John Ford

Tina Roth Eisenberg inspires me

John Ford — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 03:51:42 +0000

Tina (a.k.a. swissmiss) has been an amazing friend and continued inspiration since the day we met. I’ve been fortunate to work with her, meet her family (and feel like I’m a part of it), and watch her well-deserved success explosion. Tina is as genuine and awesome as she appears.

Not only do I think the world of her, I also love the 11 rules to live by from her SXSW keynote. They are definitely relevant in my life. How about yours?

Invest your life in what you love
Embrace enthusiasm
Don’t complain. Make things better.
Trust and empower
Experiences > Money
Surround yourself with like-minded people
Collaborate
Ignore haters
Make time to think and breathe
If an opportunity scares you, take it
Be someone’s eccentric aunt

P.S. – Thanks Tina for the awesome shout out in the presentation!!! (around minute 16)

Anybody can learn to code

John Ford — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 03:28:20 +0000

I agree that learning to program is an important skill and pretty much essential as we continue to depend on computers. I love what sites like Skillcrush, Code.org, Codecademy, and others are doing to make it easy to learn online.

WordPress.com の裏側 – WordCamp Tokyo 2011

John Ford — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 07:20:49 +0000

I’ve had an amazing time in Japan during my visit for WordCamp Tokyo 2011. Thanks to everyone who came to see the presentation and made me feel so welcome!

Download the PDF – WordPress.com の裏側 (Behind the Scenes of WordPress.com)

ConvergeSouth 2011

John Ford — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:40:42 +0000

Thanks to everyone for visiting my WordPress for Business Sites presentation at ConvergeSouth 2011. Here are the slides with links to the resources we talked about.

Download the PDF – WordPress for Business Sites

Errors when upgrading WordPress via FTP

John Ford — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 03:08:02 +0000

Some server configurations, typically running Pure-FTPd, have trouble updating WordPress via FTP. When doing an upgrade or a plugin install things may start fine but fail in the middle. It’s a bummer during an update since your site is also in maintenance mode and visitors can’t reach your site. Maintenance mode will timeout but to quickly get out of it just delete the .maintenance file from the root of your website.

Common error messages might look like this:

Could not copy file.: /wp-admin/css/theme-editor.dev.css
Could not copy file.: /public_html/wp-admin/css/theme-editor.dev.css
Could not copy file.: /.../.../wp-admin/css/theme-editor.dev.css 
Could not create file.: /public_html/

And then you’ll probably see an Installation Failed message.

There is a patch going into WordPress 3.2 that should permanently take care of the issue and the plugin will be obsolete after upgrading to that version. In the meantime, installing and activating the plugin should make upgrades work as expected.

Download the FTP Upgrade Fix plugin from WordPress.org or search for it within the WordPress admin. You may have to install it manually via FTP if you’re also having trouble installing plugins through WordPress.

WordCamp New Zealand & Melbourne 2011

John Ford — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 04:27:06 +0000

I just got home from a month-long trip in Australia and New Zealand that involved visiting family, two amazing WordCamps (New Zealand and Melbourne), the Sydney WordPress meetup, Webstock, and a bit (ok, lots) of fun. A big shout out to the organizers who put on these fantastic events. It’s always amazing to see the communities come together to share and take part.

I have a confession. Don’t tell my boss but I had ulterior motives on this trip. Queenstown, New Zealand is one of the best locations in the world for extreme sports. So, I took a little detour for a bungee jump… or five. Yes, I’m hooked.

This photo is from The Ledge Bungy. I also did The Nevis (134m/440ft). Way too much fun!

If you’re interested, here are the presentations I gave in Melbourne which were similar in Wellington, New Zealand. Unfortunately, just reading slides aren’t funny and I removed the intros. But then again, my jokes may have been agonizing and this saves you the pain. :-)

A big thanks to Mark Jaquith for letting me base this lightening talk on one of his presentations.

WordCamp NYC 2010: WordPress Security Presentation

John Ford — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 14:28:51 +0000

A big thanks to everyone who made it to my Hardening Your WordPress Installation presentation at WordCamp NYC 2010. Here’s a PDF of the WordPress security presentation which contains links to the sites that were mentioned.

WordCamp San Francisco

John Ford — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:00:38 +0000

There’s an amazing lineup of speakers at WordCamp SF tomorrow. I’m grateful to be a part of the list and hope you’ll join me for a riveting session titled “Living with Our Computers… and Keeping it Healthy“. You’re guaranteed to laugh as I make fun of myself and discuss the ups and downs of the co-dependent relationships we have with our computers.

Meetup: WordPress in Depth

John Ford — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:24:29 +0000

As part of the Triad Web Meetup blogging series, I’ll be giving a detailed look at how to use WordPress. Some of the items that will be covered include:

Walking through a WordPress installation on a web server
Navigating the admin tool
Installing themes and plugins
Customizing themes
Using WordPress as a Content Management System
The possibilities of WordPress (it’s not just a blogging tool)

All skill levels are welcome and there is no need for previous WordPress experience. Let me know if there is anything else you’d like to learn about WordPress. We usually have time for specific questions after the presentation.

What: WordPress in Depth
When: February, 17 2010 7:00pm – 8:30pm
Where: Greensboro Public Library Downtown (take a right as soon as you walk in and head to the end of the hall)
RSVP & Details: Triad Web Meetup

These events are always free and everyone is welcome so please spread the word!

Gordon: A Flash runtime written in JavaScript

John Ford — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:40:38 +0000

Ok, I’m super stoked about the possibilities of this one. Gordon is an open source Flash™ runtime written in pure JavaScript. Give some of these demos a try on your iPhone. They don’t run as fast as they do on the computer but OMG Flash on the iPhone!

(thanks Mark)