If you have Google Analytics installed in your website we will need access.

1. Log into your Google Analytics Account

2. Select ADMIN at the top.

3. Select User Management at the account or property level.

4. Enter the google account Email, assign permissions, check the Notify this user by email box and click Add

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The post Data Driven Design with Google Analytics first appeared on Professional Web Design.

Musicbox plugin allows you to create multiple playlist widgets in Wordpress.

Playlist with song details including:

• Song Name
• Artist
• 30 second preview from iTunes
• Album or collection
• Artwork
• Link to iTunes
• Create multiple playlist widgets in Wordpress

You may also use a shortcode "musicbox" to display the musicbox inside a post with the following parameters:

• musicbox_id * required value: the id of the musicbox to display
• description optional value: whether to display description or not. "1" or "0", default is "0".
• autoplay optional value: whether to autoplay list or not. "1" or "0", default is "0".
• tracks_perpage optional value: how many tracks to show before paginating. Numeric value. Default is "10".

Ex.
[musicbox musicbox_id="1" description="1" autoplay="1" tracks_perpage="2"]

This plugin uses soundmanager2 and its' 360 player UI.

Visit the plugin at Wordpress.org for more information and to download.
wordpress.org/plugins/musicbox

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The post Musicbox WordPress Plugin first appeared on Professional Web Design.

It's best to work with a professional who understands security and keeps up to date with the latest information in the constantly evolving field of website and IT security.

Contact us for a free, no hassle evaluation of your website that includes a basic security analysis.

Unlike most website backdoors, CryptoPHP is not installed by exploiting vulnerabilities. Instead attackers distribute pirated versions of commercial plug-ins and themes for Joomla, WordPress and Drupal through several sites and wait for webmasters to download and install them on their own websites. Those pirated plug-ins and themes have the CryptoPHP backdoor embedded into them.

Read More at PC World »… Read More »

The post CryptoPHP Infects WordPress and Popular CMS first appeared on Professional Web Design.

Unfortunately the documentation is a little sparse and fragmented for such a large and unforgiving specification. I will document some of the initial challenges I have run into as Google doesn't seem to be able to provide quick answers.

Errors in the Feeds API PHP Client Library

There is a couple of 'bugs' in the Amazon Feeds API Section Client Library - PHP - Version 2009-01-01

Fatal error: Call to undefined method MarketplaceWebService_Model_GetFeedSubmissionResultResponse::_toXMLFragment() in /MarketplaceWebService/Model/GetFeedSubmissionResultResponse.php on line 189

The MarketplaceWebService_Model_GetFeedSubmissionResultResponse and SubmitFeedResponse call the _toXML() method. The method in the parent abstract class (MarketplaceWebService_Model) is named toXML().
Change line to:
$xml .= $this->toXMLFragment();

The next error is:

Catchable fatal error: Object of class DateTime could not be converted to string in /MarketplaceWebService/Model.php on line 140

The private method escapeXML of Model.php tries to run str_replace on a DateTime object. I resolved this issue by adding
if(is_object($str))
return;
to the top of the function.

Fork on Github… Read More »

The post Amazon MWS Feeds first appeared on Professional Web Design.

* PHP 5.3 or greater required
Which you probably should be running by now anyways.

1. Download Plugin.

2. Install Plugin.

3. Get reCaptcha API Keys from Google.

4. Enter Keys in WP Admin -> Settings -> reCaptcha

You will need to check the Google reCaptcha box next time you log in.

Available on WordPress.org

Fork on Github… Read More »

The post WordPress No Captcha reCaptcha Plugin first appeared on Professional Web Design.

[caption id="attachment_1780" align="aligncenter" width="375"]NetFlix Net Neutrality Button[/caption]

- John Oliver Explains
- Hashtag: #InternetSlowdown
- Internet Slowdown - Sept. 10^th
- Wikipedia - Net Neutrality
- Google Public Policy Blog - Net Neutrality
- Save the Internet - Net Neutrality… Read More »

The post Internet Slowdown 9/10 first appeared on Professional Web Design.

The recent news of over a billion hacked passwords and Google's announcement that it will start factoring TLS/HTTPS encryption into it's search results ranking, are just two of many recent signs that we need to pay serious attention to security on the web. This post is will provide an overview of some steps you should be taking today to secure your website and protect your users data.

Encrypt the Connection Using HTTPS

If you aren't transmitting data over HTTPS your visitors are not protected from hackers monitoring their internet activity or stealing their credentials. Check your website using this tool and see if you have any issues with your encrypted connection. If you do not have a certificate for HTTPS encryption and need one installed I can help.

Here is a simple PHP script that will redirect users to the current page over HTTPS.


// with PHP
if(!isset($_SERVER['HTTPS'])){
    $sslurl = "https://" . $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'].$_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'];
    header("location: $sslurl");
}


# or with .htaccess on an Apache Server
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !on
RewriteRule (.*) https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]


Prevent Brute Force Attacks

One of the easiest ways to crack a website login page is with a dictionary or brute force attack. You can prevent these types of attacks by placing additional defensive measures on your login page including:

• A CAPTCHA challenge / response field.
• An additional layer of authentication using .htaccess
• My personal favorite is implementing Google 2 Step Verification. This method involves checking against a random, time-sensitive code generated with a smartphone app. This functionality can be customized implemented in your own custom web application. It is very secure since it authenticates based on something you know (your username and password) and something you possess (access to your smartphone).

Encrypt Passwords

Most websites are hashing passwords today, however I am guessing most websites aren't doing it correctly and I shudder to think many are still storing passwords in plaintext. Simple md5 hashing is easily cracked. Passwords need to be individually salted with a unique salt per password. More information on creating cryptographically secure password hashes.

Sanitize User Input

Make sure any information entered by users does not contain any unwanted code or symbols. All data should be checked and sanitized before using in a script, displaying on a page or inserting into a database. There are many ways to go about this using modern programming languages and techniques.

Summary

I hope this brief summary of security practices gives you some direction when reviewing your own security practices and securing your website. Please feel free to contact me if you need assistance implementing any of these protocols. I would be happy to look at your site and give you a security evaluation.

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The post Getting Serious About Web Security first appeared on Professional Web Design.

If you are a client of mine and running a WordPress site or blog, I have already updated your WordPress version to 3.9.2 as a courtesy. You may want to check anyway just to be sure as it is possible I could have overlooked your site in my list or simply send me an Email and I will confirm.

Interestingly this is the first time WordPress and Drupal have coordinated joint security releases. It is nice to see two top open source CMSs coordinating efforts.

This vulnerability also affects the following Drupal versions

• Drupal core 7.x versions prior to 7.31.
• Drupal core 6.x versions prior to 6.33.

Feel free to contact me if you need assistance updating a WordPress or Drupal installation.

Edit: This vulnerability only affects self-hosted WordPress websites using code downloaded from WordPress.org. Websites hosted at WordPress.com are not affected.

… Read More »

The post WordPress & Drupal Vulnerability Announced first appeared on Professional Web Design.

Creator's corner provides buttons for visitors to quickly subscribe or follow you on YouTube. When you click the button it instantly gives you the code to copy and paste into your website source code for visitors to follow your YouTube account. Pretty simple, right?

As a service to my customers I often add this social button to other peoples websites. The problem is that it always links to my YouTube account and there doesn't appear to be any options to change that behavior so it would link to my clients YouTube account instead of mine.

To get the code to work correctly for my client required a little hacking.

First get the code for the button linking to my account.

<a href="//www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user_id=F9Cq_tFEaoq95VbC77q7WQ&feature=creators_cornier-//s.ytimg.com/yt/img/creators_corner/Subscribe_to_my_videos/YT_Subscribe_130x36_red.png"><img src="//s.ytimg.com/yt/img/creators_corner/Subscribe_to_my_videos/YT_Subscribe_130x36_red.png" alt="Subscribe to me on YouTube"/></a><img src="//www.youtube-nocookie.com/gen_204?feature=creators_cornier-//s.ytimg.com/yt/img/creators_corner/Subscribe_to_my_videos/YT_Subscribe_130x36_red.png" style="display: none"/>

See the part where it says:

add_user_id=F9Cq_tFEaoq95VbC77q7WQ

This is the part that is of interest to us.

I don't know what user id this is for the account I need to link it to. It isn't the same as the users Google+ id. I believe it may be a user id specific to YouTube.

Now go to the feed page on YouTube of the person who you want to associate the button with.

Use your browser to view the HTML source code.

Search for 'user_id' and you will find some code that looks like this.

<input type="hidden" name="user_id" value="8GpGdrx6SMBVUIecN0-9mw">

Now replace the add_user_id=F9Cq_tFEaoq95VbC77q7WQ in the button code with the value found here value="8GpGdrx6SMBVUIecN0-9mw".

I hope this helps someone else who needs to do the same thing.

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The post YouTube Creators Corner Buttons first appeared on Professional Web Design.

Adding an Admin to Google Analytics

The remainder of this article is for clients with Google Analytics installed so they can add a web professional to the Analytics account prior to engaging in Search Engine Optimization.

1. First, sign into Google Analytics.
2. Next, click the admin button in the upper right.

   

3. Next, select the account you want to work with.

   

4. Now select the users tab.

   

5. Now click the 'New User' button.

   

6. Enter my gmail address (* see image below for preferred gmail address to use 'sabesross...'). You can select the Administrator radio button then 'Add User' to give me full administrative access. If you need to limit my access, you can select the 'User' radio button and add the profile using the list boxes below and finally press the 'Add User' button on the bottom.

   

I hope these instructions are helpful as we begin the process of analysis prior to the actual planning and implementation of your website Search Engine Optimization.

Are you ready to get started with SEO on your site? Contact me for SEO rates and details.

… Read More »

The post Google Analytics first appeared on Professional Web Design.