Sunday, November 27, 2011

Broken .htaccess in WordPress and the Dreaded http 500 Error page. Your Web Site Not Working!

 http://wordpress-houston.com/broken-htaccess-in-wordpress-and-the-dreaded-http-500-error-page-your-web-site-not-working/

With WordPress, many times certain plugins can try to write/add code to the .htaccess file and it can break your overall WordPress site. WordPress has come a long way over the years, but it is not perfect… Yet.
Your .htaccess file is located in your public_html folder, or in the root folder of any Addon domain you might have.
It is a small text file that simply tells the server how to display certain web pages on your account. If you’re using file manager in your cpanel to view it, make sure to click ‘Reset all interface settings’ at the bottom of your main cpanel page. If you are using an FTP client to access your account, you should see the .htaccess file with no issues.
To test your site and see if the problem is indeed .htaccess, Simply rename your current .htaccess file to .htaccess-backup. This way you keep an original copy of this file in case there is any coding in it that you might need. But by renaming it this way, the server will bypass it and not use it.
The next step is to create a blank text file and add the default WordPress .htaccess code to it. The code, as of November 13, 2011 is as follows:
_________________________________________________________
# BEGIN WordPress

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /yourinstallfolder/
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ – [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /yourinstallfolder/index.php [L]

# END WordPress
_________________________________________________________
Copy and paste this code into a notepad and save it as .htaccess
Then upload this file to your server into the folder where your WordPress is installed.
This will normally get your WordPress back up and running.
Best of luck,
Brant Langer
The WordPress Houston Team

Sunday, May 15, 2011

A Very basic tip- but super important: How to see who owns a Domain Name

A Very basic tip- but super important: How to see who owns a Domain Name

This may be a very basic tip, but its also extremely important.

Many people ask me how do I get more information on a Domain Name.

Basically---that info is called a "WhoIs" on the domain.

I like to use this service best:  http://www.network-tools.com/

Just enter the domain name there and it will display a lot more detail for you.

WebHostGuy

Sunday, March 13, 2011

The main difference between Shared and Dedicated web hosting using MySql/Database driven web sites.

The main difference between Shared and Dedicated web hosting using MySql/Database driven web sites.

Anytime you opt for Shared web hosting, your main limitation will be the mysql process limit set by the Hosting company.  Most big hosting companies limit the concurrent mysql processes to anywhere between 20 and 30 processes per cpanel.

When you hit this process max, your Website may not work or may return errors.

If you have a Dedicated Server or a VPS type server, in most cases you never have these limits.  If you have a lot of concurrent mysql processes, your site may slow down but you normally do not get the error messages that usually come back from Shared hosting.

Wordpress has become extremely popular over the last few years and many people are using it as their main design platform.  Wordpress uses mysql databases for all the content, plugins and themes.
Having just 1 or 2 blogs on your web hosting account... using a few plugins each...and receiving a hundreds of hits per month may cause problems.
If the traffic is very spread out, the error is a lot less likely to occur, but if all your traffic comes at one time during the day---it will be highly likely you get the error.

Just some tips and ideas to think of...
Sincerely,
Your Web Host Guy.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Do you use Wordpress alot . . .?

WordPress developer and all-around web geek Joost de Valk has just graced the Internet with a highly useful infographic.
For a medium that leans toward the amusing, infographics can occasionally be enlightening or even helpful for later reference. This one serves as a sort of “cheat sheet for how your blog works” and takes the reader through the basics of a normal WordPress theme.
It’s a posts-to-plugins look at the anatomy of a typical WordPress theme. Have a look, and let us know what you think in the comments.