Author: emily sparkle - Page 8 - fontaholic designs

Suzane Northrop

September 24, 2018November 3, 2016 by emily sparkle

Update 2018

Suzane’s website needed a technology facelift this year. The theme I originally used on many of my websites had grown out of date and the developer was no longer maintianing it. I moved her to GeneratePress and updated her shopping cart to WooCommerce. We migrated her Event Espresso data without missing a registration. Of course we updated the spanish version as well.

—
Suzane’s website had been the victim of a hack when she came to me. She had a backup of the site, which I restored – and it immediately got hacked. It was quite a learning experience and helps me remember how important good security practices are for a website. Her site features videos, e-commerce, event sales as well as videos and blog posts. There is also a Spanish version!

Time Management Software with Screenshots | Time Doctor

November 9, 2016October 19, 2016 by emily sparkle

wanted to give a shout out to the tool that has made wrangling my time tracking and invoicing across about a dozen active clients all with multiple projects running. tho i’m a solo user, it’s designed for large teams with remote workers in mind. it will even track how much time is spent on reddit and facebook. :’P

if you follow this link and sign up, i think they give me a nicey nice. their support is awesome and they’ve implemented a lot of things i offered feedback on when getting it set up on my machines.

A nice way to deal with password security requirements

November 9, 2016July 4, 2014 by emily sparkle

I first posted this article to facebook in the summer of 2014. A client’s email had been hacked and she was frustrated with having to change her password again. Password management can be tricky. To assist I began setting her passwords with a combination of encouraging words and symbols like <3 that often satisfy the ‘letters numbers and symbols’ requirements for today’s strong passwords.

https://medium.com/@manicho/how-a-password-changed-my-life-7af5d5f28038#.9aoukoy5z

Keep your browser clear of annoying ads!

November 2, 2021January 3, 2014 by emily sparkle

Advertising has it’s place online, but there is definitely benefit to blocking advertisements in your browser. Put simply, productivity can increase because digital distractions are decreased. This is of great use to the small business person.

There are plenty of adblockers out there, the most popular of which is AdBlockPlus.

If you don’t want to purchase an ad blocker and are a DIY type, you can edit the host file on your computer to block content from known advertisers.

Excellent instructions are kept up up to date and you can sign up to be alerted by email from MVPS Host News when a new version is posted.

More info @ http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm

Raging Roots Studio

December 7, 2016July 22, 2013 by emily sparkle

This client had a strong DIY sense when she came to me. She had been maintaining an HTML website in Dreamweaver, but was struggling to keep it current, usable and organized.

Hosting Options

February 21, 2019July 21, 2013 by emily sparkle

When selecting Web hosting services for your WordPress project, be sure the host is Wordpress friendly. Does it support the currently required technology?

Also helpful are access to the hosting account

Control Panel (C-panel)
FTP Access & Administration
phpMyAdmin
Email Administration

I offer basic WordPress Hosting but actually prefer my clients to host with a third party.

WordPress maintains a list of recommended hosts. If you’re currently hosting on GoDaddy, and are happy with them, I am also familiar with their setup and can work with you, but no longer recommend them to new clients. I generally point people to DreamHost as their service is reliable and their support is great.

Shared vs. VPS vs Cloud?

Depending on what the scope of your project is you’ll need to consider what type of hosting you site will require. Most small business and independent entrepreneurs find a shared host sufficient. Fair warning: Shared hosts can be sloooooow. Often the addage ‘you get what you paid for’ is true, cheap service likely equals slow site load times for varying reasons. If your shared site is getting bogged down you could consider using VPS. CDN & Cloud hosting is a great option for large online stores with heavy image traffic load.