Category Archives: Wordpress

Akismet—Was it Fate?

Stemming the Onslaught of Spam

When I started this blog, I researched before taking certain set-up steps. WordPress encouraged Akismet as a spam-blocker and JetPack as a good assortment of plug-ins. Because I encountered many “pro and con” discussions of both items online, I decided to wait before installing either one.

Intro Key

As a result, I soon became inundated with spam comments … and the volume kept escalating. Within a short time-frame today, I accumulated 127 spams and they were cumbersome to delete. Rather than go far afield in researching Akismet alternates, I looked at only the one that sounded like the best option. It was controversial too, subject to bugs and difficulties. So I went ahead with Akismet.

I have a couple of library books checked out about WordPress. As time allows, I’ll delve into that information to learn how certain other plug-in components can help this blog … because it’s pretty bare-bones at the moment, which also means pretty hidden. For now, though, that’s fine with me.

By the way, the top definition of “kismet” that appears in a Google search is “destiny; fate” and the usage example given is: “what chance did I stand against kismet?” I conclude that the Akismet software is aptly named.

 ~Jo  

P.S. I wish WordPress offered a plug-in that would keep the paragraph font from going wacky sometimes and appearing more bold or condensed. (Sigh.)

P.P.S. It has now been a full day later and I have NO spam comments. Ahhhhh-kismet!

Photo Credit: “Intro” key cropped image from Alvimann at morguefile.com.

 

 

 

Test to Resize Photo

Poem 130623 Onboard Guidance

I think I’ve solved the size problem. But now the picture is fuzzy, whereas the original is not. Why isn’t this photo as clear as the image you get if you click on it and it opens in another window???

Still struggling. There is SO much to learn, in spite of WordPress and YouTube tutorials that claim setting up a website is easy. For example, the information on backing up data is prodigious.

Blog Post Sequence

This is my third post today as I experiment with how WordPress works. The first two posts appeared on the page in reverse reverse order. In other words, the second post was not in the expected reverse chronological order, which would have been higher on the page. Instead, it appeared lower on the page than the first one.

Maybe the solution is to only post once per day. But, out of curiosity, I want to discover whether this third post will appear at the top, middle or bottom of the day’s postings.

I am relying on other people’s advice to learn and sort out these oddities, and I hope my experiences will someday be useful to others as they learn.

Result of this test: The posts I made today in the sequence 1-2-3 appear on the page in the order (from top to bottom) 3-1-2. Dunno why.

Webpage Photo Quality

Poem

Illustrated Poem of 6/23/13 

 

Test Two – Inserting Webpage Photos Without Losing Quality

Things are easy AFTER you learn how … in this case via some kind soul on a YouTube video.

Next I want to learn to have more control over how things get displayed on the website pages, e.g., more font size variation, different placement of text such as in extra columns, etc. Things have sure changed sine the ’70s when I wrote my own HTML. I guess the harder a problem is, the greater the thrill of solving it. As far as WordPress goes, I’m still probably in the foothills. No telling how big the mountains will be.