A web development/programming blog providing info, tips, and tricks on programming languages, scripting, Linux, MySQL and more
Wordpress Plugins
Improve the performance of the WordPress plugin Statpress (and your blog)
Jul 3rd
I haven’t hid my feelings about the poor performing StatPress plugin for WordPress. However, performance issues aside, I will say that the information this plugin provides is useful, and detailed. I’ve been running this plugin for 8 months now and have a good sized data set (125,000+ rows of data). While I myself have not experienced as many issues with this plugin as I have seen on other blogs, it is mainly because I am running my blog on a virtual dedicated server as opposed to shared hosting. I have seen smaller data sets than mine cause problems on shared hosting servers.
Read the rest of this entry »
Our first WordPress Plugin: WordPress Woot Watcher
Feb 17th
In conjunction with Lee Thompson of MySQLHow2.com, we have released our first WordPress Plugin:
WordPress Woot Watcher
WordPress Woot Watcher, will monitor and check woot, shirt.woot, kids.woot, wine.woot and sellout.woot for new products every 10 hours. When a woot-off is launched, the widget will update the woot product every 30 seconds. WordPress Woot Watcher is a sidebar widget that enables select the woot sites you want to monitor in the administration section. The default installation selects woot.com only.
For all the details, installation, and more, visit the WordPress Woot Watcher page.
Avoid WordPress StatPress plugin like the plague!
Dec 2nd
** Update: I have released my first set of updates to the StatPress plugin. Check out the post for code to improve your blogs performance of StatPress
The WordPress plugin StatPress is an absolutely horrid plugin to use. Yes, I said it…horrid! After seeing many people praising this plugin on their sites, this is a bold statement.
Read the rest of this entry »
New website launch: OneWordSurveys.com
Oct 19th
Desert Web Designs is pleased to announce the launch of our latest site:
OneWordSurveys.com
The Site
OneWordSurveys.com is a site as simple as it’s concept: Simple (one word) answers to simple questions. The site poses simple questions to users, all with one word answers. Questions like “Soda or Pop?”, “Coke or Pepsi?”, “Biscuits or Muffins?”, and much, much more. The site also provides a means for users to submit their own surveys as well.
Read the rest of this entry »
How to Insert Google Ads into the Content of your WordPress Post
Jun 15th
Have you ever wondered how to get your Google Ads inside your post content like I have below? A couple of days ago, I was trying to figure out how to insert Google Adsense Ads directly into my post content without pasting the whole Adsense code. I came across an article that detailed exactly what I was looking for: Insert Google Adsense Code Anywhere In Your Wordpress Article.
Read the rest of this entry »
How to fix a broken WordPress RSS feed
Jun 9th
Looking over my analytics for my blog the last couple days, I’ve noticed I have got a couple of referral visits from my web design company website. I added a FeedBurner widget to the front of that site highlighting my 5 most recent blog posts. Out of curiosity, I was browsing on that website and notice the Widget stated “Watch this space for future items!” Well that was just weird to me since I post every day. Upon further research, FeedBurner was showing an error “There is an issue that must be addressed with your source feed for the feed”. When I went to my actual feed URL, I got the following error:
XML Parsing Error: XML or text declaration not at start of entity
Location: http://www.poundbangwhack.com/feed/
Line Number 2, Column 1:<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
^
New website launch: FreeAdviceForCharity.com
May 19th
Desert Web Designs is pleased to announce the launch of our latest site:
FreeAdviceForCharity.com
The Site
FreeAdviceForCharity.com is a a site based out of Phoenix, AZ that looks to give back to it’s visitor’s, more than most sites on the internet usually do. The basis behind FreeAdviceForCharity.com is that the sites team of professional financial advisors provide FREE financial advice to it’s visitors and ask nothing in return, aside from a request to donate to Rotary International’s PolioPlus Fund. The Mission Statement of the site is:
FreeAdviceForCharity.com is to provide the best quality advice for individuals regarding various financial needs while at the same time promoting local charities and building a stronger community.
First WordPress plugin a resounding success!
Apr 24th
So maybe the title is a bit of a stretch, but I’m absolutely thrilled! I finished the development of my first WordPress plugin. It is a simple plugin that updates my Twitter status when I post a new blog entry. Now for anyone who maintains a WordPress blog and/or knows a bit about WordPress plugins, you’ll know that this has already been done many times over. WELL I DON’T CARE!! The best way to learn is by doing right?
Read the rest of this entry »

