1. Custom Default Username/Password
   When you currently install WordPress, you are given a default username (admin) and a random password.  If every installation has an “admin” username, that’s just one less step a hacker has to deal with.  Not only will this be a nice security upgrade, but now you don’t have to worry about changing that randomly assigned password upon installation.
2. Custom Post Types
   Making a custom Post Type will add a box under the left sidebar in the admin section to separate posts from the “Posts” section.  It will behave as if you add a new “Posts” section.  Another great feature if you’re using WordPress as a CMS.
3. Navigation Menu
   Another proponent to use WordPress as a CMS.  You’ll be able to make different menu items consisting of Categories, Pages, External and Internal Links.
4. Author Templates
   This will give you the ability to have a different template for each author’s posts.
5. Network of WordPress Sites
   This is the most interesting feature for us here at the Dudes Network, as it lets you use a single WordPress installation to manage a network of different WordPress sites.  We don’t know too much about it now, but I for one and anxious to see how this will implemented.

Is anyone else as excited about May 1st as I am?

if (!is_admin()) {
wp_deregister_script('jquery');
wp_register_script('jquery', ("http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1/jquery.min.js"), false, '1.3.2');
wp_enqueue_script('jquery');
};

Not only do you not have to worry about including it in the header.php file of your theme, but it will always pull the most up-to-date version from Google’s servers.

One way to get around this issue is to install a plugin called wp-cache.  This plugin is neat because it generates an HTML page once a post has been published and saves it in a static cache file.  Calling upon the cache file to display the post will greatly reduce the amount of database connections needed when the post is accessed.

The plugin also lets you specify certain pages you don’t want cached for those “just-in-case” scenarios.

Outside of WordPress (and if you have access), you can set certain connection and timeout limits on your MySQL and Apache installations to help control the strain on your server.

What do you do to survive high traffic spikes on your WordPress installation?

function filter_where($where = '') {
       $where .= " AND post_date > '" . date('Y-m-d', mktime(0, 0, 0, date("m") , date("d") - 7, date("Y"))) . " 00:00:00' AND post_date < '" . date('Y-m-d', mktime(0, 0, 0, date("m") , date("d"), date("Y"))) . " 23:59:59'";
    return $where;
  }
add_filter('posts_where', 'filter_where');

This filter will display all posts from 7 days before the current date, starting at midnight, until the current day at 11:59:59pm.  This can be especially useful if you want to a box on your sidebar that shows only your posts from the past week.

After you run your query, be sure to include:

remove_filter('posts_where', 'filter_where');

If you don’t remove the filter, all other queries on the page will have the filter applied to it as well.

This plugin will not only generate a sitemap based on your site’s content, but also notify popular search engines such as Google, Bing, and Ask.com of updates made to your blog.  But the awesomeness doesn’t stop there.  In addition, it will also let you specify any additional pages of your blog to include/exclude, where you want to save the sitemap, change frequencies of each post and the priorities of each post.

If you aren’t already signed up for Google Webmaster Tools, do so immediately.  After you have verified your site, click on Site Configuration and then Sitemaps.  Click “Submit A Sitemap” and type in the path to where you saved it.  If you used the default settings, it should look something like this:

The process is similar for other search engines.

So if you want to make search engines aware of your blog and get noticed, this is definitely one of the first places to start.

<?php global $current_user;
get_currentuserinfo();
 
if ($current_user->user_login == "admin"):
//Insert Code Here
endif;
?>

This is, of course, assuming that you are logged in as “admin”.  If not, then replace “admin” with whatever your username is.  This makes it easy for you to preview changes to the template before they are live.

1. Disable HTML in Comments
   If you do not want your users styling their comments, or spamming them with links, you can add this line of code to your functions.php file:

   add_filter( 'pre_comment_content', 'wp_specialchars' );

2. Remove WordPress version from the source code
   Anyone can view the source code of your website.  In most cases, your header.php file will contain the version number of your current installation.  To have it automatically removed, add this to your functions.php file:

   remove_action('wp_head', 'wp_generator');

   This prevents any hackers from targeting the flaws and bugs of a specific version of WordPress to hack your website.

3. Edit Permalink Structure
   Set your permalinks to include the post’s title.  This not only makes your URL more readable, but is also a great technique for Search Engine Optimization.
4. Activate Akismet
   It doesn’t matter who you are or what your blog is about, spammers will find it and they will leave spam comments.  Luckily, WordPress comes with a decent spam blocker, Akismet.  To activate it, you’ll need to get a WordPress API key.  Simply register for one on WordPress.com.  Once you have the key, activate the plug-in and enter the key.
5. Implement a backup schedule.
   No server is ever 100% reliable.  Be proactive and make a schedule to export your site’s posts, pages, comments, custom fields, categories and tags just in case anything should happen.  The more frequent you post, the more frequent you should backup.  To run the export, go to Tools ->Export.  Keep this file safe and secure off your web server.

That’s it for now.  Be sure to check back for more tips, tricks and hacks as WordPress Dudes gets underway.  Thanks for visiting!