I realize this is a VERY specific topic but since it just happened to me, I thought I’d share.

The problem: You’re using WordPress as a CMS and while you’d love for your readers to see all of the great things on your site, there are just some things that don’t need to be pushed to their feed-readers. Like adding new sites to the Portfolio category or adding a second page for contact info or adding a new employee’s bio to the site. While these things are important and your readers may find them later, it’s certainly not news – unless you hired the Dalai Lama or something (great, here come the Chinese hackers).

This also has to do with the structure of your site. Granted, you’ll probably be using Pages for employee bios and contact info but if you’re reading this you’ve probably thought of a reason to filter a category from your feeds. We’re not alone. Smashing Magazine, via Jangro.com and WPRecipes.com have shared the solution and here it is:

“It’s quite simple to do so. Just add the following code to your template’s functions.php file:

function myFilter($query) {
	if ($query->is_feed) {
		$query->set('cat','-5');
	}

return $query;
}

add_filter('pre_get_posts','myFilter');

That will keep category with ID 5 out of the feed.”

You can get the Category ID by going to your Posts > Categories page in your WP admin and hovering over the title of the category you want to exclude. The “ID” number is what you’re looking for. Substitute that in for the number 5 in the above example and you’re all set. Visit Scott Jangro’s site for more about using it for multiple categories and possibly Tags.

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I know there are TONS of WordPress security-related plugins out there but these are the ones that work for me and have shown to be without conflicts and are easy to install and use. Most importantly, they also find, kill and (so far) prevent malware and hidden javascript links. I put this list together because I was constantly fighting a battle to keep spam links off my WordPress sites and couldn’t afford to keep spending the hours necessary to clean out the files that kept making their way back into my sites and directories.

Before you try any of the plug ins below to fix what might already be broken, update your WordPress install to the latest version. That may overwrite files that you don’t want in there. If that doesn’t cure you, you can back up your theme, uploads and plugin files and start with a clean WP install. That will for sure eliminate any files that don’t belong in the core WP install. That won’t fix those files that may be in your themes, plugins or uploads though. That’s where I went to the plugins to find some help.

1. Cloud Sites WP Scanner: This plugin – designed to work with Rackspace Cloud Sites – adjusts your file permissions so they’re more secure, and can be used to look for ALL “non-core files, modified core files, auto loading options with malicious code, and posts/pages injected with javascript.” Now this last bit may give you a small heart attack, especially if you use Zemanta on your blog. EVERY post on your site that contains javascript will be listed. This is where I found the malware on one site but you do have to sift through a lot and know what kind of code you’re loading into posts by default. This is worth the install for the file permission info alone. I’ve got a screenshot of the corrected permissions below and I hope that Jackson doesn’t sue me for it.
2. Bad Behavior: This plugin takes the preventative route and looks for the types of users and robots that attempt to leave comment spam on your site. This is used in conjunction with the default plugin Akismet to further limit those with nothing better to do than screw up your site. You can also implement a feature of Bad Behavior that ties to a spammer honey pot. This will prevent those with IP addresses already known for malicious activity from ever reaching your site in the first place.
3. Secure WordPress: This plugin also does a bunch of little things to tighten up the WordPress ship by removing small bits of information that a hacker can use to determine what version of WP you’re using and what files you might have hiding in different directories. Easy to install and easy to update.
4. TimesToCome WordPress Security Tool: This one is one of my favorites from the geeky ability to block any IP address that seems like it’s doing bad things. Bot hitting your site too often and not identified correctly? Just add the IP address and out they go. You can also block by terms in the request, how they are identified (as a bot) and Linda has done a great job of supplying a list of “bad bots” right in the package so you don’t have to look them up.
5. A good stats plug in. You’ll need this to identify the IP addresses of those users doing things you don’t like. I personally use StatPress but I’m sure there are many others that will give you these important bits of info: IP address, user agent, time stamp. You’ll need that info in order to block the users using TimesToCome (TTC).

Now I know this is by no means an exhaustive list. Please feel free to add your favorites in the comments below and I’ll include them once I’ve tried them. Remember one thing about this list: all of these plugins get along together and with Akismet without breaking the admin or the site’s theme. I’ve seen plenty that do a great job of keeping out bad users – and admins, good users and anyone else who wants to see your site. Also these plugins all work well within the latest (3.0.1) version of WP.

Good luck to you in keeping your site secure. It’s a battle.

Default directory permissions for a secure WordPress installation

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My site was giving me error messages until I enabled the XML-RPC feature under Settings > Writing > Remote Publishing but now all is well. Holy crap! It’s like the future!

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Let’s say you’re trying to upgrade all of your plug ins at once using Tools > Upgrade. Let’s also say that WordPress hangs mid upgrade with the site in maintenance mode. How do you fix it? Assuming you have FTP access, go to the top level directory for your WordPress install and delete the file named “.maintenance”. This file is created when you opt to do mass upgrades and generates the “Site in Maintenance mode, come back in a minute” message.

Related to this potential disaster is the “I can’t get my damn WordPress to auto update” issue. I happen to have been suffering from this one on a few blogs and guess what? It’s one of the plug ins I have installed on the site(s). Solution? Go to your Plug ins page, deactivate all of your plug ins, do your WP core upgrade, then re-activate all of your plug ins. It worked for me but your results may vary :) I found this solution here.

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visit the live project

Using WordPress as the foundation, we incorporated Twitter, a blog and an easy-to-update CMS into Jeff’s new campaign website. WordPress is ideal for this sort of project due to its simplicity and the wide variety of customizable plugins available to add additional functionality quickly and inexpensively.

Click here to visit the site
Andy Berke asked us to create a site that would help him get the message out about his upcoming run for Tennessee State Senator. We built his site using CSS, XHTML and a deathly fear of tables. Translation: It looks pretty good, it loads pretty fast and if Mr. Berke ever wants to change things in the future, it’s easily edited.

We also designed the logo for Andy Berke and his office collateral, including letterhead, business cards, and envelopes – all on Union printed stock.