Not too long ago, a new plugin was released called WP-Crontrol. WP-Crontrol allows you to take control over what is happening in the WP-Cron system.
WP-Cron is a tangle of black magic that allows a plugin developer or a user to schedule commands to be executed. WP-Crontrol is a plugin that lets a blog owner see through that magic and figure out what’s actually going on
If you want a detailed introduction to this plugin as well as an explanation as to how to use this plugin in conjunction with WP Database Backup to create backups when you want them, be sure to check out this article: Add a new WordPress backup schedule with WP-Crontrol
Also on the radar today is a quick fix for the WordPress 2.5.x image uploader. Awsom.org is reporting that there is a no-flash plugin that is available which returns the previous image upload function from earlier versions of WordPress.
I find it hilarious that someone has to code a plugin to remove that uploader. Matt’s comments on the relevant trac entry have been equally hilarious. The change was forced on the users, without even an ability to turn it off. The fact that it’s utterly broken in non-Win systems (at least on the ones I have tried) aggravates the situation.
There should have been an *option* in WP, not a plugin (which may even break with every new release, considering the WP team’s history on API/DB changes…)
The flash uploader works for me, and I use linux on both my computer and my server (Apache 2.2, PHP5).
I used to use WP-Cron back in my darker days, but not lately. I’m using Austin Matzko’s database backup http://www.ilfilosofo.com/blog/wp-db-backup/ , which comes with it’s own cron based scheduler. Why use 2, when you can use 1?
The Flash uploader works fine on non-Windows systems. I’ve used it on Macs, Linux, Windows XP and Vista… it has no issues that are not solvable, on most hosts. The main problems I’ve helped people solve with it are:
1. Failure to upload all the WordPress files (80%)
2. mod_security or something else on the server not liking it (~18%)
Details on how to fix it in 99% of the cases are here:
http://wordpress.org/support/topic/164999
Those steps really do work, it’s just that most people I’ve seen complaining about it have not really done them. They think “the previous one worked, this one doesn’t, it’s a bug, fixitfixitfixit” and then wait for somebody else to deal with the problem. The truth is that nobody else is going to fix problems with your hosting service for you, and upgrading is not always a simple thing. Dealing with problems is part of upgrading.
I’m pretty sure I tried all of those suggestions with no luck before going with the plugin, which I’ve been using ever since. Maybe I should try them again, I don’t know.
Like many WP users, I don’t have the time or patience to painstakingly peace together why the image uploader doesn’t work. I’ll use the plugin or, failing that, flickr.
You know, if it worked before and it doesn’t work now, it is a bug. If it doesn’t work out of the box for x% of the population, it’s a bug.
The quoter plugin that is rolled in to k2 has been tragically broken for a while. I would love to have that functionality back in a new plugin.
http://www.damagedgoods.it/wp-plugins/quoter/
I wasted 2 hours trying out the suggested solutions. Only the No-Flash-Uploader worked in the end.
I use a great plugin from Lester Chan called WP-DBManager – it has it’s own built-in scheduler, optimizes your db tables and a lot more – I tried wp-db-backup but I personally prefer WP-DBManager.
If you’re on WP 2.5, use this link instead, since he has a new version specifically for 2.5
Thanks for recommending a WP based cron manager! I think I will find it very useful for quite a few tasks.
However, on a complete side note: what I *really* fail to understand is why one would need two plugins to automatically backup a database. I do appreciate that “WP Database Backup” is a fore-runner of such plugins, but having used GamerZ’s/Lesterchan’s WP-DBManager for the past 8 months, which already has all this built into one plugin (including automatically scheduled Repair/Optimise database) I think it’s brilliant, and it sadly really isn’t promoted enough.
I am not related to Gamerz (etc) in any way. I just hope that perhaps WLTC (and many other blogs that ‘recommend’ plugins) would also take notice of good alternatives to the ‘standard’ recommendation.
p/s: This comment is not to criticise Mr. Jeff Chandler’s post at all, but to bring an alternative plugin (for database backups at least) to the attention of other readers.
The Flash uploader “works” for me in that it functions, but the *way* it works is horrendously unusable. WP and Happy Cog did a good job with most of the WP 2.5 admin redesign, but the image uploading UI just feels tacked on and incomplete.
I hate that I have to do repetitive manual tasks (remove the link, uncheck “thumbnail”, handle ALT tags) every time I add an image. Also, the way WP explains and then implements ALT vs. Title attributes is confusing and counter to what those attributes mean.
There’s more about how crummy the uploader is on my blog (click my name to read the article).
Question: How would a UI person contribute to WordPress? I’d like to contribute but I’m a designer, not a coder.
I also have to add that I don’t like the Flash idea also from a philosophical standpoint. The less Flash is on the web, the better. (I could go in details, but that would be off-topic.)
Thanks. The plugin works perfectly.