plugins

Are You Having Problems Posting The Right Thumbnail to Facebook?

March 16, 2011 by Peter Fletcher

I manage two almost identical WordPress blogs. Both use a StudioPress (affiliate link) theme, both almost identical plugins, and both are hosted at Page.ly.

One posts to Facebook perfectly delivering a choice of thumbnails, and the correct Title and Description meta tag information. The other posts a plain URL (not using information in the Title tag), no description and no thumbnails.

I posted much of this post on the StudioPress support forum. A senior tech support manager suggested I add the Add Facebook Share Thumbnail + Meta but that skirts solves nothing in the long run. Introducing another plugin adds to the complexity of a WordPress installation and increases the chances of conflicts between plugins.

Then there’s what to do if the plugin creator stops developing the plugin. It’s a shortcut I’m not willing to take. I’d rather get to the bottom of the problem.

To troubleshoot the problem I started with deactivating the W3 Total Cache plugin then sharing on Facebook using the copy and paste method. The problem persisted. I then reactivated W3 Total Cache and deactivated the AddToAny plugin. Same thing. I then added the SocioFluid plugin. Still no luck.

I then shared the post using the SocioFluid Facebook button. Success. A choice of thumbnails was provided and the correct Title and Description came across.

As the Facebook sharing worked using SocioFluid the problem appears not to be with Facebook. That only leaves the theme and plugins as the cause.

I suspect the problem is with w3 Total Cache. Here’s what the senior tech support observed.

One thing I notice as a difference between the two sites is that one is minifying the HTML output with the w3 total cache plugin.

As both sites use W3 Total Cache (that’s the plugin responsible for minification) with exactly the same settings – and I’ve double and triple checked – I don’t understand why one site is minifying output and the other isn’t.

To narrow that down a little more I went back to w3 Total Cache, emptied all caches then went to plugins and deactivated the plugin. That ‘broke’ the site! The latest post no longer featured on the home page and the links to the Categories from the Featured Tabs widget were empty.

One problem had now become two.

I then closed my browser. When I attempted to login again I was met with an error message to say I didn’t have permission to visit that page. This was the URL.

http://[sitename].com.au/wp-admin/admin.php?page=w3tc_pgcache&w3tc_note=flush_pgcache

I tried again and was able to login. Happy thoughts returned, but the home page was still not ‘right’.

So I went back to sharing on Facebook. This time I picked another post and that shared perfectly. Thinking that the problem might be solved I tried sharing the original post again. No luck. I then tried it in a different browser. Still no luck.

I then re-tried the SocioFlow share button and it worked again (I want to share the post on a Page and in a group) which is why I’m being so dogged.

Since posting this on the forum I’ve also sent a support ticket to w3 Total Cache and reached out to Chad Johnson from AgentEvolution. Chad and his team specialise in StudioPress sites. They may yet become my white knights.

Have you had a similar problem? If so did you solve it? What was the solution?

Edit: When I posted this article to Facebook it failed to bring across a thumbnail. There’s a picture on the post. I’m not sure what’s going on.

Edit: I then added the AddToAny social sharing plugin. That’s the one I used to share this post on Facebook. The Title and Description tags worked fine. Disappointingly, no thumbnail. Why?

My Experiment With The Facebook Comments Plugin

March 13, 2011 by Peter Fletcher

Edit: Facebook Comments for WordPress plugin has released an upgrade (now version 3.1). As can be seen in the comments many of the problems I encountered persist. The upgrade accommodates many changes to the Facebook Comment plugin, which is now at a buggy version 2. The changes made to the Facebook plugin are summarised here. I’m still firmly of the opinion this plugin has lots of potential but I’d wait until some of the many bugs have been ironed out.

I tested the new Facebook Comments for WordPress plugin over the course of a few hours yesterday. My interest was to see if it could replace Disqus, the commenting plugin I’m currently using on this blog. Sad to say, it wasn’t up to the task.

The WordPress plugin, which shows a lot of promise, relies on the functionality of Facebook’s Comments social plugin.

I first saw the Facebook plugin in action on Techcrunch. It looked pretty cool. Then again I’m a sucker for all things shiny and new.

In theory the plugin improves the experience of blog commenting. It allows users to comment on a post using their Facebook credentials. This is not new. Disqus and other commenting systems have been providing multiple login options for some time now.

Comments made on a blog using the Facebook comments plugin are pushed through to the commenters Facebook profile. The user can opt out of this by unchecking a check box.

Providing an opt-out option is fairly typical for Facebook. That it could see inappropriate comments posted to a Facebook page as a result of an oversight appears to be of little concern to Facebook. There are plenty of marketers who love this type of web marketing, but there are plenty of web users who find it invasive and annoying that Facebook know so much about their every move. By contrast Disqus requires an opt-in for people to post their blog comments to Facebook, Twitter or other connected social profile.

The plugin allows people to switch between posting with their personal profile and their business Page. That’s a cool way to help brands get the most out of the new look Facebook Pages.

When posting with their personal profile the comment includes links to their profile, job title and employer (see screenshot from a comment I made on Techcrunch). The employer link takes the visitor through to either a Facebook business Page or an Interest Page. ~~In my case it’s called Self (I’ve listed myself as self-employed)~~. (Edit: I’ve since changed my employer to show as my Facebook Page. The link now takes the visitor through to this page, a much better alternative.) Just what Facebook think they’re achieving sending people to an interest page is beyond me.

The promise of the Facebook Comment box plugin is that comments are synchronised no matter where they’re entered. At least that’s how I understand it.

Here’s what Facebook Developers have to say:

Comments Box is a social plugin that enables user commenting on your site. Features include moderation tools and distribution.

Social Relevance: Comments Box uses social signals to surface the highest quality comments for each user. Comments are ordered to show users the most relevant comments from friends, friends of friends, and the most liked or active discussion threads, while comments marked as spam are hidden from view.

Distribution: Comments are easily shared with friends or with people who like your Page on Facebook. If a user leaves the “Post to Facebook” box checked when she posts a comment, a story appears on her friends’ News Feed indicating that she’s made a comment on your website, which will also link back to your site.

Friends and people who like the Page can then respond to the discussion by liking or replying to the comment directly in the News Feed on Facebook or in the Comments Box on your site. Threads stay synced across Facebook and on the Comments Box on your site regardless of where the comment was made.

The idea of a conversation synchronising across multiple platforms and places is appealing to say the least. Let’s say I share a post on Facebook and one of my friends clicks through and posts a comment. In theory that comment would display on the blog, it would show up on my profile (or Facebook Page) where the article was originally shared, and it would show up on my friend’s profile. No matter where the link appeared on Facebook any comments would follow. And no matter where the comments were posted on Facebook they would show on the article.

That’s the promise. Unfortunately it didn’t work for me.

I installed the WordPress plugin on this blog and ran it in conjunction with Disqus. I then posted a number of comments both on one of my blog posts and where I shared it on Facebook.

What I found is that some comments disappeared completely only to show later. Some failed to show up on Facebook (see screenshot below). The synchronisation thing just didn’t work for me.

I then deactivated Disqus thinking there may be a conflict. The same problems persisted.

Next, I posted the Techcrunch article on my Facebook Page (not my profile) and left two comments on the link. Neither showed up on Techcrunch. This *may* have been the result of Facebook burying my comment at the bottom of the comments. Their love affair with “social relevance” means that comments they believe are the most relevant to a user – comments from friends, comments from friends of friends, and comments that have received lots of Likes and comments – are surfaced to the top of the comments pile. Comments that are spam or low value – and that’s how they might have classified the post from my Page – are pushed to the bottom. And that’s a problem because the View 277 More link at the bottom of the comments pile just wasn’t working. It’s hardly ideal.

It appears these problems are Facebook specific. I added a comment on the same post using Disqus and selected the Post to Facebook toggle button. That comment is yet to arrive on my profile. The Post to Twitter option worked fine, although I’m not sure why Disqus prepend tweets with “RE:” then the user’s Twitter handle. My closest guess is that it’s the best way to add some context to the tweet.

At times the Facebook comments were slow to load. Very slow. These slow load times weren’t perculiar to my site. The Techcrunch article experienced similar problems as the following screenshot shows.

For some reason there are three versions of the Facebook plugin that can be activated within the WordPress plugin. Only one of them allows the user to Like the post. The others provide different functionality but there wasn’t one option that delivered the goods as a package.

The other problem with this plugin is that it sends all the traffic from a link on a comment through to Facebook. Most commenting systems allow the commenter to add a link to a website but that’s not an option on the Facebook Comments plugin. For anyone using commenting as a way to build web traffic it’s an out-and-out fail.

Others argue that not providing a link to another website is a benefit. But with Google giving links in comments very low weight it leaves me to wonder how this argument could be sustained. I’m all for providing people with options and the Facebook Comments Plugin doesn’t do that.

At this stage it’s the better commenting platform by a long shot. But the Facebook Comments plugin provides some significant improvements not the least of which are comment synchronisation and posting as a Page. I’m now keen to see how Disqus responds.

BackupBuddy – the ultimate backup solution for self-hosted WordPress sites

March 4, 2011 by Peter Fletcher

I just installed the BackupBuddy WordPress plugin that’s set to give me some extra peace of mind. The plugin allows me to schedule regular backups (I was doing this already through another plugin) but it also allows me to send the backup file to an FTP location or to a secure storage facility. And that’s the bit that caught my eye.

BackupBuddy integrates nicely with Amazon’s Web Services. Part of that is Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), a secure place to store large amounts of data. From now, all my clients have their sites backed up in five ways.

Daily emailed backup of their complete database.
The last 14 daily backups are stored on a folder of their hosting account.
A complete backup of their site is stored on S3. I’m hoping to have this done on a monthly basis but I’m having some issues with file sizes. Stay tuned on this one. For the moment I’ll perform a complete backup once the site is operational.
A daily backup stored on S3.
The hosting company (Page.ly) also do a backup and they retain the last 14 days of backups.

If a site goes down it can be back up and operational within a very short space of time.

The 5000/365 Report

January 24, 2011 by Peter Fletcher

A lot of my friends tell me I’m crazy to climb Jacob’s Ladder 5000 times in a year. They may be right but let me tell you, writing a blog post every day is way harder. I’m not sure why but it is.

365 Blog posts

I wrote 6 posts last week and that puts me down on my target of one per day for the year.

This site is built using WordPress. To create advanced functionality I’ve installed a number of plugins and one of those gave me a headache last week. It’s all sorted now. But my headaches pale in comparison to the challenges some agents now face as new laws about pricing come into effect. Fun days ahead for many.

And speaking of fun, two of this weeks posts were created using the PressThis Chrome extension (available from the WordPress admin panel). When I came across The Anatomy of a WordPress Theme I clicked the PressThis tool in my browser, selected the image and away and then hit publish. It was a 5-minute operation start to finish.

I’m on a mission to generate more sales from this web site and I’m tackling a high bounce rate head on. Expect some big changes to the home page very soon.

Then yesterday I got into an interesting discussion on Facebook about advertising property prices on for sale signs. It’s my belief that holding information back from buyers comes at a cost to sellers and agents.

Total blog posts so far this year: 20.

5000 Laps of Jacob’s Ladder

I’m ahead of target. Getting fitter, feeling stronger. Twenty laps are no longer a concern.

Photo credit: qisur on Flickr.

Date	Laps	Running total	Time	Ave	Best	Weather	Comments
Sat, 01/01		0
Sun, 02/01	10	10					Day I decided on 5000/365 challenge
Mon, 03/01	20	30
Tues, 04/01	17	47				Red hot, nearly died.
Wed, 05/01	20	67
Thu, 06/01	20	87
Fri, 07/01	20	107
Sat, 08/01	15	122	51:58:57	3:27:90	3:10:54 (20)
Sun, 09/01	10	132	31:12:67	3:07:26	2:51:79 (3)
Mon, 10/01	20	152	1:06:58	3:20:93	3:07:80 (20)
Tue, 11/01	20	172	1:06:30	3:19:50	2:51:11 (20)	Nice breeze near the top.	Fastest descent at 58 secs. Drank every 5 laps.
Wed, 12/01	20	192	1:08:48	3:26:41	3:01:13 (13)	Hot with a cooling breeze.	Heavy traffic from lap 15.
Thu, 13/01	20	212	1:06:16	3:18:83	3:08:29 (20)	One word. Hot!
Fri, 14/01	20	232	1:15:52	3:59:60	3:44:24 (5)		Took it easy.
Sat, 15/01	11	243	25:46 (9)	n/a	2:40:09 (7)		Hit lap button twice. Time shown is 9 laps.
Mon, 17/01	20	263	1:14:54	3:44:71	2:42:19 (20)	Hot.	Easy until lap 18.
Tue, 18/01	20	283	1:02:45	3:08:25	2:56:24 (11)		Best time to date.
Wed, 19/01	20	303	1:18:08	4:20:48	3:48:48 (7)		Felt drained from yesterday.
Thu, 20/01	20	323	1:07:39	3:22:99	2:42:54 (20)		Hot last lap.
Fri, 21/01	20	343	1:13:38	3:40:91	2:44:51 (19)		Plenty in the tank at the end.
Sat, 22/01	10	353	31:54:61 (9)	3:32:73	3:19:96 (8)		Easy. Time was for 9 laps.
Sun, 23/01	0						Sleep in bliss
Mon, 24/01	25	378	1:21:59	3:16:76	2:57:44 (25)	Cool arvo.	Heavy traffic from lap 18.
Tue, 25/01 AM	15	393	49:00:21	3:16:01	2:52:19 (7)	Cool.
Tue, 25/01 PM	15	408	49:52:70	3:19:51	2:55:47 (6)		Very busy.
Wed, 26/01	20	428	1:13:28	3:40:43	3:12:94 (4)	Bloody hot. Nearly killed me.	Started late and regretted it thanks to the heat.
Thu, 27/01 AM	15	442	1:06:53	4:27:58	3:57:33 (6)	Hot	Felt the effects of yesterday.
Thu, 27/01 PM	5	447	20:28:00	4:05:60	3:47:72 (4)	Hot	After rock climbing
Fri, 28/01	20	467	1:15:55 (19)	3:59:76	3:21:93 (3)	Hot. Really hot!	Time was for 19 laps.
Sat, 29/01	15	482	30:51:49 (10)	3:05:14	2:44:01 (5)		Slow first lap over 4:30 then got stuck into it with Mark.
Sun, 30/01	15	497	54:23:13	3:37:54	2:52:20 (13)	Hot, humid. Cyclone on its way.	Walked down first 10, long break at 10, then hard last 5.
Mon, 31/01 AM	15	512	1:00:08	4:00:55	3:31:01 (13)	Very humid.	Went easy, walled down.
Mon, 31/01 PM	13	525	44:20:04	3:24:61	3:02:11 (6)	Warm, cool breeze.	Felt good.
Tue, 01/02 AM	15	540	48:04:44	3:12:29	2:49:30 (6)
Tue, 01/02 PM	10	550	34:09.76	3:24.97	2:51.36 (10)
Wed, 02/02	20	570	1:29:52	4:16.80
Thu, 03/02	20	590	1:11:55	3:47.13	3:18.75 (6)
Fri, 04/02 AM	15	605	45:33.18	3:15.22	2:56.57 (13)
Fri, 04/02 PM	10	615	39:03.59	3:54.35	3:25.92 (9)
Sat, 05/02	25	640	1:21:26	3:15.45	2:56.88 (23)
Sun, 06/02	0	640	0	0	0		Grumpy I had the day off.
Mon, 07/02 PM	15	655	47:04.01	3:21.77	2:57.74 (15)		Did 15, timed 14.
Mon, 07/02 PM	5	660	14:55.55	2:59.31	2:46.99 (5)		Chat and then a second lash.
Tue, 08/02	20	680	1:10.45	3:22.06	2:51.53 (17)		Felt crook from lap 18.
Tue, 08/02	5	685	17:25.02	3:29.00	2:57.55 (5)
Wed, 09/02 AM	10	695	4:18.40	2:47.40	2:47.81		Ave was for 9 laps
Wed, 09/02 PM	10	705	35:32.41	3:33.24	2:48.43
Thu, 10/02 AM	15	720	47:41.50	3:10.76	2:51.09		Last 10 in under 30 mins.
Thu, 10/02 PM	10	730	33:46.07	3:22.60	3:03.98 (7)
Fri, 11/02	20	750	1:12:27	3:37.36	3:02.63 (20)
Sat, 12/02	20	770	1:08:43	3:26.18	3:02.17
Sun, 13/02	10	780					Quick but not timed.
Mon, 14/02	20	800	1:08:41	3:26.05	2:50.19		6:27 for first lap.
Tue, 15/02	25	825	1:25:06	3:24.26	2:58.88 (25)	Hot and humid.
Wed, 16/02	20	845	1:02.52	3:08.63	2:50.15 (6)	Hot.	That's a PB
Thu, 17/02	15	860	49:57.77	3:18.85	2:54.31 (9)		Feeling effects of yesterday's effort
Fri, 18/02	20	880	1:12.23	3:37.19	3:05.84 (17)		Tired from boxing last night?
Sat, 19/02	20	900	1:06.57	3:20.88	2:53.31 (14)	Very hot.	Started late.
Sun, 20/02	20	920					Not timed.
Mon, 21/02	20	940	1:12:02	3:47.48	2:48.69 (14)	Time was for 19 laps. Very crusiy first 10.	Too hot!
Tue, 22/02	20	960	1:03:12	3:09.63	2:27.24		20 lap PB
Wed, 23/02	20	980	1:03:17	3:19.85	2:33.72		Time was for 19 laps.
Thu, 24/02	10	990	48:15.61	2:52.84	2:29.37
Thu, 24/02	10	1000	28:48.48	2:52.84	2:29.37		PB for 10 laps
Fri, 25/02	20	1020	1:14:37	3:43.88	3:29.32	Hot as bro!
Sat, 26/02	15	1035	1:03.78	4:12.78	3:39.23	Very hot and very humid.
Sat, 26/02	5	1040	-	-	-	Ran out of memory on my watch	Like I said hot!
Sun, 27/02	20	1060	1:08:03	3:24.18	3:01.99 (18)
Mon, 28/02	25	1085	1:33.49	3:45.17	3:24.44 (21)		Hot!
Tue, 01/03	20	1105	1:12:04	3:36.20	3:13.77 (7)
Wed, 02/03	25	1130	1:23:32	3:20.48	2:37.99 (23)		Jeff Jamieson turned up on lap 16. The heat was on.
Thu, 03/03	20	1150	1:07:28	3:22.40	2:49.41 (20)
Fri, 04/03	20	1170	1:04:30	3:13.53	2:46.57 (17)		PB for 15 - 43:11
Sat, 05/03	20	1190	1:14:59	3:44.96	2:27.24
Sun, 06/03	20	1210	1:17:44	3:53.21	2:38.36 (20)	Took photos for my blog.	Cool change. Nice!
Mon, 07/03	20	1230	1:05:22	3:16.14	2:34.96 (20)	Coolish.
Mon, 07/03 (b)	5	1235	17:27.13	3:29.42	2:53.48 (5)		A few extras after coffee.
Tue, 08/03	0						Got to the ladder but had to turn go home for a...
Wed, 09/03	25	1260	1:26:55	3:28.63	2:46.06 (25)
Thu, 10/03	25	1285	1:27:31	3:30.06	2:50.00 (25)	Still plenty left in the tank at the end	Hot.
Fri, 11/03	0						Woke up with a sore right shin. Attended a REIWA breakfast.
Sat, 12/03	15	1300	47:42.94	?	?		Pressed watch twice by mistake. You do the maths!
Sun, 13/03	15	1315	52:33.88	3:30.25	2:46.69 (10)
Mon, 14/03	25	1340	1:40:14	4:00.56	3:29.41	Shin sore. Went easy.
Tue, 15/03	20	1360	1:27:27	4:22.39	Didn't feel great. Shin hurting. Had an Ibuprofen before.
Wed, 16/03	20	1380	1:11:21	3:34.09	2:58.24 (10)	Afternoon, ladder busy. Went easy.
Thu, 17/03	20	1400	1:08:10	3:24.53	3:02.88 (9)
Fri, 18/03	20	1420	1:04.43	3:14.16	2:43.38
Sat, 19/03	20	1440	1:05.25	3:16.26	2:51.04 (20)
Sun, 20/03	20	1460	1:03.43	3:11.17	2:38.98 (14)	PB of 42:03 for last 15.
Mon, 21/03	25	1485	1:48:10	4:19.61	3:35.24 (22)
Tue, 22/03	25	1510	1:33:05	3:52.72	3:24.50	PM workout
Wed, 23/03	25	1535	1:23:09	3:19.59	2:56.25 (6)	PM workout
Thu, 24/03	25	1560	1:32:09	3:58.14	2:47.03 (20)	AM workout
Fri, 25/03	25	1585	1:39:36	3:59.04	3:48.22 (17)
Sat, 26/03	10	1595	37:46.30	3:46.63	2:51.58 (6)	After boxing.
Sat, 26/03	15	1610	48:56.90	3:15.79	2:51.85 (11)	Before boxing.
Sun, 27/03	25	1635	1:22:53	3:18.95	2:48.20 (25)
Mon, 28/03	0	1635				Day off. Felt soooo good!
Tue, 29/03	20	1655	1:04:23	3:13.16	2:50.02 (20)	PM. Lots of traffic.
Wed, 30/03	20	1675	1:03:30	3:10.52	2:30.93 (20)
Thu, 31/03	20	1695	1:19:06	3:57.30	3:05.66 (19)
Fri, 01/04	20	1715	1:04:04	3:12.20	2:38.16 (11)
Sat, 02/04	20	1735	1:05:39	3:16.36	2:34.92 (19)
Sun, 03/04	10	1745	38:01.24	3:48.12	2:55.88 (10)
Mon, 04/04	30	1775	1:38:56	3:17.89	3:00.53
Tue, 05/04	30	1805	1:40:40	3:21.35	2:53.55 (8)
Wed, 06/04	30	1835	1:51:15	3:42.52	2:58.22 (30)
Thu, 07/04	30	1865	1:49.32	3:39.09	2:55.45 (29)
Fri, 08/04	20	1885	1:11.04	3:33.24	2:51.43 (19)
Fri, 08/04	20	1905	1:12.28	3:37.44	2:58.05 (6)
Sat, 09/04	30	1935	1:48:42	3:37.40	3:10.65 (27)
Sun, 10/04	20	1955	1:14:50	3:44:54	2:57.44 (20)
Mon, 11/04	0	1955
Tue, 12/04	20	1975	1:09:04	3:27.23	2:40.04 (20)
Wed, 13/04	20	1995	1:04:20	3:13.01	2:36.94 (20)		Lap 5 22:06, 10 36:06 Last 15 in 42:14, last 10 in 28:14
Thu, 14/04	3	1998	14:29.59	4:49.86	4:11.24 (3)		Wardrobe malfunction
Thu, 14/04	17	2015	51:08.32	3:00.48	2:32.85 (17)		End lap 2 8:24.78, last 15 in 42:44.
Fri, 15/04	0						Pulled my right calf muscle at boxing last night.
Sat, 16/04	30	2045	2:40:10	5:20.34	4:18.01 (28)		Calf tender, walked up and down 1 step at a time.
Sun, 17/04	20	2065	1:38.39	4:55.99	4:12.91 (20)		Calf still tender but a little better.
Mon, 18/04	20	2085	1:49:45	5:29.28	4:17.20 (20)
Mon, 18/04	15	2100	1:19:28	5:17.93	4:06.65 (5)
Tue, 19/04	20	2120	1:49:05	5:27.28	4:24.10 (12)
Tue, 19/04	15	2135	1:14:00	4:56.00	3:34.06 (7)
Wed, 20/04	20	2155	1:41:10	5:03.53	3:32.95 (11)
Thu, 21/04	20	2175	1:27:15	4:21.75	3:03.40 (12)
Fri, 22/04	20	2195	1:31:50	4:35.51	2:25.02 (14)		Had a dip with Mark.
Sat, 23/04	20	2215	1:26:47	4:20.38	3:02.48 (14)
Sat, 23/04	10	2225	28:49:65	2:52.96	2:36.48 (10)	Hot and humid
Sun, 24/04	20	2245	1:23:31	4:10.55	2:52.74 (15)	Hot and humid	Exercises from 16 on.
Mon, 25/04	20	2265	1:04:27	3:13.39	2:58.31 (18
Tue, 26/04	50	2315	2:54:18	3:29.17	2:53.05 (50)		First 50 lap effort.
Wed, 27/04	10	2325	33:51.75	3:23.17	2:40.50 (10)
Wed, 27/04	10	2335	45:31.78	4:33.17	4:08.10 (10)
Thu, 28/04	20	2355	55:31.41	2:46.57	2:28.80 (20)
Fri, 29/04	20	2375	1:21.44	4:32.48	3:41.51 (20)
Sat, 30/04	30	2405	1:47:27	3:34.90	2:59.85 (12)
Sun, 01/05	20	2425	1:20.40	4:02.02	3:04.36 (6)
Mon, 02/05	10	2445	1:16.24	3:49.20	3:01.37 (5)
Tue, 03/05	20	2465	1:30:56		2:47.74 (20)
Wed, 04/05	20	2485	1:18.28
Thu, 05/05	0	2485
Fri, 06/05	20	2505	1:24:25		2:31.47 (12)
Sat, 07/05	20	2525	1:02:24		2:34.12 (20)
Sun, 08/05	20	2545	1:23:23		2:37.47 (20)
Mon, 09/05	5	2550					Trained soccer ladies
Tue, 10/05	35	2585	1:50:38
Wed, 11/05	20	2605	1:31.24
Wed, 11/05	10	2615	36:21.71		2:33.65 (10)
Fri, 13/05	25	2640	1:25:24
Sat, 14/05	25	2665	1:40:25
Sun, 15/05	25	2690	1:28:59
Mon, 16/05	26	2716
Tue, 17/05	0					Rain and traffic stopped me.
Wed, 18/05	34	2750	1:54:02
Thu, 19/05	25	2775	1:25:05
Fri, 20/05	10	2785	46:18.51
Fri, 20/05	20	2805	57:19.06				Another sub-hour 20.
Sat, 21/05	20	2825	1:12:35
Sun, 22/05	AREC
Mon, 23/05	AREC
Tue, 24/05	REBC
Wed, 25/05	Day off
Thu, 26/05	15	2840	47:11.96		2:39.24 (15)
Fri, 27/05	20	2860	59:17.25		2:23.16		Another sub-hour 20.
Sat, 28/05	20	2880	1:32:52
Sun, 29/05	6						Warm up for Central Park
Sun, 29/05	14	2900	41:59:12				After Central Park
Mon, 30/05	20	2920	1:07:50
Tue, 31/05	20	2940	1:10:15	3:30.79	2:37.95 (9)
Wed, 01/06	20	2960	1:07:03	3:21.17	2:42.95
Thu, 02/06	Man flu
Fri, 03/06	Man flu
Sat, 04/06	30	2990	1:54:11	3:48.38	3:18.60
Sun, 05/06	25	3015	1:12:49	3:16.38	2:34.32
Mon, 06/06	20	3035					Un-timed. Left watch at home.
Tue, 07/06	Day off
Wed, 08/06	25	3060	1:12:26	2:53.86	2:28.35		Bloody fair effort.
Thu, 09/06	Day off
Fri, 10/06	2	3062					Un-timed warmup.
Fri, 10/06	35	3097	1:36:10	2:44.88	2:38.50		10 - 27.44 15 - 41:36 20 - 55:12 25 - 1:08:49 30 - 1:22:22
Sat, 11/06	23	3120	1:36:04	4:10.61	3:38.45 (15)
Sun, 12/06	20	3140	1:16:15	3:48.75	2:36.73 (17)
Mon, 13/06	20	3160	1:02:58	3:08.93	2:26.73 (11)
Tue, 14/06	20	3180	1:03:50	3:11.53	2:32.58 (8)
Wed, 15/06	0
Thu, 16/06	20	3200	1:19:30	3:58.51	3:34.70 (14)
Fri, 17/06	0
Sat, 18/06	20	3220	1:07:12	3:21.61	2:45.42 (19)
Sat, 18/06	5	3225	13:30.48	2:42.09	2:24.90 (5)
Sun, 19/06	20	3245	1:19:52	3:59.64	3:50.83 (6)
Mon, 20/06	20	3265	59:34.84	2:58.74	2:32.98 (18)
Tue, 21/06	20	3285	1:05:11	3:15.58	2:37.06 (11)
Wed, 22/06	0
Thu, 23/06	20	3305	1:07:11	3:11.98	2:40.08 (18)
Fri, 24/06	16	3321	48:12.15	3:00.75	2:35.28 (10)	Lightning started, so I left.
Sat, 25/06	15	3336	54:41:13	3:25.07	2:36.15 (15)
Sat, 25/06	9	3345	Untimed
Sun, 26/06	20	3365	1:00:13	3:00.69
Mon, 27/06	20	3385	1:03:26
Mon, 27/06	3	3388	Untimed
Tue, 28/06	17	3405	54:33.23	3:12.54	2:28.75 (17)
Wed, 29/06	20	3425	1:14:25	3:43.29	3:18.79 (20)
Thu, 30/06	20	3445	1:26:12	4:18.61	3:10.29 (3)
Fri, 01/07	10	3455	34:45.94	3:28.59	2:27.66 (8)
Sat, 02/07	13		49:23.61	3:47.97	2:47.63 (13)
Sat, 02/07	12	3480	36:23.23	3:01.93	2:30.63 (12)
Sun, 03/07	20	3500	1:16:09	3:48.49
Mon, 04/07	20	3520	1:08:59	3:26.98	2:57.45
Tue, 05/07	0						Busselton
Wed, 06/07	0						Busselton
Thu, 07/07	20	3540	1:06:55	3:20:77	2:48:29
Fri, 08/07	20	3560	1:13:25	3:40.29	2:34:34
Sat, 09/07	20	3580	1:08.56	3:26.83	2:32.95
Sun, 10/07	20	3600	1:05:36	3:16.84	2:45.53
Mon, 11/07	20	3620	58:23:31				Walked down 1 step at a time. First time under 1hr doing it this way.
Mon, 11/07	8	3628					Untimed. Training with the Carlisle soccer girls.
Tue, 12/07	17	3645	54:14:05	3:11.41	2:39.57
Wed, 13/07	20	3665	1:24:38	4:13.94	3:45.05
Thu, 14/07	10	3675	35:47.47	3:34.74	2:35.79 (10)
Fri, 15/07	0
Sat, 16/07	22	3697	1:14:10	3:22.29	3:05.74
Sat, 16/07	8	3705	Untimed
Sun, 17/07	25	3730	1:29:26	3:34.67	3:01.98
Mon, 18/07	20	3750	1:29:17	4:27.89
Tue, 19/07	20	3770	1:09:27
Wed, 20/07	0
Thu, 21/07	20	3790	1:03.09	3:09.45	2:39.46 (19)
Fri, 22/07	20	3810	1:26:05	4:18.28	3:22.24
Fri, 22/07	10	3820	28:25.90	2:50.59	2:30.66 (10)
Sat, 23/07	25	3845
Sat, 23/07	40	3885	2:34:14	3:51.37	3:29.20 (28)
Sun, 24/07	San Francisco
Mon, 25/07	San Francisco
Tue, 26/07	San Francisco
Wed, 27/07	San Francisco
Thu, 28/07	San Francisco
Fri, 29/07	San Francisco
Sat, 30/07	San Francisco
Sun, 31/07	10	3895	30:13.77	3:01.37	2:30.13 (10)
Mon, 01/08	20	3915	Untimed
Tue, 02/08	Bali
Wed, 03/08	Bali
Thu, 04/08	Bali
Fri, 05/08	Bali
Sat, 06/08	Bali
Sun, 07/08	Bali
Mon, 08/08	Bali
Tue, 09/08	20	3935	1:21:50	4:05.53	3:44.46 (6)
Wed, 10/08	20		1:15:32	3:46.61	3:20.33 (20)
Thu, 11/08	20		56:57.90	2:50.89	2:21.51 (4)
Fri, 12/08	Busselton
Sat, 13/08	20	3955	1:08:14
Sun, 14/08	25	3980	1:25:22
Mon, 15/08	20	4000	1:05:28
Tue, 16/08	20	4020	1:05:18
Wed, 17/08	20	4040	57:31:35
Thu, 18/08	20	4060	1:20:29
Fri, 19/08	20	4080	1:05:57
Sat, 20/08	20	4100	1:17:03
Sun, 21/08	25	4125	1:24:30
Mon, 22/08	0
Tue, 23/08	0
Wed, 24/08	0
Thu, 25/08	35	4160	1:52:48
Fri, 26/08	25	4185	1:26:10
Sat, 27/08	25	4210	1:24:51
Sun, 28/08
Mon, 29/08	30	4240	1:35:27	3:10.91	2:47.11 (28)
Tue, 30/08	25	4265	1:30:55	3:38.21	3:02.12 (9)
Wed, 31/08	25	4290	1:20:55	3:14.23	2:38.79 (8)
Thu, 01/09	Rained out.
Fri, 02/09	25	4315	Untimed
Sat, 03/09	20	4335	1:01:38	3:04.90	2:42.08 (11)
Sun, 04/09	15	4350	51:14.19	3:24.94	2:21.32 (15)
Mon, 05/09	20	4370	1:00:33	3:01.68	2:31.62 (11)
Tue, 06/09	20	4390	59:38.63	2:58.93	2:28.70 (19)
Wed, 07/09	0	4390
Thu, 08/09	20	4410	1:10:08	3:30.42	2:29.29 (20)
Fri, 09/09	20	4430	55:36.53	2:46.82	2:31.19 (20)		1st 2 in 7:44.57, 1st 10 in 29:09.00
Sat, 10/09	20	4450	1:24:28
Sun, 11/09	10	4460	37:08.73
Mon, 12/09	20	4480	1:12:59
Tue, 13/09	20	4500	1:11:40
Wed, 14/09	Busselton
Thu, 15/09	10	4510	29:55.70
Fri, 16/09	20	4530	1:12:42
Sat, 17/09	20	4550	1:08:04
Sun, 18/09	0	4550
Mon, 19/09	20	4570	1:00:11
Tue, 20/09	20	4590	1:09:29
Wed, 21/09	Brisbane
Thu, 22/09	Brisbane
Fri, 23/09	Brisbane
Sat, 24/09	Slack
Sun, 25/09	20	4610	59:28:69
Mon, 26/09	20	4630	1:19:32
Tue, 27/09	19+1	4650	57:22.56
Wed, 28/09	Kalgoorlie
Thu, 29/09	0
Fri, 30/09	20	4670	59:41.38
Sat, 01/10	20	4690	1:05:08
Sun, 02/10	20	4710	1:09:36	3:28.83	2:37.84 (20)
Mon, 03/10	20	4730	1:16:39	3:49.95	3:13.44 (20)
Tue, 04/10	20	4750	1:02:32	3:07.64	2:31.82 (18)
Wed, 05/10	20	4770	1:05:43	3:17.18	2:41.01 (15)
Thu, 06/10	10	4780	29:55.16	2:59.51	2:22.54 (10)
Fri, 07/10	10	4790	36:35.21	3:39.52	3:29.40 (3)
Sat, 08/10	20	4810	1:08:30
Sun, 09/10	20	4830	1:07:20
Mon, 10/10	10	4840	33:02.18
Tue, 11/10	20	4860	1:10:53
Wed, 12/10	20	4880	1:13:19
Thu, 13/10	15	4895	54:35.68
Fri, 14/10	20	4915	1:07:21

How plugins can quickly create headaches

January 17, 2011 by Peter Fletcher

Edit: Since publishing I’ve discovered that AddToAny have pushed a release that sorts out the issue described here. That was quick.

I’ve just been gifted a blog topic for the day. As I went to log into WordPress I got the following message:

Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by…

This message usually happens when a WordPress plugin contains some bad code. In this case it looks as though the problem is with the Add-to-any plugin. That plugin adds some social sharing buttons into the bottom of each post.

Because the problem stopped me from getting into my site’s backend I wasn’t able to use the built-in WordPress plugin manager to deactivate the plugin. Instead I deleted all the plugin files using my FTP client and that’s fixed the problem.

It may be unfair for me to blame Add-to-any 100 percent. There’s a possibility that the problem was caused by a conflict with the WPSuperCache plugin. In any case now that I’ve deleted Add-to-any I’ll wait a few days and then reinstall the plugin. It’s only a few minute operation, which is one of the things I love about WordPress.

What it does highlight is the importance of keeping plugins to a minimum and using only the best. Add-to-any is a great plugin – as is WPSuperCache but this is software we’re dealing with and there’s always a chance of human error in building the code. Another reason to keep the number of plugins to a minimum is that it reduces maintenance time. Every new plugin means another lot of maintenance and upgrades and there’s always a chance that one of those upgrades will go south as it appears has happened in this case.

For the geeks amongst us here’s the error messages the plugin threw up.

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at deleted/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/services.php:2) in deleted/wp-login.php on line 337

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at deleted/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/services.php:2) in deleted/wp-login.php on line 349

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at deleted/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/services.php:2) in deleted/wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 690

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at deleted/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/services.php:2) in deleted/wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 691

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at deleted/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/services.php:2) in deleted/wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 692

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at deleted/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/services.php:2) in deleted/wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 890

The WP-Table Reloaded Plugin – why I love it!

January 11, 2011 by Peter Fletcher

There is a lot to love about WordPress. It’s easy to use and make website maintenance a breeze.

I use a number of WordPress plugins that give this site extended functionality. The latest is called WP-Table Reloaded. It makes inserting a table into a WordPress post or page as easy as 1-2-3. Here’s what the developer has to say.

WP-Table Reloaded enables you to create and manage tables in your WP’s admin area. No HTML knowledge is needed. A comfortable backend allows to easily edit table data. Tables can contain any type of data and additional JavaScript libraries can be used to extend it with features like sorting, pagination, filtering, and more. You can include the tables into your posts, on your pages or in text widgets by using a shortcode or a template tag function. Tables can be imported and exported from/to CSV, XML and HTML.

To make it easy to track the progress of my 5000/365 challenge I created a table using the plugin. Once done I saved the table then inserted the shortcode into the post. The result is an attractive table with display and search options. It’s really cool.

The alternative would be to create a table using HTML and CSS, using an offline editor. I’ve tried that before but playing around for hours with code is not my idea of fun. Of course too many plugins on a site will slow it down, and that’s not good. This one is certainly worth the risk.

There are heaps of other great plugins available. Have you found one that’s worth a shoutout?