In web development it’s a often a best practice to only load CSS and JavaScript files on pages where you need them. Developing an efficient website is both a matter of site performance and of professional pride. In WordPress though it’s all too often that a carefully maintained site is suddenly filled with extra files […]
Troubleshooting issues with WordPress plugins
One of the strengths of WordPress is the tens of thousands of plugins available (for free via the WordPress.org plugin repository and for purchase). However it can be an Achilles’ heel at times. When you start mixing 10, 20, or 30+ plugins written by different authors and never tested against each other, sometimes issues arise. […]
FileMaker as a CRM and ERP – Software Integration
Two software important industry buzzwords today are CRM (customer relationship management) and ERP (enterprise resource planning). Both CRM and ERP software help you to run a business better by managing a business’s operations, customer relations, and financials. They provide access to data, analysis, and reports that can help you make smarter business decisions. FileMaker is […]
SEO Q&A: Subdomain vs. subfolder?
I often get asked if Google* prefers a subdomain or a subfolder. The issue often arises when someone is hosting their main site on a hosted solution like Shopify (or similar) versus WordPress. They love the ease of use of the hosted service, but it’s hard to beat WordPress at blogging. They want the best of […]
Trust Expert David Horsager Sets the Stage at Cimbura.com Grand Opening: Why Trust is So Important
The staff at Cimbura.com welcomed a full house at the October Grand Opening Celebration of their new office location (5155 East River Road, Fridley, MN). They were honored with a ribbon cutting ceremony with Mayor Scott Lund, and keynotes from business growth expert Mark LeBlanc and business strategist and trust expert David Horsager, whose keynote is featured here, highlighting the importance of Trust in any […]
New Spam Vectors for Apple Users: Calendar and Photos Invites
Update: Response from Apple According to iMore, Apple is aware of the issue and has issued an official statement: “We are sorry that some of our users are receiving spam calendar invitations. We are actively working to address this issue by identifying and blocking suspicious senders and spam in the invites being sent.” I’m still hoping […]
Identifying Fake LinkedIn Profiles – Be Careful
LinkedIn is a powerful tool for business. However, I’ve received several requests from people I do not know to connect to them on LinkedIn. I’m pretty open about LinkedIn connections because many potential clients do request a connection. But these particular email requests and the associated profiles raised some red flags for me. Here’s an example: First, […]
Cimbura.com Interview from DevCon 2016
Many thanks to Donald Clark from FileMakerProGurus.com for this interview of Cimbura.com executives at the FileMaker DevCon 2016 in Las Vegas, NV. Gain insights into the FileMaker business world, highlights of sessions at DevCon including WordPress and GIS, Women of FileMaker, and many other ideas from Tim Cimbura (CEO), Dr. Brenda Cimbura (COO), and Nick […]
Cimbura.com Celebrates Grand Opening featuring Business Strategist Mark LeBlanc and Trust Expert David Horsager
On October 18, 2016, Cimbura.com hosted a Grand Opening Celebration of their new office location (5155 East River Road) in Fridley, MN, with Mayor Scott Lund at the ribbon cutting ceremony, keynotes from business growth expert Mark LeBlanc and business strategist and trust expert David Horsager, and many local clients in attendance. “We appreciate our clients’ contribution to the growth and success […]
WordPress Core Contributions
One of the benefits of using open source software like WordPress is that (if you choose) you can lend a hand to help make it better. That may mean contributing code, reporting bugs, testing releases, documentation, making it more accessible to those with disabilities, etc. It also means that thousands of other users and developers contribute […]
Recover a Stolen Macintosh with Undercover
At our office we’re prepared for the worst to happen to our computers…and you should be as well. You never know when something bad is going to happen. If you depend on your software, hardware, and data for doing anything important you need to take note now. First, we use strong passwords to protect computers, […]
Ransomware on the Mac
Recently a ransomware attack was discovered that affects the Mac OS. The malware would encrypt your hard drive data and only allow access if you paid a fee. The Ransomware attacked the application Transmission…a BitTorrent Client. You were only vulnerable if you downloaded the full, infected installer from the developer. If you performed in-app updates, […]
Live Chat WordPress Plugin
Question: Do you have any recommendations on live chat plugins for WordPress? I’m looking for one where a logged in visitor could view a set of people and choose one to talk to. It would need to allow for multiple chats at once. Ideally I could associate a WordPress user with a live chat agent account. […]
WWW: To Have or Not to Have
Question: I saw an article today advocating that the “right” way to do URLs is to use the www in front. But I had previously heard many others saying that this prefix was most deprecated and so not to use it. I’m curious to hear what other people think about this. Answer: According to most […]
Reset WordPress Password Challenge
Here’s a more technical and specific WordPress development question where a WordPress application has multiple emails stored for each login. Question I have a WordPress site that requires users to register using an email address as their username. It also grabs an additional email address during registration that becomes the user’s email meta data. This all works fine […]
Preventing WordPress Hacking Attempts
Question: In the last two weeks, all of my WordPress websites that are under my hostgator hosting account have been hacked. Hostgator is currently doing a scan for malware – but since that is what they did last week, I need some suggestions for better security. Thanks for any type of “best practices” or links to white papers, […]
Web Video Hosting Options
Question: I have videos I want to be made available online with my web site. I may want some of them to be secure and protected from unauthorized access. Answer: Good news: You have many options! The following five video hosting options all have strengths and weaknesses. The correct choice depends on what your specific needs are for video hosting. Here […]
Google SEO-Removing Posts
Question: I am taking over an e-commerce site that has 50 or so bogus posts published over 3 months that have smartly crafted SEO drivel for content. The post images are nonsense but have good alt tags. There is no duplicate content. The author wrote each post for a different keyword phrase. Interestingly, those posts did […]
Should I Install MacKeeper?
This entry is part 1 of 4 in the series SecurityYou’ve probably come across ads telling you that you can improve the performance of your computer by installing MacKeeper. While it’s possible that MacKeeper may improve your Mac’s performance, it’s unlikely. Usually, if your Mac is acting slower than normal, it’s because of one of […]
Adware on the Mac
This entry is part 3 of 4 in the series SecurityAlong with fake security alerts, a nuisance known as adware is another type of vulnerability that Macs are susceptible to. (See our post on fake security alerts.) When afflicted with adware, your computer will start presenting a slew of pop up ads when you’re browsing the web and […]
Fake Security Alerts on MacOS
This entry is part 2 of 4 in the series SecurityWhile the Mac is still the most secure operating system known to man, several security threats are becoming more prevalent for Mac users. These threats are actually more of a nuisance than a critical security threat. You don’t have to worry about changing all your […]
5 Essentials Of Effective Client Communication
Being in the technology business means that we’re really in the business of solving complex issues in a reasonable amount of time, and providing outstanding service that keeps clients happy. We’ve all been there, however, in a place where it seems each client has needs that are equally important and equally imminent. How do we […]
Understanding the “IMMEDIATE ATTENTION REQUIRED: PayPal service upgrades” email and what it means for your website
PayPal has made everyone’s week a little crazier by sending out a very scary sounding email with the subject line “IMMEDIATE ATTENTION REQUIRED: PayPal service upgrades.” Relax. It’s not as scary as it sounds. If you’re a Cimbura.com customer, simply fill out a support request and rest easy: we’ve got you covered. If you need a new web […]
Do I need to escape the output of WordPress template tags like get_the_title()?
It came up at the Minneapolis WordPress User Group that I spoke at last night and on the Genesis Slack chat this morning. It appears to be the question of the day… So should I escape it? Yes! You should (late) escape (or sanitize) all output, all the time. But… Always and forever — ignore this advice at your […]
Dealing With Existing Systems
Starting fresh with a new custom application or solution is the ideal situation. There is no existing data to translate and import. We can build the solution the right way from the beginning. But the world is not ideal. We get to transition from old and clunky software systems or systems that are mid-development that […]
Windows 10 and FileMaker / WordPress
Windows 10 was released yesterday…and for many people it is a FREE upgrade so the temptation is great to upgrade right away. Take a moment to consider what this might mean for you. Breath deeply, slow down, and read on. Can I use FileMaker with Windows 10? The official supported Microsoft OS versions for FileMaker […]
Fixing Failed Emails from WordPress and WooCommerce
Q: A client’s site running WooCommerce does not send their customer email notifications after an order has been placed or when the order changes status. The backend runs just fine and clients receive email notification that an order has been placed. The customer should get a notification as well when their order status changes but they also do […]
Creating Usable, Maintainable, and Upgradable WordPress Sites: WordCamp Minneapolis 2015
I recently spoke at WordCamp Minneapolis on Creating Usable, Maintainable, and Upgradable WordPress Sites (Cimbura.com was proud to be a sponsor). This was a polished up version of the same talk I gave at WordUp last October. It seemed to be a common theme at WordCamp this year: following WordPress best practices is what smart developers do, and what smart clients ask for […]
Mac OS X Anti-Malware and Anti Virus
This entry is part 4 of 4 in the series SecurityWindows has had malware, virus, and trojan threats for years. With the gain in popularity of the Mac, they have started showing up on Mac OS X. One such beast is masquerading as “Apple Web Security”. Here’s an example screen shot as seen by some: This […]
Online Internet Safety and Preventing Identity or Financial Theft
As an application developer, I work with sensitive and secure information all the time that require us to use master passwords to access the information. At the point that I need to know the password when working with a client I’ll sometimes ask jokingly “What’s the name of your dog?” “Why?” they’ll ask back. “…because I need […]
