Migrating from WP-Syntax to PrismJS

WP-Syntax was a great syntax-highlighting plugin for WordPress. However, development had ceased and it was not updated for a very long time. While it is not broken per se, it didn’t work with Jetpack’s markdown support and so I stopped using it on the site and started using a different plugin. With the introduction of the Gutenberg editor, I started looking again for a plugin that will allow me to easily highlight fenced code blocks (this feature worked in the old editor with SyntaxHighlighter Evolved but isn’t supported in Gutenberg). Realizing that I don’t want three syntax-highlighting plugins enabled simultaneously, and not wanting to have an abandoned plugin enabled, I decided to migrate all the posts from WP-Syntax to a new solution.

The new solution I chose was PrismJS. I decided to use it directly (without a plugin) as it highlights by default all the <pre><code class="language-..."> constructs (which is what markdown produces as well) and I didn’t want (yet again) to use plugin specific shortcodes like before which will require migration when the plugin eventually stops working.

WP-Syntax used <pre lang="...">code goes here</pre> construct. Furthermore, it took care of html escaping everything inside the <pre> tag. So the migration solution would be to rewrite the <pre> tags to <pre><code> constructs, html escape the code inside the pre tag and finally remove any leading newlines. I wrote it to work on dumped SQL tables as it seemed easiest. The flow is

$ mysqldump --add-drop-table -u USER -p blog wp_comments > wp_posts.sql
$ python3 < wp_posts.sql > wp_posts_updated.sql
$ mysql --user=USER --password blog < /tmp/wp_posts_updated.sql
#!/usr/bin/python3

import re
import html
import sys

def convert(fin, fout):
    for line in fin:
        # Each post is in a single line
        # <pre><code> doesn't ignore the first newline like <pre>
        replaced = re.sub(r'<pre lang=\\"(.*?)\\">(?:\\r)?(?:\\n)?(.*?)</pre>', replace_and_escape, line)
        print(replaced)
        if line != replaced:
            print(line, replaced, sep="\n============>\n", file=sys.stderr)


def replace_and_escape(matchobj):
    language = matchobj.group(1)
    # We don't escape quotes because it's unnecessary and it would mess up the
    # SQL escaping
    content = html.escape(matchobj.group(2), quote=False)
    return r'<pre><code class=\"language-{}\">{}</code></pre>'.format(language, content)


if __name__=='__main__':
    convert(sys.stdin, sys.stdout)

Google Adsense for Wordpres – No Plugin Needed

Adding Google Adsense ads to your your WordPress blog was a tedious task. Either you needed to manually modify your theme, or you had to use a plugin, such as Google’s own Adsense plugin. Even then, placements were limited and handling both mobile and desktop themes was complicated at best. Recently, two things have changed: Google retired the Adsense plugin and introduced Auto Ads.

At first, the situation seemed like it turned for the worse. Without the official plugin, you had to resort into using a third-party plugin or manually placing ads in your theme. But Auto ads made things much simpler. Instead of having to manually place your ads, you can let Google do it for you. It works great on both desktop and mobile theme.

The easiest way to enable Auto ads is using a child theme. First, you need to get the Auto ads ad code. Next, in your child theme’s functions.php add the following lines, making sure to replace the javascript snippet with your own one.

// Add Google Adsense
function my_google_adsense_header() {
?>
<script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>
<script>
     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({
          google_ad_client: "ca-pub-4066984350135216",
          enable_page_level_ads: true
     });
</script>
<?php
}
add_action( 'wp_head', 'my_google_adsense_header');

Google Analytics for WordPress

To set up Google Analytics tracking for WordPress you don’t need any third-party plugin. It can be easily done using a child theme. A child theme, is a code that modifies the current theme in a way that won’t interfere with future upgrades. To enable Google Analytics, start by creating a child theme using the official documentation.

Now, you need to get you Google Analytics tracking code. Over the years the tracking code had a few different versions. You should make sure you are getting the latest tracking code, which currently looks like:

<!-- Global site tag (gtag.js) - Google Analytics -->
<script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=UA-380837-9"></script>
<script>
  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
  gtag('js', new Date());

  gtag('config', 'UA-380837-9');
</script>

To get the tracking code, follow the instructions on this page.

Now we add the tracking code to each page using the child theme. In your child theme’s directory, edit the functions.php file and add the following lines. Replace the tracking code with the one you acquired.

// Add Google Analytics tracking
function my_google_analytics_header() {
?>
<!-- Global site tag (gtag.js) - Google Analytics -->
<script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=UA-380837-9"></script>
<script>
  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
  gtag('js', new Date());

  gtag('config', 'UA-380837-9');
</script>
<?php
}
add_action( 'wp_head', 'my_google_analytics_header');

This adds the tracking code to the <head> of every page.

WordPress.com Login Loop

Sometimes, when I try to use certain functions on wordpress.com, I get redirected to a login page. After I sign-in, I get redirect again to the same login page. This repeats in an endless loop. It usually doesn’t bother me, as I self-host my blog, but for some things, like the yearly annual report that came in about two weeks ago, it does bother. I looked up into the matter, and the issue turned up to be due to blocking third-party cookies. To resolve the endless login loop, you need to add https://wordpress.com (note the https) to the exception list of accepted third-party cookies (In Firefox it’s under Preferences -> Privacy -> Exceptions).

Incremental WordPress Backups using Duply (Duplicity)

This post outlines how to create encrypted incremental backups for WordPress using duplicity and duply. The general method, as you will see is pretty generic, and I’ve been using it successfully to backup also Django sites and MediaWiki installations. You can use this method to make secure backups to almost any kind of service imagineable: ftp, sftp, Amazon S3, rsync, Rackspace Open Cloud, Ubuntu One, Google Drive and whatever else you can think about (as long as the duplicity folks implemented :-)). If you prefer a simpler solution, and don’t care about incremental or encrypted backups, see my Improved FTP Backup for WordPress or my WordPress Backup to Amazon S3 Script.
Continue reading Incremental WordPress Backups using Duply (Duplicity)

WordPress Administration over SSL on Lighttpd

In this tutorial we’ll walk through the steps of enabling SSL (https) for the WordPress’ admin panel when using Lighttpd as a webserver. The tutorial consists of two stages, the first is enabling SSL at the Lighttpd level and the second is in the WordPress level.


Continue reading WordPress Administration over SSL on Lighttpd

Improved FTP Backup for WordPress

This script backups both the database and files of a WordPress blog into a remote FTP server (while keeping a local copy). It’s an update of my WordPress Backup to FTP script. The main changes are auto-detecting database settings and better support for caching plugins (specifically WP-Cache). The new version makes it easier to backup multiple WordPress blogs to the same FTP server.
Continue reading Improved FTP Backup for WordPress

Sociable Plugin Doesn’t Play Nice

I’ve been using the Sociable plugin for adding easy “share” links to the bottom of my posts. Up until yesterday I’ve been using the 2.x versions of the plugin, but yesterday I’ve upgraded to 3.4.4. Today I’ve noticed to my surprise that the plugin automatically adds a box to my admin dashboard with “The Latest news from Yoast”, Yoast beeing the plugin’s maintainer, Joost de Valk, blog. The plugin itself doesn’t feature any way to completely disable this “feature”. One has to hide it using the dashboard settings. While this may seems benign, in my opinion its pushing the limit. If I’m interested in getting updates from that blog, I would sign up to its RSS feed. I don’t like getting “free” functionality not advertised in the plugin description.

I must add that as a user of the Sociable plugin, I’m more than satisfied. I probably won’t stop using the plugin just because of this issue, but it still seems to me like improper manners.

WordPress Backup to FTP

Update: A newer version of the script is available.

This script allows you to easily backup your WordPress blog to an FTP server. It’s actually a modification of my WordPress Backup to Amazon S3 Script, but instead of saving the backup to Amazon S3 it uploads it to an FTP server. Another update is that now the SQL dump includes the database creation instructions so you don’t need to create it manually before restoring from the backup.

Although I’ve written it with WordPress in mind (to creates backups of my blog), it isn’t WordPress specific. It can be used to backup any website that consists of a MySQL database and files. I’ve successfully used it to backup MediaWiki installation.
Continue reading WordPress Backup to FTP