Backing up your precious data is a common best practice these days. But, what about your WordPress-powered website? Yes, most web hosting companies do perform regular system backups.
But beware – not every host is reliable when it comes to backups. And you certainly don’t want to wait until disaster strikes to find out how they did.
You’ll get much more peace of mind if you perform regular site backups yourself. Luckily, there are several outstanding free plugins that will do the job for you.
Note that there are some differences in what various plugins will backup. A WordPress website is comprised of both a database (usually MySQL) and a set of files that sit on the webserver.
You’ll really only need to worry about the /wp-content/ folder, which contains your theme, plugins, and file uploads. Some plugins backup both the database and files.
Others will handle one of the two. Keep in mind that you’ll need both the database and the /wp-content/ folder to have access to all of your site’s data.
Now, let’s check out some plugins to keep your site backed up. We’ll take note of whether they back up a site’s database, file system, or both.
WordPress software updates can sometimes cause problems. That’s why it’s important to have backups that can be restored immediately.
Total Upkeep’s auto rollback feature will create backups before you run updates, allowing you to easily restore the site to its previous state. A Pro version also enables cloud-based backups and staging sites.
Backs Up: Database and File System (with an option to customize what gets backed up)
Having a staging environment for your WordPress website is always a good idea. But if your web host doesn’t offer this functionality, WP STAGING can help.
The plugin makes it easy to clone your site and into a subfolder (or a subdomain, if you opt for the Pro version).
Backup, restore or even migrate your site. Also available is the ability to download a copy of a backup to keep on your local machine. A pro version lets you schedule backups and connect to various cloud storage services.
Backs Up: Database and File System (with an option to customize what gets backed up)
Schedule regular backups of your WordPress database and have it both emailed to you and stored on your web server. Restore a backup with just a couple of clicks.
Also, you can schedule automatic database optimization and repair.
Rather than doing a time and resource consuming full backup each time, WP Time Capsule will perform an incremental backup of just the files that have changed.
You have the ability to schedule backups and connect to Dropbox, Amazon S3 and Google Drive.
WPBackItUp touts its ease of use – just one click to backup your entire site. The plugin compresses the backup into a .zip file stored on your web server. Backup status notifications will arrive via email.
Automatically or manually backup your entire site to your web server, multiple cloud services, email or even an FTP server. Restore backups directly from inside WordPress. Site migration packages can also be downloaded.
Backs Up: Database and File System (with an option to customize what gets backed up)
Backup your site’s database to the cloud, email, or FTP. Set up a schedule to run on a routine basis. The ability to exclude specific database tables is included.
You can schedule complete automatic backups for your site and store them in the cloud. Backups can be compressed into .zip, .tar, tar.gz or tar.bz2 formats. BackWPup will also check, repair, and optimize your database.
This plugin is all about simplicity – there is no setup required. Backup your entire site on a schedule and optionally have the archives emailed to you. Backups will run even on low-powered web hosting accounts.
Backs Up: Database and File System (with an option to customize what gets backed up)
No More Excuses – Backup Your Site!
A WordPress site can break for many reasons, including a database crash, theme or plugin incompatibility, or a failed web host. But you don’t have to leave things to chance.
There are free WordPress backup plugins that cater to every need. It’s time to be proactive with your website and prepare for the worst. If something does happen, you’ll be glad that you took steps to regularly backup your website.
Today's challenge asks us to interpret a list of numbers. In the first part, our goal is to determine how many elements in the list are larger than their immediate predecessor.
The imperative way would be to toss it in a `foreach()` loop and track some state along the way. But we want to be functional and avoid "track some state," because the whole point of functional programming is to avoid tracking state, as tracking state is error prone.
When looking at a foreach-style operation that has some state, my first inclination is to look at a reduce operation. A reduce operation walks over a list and performs the same operation (function) on each item, using the output of the previous iteration as an input. That is, each step takes the output of the previous operation and the next element, and produces an output. It's quite elegant.
WordPress 5.9 Beta 1 is now available for testing!
This version of the WordPress software is under development. You don’t want to run this version on a production site. Instead, it is recommended that you run this on a test site. This will allow you to test out the new version.
You can test the WordPress 5.9 Beta 1 in three ways:
Option 1: Install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream).
Option 3: Use WP-CLI to test: wp core update --version=5.9-beta1. Do not use this option if your filesystem is case-insensitive.
The current target for the final release is January 25, 2021, which is just eight weeks away. Your help testing this version is vital to make sure the release is as good as it can be.
Testing for bugs is a critical part of polishing the release in the beta stage. It is also a great way to contribute. If you’ve never tested a beta release before, this detailed guide will help walk you through what and how to test.
If you think you’ve found a bug, please report it to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac. That’s also where you can find a list of known bugs.
Want to know what’s new in version 5.9? Read on for some highlights.
Full Site Editing
The Styles Interface
Combine all the features that went live in 5.8 with those making their entrance in 5.9, and you get Full Site Editing.
Formerly known as Global Styles, the Styles Interface lets you interact directly with your blocks and elements right in the WordPress Admin. From typography to color palettes, this cohesive design interface means a design change—even a dramatic one—can happen without a theme switch. No code needed.
Theme.json
Introduced in WordPress 5.8, theme.json has been improved to enable features and default styles for your site and its blocks. With 5.9, theme.json can support child themes and the duotone treatment. Coordinate layers of style with theme.json, taking the weight off of your theme’s required CSS.
Other features supported by theme.json include:
Border: color, style, and width augment the border-radius property that landed in 5.8.
Flex layouts: Block Gap support, courtesy of spacing.blockGap.
Typography: font families, font style, font weight, text decoration, and text transform.
Images: Duotones.
A New Navigation Block
Welcome to the most intuitive way to build navigation: the Navigation Block.
Here are the features that need testing the most:
Responsive menu options you can turn off, have always on, or opt to use only for small screens.
Built-in keyboard accessibility. For accessibility, for speed, or both.
Add extra blocks like Search and Site Icon blocks (and customize them to your liking).
Submenu items with styling options.
Horizontal or vertical alignment.
Reusable navigation? Even across themes? Yes. Because the Navigation Block you build gets saved as a custom post type.
A Better Gallery Block
What if you could treat single images in your Gallery Block the same way you treat the Image Block? Now you can.
Make every image in your gallery different from the next, with inline cropping or a duotone and change layouts with the ease of drag and drop. With the improved gallery block, every image is its own Image block.
Building template parts can take a level of focus all its own because you’re making decisions for the entire site. So WordPress 5.9 adds a focus mode that shows you only the part you’re working on right now (and you can get back to the regular view with a keystroke).
Block Pattern Directory
The Pattern Directory offers a range of prebuilt block patterns, from a couple of blocks that show an image and text, to an entire page layout with columns and sections. Since the 5.8 release, the directory has become a hub for exploratory UI and patterns, taking submissions and offering them to the community. So now, your creation can help other people build out their perfect site.
Twenty Twenty-Two Default Theme
A whole new way of building WordPress themes.
WordPress 5.9 introduces features that make Full Site Editing possible, including the first default block theme.
Using minimal CSS, theme styles reside in theme.json so that you can configure them in the Styles interface of the WordPress Admin. Make this theme take on its own personality site-wide, with a wide array of color schemes, type combinations, page templates, premade components (forms), and image treatments to choose from.
More Improvements and Updates
Do you love to blog? New tweaks to the publishing flow let you add new posts just seconds after hitting Publish on your latest post.
List View lets you drag and drop content as easily as you could always cruise through it – and collapse entire sections – so you can concentrate on a task or get the bigger picture.
In this series, we share some of the inspiring stories of how WordPress and its global network of contributors can change people’s lives for the better. This month we feature a translator and campaigner who uses WordPress to highlight good causes and helps people in her area benefit from the open source platform.
Going to a WordCamp can be a life-changing experience, as Devin Maeztri discovered. Every event she attends is a further step on a journey of discovering the WordPress community and its many opportunities.
“It is not that hard to fall for WordPress if you have a chance to experience WordPress. For me, it took a WordCamp.”
Devin Maeztri
Devin’s first experience with camps came when she volunteered impromptu at an Indonesian event, WordCamp Denpasar, Bali in 2016.
Here, she made a profound discovery: “WordCamps can bring people who will give back to the community, even if they don’t get anything from WordPress directly.”
With every WordCamp after that first experience, she became more interested in WordPress and the community.
Over time, Devin found she wanted to be part of WordPress events more often. She became a regular at Meetups in Ubud and Jakarta, joining as a co-organizer at WordCamp Jakarta in 2017 and 2019. Later, she took on the role of co-organizer for Meetups in Jakarta and Ubud.
Smitten by what WordCamps can offer and how they can bring people together across national borders, she joined the organizing team for WordCamp Asia 2020. Sadly, this event was to become the first major WordPress event to be cancelled in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Naturally, Devin hopes WordCamp Asia will happen someday very soon. Beyond the expected WordPress learning and sharing that event will promote, she believes its very scale will showcase how WordCamps add international tourism and cultural understanding everywhere they take place.
WordCamp Asia 2020 Organizers at WordCamp Europe 2019. Devin is pictured in the front row, second from left. Photo Credit: Abha Thakor
Showing how WordPress can be used locally
After experiencing several events, Devin had questions: “At WordCamps and Meetups, you hear stories about how WordPress powers the web. How it changes the lives of so many people, how it helps dreams come true. It made me think, considering WordPress is that powerful, why are there not even more people in Indonesia using websites, and more using WordPress? Why aren’t more talented Indonesian WordPress users, developers, designers, and business owners taking part in WordPress.org projects? Language, for me, was the main answer.”
The solution Devin felt was to make WordPress available in the main local language. She said: “I believe, the more content translated into Indonesian, the more Indonesian WordPress users see WordPress as more than just a blogging platform or a content management system. They will realize it’s a huge open source community that works together to make the web a better place. The more plugins and themes translated, the easier the work of the developer and designer will be. The more people see how WordPress can enhance their life, the better the ecosystem for business owners becomes.”
Encouraging others to translate WordPress
After talking with others about how WordPress could be even more useful in Indonesia, Devin felt she had to make a personal commitment to reviving the polyglot project in Indonesia. With another volunteer contributor and through promotion, the local polyglot team got bigger and the interest in translation grew. She also took on the responsibility of a General Translation Editor for the language.
Through the efforts of Devin and the other translation editors, Indonesia took part in WordPress Translation Day in 2020, and in 2021 held sprints and learning sessions spanning the whole 30 days of the event.
Her enthusiasm and dedication to helping others translate WordPress locally and promoting the global community were recognized in the Polyglot Appreciation Nominations for 2021.
Helping to give access to more diverse audiences
Through her involvement in translation, Devin noticed there were not many women involved in the WordPress community in Indonesia. Often, she found herself the only woman at an event.
So, along with a couple of community members, she started Perempuan WordPress, a local initiative. This group is open for everyone to join, but prioritizes women as event speakers.
Devin has gone on to support the work of the Diversity Speaker Training group in the Community Team, translating materials and promoting initiatives in Indonesia. She is keen to encourage others to get involved with this initiative which helps increase the diversity of presenters at Meetups and WordCamps.
Organizing at WordCamp Jakarta 2019
In her professional roles, Devin is an advocate for WordPress as a tool for people with a wide variety of skill sets. She does not code, but uses the platform extensively for her projects. In 2014, she signed up for a free account on WordPress.com to keep and share notes about what she saw or was thinking about as she commuted on public transport to work. This site did not turn into a blog, but instead introduced her to other opportunities and the vast capabilities of the platform.
WordPress can support your skills and passions
With a background in environmental activism, Devin has worked for international development organizations on everything from policymaking to campaigning.
Behind the desk, she worked with policymakers and organized conferences and meetings. That meant doing a lot of writing and translating and working with people on the ground who were impacted by the policies. “My work on the ground usually involved researching, movement building and community empowerment,” she noted.
Her work with events inspired Devin to get involved in WordCamps and Meetups and share her energy for making things happen. As in her professional work, she felt WordPress was an opportunity to work and share with people about something that can make a positive impact on someone else’s life.
“For me, everything comes from the heart. I do things that I feel so strongly about. Things that call me, and things that I am good at but still giving me room to learn and become better at. WordPress can be the perfect place for this.”
While she was between jobs, Devin was encouraged to volunteer at WordCamp Denpasar 2016. With some help, she created an online CV. She also learned to manage a WordPress site, navigate the wp-admin, and make the content appeal to potential employers.
She eventually got a job as a campaigner to build a movement online and offline. The brainchild of many university friends in America, who used digital campaigns to go global, the campaign used WordPress.
Devin worked alongside a digital campaigner and helped shape the content, the call to action, and the user experience. She also had to use the wp-admin to make some amendments. As a global movement, it developed its resources in English, so she also reviewed the work of the translators she worked with.
Devin’s cat became a regular on social media posts about #WPTranslationDay 2021
She left her job as a campaigner at the end of 2018 to concentrate on freelancing – and to spend more of her free time contributing to the WordPress community. She also took up the initiative to help street cats in Jakarta.
Devin said: “So, I am busy helping these cats but also learning how to fundraise using a website. I’m learning to use online forms, set up a payment service provider, work on SEO, and do other new things I need to learn to grow my initiative. I do have the privilege to learn directly from a personal guru. The same person who convinced me to volunteer at WordCamp Denpasar, and who I married in 2018.”
WordPress gives everyone a chance to learn
Devin was so enthused by being a contributor for WordPress, she took part in the video shorts following the Translation Day events.
Devin talks about translating in this short video (opens in a new tab on YouTube)
She is also active in other Contributor Teams and decided to become a Community Team Deputy to support meetups in new cities across Indonesia and perhaps future WordCamps.
She said: “One of the things that I like about WordPress is that it is very welcoming and open to people like me, who don’t code at all. At the same time, it shows me a different way of looking at the world.”
Devin believes in the power of WordPress to give ‘everyone a chance to learn new things’ and allows her to contribute and share her knowledge and experience. “By contributing, I hope to make a difference in someone’s life. I hope they feel the benefit of using WordPress and want to give back to create a healthier WordPress community.”
Contributors
Thank you to Abha Thakor (@webcommsat) and Mary Baum (@marybaum) for the interviews and writing this feature, and to Devin Maeztri (@devinmaeztri) for sharing her story. Thanks to Meher Bala (@meher) for work on the images, and to Chloé Bringmann (@cbringmann) and Collieth Clarke (@callye) for proofing.
Thanks to Josepha Haden Chomphosy (@chanthaboune) and Topher DeRosia (@topher1kenobe) for their support for the series.
This People of WordPress feature is inspired by an essay originally published on HeroPress.com, a community initiative created by Topher DeRosia. It highlights people in the WordPress community who have overcome barriers and whose stories might otherwise go unheard. #HeroPress #ContributorStory
openswoole 4.8.0
- Official PHP 8.1 stable support ????
- Native support for Postgres coroutine client, enable --with-postgres[=DIR]
- New HTTP server option: max_request_execution_time
- Support strict type hinting and fix the type of arguments, return value
- Bug fixed: data loss bug in Swoole table
- Bug fixed: compile issues when enabling OpenSSL on macOS
- Throw SwooleException when Swoole table is too small to avoid data loss
- Deprecation warning added: SwooleCoroutineServer
- Deprecation warning added: SwooleCoroutineBarrier
- Deprecation warning added: SwooleCoroutineHttpServer
- Deprecation warning added: SWOOLE_HOOK_CURL, use SWOOLE_HOOK_NATIVE_CURL
ast 1.0.16
- Optimize instantiating properties of astNode and astMetadata.
- Document that astNode implements `#[AllowDynamicProperties]` in php 8.2
ast 1.0.15
- Allow astNode to have dynamic properties without emitting a notice in PHP 8.2.
For freelance web designers, change is a way of life. Tools and technologies come and go, as do design trends. If anything, we may be better equipped to handle a rapidly-evolving world than most.
Take, for example, the COVID-19 pandemic. Chaotic as it has been, it’s led to some important realizations. Perhaps the biggest one is that we are indeed essential workers.
Not on the front line, mind you. But our expertise has played a vital role in helping our clients adjust to a new “normal”. We have also served as liaisons, spreading important information to the masses.
One could argue that web designers are as relevant as ever. Still, that doesn’t mean that individual freelancers are immune to the ever-shifting landscape. Long-term survival in this industry is not a guarantee.
As someone who has spent over two decades freelancing, I do see some potential threats ahead. That said, I also believe designers can prepare for them. Here are a few items to watch out for, along with ways you can mitigate their effects.
The Growing Complexity of Building Websites
Building a custom website is becoming more difficult. The development techniques behind the latest functionality trends are vast. In addition, the expectations from clients have also grown.
But, aren’t things supposed to be easier as technology improves? Well, yes and no.
WordPress is a prime example of this. The Gutenberg block editor has evolved to the point where crafting a custom page layout is relatively simple. Thankfully, extra plugins and hard-coding theme templates are no longer 100% necessary.
Yet, if you want to natively develop custom blocks, it’s not necessarily a straightforward experience. There is a steep learning curve for those who are not already proficient with JavaScript and the React library.
Then there is the whole concept of the “headless” website, where a content management system (CMS) feeds into a static HTML front end. Both the setup and maintenance processes are a whole new ballgame for many web designers.
You can still achieve quite a lot using visual, no-code tools. But going fully custom means digging deep into code. Understandably, that’s not everyone’s strong point.
How to Prepare
Experiment with different technologies and find ones that will benefit your business. That will be the key to providing your clients with cutting-edge service.
Another benefit: the more you know, the more you can charge! The ability to take on complex projects is a great way to boost your bottom line.
One-Stop Agencies
Web design is an ultra-competitive marketplace. Yet, it seems like there has always been enough work to go around. That’s a comforting thought.
But it ultimately depends on the types of clients you want to work with. For a certain level of clientele, a niche freelancer is becoming a less attractive option. Why? Because we don’t do “everything”.
Some organizations see a benefit to having all of their needs taken care of by a single provider. That means their web, print, and social media are in the hands of a one-stop agency.
The appeal is understandable. Instead of having a web designer over here, a graphic artist over there, and an SEO expert somewhere else, one company handles it all. Ideally, an agency will have a single point of contact and a more cohesive strategy.
When, for example, it’s time for a rebrand, the agency is there every step of the way. Even if the cost is higher, the ease of management may be worth the premium.
How to Prepare
Short of expanding your offerings and hiring additional people (thus, becoming an agency), competing in this area is difficult. However, there are some things you can do to stay in the game.
The first is to focus on clients who don’t require an all-encompassing level of service. There are plenty of organizations out there that will see the value in what you do.
You might also find an opportunity to work with an agency, as some utilize freelancers quite a bit. Coming on board means playing a key role in their projects. Plus, these types of gigs can become a source of recurring revenue.
Poor Business Habits
While outside threats get all the publicity, nothing can sink a freelance design career faster than poor business habits. They can lead you to lose money and, ultimately, your business.
There are several things here that can spell trouble, including:
Spending too much money;
Reliance on a single, large client;
Charging too little;
Failure to be thorough when creating project estimates;
Providing poor customer service;
Leaving yourself open to legal liability;
Quite often, it’s not a lack of talent or even a saturated market that kills a web design business. Rather, carelessness can be the biggest culprit. The seemingly small details of running a business mean a lot.
How to Prepare
Running a freelance web design business requires a lot of discipline. Therefore, it pays to be organized and develop processes for every aspect of the job.
In practice, this means accurately keeping track of finances, staying on top of ongoing projects, effectively communicating with clients, and general awareness of where your business stands. This will keep you vigilant and less likely to be taken by surprise.
Control What You Can
Some threats to freelance web designers are beyond our control. Market trends and the whims of clients are chief among them. Add to that the ever-growing complexity that defines what a website is and should be. Here, all we can do is try and keep pace.
However, there are many things we can control. We can choose to learn new skills that keep us on par with industry standards. This ensures that we won’t fall behind the curve when it comes to top-notch design and functionality.
In addition, we can run our businesses like a well-oiled machine. Doing so will allow us to stay organized and make the most of the opportunities that come our way. We may even recognize new ones that we wouldn’t have before.
Most importantly, we can choose the direction we want our business to go. This means further developing a niche and recruiting clients who fit our vision. The idea is to find clients who will benefit from our expertise and help them grow.
Yes, there are some existential threats to freelancers lurking out there. But with the right approach, they’ll end up as little more than bumps in the road.
