We think our security plugin, Defender, is pretty darn good, but we’d never tell you to put all your eggs in one basket. Even with a super-reliable and robust security plugin, you should still carry out extra checks on your site’s security…
Gone are the days where the only way to infiltrate someone’s computer or accounts was to send them a virus disguised as a pdf or manually guess their passwords.
Nowadays, hacking is easy. It’s automated.
Bots can brute-force their way into a site, create fake administrator accounts, and scan the network for vulnerabilities and valuable files in a matter of seconds.
This means that you no longer need a determined enemy in order to be the victim of an attack.
And since attacks are always on the rise, it makes sense to take whatever precautions are available in order to protect your site and ultimately, your visitors.
One of these precautions is simply taking the time to check your site from a few different sources.
Read on as we take a look at some of the best free tools out there.
Hopefully, you’re already using Defender to protect your site against malicious attacks, however, did you know it has an awesome scan feature, as well as a comprehensive rundown of things you can do to improve your site security?
Let’s start with the scan.
To begin a scan, click on Defender’s Malware Scanning option in the WordPress sidebar.
Click Run Scan.
Defender will then highlight any files that it thinks are suspicious, such as core files which have been edited or don’t come as standard.
Defender will check your core files against the originals in the WordPress repository.
You’ll need to check through the files to decide whether they pose a risk, or whether they are changes you’ve made yourself.
You then have three options:
If you don’t think a certain file should exist at all, you can delete it.
If you believe a core file has been tampered with, you can restore it to the original – Defender will replace it with a fresh copy.
If you trust these files, you can ask Defender to ignore them in future scans.
Defender will even show you the code in question.
Ensuring that no code has been tampered with is a great way to keep on top of your site security.
Defender goes one step further. It can carry out an overall check on your site security to give you recommendations if there are vulnerabilities on your site that could easily be fixed.
Simply head to the Recommendations section to find out if Defender has picked up any vulnerabilities.
It will give you a list of all the current recommended steps.
You can click on each item individually to see more information. Defender can even provide you with instructions to fix it!
The instructions and code are provided.
Defender will also let you know what you’re doing right, by listing all the precautions you have already taken.
Simply navigate to the Actioned tab on the left of Defender’s screen.
Aim to get all recommendations into the Actioned column for the best chance of securing your site.
The WordPress Tools section might not be somewhere you check into often, however, the Site Health menu can be pretty valuable, and is worth the odd visit.
This tool also offers more than just security recommendations and will provide more information than any of the external tools as it is linked directly with your site.
Even the Performance suggestions can help with security – better update the PHP version!
If you click on each recommendation, you will get some pretty useful further details.
This information can make keeping on top of inactive themes and plugins so much easier!
You can also check out the list of passed tests so that you know what you’re doing right.
It’s always reassuring to know when things are taken care of.
It’s built right into your WordPress installation so it should only take a minute or two to carry out a quick check every once in a while.
3. wpRecon
It’s good to get an idea of any information about your site which is publicly accessible, as this can be used by hackers to find ways to compromise your security.
One of the best ways to find out what information is readily available is by using a third-party tool that isn’t linked to your site.
Simply input the URL of the site you want to test.
You can test any site you wish.
The test will give you a variety of results, with the first set being in relation to your server type, IP address, and a check of the version of WordPress you’re running.
This is all information that can be obtained with just your URL!
It will also inform you of any plugins that are reading the HTML source of the website’s front page, check for information it can find about the theme, and try to list the contents of uploads and plugins folders.
It is good to be aware if Directory Indexing is enabled on your site.
A routine check using a tool such as wpRecon will help you identify if there are any big holes, ready for hackers to walk through.
4. VirusTotal
VirusTotal is another free online tool for scanning sites, documents, and IP addresses. It has a database of over 70 antivirus scanners and URL/domain blacklisting services.
These are just a few of the databases that VirusTotal checks.
If your site is clean, you should be good to go, however, if any of the databases pick up something malicious, it could be that you have malware.
You can also check some further details regarding your site.
It’s good to check whether any external links have been added to your site without your knowledge.
VirusTotal shares the result of the scan with the examining partners that it uses. This grows their virus and knowledge databases, helping to fight the fight against malware and hackers.
5. Mozilla Observatory
Mozilla Observatory is slightly different from the tools we’ve looked at above, as it offers a few separate types of tests.
When you first run the scan, it will test vulnerabilities in relation to HTTP. It will then give your site a score in the form of a letter.
Yeah, not the best score – but this is why checks like this are useful!
Scroll down to see which of the tests you failed (if any).
You will be able to see how you scored on all of the 11 tests.
Click on the name of each test to be taken to a page created by Mozilla which fully explains what it means.
After the first scan, you can also initiate further ones to check if access to your site can be gained through SSH (it would be very concerning if this was the case!) and extra tests with third-party companies ImmuniWeb, securityheaders.com, and hstspreload.org.
6. Google Transparency Report
Google’s Transparency Report isn’t really the answer for checking for vulnerabilities on your own site, however, there’s a reason it made it to this list.
The reason it won’t be much help when it comes to your own site is that it only tells you whether or not it finds anything unsafe, it doesn’t tell you what the unsafe content is.
This makes it pretty redundant when checking on your own site but can come in useful when checking a site you want to visit.
If you’re nervous about visiting a URL for the first time, you can simply input it into Google Transparency Report’s search bar, and let it check it out for you.
It provides a basic yes or no answer as to whether the site is safe to visit.
So yes, whilst it may not be the answer to checking for holes in your site security, it’s a pretty good tool to have in your bag!
Stay One Step Ahead
Carry out regular checks on your site using a variety of tools to make sure you identify any vulnerabilities before hackers or bots sniff them out.
Many of the issues picked up by these tools are quick and easy fixes, so schedule in regular checks as part of your site security process.
If you want to know how to make sure you haven’t missed anything when it comes to setting up the protection for your WordPress site, be sure to check out our 16-step checklist to total site lockdown.
And with this being #SecurityMonth you can currently get 35% off your first year of our Security & Backups Pack featuring Defender Pro, Snapshot Pro, Shipper Pro, and Automate. Click on the coupon below to unlock the exclusive deal.
We can’t stress enough the importance of having robust site security. When you’re rushing to meet a deadline, properly securing your WordPress site might not be your biggest priority, so we’ve put together a checklist to make sure you don’t miss any of the essentials.
In a sea of over 2 billion websites, it’s understandable why many people don’t think their site is at risk of being hacked.
And if you’ve never been the victim of an attack, you might not worry about the possibility as much as you probably should.
However, it’s better to have the right protection and not need it, than go without and regret it.
We’ve put together a checklist of 16 steps you might want to take when securing your site – which will hopefully make organizing your security a breeze.
You can take every other step in this article and go above and beyond to harden your site, however, if you’re using cheap, shared hosting, it’s like having a reinforced, ultra-strong, titanium front door – and leaving a key under the doormat.
Never make it easy for unwanted visitors (sorry, Devman!)
Without even considering security, shared hosting has enough drawbacks to convince most people to steer clear – but that’s a whole topic in itself. Check out our article on choosing the best type of hosting for your needs for an in-depth look at all of the pros and cons of shared hosting.
Possibly the biggest downside is the lack of security. A vulnerability on someone else’s site could result in the server being compromised and your site coming under attack – through no fault of your own.
Although hosting companies do try and take every precaution to stop malicious attacks like this from spreading, it’s not always possible with shared hosting, as the sites are hosted on the same server.
If you don’t want to worry about what’s going on in your site’s server, opt for VPS or dedicated hosting instead.
WPMU DEV’s hosting gives you dedicated memory, CPU, and SSD storage that is independent of any other sites – including others you host with us!
Top tips:
Choose a hosting provider that is renowned for having robust security in place.
Don’t skimp out on the price – spending slightly more on good hosting is better than going cheap and getting hacked.
Rarely is a hacking attempt personal. You might only run a small website for a boating club in your local village, but that doesn’t mean it will be safe from hackers.
Malicious bots sniff around the internet looking for vulnerabilities in websites and don’t discriminate. If they find that there’s a route past your WordPress login page, they’ll be infecting your files before you can say ”malware!”.
There are a few steps you can take to ensure your login page is safe from these kinds of attacks.
Mask Your Login URL
The first is using a plugin such as Defender to hide your login URL.
This makes it substantially harder for bots to carry out brute force attacks – if they can’t find your login page, there’s nowhere for them to try and crack your password.
It’s super easy to activate within Defender. Just choose a new slug for your login URL.
Make sure you keep a secure note of your new URL!
You can also redirect people who try to access your old wp-admin link to a page of your choice.
Not today, bots!
Use a Password Manager
There are two main rules when it comes to passwords:
Make sure your passwords are a good length and contain a variety of different characters.
Don’t use the same password for more than one account.
Adhering to both of these rules can make it almost impossible to remember all of your passwords, which is why you might benefit from a password manager.
LastPass and 1Password are two of the best password managers on the market and will help you create and store complex passwords for all of your accounts.
All you will need to remember is a strong and secure master password – the rest will be taken care of for you.
Enable Two-Factor Authentication
Your password might seem long and complex, however, if a string of 15 characters is all that stands between your data and a cunning hacker, unfortunately, it won’t always be enough.
Two-factor authentication involves linking your phone or another device to your WordPress admin so that it isn’t possible to login without inputting a unique code.
Defender uses Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, and Authy to do this.
Simply set it for each of your user accounts and each time anyone makes it past the username and password screen, they will be asked to open your authenticator and input the code.
No passcode, no entry!
This makes it almost impossible for hackers to get into your site without having access to your username, password AND your mobile device.
To put it into perspective, a site I use purely for testing plugins and themes gets on average 40 login attempts a day by bots. These are bots whose sole job is to try random password combinations with the hope of getting into your site.
All it takes is one of these attempts to be successful and you could lose access to your site completely.
I can see these attempts within Defender’s audit logs.
More failed attempts, but bots never give up!
Even though my site is very obscure and isn’t intended to be public-facing, it’s still on the radar of malicious bots.
And even though my password is secure, I would be a lot more worried if I didn’t have two-factor authentication enabled.
Top tips:
Using unique passwords for each account can also help you identify the source of an attack if your password is ever compromised.
Set up a backup email address in case you lose your mobile device and are unable to access your site.
If you forget your masked login URL, you can retrieve it from your database.
For extra security, you can remove the password reset link from your login page with a plugin such as Branda.
Login Protection
Defender has some extra tools on his belt when it comes to locking intruders out of your site.
You can set up login protection to ensure that hackers can’t brute force their way into your account by spamming password combinations.
Choose the maximum number of login attempts you want to allow within a certain time frame and display a custom message to anyone outside of the limit.
You can also choose whether to set a temporary lockout – or ban them forever!
IP addresses can be banned straight from Defender’s logs. If you see the same IP repeatedly trying to access your site, simply click ‘BAN IP’.
You can also ban IP addresses in bulk.
Just make sure (and our Support Team will thank me for saying this) that it isn’t your own IP you are banning, as you will completely lock yourself out of your website!
Defender also offers a few extra ways of managing suspicious IP addresses, which we cover more in this article.
Top tips:
Add your own IP to the allowlist so you don’t accidentally get hit with a lockout.
If you are noticing a high number of login attempts from a specific country, you can ban IP addresses from this country altogether using Defender.
Don’t give your users common names such as Admin or Administrator. Bots will often use these when trying to crack your login details, so if you use a common account name, they’re already halfway there!
Set Up a WAF
A Web Application Firewall (WAF) is a special type of firewall, which sets defined rules in order to help protect a web application from attacks.
All incoming requests and the responses of the web server are examined by a WAF. It monitors, filters, and blocks out unwanted traffic, protecting your site from hackers and other bad traffic.
WAF is simply an intermediary between the web application and the client.
Commonly, a WAF is used against attacks for which traditional solutions do not give protection, such as cross-site scripting and SQL injection, however, it can also be used to protect against illegal resource access – session hijacking for example.
Sound good?
Check out our full rundown of how a WAF works, as well as learn how to take advantage of our awesome WAF (which is included in all of our hosting plans at no additional cost).
Harden Your Site Security With a Plugin
If you want a real chance of preventing any form of attack against your site from being successful, your best bet is with a good all-round security plugin.
Defender has a ton of features that work together to make your site a tough nut to crack.
I could write a full article about all the ways in which Defender can help you secure your site, however – we’ve already done that.
Just to give you a taste, some of its features include:
Two-factor authentication
Login masking
Login lockout
404 Detection
WordPress Security Firewall
Ability to disable trackbacks and pingbacks
Core and server update recommendations
Option to disable file editor
Ability to hide error reporting
Update security keys
Prevent information disclosure
Prevent PHP execution
Most of Defender’s features are actually free, so head to WordPress.org, hit download, and start deterring those attacks.
Use Plugins to Carry out Tasks Automatically
Fact: computers don’t forget things.
Whether it’s backing up your site or updating your plugins, nothing is as reliable as an automated process.
This is why you should leave these tasks to the experts – a couple of awesome WordPress plugins!
Updating with Automate
Hackers love finding vulnerabilities in plugins and themes and using those as a way to infiltrate your site.
When a developer is made aware of a potential exploit in their product, they will create a patch that will fix the vulnerability.
If you neglect to update your plugins and themes when new patches are released, you could be leaving the holes open for hackers to walk in through.
This is why it is important to make sure updates are applied as soon as they are released, and is where Automate comes in.
When you run a number of WordPress sites, it can be time-consuming to update all of the plugins and themes manually, meaning sometimes this task can be put on the backburner.
Automate automatically detects when your website is running out-of-date plugins, themes, or an outdated version of WordPress, and automatically updates your website to run the latest versions.
Better yet, it can even take a backup of your site before it installs the updates, just in case there is a compatibility issue that causes problems.
However, if the worst does happen, having a backup of your site can save the day.
There is no better way to do this (in my humble opinion!) than with a reliable backup plugin like Snapshot.
Simply choose how often and at what time you want your backups to take place, and you’re all set.
Never worry about missing a backup again!
This article will give you a full rundown on how to set up and manage your backups with Snapshot.
Top tips:
As well as updating your plugins and themes regularly, make sure you keep an eye out for new versions of PHP and SQL which should also be updated as soon as possible after release.
It’s always good to take period manual backups and save them locally too – you can never be too safe when it comes to site security!
Protecting Against DDoS Attacks
A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is when a website is flooded with traffic in order to cause disruption to its service.
It is carried out by a network of computers (sometimes computers of oblivious members of the public who have been infected with malware). The attacker uses these devices to form a ‘botnet’, which they can instruct to attack a particular target.
The purpose of these attacks is often to hold the site owners to ransom, and there have been some high-publicity cases of DDoS attacks in the past. Some are carried out simply for fun and to cause chaos, but whatever the reason behind the attack, being a victim of one is never ideal.
Luckily, there are some steps you can take to prevent it from happening to your site.
If someone is hotlinking your pictures, they are using the link to your original image on your site, which means that their visitors are getting the benefit of the image, but your server is picking up the tab.
Not only is it considered unethical, but this can put a lot of strain on your server, causing issues for your site, and could also result in extra costs.
There are a number of ways to secure your images, one of the easiest being to add a code snippet to your .htaccess file.
This code will ensure that only certain websites are allowed to display your images. You can specify the individual sites.
Use this code if your site is running on an NGINX server.
Top Tips:
You can also protect your images using a plugin or a CDN with hotlink protection.
Add a copyright notice to your theme’s footer to discourage people from even trying to steal your images.
Stop the Spam
Spam comments on your blog are not just frustrating – they can pose a security risk, too.
Many spam comments contain malicious links in the hope of tricking your visitors into submitting their personal information.
So, although you might not be the intended target of these kinds of attacks, you have a duty to the visitors of your site to keep them safe.
If you’re getting hit with a tonne of spam, you have two options: turn off your comments altogether, or install an anti-spam plugin.
If you choose the latter option, Akismet may be just what you need.
Each comment left on your site, PLUS your form submissions are all run through their global database of spam to prevent malicious content from making its way onto your site.
It’s free – and it works!
Visit Your Site Regularly
Sometimes the simplest solution can work wonders.
If your site has been hacked and your content has been meddled with, a quick glance at your site should tell you that in seconds.
Visiting your site and seeing it from a customer’s point of view is good not just from a security perspective, but from accessibility and aesthetic angles too.
So get yourself a coffee, take a seat, and browse your site as though you’re a regular visitor.
Top Tips:
Don’t forget to view your site whilst logged in, logged out, and in incognito, too!
Consider a Static Site
If you run a site that requires little user input, i.e. is mostly for sharing information, rather than an eCommerce store or a busy blog, converting to a static site might be beneficial.
To do this, you need to create copies of your files and bundle them into a neat .ZIP which can be stored on your server.
This means that your actual WordPress installation can be safely hidden away and out of reach to bots and hackers.
It’s not the right route for a lot of sites, but feel free to check out services such as Strattic or Simply Static if you want to research it further.
Better Safe Than Sorry
We know that implementing so many different steps can seem like a tedious job, but luckily, once you’ve ticked most of these off your list, they will look after themselves.
Plugins run quietly in the background and do the hard work for you, so once you’ve set up all your security for your new site, it shouldn’t require much ongoing manual input.
When you have other aspects of the site to worry about, security might get pushed to the backburner, however…hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Make the time now to implement the right security procedures for your site and hopefully you’ll never have to deal with the frustration of your site being hacked and wishing you’d taken precautions sooner.
If your WordPress site is infected with malware, you’re at risk of server crashes, data leaks, and even complete site suspension. Running regular scans is important if you want to tackle any problems before they get out of hand. We’re here to show you how…
Whether by clicking a dodgy link in an email, visiting a compromised website, or downloading software which has a bunch of nasty files sneakily bundled in – most of us have had some experience with malware.
The thought of malware infecting your computer and compromising your data is scary enough, but…what if it’s your site that’s been attacked?
This can put all of your visitors at risk, rack up hefty malware removal bills, and mean your site might need to be offline for a while until the malware is safely removed.
And whilst you might take every precaution to prevent your site from being infected, this doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be safe – regular scans should be an important part of your site security process.
So, what do you do if you suspect that something dangerous might be lurking in your files?
Read on to find out how to detect and remove malware from your WordPress site.
First of all, let’s take a quick look at what malware actually is.
What is Malware?
We all know malware is bad – it’s short for malicious software after all.
But in order to know how to tackle the problem, it’s important we understand it.
Malware is the blanket term for viruses, trojans, worms, and other malicious computer software created with the purpose of causing harm to a computer or network.
Keyloggers, for example, are a form of malware which record the keystrokes that a user makes. They steal passwords and other sensitive information which can be used by hackers to compromise accounts.
Other forms of malware such as viruses might have no benefit to the creator or sender – their goal could be to simply infect and destroy files, which can result in data loss and performance issues for the victim.
Malware comes in many different shapes and sizes.
How Does a Site Become Infected With Malware?
Sites can become infected via a number of methods, but luckily two of the biggest culprits are two of the easiest to fix.
Outdated Plugins and Themes
Hackers look for vulnerabilities in themes and plugins and use them to their advantage.
When a vulnerability is identified, the developers will aim to get a new, patched, version ready for download as soon as possible.
Updating your plugins fixes the vulnerabilities and replaces any old and potentially compromised files with fresh versions – free of any tampering or changes.
A tool such as Automate is a great way to ensure your plugins and themes are always automatically updated with the latest patches and features.
Sloppy Security
Bad WordPress security can also pose a huge risk to your site.
If your password is weak, it could be susceptible to a brute force attack.
This happens when bots try thousands of common usernames and passwords to force their way into your site, which is why it is important to always use a long password with a variety of letters, numbers, and characters.
As well as using a secure password, two factor-authentication is a great way to add an extra layer of security to your WordPress login.
This prevents hackers from getting access to your site and planting malware within your files.
It’s Important to Run Regular Scans
Malware isn’t always easy to detect – just because your site seems to be running fine, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t something unpleasant going on in the background.
If you want to know for certain whether or not your site has been a victim of a malware attack, you can manually check every single WordPress file and folder looking for unknown code or files.
…or you could just run a malware scan!
Defender doesn’t take any risks when it comes to site security.
A malware scan will alert you to any hidden nasties such as trojans, worms, spyware, and viruses, as well as warning you if your site has been blacklisted or is redirecting to suspicious sites.
You can carry out scans using a plugin or an online malware scanning tool.
Below, we’ll take you through some of the best options for scanning for, and removing, malware.
Scanning for Malware with Defender
Defender is more than just a malware scanning tool.
It’s the front-line against hacks and attacks, helping to keep your WordPress site protected and you informed of any suspicious activity.
Defender offers free malware scanning – and so much more!
It helps you identify exactly what you need to do to ensure your site is fully protected and provides you with the perfect set of tools to keep your site secure.
Running a Scan
To begin a scan, click on Defender’s Malware Scanning option in the WordPress sidebar.
Click the button to run your first scan.
The free version of Defender will compare your core files against the originals in the WordPress repository – checking for additional files that might have been put there maliciously, or code edits which could mean your existing files have been tampered with.
Wait a few minutes for the scan to complete.
When the scan has finished, Defender will let you know if there are any issues.
If it detects any additional files, it will alert you to these.
Each unknown file will be listed separately.
Defender will also alert you to any changes to your WordPress core files.
It provides a side-by-side comparison to the original.
The above screenshot shows a text comment added to the index.php file – Defender picked this up in the scan and shows the snippet in question.
This way, you can easily check whether or not it was you that made the edit.
You can then choose the course of action you want to take. Defender gives you two options – ignore or restore.
If you are confident that Defender has flagged up something that’s harmless or something that you added manually, you can choose to ignore it to make sure it isn’t brought to your attention after every scan.
However, if you are sure that a flagged file shouldn’t be there, you can delete it in one click.
If the issue is unknown code contained within one of your WordPress core files, Defender makes it super easy to restore the file to the original version, ridding your install of any potentially dangerous code.
You can restore or ignore individually or in bulk.
Take it a Step Further with Defender Pro
The malware scan that Defender Pro undertakes should be sufficient for most sites, however if you want to be absolutely sure that your files are safe, or if you have reason to suspect that something still isn’t quite right, Defender Pro could be just what you need.
Defender Pro’s scan is even more powerful – it checks for current vulnerabilities in plugins and themes so that you can update them with patched versions, and also checks their files for suspicious code.
It will list every issue and provide the relevant code snippets
The screenshot above was Defender flagging up a suspicious function, which was actually in relation to another security plugin which had previously been installed.
It is, of course, harmless, but if any plugin is using external functions like this, it is better to be made aware as installing third-party plugins always carries a degree of risk.
Defender’s main goal is to protect your site from attacks by giving you the tools to secure it. The ability to scan your files for malware is just the icing on the cake.
However, if you want to do a thorough check of your site’s output, you can use an online scanner tool, too.
Tools such as VirusTotal or Sucuri cannot scan your files like Defender does, as they do not have access, however, they can scan the HTML output of your site, which is something plugins are generally unable to do.
All you need to run a scan is the URL of a website, which means you can even carry out checks on websites you want to visit.
An example of Sucuri flagging malware on a website.
If malware is hiding in the database and injecting malicious code into your WordPress posts, it will be overlooked by most plugins, as they do not check the database.
This is why the safest option is to combine a plugin such as Defender, which checks the files within your WordPress installation, along with an online tool such as VirusTotal or Sucuri, which focus purely on the site’s output.
So You’ve Found Malware – What Next?
If your scan flags up suspicious code or files and you’re confident that they shouldn’t be there, you need to choose a method of removal.
Defender can replace the infected files with fresh copies from the WordPress repository, meaning that any malicious code contained within them will be deleted for good.
It can also help you to delete suspicious files either one-by-one or in bulk.
Just remember to back-up your site before you delete any files!
If you have followed these steps but are still worried that something isn’t quite right with your site, WPMU DEV members can contact our support experts who will be happy to help clean up your site.
If your issue is severe or rooted deep within the database, you might need the help of a specialist website recovery service.
These services usually charge one-time fees and focus on removing your malware as quickly as possible to get you back online.
The internet is also full of guides showing you how to manually remove malware. If you are an experienced developer, this might be a viable route.
However, with anything that involves amending core WordPress files, just be sure to exercise caution as you may end up doing more harm than good!
Prevention is Better Than the Cure
Whilst malware scans should be an integral part of your security routine, best practice is always going to be making sure your site has strong enough security in place to stop attacks from being successful in the first place.
Defender is the ultimate tool for keeping out intruders, and combined with its integration with The Hub, which includes a powerful hosted WAF, hackers shouldn’t stand a chance.
Also, in the name of #SecurityMonth you can currently get 35% off our Security & Backups Pack (first year) featuring Defender Pro, Snapshot Pro, Shipper Pro, and Automate. Use the coupon below to unlock the exclusive deal.
Until now, next-gen WebP images could only be served by activating Smush Pro’s CDN. But by popular demand, Smush Pro now also supports local WebP image conversion.
Our CDN is awesome, it really is. However, we’re all for giving people options.
This is exactly why we’ve now made it possible to convert your images to WebP format without needing to use our CDN.
It was also one of Smush Pro’s (and WPMU DEV in general!) most anticipated and requested features of the year.
You told us that…
If you were happy with your current CDN provider, you’d prefer not to have to switch to get WebP support.
You were also conscious that using Smush Pro’s CDN to serve images uses precious bandwidth – which might not be ideal for larger sites.
So, like any good company who actually listens to their audience, we’ve obliged, and made our award-winning image optimization plugin – even better!
Read on to find out the in’s and out’s of Smush Pro’s game-changing new feature.
Here’s a quick overview if you want to skip to a particular section:
Once you activate the Local WebP feature, Smush Pro will convert your images into the next-gen file type during regular Smushing.
And while not all browsers support WebP (we’re looking at you, Internet Explorer!), you can rest safe in the knowledge that Smush will serve up the JPEG and PNG equivalent to non-supported browsers.
Activating Local WebP on WPMU DEV Hosted Sites
First things first – the latest version of Smush Pro needs to be installed on your site.
Non-CDN WebP support is just a few clicks away!
You can then head into the WebP settings.
Click “Get Started”.
If you host with us, you’ll be lucky enough to be greeted by this message on the next page:
If this is the case – you’re all set!
Everything is automatically configured for you, and all that’s left to do is run a Bulk Smush so that your images are converted.
From this page you can also see the supported media types, as well as delete all your WebP images.
It’s quick and easy to delete your WebP files if you change your mind.
So let’s get to the nitty gritty – what if your site is not hosted with WPMU DEV?
How To Enable WebP Conversion On Non WPMU DEV Hosted Sites
Smush will try to automatically detect the type of server your site uses.
Smush will try to detect whether your site is running on an Apache/Litespeed or NGINX server.
If the detected type is incorrect, you can change it manually using the dropdown box.
Apache Servers
If your server type is Apache, try the Automatic method first.
Click the Apply Rules button.
This will hopefully add the needed rules to the .htaccess file located in the /wp-content/uploads directory.
If the Automatic method does not work, you can switch to the Manual option and add the displayed rules to your .htaccess file yourself.
Note that the rules must be added to the .htaccess file located in your /wp-content/uploads directory, notthe main .htaccess file in the root of your WordPress install. If that file does not yet exist in that directory, you can create it to add the needed rules.
Smush talks you through what you need to do.
Follow these instructions within Smush to manually configure the settings.
If neither of these methods are successful, you’ll be provided with a list of troubleshooting tips – and of course our 24/7 superhero support team is always on hand if you need extra help.
NGINX Servers
If your server type is NGINX, the required rules must be added manually to your configuration file.
Smush provides clear instructions on how to do this.
Follow the steps within Smush to configure your NGINX server manually.
Just be aware that if your setup is running NGINX as a proxy for Apache, the Apache/Litespeed rules may not work in .htaccess, and you’ll want to add the NGINX rules manually using this method.
How to Check Your Image Format
Unlike the WebP Conversion option in the Smush Pro CDN, you won’t see the “.webp” format appear in source code.
Instead, if you want to verify that images are indeed served as WebP, you’ll want to pop open your browser’s developer tools and, under the Network tab, check the Response Headers for any image.
If you see “content-type: image/webp” there, that tells you that the browser is indeed serving up the WebP version of the image.
You will be able to see whether images are served as WebP.
Are You Converted?
Hopefully, after reading this article, you’re confident that not only is WebP the right image format for your sites – but Smush Pro is the right plugin for the job.
Snapshot has been rebuilt from the ground up. It has the same sleek and easy-to-use interface, but it now stands proudly in front of a smarter API, plus a whole host of new features – including incremental backups and third-party storage destinations. It’s probably time we recapped how to get the most out of Snapshot…
If you never thought of Snapshot as a contender for your WordPress backup plugin, maybe it’s time to think again.
It’s had some major updates that have taken it to a whole new level.
Snapshot stores your backups in a much smarter way, allows you to see all your backups including WPMU DEV hosting and Automate backups all in one place, and even takes care of your staging site for you.
Incremental backups have completely changed the way that Snapshot works.
Traditional backups take a full-site backup each time. This means that if you have daily backups enabled and can store a maximum of 30 backups, you will have 30 copies of your whole site by the end of the first month!
With incremental backups, you only back up the changes. Instead of having 30 copies of your entire site, you have one full copy of your site plus 29 much smaller backups which include just the changes you’ve made.
This chart illustrates the difference between the amount of storage the two backup methods use over just a few days.
The difference after just 5 days is around 2GB. Just imagine the difference after a month’s worth of backups!
The above was more than enough to make us want to redevelop Snapshot to use incremental backups, however you might be pleased to know that there are even more benefits:
Smaller backups are less prone to failure than full-site ones. Nothing worse than finding out your backup has been unsuccessful!
Zipping the files and taking a full copy of the database can put a lot of strain on your server. This means that your site could slow down for visitors while a full-site backup is in progress.
Incremental backups are much faster than backing up your whole site, meaning that if you’re making sure a backup finishes before you step away from your computer, you won’t have to wait nearly as long.
If you run a large site, full-site backups can be a nightmare. They take a long time to process and take up a huge amount of storage space. Incremental backups are the perfect solution for large sites.
When Snapshot backs up your site for the first time, it takes a full backup of your entire site.
This is what we refer to as the ‘base backup’. Your base backup will contain everything Snapshot needs to be able to restore your site to exactly how it was at that time.
If you want Snapshot to backup your site automatically, simply set a schedule and Snapshot will do the rest. Each time your site is due for a backup, Snapshot will only backup the data which has changed since the previous backup.
This means that if only 1MB of data has changed, your backup will only be 1MB in size.
If you were using a backup plugin that carried out full-site backups, it would back up your whole site plus the 1MB, all in one huge file.
By using incremental backups, Snapshot saves you (and us, since your backups are stored on our servers!) a ton of space.
When you hit your maximum number of backups (currently 30) Snapshot will merge your oldest incremental backup with your base backup, to form a new base backup and make room for a new incremental.
Your older backups are never deleted – they merge together to form your new base backup.
After tons of requests, we’re working on an update that will allow you to choose how many backups you can keep, so watch this space!
After all, your account comes with 10GB of Snapshot storage space, so we want to put you in control of how you use it.
Your Overall Dashboard
We recently launched a pretty awesome update to Snapshot Pro.
If you host your site with us, you can now keep an eye on your hosting backups straight from Snapshot’s UI.
If you don’t host with us, you will only see Snapshot’s backups. If you do host with us, you will see an overall dashboard, along with separate ones for Snapshot and hosting backups.
The dashboard keeps a running count of all your backup types.
From the main dashboard you can see your total number of backups as well as the date and time of your last one.
You can also keep an eye on the amount of storage your backups are currently using.
Snapshot comes with 10GB of storage, however if you have a large site and require lots of backups, you can head to your account in The Hub to add on more storage space.
The details of your last few Snapshot and hosting backups can also be viewed from the main dashboard.
You can see all your most recent backups at a glance from the main dashboard.
Backup to Snapshot
Snapshot’s dashboard contains everything you need to feel confident that your backups are in good hands.
This dashboard shows only your backups created using Snapshot.
You can see at a glance when your last backup was, when your next one will take place, and your current schedule.
Click the Manage link to change the date, time, and frequency of your scheduled backups.
Scroll down a bit further and you will be able to see your list of current backups.
Click on each backup to see its full details or use the Backup Now button to begin a manual backup.
From here, you can also amend your backup schedule and restore your site to each backup.
You can also delete your latest backup from this screen. Simply click on the trash can icon at the bottom of the info section.
If you want to restore your site, click the icon shown below:
Just click this button to restore your site.
Snapshot can store 60 backups in total – a maximum of 30 manually triggered and 30 scheduled.
This means that you can have a maximum of your full site backup, plus 29 scheduled incremental backups. When you reach what would be your 30th incremental backup, Snapshot will merge your oldest one with your full site backup to form a new base backup.
This is the same for manual backups – you can have 30 in total including your full site backup.
Backups will be stored for a maximum of 50 days or until you hit your limit – whichever happens first.
Backup to Third-Party Destinations
We’ve introduced Amazon S3 as the first of our third-party storage destinations.
This means that you can upload a copy of your Snapshot backup direct to your Amazon S3 account.
Simply head to the Destinations tab on the left of the Snapshot Dashboard and click Add Destination.
Select Amazon S3 and click next.
You can then choose whether you want to use Amazon S3 or one of its compatible destinations.
We currently have the option to use Backblaze, Wasabi, Google Cloud, and Digital Ocean Spaces, with plans to add all compatible destinations in future updates.
The handy setup wizard will guide you through adding a new destination, but if you need a little extra help, you can check out our documentation which talks you through adding each of them.
We have a whole host of backup destinations in the works, including Dropbox, Google Drive, FTP, and Microsoft Azure.
Just head to Automate’s settings within The Hub, and from there you can select the option for Auto Backups.
The simple wizard will guide you through setup.
Snapshot will then take a backup of your site before it updates any plugins or themes.
If you host with us, these backups will be available in The Hub. If you host with another provider, you’ll be able to view these backups within Snapshot.
Snapshot and Automate – a perfect pairing!
This means that if any updates cause a conflict, you can easily restore your site to its pre-update state.
Download a Copy of Your Backup
You can also download a copy of any of your backups. Simply click the blue download link and Snapshot will begin exporting.
When your export is complete, you will receive an email with a download link.
Efficient customer service from our one and only Snapshot!
Viewing Snapshot’s Logs
From Snapshot’s dash, you can switch from viewing your backups to your logs. Your logs will help you to debug issues and see what’s happening behind the scenes.
You can also filter by logs flagged with a warning or error.
Snapshot Backup Settings
Head to the backup settings menu to make changes to the way Snapshot handles your files.
First of all, you can set file exclusions to prevent Snapshot from including them in manual and scheduled backups.
You can add as many files and folders as you like.
As previously mentioned, we’re working on an update so that you can choose how many backups Snapshot stores! Currently the limit is 30 – watch this space.
You asked for it – we’re working on it!
When you first set up Snapshot, you are prompted to select the region where you want your backups to be stored.
You can easily change this from the settings menu.
Choose the best storage region for your site.
Just be warned that if you do change your storage region, all of your backups will be deleted.
If you do find yourself needing to change regions, you might want to download a few backups first.
You can also manually delete all of your backups in one fell swoop by clicking delete within the same menu.
Think long and hard before you press this – or at least download a few to be on the safe side!
Snapshot’s Overall Settings
Snapshot’s main settings menu houses your API key and Site ID.
Easily access your site’s info.
These should only be needed if you have an issue and need one of our support superheroes to help you out.
Click the Data & Settings tab on the left to be taken to your reset options.
From here, you can choose whether Snapshot will keep your settings if you uninstall it.
You can also choose to reset all settings immediately.
Your Hosting Backups Dashboard
If you host your site with us, not only do you get some of the best hosting in the biz, but Snapshot will help you keep an eye on your backups.
30 backups available – everything is running smoothly!
Your backups will still be managed via The Hub, however Snapshot has handy links to take you right where you need to be.
Better still, a future release will allow you to manage your hosting backups with Snapshot, giving you complete control.
Currently, Snapshot can help you view the date and time of your hosting and Automate backups and download your own copies.
Manage Backups with The Hub
If you’re hosted with us, all the hosting backups you can see in Snapshot will also be available in The Hub. You will be able to view your Automate backups here too.
View all your hosting and Automate backups from your Hub.
From here, you can restore to one of your backups or download a copy.
If you don’t host with us, your Snapshot backups will be viewable in The Hub.
This is just an extra way to keep track of your backups, but also part of a failsafe plan in case your site is inaccessible.
If you click restore on one of your Snapshot backups in The Hub, a box will appear, asking whether you can get into your site.
If you can’t access your site, don’t panic! Snapshot can help.
If you can get into your site, you will be directed to Snapshot within your WordPress admin, as this is the easiest way to complete a restore.
If you are unable to access your site, you can download a copy of your backup from The Hub and follow the instructions to restore your site.
Want to find out more about how Snapshot works with The Hub? Check out our complete guide.
Protect Your Staging Site
The whole point of a staging environment is to give you a safe and secure space to develop your site.
Imagine putting hours and hours into rebuilding your website, for something to suddenly go wrong, and you lose all of your hard work.
With Snapshot, the same reliable backups are available through your staging environment
All you need to do is head to Snapshot in your staging and use it as normal.
You can set a schedule for automatic backups as well as launch manual ones.
It’s just as simple as using Snapshot on your live site.
There are other circumstances where Snapshot’s staging backup feature can save the day.
For example, if you need to restore your site to one of your WPMU DEV hosting backups, you’ll see this message:
Snapshot to the rescue!
You’ll be able to restore your live site to a hosting backup whilst being safe in the knowledge that Snapshot has a copy of your staging site safely stored away.
Once your hosting restore is complete, simply head to Snapshot within your staging environment and restore to the required backup.
Time to Give it a Snap-shot
It’s been a great couple of months for Snapshot, with some awesome updates and new features being released.
It’s been a huge few months for Snapshot. We’ve completely overhauled how he backs up your data (hello, incrementals!), introduced the first of our new third-party storage destinations, and began the integration of hosting backups. So many improvements and still much more to come…
As far as backup plugins go, Snapshot was already pretty darn good.
However, with the recently launched Version 4.0, we’ve seriously raised the bar.
In fact, we’ve rebuilt Snapshot from the ground up to ensure that:
Your backups are streamlined and efficient, and don’t bloat the server by storing unnecessary files and data.
You have full control of your backups, can run them to your own schedule, and store them externally in third-party storage solutions that you trust.
You can manage and restore your backups from a simple interface and download copies at the touch of a button.
Read on to get a taste of what’s new with Snapshot, as well as a couple of sneaky insights of what’s to come:
After all, if you only change 1% of your site, what’s the point of backing up the other 99% every time?
No longer will you have duplicate upon duplicate of your site taking up all of your WPMU DEV Cloud storage space.
Snapshot will make one full backup and then proceed to back up only the new changes you make.
Subsequent backups will be far smaller in size than your base backup.
This will save you storage space as your backups will be much smaller and less likely to run into issues. It will also prevent excess strain on the server!
Better yet, the complete overhaul of Snapshot means backups are now API-driven and most of the heavy lifting is on our servers rather than your site!
We’re on a mission to make sure Snapshot integrates with every backup destination you’ll ever need.
Amazon S3 is just the first of many third-party storage solutions that will be coming your way.
Complete with a set of S3 compatible storage options, Amazon S3 is now available as a backup destination.
The first set of S3 compatible destinations we’ve added are Backblaze, DigitalOceanSpace, Wasabi, and GoogleCloud. Setup guides for each of these destinations can be found in our documentation.
Google Drive, FTP, Microsoft Azure, and Dropbox are coming in future updates, as well as the ability to add any S3 compatible destination!
View Your WPMU DEV Hosting Backups in Snapshot
Another of Snapshot’s exciting new features sees the addition of all of your WPMU DEV hosting backups within their very own dashboard.
See all your hosting backups at a glance within Snapshot.
You can view the details of your hosting backups as well as download a copy.
If you want to manage your backups, you can just click the Manage link which will take you to The Hub.
You can view the details of your last 30 hosting backups.
Hosting backups now have their own widget in the main dashboard too.
View all your Snapshot and hosting backups in one place.
Our devs are working hard on taking the integration with hosting backup a step further.
In a future release, you’ll be able to fully manage your hosting backups with Snapshot.
This means you can create manual hosting backups from Snapshot, as well as restoring to a hosting backup of your choice.
At the moment, this can all be done through Snapshot’s integration with The Hub, but we’re aiming to turn Snapshot into an all-in-one tool for managing all of your backups.
Protect Your Staging Site
We believe that backing up your staging is just as important as backing up your live site.
Snapshot now comes with the ability to back up your staging site, meaning you’ll never be at risk of losing all your hard work.
Your backups will be handled just like they are on your live site. You’ll be able to view them all within its sleek dashboard and easily restore your staging site to a previous version in a couple of clicks.
Make manual backups or even set a schedule, just as you would in your live site.
New Automate Integration
Ever updated your plugins or theme to find that there is a compatibility issue, and wished you could take your site back to right before the update?
Snapshot and Automate’s integration solves this problem.
Us too!
That’s why we introduced Snapshot to Automate and created the dream team when it comes to updating safely!
If you’re not familiar with Automate, he’s the perfect guy to be left in charge of your plugin and theme updates.
Automate will check for new updates at an interval of your choosing, and the icing on the cake is that when he’s linked with Snapshot, you can enable automatic pre-update backups.
If you host with us, this will be taken care of within your hosting backups.
If you don’t host with us, Automate will take a full backup of your site before updates are installed. You’ll be able to view and manage this backup through Snapshot’s dashboard.
Automate’s backups will be ahem…automated, so you don’t have to worry about backing up before updates.
Snapshot will store a maximum of 30 Automate backups before removing the oldest one from archives. This will come out of your WPMU DEV cloud storage allowance, but will not affect any of your other backups.
What’s Next?
Snapshot Pro has just had lots of awesome updates, however, our work is never done.
Our overall aim is always to offer plugins and services that you, our loyal members, want to see and use.
Our awesome developers are always eager to turn your ideas and suggestions into reality, which is why they are hard at work on the next batch of releases.
Over the next few months, you can expect to see more backup destinations (including Google Drive and Dropbox), the option to choose how many backups you keep, the ability to manage your hosting backups from Snapshot, along with updates to security, and white labeling capabilities.
So it’s been a hot minute since our last roadmap roundup. The last six months have been so jam-packed full of awesome features and releases that it would be practically criminal to not put a post together to present them in all their glory.
Yes, this roundup is super overdue – we promise it will be worth the wait!
We’ve been busy going through the invaluable feedback gathered from surveys, forum responses, social media comments, reviews – you name it!
No matter the source, if someone has something worthwhile to say about our products, we take it on board.
Your requests and suggestions have helped us shape our new developments and features…and we’re pretty darn proud of the finished products!
Even Dev Man can’t keep up with everyone’s awesome suggestions!
So far, 2020 has seen the introduction of Hub 2.0 (a work of art, if we must say so ourselves), a long list of major improvements to our already awesome form, quiz, and poll plugin, Forminator, and the introduction of email and file management through our hosting – and this is just the tip of the iceberg.
So, before I ramble on too much – behold, as we bring you a complete rundown of everything new and shiny we’ve added over the past 6 months (and a sneak preview of what’s to come!).
WPMU DEV CEO, James, regularly gets involved in work on The Hub.
He said “The Hub has really been my personal focus now for some time because in my view it is the future of WPMU DEV and hopefully, to some positive degree, WordPress. In addition to adding Users & Roles for your colleagues and clients and also translating The Hub into a bunch of different languages, recently we’ve also completely transformed the experience of sorting, managing, and ordering multiple sites and – just the other day – we released our new tab designs which are both elegant and also powerful.
“We’ve also done a lot of work on speed, reliability, and general UX. We hope you’ve enjoyed it. And coming up, well… coming up we’ve got some seriously good things, but two I’d like to focus on are: Complete White Labeling… basically you’ll get to use The Hub with your clients, complete with billing, your own templates, and an entirely agnostic approach to hosting. Game changer. Configs & Bulk Editing / Quick Start… starting with Defender/Security but covering every aspect of every WPMU DEV plugin you’ll be able to save your preferred config and bulk apply it to as many sites as you like… or use ours for both existing and new sites.
Which I hope will make creating, managing, and providing WordPress sites in 2021…better.”
Some of the features we’ve added include:
Hub 2.0: We launched the Beta of Hub 2.0 back in March, and since then, it’s gone down a storm. The number of new features deserved a full article in itself, so we suggest you check it out.
New and Improved Tabs: We’ve refreshed the design and functionality of your Security, Performance, SEO, Backups, and Overview tabs to give you and your users a much more elegant and improved experience.
New Thumbnail View: You can easily toggle between list view and a brand new thumbnail view in the My Sites section of The Hub.
Labels and Grouping: Easily the most requested feature – you can now label your sites by color and sort them into groups.
New Languages: You can now translate the Hub into Spanish, Portuguese, and French – très bon!
Manage your sites in one of our new languages.
Improved Users and Roles: So we heard you wanted to add your colleagues and clients to your account, in a kinda ‘seats’ system. Well, we made just that – for unlimited users and for free!
Bulk Updates: Gone are the days of updating your sites one by one – you can now update your WordPress installations in bulk from The Hub.
In the Works
Completely White Label The Hub Experience (The Hub Client): With our upcoming Hub Client plugin (it’s still very much in the early beta stages) you’ll be able to have your very own white-labeled Hub, hosted on your own domain.
This will make it possible to fully white-label and re-brand everything so that your customers never even have to know that we exist – and you can take all the credit!
In future you’ll also be able to offer different hosting and feature plans, set the initial charge and subscription levels, and let your clients purchase a plan. Welcome to your new WordPress SaaS business!
Plugins Config Integration: Create and save the exact setup and configurations of your WPMU DEV plugins and instantly apply these configs in bulk to other sites of your choice.
Dark Mode is Coming: You’ll soon be able to unleash your inner dev and switch The Hub to dark mode!
Hosting
It has been just over a year since we formally launched our hosting service.
According to our Chief Business Officer, Ronnie, “since launch we have continued to see steady and encouraging growth as more and more members migrate their sites over and start new ones. We’re to a point where we feel our hosting and its features stack up with anyone. The goal going forward is to keep pushing the boundaries with new plans, better white-labeling, and tools for agencies and freelancers that aren’t found anywhere else.”
Some of the features we’ve added include:
Clone Your Sites: Build one amazing site and then use it as a template for more. We’ve even added a stash of expertly-built sites to choose from if you fancy something a bit different.
DNS Management: With our new DNS hosting, you can just point your nameservers at us and we’ll manage and set up all your DNS records for hosting and email.
10 Free Email Accounts: Each site now comes with 10 free name@domain.tld email addresses that can be created in just a few clicks.
New File Manager: Hopefully our new file manager is already a staple part of your site management. It makes it soooo much easier to quickly do what you need to do without taking a risk with third-party plugins or spending the extra time it takes to connect using SFTP.
Dip in and out of your files in a couple of easy clicks.
Free Wildcard SSL for Multisites: Setting up SSL on Multisite subdomains was complex and expensive…until now! Free Wildcard SSL is now automatically included on all hosted sites.
Bulk Pricing Discounts: Ok, so not technically a new feature, however we know that this was something our members were crying out for and is something we’re super glad to finally be able to offer. The more sites you host with us, the more you save – simple!
Introduction of WAF: WPMU DEV’s Hosted Web Application Firewall (WAF) is your first layer of protection to block hackers and bot attacks before they even reach your site. Websites hosted with WPMU DEV can now use this advanced WAF by enabling it via your site’s Security or Hosting tab in The Hub.
Static Server Cache: Much faster than any PHP plugin, Static Server Cache greatly speeds up your site and allows for an average of 10 times more concurrent visitors. It is disabled by default but you can easily toggle it on for any sites hosted with us.
In the Works
New AU Datacentre: Just watch this space!
Email Service Improvements: Including a “catch all” email address alias, simplified email setup, and a new default ‘from’ address.
More Options: We’re also testing many different new plans to give you more choice, access to scale, and more value for resellers.
Smush
Our team are always working hard to ensure Smush is the best image-optimization plugin on the market.
Head Of Development, Anton, has big things in the pipeline. He said “Smush has a huge range of improvements coming your way – local WebP support, improved CDN lazy load compatibility. We’re also testing a lot of new stuff – support for the AVIF image format, image quality controls, per image CDN cache purge.
“Personally, I am really proud of the work done to test how far we can push integration with various services. For example, offloading page parsing to Cloudflare workers to reduce load on your sites from Smush CDN and lazy load processing. We aren’t aware of any other plugin doing something like this before. We’re so excited for the upcoming new year.”
Some of the features we’ve added include:
WordPress 5.5 Lazy Load Compatibility: In August, WordPress launched the new Core Version 5.5 that introduced native HTML lazy loading by default. With Smush, you can decide if you’re willing to use limited native lazy loading or utilize the JS-based approach that supports all the browsers and has additional support for iframes, loading animation and much more. On top of this, Smush offers its own implementation of native lazy load support that will integrate with Smush’s lazy load settings
Integration With Soliloquy Slider: We’ve integrated Smush’s CDN and lazy loading with Soliloquy Slider, which means no more bugs, and a seamless experience.
Support for Images in REST API Responses: All images in REST API responses will be served by the CDN, when it’s enabled.
Media Library Filter: If you have a large media library, sometimes it can be hard or even near to impossible to find images that haven’t been optimized by Smush. We’ve added a new filter to the Media Library that allows users to retrieve all images which haven’t been compressed.
Lazy Loading For WebP Images: WebP images were being overlooked by the lazy loading feature – we’ve now applied a fix for this.
Smush’s new tutorials will have you optimizing your images in no time.
Improved Compatibility With Various Plugins: Translate Press, NextGen gallery, S3-Uploads, Vimeography, Soliloquy slider plugins, Oxygen, Thrive Architect, Tatsu themes…and that’s just to name a few!
In the Works
Non-CDN WebP Support: You’ve been asking, and we’ve been listening! Long-awaited support for local WebP, the modern image format that provides superior lossless and lossy compression for images on the web, is in the works.
SVGs via the CDN: We’re committed to helping you achieve the best site speed possible, which is why SVG images will be served via the CDN.
Hummingbird
Our developers are always testing new ways to improve Hummingbird to make sites even faster.
“With Hummingbird, one of our main goals is to simplify configurations,” said Anton, Head of Development. “We’ve already pushed out a release with new automated Asset Optimization presets, and we’re planning on taking this one step further with presets for common themes and plugins.
“Another major change will be in how we use PageSpeed Insights recommendations. Google changes those on a regular basis and we want to make sure users have all the latest recommendations on improving performance right inside Hummingbird.”
Some of the features we’ve added include:
New Automatic Modes: As an alternative to manually compressing and optimizing your assets, we have introduced two automatic options – Basic and Speedy. They both offer one-click solutions to asset optimization…we love making things simple!
These two new options make optimizing your assets a breeze.
Cache Page Headers: Headers are important, they often contain important information on access control, cache, age, location, servers, and so on. Previously, Hummingbird used to support only the default headers, we have now added a new setting which allows all the headers to be saved and served with your cache.
Redis Object Cache Integration: We’ve added an integration with Redis, the 3rd party cache provider.
Lazy Loading Comments: For sites that have a lot of comments, this should help boost page speed. This new feature works just like lazy loading images – it will only load comments above the fold.
FCGI Integration: If you host your site with us, you can manage server static caching with Hummingbird.
In the Works
Network-wide Cache Control: No more logging into sites one by one to clear Hummingbird’s cache. Save a bunch of time and clear the cache of all your sites at once.
New Health Page: Sometimes things don’t go as planned. Imagine a dedicated page that shows you basic health stats and helps you fix issues. We analyzed our most reported problems and came up with solutions. With our new “Health Page” fixing problems becomes a reality in this release.
Forminator
This little plugin has seen a whole host of changes this year.
Product Manager, Mukul, said his long-term vision is for Forminator to be “as feature-rich as possible and with such a great user experience that users won’t ever have to look beyond WPMU DEV when it comes to building any type of forms. Considering Forminator is still a young form-builder plugin, it’s seen a huge list of features and improvements requested since it’s inception.
“Our goal this year has been to push some of the highly requested features such as the Login/Registration module, E-sign, and Lead Capturing on Quizzes to name a few. We’ll continue to add more features such as Subscription Payments, Repeater field, and many more in the releases to come, while maintaining the existing features.”
Some of the features we’ve added include:
Capturing Leads on Quizzes: Our brand new release – you can now link a form to your quiz and collect details from participants.
Login and Registration Templates: WP’s default login and registration forms are not editable, but now with Forminator, you get the flexibility to add any fields into these forms. For example, if you want to charge a one-time fee to become a user, you can do that by adding a Stripe/PayPal field into your custom registration form. These templates also support multisite so on a network, in addition to registering new users, you can allow your visitors to register their own subsite as well.
Efficient Loading of Style Sheets: We’ve changed the way that Forminator loads CSS. Long story short – a simple contact form is usually around 50.4KB in size, but with the changes to the way Forminator compresses CSS, we’ve reduced the data consumption on your visitor’s device to just 6.1KB.
With this new field, your forms can serve many new purposes.
Advanced Date Picker: Want to run a booking system where your customers can only book more than 5 days in advance? This is just one of the many things you can do with the new advanced options – you should really check them out.
Full HubSpot Integration: Admins can map their form data to as many HubSpot fields as they want – all fields are now supported!
In the Works
Subscription Payments: The one you’ve been waiting for…collect recurring/subscription payments with PayPal and Stripe! You’ll also be able to add both Stripe and PayPal options onto a single form so that your visitors can choose the one they prefer.
Conditional PayPal Payments: You can already add conditional Stripe payments – soon you’ll be able to do the same for PayPal. You’ll be able to offer visitors the flexibility to submit the form without completing the PayPal field,
Repeater Fields are Coming: Let’s say your visitor is filling out a job application created with Forminator – they will be able to add sets of required fields in clusters, i.e. company name, date started, date left, responsibilities. Front-end users will be able to add as many instances as they require.
Defender
We’re always working on improvements to our one and only site security plugin.
Product Manager, Nastia, said “Security is one of our main priorities – not just for Defender, but across the whole of WPMU. Soon enough, Defender will give the option to add a reCaptcha for WordPress login pages – one more step forward for safer sites!
“We are also working to improve Defender’s resource consumption during malware scanning, so you can decide how much of your resources you want Defender to use during a site scan.”
Some of the features we’ve added include:
Port Your Preferences: Thanks to this update, you only have to configure Defender once. You can save your settings and import/export between sites.
Brand-New Tutorials Within UI: Make sure Defender performs at his best by following these awesome tutorials and making your site impenetrable.
Get the most out of Defender with these great new tutorials.
In the Works
More Integrations: We’re adding more integrations for 2-factor authentication including Authy, 1Password, LastPass, and Microsoft Authenticator.
Put a Stop to Bad Bots: Block those pesky User Agents! You will soon be able to ban User Agents with nefarious intentions from crawling through your site.
Hustle
There’s a lot in the pipeline for Hustle.
“We’ve been aiming to give more flexibility when creating modules,” said Lead Developer, Danae. “The bunch of design options we’ve introduced and separate mobile appearance settings allow you to create beautiful and fully responsive modules – goodbye to those old boring styles! And they came with pre-made templates so you’re ready to go in just a few clicks.
“Our visibility conditions were also improved. Now you can easily target more specific groups of people. We’re currently focusing on polishing the design possibilities, introducing new templates, and improving the appearance configuration experience.”
Some of the features we’ve added include:
Pre-built Module Templates: You can now choose one of our awesome templates each time you create a new module.
You’ll be spoilt for choice with our 10 new templates.
New Appearance Settings: We’ve added a bunch of new appearance options for more flexibility. You can now create even more beautiful modules without custom CSS.
New Preview Interface: The new preview displays the module as it would appear on your homepage. It also allows you to select the device to use for the preview, and reload the module for better visualization of the animations.
Module Scheduling: No more logging in out of hours to turn promotions and announcements on and off – you can now set start and end times for your modules.
Cookie Visibility Condition: A very powerful new addition – you can now choose whether a module is displayed to a visitor based on the existence of specific cookies.
In the Works
New Integrations: Watch out for integrations with Mailster and MailPoet – you’ll be able to add subscribers to your newsletter straight from Hustle’s pop-ups!
Add Multiple Triggers: Create a pop-up with multiple triggers! Got a super important message you need visitors to see? Set your pop-up to appear on click, scroll, and exit-intent!
Tutorials in the UI: We recently produced some awesome tutorials which are already on our blog, but soon you will be able to access them straight from Hustle’s UI!
Even More Appearance Settings: These will include multiple CTA buttons and new placements for the pop-up close button.
Branda
One change to Branda in particular has been a bit of a big deal.
“We spent a lot of time this year working towards making Branda available for free on WordPress.org,” said Lead Developer, Hassan.
“We’re now working towards making it easier for our users to quickly enable coming soon or maintenance mode on their site and allow customization of each element. That’s why we’ve been working on an intuitive theme and templating system which will make it a breeze for you to put your site in coming soon or maintenance mode.”
Some of the features we’ve added include:
New SMTP Logs Module: The addition of the SMTP logs module allows you to keep track of emails from directly within Branda.
Remove “Proudly Powered by WordPress”: Exactly what it says on the tin – you can now remove this message without tampering with code.
Full Revamp of Coming Soon and Maintenance Mode: Template builder for coming soon and maintenance mode pages? Yes please! This section of Branda is undergoing a complete overhaul, making it easier for you to keep your customers in the loop – in style!
Snapshot
Our Snapshot team have had their work cut out recently.
Product Manager, Nastia, said “Snapshot has just had a major overhaul, with big improvements to its API and the way backups are stored.
We’re now focusing on more and more backup destinations, as requested by our members. We have just released Amazon S3 as well as some S3 compatible destinations, and in near future we’ll have Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, FTP and possibly more.”
Some of the features we’ve added include:
Incremental Backups: As of version 4.0, Snapshot Pro’s backups are incremental, meaning they’re much quicker and take up far less space.
Amazon S3 as a Backup Destination: Our first backup destination has just launched! You can now upload your backups to Amazon S3 and as compatible destinations Digital Ocean, Wasabi, Backblaze and Google Cloud.
View Hosting Backups in the UI: If you host your site with us, you can now view all your backups within Snapshot!
Keep an eye on all your backups in one easy-to-navigate place.
Email Notifications: Users now have the option to receive an email notification if a backup fails.
In the Works
New Backup Destinations: There are more on the horizon, including Google Drive and Dropbox.
Manage Your Hosting Backups: You can now view your hosting backups in Snapshot, but we plan to take it a step further and let you manage them too!
Password-Protect Your Backups: A future update will require you to input your WPMU DEV password before deleting backups.
SmartCrawl
It’s schema-central over at SmartCrawl right now.
Mohammad, SmartCrawl’s Product Manager, hints at exciting things ahead for this plugin. He said “SmartCrawl is living in very interesting times, as the plugin is in an overhaul process. We are working on improving the UX one release at a time as well as adding new valuable features.
“In the next release, we are adding a very important feature that many of our members asked for, which is the Schema Markup Editor Tool. It will then be followed with releases that focus on improving the user’s experience and redesigning any element that could cause confusion for members. We’re also looking to improve our SEO checkup and recommendations tools.”
Some of the features we’ve added include:
Options for WordPress 5.5 Core Sitemap: In version 5.5, WordPress introduced a core sitemap. We’ve added new options which allow you to customize the core sitemap or use SmartCrawl’s instead.
Macro Support in Metabox Optimum Length Indicators: In SmartCrawl’s SEO metabox, the title and description length indicators now take the actual length of macros into account. For example, %%category%% will be expanded to the actual categories linked to the post, and the indicator will show the red-yellow-green color based on the categories.
Full Support for Default Schema Types: Version 2.8.0 introduced a new schema page with tons of settings for changing your site’s schema output.
Check out SmartCrawl’s latest update for a list of all supported schema types.
Ability to Set rel Attribute for Links in Post Editor: Google recently introduced new values for the rel attribute of ‘a’ tags. SmartCrawl has added toggles to WordPress’ default link tool for easily setting rel attributes.
In the Works
New Schema Builder: Looking for a tool that automatically generates schema markup for WP posts? Our upcoming custom schema builder will do it!
More Schema Types: We’ll also be supporting more schema types, including Article, Webpage, Rating & Review, Products, Local Business.
Setup Wizard: Keep your eyes peeled for the upcoming 5-minute setup wizard!
Beehive
There are a lot of exciting things on the cards for Beehive.
Lead developer, Joel, said “One of the main goals for our team is creating a great user experience. We want to make complex analytics as simple as possible with Beehive’s easy-to-use interface.
As well as bug fixes and general performance improvements, over the next few months we’re planning to add FB pixel integration and enhanced e-commerce tracking focusing on Woocommerce. We are also planning to integrate the Beehive analytics reports to the Hub.”
Some of the features we’ve added include:
Google Tag Manager Integration: Take your analytics a step further by linking your Google Tag Manager account to Beehive.
Sleek, easy-to-use interfaces for all your analytics tools with Beehive.
New Settings Manager: We’ve introduced the ability to control who can access Beehive’s settings, so that you never log in to any unwelcome surprises.
In the Works
Facebook Pixel Support: You’ll be soon able to view your reports within Beehive’s UI.
WooCommerce Reports: Add an option to send daily, weekly, and monthly WooCommerce reports.
Exclude Tracking for Users: The option to stop GA tracking based on user roles – you’ll be able to prevent users visiting the page from the front-end while logged in from counting towards your stats.
Google Search Console: We’re working on an integration with Google Search Console – we’re always trialing ways to make Beehive’s analytic abilities more powerful.
WooCommerce Event Tracking: The ability to track WooCommerce events such as items being added to or removed from a cart, a visitor beginning the checkout process, and orders being refunded or cancelled.
Integration with popular form plugins (need we name any names?)
New Ways to View Reports: Reports will be integrated with The Hub…you’ll even be able to have them emailed to you!
Shipper
Nastia, Shipper’s Product Manager, made it clear that the team is working hard on this plugin right now.
She said “Shipper is going through major improvements that will speed up the whole migration process. Not only that, but we’re working on an improved log feature so each migration step can be tracked.
“We also want to give to our users an awesome option to migrate subsites from one multisite to another, and import single sites to a multisite installation.”
Some of the features we’ve added include:
Multisite to Single Sites: Shipper can now migrate your multisite to a single site. We promise it’s not magic, just a lot of awesome code written by our amazing developers.
Shipper has your back throughout your entire migration.
Our Captain’s Had a Makeover: Not only has Shipper himself had a tidy up and a trim, his whole UI is new and improved and looking rather smart!
Extra Security: There’s nothing worse than finding out your site has been hacked and migrated to a second-rate host (ok that’s never happened to us, but it sounds like a nightmare!). Shipper will now ask for your WPMU DEV password before a migration is initiated.
In the Works
More Speed: Shipper’s upping his speed game so he can best his competitors. *Hint the main one he’s gunning for rhymes with “Shoeplicator”
Free Migrations: We’re also working on a free version for WP.org *gasps*
Integrated Video Tutorials
This plugin has just undergone a pretty major renovation, but we’re not stopping there.
Lead developer, Joel, said “We’re planning improvements to the UX to make it easier to filter, search, and manage videos & playlists. Also, we’ll be adding more video providers (Metacafe, Dailymotion) to the custom videos feature as well as a new Gutenberg block to insert videos into your pages or posts.
“This plugin’s designer, Afia, is currently trawling through member requests to find even more awesome features we can add to future updates.”
Some of the features we’ve added include:
Brand New UI: We’ve completely revamped our UI, making this plugin easier to navigate and adding in a new dashboard screen.
The new dashboard is looking swiiiish.
Video Customizations: You can now edit the name and description of videos and assign them to playlists – basically you have a lot more freedom over how videos are displayed!
In the Works
New Export/Import Feature: Easily import videos, playlists, and settings from one site to all your client sites
New Integrations: Integrations with custom video providers such as DailyMotion and Metacafe.
Until Next Time…
We told you this roundup was worth the wait!
We promise we’ll do these more regularly so that you never miss any of the amazing new additions to our products.
Feel free to leave me a comment to remind me in a couple of months’ time, and keep an eye on the roadmap in the meantime!
With its hand-picked selection of WordPress news and epic puns, The WhiP has been a welcome arrival in thousands of inboxes for over 6 years. And to celebrate our fav newsletter reaching the big 1K we’re doing an extra-special giveaway.
May 14th, 2014.
Just your typical Wednesday.
All of Me by John Legend was the US number one, and we’d finally finished eating all of our Easter eggs.
At 8am, 70 people across the world received an email. An email that would be the start of something amazing…
…it was the first ever WhiP.
A lot has changed since the first WhiP newsletter graced our inboxes.
Good, Clean[ish] Puns
Since that first edition, we’ve seen 1,000 editions, a truckload of legendary puns, and the audience currently sits at over 200K subscribers.
Each and every week, we’ve brought you a roundup of important and interesting news from across the WordPress biz – and we don’t plan on stopping any time soon.
We also can’t celebrate 1,000 editions without paying homage to our past WhiP contributors. Especially Joshua Dailey and Raelene Morey – the first ever WhiP Team.
They did an awesome job at bringing this idea to life and that it’s still going more than six years later is a testament to all their hard work.
The WhiP’s punny take on WP news continues to entertain thousands.
GIF it Away, GIF it Away Now
Alright now that we’ve recapped The WhiP’s journey and how awesome it is (subscribe here if you haven’t yet silly), onto the special giveaway!
The WhiP is of course famous for its use of puns to bring even the most boring WP news to life. And we’ve had tons of feedback over the years letting us know that you love our puns.
So much so, current WhiP-master, Rick, used the “Do you know who I am?!” line in Starbucks last week when they only gave him one shot of caramel in his latte.
So in the spirit of The WhiP’s punny nature, we’re giving you the chance to…
WIN one of 10 custom-made “punny” WhiP t-shirts + a year’s worth of hosting.
That’s right, we decided to honor some of the best puns by turning them into awesome, punny t-shirts and putting them up for grabs in a sweet little giveaway!
Winners will be able to choose from six puntastic WhiP shirts we designed especially for this promotion. You’ll also be able to choose your preferred design, size, color, etc.
But wait, there’s more…
Along with the shirts, we’re throwing in ONE YEAR’S worth of bronze hosting credit ($120) for our 10 winners!
*If you don’t host with us and aren’t planning on switching any time soon, you can spend your credits on anything else from our range. This includes any of our membership plans and subscriptions or add-ons for your favorite WPMU DEV plugins.
Choosing the top puns to print on the t-shirts was a difficult task. But after trawling through hundreds of previous WhiPs and then a team vote to narrow it down even further, we present to you our six favorites.
Winners can choose from one of these 6 puntastic t-shirt designs:
All hand-picked from previous WhiP editions and designed by us especially for this giveaway!
1.You Had Me at “Hello World”
2.Never Gonna Give You App
3.Cache Me If You Can
4.You Have The Right To Domain Silent
5.Don’t Worry, Be HaPHP
6.Go Hard Or Go Chrome
Which punny shirt is your fav? Let us know below.
How do I get my hands on one of these WhiP t-shirts and the free hosting??
To win one of these awesome t-shirts (and the free hosting cred), head to one of our social media accounts and simply retweet, share, or comment on any social post with the hashtag “#WhiP1000.”
That’s it! We’ll draw 10 winners using a random number generator, and the more times you retweet, share, or comment on a WhiP post, the more entries you’ll have in the pool.
One more condition… You’ll need to be subscribed to the WhiP to be in the running – this is all in honor of the 1000th edition after all!
If you aren’t yet subscribed (what rock have you been living under?!) you can do so here.
Finally, you have until Friday to enter and we’ll be contacting the lucky WhiP winners next week!
Here are our social media accounts for reference:
Pun and Dusted
Get sharing and commenting on social, and may the odds be in your favor!
To all our loyal WhiP subscribers, especially those who’ve been rocking with us since day one, we thank you.
We know it’s cliché, but reaching 1000 editions simply would not have been possible without you.
And to any new or recent subscribers, welcome to the WhiP family, and we hope you’ll stick around and laugh with us throughout the next 1000 editions!
Here are those ways to win one more time in case it didn’t sink in above:
On Twitter… retweet any WPMU DEV post with the hashtag #WhiP1000.
On Facebook… share or comment on any WPMU DEV post with the hashtag #WhiP1000.
On Instagram… comment on any WPMU DEV post with the hashtag #WhiP1000.
Beehive Analytics is your all-in-one Google Analytics Dashboard, keeping you in the loop when it comes to your site traffic and making analytics less of a chore. Easily track your statistics straight from your WordPress dashboard and stay on top of your marketing game. Here’s everything you need to know…
Google Analytics can be daunting for inexperienced users. When all you need are a few simple statistics, having to navigate its interface whilst being faced with rows upon rows of numbers can be a bit overwhelming.
From your most-visited pages to your most-popular referral platforms, Beehive saves you this headache by making all of your most important stats available to you at a glance.
This article will talk you through how to get set up and make the most of Beehive.
There are three different routes you can go down when connecting your analytics account to Beehive:
Tracking ID only – Adding just a Tracking ID allows data to be sent to a property within a Google Analytics account, but that data can only be viewed in Google Analytics and will not be available on the dashboards of the target site(s).
Connect with Google – This method utilizes a shared API to display tracking statistics on site or network dashboards but comes with limitations.
API Project (recommended) – Creating a custom API Project for a specific site or network allows data to be displayed on site and network dashboards without the limitations of a shared API.
2. Setting Up an API Project
Below we will take you through how to set up Beehive as an API Project. It is our recommended method as you won’t be sharing API credentials with anyone, plus you can personalize your authentication screen icon and project name.
Choose your project name wisely as it cannot be amended later.
Select your organization and location and click Create.
You will then be met with a message informing you that you have no APIs available to use. Click on Enable APIs and Services just above this message.
This will take you to the API Library.
On the next screen, you will see tons of different API categories, however the only ones you need to enable are Google People, Google Analytics and Google Analytics Reporting.
Type them into the search bar and click Enable on each.
As Google requires informed consent for most of its data collection APIs, in order to run Beehive, Google needs a OAuth 2.0 Client ID which requires that users grant consent to the data collection via a consent screen.
You can set this up by heading back to the Google API dashboard and clicking Credentials.
Click Create Credentials and select OAuth client ID.
On the next screen, you will need to choose the type of users that will be using Beehive. This will generally be external if you want to give access to people outside of your organization such as clients or agencies.
If you select Internal, only members of your organization will be able to use the plugin.
The next screen may look a little daunting, but all you need to do is fill in a few pieces of simple information.
First of all, add the application name (e.g. Beehive Analytics), and add a logo if you wish. Please note that adding a logo may mean that Google has to verify the plugin, which may prevent you continuing with the setup until the verification is complete.
Select another support email address if you don’t want to use the one linked to your account.
Scroll down to Authorized domains, add in your site address, then click Save.
You will then need to head back to credentials and again click Create OAuth client ID.
Select the application type as Web Application, name the client and add the Authorized Redirect URIs.
You must add the Redirect URI twice – once ending in a forward slash, and once without.
Ensure you add http/https at the front of your URI.
Click Create and a pop-up will appear containing your Client ID and Client Secret.
Hurrah, you’ve made it!
Head back to Beehive and click on the settings page.
Click the Set Up API Project option and copy across the two pieces of data from your Google API.
Fill in both fields and click Authorize.
You will then be prompted to link your Google account. Follow the quick steps and your account should be successfully linked.
Last but not least, you will need to choose a profile, as you can have more than one site connected to your Google Analytics account.
Select the site you want to connect to from the drop-down box.
If the site you are connecting is the same site as the one you have installed the plugin on and are currently using, you can tick the Automatically detect tracking ID box.
If you are tracking the analytics for a different site, you will need to add the tracking ID manually. There is a link further down the page which takes you to Google’s instructions on where to find it.
The hard part is now over and you can now start exploring Beehive!
3. Configure Your Permissions
As standard, all administrators have access to Beehive. You can grant permissions to view the widget and analytics stats to other users either by role or by capability.
The downward arrows allow you to fine-tune which aspects of the widget and analytics you want to grant access to.
You can also choose who gets access to Branda’s settings, which allows the user to change the linked accounts.
Tick boxes to add permissions to extra roles or click Custom Users to include or exclude by username.
4. Beehive Dashboard Overview
For a less-experienced user, Beehive’s dashboard is a breath of fresh air compared to Google Analytics.
Your main stats are displayed on one simple and easy to understand screen, and you can quickly flick through past results by using the drop-down in the top-right corner.
See your most important stats at a glance.
The dashboard displays a running total of page views for the current week, as well as the number of users, sessions, average time, and bounce rate.
Beehive’s dashboard features a handy comparison so that you know how your stats are holding up compared to last period.
5. Beehive Dashboard Widget
This easy-to-digest theme runs through to your main dashboard, where Beehive automatically adds a detailed summary of your Google Analytics stats.
The widget is packed full of handy statistics.
You can see a quick overview such as your top page, top country, top referral, and page views. Flick across the menu to see a mini audience graph as well as your top pages and average time spent, and a roundup of your traffic activity.
It’s a simple way to keep an eye on your stats without needing to open up the plugin and getting into ‘analytics mode’.
Note: If you find yourself wondering why the WPMU DEV analytics widget in the WPMU DEV dashboard shows different data when compared to data displayed by other Analytics widgets, that’s because we use different metrics. We anonymize IPs and don’t track or store any personally identifiable information (PII).
6. Checking Your Reports
From the bottom left of Beehive’s dashboard, click ‘View Full Report’ to be taken to the good stuff.
You can switch the main graph to display the number of sessions, users, pageviews, average session time, and bounce rates.
Easily keep track of trends with Beehive’s handy graphs.
Next up are three simple donut charts which present some of your most important statistics.
First of all is the overall mediums chart. This outlines where your traffic is coming from and groups it into categories such as organic search, direct traffic, and social media.
This chart gives a good general idea of how your visitors are finding your site.
This second splits down the referrals from social networks, including all of the large and obvious ones, right down to Stack Overflow, Reddit, and even WordPress.
The chart will display any social network that you get traffic from.
The last donut chart splits down the search engine traffic.
A nice even split…
At the bottom of the page are the top countries and pages.
An interactive map displays the top places that your visitors hail from. You can move your cursor over a country to see an exact session count.
Find out exactly which parts of the world love your site.
Last but not least are your top pages, along with the average session time, number of visitors and an indication of the trend.
View any of your stats over any period to track trends.
7. Enable Display Ads
Take your analytics a step further by adding Google advertising cookies to your site so you can do things such as:
Create Remarketing Audiences based on specific behavior, demographic, and interest data, and share those lists with Google Ads
Use demographic and interest data in your Analytics reports
Create Segments based on demographic and interest data.
All you need to do to enable this is head to Beehive’s settings and click the toggle.
Follow the link to find out more about keeping your privacy policy in check.
8. Using Beehive with Multisite Installations
Beehive wouldn’t be a WPMU DEV plugin if it didn’t work seamlessly with multisite networks.
There are a few different ways you can go about managing your network’s analytics. You can:
Create a network-wide Google Analytics profile to track the entire network’s visits.
Set up separate accounts to track each subsite individually.
Connect your network URL with Google Analytics and all subsites will automatically show their stats.
Beehive lets you track statistics in your multisite network.
If you choose to allow your site admins to use Beehive, you can decide whether or not they can override your permissions. All you need to do is head to Settings>Permissions and tick the box.
You can do this separately for the settings and stats permissions.
Make Better-Informed Decisions
Once you’ve got your analytics account successfully linked to Beehive, tracking your stats becomes one of the simplest parts of running your website.
Everything you need can be accessed quickly and easily whilst going about your other site admin duties. With your stats so readily available, it can help you keep track of traffic trends and be on the ball if there are any issues.
If you like what you see, check out Beehive’s documentation for a more in-depth step-by-step guide to getting set up and check out our roadmap (keep an eye out for our Google Tag Manager update – coming soon!) to see what we’re working on.
Branda is your white-labeling , efficiency-increasing, admin-customizing connoisseur. She gives you the power to customize every aspect of WordPress, letting your brand flow from the front to back of your website. Here’s how to make the most of her skills…
From reorganizing your admin menu and bar, to sprucing up your dash with a brand new color scheme, Branda allows you to shape your WordPress admin into something custom-tailored to your needs. Add that to the ability to create custom login, maintenance mode and coming soon pages, and you’ve got yourself a pretty powerful plugin.
Branda allows you to completely white label WordPress so that you can present your clients with a site where their brand reaches every single inch.
The admin bar is a valuable tool when it comes to navigating your site.
Branda can help you add and remove items, reorganize the order of your bar, and replace the WordPress logo.
Honor your brand by replacing the default WordPress logo with your own.
Whether you have a custom logo or not, the admin bar can get in the way when you’re working on the front-end of your site. If you would rather it not be visible, you can use the options below to hide it from certain user roles.
Untick the boxes of all user roles if you want the admin bar to completely disappear from the front-end.
Once you are happy with your permissions, you can choose to hide any aspect of the admin bar, from the logo, right up to the howdy message.
Just untick the boxes of the items you don’t want to see for a quick declutter of your admin bar.
You can also choose which user roles the items are hidden for.
If you want to add some more functionality to your admin bar, you can add your own custom items to it.
Simply choose a name for your new menu item and select an icon.
You can also add a submenu and change the visibility per user role.
Once you have tidied up your bar and it contains only icons and links that will help you efficiently carry out your admin duties, you can use Branda to reorganize the menu items.
So simple, but extremely useful if you have a long line of custom menu items!
Customize Your Admin Menu
Just like the admin bar, you can customize your admin menu to make it work for you.
You can easily hide any menu items which you rarely use by hovering over the item and selecting hide.
Items can be hidden for each user role.
Once you’ve said goodbye to everything you don’t need, it’s time to add in the useful stuff.
You can easily add a new menu item by clicking the Add Item button.
You’ll then need to select a title, as well as assign an ID and class. Add an icon either from the large list of presets or upload your own from a file stored on your PC, a URL, or as a coded SVG.
Choose where it links to and whether it opens in a new tab, and you’re all set.
Add Your Own Footer Message
Display a message in the footer of each page within your admin area using the Admin Footer module.
You can add links, photos, videos, or just text.
Your footer will display in the bottom left corner of each page within your admin area.
Keep it simple, or use it as a space to post small reminders or show off your branding.
Create a Dashboard Alert Message
Another way to add custom messages or alerts is with the Admin Message module.
You’re greeted with the same input box as with the Admin Footer, however this message will display at the top of each page, so is a much better place to share company updates and reminders.
You can still add media and links to your Admin Message.
Personalize Your Widgets
Possibly the best way to display your own custom messages, updates, and alerts is using dashboard widgets. Enable the Dashboard Widgets module to get started.
WordPress comes with a few preset widgets, however if you find yourself not using them, you can use Branda to remove them from your dash and use the space to display your own.
Simply check the boxes of the widgets you want to hide.
Adding your own widgets is super simple. You can start by creating a Dashboard Welcome Widget.
You can use the visual or text editor to create your widget.
In order for your welcome widget to display on your dashboard, you need to ensure it is enabled by selecting it within Screen Options.
You can only access the screen options menu through the dashboard screen.
Once you have created your welcome widget and enabled it in the settings, it will be visible at the top of your dashboard screen.
Your welcome widget can contain anything you like, including images and videos.
When you’re happy with your welcome widget, you can move onto the rest.
Widgets can be added by clicking the Add Text Widget button at the bottom of the Dashboard Widgets module.
Simply enter a title, then add your content.
Any widgets you add will appear in the list mentioned above, where you can opt to hide them individually.
You can also add Feeds as widgets so that you always see the latest news from sectors that interest you, straight from your dashboard.
All you need are the URLs of the site and feed.
Choose a title, click Add, and your widget will display on your dashboard.
Keep up to date with your favorite news feeds.
Add New Help Content
The help drop-down is a great place to store useful tips for new users to your site, as well as add reminders for tasks that might need to be done periodically, and instructions on how to carry them out.
You can easily add these tips using Branda’s Help Content module.
This feature includes the options to add media, links, and lists.
You can then view your help items by clicking on the help menu at the top of each page within the admin menu.
Create Your Own Color Scheme
Now that you’ve reorganized your admin area into something more practical, it’s time to jazz it up with a new color scheme.
Branda allows you to create your own, choosing everything from the background and admin menu/bar colors, right down to the link and hover colors.
A simple way to bring your admin area to life.
Add in Some Custom CSS
Whilst we’re pretty confident that Branda is indeed the ultimate white-labeling plugin, there may still be times where you have your heart set on something outside of her remit.
This is why the Custom CSS module exists.
Enable and use this module to add any extra tweaks to your admin area.
Choose a New Email Template
Branda’s email module offers the power to change the style of the emails that you receive from WordPress.
All you need to do is select a template (or make your own if you’re feeling creative) and then tweak the text.
Branda’s templates allow you to add some life to your emails with next to no effort.
Hit the preview button to see how your new emails will look, and then use the HTML editor to add some personalization.
The Tripmaker template can help you create fresh and engaging emails.
Front End
Edit Your Author Box
Branda’s Author Box module allows you to edit every aspect of your author box’s design.
You can hide your avatar and name, opt to show ‘More from the current author’ by linking to their other recent posts, link to social accounts, and of course, customize the color of your author box and bio.
Easily make customizations to your author box to fit more inline with your theme.
Create Your Own Cookie Notice
Cookie notices are never going to be a thrilling read, however with Branda, you can at least customize them so they are succinct, to the point, and easy on the eye.
Simply activate the Cookie Notice module and type out your message.
You can then choose whether to link to your privacy policy.
It wouldn’t be Branda if you couldn’t change the color and tweak the design. Once you’re happy with how your notice looks, you can choose how long cookies are stored for and select the version number.
Short and sweet.
Personalize Your Database Error Page
Branda has a standard format when it comes to creating your own front-end pages. You’ll see this same layout again further down this guide.
In the unfortunate circumstance that your visitor encounters an error, Branda gives you the power to display a custom error page, instead of the default WordPress one.
You can start this process by selecting a background image and logo.
Just make sure your background image is no smaller than 1024px wide.
Once you have got the base of your page ready, you can move on to tweaking the design.
Select the size and opacity of your logo, as well as its position, and margin.
Decide how you want your background to display, and choose the size of your error message’s content wrapper, and then scroll down to choose the colors of the various elements.
Once you’re happy with your new settings, you can hit the preview button at the top of the page to check out your design.
Create an error page that’s easy on the eye.
Add Some Header and Footer Content
Your footer is a great place to display your company logo/slogan on each page of your site.
Branda makes it super easy to add one – you can either stick with just text or images or a combination of both.
You can even add a video!
The Header Content module gives you exactly the same options, however your content will be displayed at the top of your screen instead of the bottom.
This is a great way to add an alert to your site, such as letting your customers know you will be closed next week or telling them that an offer ends soon.
Create a Personalized Login Screen
One of the most awesome features of Branda is the ability to create your own custom login screen.
Whatever your brand, you can create a login page to match.
Utilities
Control Your Comments
With Branda, you can not only turn comments on and off, but you block individual IP addresses.
Block the bots…or just people you find annoying!
WordPress only lets you post one comment every 15 seconds, in an effort to prevent spam comments.
Branda can help you override this setting if you want to give more freedom to certain users – all you need to do is add IPs to the whitelist.
Create Maintenance Mode and Coming Soon Pages
Whether you’re working on a brand new site or just sorting out a few important updates, Branda allows you to quickly switch between maintenance and coming soon modes to give you a little privacy until you’re finished.
Keep your customers informed…in style!
Whilst the customization options are the same between the two modes, it’s important that you use the right one at the right time.
Coming Soon mode is used when you’re in the process of building your site. It lets Google know that it’s on its way, helping you get a headstart with your SEO and giving you somewhere to send visitors to build hype and interest.
Maintenance Mode is used for everything else – be it when you’re fixing a bug, adding a new product, or simply making changes to your site. Switching to Maintenance Mode puts out a 503 code, which lets Google know your site is offline, ensures you don’t get penalized and stops your page from being cached.
Branda gives you exactly the same customization options for both modes, but you need to make sure you select the right one for your purpose to ensure you’re sending out the right message to the search engine bots.
It only takes one click to switch modes.
You start by adding your own background, logo, and then can make a few extra personalizations to let your visitors know what’s going on.
Select Display Message to add the note to your site which will give visitors the information they need.
Add extra content or keep it simple with just a title.
You can also add a countdown timer if you’d like to let your visitors know how long your site will be down.
A countdown timer will help build excitement for your grand reveal!
If you want to give your visitors something to do while your site is out of action, you can direct them to your social accounts. With 28 to choose from, your visitors will never be left high and dry.
It’s easy to keep your visitors busy while you work on your site.
You can then make your final adjustments such as changing the colors, tweaking the content wrapping, and adding any custom CSS.
Seriously…who wouldn’t want custom branded pages like these?
Select a New Favicon
Head to the Images module to choose your own custom favicon (the icon that displays in your browser tab).
Simple is better, but as long as you upload an image of 32px x 32px, you can use anything you like.
Make sure to click override to overwrite the one defined in Customization.
Set Text Replacement Rules
A handy feature found within the utilities section of Branda allows you to replace words and phrases throughout your site.
This can be especially beneficial when it comes to white labeling your admin area.
You can control whether the rules are case sensitive, and whether they apply everywhere or just on your front or back-end.
Even apply it to specific themes or plugins using the text domain option.
Using this feature, you can easily change the ‘Howdy’ message, on the right-hand side of your admin bar, to something more to your taste.
Cream of the Customizing Crop
It’s clear that when it comes to while labeling and customizing WordPress, it’d be tough to find a plugin with more features than our very own Branda.
Whilst customizing your WordPress back-end might not be at the top of everyone’s to-do list, Branda offers so much more than a couple of fancy color and logo changes – she’s the cream of the crop and believe it or not, completely free!
If you want the full rundown of Branda’s features, check out the documentation, and make sure you keep an eye on our roadmap to keep an eye out for new developments.
Branda is your ultimate tool for customizing your multisite network. Inject a slice of personality into each of your sites’ admin areas and decide whether this power sits with just the Network Admin, or with individual site admins.
In this article, we’re showing you how to manage user access to Branda on your multisite network, and then diving into the features best-suited to customizing your multisite admin.
As a Network Administrator, you can control who has access to Branda.
If you want to be the only one in charge of Branda’s features, you don’t need to do anything, as Branda is hidden from all other users straight out of the box.
If you want to grant your site admins access to Branda, you can do so by heading to Settings > Permissions and checking the box.
You can give access to any user role from this menu.
If you would rather handpick which users get access to Branda, you can do this by scrolling down and selecting ‘Custom Users’.
You can grant your site admins (plus any other user roles) access to Branda from this menu.
2. Change Your Module Permissions
Branda’s customization options are split up into modules. If you make changes to a module in the Network Admin plugin settings, it will take effect across all of your networked sites.
If you want to give your site admins the ability to override the network customizations, you can do so within the settings menu.
Choose individual modules or simply select ‘All’ to give full control.
3. Personalize Your Sites
Whilst the sites of your multisite network may be related and all fall under the same brand, personalizing your admin areas using Branda is an easy way to give them a little bit of personality, rather than feeling like they’re all merging into one.
Simple changes you can make include the color scheme, admin footers, and personalizing the admin menu.
Below is a quick overview of how to do all of these and more.
4. Choose a Custom Color Scheme
You can easily select one of the default color schemes if your only aim is to easily distinguish your admin areas from one another. However, the real magic of Branda lies in the ability to create your own custom color scheme.
You can customize the color of each aspect of your admin area, right down to the links and hover colors.
If you make these changes as the Network Admin, the color scheme will just change within the Network Admin area.
If you want to apply the same color scheme to all of your sites, you can select ‘Force color scheme’.
You can also set a default color scheme for new users.
If you want your admins to be able to set their own color schemes for their sites/profiles, simply give them access in Settings > Permissions and select the Color Schemes module.
5. Add Notes to Your Admin Footer
You can add a personalized note in your admin footer using Branda, even on a multisite network.
This can be done either across the network, or per site.
All you need to do is activate the Admin Footer module, then add your message.
You add your note in the same way whether you do it on one site or across the network.
Your message will then display at the bottom of every page within the admin area.
You can even add images as well as text!
Your admins can choose to change the footer for each individual site – it’s just another way that Branda can help you to differentiate between the sites on your network.
6. Customize Your Admin Menu
When you’re running a multisite network, you may have differences between your sites which means that the same admin setup across all of them just isn’t practical.
With Branda, you can easily remove, add, and edit the items in your admin menu.
You can easily tidy up the admin menu of each of your sites.
To do this, simply head to the Admin Menu module and select Customize.
There are extensive customization options for each admin item.
You can also add your own custom menu items to ensure that your sites are full of links and shortcuts to make your admin duties run as efficiently as possible.
Branda also offers the power to remove the dashboard link from user profiles which aren’t connected to one of the sites in your network.
This can be done through the Admin Menu module within the Network Admin area.
This means that if someone’s profile isn’t linked to a site, all they will be able to access is their profile screen.
7. Reorganize Your Admin Bar
Just like the admin menu, you admin bar is a valuable tool when it comes to navigating the back-end of your site, helping you to work smoothly and efficiently.
If there are links on it that you only want to make available to certain user roles, you can restrict access within the admin bar module.
Uncheck the boxes of the user roles that you don’t want to see the admin bar.
You are then free to customize it in the same way as you did your admin menu, either through the network admin settings or per site.
You can hide specific items, add custom ones, and reorder the whole menu.
Line your links up exactly as you want them.
8. Add Extra Customization with CSS
Whilst Branda is packed full of features to help you tailor your admin area to your needs, there are times where you might need to tweak an extra thing or two.
Adding extra CSS to a site can cause issues if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing, so understandably, this feature is disabled by default for everyone but the Network Admins.
If you want to delegate this power to your site admins, you can do this from the Permissions section of the Settings menu.
If you want to reserve the Custom CSS field for the Network Admins, it can come in handy if you want more control over your site permissions.
For example, you can use it to hide the activate or deactivate buttons of your plugins.
Just remember to remove CSS permissions for other users so that no one can undo your changes!
9. Customize Your Cookie Notices
Adding your own cookie notice is very simple with Branda. You can easily add the same notice to all sites, or if your sites require different wording, you can add them individually.
You can choose your own text, add images, link to your privacy policy, and make changes to the color and design.
This is an example of a simple cookie notice created using Branda.
There is also the option to update the version number of the cookie notice, which will force all users to view the notice again, and you have the ability to choose how long cookies are stored for.
If you want your site admins to be able to override the network cookie notice with their own personalized ones for each site, you need to ensure you give them permission by heading to Settings > Permissions.
10. Using Coming Soon and Maintenance Mode
When you’re running a multisite, adding a new site may be a common occurrence.
This means that you might need to enable coming soon mode to ensure that your potential customers know what’s going on, and also to give your SEO a head start by letting Google know you’re on your way.
Branda allows you to design your own unique pages to keep your visitors in the loop.
If you want to do this as the network admin, you can use a standard coming soon page which you could apply across all new sites.
A general image and message can be used across all your sites, but you can still be the one to create it!
Or if you wanted to delegate this power to your site admins, you can have a more personalized page for each site.
You can add your own personalized touch to each of your sites to tease your visitors.
The same counts for maintenance mode – you can use the same methods to create front-facing pages which will let your visitors know what’s going on.
All you need to do is head into Branda’s Website Mode, which will allow you to turn each of these modes on and off, as well as customize their designs.
11. Create Unique Login Screens
An easy way to distinguish the sites in your network from each other is through personalized login screens.
Never try to log into the wrong site again!
You can add your own background images, logos, and change the text labels and links.
To create a login screen, head to the Customize Login Screen module and then check out this guide which shows you exactly how to craft the perfect login page.
12. Customizing Your Favicons
Favicons are the little images that display in your site’s browser tab.
They usually consist of simple icons or logos.
When running a multisite, Branda gives you the option to have the same icons across all of your sites, or add different ones.
As Network Admin, all you need to do is head to Branda’s Utility section and choose the Images module.
From there, you can upload your own favicon and then choose whether or not your subsites will inherit it.
Select Custom to choose sites and then upload individual favicons for them.
Multisite Customization Made Easy
Branda is fully compatible with your multisite network, meaning that anything you can do on an individual WordPress installation, you can do on your multisite.
In fact, customizing many areas of multisite admin works the same way as customizing a regular WordPress site admin. We’ve covered these extensively in this post.
Once you have the hang of distributing the permissions between your other users, the possibilities are endless. Check out the full documentation to see the full extent of Branda’s powers, and keep an eye on the roadmap to see what new features are on the horizon.
Branda is the ultimate tool for white labeling the front and back-end of your WordPress site. One of the many tricks up her sleeve is the ability to create custom login pages to ensure that every inch of your site is true to your brand.
If you have a beautiful and well-polished website, it makes sense to continue this theme right up to the front door – your login page.
We’re here to show you how you can create the perfect page to showcase your brand right from the get-go. This guide shows you how to:
The login page is the first thing your client will see when they get the keys to their new site, so if you want to dazzle them, you can create a custom login page that honors their brand perfectly.
Your clients will be impressed with their site before they even log in.
Whatever your business, Branda can help you create a befitting login page.
1. Choose a Template
If your site isn’t tied to a business, or if you simply want a refreshed login page without being too corporate, you can use one of Branda’s preset templates to breathe some life into your login page.
If none of these take your fancy, you can create your own
2. Change Your Logo and Background
If you choose to start from scratch, you’ll need to select your logo and background.
You can even hide the logo completely if you’d prefer.
Logos can be uploaded either through the media library or a URL, and you have the option to enter alt text for the image.
After you have uploaded your logo, you can scroll further down the page to make further edits to it. This includes the size, placement, and opacity.
You can increase the size of your logo up to a maximum of 320px.
Once your logo has been added and set to your liking, you can upload a background image to complement it.
Just make sure it’s a minimum of 1024px wide.
If you want to take it a step further, you can turn the background into a slideshow by uploading multiple images. You can then set the duration of each image and make little tweaks to how it’s displayed.
Your background and logo will, of course, have the biggest impact on your custom login screen, so when you’re happy with them, you can move onto the form and links.
3. Add Custom Labels
Branda has tons of options to let you customize every aspect of your form, including the ability to change each label as well as hide the various links.
Enter your own custom labels and hide unsightly checkboxes.
You can even change the padding and margins of the form without touching a line of code.
Branda gives you so much control over the smaller details.
4. Create a New Color Scheme
No white labeling plugin would be complete without the option to add your own touch of color.
Your clients will be tickled pink…or blue…or orange…or whatever custom color you choose!
Once you have your login screen looking exactly how you like, you can customize a few extras such as the error messages (shown when someone enters an incorrect password, for example) the login redirect link, and even add your own CSS.
The possibilities are almost endless – it’s a simple and easy way to keep your sites organized and impress clients with your white labeling prowess.
Whatever your brand, Branda can help you bring it to life.
Brand Every Inch of Your Site
Customizing your front-facing pages is just the start. Branda allows you to completely transform your WordPress admin experience, removing everything too ‘WordPress-y’ and replacing it with your own unique brand.
If building your own custom login page has got you in the mood for some more of Branda’s brilliance, check out the full documentation to see what else she is capable of, and keep an eye on the roadmap to find out what’s in the pipeline.
Branda gives you the power to white label WordPress, letting your brand flow from the front to the back-end of your site. In this guide, we’ll show you how to renovate your admin area with some of Branda’s most impressive features.
White labeling your WordPress site has never been easier. Branda splits every one of her features into easy to digest modules which can be activated and removed as necessary.
Branda lets you white label every aspect of WordPress
No job is too big or small – you can customize anything from your color scheme and dashboard widgets, right down to the text labels on your login page, and the icons in your admin toolbar.
In this guide, we’ll show you not only how to completely white label the back-end of your WordPress installation using Branda, but also how to personalize and reorganize your tools and menus to ensure peak efficiency when working within your admin area.
Read on to find out how Branda can help you put your own stamp on your WordPress admin.
1. Customize Your Login Screen
When customizing your WordPress admin, it makes sense to start at the first page you’ll always see – the login screen.
Branda can help you create a completely new login screen that will impress your clients and inject some personality into your WordPress back-end.
There are seven preset templates you can select, or you can create your own from scratch.
Click ‘Start from scratch’ to create your own template.
If you start from scratch, the main changes will come in the form of your background and logo.
First up is the logo – you can either upload your own image, or import one from a URL.
You can also choose to completely hide the logo.
Once you’ve added your logo, you can choose a new background to complement it.
Just make sure your background image is a minimum of 1024px wide.
You’re free to take it even further and edit or hide the labels, display a message, or add custom error messages.
Add custom messages for users when they log in.
A few tweaks and you can completely revamp your login section.
2. Change the WordPress Logo
If you’re a developer working on a lot of sites, or if you’re trying to create a personalized experience for a new client, the ability to switch out the WordPress logo in the admin bar can make a lot of difference.
It can let you know at a quick glance which site you’re currently logged into and it can be the icing on a cake for a client that you’re trying to impress.
With Branda, it takes seconds to change the logo to something more personal.
This setting is found within Admin Area > Admin Bar.
As you can see below, it’s such a simple change but it takes white labeling WordPress to the next level.
It’s your site, so it makes sense to replace the WordPress logo with your own.
3. Rework the Admin Bar
If you find the admin bar more unsightly than useful, there are a couple of ways Branda can help you manage this.
You can remove the admin bar from your front-end if you want to quickly view your site without it getting in the way by heading to Admin Area > Admin Bar.
Untick the boxes of the user roles you wish to hide the toolbar from on the front-end.
If you don’t want to hide the toolbar completely, you can customize the items it shows.
Start by choosing the items you wish to hide:
Better still, you can apply these settings to specific user roles.
If you really dislike the toolbar, you can even go as far as removing all its links in the back-end:
Branda can help your admin area go from ‘messy’ to ‘minimalist’ in just a few clicks.
If you’d prefer an admin bar that is practical and personalized to fit your needs, you can create this by adding custom items to it.
Just below the option to hide your items, you’ll find the option to add custom ones.
Once you click to add a custom item, you will need to select a title, icon and a link destination.
There are tons of icons to choose from – you’ll be spoilt for choice.
Add a submenu if required, and set the visibility of your new menu item per user role.
You can use these settings to easily navigate to your most important pages, as well as a host of other ideas.
4. Personalize Your Widgets
With all the standard widgets active, your dashboard can begin to look a bit cluttered.
If you head into Branda and to Widgets > Dashboard Widgets, you can hide any that you don’t use.
With all these options ticked, your dashboard will be completely free of widgets.
You can then begin to repopulate your dashboard with widgets that are more useful to you, as Branda has the option to create your own custom widgets.
You can create your own unique widget and then choose which user roles will see it.
Widgets can contain notes, company updates, stock reminders – you have total freedom.
They’re so quick and easy to update.
5. Organize Your Admin Menu
Your admin menu is the heart and soul of your WordPress admin area. If you want to customize the back-end of your site, it makes sense to tailor the admin menu to your needs.
Head to Admin Area > Admin Menu > Customize Admin Menu and you will be presented with a ton of options to help you get the most out of your admin menu.
First up, you can customize each item in your admin bar per user role and can opt to hide each item.
You can also duplicate items from this menu.
When you click to edit one of the items, you are first offered the chance to rename it as well as change the CSS ID and class.
Click ‘submenu’ to change the name and IDs/classes of the submenu items.
If you scroll down a little further, you can choose a new icon from tons of presets.
You can even upload your own icons.
Once you are satisfied with how your menu item looks, it’s time to decide what happens when you click on it.
Underneath the icons, you will find the option to change the link, as well choose whether or not it opens in a new tab.
While you may not need to change the link on existing menu items, it’s handy if you create new ones.
Once you have amended your existing menu items to your taste, you can scroll to the bottom of the list to add your own custom items.
This is useful if you want shortcuts to external websites or areas of your site that take a while to navigate to.
6. Add Text to Your Footer
You can add text or even media to the bottom right of your admin area.
This could be anything from an important message or update, to your company motto, or even just your site name.
You can also make the text a link.
It’s just another quick way to break out of WordPress’ usual template and add a bit of brand/personality to your admin area.
7. Text Replacement
A handy feature found within the utilities section of Branda allows you to replace words and phrases throughout your site.
This can be especially beneficial when it comes to white labeling your admin area.
You can control whether the rules are case sensitive, and whether they apply everywhere or just on your front or back-end.
Even apply it to specific themes or plugins using the text domain option.
Using this feature, you can easily change the ‘Howdy’ message on the right-hand side of your admin bar, to something more to your taste.
You can add as many separate rules as you like.
8. Change Your Color Scheme
If you’re dedicated to truly whitelabeling and personalizing your site, then changing the color scheme should definitely be on your to-do list.
Branda comes loaded with 8 color schemes for you to choose from.
You can set the theme for each user individually or apply to all.
If your plan is to match your admin area to your brand, you can extensively edit the color schemes to your exact requirements.
Below is just a taste of how many options you have to create your own scheme.
You can color each element of your admin area separately, and tweak things such as hover and focus color.
This is ‘Ocean’, one of Branda’s preset color schemes.
WordPress Who?
Branda has so many options for customization and white labeling that you can put the same love and care into the back-end of your site as you do the front. No longer will you have to gaze upon the WordPress logo or endure every site you work on looking exactly the same from the back-end. With Branda, you can truly make each site your own.
If you’re eager to find out what else Branda can do, check out the documentation for a complete run down and visit our roadmap to see what else she’s got in store. Better yet, get Branda installed and experience the power of personalizing WordPress with Branda for yourself.
Fed up with your WordPress admin bar getting in your way when viewing your site? Need a simple plugin to help you tweak it a little, or if your mind’s set on it, remove it completely? Read on for a roundup of the best.
Your admin bar may be full of useful options, but it can easily get to a point where it’s more of a nuisance than a help. When you’ve made changes to your site, you might want to go straight to the frontend and admire your new masterpiece without the top 32px being taken up by your admin bar.
You can also remove your admin bar within the WordPress settings by going to Users > Toolbar.
Untick the box to remove the toolbar from your frontend.
Just bear in mind that this will only remove the bar from your own account. If you want to have control over the access for all user accounts, you’re better off sticking with a plugin.
In this article, I’ll show you a bunch of great plugins that will let you reposition your admin bar, change the links, take away some of its opacity, or if you’ll never make friends, remove it completely.
Option 1 – Personalize Your Admin Bar
Branda
We can’t talk about anything to do with WordPress admin and not include our very own Branda. When it comes to the admin toolbar, she certainly has a few tricks up her sleeve.
You can hide the admin bar from different user roles, and even choose to display certain elements of it to guests. You also have the option to hide specific elements from the admin bar, as well as add new ones.
Branda always has to take it one step further…
There are tons of icons for you to choose from, and you can even enter custom URLs. This means that you can pack your admin bar full of useful links to streamline and speed up your admin duties.
Using Branda, you can also change your admin bar logo as well as add your own custom CSS to tailor it exactly to your needs.
AG Custom Admin
Now this little plugin is pretty powerful – there isn’t much it can’t do to your WordPress admin.
In regards to your admin bar, you can remove elements such as the logo (which you can change if you’d prefer), the pending updates notification, your site name and the +New block. You can really make your admin bar as minimalist as you’d like, and even go as far as hiding it completely. The ‘howdy’ text as well as the logo link can also be changed.
Whilst most of the customization options are purely practical, you can also change the colors across your entire admin dashboard and bar, as well as add custom CSS and JS if you fancy a few extra tweaks.
Toolbar Extras
Toolbar Extras is packed full of, ahem, extras, to help your WordPress admin bar make your life easier. If you’re one of the 5 million + people who still rely on Elementor to build beautiful websites, then this little plugin will give you super-quick access to a bunch of useful tools, right from your admin bar.
There are extra options for customization such as the ability to customize the labels and icons, as well as change the welcome message in the top-right corner.
You can personalize the message to include the user’s name or display name.
If you’re not an Elementor user, you can link this plugin with the default block editor, although you’ll be presented with fewer options.
Admin Page Spider
It isn’t often that you stumble across a plugin that feels so normal and that you can’t believe it’s not actually part of WordPress itself.
Admin Page Spider falls into this category. Such a simple change to the admin bar allows you to quickly access posts and pages to edit with just one click.
You can select it to display either pages, posts, or both.
This is all you can really do with the free version (you can upgrade to Pro for a ton more features) but it adds such a good boost of practicality to your admin bar, that you’ll never look back.
Admin Bar Position
Ever thought that your frontend would look so much better with the admin bar at the bottom?
Make your dreams a reality with this tidy little plugin. All you have to do is install and activate and your admin bar will move straight to its new home at the bottom of your screen – it’s that simple!
Option 2 – Hide Your Admin Bar
Auto Hide Admin Bar
Often the simple plugins are the best – the ones where you can just install, activate, and voila…extra WP functionality!
Auto Hide Admin Bar is one of these plugins – all you have to do is activate it and your admin bar will be neatly tucked away when viewing the frontend of your website. Just hover at the top of your page and it will reappear like magic.
Remove Admin Bar
Sometimes, a simple tweak is all you need. This plugin does literally what it says on the tin; once you activate it, your admin toolbar will no longer ruin the masterpiece of your site when visiting as a logged-in user.
There are a fair few plugins in the WP repo which do the same thing, so feel free to take your pick. I’m including Remove Admin Bar in this list because I’ve tested it myself and can confirm it works like a charm!
Admin Bar & Dashboard Access Control
If you don’t want to completely scrap the admin toolbar from the frontend view, you can display it based on the user’s role.
Whilst this is actually super simple to do with a couple of lines of code, we understand that some users choose not to make edits to code which is completely fine (and why plugins exist!).
Install this plugin if you want to have more control over who sees the admin bar.
Admin Bar Disabler
If you’re set on hiding your admin bar but need a plugin for this which is compatible with multisite, look no further than Admin Bar Disabler.
It offers per-site and per-network options, as well as allowing you to set permissions based on user roles.
Better Admin Bar
Better Admin Bar is a very practical plugin that helps you have control over exactly how much your admin bar interferes with the rest of your screen.
If you want to remove the bar completely, you can do just that. If you’d prefer to lower the opacity of the bar, only show it to admins, or only show it on hover, just take your pick.
Remove or Improve?
So you’ve seen both options: customize your admin bar and turn it into something useful and practical, or wave goodbye to it – now the choice is yours.
If reading this has inspired you to go in for a complete WordPress admin overhaul, you should probably check out Branda’s other features. She’s the original whitelabeling goddess and will help you completely transform your admin area.
Using full-sized images on your WordPress site not only takes up storage space but slows down your site, too. Instead of wasting time and effort compressing them manually, see how Smush can help you do it in bulk.
Smush is an award-winning image optimization plugin that focuses on compressing and resizing your images. It saves storage space and takes some of the load away from your server, which can speed up your site.
You can manually compress your images before adding them to WordPress but this is a lot more time consuming than simply using a plugin like Smush.
Smush gives you full control over when and how your images are compressed and optimized in at least 7 ways.
When you activate Smush, it automatically combs through your site and takes note of any images that can be compressed.
Smush then displays the number of images in need of attention on its main screen.
This is just one of the methods you can use to smush your images.
Before hitting the Bulk Smush button, it’s worth checking out Smush’s other image compression features.
Let’s go through each of these options.
2. Exclude Selected Image Sizes
First, you can exclude images of certain sizes from being compressed by simply unticking the checkboxes shown below:
If you’re happy for Smush to compress all of your images, you can select ‘All’.
WordPress creates multiple copies of an image. If you run a site that requires your images to be crystal clear, you may not want your larger images to be compressed, however, you can still compress the smaller image versions using these settings.
3. Super-Smush For 2x More Compression
If site speed and storage space are at the forefront of your priorities when it comes to your website, you can take image optimization a step further with Super-Smush.
Super-Smush is off by default but you can easily activate it from the main menu.
Super-Smush works by stripping out as much of your image data as possible without sacrificing quality, reducing the file size by up to twice as much as regular smush.
You can tweak Smush’s settings to ensure it saves a copy of your original images, however, if you’re not quite ready to Super-Smush, there are a couple of other ways to trim off a few extra KBs.
4. Remove Image Metadata
Smush lets you strip unnecessary metadata from your images.
The information that Smush strips serves no purpose on most sites.
With this setting enabled, all of the unnecessary data stored within your images will be removed while preserving the data needed for SEO.
Whilst a lot of the EXIF data stored within a photo is harmless, other details such as the location it was taken and the camera details are better off removed. The location could lead people to where you took the photo (your house perhaps) and if the serial number of the camera is included, it could be used to trace other photos online taken with the same camera and result in an invasion of privacy.
These scenarios may be unlikely, however since all the extra data is clogging up your site anyway, it makes perfect sense to remove it. Luckily, Smush does it for you automatically once you enable this setting.
5. Choose JPEGs Over PNGs
Another way to potentially reduce your file sizes is by converting your PNG images to JPEGs.
If a saving won’t be made, Smush will leave your images as PNGs.
If you’re unsure whether you should enable this setting, a good general rule of thumb is that you should convert photographs to JPEG as there is no noticeable loss in quality. You can achieve a file size of less than 10% of the original if you compress as a JPEG compared to PNG.
If you have graphics, screenshots, or images that contain text, it’s better to leave them as PNGs to ensure they stay crystal clear as JPEGs tend to add a little bit of noise/grain around the text
6. How Smush Handles Original Images
As of WordPress 5.3, large images are automatically resized down to the new maximum image size of 2560px in width/height. WordPress then refers to these resized images as “new originals”.
If you want to upload a photo larger than this, Smush can help you override this setting.
You can select your own new maximum width and height for images.
With this setting enabled, Smush automatically creates a new size for super-large images and reduces these to your new custom sizes, rather than WordPress resizing them to its default maximum size of 2560px.
If you resize your images manually prior to adding them to WordPress then you may not need to enable this setting, however, it saves a lot of time and work if you have many large images you need to display on your site.
Now that you’ve decided how large your original images will be, it’s time to decide what to do with them.
By default, Smush doesn’t compress your original images during a Bulk Smush, it only compresses the thumbnail images that WordPress produces.
Since your original images are what takes up the majority of your storage space, it makes sense to ensure these are smushed too.
Use the top toggle to ensure your full-sized images are smushed.
If you’re smushing all of your original images, you might want to have a backup in case you decide to revert back to the pre-smushed version.
If you upload an image higher than the maximum size your site will support (either WordPress’ maximum or a custom maximum you create with Smush) WordPress stores your image as the original and then creates the new max-sized image to display on your site.
If an image you upload is smaller than the maximum allowed, WordPress will not store this as a separate original – this version will be compressed directly by Smush.
Whilst Smush guarantees no loss in quality when compressing your images, we understand that some people will want a backup, which is why the ‘Store a copy of my small originals’ feature exists.
Enable this to store a copy of your original images in wp-content/uploads.
7. Bulk Smush Images
Compressing your images will free up some of your site’s storage space as well as reduce the time it takes to load onto your visitors’ screens. Now that you’ve worked your way through the different settings, it’s time to compress with Bulk Smush.
When you hit the blue button, Smush will compress the images that it identified upon activation.
Make sure you keep the tab open until Smush has finished compressing all the images.
Once the process has finished, Smush will keep an eye out for new images added to your site that are in need of compression.
When your image total on Smush’s main screen starts to creep up again, all you need to do is hit the Bulk Smush button and all your images will be compressed. It’s much quicker and easier than doing it manually outside of WordPress.
If you’re happy with your first Bulk Smush, you may want to consider enabling Automatic Compression.
You can easily enable or disable this feature using the toggle shown above.
With Automatic Compression enabled, Smush will compress your images as soon as you upload them, which means that you will never need to use Bulk Smush again.
Image Optimization at the Touch of a Button
Compressing your images with Bulk Smush is just the start.
Having well-optimized images on your site means that there’s less pressure on the server when it’s dealing with browser requests. This is also one of the ways that Smush can help you increase your Google PageSpeed score.
Using full-sized images on your WordPress site not only takes up storage space but slows down your site, too. Instead of wasting time and effort compressing them manually, see how Smush can help you do it in bulk.
Smush is an award-winning image optimization plugin that focuses on compressing and resizing your images. It saves storage space and takes some of the load away from your server, which can speed up your site.
When you activate Smush, it automatically combs through your site and takes note of any images that can be compressed.
Smush then displays the number of images in need of attention on its main screen.
This is just one of the methods you can use to smush your images.
Before hitting the Bulk Smush button, it’s worth checking out Smush’s other image compression features.
Let’s go through each of these options.
2. Exclude Selected Image Sizes
First, you can exclude images of certain sizes from being compressed by simply unticking the checkboxes shown below:
If you’re happy for Smush to compress all of your images, you can select ‘All’.
WordPress creates multiple copies of an image. If you run a site that requires your images to be crystal clear, you may not want your larger images to be compressed, however, you can still compress the smaller image versions using these settings.
3. Super-Smush For 2x More Compression (or Ultra-Smush for 5x)
If site speed and storage space are at the forefront of your priorities when it comes to your website, you can take image optimization a step further with Super-Smush.
Choose Super Smush for better performance and load speed without compromising image quality.
Super-Smush works by stripping out as much of your image data as possible without sacrificing quality, reducing the file size by up to twice as much as regular smush.
For even more compression and savings (up to 5x more) with minimal image quality loss, choose the Ultra Smush setting.
Ultra Smush your images for 5x compression.
You can tweak Smush’s settings to ensure it saves a copy of your original images, however, if you’re not quite ready to Super-Smush or Ultra-Smush, there are a couple of other ways to trim off a few extra KBs.
4. Remove Image Metadata
Smush lets you strip unnecessary metadata from your images.
The information that Smush strips serves no purpose on most sites.
With this setting enabled, all of the unnecessary data stored within your images will be removed while preserving the data needed for SEO.
Whilst a lot of the EXIF data stored within a photo is harmless, other details such as the location it was taken and the camera details are better off removed. The location could lead people to where you took the photo (your house perhaps) and if the serial number of the camera is included, it could be used to trace other photos online taken with the same camera and result in an invasion of privacy.
These scenarios may be unlikely, however since all the extra data is clogging up your site anyway, it makes perfect sense to remove it. Luckily, Smush does it for you automatically once you enable this setting.
5. Choose JPEGs Over PNGs
Another way to potentially reduce your file sizes is by converting your PNG images to JPEGs.
If a saving won’t be made, Smush will leave your images as PNGs.
If you’re unsure whether you should enable this setting, a good general rule of thumb is that you should convert photographs to JPEG as there is no noticeable loss in quality. You can achieve a file size of less than 10% of the original if you compress as a JPEG compared to PNG.
If you have graphics, screenshots, or images that contain text, it’s better to leave them as PNGs to ensure they stay crystal clear as JPEGs tend to add a little bit of noise/grain around the text
6. How Smush Handles Original Images
As of WordPress 5.3, large images are automatically resized down to the new maximum image size of 2560px in width/height. WordPress then refers to these resized images as “new originals”.
If you want to upload a photo larger than this, Smush can help you override this setting.
You can select your own new maximum width and height for images.
With this setting enabled, Smush automatically creates a new size for super-large images and reduces these to your new custom sizes, rather than WordPress resizing them to its default maximum size of 2560px.
If you resize your images manually prior to adding them to WordPress then you may not need to enable this setting, however, it saves a lot of time and works if you have many large images you need to display on your site.
Now that you’ve decided how large your original images will be, it’s time to decide what to do with them.
By default, Smush doesn’t compress your original images during a Bulk Smush, it only compresses the thumbnail images that WordPress produces.
Since your original images are what takes up the majority of your storage space, it makes sense to ensure these are smushed too.
Use the top toggle to ensure your full-sized images are smushed.
If you’re smushing all of your original images, you might want to have a backup in case you decide to revert back to the pre-smushed version.
If you upload an image higher than the maximum size your site will support (either WordPress’ maximum or a custom maximum you create with Smush) WordPress stores your image as the original and then creates the new max-sized image to display on your site.
If an image you upload is smaller than the maximum allowed, WordPress will not store this as a separate original – this version will be compressed directly by Smush.
Whilst Smush guarantees no loss in quality when compressing your images, we understand that some people will want a backup, which is why the ‘Store a copy of my small originals’ feature exists.
Enable this to store a copy of your original images in wp-content/uploads.
7. Bulk Smush Images
Compressing your images will free up some of your site’s storage space as well as reduce the time it takes to load onto your visitors’ screens. Now that you’ve worked your way through the different settings, it’s time to compress with Bulk Smush.
When you hit the blue button, Smush will compress the images that it identified upon activation.
Make sure you keep the tab open until Smush has finished compressing all the images.
Once the process has finished, Smush will keep an eye out for new images added to your site that are in need of compression.
When your image total on Smush’s main screen starts to creep up again, all you need to do is hit the Bulk Smush button and all your images will be compressed. It’s much quicker and easier than doing it manually outside of WordPress.
If you’re happy with your first Bulk Smush, you may want to consider enabling Automatic Compression.
You can easily enable or disable this feature using the toggle shown above.
With Automatic Compression enabled, Smush will compress your images as soon as you upload them, which means that you will never need to use Bulk Smush again.
Image Optimization at the Touch of a Button
Compressing your images with Bulk Smush is just the start.
Having well-optimized images on your site means that there’s less pressure on the server when it’s dealing with browser requests. This is also one of the ways that Smush can help you increase your Google PageSpeed score.
Optimizing your images manually would involve a lot of resizing, a fair bit of coding, and heaps of time. Luckily, Smush does all the hard work for you and plenty more besides, all of which you will find covered in this guide to help you get the most out of the plugin.
Smush offers an abundance of features to help you get your images under control.
For example, whilst Smush may be best-known for compressing images (without losing quality), it can also help defer your offscreen images with its lazy-load feature, convert your images to next-gen formats (WebP), and serve your images from our super-fast CDN.
Luckily, you don’t need to dedicate much time or effort to your images when you have Smush installed. Most features can be activated with one click.
Whether you’re a new user or just hoping to uncover some cool features you might have missed, this guide will help you get the most out of this plugin.
So without further ado, here’s how to get the most out of Smush:
1. Smush All Your Images in Bulk
When you first install Smush, chances are you’ll have a backlog of images that need your attention.
The Bulk Smush feature scans your site for any images that would benefit from being compressed.
Each time you add new images, Smush will add them to this total.
All you have to do is click the button – Smush does all the hard work for you and lets you know when the job is complete.
Much faster than compressing them yourself.
You can exclude certain image sizes from Bulk Smush if required. However, as Smush compresses without sacrificing quality, it may be beneficial to smush them all.
Remove the ticks from the images sizes you want to exclude from being compressed.
2. Automatically Compress New Uploads
Once you have used the Bulk Smush feature to catch up on your backlog of image compressing, you will seldom need to use it again.
This is because of the handy Automatic Compression feature. If you enable this, Smush will compress images as soon as you upload them to your site.
The days of routine image pruning can easily be a thing of your past.
3. Super-Smush For Double the Compression
If your main focus is on your site’s speed, you may want to take image compression a step further.
Super-Smush offers twice the compression of regular smushing by stripping out every bit of unneeded data, without reducing the quality of your images.
Give it a try – we challenge you to notice a difference in quality!
If you don’t want to take it as far as Super-Smush, you can instead strip the unnecessary metadata from your images, leaving only what is needed for SEO purposes. Photos often store camera settings in the file such as focal length, date, time and location – removing this will reduce your file size.
If you’re a photographer, you might want to keep this information, but it serves little purpose on most sites so is generally safe to remove.
4. Display Your Full Size Images
If you upload an image that is larger than 2560px in either width or height, WordPress will automatically scale it down to generate a ‘web-optimized’ maximum image size.
If you are purposefully adding larger images and want to override this, you can use the image resizing option.
You can set your own new maximum image size.
Bear in mind that your theme may also have its own maximum image size – you will need to check this before enabling this feature.
If you are uploading full-sized images, you can also choose whether or not these will be included in Bulk Smush.
Another couple of simple one-click features.
Make sure you enable the bottom selection if you want to store a copy of all your full-size images, in case you ever wanted to return them to their pre-smushed forms.
There are some circumstances where one of these two file types is more suitable than the other. However, if your main concerns for your site are memory usage and speed, then using JPEGs instead of PNGs should be beneficial.
If you upload your images as PNGs, Smush can check to see whether converting them to JPEGs will reduce the file size.
The files will remain as PNGs if there is no reduction in the file size.
You can, of course, make the same conversion outside of WordPress. However, using Smush removes the hassle and converts all your files in one swoop.
6. Smush From the Media Library
If you would prefer to select individual images for compression, look no further than your own media library.
Here, you will find a new column labelled ‘Smush’.
You can compress your images one-by-one.
If you have auto-compression turned off, any photos which you upload should be ready to smush from within your media library.
You can smush your images individually, or alternatively single out images to be ignored from bulk smushing.
7. Lazy Load Your Images For a Boost of Speed
If you have pages with lots of photos, displaying them all at once can put a lot of pressure on the server.
Deferring your off-screen images is a good way to allow the server to concentrate on loading the elements of your site above the fold so that your visitor can get stuck straight in.
It takes one click to deactivate if you find it’s not right for your site.
If there are certain types of images or certain output locations you wish to exclude from lazy loading, you can easily add them here.
Remove the ticks from any of the options that you don’t wish to include.
You can also exclude certain various post types, specific URLs, and CSS classes and IDs.
Basically, if you want to enable lazy loading, you can fine-tune exactly how and where it is enabled.
Once you have chosen which images will lazy load, you can then decide how you want the pre-loading images to appear.
If you don’t want any form of animation, simply select ‘None’.
8. Utilize Smush’s CDN
The closer you are to the server that is providing your content, the faster it will load. A CDN (Content Delivery Network) is a series of servers which are spread around the globe, and when a browser makes the HTTP request, the content is served from the closest server to its location.
Smush Pro boasts a 45-point CDN, with a few extra tricks up its sleeve. It can automatically resize your images as well as convert them to Google’s own next-gen format, WebP.
If all you want is for your images to be served from the CDN, you do not need to delve any further into these.
However, there are a few useful tools that can be of benefit to your site, so they are worth checking out.
To activate the Smush Pro Image CDN, From Smush Pro in your websites dashboard, go to the CDN tab and click the blue button.
Once you have activated the CDN, you will see more options within Smush.
This will store and serve copies of all your JPG, PNG, and Gif images from the Smush edge servers – drastically improving speed.
Don’t Leave Your Background Images Out
As standard, only images used on your posts and pages will be served through the CDN
If you want your background image to be served from the same speedy CDN as the rest of your images, Smush has you covered.
Your background images will reach your visitor quicker if served through our CDN.
You will need to ensure that your background images are properly declared with CSS in your theme’s files.
9. Serve the Correct Image Sizes
Ideally, you should never serve an image larger than what will be displayed on the user’s screen. Using original or full-size images when a smaller image will do makes your pages take longer to load while your browser waits for the images to render.
Smush’s CDN houses a handy feature to resize your image to fit the container, without needing to touch a line of code.
As the resizing is done from the CDN, your original images will remain full size.
10. Convert Your Images to Next-Gen Formats
JPEG 2000, JPEG XR, and WebP are modern image formats with superior compression capabilities. This means they produce much smaller image files so you can greatly improve your page speed.
Images served in the WebP format can benefit from more than 25% compression, and when you think about the number of images on your site, that’s a tonne of space that can be saved.
Smush’s CDN offers the option to convert your images to WebP in just one click.
All the legwork is taken care of by Smush.
Not all browsers support next-gen formats, which is something you would usually have to bear in mind when deciding to make the switch.
However, if you enable the WebP Conversion feature, Smush will automatically check whether or not a browser supports this format, and if not, will serve it in the original one. This ensures that none of your visitors are compromised.
Support at Your Fingertips
Now you know the ins and outs of this little plugin, it’s time to get stuck in and see how your site can benefit.
Smush is a very user-friendly plugin, so you should have no trouble managing your images.
If, however, you find yourself in need of some friendly advice, members should look no further than our awesome support team who are available 24/7.
You can also check out the plugin documentation and view new updates and features coming soon in our roadmap.
When you think about making WordPress more useful, the dashboard probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. However, if you spend a lot of time logged into /wp-admin/ but have never taken the time to customize your experience, you can almost certainly get more out of it than you’re getting right now.
If you run a Multisite network, maybe your own experience is less of a concern than that of your network’s users. Customizing the admin area and dashboard across a Multisite network can help differentiate your network, improve user experience, and create new opportunities to monetize the network.
Perhaps you manage a website with multiple authors, contributors, and editors. Customizing the admin for each user role can help ensure that they only see the admin screens they actually need to use.
There’s a lot you can do to customize the WordPress admin and dashboard to make them easier to use and more useful.
One Clarification Before We Get Started
Before we jump into the customization options, I want to clarify two terms: admin and dashboard. Those terms are often used interchangeably, but in this article, they are used to refer to two different things.
The WordPress admin includes all of the pages that include /wp-admin/ in the URL.
The dashboard, on the other hand, is just one screen in the admin. It’s the screen you reach when you click on the Dashboard link in the admin menu.
So when you log into /wp-admin/, every screen that you access in the WordPress backend is part of the admin. When you click on Dashboard, you’re taken to the dashboard, which happens to be part of the admin area.
Now that we’re on the same page, let’s get to the task at hand: turning a ho-hum WordPress admin area into one that is useful, efficient, beautiful, and customized to meet your specific needs.
One simple way to update your WordPress admin area is with an admin theme. If you know what you want, and aren’t afraid of writing CSS, then you can make your own without too much trouble.
If coding an admin theme isn’t something you’re interested in, there are several high-quality admin theme options available from WordPress.org. Just keep in mind that you’ll find them in the Plugins Directory rather than the Theme Directory.
If all you want is a nice and fresh new theme for your dashboard, look no further than Blue Admin.
A very simple but practical plugin.
Blue Admin grants a clean new look to your WordPress Dashboard – it may even remind you of a certain social media platform…
Say hello to FacePress!
With this plugin, you can’t do much more than recolor your admin theme, so if you’re in the market for something a bit more functional, you better read on…
Add a Business Intelligence Dashboard to the Admin
There are lots of Google Analytics plugins for WordPress that add an analytics widget to the dashboard. However, if you want to see Facebook Page Insights you have to go to Facebook. The same goes for other services you probably use, such as Twitter Analytics, Google Adsense, and Mailchimp. If you want to see the analytics data from those services you have to go straight to the source or sign up for third-party business intelligence dashboard services.
What if you could get all of that data in a single easy-to-use dashboard right from your WordPress admin? That’d make life easier, right? Well, you can.
2. SkyStats
SkyStats is a business intelligence dashboard from inbound marketing agency, Thrive. The WordPress plugin pulls in data from Google Analytics, Adsense, Facebook Insights, Twitter Analytics, and MailChimp. It uses that data to build a business intelligence “mashboard” — a one-screen dashboard from which you can view the key data you need to run your business.
To use the plugin you’ll have to sign up for a SkyStats plan. There are two plans – Personal, which grants 3 site licenses, and Professional, which offers unlimited.
What SkyStats does is hook into the various APIs offered by these analytics programs and pull that data into WordPress. However, SkyStats just grabs data from other analytics programs. It does not actually embed Google analytics tracking code in your site’s markup. You’ll need to use another plugin to add tracking code to your site before you’ll be able to view that data in SkyStats.
White Label WordPress
I don’t know if you’ve heard, but here at WPMU DEV, we know a thing or two about White Labeling WordPress.
Branda is an absolute game changer. This plugin can turn the back end of your site from drab to fab, allowing you to completely customize many aspects of your site, from the login screen, to your logo, color scheme, and personalized notes and messages.
You can get the full lowdown of how to get the most out of Branda by checking out this blog – here, we will just run through some of the key features.
So you’re almost ready to hand a project over to a client – what better way to impress them than with a personalized login screen?
A different background makes all the difference.
You can change the background, logo, text labels…there’s even some pre-made templates!
Once you’re inside WordPress, there are a lot of ways you can make it your own. A couple of cool features include the ability to change the logo displayed in the top-left corner of your dashboard, as well as the option to reorder your top menu.
You can also change the color scheme of your WordPress Dashboard.
A simple way to add some of your (or your client’s) personality to your admin area.
I can sit here all day and tell you how fantastic Branda is, however it really is the kind of plugin you have to explore for yourself.
I do promise you that once you start creating your backend masterpiece, you’ll never look back.
4. Ultimate Client Dash
Ultimate Client Dash is packed full of features to help you customize every aspect of your WordPress admin.
Whether it be creating a unique login page, a personalized Coming Soon or Maintenance Mode page or even something as small as changing the ‘Howdy’ message in the top-right corner, you can make your WordPress admin your own.
Who says ‘howdy’ anyway?!
Make WordPress Easier to Use
You’re good with WordPress, but what about your clients and users? Maybe not so much. If that’s the case, you can make WordPress a lot easier for novice users by simplifying the admin menu and dashboard.
5. Adminimize
Adminimize is all about minimizing the number of items that show up in the WordPress admin. You can use it to remove virtually anything – admin bar menu items, sidebar menu items, widgets, and more – with the changes being applied based on the logged-in user’s role.
If you want a plugin that will remove unnecessary admin items for certain types of users and want to control what each type of user sees, it’s worth a look.
6. AG Custom Admin
AG Custom Admin has a lot of useful features, so don’t let the old-fashioned color scheme of its UI put you off.
With AG Custom Admin you can customize the admin bar by removing any item from the primary admin menu, renaming the remaining items, and adding menu items. You can also build a custom login screen.
Hide items, add new ones or change the labels.Rid yourself of the clutter you never use or prevent certain users accessing different menus items.
You can control the visual styling of the admin in two ways with this plugin:
The Colorizer feature can be used to control any colors used in the admin area.
The CSS feature includes the option to add custom CSS and JavaScript to control admin appearance and interactions.
7. Reveal IDs
Many plugins and premium themes ask you to input post ids in a list but figuring out the IDs is a bit difficult by default, you need to look in a post’s URL. The Reveal IDs plugin will place the ID of each post right in the admin table for easy access.
8. Simple Page Ordering
The ability to order pages arbitrarily in the admin is something I’ve always missed. The order of pages usually doesn’t matter and in many cases we use three-four of them regularly while the remaining 25 are infrequently opened. Simple Page Ordering allows you to create custom orders by dragging and dropping, allowing you to put your frequently accessed pages on top and keep them there.
9. Advanced Custom Fields
This is one of my all time favorite plugins because it can be used for so many things! Advanced Custom Fields allows you to add custom fields to your posts/pages/users/tags/categories/etc. You can choose from multiple fields and show them in specific circumstances – only for admin users for example. Adding data to posts has never been so easy!
10. Editorial Calendar
Editorial Calendar is a breath of fresh air for editors who have their hands full. It shows a list of scheduled posts to make sure you never forget to fill a spot. It can also come in handy if you want to manage sponsored posts and make sure you don’t overwhelm your site.
Go Minimalist
11. Ultimate Dashboard
Ultimate Dashboard is your answer to a sleek and clean WordPress Dashboard.
You can easily remove any of WordPress’ pre-installed widgets, and better still, add your own.
Choose your own icon and link to anywhere you want.
You can also customize your login screen and you can upgrade to Pro for further white labeling options.
Hide All Your Hard Work
12. Defender
Ok, so this is more of a quick tip than a full admin plugin.
Did you know that with Defender, you can mask your login URL? If you’re going to put all this time and effort into perfecting your admin area, the last thing you want is someone or something trying to brute force their way into it.
This isn’t my real URL of course, it’s best to come up with something unique and hard to guess.
With Defender, you can change the standard yourdomain.com/wp-admin to yourdomain.com/yoursecretlogin and prevent people from even finding your login screen. Whilst you may want to show off the pretty login page you created, it’s probably for the best that no one besides your authorized site users ever catches a glimpse of it.
Fine Tune, Tweak, and Fix Admin Problem Areas
Maybe your site’s admin area is just about where you want it to be, except for one or two minor issues. Or maybe you like the standard admin just fine, but want to be as productive as possible by making a few minor optimizations. If that’s the case, here are a few plugins you can use to tighten up WordPress admin problem areas.
Admin Menu Editor makes it easy to build a custom admin menu with a drag-and-drop interface.
Admin Columns gives you control over the width and order of the columns shown when you go to the admin screens that list posts, pages, and custom post types.
WP Hotkeys adds hotkeys to the WordPress admin so you can get to the screen you’re looking for without reaching for the mouse.
Remove Dashboard Access makes it easy to block certain user roles from accessing /wp-admin/ and redirects users to the URL you choose.
Dashboard Commander can be used to clean up the WordPress dashboard. Just install it and all dashboard widgets will be removed. Then access the plugin settings page to add back the widgets you want to see.
An Admin You Can be Proud Of
Once you customize the WordPress admin for the first time you’ll want to build customizations into all of your future projects. The WordPress admin is fine right out of the box, but once you realize how much more efficient, useful, and beautiful it can be, you won’t be satisfied with the standard look any longer.
