Dan’s Web Spot

Attention:

Please note that the Photos page has been updated so it now requires a valid login instead of just a static password.

If you don't have an account, you can sign up for free. You will receive an activation email containing a link that you need to click on to confirm your account... then you're all set.

If you forgot your existing password, click here to request a new one, or use the link in the sidebar. Just remember that if you send yourself a new password, it will likely be difficult to remember, so make sure to reset the password to one that you want (and can remember) the next time that you log in.

You can also register or login through the sidebar links. If needed, I can always create an account for you and/or set a password for you.

Hopefully this goes smoothly for everyone. » More...

Introduction:

In my last post, I outlined the XAMPP program and what it can do. Unfortunately, I hit a bit of a bump in the road, and wanted to share with others how I got around it.

Once I installed XAMPP, set up a new local database for testing, extracted a fresh copy of WordPress in the new c:/xampp/htdocs/wordpress folder I created, I opened wp-config-example.php to add my database and account info, and then saved it as wp-config.php.

All good so far, right? Well, not exactly. To begin the WordPress installation, I pointed my browser to http://localhost/wordpress/wp-admin/install.php
I entered my user name and email address and clicked on the next button.

At this point is where the snag came in: normally a randomly-generated initial blog password is displayed and/or sent to the email address you provided at initial setup for you to use when logging in for the first time. After you log in, you can change your password to whatever you like. However, when running your blog on your hard drive as localhost, you may not ever get that initial email, and worse yet, you can't access your blog's admin panel to change anything. If your email service is not set up, or if your firewall is blocking such communication, there is still a way to get in. Note that this applies to a locally-running XAMPP-powered test blog as well as a live, web host-powered blog. » More...

While I was performing some extensive WordPress plugin compatibility testing, I was getting frustrated with having to wait for what seemed like an eternity for page refreshes to occur. I did a little Google-ing and found an excellent open-source software package called XAMPP that runs on Windows.

XAMPP screen shot

It lets you run Apache (a web server program), PHP5 (a server programming language), MySql (a database program), FileZilla (an FTP program), and Mercury (an e-mail server program) on your local hard drive running a 32-bit version of Windows. You can manually start the programs/servers or run them as installed services. Here is a good XAMPP installation tutorial.

The XAMPP program lets you install a test blog locally on your hard drive, which greatly speeds up development and testing. » More...

Just a quick note here that I have posted the following groups of photos on the Photos Page. Better late than never, I guess:

• Thanksgiving 2008
• Michael's 10th Birthday
• Christmas 2008 at my house
• Christmas 2008 at Dei's house

Note that viewing the pictures requires a password. If you have it already, great; if you need it there's a link on the photos page to request it.

Updated 09Mar2009:

If you forgot your existing password, click here to request a new one, or use the link in the sidebar. Just remember that if you send yourself a new password, it will likely be difficult to remember, so make sure to reset the password to one that you want (and can remember) the next time that you log in. » More...

Hello everyone and Happy New Year for 2009!

May this year be the best ever of your lives, and may you achieve any and all of your resolutions, whatever they may be (hopefully positive)!

Here are some things I pray/wish for:

• to see the economy recover
• to pull out of Iraq completely (and successfully)
• to have the unemployment rate drop to an all-time low, and
• in general to see the good ol' USA recover it's position of being a respected super-power in the world once again...

Not to mention:

• world peace
• the end of diseases such as diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer's, and
• the death of racial discrimination (thanks partially to Obama being elected as our next president in 19 days)...

Of course, I could keep adding to this list significantly, as I'm sure any of you could... why don't you sign up and post your own thoughts and well-wishes for 2009? Let's see how many wishes and prayers we can collect together! » More...