

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Block brute-force attempts on your WordPress blog

WordPress on it's own a quite secure #CMS but this doesn't mean there is no room for improvement. A simple but effective way to make your #WordPress installation more secure is to limit the amount of attempts that can be made on your login page. This will block automated or not attempts to gain access to your site by guessing the password.

The #plugin is called Limit Login Attempts. It will log attempts to login, and will limit the amount of times an IP can fail the login process. Over a (custom) limit it will just block any further attempts. Many customizations are offered (see screenshot). You will certainly be surprise by how many attempts are being made by #spambots!

Limit Login Attempts can be found on WordPress.org http://bit.ly/we0JdW

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Location-enhanced photos in your WordPress

So you're taking photos with your mobile and posting them in your #WordPress -powered #photoblog but you find that you're missing something. While your phone has included location information in the photo, it is nowhere to be found on your site.

A solution comes with the GeotagPhoto #plugin : it will identify attached images in your post, find if they have location data and put a marker icon on it when it's displayed on the post. Clicking on it opens a Google Map with the location. It comes with several customization options and you only need a Google Maps API key to start using it.

See a live example here http://bit.ly/yxk5z2

You can get GeotagPhoto at WordPress.org http://bit.ly/xrTPSa
As the code is a little outdated, a small fix is required in you're running WordPress 3 and over, you can find it here http://bit.ly/ADSMSh

In album 2012-01-21 (4 photos)

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Easy Google Maps on your WordPress

My #WordPress #plugin discovery of the day: MapPress by Chris Richardson (find it on WordPress.org http://bit.ly/zgNHrR or the developer's site http://bit.ly/zmMgHa)
You can easily add maps on your posts and pages, full with multiple markers, html descriptions, directions, all the usual Google Maps control, etc.

It's free (which covers most uses) with an affordable pro version for some more special features.

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