WPtouch Pro

Our flagship premium plugin product, WPtouch Pro has seen some great support from the WordPress community over the past few months. We’ve worked hard to get WPtouch Pro from its initial 2.0 release to the 2.1 version which is just around the corner, and includes: child theme & WP 3.0 custom menus support, along with the hotly-anticipated iPad theme support for our Classic theme.

It also includes other enhancements, refinements, tweaks and fixes over 2.0.9.1.

2.1 will be in Release Candidate status next week.

Beyond 2.1

After we release 2.1, the focus of WPtouch Pro development will shift to performance and maintenance for the 2.2 update. We hope to slim and shave, streamline and strengthen the core of WPtouch Pro, in preparation for some pretty cool stuff planned for next year.

WordTwit

We continue to improve and stabilize WordTwit, solving issues and bugs related to different server environments and URL shortener services. Look for a few releases in the next few weeks which accomplish more of the same.

What’s Next

We’ve been working on a major update to WordTwit which will deliver some key features: greatly improved Tweet widget with the ability to click and edit the outgoing tweet, add hashtags from tags and categories, support for multiple accounts, and more. Look for more details on the blog here soon.

Website/Support

Our website, support and documentation sites will all be getting a makeover soon which will make things easier for prospective customers to find the information they’re looking for about our products/services, and much better for customers to access account services and features. The new site(s) launch will be happening in December.

Best,
The BraveNewCode Team

I’m only going to focus on the procedure for a Linux server and a Mac host computer, since that’s the configuration we use the most.

What Is A WordPress Website

A WordPress website is a collection of files on disk as well as a MySQL database. That’s it. To move a site to a new location, you have to move both.

Step 1 – Backing Up The Database

The very first thing I do when moving a site is to backup the database. My preferred method for doing this is to utilize the command line tools within a Linux shell, but you can also use cPanel.

Assuming you are logged in via ssh, the first thing to do is to look for the wp-config.php file, which is usually in the website’s root directory, or possibly in a wordpress folder. If you open it up, you can find the database credentials, which resemble the following.

define('DB_NAME', 'dsdotcom');
define('DB_USER', 'duane');
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'duanespw');


Typically what I do next is to change to the website’s root directory, and then execute mysqldump, which is a program that comes with MySQL that creates a complete backup of a database in a text file format.

The format of the command is:

mysqldump -u [user] -p [database name] > [output-file]


which in the example above would be:

mysqldump -u duane -p dsdotcom > mywebsite-backup.sql


If you execute that command, you’ll be asked for the database password, which is the same value configured in the DB_PASSWORD variable in wp-config.php.

Assuming that goes well, you’ll end up with a complete backup of the database in mysite-backup.sql.

Step 2 – Backing Up The Files

If you’re using the Linux shell method, at this point go to directory that’s located before your website’s main directory. For example, if your site is at /home/bravenewcode/public_html/mywebsite.com, make sure you’re in the public_html directory. It’s important to be one directory back from your website’s main directory, as this will ensure the .htaccess and other hidden files are properly added to the archive.

At this point you can create a tar file representing all the files on disk by using the command.

tar cvf mybackup.tar mywebsite.com/*


where mywebsite.com/* should be replaced with your website’s directory name. If you put the MySQL database backup in the proper place in Step 1, then it will get added to the archive too.

At this point you can compress the file using gzip, by executing:

gzip mybackup.tar


which will create a file called mybackup.tar.gz.

Step 3 – Delivering The Package

At this point you will have a complete backup of the old site. Hopefully you have shell access to the new server, in which case you can copy the files directory between servers. You can accomplish this using the “scp” command (which stands for secure copy). The format of the copy command is:

scp mybackup.tar.gz user@hostname.com:/path/to/web/root/mybackup.tar.gz

where user is a valid user on the new server, and hostname.com is the name of the server. If the server is using cPanel, the backup file should almost always end up in a public_html directory.

Step 4 – Uncompressing The Files

At this point you can login to the new server via a shell command. Change directories using cd to the location of the backup file, for example by typing:

cd /home/bravenewcode/public_html


Then decompress the file using gunzip:

gunzip mybackup.tar.gz


which will leave you with a mybackup.tar file. Next, you have to expand the backup file, which will put all the files back in their proper location:

tar xvf mybackup.tar


when that is done, you should end up with a completely restored directory structure off of your main webserver root directory, for example public_html/mywebsite.com.

Step 5 – Import The Database

At this point, you have to import the database onto the new server. The backup file that was created in Step 1 should still exist in website’s directory (mywebsite.com), so it’s just a matter or importing it into MySQL. If this is a brand new server, you’ll have to create a new MySQL database using either cPanel or the command line. Assuming you have a new database with valid credentials, you can import the database using the mysql command.

First, change to the website directory:

cd /home/bravenewcode/public_html/mywebsite.com


next, execute the mysql command using the backup file that was created:

mysql -u [database_user] -p [database_name] < [backup-file-name]


or something like this when populated with real data:

mysql -u bnc_duane -p bnc_dsdotcom < mywebsite-backup.sql


You'll be prompted to enter the database password. Once the command is finished, you'll have the database restored on the new site.

Step 6 - Quick Sanity Test

At this point in time, WordPress is installed on the new server and is most likely in a somewhat broken state (due to the fact that the database information on the new server is different than the old server). I purposefully exploit that fact to test to make sure everything is working on the new server.

For example, if the website name is mywebsite.com, and it's been moved from an IP of 24.100.100.100 to 72.100.100.100, you can do a quick test my editing your hosts file. On a Mac, this file is located in /etc/hosts, and contains a list of domain names to map to IP addresses. There's an equivalent on Windows somewhere as well.

In that file you can add a single line, similar to the following:

72.100.100.100 mywebsite.com

Once added to the file, all requests for mywebsite.com in the browser will be redirected to the new IP, and to the new server. The old site will continue to be accessible for every one else, assuming it's still public, but your local configuration (that you set using the hosts file) will force your computer to use the new server.

If all goes well, you'll punch in your website name in a browser after editing the hosts file and see a broken site, most likely due to a Database connection error.

Step 7 - Update Database Information

At this point, edit the wp-config.php file and change the database information to match the information on the new server. As soon as that is done, the website should be completely accessible again from a browser. Once you verify that the website is working properly, you can delete the dummy .sql backup file.

Step 8 - Update DNS Information

At this point, you can probably safely redirect the web traffic from the old server to the new server. If you use a third party nameserver, simply update all the IP information to the new server's address. If the nameserver is located on the new server, you'll have to log into your DNS registrar and point your domain name to the new nameserver.

I personally usually redirect all the IP addresses first, let those propagate, and then only change the namserver information after a day or so of making sure the website looks proper to everyone. It's generally quick to change IP addresses back if there is a problem (assuming the TTL values are low on the DNS entries), but takes a long time to change the nameserver information at the registrar and have it propagate.

There are also few variations on this I'll detail below.

What If I Don't Have Shell Access?

You can definitely still backup and restore a site, it's just more work. First, you'll have to make the backup via cPanel using the phpMyAdmin program. Once inside, there's a tab at the very right hand side called Export. phpMyAdmin makes use of mysqldump as well, so the end result is the same as doing the backup from the command line, but it takes a few more clicks.

In terms of moving the files, you'll probably have to use FTP and proxy everything via a local machine. For example, usually you can drag the whole website folder from the FTP program onto your desktop, and then drag it back to a new FTP connection on the new server. It definitely takes a lot longer this way, since typically home-based Internet connections are slow compared to server-server transfers, but you can still get the job done.

Likewise, if you don't have shell access you'll have to import the .sql file using the Import tab within phpMyAdmin.

Maintenance Mode

While the backup and restoration process is fast, it's not instantaneous. That means if you completed all the tasks above in order, it's possible that you may receive a reader comment on your site after you've already made a database backup. The best option is to install and activate a maintenance mode plugin on the site prior to starting this procedure. Maintenance mode will make it so only administrators can see the actual site, while everyone else will get a "This site is down for maintenance" message.

The one we use most is the Maintenance Mode plugin in the WordPress.org repository. It has a nice feature where you can create a 503.php file in your theme directory and have a completely custom page people will see when maintenance mode is active. We use that to our advantage on client sites where we want a nice presentable, user-friendly screen to appear during the transfer process.

Wow, That Wasn't So Hard

After you get the hang of doing a full backup/restore from the command line, you can move an entire WordPress website in just a few minutes. The important thing is to take your time, be careful, and make sure you have backups on a local machine (of both the files and the database) prior to starting the procedure.

If you use cPanel, it has a backup/restore feature built into it, but in my experience it has failed pretty much every time I've tried to use it (in fact, one time it borked the original server as well, since it redirected all the domains there to the new server, which hadn't properly been set up). So, I much prefer taking a bit more time and moving sites one at a time to make sure it's done properly.

We’ve just relaunched our website, and we think it sets the stage for the things we have planned for 2010. In this post we explore some of those things, which will hopefully answer the many e-mail, Twitter, and blog comment questions we’ve had in the last 6 weeks or so.

WPtouch 2.0

We’ve posted here a few times in the past about the release of WPtouch 2.0, and each time we’ve done so we anticipated it being released far sooner. The reason for its delays are many, but the good news is that it’s actively being worked on now.

Re-Write

We’re undertaking a complete re-write for 2.0, a necessary step to set the stage for multi-Theme support and some of the other features we have planned. We’ve learned much about the right way to build a WordPress plugin over the past few years, and want to start fresh to make sure that 2.0 is a model example of efficiency and poetry in code and thoughtful care in design.

Around The Corner

With the impending release of an Apple touch tablet (and many other touch tablets) and new updates to touch mobile phone software (Android 2.1 and iPhone 4.0) we’re hoping these new products and features enable us to do more with WPtouch. Rest assured that new capabilities will be added as things develop.

Support Forums

The goal in tearing apart the forums was also for a variety of reasons, but the most important being that we’re moving towards having a single account which you can use to post in the forums and on this site, and in the future any other BraveNewCode related services, sites, etc.

Secondly, the entire design for the Support Forums is being updated to reflect the new website, and until we settled on the website’s overall look, features and layout we couldn’t move too much on the Forums.

Expect them to be up and live again within the coming weeks.

WordTwit, Integrity

We’ll also be hard at work on improving WordTwit, our popular Twitter plugin for WordPress, and developing Integrity, our WordPress security plugin. Due to some of the recent work by the WordPress team it remains to be seen whether a plugin like Integrity is really needed, so we’ll be watching that development.

Shhhhhh Secrets!

Many of the things we’re planning require a little secrecy. As such we’ll post on the website when we’re ready to reveal juicy details, but you’re best served following us on Twitter to get first dibs on news, beta releases, and more goodies.

Website Features

When we started re-architecting this site, one of the crucial aspects during development was that it had to be easy for us to manage. Being only a two person company, we could easily spend a good portion of every week managing and maintaining our website and internet presence. While we wanted a fully functional website, we also didn’t want to be a slave to the maintenance of it.

So to that end here is a brief description of some of the cooler features that are under the hood here.

Flickr Driven Portfolios

If you head over to our porfolio or our product pages, you’ll see we’ve added a lot more information. One area that we’ve beefed up is the product and portfolio image galleries. In the past, we manually added the images using the WordPress system, and while that worked, it wasn’t very fast or efficient. On this new site, we’ve tied all the image galleries into Flickr, so they are completely managed and updated using Flickr and associated tools such as Flickr uploader. All the titles and descriptions for each image come from Flickr as well, and given Flickr’s AJAX content editing interface, it is a real snap to edit content on each of the images.

Remote Plugin Information

Most of our plugins are updated every week or so, and keeping our website up to date with regards to the changes in each version used to be time consuming. On our last website, we finally started pulling some information in from the content on WordPress.org, and have enhanced that even further with this version. On all our plugin pages the download links, change log, last time the product was updated, and associated file sizes are all updated remotely from information over at WordPress.org. From our side, as soon as we check in a new plugin version on the WordPress plugin repository, the associated information will automatically update itself on BraveNewCode.com.

Enhanced Fonts

It’s a real shame that the Internet has essentially been limited to only a handful of web-safe fonts. While there are various technologies that allow the use of additional fonts, we finally came across one that we wanted to try on BraveNewCode: Cufón. As you can see, most of the headings are now in a dynamically generated font called Steinem. We felt that this font added to the look and feel of our website, and fit in well with the spirit behind the content.

jQuery Love

You’ll find sprinkles of jQuery effects and ajax around the site (for example the nice tooltips that pop up on download buttons), all of which was added to make navigation easier and to add some UI gloss to the website.

Jenga: More Than Just A Game

We had a little fun updating the content in a few areas, as evidenced by our spiffy new page talking about our website design and development practices. While we take pride in the work we do, we also like having fun while doing it.

Support Forums

We know that many of our plugin users have been aching for support while the support forums have been down. We apologize again, but it’s the only way we can truly complete our client work, continue to develop our plugins, and finish the overhaul to the forums themselves.

Still More To Do

Not everything is completed with the site revamp, and we’ll be adding more in the coming weeks ahead. Enhancements to the blog, portfolio and product areas, as well as the addition of user accounts here at BraveNewCode.

The New Frontier

We still have a lot to roll out in the next few months here at BraveNewCode, but our new website was a pretty big bullet point on our to-do list, and we’re happy to finally cross it off and share the end result with everyone. By all means, drop us a comment and let us know what you think. Look forward to some more great stuff from The BraveNewCode team in the near future. Happy surfing!

What’s New In Design

We’ve softened up the design and also made the layout a little thinner- some who visited on 1024×768 desktops will likely enjoy the change, as the site won’t seem so disproportionately large to them. We’ve polished, refined & changed the fonts in a few places, and overall have reduced their sizes for proportionality’s sake.

Those viewing the site in Mozilla-based (Camino, Firefox) and Webkit-based (Safari, Shiira) will notice some additional features and qualities in the design. As a general rule we support the very highest in web standards and new functionalities in browsers, so we’ve opted for more work with things like rounded corners using CSS not images, and when Internet Explorer gets its act together (read catches up to where everyone else is at) we’ll add its advanced support as well.

What’s New In Development

Duane has added an incredible functional and unique Portfolio package together, which takes advantage of custom Ajax & jQuery javascript to accomplish the heavy lifting.

One neat thing about it is that from any individual portfolio client’s page (Jessie farrell, for example) you can browse the whole portfolio, just as you can on the landing page itself. This is also a good thing for Search Engine Optimization reasons, and something we routinely make sure we consider and include where needed for our client projects.

WPtouch 1.8: Coming Soon

We’ve also been hard at work on WPtouch 1.8, the next update to our popular WordPress mobile plugin. The update will offer a couple significant new features, along with solving some bugs that cropped up in the 1.7.x series. Look for it out in the next couple days.

If things are out of place or broken, give us the weekend to sort it out…

Oh! And we’ve got a WPtouch Update to release at the end of it as well, one that we’re sure you’ll like : )

We’ve got some aggressive plans to move WPtouch into unheard-of realms for the WP community, as well as other projects that will tie into it, but be cool all on their own. The one roadmap we can talk about is WPtouch, being that it’s a GPL project.

WHO SAID LOOKS AREN’T EVERYTHING?

WPtouch’s design was meant to mimic an Apple-like application look, and function in similar ways. The easy logic there was that it would be a cool achievement to totally transform a blog/website into looking like an app, and functioning like one where possible. With the use of Ajax in certain places alongside some Scriptaculous effects, I think we archived it for the most part.

But there quickly became the reality that even though we’d built custom, flexible style into the theme, it would be awesome if users were able to come up with their own themes for it, as well (plus we have notions of coming up with more official themes as well).

CAN WE SAY THEMING FOR THE WIN?

Themes made by users, easily selectable in the admin, with the possibility of us hosting them here on the site, in an easily user upload/download way. So that’s what we’ll be working on going forward with WPtouch, as well as a few other tweaks and changes to shore up the 1.0 line.