Every time I insert an image into a page or post, WP by default links the image to its file. For example, the image below links to https://wppov.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/monalisa.jpg.


This can be desirable in some use cases, but much more often just creates confusion. A user mouses over an image, sees that it links to somewhere, clicks on it, and is rewarded by … the image. On a page all by itself. The user then has to click back to my site or, more likely, just moves on never to return.

Read more The scourge of WP image selfies ›

On February 21, 2018 Google announced the new AdSense Auto-Ads, which promise to make website monetization easier and more effective. With Auto-Ads, Google makes all the decisions for me regarding the number and placement of ads on my web pages.

According to Google, the benefits of Auto-Ads include:

• Optimization: Using machine learning, Auto ads show ads only when they are likely to perform well and provide a good user experience.
• Revenue opportunities: Auto ads will identify any available ad space and place new ads there, potentially increasing your revenue.
• Easy to use: With Auto ads you only need to place the ad code on your pages once.

Read more The new AdSense Auto-Ads ›

Years ago I started monetizing my websites to a modest degree, using Google AdSense. I never expected to make big money, and I haven’t, for a number of reasons:

• I try to emphasize content, not ads. I want my ads to be unobtrusive.
• I will never subject my visitors to obnoxious ads that popup, pop-over, pop-under, pop-sideways, pop-anything. I hate those things.
• I choose site topics that are of interest to me, not high-paying niches like mortgages or personal injury lawsuits.
• My sites are not popular enough to generate much income.

Read more Monetizing my websites ›

There are reasonable points to be made on both sides of the Net Neutrality debate.  There is also net neutrality alarmism, lunatic fringe propaganda, and outright lies on both sides. I’d like to join the fun …

The Trump administration’s plan to end the Obama “Net Neutrality” regulations has apoplectic “the sky is falling” claims falling from the sky. Among the many outrageous predictions:

• “Your Internet service provider (ISP) will be allowed to bundle websites just like they bundle television channels”
• “It would prevent the emergence of new businesses”
• “Pharmaceutical companies could also be able to block news of new cures and alternative, lower-priced medicines”

Read more Net Neutrality Alarmism ›

Every once in a long while, the planets align just right or something, and luck falls remarkably in my favor. One example happened in late December 1999.

Read more by Gosh ›

The default editor used in WordPress, TinyMCE (Moxiecode content editor), does a great job in my opinion of facilitating content creation independent of page design, which I’m pretty sure was its intent. However, as WP has advanced from its roots as blogging software to become a popular full-fledged web development tool, the editor has become a limitation. For creative web page design with rich content, true what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) page builders offer significant advantages. [Note: TinyMCE is labeled WYSIWYG, but I have to use the Preview feature to see my content in the context of the page design.] The WordPress core team is understandably concerned about the future of WP in the face of drag-and-drop page builder offerings like Wix, Weebly, and SquareSpace.

Hence, the WP core team plans to replace TinyMCE with a brand new editor, Gutenberg, beginning with WP 5.0. The intent is to “make writing rich posts effortless”. Gutenberg is a radical change from TinyMCE, and the apparent rush to move it into the WP core, rather than offer it as an optional plugin for a year or two, has caused something of an uproar, or a Gutenberg kerfuffle, in the WP community.

Read more The Gutenberg Kerfuffle ›

I consider Google Analytics to be essential for all of my websites. There are very popular plugins for adding the Google Analytics code and for viewing fancy graphics of my site data from my WP admin dashboard. And … I don’t see the point of any of them. My theme makes it easy-breezy to add the code to my site header, and Google already has plenty of cool data visualizations that I have no reason to duplicate in my WP admin dashboard.

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Create and post awesome unique content.

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I am the first to admit my graphics skills are limited, to say the least. But because I enjoy dabbling in web work, I have to at least be able to accomplish simple image edits.

For me, Irfanview is the perfect tool. Its creator, Irfan Skiljan, humbly refers to Irfanview as an image viewer, and it is superb for that task. But it also has an impressive set of image editing, converting, and optimizing features. I find it intuitive and easy to use. I have been using it since shortly after it was introduced in 1996. It is not a full-blown professional suite like Adobe Photoshop, but for the simple image chores that form the limit of my abilities, it is indispensable.

Irfanview is free for noncommercial use and for use by educational, charity, and humanitarian organizations. A license for commercial use is $12 U.S. at the time of this post.