To convert a PostScript file to PDF suitable for publishing, use ps2pdf from the Ghostscript suite: ps2pdf -dPDFSETTINGS=/printer file.ps file.pdf The /printer setting produces high-quality output appropriate for publication. Other available quality settings include: /screen — lowest quality, smallest file size /ebook — medium quality, reasonable file size /printer — high quality, suitable for printing…
HTML entities represent characters that either have special meaning in HTML or benefit from explicit encoding. You have three syntax options: Named entity: &name; (e.g., ©) Decimal numeric: &#number; (e.g., ©) Hexadecimal numeric: &#xhexcode; (e.g., ©) With UTF-8 encoding (the only sensible choice in 2026), most special characters can be typed directly. However, certain characters…
Modern RHEL-based systems (EL9+) ship with dnf as the package manager. Most additional software you’ll need comes from well-maintained third-party repositories rather than compiling from source. This guide covers the essential ones and how to use them safely. EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) EPEL is the go-to third-party repository for RHEL-based systems. It provides…
Firefox on Linux Mint doesn’t include Google in its default search engine list. Linux Mint deliberately curates search engines based on revenue-sharing agreements — only search engines that share ad revenue with Linux Mint appear by default. Google doesn’t participate in this arrangement, so you need to add it manually if you prefer it over…
Parsing RSS feeds in PHP remains a common requirement for content aggregation. This guide covers practical patterns for fetching feeds, caching results, extracting content, and sanitizing output — with implementations that work reliably in production. Basic RSS Feed Parsing PHP’s SimpleXML extension provides a straightforward way to parse RSS feeds: <?php $feed_url = ‘https://example.com/feed.xml’; $feed…
You’re using a Linux-based OS right now, either directly or indirectly. But what do you actually call it? The naming question matters more than it seems — different distributions frame themselves differently, and understanding the terminology affects how you talk about infrastructure, apply for jobs, and read documentation. How Major Distributions Identify Themselves Red Hat…
Displaying RSS feed items on a webpage is a practical way to aggregate external content. Here’s a production-ready approach using PHP’s SimpleXML to fetch, cache, and render feeds as HTML. Basic Implementation This function handles RSS parsing with built-in caching, error handling, and output escaping: <?php function output_rss_feed($feed_url, $item_count = 10, $show_description = true, $show_pubdate…
Shrinking an ext4 filesystem on LVM is riskier than expanding—it requires the filesystem offline and careful size planning. The operation can take hours on large volumes, and mistakes can destroy data. This guide walks through the safe path with verification at each step. Prerequisites Before starting: Backup everything. A full backup of the data being…
WordPress performance depends on three complementary caching layers: PHP bytecode caching (OPcache), page caching (WP Super Cache), and asset optimization (Autoptimize). Combined properly, they’ll cut your Time to First Byte in half and significantly improve Core Web Vitals. Enable OPcache in PHP OPcache caches compiled PHP bytecode in shared memory, eliminating parse and compile overhead…
Self-hosting a photo gallery gives you control over your content. If you want to skip database management entirely, a handful of PHP solutions still work—though most are unmaintained. This post covers what’s still functional, where the limits are, and when you should choose something else instead. Static File-Based Gallery Scripts Single File PHP Gallery Status:…
John Ousterhout, a professor of computer science at Stanford, maintains a collection of “Favorite Sayings” grounded in decades of building real systems—RAMCloud, Tcl, and extensive work in distributed systems. These aren’t abstract principles. They’re lessons that apply directly to the work of building, debugging, and shipping software at scale. Optimize After Measurement, Not Before The…
WordPress spam attacks come in three distinct categories: comment spam, user registration abuse, and brute-force login attempts. A layered defense using complementary plugins and server-level hardening handles all three effectively. Comment Spam Protection Akismet remains the industry standard for comment filtering. It ships with WordPress by default and uses machine learning trained on millions of…
MediaWiki stores its main page configuration in the MediaWiki:Mainpage system message. By default, this points to “Main Page”, but you can change it to any title that suits your wiki’s purpose. This process involves updating the system message, creating your new homepage, and handling redirects properly to avoid breaking external links and SEO. Step 1:…
MediaWiki’s sidebar is managed through the MediaWiki:Sidebar special page, a simple text-based system that controls navigation for your entire wiki. Changes take effect immediately across all pages. Accessing the Sidebar Configuration Navigate to the sidebar editor using one of these methods: Direct URL (replace example.com with your domain): With pretty URLs: https://example.com/w/MediaWiki:Sidebar Without pretty URLs:…
Modern MediaWiki installations should prioritize responsive design, but you may still need explicit device-based skin switching for specific use cases. This guide covers both approaches and how to implement them correctly. Responsive Skins: The Recommended Approach The default solution is using a responsive skin that adapts automatically to screen size without separate configuration. Vector 2022…
MediaWiki’s default URL structure — www.example.com/w/index.php?title=TITLE — works functionally but creates poor SEO signals and awkward shareable links. Clean URLs like www.example.com/w/TITLE improve search visibility, readability, and user experience while making pages easier to reference. LocalSettings.php Configuration Open LocalSettings.php in your MediaWiki root directory and add these settings: $wgScript = “/w/index.php”; $wgArticlePath = “/w/$1”; The…
Displaying widgets selectively based on page context, user conditions, or post-specific rules is a common requirement in WordPress. Rather than relying on legacy plugins or wrestling with limited built-in options, you can implement this directly in your theme or custom plugin using WordPress hooks and conditional tags. Why Custom Implementation Over Plugins The Widget Logic…
BBCode is a lightweight markup language commonly used in forums and legacy content systems. It’s simpler than HTML and more readable in raw form. While WordPress focuses on its block editor and native HTML support, you can add BBCode parsing if your content or users require it—though in most cases, modern alternatives are better choices….
The WordPress block editor (Gutenberg) and legacy visual editor can mangle custom HTML, delete formatting, and cause frustration for users who work directly with code. If you prefer writing HTML directly or need to preserve complex markup, you can disable the visual editing experience entirely. Disable for Your Own Account The simplest approach is to…
Self-hosting WordPress gives you control over your domain, design, content, and monetization—something you don’t get with WordPress.com or other hosted solutions. The reality: it’s feasible on a tight budget, but free hosting isn’t the answer. Why Self-Host? Hosted solutions lock you in. You can’t control your domain, customize templates deeply, manage backups reliably, or implement…