First, our Oklahoma team members and family are safe and sound.

One of our team members though, Cody Smith, a theme designer (here’s a pic of he and I with our kiddos last weekend), was thankfully out of town yesterday but his house was a quarter of a mile from the path of destruction through Moore, Oklahoma. He is still waiting to hear word about potential damage to his house but the latest news we heard was that his neighborhood was in tact, but damage is unknown at this point. We will keep you updated through Twitter as we hear more about Cody’s house.

Additionally, our hearts go out to Jon Fisher, a local designer, we’ve known for a while now. His house was demolished by the tornado while he and his family were in the hospital with their infant son. He has been posting pics of the damage to Instagram here.

The iThemes headquarters is actually located in Edmond, Oklahoma, roughly 25 miles from Moore. Like most Oklahomans we were glued to the live radar and weather reports for the past couple of days, waiting to see if we needed to take shelter. But again, everything is OK with the iThemes gang.

Second, we love our city and our state … and like you, our hearts go out to all of those affected, not only in Moore, but across the state. And along with many others who are giving, iThemes will be donating $2,000 to the Red Cross today.

Third, because you’ve asked how you can help … we would love for you to consider doing the same. 

Here is a list of other ways you can give in addition to the Red Cross.

The easiest way to give is to text REDCROSS to 90999 from your phone to give $10 and help support tornado relief efforts in Oklahoma.

Click here to tweet this out!

Fourth, you are amazing. We have the best customer community and business friends ever. You aren’t just customers, you are family. I’m so thankful for you and who you are and that you care about us and the people we call neighbors here in Oklahoma City.

So, thank you for just being you!

Technology guru David North started the OKC WordPress Users Group in April of 2009. The group now has more than 170 members on Meetup.com, but lately they average 15-20 at each event.

Lynn learned about the OKC meetups shortly after she started using WordPress. “I had just started using WordPress and I thought it would be cool,” she says. Then Lynn moved from attendee to organizer, stepping up to help run the events, handling much of the preparation, including announcements, scheduling speakers and more.

Lynn shares some of her tips for putting on a WordPress meetup:

Tip 1: Use Meetup.com

Lynn recommends using Meetup.com to organize your group. “So many people have heard of it,” Lynn says. “Why not?”

Meetup.com has several useful tools for organizers, including automatic reminder notices, contact tools, RSVP capabilities, reviews and more. “It generates interest,” Lynn says. “It’s its own social media space.”

Tip 2: Get Help

Get help organizing your WordPress meetup so you don’t have to do it all by yourself. While David initially founded the OKC group, Lynn came on as a co-organizer because “he’s a busy guy.”

“It’s good to have two people in case one can’t be there,” Lynn says. If one can’t make it the other person can pick up the slack.

Tip 3: Find a Central Location

The primary reason Lynn gives for attending her first meetup: “It was so close.”

That may seem like a minor issue, but not many people want to spend their day driving across town. Find a place to meet that’s centrally located. It’s a simple way to lower the barrier to entry.

Tip 4: Finding a Location

When it comes to picking a location, Lynn has two suggestions: Free and Wi-Fi. Wireless Internet is a must. And a free location makes all the organizing that much easier. You don’t have to charge people to attend or burn a hole in your own pocket. The OKC group is currently meeting in a local college where David teaches. They’ve also met at a local nonprofit that hosted tech groups. Your best bet is to explore connections within your group. You’ll likely be able to find a low or no cost space that can provide Wi-Fi.

Tip 5: Signage Helps

Being easy to get to is more than just being centrally located. You also need to give clear directions and put up some signs to help point the way. You should have exterior signs pointing the way to the building and interior signs pointing the way to the exact room.

Don’t expect people to be able to ask for help along the way. Lynn’s group meets on a college campus and most students have no idea there’s a WordPress group meeting and would be at a loss to give directions.

“We’ve had people come in an hour late because they don’t know where they’re going,” Lynn says. “If you don’t know your way around, it’s bad. So have good signage.”

Tip 6: Mmm… Cookies

“When I started bringing homemade cookies and stuff, we started getting more people,” Lynn says. Delicious snacks are an acceptable form of bribery. Lynn goes all out with homemade goods, eschewing the “yucky cookies in a box” you can pick up at any grocery store.

With a relatively small crowd that the OKC group attracts, a free gathering with free snacks works out OK. Lynn doesn’t mind providing the treats and won’t let her fellow WordPress fanatics chip in. With larger groups that might not work so well.

Tip 7: Consistency

Lynn recommends deciding on a consistent time and place to meet. Choosing a specific day of the month, like the second Friday or the last Monday, can make it easier.

“You don’t have to worry about a date,” Lynn says. “It helps people.”

Consistent venues can make it easier to find as well. It doesn’t mean you can’t move around—the OKC group has moved around a bit—but try staying in one place for a while.

Tip 8: Speakers

Providing content for every month can be another difficult challenge. “Plan in advance so you’re not scrambling at the last minute,” Lynn says. She also recommends confirming speakers a few days before so you don’t have any last minute surprises.

A good way to find speakers is just to ask. Lynn surveyed her group and had a number of people volunteer.

“When you get to know people it gets easier to find people to speak,” Lynn says.

Tip 9: Content for Every Level

“In every group you get someone who’s worked with WordPress for a week and developers, so you have the whole gamut of levels,” says Lynn. “In our agenda we always plan a tutorial covering something for those beginner users.”

Creating content that’s accessible for everyone can be a challenge, but it’s important to keep things friendly for the newbies.

Tip 10: Take a Break

It’s OK to take time off. The OKC group takes the last two months of the year off. Since they meet on the last Monday of the month, in November and December those are usually holiday weeks.

“It gives us a breather,” Lynn says. “It’s a chance to recuperate and come back in January recharged.”

WordPress Does Not Have a Built-in Backup

It amazes me how many newcomers to the wonderful world of WordPress take this for granted. Or, they think their web host will handle this for them. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. Few hosts will guarantee a backup. And since WordPress does not include this function out of the box, you’d better get smart on what’s available for you to use.

Servers #fail

Eventually web servers will fail. They’re a lot like your high school girlfriend (or boyfriend). Things might be going ok right now, but more than likely, sooner or later, they’re going to let you down. You may never experience the kick-in-the-gut of a catastrophic server crash, but most of us will have to deal with corrupt files or tables at some point. And when – not if – it happens to you, having a good recent backup makes all the difference!

Clients

The first rule of client entropy states: “Never underestimate the ability of the client to discover new and creative ways to mess up his web site.” Many clients have the “What does this button do syndrome.” They are infamous for uninstalling plugins that conflict, deleting theme files, or inserting their own creative php code. The list goes on. The worst clients are the ones who think they know everything after they watched an 8 minute WordPress overview video on YouTube. The second rule of client entropy states: “If you work with clients, you better have a backup.”

Hackers

Hackers are often as bad as clients. Yes, WordPress is very secure if you keep your core files and plugins up to date. But hackers are persistent and motivated. One Monday morning a couple of years back, I woke up to an early morning client call when he found hacker graffiti on his web site. Thankfully, I had a backup and he was up again 5 minutes later. A good rule of thumb is that if your web site is on the Internet, you’d better have a backup.

I’ve heard that sometimes even we make mistakes.

If you work with web sites and you are a human, you need a good backup. Not long ago, I was in the process of converting a single WordPress site into a multisite. Somewhere along the way, I messed something up. Because I was backed up, I was able to restore in a couple of minutes and be back on track.

Why BackupBuddy?

BackupBuddy is the ideal solution for freelancers searching for a solid backup strategy. It’s compatible with most web hosts. It offers a developer license for use on unlimited sites. And it is backed by a stellar technical support team.

Check out all of the BackupBuddy for Freelancers posts for more tips for client work and speeding up your WordPress development workflow with BackupBuddy.

See the Attent Demo
Here’s an overview of Attent’s theme-specific features:

Circular Featured Images + Simple Post Meta Data

New to Builder child themes, Attent features circular featured images.

In addition to the circular featured images, Attent also simplifies the post meta data by only displaying the title, publishing date and “read more” link.

Built-in Mobile Navigation

Choose from two alternate module styles: Default and Mobile Navigation.

The Mobile Navigation module will activate (yep, you guessed it!) the built-in mobile nav that automatically expands to display menu items.

HTML Module

Attent features a background color style for Builder’s HTML Module. Use it to add color blocks of text to your layouts like the demo’s Full Width Layout, like here, below the navigation.

From within the layout editor, simply add your text to the HTML module.

Full Window Images

Last up, Attent features alternate Image module styles.

To see the difference, check out Attent’s Image Header page from the demo.

Theme Download & Purchase Info

Attent is available for purchase as part of the Builder Developer Pack, All Access Theme Pass and WordPress Web Designer’s Toolkit. It’s also available as a stand-alone Builder child theme as well.

Get Attent now

1. A good backup is complete.

Believe it or not, there are quite a few backup plugins for WordPress that only back up the WordPress database. That means, basically, they back up just the words of your web site and nothing else. That’s like homeowners insurance that covers what’s inside your house, but not the house itself. A good backup solution should save my database, files, uploads, settings, widgets, themes… everything. I want everything backed up.

2. A good backup is automatic.

A good backup needs to happen like clockwork. It needs to be like a heartbeat. It happens without me telling it to. If the backup is relying on me to log in and press a button, or if I have to stop my work to make it happen, that backup is never going to be made. After I’ve set it up, a good backup happens without me having to think about it again.

3. A good backup is reliable.

The backup I want is like that friendly old dog that most of us had around the neighborhood when we were growing up. It was always around and got along with everybody. Server compatibility is a real issue with most WordPress backup plugins. A good solution needs to be compatible with a wide variety of web hosts. It needs to be regularly updated so it stays compatible with the newest versions of WordPress and the newest trends in web hosting. And if you have a problem, there should be a responsive support mechanism that puts you in contact with the developers.

4. A good backup is portable.

Zipping up all your files and storing them on your web server is great… as long as the server is up (or, as long as you remember to FTP in and download the zips once and a while). I know myself well enough to know that a good backup, at least for me, needs to push those backups offsite as part of the backup process. A good backup solution will do this automatically and offer lots of options on where the backup archives can be stored.

5. A good backup is simple.

A backup is no good if it’s too complicated to set up, or so confusing that you’re not sure if you’ve set it up correctly. I don’t want to fiddle with setting up cron jobs on the server or FTPing something somewhere, or chmodding anything at all. And when the day finally comes when you have to restore a broken site, the restore process should be easy and wizard-driven. If the restore process involves phpMyAdmin, I’m not interested. Make it easy, please.

Why Choose BackupBuddy?

For all of these reasons, BackupBuddy is an excellent solution for freelance web developers. It offers a complete backup of your site: the database, files, uploads, settings, themes. Everthing.

BackupBuddy backups happen automatically. It’s easy to set up and schedule. Set it and forget it. BackupBuddy is reliable. It offers broad compatibility with most web hosts. And it’s supported by a stellar technical support team that stays on top of the trends in web hosting.

BackupBuddy also offers a wide variety of external storage solutions, ranging from S3 and Rackspace to Dropbox and iThemes’ own Stash storage system.

And, for all its power, BackupBuddy is one of the simplest to use backup solutions available in the WordPress world. Its backup, restore, and migration wizards make BackupBuddy very easy to use.

Stay tuned for more BackupBuddy for Freelancers posts this week, May 13–17. We’ll be sharing more tips for client work and speeding up your WordPress development workflow with BackupBuddy.

One of the most important lessons a freelance web developer can learn is the importance of Mailbox Money. Mailbox money is recurring revenue from clients that arrives in your mailbox whether you are doing any active work for them or not. Mailbox money is key to survival in the lean months that every freelancer will experience.

One of the simplest ways for a web developer to begin building mailbox money is by offering a security package for clients. This package can include things like web hosting, keeping WordPress and plugins up to date, and a regular web site backup.

BackupBuddy can play the starring role in this security package you offer to clients. Here are four steps to putting it into place.

Step 1: Educate Your Clients on the Importance of a Good Backup

The first and most important step is educating your client on the importance of a good backup plan. Explaining the why is critical. Backups can be a tough sell, even though they are important.

Backups are like homeowners insurance. They’re not flashy, but they’re important. And if you wait until you need them, it’s too late.

So explain to your client how occasionally, servers do corrupt files and databases, and although WordPress is very secure when it’s kept up to date, hackers are persistent and motivated. A good, regular backup takes care of all these issues and offers your client security and peace of mind.

Step 2: Set Up a Remote Destination

A good backup strategy involves moving your backup archives offsite to a remote storage location. This is an important step because, if your server crashes, the backups exist somewhere else.

Backup Buddy offers several remote storage locations including Amazon S3, the Rackspace Cloud, Dropbox, and iThemes’ own BackupBuddy Stash storage.

BackupBuddy Stash is by far the simplest option to configure for use. Simply enter your iThemes username and password into the remote storage settings, and your setup is complete. Plus, every BackupBuddy customer receives 1GB of BackupBuddy Stash storage free, with the option to purchase more space at any time. Watch the tutorial: How to Set Up and Use BackupBuddy Stash.

Step 3: Create a Backup Schedule

One of the greatest strengths of BackupBuddy is its ability to run on a set schedule. Once you set it up, it requires no further input from you.

iThemes offers this video tutorial that explains the process of creating a schedule. But here is an important tip: for many sites, choosing a daily database backup and a weekly full backup is sufficient.

Also consider the fact that running a full backup on a large site is a server-intensive task. So it’s good practice to schedule them for times when your traffic is at its lowest (typically in the early morning hours for many sites).

Step 4: Monitor Your Backups

Finally, it is helpful to receive a notice if a backup happens to fail. By entering your email address in the Error Notification Recipients area in the BackupBuddy Settings, you will receive an email with a few details if BackupBuddy ever has a problem.

Now that BackupBuddy is configured to run automatically, your client’s web site will be protected. And, with no further work required on your part, you can enjoy the mailbox money that will soon begin to arrive.

Watch the Video: Using BackupBuddy in Your Security Package

Stay tuned for more BackupBuddy for Freelancers posts this week, May 13–17. We’ll be sharing more tips for client work and speeding up your WordPress development workflow with BackupBuddy.

Select a Localhost Software

To begin, choose and install a software that will enable your computer to function as a web server, called a localhost. WAMP and XAMPP are good choices for the PC. And for the Mac, MAMP works very well.

The Benefits of Developing on a Localhost

Why go through the trouble of setting up a localhost? Consider this. Depending on the speed of your remote web server, you will typically wait 5-10 seconds every time you do anything. On a localhost, everything happens almost instantly.

How often do you wait for pages to refresh on a web server as you’re adding pages, plugins, or menu items? Those 5-10 second waits can add up to hours over the life of the average web project.

The Problem with Developing on a Localhost

Many WordPress developers understand the value of building their web sites on a localhost. But they are left with a troubling problem: once the site is built on my computer, how do I move it to the web?

One option is to manually move the files and database to the web server, and then update the Site URL in the WordPress settings area.

Unfortunately, even with the updated site URL, any pictures or links to other pages in the site will still be using the URL of your localhost and not the web server, which will result in broken links throughout your site. To fix this problem, you’d have to manually search and replace the old URL with the new one using a tool like phpMyAdmin.

This can be tedious and risky work and could likely consume any time you saved by developing locally to begin with.

BackupBuddy to the Rescue

Here is yet another reason why BackupBuddy is an indispensible tool for web developers. It allows us to develop a web site locally and then migrate it to a new location, updating the WordPress database with all of the correct URLs along the way.

Watch the Video: Using BackupBuddy to Develop a WordPress Site on Your Own Computer

Stay tuned for more BackupBuddy for Freelancers posts this week, May 13–17. We’ll be sharing more tips for client work and speeding up your WordPress development workflow with BackupBuddy.

BackupBuddy can do more than backup, restore and move your WordPress sites. It can also be used to speed your WordPress development process, too.

Most developers begin with a default WordPress site, then add and customize a theme, install and activate plugins, then set up pages and a menu system. This process is repeated again and again for every site that is developed.

With BackupBuddy, you can package your base WordPress development install with all of your usual customizations so you can easily deploy when you’re ready to begin work on a new site.

Here’s how to use BackupBuddy to jumpstart your WordPress development process:

Step 1:  Install and Customize WordPress Settings

First, install WordPress on your web server or a localhost. Once WordPress is installed, you should make the changes you would normally make for a new website, such as changing permalinks and time formats.

Step 2: Install and Customize Your Theme

Install your favorite theme and activate it. Many web developers have a theme they work with regularly. (If you don’t have one already, we recommend using iThemes Builder and the new Air child theme as a great starting point for development.) If you have several themes that you frequently use, you can either install and customize each of your themes in this base package or make a base package for each theme individually.

Next, make changes to the CSS and functions.php file of your active theme (or child theme). (If you do not normally make changes like this or do not know how, you can skip this step.) Start by modifying the CSS for your theme with any normal changes you usually make such as changing the default font or background color. Then, modify the functions.php file with any bits of code or shortcodes you regularly add.

Step 3: Install and Configure  Your Plugins

Most web developers have a handful of plugins that they use on almost every site. Install all of your frequently-used plugins and activate them. This is also a good time to add plugin registration codes, license keys or tweak any plugin settings.

Step 4:  Add Sample Pages

While this step is not critical, it’s helpful to have several commonly-used pages with sample text content as you begin work on a new site. Having standard pages such as “About,” “Services,” and “Contact” can save time later. You can fill these pages with ipsum text or even a sample picture to give your site some content when you begin editing the styling later.

Step 5: Create the Site Menu

Next, set up the default web site menu in the WordPress menu editor. Add your pages to the menu and set it as the menu that will display in your theme. If you’re using iThemes Builder, you should select the menu in the navigation module of the layouts you’ve preconfigured.

Step 6: Package your Base Site

Now, a good base site has been created and is ready to be packaged up. Using BackupBuddy, create a complete backup of the site and save the zip file in a safe location or send the file off-site to your BackupBuddy Stash account.

When You’re Ready to Build a New Site…

Later, when you’re ready to build a new site, simply restore the BackupBuddy file complete with your theme customizations, plugins, and sample pages. You’ve just saved LOTS of time and tedious work in the process.

A Final Tip – Keep Your Base Site Up-to-date!

When updates are made to a few of your plugins or to WordPress itself, it’s a good idea to create a new base site. Restore your existing base site package, update your plugins, themes and WordPress, then create a new zip file with BackupBuddy to store away for future use.

Watch the Video: Jumpstarting Your Development with BackupBuddy

Stay tuned for more BackupBuddy for Freelancers posts this week, May 13–17. We’ll be sharing more tips for client work and speeding up your WordPress development workflow with BackupBuddy.

The advantages of doing this over editing the styles inline in style.css or writing at the end of style.css is that all your CSS customizations will be in one file. This file can easily be backed up and used again as needed when updating the child theme (Note however that 99 times out of 100, one does not update child themes). Also it will help the support personnel help you better as the style changes will all be in one place and not inline.

If you would like to place all your custom CSS code in a separate file named, say, custom.css, do the following.

1. Create a file named custom.css and upload it to active theme directory.

2. Add the following at the end of active theme’s functions.php (before closing PHP tag, if any):

function my_custom_styles() {
wp_enqueue_style( 'custom-style', get_stylesheet_directory_uri() . '/custom.css', '1.0.0', 'all' );
}
add_action('wp_enqueue_scripts', 'my_custom_styles');

Ref.: http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/wp_enqueue_style

3. Place your custom CSS code in custom.css. This file will be available for editing at Appearance -> Editor.

Note: Make sure to take a back-up of your customized custom.css before updating your active child theme.

Source: Forum post

Why 32%? All of the major WordPress versions have been named “in honor of jazz musicians we personally admire.” And Matt, our COO and talented musician, informs me that jazz music commonly uses 4 beats per measure. So 32 beats is 8 bars of 4, which is the perfect amount for a sweet little solo.

If you haven’t purchased BackupBuddy, our Plugin Suite, our All Access Theme Pass (with over 150+ themes), now’s a great time to do so!