Tips and Tricks

How to Customize the Free Twenty Seventeen WordPress Theme for Business – WPMU DEV

Twenty Seventeen ships as the new default theme with WordPress 4.7. This business-oriented theme marks a noteworthy departure from the blog-centric default themes of the past and reflects WordPress’ broader transition from a blogging platform into a platform well-suited to creating all sorts of websites. If you plan to try out Twenty Seventeen you’ll figure something out quickly: this theme is nothing like its predecessors. Past default themes have required only minimal setup and were designed to be functional blog themes right out of the box. This is not the case with Twenty Seventeen.

Source: How to Customize the Free Twenty Seventeen WordPress Theme for Business – WPMU DEV

Technical

IANA Stewardship Transition Completed

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On 1 October 2016, the IANA functions contract that the United States Government had with ICANN was allowed to expire. This represents the final step in the community-led IANA stewardship transition process that began in 2014.

From today, 1 October 2016, the IANA functions contract officially expired. As a result, the coordination and management of the Internet’s unique identifiers is now privatized and in the hands of the volunteer-based multistakeholder community.

The five Regional Internet Registries have a Service Level Agreement (SLA) in place with IANA that defines our expectations moving forward. A community-selected IANA Numbering Services Review Committee will assist the NRO Executive Council when it conducts periodic reviews of IANA’s services.

Users of the internet will not see any operational difference.

 

Opinion

Coffee Shop Wi-Fi – balancing demand

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Many small cafes are rethinking free wi-fi in a bid to keep afloat – that is the question asked this week by BBC journalist Dougal Shaw.

Limit Wi-fi access time

Watch his report at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37443649

Many of us take free wi-fi in cafes for granted. But there is a trend for smaller ones to experiment with switching it off, in a bid to beat the laptop table-hoggers.

The report features a 2020Media Wi-Fi customer, Tamp coffee in West London.  Owner Dorian picked 2020Media as his supplier for Wi-Fi for the reason he lists to Doug Shaw – customers spending too long on their laptops, and so losing seating space for new customers wanting to sit and eat their food or enjoy their coffee. He experimented with turning off the service completely, but faced a backlash on social media.

The Wi-Fi service from 2020Media is ideal for cafes with busy periods where they need to turn tables quickly.

Our service allows the cafe to set up times of day when the customer Wi-Fi isn’t available (but keeping any staff or infrastructure service running).

Another option is to use access codes – A code valid for 1 hour is given to the customer with their order, and once the hour is up, the customer would need to return to the counter to get another – and hopefully make another purchase. Our case study at a central london location gives more details on this solution. A less instrusive version of this can be setup with social media check-in or click through pages that pop-up after a preset number of hours or minutes, which act as a subtle reminder to the customer that they’ve been using the service for a fair period of time.

Most customers and cafe shop owners are in agreement – Wi-Fi is a must and with a properly setup service from 2020Media, it can be a benefit to both the customer and the shop that provides it.

Contact us for more details about our service. We can provide a free evaluation unit to all UK businesses.

 

Tips and Tricks

How to quickly verify your WordPress site with Google Webmaster Tools

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The usual way to verify a website with Google Webmaster tools (now known as Google Search Console) is to download a small file from Google and then upload it to your website, or to make a change to the DNS records.

As FTP is becoming less and less used these days, and often the DNS management is done by someone different to the person responsible for the website, there are better ways!

Here’s a quick guide on how to verify your WordPress site with Google Webmaster Tools using just your web browser, no FTP or DNS, and a free plugin.

3 Steps to Verify your WordPress Site

  1. Install this plugin in your WordPress site: Verify Google Webmaster Tools – https://wordpress.org/plugins/verify-google-webmaster-tools/
  2. Add the site in Google Webmaster tools, and select the Alternate methods and then HTML tag (Add a meta tag to your site’s home page) option.

    select the Alternate methods and then HTML tag
    Select the Alternate methods and then HTML tag
  3. Then in WordPress, install and activate the plugin, go to Settings -> Google Webmaster Tools and paste in the HTML tag that Google is showing you. Save Changes and go back to Google and click Verify.
paste in the HTML tag that Google is showing you
Paste in the HTML tag that Google is showing you

 

What is Google Webmaster tools?

Google Search Console (previously Google Webmaster Tools) is a no-charge web service by Google for webmasters. It allows webmasters to check indexing status and optimize visibility of their websites. As of May 20, 2015, Google rebranded Google Webmaster Tools as Google Search Console.

Tips and Tricks, WordPress

WordCamp comes to Brighton

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This July, Brighton will be host to WordCamp.

Wordcamps are a chance for everyone to learn, share knowledge and celebrate WordPress together.

Typically there a bunch of talks by WordPress users, experts, contributors and developers, and you pick the ones you’re most interested in. 2020Media has both sponsored and attended the London WordCamp for the last 2 years.

Schedule

WordCamp Brighton 2016 will run over two days. You can attend one or both of the days. Cost for the entire conference is just £20 per person. Tickets are on sale now.

Saturday 23rd July 2016

Saturday is the main conference day. It’ll be a full day of informative talks on diverse topics related to WordPress. Food and refreshments are provided throughout the day.

Saturday night is the afterparty. This is a relaxed social event where you can meet others and network with the WordPress community.

Sunday 24th July 2016

Sunday is contributor day. There’ll be talks, workshops and you’ll get the chance to help make WordPress even better.

You can contribute to many different areas of WordPress, depending on your interests. It’s an opportunity to collaborate with people in a similar field to you. Or you might discover an entirely new area of interest. Find out about the different contributor groups here.

Location

WordCamp Brighton 2016 will be hosted at City College Brighton (Central Campus).

Address

City College Brighton & Hove (Central Campus),
Pelham Street,
Brighton,
East Sussex,
BN1 4FA

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