How to remotely connect to your DigitalOcean mySQL database with HeidiSQL

Since I prefer to keep my DigitalOcean droplets als lean as possible, I never install phpMyAdmin but instead connect using HeidiSQL.

HeidiSQL is a free and open source client, or frontend for MySQL that makes managing your MySQL databases a breeze.

In this post I shall explain how to remotely connect to your DigitalOcean mySQL database with HeidiSQL over an SSH connection. Continue reading

Misconceptions about commercial WordPress themes

WordPress theme marketplaces where you can buy commercial WordPress themes are rapidly gaining popularity, and must admit that I have bought and used some commercial themes myself. Unfortunately many people are under the impression that these cheap themes are the perfect solution for all their needs. While a $30 might seem good value, this is not necessary the case.

At WordCamp Chicago 2011 Andy Stratton gave a presentation called “Diet Pills, SEO, and Theme Frameworks”. He talked about WordPress themes, frameworks, marketplaces and a lot of related misconceptions, and some of the many problems with commercial themes including SEO, customization, child themes.

So while there are some cases where a commercial $30 theme could work, usually these themes are slow, bloated with unnecessary options and will require a lot of expensive customization.

Remove WordPress 3.2 Admin Shadow

Yesterday WordPress 3.2 was released after version 3.1 reached the impressive milestone of 15 million downloads. This new WordPress brings a lot of good stuff, but also comes with some changes to the admin interface that need some getting used to.

Remove Admin ShadowAfter reading some comments on twitter about the admin interface I decided to experiment with some style changes and soon found out that for me the most annoying thing was the dark shadow on the left-hand menu bar.

As this is easy enough to fix I created a small plugin that will do this for you and instantly improves the look of your WordPress 3.2 admin interface 🙂

To install it, all you have to do is download the plugin and upload it to your plugins directory. You can also search for ‘remove admin shadow’ in the WordPress dashboard.