optimiced | en

I met with the following interesting problem today:

Due to specific needs, I needed to remove from the HEAD part of one WordPress blog the following:


<meta name="generator" content="WordPress [version number]" />


The WP theme, in which I was making the changes, was the standard for WP Default Kubrick Theme. The WP version I was using was 2.6.2.

I was searching and searching inside the code of header.php — and did not find anything! Before, in every WP theme, in header.php, usually the following code was present:


<meta name="generator" content="WordPress <?php bloginfo('version'); ?>" /><!-- leave this for stats -->


Now, I wasn’t able to find it…

I tried also global search inside all of the files of this theme, and again, with total un-success. Finally, I tried the last possible option — Google Seach…

…And have found it! :-)

In short: if you want to hide from the HTML code "<meta name="generator" content="WordPress ..." />, as well as the exact WP version you are using, all you need to do is (in case that you don’t find the code inside header.php — for example, in WP up to version 2.3.3, the code was usually there):

1) Locate and open with a text code editor the file functions.php inside the theme directory — for example, if you are using the Default Theme, the functions.php will be in wp-content/themes/default/functions.php.
2) Add inside it the following code:
remove_action('wp_head', 'wp_generator');
3) Save the file functions.php and upload it back to the server.

That’s it! Automagically, the code, which shows that you are using WordPress, as well as the exact version of it, will disappear from the HTML source! :-)

We want to the countryside on this Sunday…

I ‘catched’ this small spider using our modest Canon S5 IS, a few seconds before it was lost somewhere in the grass… :-)

…this morning was very beautiful, and so was the sky…

(Usually I sleep at this time of the day, but there are exceptions to the rule… like today. And now I go to make tea and coffee and wake up my beloved;-)

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That’s just great!

Quick, quick, designers and developers need a hug, help!!! :-)

(#via Iffi: http://twitter.com/if__fi/statuses/902676592)

You have maybe noticed, when you log in to PayPal, Yahoo! Mail, Live Mail and some other websites, that Firefox 3 does not give you the option to save the name & password for you, which in certain cases is a nuisance.

The reason? Security. In the forms of these websites, in the field INPUT, the following code appears:

<input autocomplete="off" type="..." ... />

When "autocomplete" is ‘off’, then the browser (quite correctly) does not give the user the option of saving the password for him. For websites, such as PayPal, for example, using which you can transfer small or large sums of money, this is a very wise approach.

On the other hand, in this case, you have to manually type each time your username and/or password, which can be quite annoying (especially if they are very long/secure). If you are using your own computer/laptop, and you think that you do not need that extra bit of security, there is a very easy way to make Firefox 3 to remember the passwords even for these secure websites, which set autocomplete to “off”.

Here’s how:

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First tutorial (to achieve this stunning effect):

Fireworks How To: The Ultimate Aqua Button (tutorial) (by Brian Edgin)

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A few days ago I was recommending to people not to upgrade to version 2.5 of WordPress, because at the time I believed WP 2.3.3 to be as stable and safe as the new 2.5 series. Besides, I liked (and still like) the old, ‘classic’, 2.3.x admin interface much more…

OK, I must take my words back and confirm that WordPress 2.3.3, the last stable release before the new WordPress 2.5 branch was released, is not safe anymore, and you can become a victim of the link injection hack (vulnerability).

What happened?

In one of the blogs, which I support (luckily, not my personal blog, which I have upgraded to 2.5/2.5.1 long ago), I have found ‘hidden’ links (code: <u style="display: none">[ bunch of spam links inserted here ]</u>) in one of the regular posts there.

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Some time ago I was using and I was pretty excited about a small app, called DU Meter.

What it did, exactly?

Well, it just monitored my Internet bandwidth (current speeds of download/upload).

These were the times of good ol’ dial-up connections (33.6 kbps or, when you were lucky, 48-56 kbps).

Now these times are long gone, and speed is measured in Mbps, not in kbps… :-)

But DU Meter is still there, and Hagel Tech even released a brand-new version - 4.0:)

You can download it here: http://www.dumeter.com/download.php

It’s a trial, which will work for 30 days; after that, you can either stop using it, or buy a single license for USD 24.95.

Still, you should be aware, that a similar app exists now, and it is called Net Meter (current version is 1.1).

It does exactly the same things as DU Meter, but it’s freeware (you can make a small donation, though, if you like the program).

I tested both apps. Net Meter, to be frank, simply copied most of DU Meter’s interface look & feel (which is a good thing, if you are accustomed to DU Meter, but do not want to pay 25 dollars to buy it), and, apart from that, I do not see any major differences between them.

Which one to use, you may decide for yourself; still, it’s nice to know you have more than one option! :-)

Do I see wrong, or Google have just changed their favicon??

I think I kinda liked the old one more… Besides, the new one has a lowercase ‘g‘, and the old one was with an uppercase, as in their logo.

Maybe Google will change their logo soon, too?… :-)

I saw some of the Erik Dasque’s excellent work by accident, following a link from the Zen Photo gallery.

See his portfolio here:

www.frenchguys.com/gallery/

I myself, being an amateur photographer, have tried numerous times to make beautiful macro photos of flowers and such, but this nice defocus I see in the example of Erik, made with a Canon 5D, shows clearly how far away are small digital cameras from the professional DSLRs…

This flower, by Erik, I liked very much, so I am using a resized copy of it here, with link & credits; I hope this is not a problem… :-)