If you use WordPress, here are two useful resources that will help you get to know the blog platform better.
The first is The WordPress Podcast, a new podcast launched last week by Charles StricklinTricklin. The first episode is under five minutes and features easy-to-listen-to and understand commentary about WordPress, a couple of plugins and the WordPress theme competition.
A great learning resource whatever your skill/experience level is with WordPress. I’ve subscribed.
One immediate benefit I’ve gained from this podcast is finding out about Diagnosis, a very neat plugin by Niklas Lindblad that presents detailed information about your server, the operating system, your database, and more.
This screenshot (click for full-size version) will give you an idea of what information the plugin lets you see. All of it is pretty technical, but what I like about it is that it’s presented in a way that almost any non-techie blogger would be able to understand what it’s saying.
While true geeks will probably like this just because of the tech content, I like it for a very simple reason.
Some of the WordPress plugins I encounter have pretty strict requirements in terms of what’s running on your server. Specific version of Apache, for instance. Or needing to know about the PHP extensions that are running.
Usually a royal pain to figure such stuff out by yourself.
But no more worries about such things as well as others like MySQL server IP address or server port, the WordPress database user or name, your document root, current time (in ISO 8601 format as well as RFC 2822), or MySQL Storage engine – Diagnosis will take care of finding and presenting all that for you, making it all dead simple.
I love this WordPress community!
5 responses to “Learn about WordPress”
I told you that WP was the way to go. Glad you are finding the community helpful. All my future blogs for clients will be in WP. So much easier to customize than Typepad. My first WP client is at http://www.spiritualcareercounseling.com
Love your podcasts.
Thanks, Michael.
I saw that Movable Type 3.3 is now out. That’s the platform I tend to compare most with WP when talking about robust blog platforms. Especially now that WP offers a paid-for support system, the comparison becomes even more valid.
I also run an MT blog, using version 3.2. I do plan to upgrade it to 3.3 and see what all the excitement is about.
But WP is unquestionably the platform I prefer. And that user community is simply terrific!
Glad you still continue to like those podcasts. Thanks.
[…] Diagnosis: Adds a page within WordPress that shows you detailed information about your server, the operating system, your database, and more (I posted about this plugin). […]
I’m glad you like it! One thing to note, however, my name is Stricklin, not Tricklin. I;m not picky about a lot of things, but my name is one of them. ;)
Oops, Charles, sorry for that typo. Fixed.
Enjoying the podcasts!