Category: Blogging

Over the years I have learned to take regular backups of all my word, on my local system or on the Internet. So a data loss has hardly ever given me sleepless nights, not until now.

As you would have noticed, this blog as it existed prior to 26th January 2007 is now dead. It so happened that during my vacation up North I did something really silly (no I don’t know what caused it) that rendered this website bare, void of any content. This didn’t bother me much as I had four backups, all created using Skippy’s WP Database Backup Plugin, now managed by Austin Matzko stored safely on my system here in Hyderabad. So once I got back, I fired up my FTP client, uploaded the WordPress 2.1 setup files and executed the installation script. Next, I dug up the backup and restored the database using phpMyAdmin.

After the restore finished, I viewed my site and noticed that all the content except the posts were back. So I emptied the DB and imported the backup once again. Still same result. I tried restoring using the other three files as well, but the result in each case was the same. After close examination of the .sql file, I noticed that the code for the wordpress_posts table was missing, all of it. I looked far and wide to find a way to figure out why the plugin left out only the “wordpress_posts” table while creating the backups?

This is really annoying and frustrating for me as I had put in a lot of effort in writing the 70-odd posts, not to mention tweaking the plugins and themes to meet my requirements. I’ve decided to chuick this plugin and use WP-DbManager instead.

UPDATE: Thanks to Tina and Technorati’s cache of my blog, I’ve recovered 10-odd posts from the original 70. I wonder what I would do without Tina! Thanks sweety!

Ok, so technically the following words aren't misspelled. They're misused. The reason you should review this list is because a spell checker won't correct these for you. Make sure that you've got foolproof control over them (especially if you tend to write around 3:12 AM like I am now). Extensively misusing them throughout your posts may actually cost you a visitor or two every now and then because some folks do get caught up on these, which means they won't focus 100 % of their attention on your incredibly valuable content!

1. Your – You're
As mentioned above, your message might lose impact if you're not paying attention to this number one word maltreatment. If you find it particularly difficult to separate them from each other, stop using 'you're altogether and notice how you are starting to improve your spelling.

2. Then – Than
The next step is then to tell yourself that it's better late than never to get that vowel placement in order. Then your readers might find something more useful to comment on than your apparent spelling impediment.

3. Its – it's
It's best to write an article and its words properly for optimal reader engagement. Again, if you still fail to tell the difference without effort, just write how great it is not having to worry about misusing or misspelling words.

4. To – Too – Two
To write two posts per day, or not to write two posts per day. That too is the question.

5. Were – Where – We're
Where in the world were you? We were at Billy's and we're staying for another day. Make sure your blog visitors do that too.

6. There – Their – They're
They're moving their cursor over there. By focusing more attention on proper word use, your visitors won't highlight and pinpoint your mistakes.

7. A – An – And
A flawlessly written article serves as an eye-opener and should provide lasting value. Remember also that an abbreviation like SUV starts with a vowel pronunciation and requires an 'an' in front of it.

8. Off – Of
Of all the mistakes you could prevent from appearing, start off by checking out this common mix up. You should have paid attention at school when they told you not to write 'should of'. Or off your visitors go.

9. Here – Hear
Hear ye! Hear ye! Here is a blog worth reading. You can almost hear the distant clicks of new visitors finding their way over here this very moment.

10. Lose – Loose
But if you're too loose on your writing discipline, you will end up losing those readers after a while. You'd have a bolt loose if you don't apply these 10 writing rules from now on with greater care. You win some and you don't lose anyone.

Can you find the misused or misspelled word in this article?

Soon after the release on WordPress 2.0.7 on January 15, 2007, Matt and Co are out with the much awaited version 2.1. It was due soon enough but not this soon.

Here’s a list of the new features:

• Autosave makes sure you never lose a post again.
• Our new tabbed editor allows you to switch between WYSIWYG and code editing instantly while writing a post.
• The lossless XML import and export makes it easy for you to move your content between WordPress blogs.
• Our completely redone visual editor also now includes spell checking.
• New search engine privacy option allows you take you to indicate your blog shouldn’t ping or be indexed by search engines like Google.
• You can set any “page” to be the front page of your site, and put the latest posts somewhere else, making it much easier to use WordPress as a content management system. Much more efficient database code, faster than previous versions.
• Domas Mituzas from MySQL went over all our users with a fine-toothed comb. Links in your blogroll now support sub-categories and you can add categories on the fly.
• Redesigned login screen from the Shuttle project.
• More AJAX to make custom fields, moderation, deletions, and more all faster.
• My favorite is the comments page, which new lets you approve or unapprove things instantly.
• Pages can now be drafts, or private.
• Our admin has been refreshed to load faster and be more visually consistent. The dashboard now instantly and brings RSS feeds asynchronously in the background. Comment feeds now include all the comments, not just the last 10.
• The upload manager lets you easily manage all your uploads pictures, video, and audio.
• A new version of the Akismet plugin is bundled.

And last but not the least, as always, the upgrade went off like a breeze. Way to go guys! Keep it up!