Category: Tutorials

Tutorials, WordPress

Adding the IP Anonymisation Tag to Universal Analytics Properties

admin

Following on from the recent rulings within various EU countries about the transfer of personal data on sites using Google Analytics, there are some changes that all Google Analytics users need to be aware of. The changes are described briefly below along with instructions on how to rectify this on your website.

Does this affect all Google Analytics users?

In short, no. If you are using the new GA4 property then IP anonymisation is already taken care of. This change only impacts sites that are using the older Universal Analytics property.

How do I check which property I am using on my website?

You can do this in Google Analytics but the fastest way is to take a look at the header code on your website.

  1. Go to your website.
  2. Right click and select View Source. Now you need to search for a few different terms.
  3. First let’s eliminate Google Tag Manager. If you’ve installed your Google Analytics code using Tag Manager these instructions won’t work for you!

Search your page source for Tag Manager code

  1. Click Ctrl+F to open a Search box and type gtm then press Enter. You’ll drop down the page to the location of your any tag manager tags.

    In this search below you can see the tag is managed by a plugin. We can still check for instances of Google Analytics code but, if we don’t find anything, we can assume our GA properties are implemented via GTM.

Search your page source for GA4 Property code

  1. Click Ctrl+F to open a Search box and type gtag then press Enter. You’ll drop down the page to the location of your Google Analytics tag.

    In this search shown below you can see the gtag code is prefixed with “G-“. This means it’s a GA4 property, so no updates are needed to this site.

Search your page source for Universal Analytics Property

  1. Click Ctrl+F to open a Search box and type UA- then press Enter. You’ll drop down the page to the location of your Google Analytics tag.

    In this search shown below we found the Analytics code prefixed with “UA-“. This means it’s a Universal Analytics property and must be updated.

    Another thing to note is that the tag is installed with the older ga script denoted by “ga” rather than “gtag”. The steps to update this are slightly different – and will be posted here shortly!) The best thing to do at this point is replace the ga tag with the gtag. Then you can continue with these instructions.

Now you’ve identified whether or not you need to update you tag, you can follow the appropriate instructions below to make the changes.

How do I update Google Analytics on my WordPress website?

There are many ways to implement Google Analytics on your WordPress site. Some will give you more control than others.

If you are using the a plugin that allows you to edit the code that is inserted into the header, you can simply fix it by adding the anonymize IP parameter. The example below refers to the Header and Footer plugin. Read this post for instructions on using this to add your Google Analytics property code to your website.

  1. Copy and paste the below code block into the Header section of the Header and Footer plugin.
gtag('config', '<GA_MEASUREMENT_ID>', { 'anonymize_ip': true });
  1. Replace <GA_MEASUREMENT_ID> with your UA property tag (e.g., UA-12345678).
  2. Delete the old line of code starting with gtag etc.

If you’re unable to edit the code (perhaps because the plugin links to your GA account and doesn’t have an edit option, I recommend you remove the plugin and install it again using the method described in this post about installing Google Analytics with the Header and Footer plugin.

How do I update Google Analytics on my Wix website?

  1. Login to your Wix website Dashboard.
  2. From the menu selection Marketing & SEO and then Marketing Integrations.
  3. Select Google Analytics and then View.
  1. Click the blue button and select Edit.
  1. Here you can see whether you have the GA or the UA tag installed.
  2. Check the IP Anonymisation option (if not already selected) and then Save your changes.

That’s it!

Note: It is only possible to implement GA on a Premium subscription to Wix.

How do I update Google Analytics on my SquareSpace website?

How you update Google Analytics will depend which of the two possible ways you used to set it up in the first place.

Method 1: Using the External API

  1. First check this method.
  2. Select Settings then Advanced.

If you have GA setup this way you’ll see the tracking code here.

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to update the actual content of the code if you have setup GA up with this method as, unlike in Wix, there isn’t an option for IP Anonymisation, so you should…

  1. Make a copy of the Google Analytics code (cut and paste it into a note or text file) then delete it.
  2. Follow the steps in Method 2 to setup and amend the code.

Method 2: Using Code InjectionDon’t panic – this is not as dangerous as it sounds.

  1. Select Settings and then Advanced, then Code Injection.
  2. Copy this block of code into the Header section.
<!-- Global site tag (gtag.js) - Google Analytics -->
<script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=YOURPROPERTY"></script>
<script>
  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
  gtag('js', new Date());
  gtag('config', 'YOURPROPERTY', { 'anonymize_ip': true });
</script>
  1. Change the text that says YOURPROPERTY to the property code (starting with G- or UA-) that you copied from the previous section.
  2. Click Save.

And breathe.

Checking Google Analytics still works

After making changes like this it’s useful to be able to check that it is all working.

To do this go to SiteChecker Pro and insert the URL of your website. Just click the blue arrow button to check the result.

If you like found this post helpful and want to support me, please click the button below!

What if you need help?

If you don’t like the idea of messing with code of feel daunted by the idea of doing this yourself, you can book my time for the Google Analytics Quick Fix. In this time I can check your Google Analytics on any website, make any updates, or implement a completely new tag. Book it now!

Tutorials, WordPress

Use a Featured Image in the Title Bar in Kadence Theme

admin
  1. Install a Code Snippets.
  2. Create a new snippet called “Add custom image sizes” (the name is important) with the following code:
add_image_size( 'page-title-image', 2000, 420, true );
  1. Add a helpful description so you know what the tag is used for.
  2. Add appropriate tags so you can easily find related code snippets. I use the tag “kadence title” for mine.
  3. Install the Regenerate Thumbnails plugin (you can delete it afterwards) and use it to regenerate your thumbnails. (You can miss the step if you do not already have featured images attached to your pages and/or posts) then run it from Tools > Regenerate plugins. Click the Regenerate Thumbnails for the x Featured Images Only button.
  1. Create a second snipped called “Page Title Settings” with the following code:
add_action( 'wp_head', 'wn_page_title_featured_image' );
/**
 * Set Page Title background image URL to that of featured image for Pages
 * @link https://webnolo.com/featured-image-as-page-title-background-in-kadence/
 */
function wn_page_title_featured_image() {
	// if we are not on a static Page, abort.
	if ( ! is_page() ) {
		return;
	}
	
	// if there is no featured image, abort.
	if ( ! has_post_thumbnail() ) {
		return;
	}
	
	// grab the url for the featured image in the specified size.
	$featured_img_url = get_the_post_thumbnail_url( get_the_ID(), 'page-title-image' ); ?>

	<style>
	.site .entry-hero-container-inner {
		background-image: url(<?php echo $featured_img_url; ?>);
	}
	</style>
<?php }
  1. Set the tags, settings and display options.

That’s it. Now, when you add a Featured Image to your posts, it will appear as the background in the Title bar.

Thanks to WebNolo for sharing this info!

Tutorials, Websites, WordPress

Update a WordPress Website Step-by-Step

admin

Following on from the post about what’s involved in maintaining your WordPress website, this post shows you how to identify any updates that are needed and then work through them. The most important step, before doing anything (and there is a step in the procedure below to ensure you don’t forget!) is to make sure you have a current backup. Things do sometimes go wrong and being able to restore your site fast is vital.

With that warning placed ahead of any changes we’re about to make, let’s get started…

A guide to updating your WordPress core, theme and plugins: step-by-step with a little bit of nagging about the importance of a backup.

Login to your WordPress Dashboard

For this you will need an account with Admin-level permissions.
As soon as you have access to the Dashboard you will any updates will be shown next to the Updates and Plugins options as a red dot with a number, as in the example below.

Find out whether there are updates

If you click on Updates you will see a list of everything that needs to be updated. This will include any WordPress core updates, your themes, and also plugins.

In this example there are 17 updates pending – but what are they?

What updates are required?

If a WordPress Core update is required (this is the software used to run WordPress) you will see an alert similar to the one shown above.

Scroll down the page and everything that is ready to be updated is listed there.

If you see anything listed on this page, updates are definitely needed.

BUT don’t do anything yet. First we need to make a backup.

Backup your installation

If you’re working on the Live version of your site (rather than a local copy or a staging site) it’s imperative that you take a backup before proceeding. There are various ways to do this, for example, using UpdraftPlus (from the WordPress dashboard) or using Softaculous or a backup tool (from your hosting account cPanel).

If you don’t already have a method for creating site backups you must set that up before doing anything updates.

With your site all backed up, you can move on to the next step.

Update WordPress

With your backup complete, return to the Updates page and click Update Now under the heading “An updated version of WordPress is available”. If you don’t have any Core updates to do, skip ahead to the next step.

Update Theme(s)

If you scroll on past the Plugin list you’ll see the list of any Themes you have installed on your site that need to be updated. In this case the site has just the main theme used on the site (OceanWP) and one of the default themes.

To update them:
Click Select all and then click the Update Themes button.

On the subject of Themes, you really don’t need to keep old themes, such as any that you trialled and then disguarded, for example, or all the defaults that comes with a clean WordPress installation. It’s worth keeping one of the default, as they can be handing for troubleshooting issues – particularly after updating your site! – but the rest can and should be deleted since they don’t serve a useful purpose.

Update Plugins

Next you can start working through the list of plugins.

Each listing will show the change in the version numbering for the plugin with a link to the version details and also state compatibility with WordPress.

Note also that if there are any issues with a plugin’s compatibility, you’ll see an alert here, as in the last example shown above, which has flagged a PHP compatibility issue (check this blog post for help with this).

Now go through the list updating each plugin. You can do these all at once (not recommended), one at a time (ideal but can take a while) or in batches, determined by how “safe” you think they are. Generally I update the less invasive plugins in batches then the more integrated ones, like page builders, on-at-a-time.

That’s it!

All being well you won’t have had any issues and your site is working perfectly, just as before with the added bonus that it’s now up-to-date, meaning it’s safe and secure.

If you did have any problems, what to do?

In the next post I’ll go through some of the issues that sometimes come up when updating your site – and suggest ways to resolve those same issues.

Photo by Launchpresso on Unsplash

Hosting, Tutorials, WordPress

Updating the PHP Version via cPanel for WordPress

admin

If you’re running a WordPress site and have a self-hosted setup (so you pay for hosting that isn’t with wordpress.com) you may have noticed a warning about your PHP version being out of date. If you’re seeing this, what should you do?

Updating it is relatively simple to do if you follow the steps below.

  1. First, back up your site! You can use a plugin for this but the safest way is to download the SQL database and make a copy of the files from the server.
  2. Next, you can install a plugin like PHP Compatibility Checker to check the compatibility of your plugins. Most will be fine but the odd one may not be happy with the current version of PHP (v7.4 at the time of writing.)
  3. Fix any errors, either by updating the plugins with issues or replacing them (obviously there may be some work involved if issues come up.)
  4. Next login to your site’s cPanel and find the section for the PHP version. You can do this yourself or, if you’re not sure about DIYing it, open a support ticket and ask tech support to help. If you’re with a reputable hosting company they’ll do it for you. Find the dropdown that shows the PHP version you are currently running and change it to the latest version. Save your changes.
  5. When all this is done, login again to your WP Dashboard and check things are working. In 99/100 cases you’ll have no issues.

That’s it!

If you’re not confident doing this for yourself you can always get in touch and we’ll do it for you.

Tools & Tips, Computer Maintenance, Tutorials

Spring Clean Your System Series: Introduction

Emma

Spring is in the air – at last! With the increasing light, we naturally start to clear out all those dusty corners and give our homes and gardens a good tidy up, ready for the year ahead. But what about your technology?

If, like me, you use your computer for work and also have a number of other devices you use, such as a table or iPad, the chances are you have a lot of files to organise. Whether that’s photos, e-mail or documents, just like your regular paper-based filing pile, a lot of clutter can build up over time if you don’t stay on top of it. And that’s just the stuff you see.

Whenever we use technology lots of files are used behind the scenes and these also mount up over time; things like temp (temporary) files, cookies from websites we visit, and a legion of other one-time and short-time-use files. All this invisible clutter stays on your system and over time slows it down, which is why it’s worth removing it. And what better time than Spring, since that’s when we get busy tidying generally.

Now all you need is a few specialist (free) tools and the know-how. What better way to start the week than with decluttered and organised computer! To help you with this I’ve put together a series of posts that will take you through the various ways you can tidying up and also get organised.

What’s Covered

First we’ll look at ways to declutter all those invisible files using some free software designed just for that purpose.

Then we’ll look at decluttering our files and applications.

And finally, once we’ve cleaned up our act, we’ll make sure we’ve got everything backed up, either to The Cloud or to an external disk or drive.

While you’re waiting…

In the meantime, why not get out some screen wipes and give the screen and keyboard a good wipe down. And, if you have a desktop PC or a laptop with a visible vent, it’s a good idea to put the hoover up to the back of the fan vent and suck out the dust especially if you have pets. No, seriously. One of our computers was constantly overheating. When we took the back off to check that all was well with the heat-sink we found, to our surprise, an enormous ball of fluff had collected there. No wonder it wouldn’t work!

Taking that one step further, if you’re confident to open the case on a desktop machine – and can do so without invalidating any warranties – it’s well worth giving your computer’s insides a good freshen up. Just open it up and give all the dusty looking bits a blast of air from an air canister such as this one on Amazon*. No more fluff – and no more whirring fan.

Although the focus of this will be on Windows systems, many of the techniques and tips will also be relevant for Mac users. Where there are differences, I’ll provide separate info in later posts.

Credits: main image copyright iStock.com/valio84sl

Are you ready to Spring Clean Your System? Don’t want to miss out? Subscribe to the newsletter for latest news, updates, and tech tips.

If you need help with this or any other aspect of your home or business IT, contact me to arrange a free consultation.

PLEASE NOTE, that this post contains an affiliate link. If you buy something through one of those links you won’t pay a penny more but I will get a small commission.

Tutorials

Install the French StopCovid App Step-by-Step?

admin

There are lots of questions doing the rounds about whether or not you should install the French version of the StopCovid app that launched on Google Play and in the App Store today.

I’m not going to go into that: we’re all adults, we make up own minds, and because it’s not mandatory, we get to make that choice.

This post is concerned with helping you through the installation process, which also gives you some insight into what information you’re required to provide and what you’re required to consent to (in privacy terms) in the steps before activating the app.

There are three main steps:

  • Downloading the app
  • Configuring the app
  • Activating the app

Each of these is described in the sections below.

Step 1: Download the App to your Device

When you install the app you go the relevant app store (Google Play for Android and the App Store for Apple) and install it in the usual way.

The Apple version of the app looks like this in the store. Note that StopCovid is all one word and you also need to type “France” to find the relevant one for France.

Step 2: Configure the App

Once installed, there are a few setup screens to work through.

You start by clicking a blue button, Je veux participer (I want to participate).

Then next screen describes the next three steps.

  1. Activate the application.
  2. Stay informed.
  3. Protect others.

Click the Continuer button to begin.

2A. Accept the Confidentiality Agreement

First, there is one extra step, which is to accept the confidentiality agreement. To do this, scroll down the Confidentialité page, then click Accepter.

When you reach the bottom of this page you can click one of the links, which takes you to the source code or the full online version of the confidentiality agreement.

2B. Enable Bluetooth Detection

After approving the confidentiality agreement you come to the Detection step. For this to work, enable Bluetooth on your device then click Autoriser. On the iPhone you get a popup asking you to OK the sharing of data with other connected Bluetooth devices. The StopCovid app depends on data sharing with other devices to work, so click OK.

2C. Enable Notifications

Next, you come to the Notification screen; This is where you give the app permission to send you notifications. This means if someone you have been in proximity (which is defined as within 1 metre for more than 15 minutes during the last two-week period) you will receive an alert.

To set up notifications, simply click the Autoriser les notifications button.

As with the previous step, on the iPhone you will be asked to confirm that you would like to receive notifications from the all. Click Allow.

Almost done.

2D. Confirm that you understand the barrier gestures.

Next there’s a screen to remind you of the health precautions you should still be taking. Click C’est Note to move on to the next step.

Step 3. Activate the App

Now you’re ready to activate the app. You can see that until the button is pressed the app is deactivated, marked with a X and a red shield.

If you want to read the confidentiality agreement again or check/change your settings or delete any data collected by the app, scroll down the page and you will see two links that take you to these.

Otherwise, click J’active StopCovid to enable the app.

There may be a short wait while the app launches, then you see the view changes and the shield becomes green with a tick.

That’s it, you’re live!

Deactivating the StopCovid App

Now the app has been setup, enabling it and disabling can be done one of two ways:

  • By enabling/disabling Bluetooth.
  • By opening the app and clicking the J’active StopCovid or J’désactive StopCovid button.

General Points

I think it’s interesting to note that at no point are you asked to provide any personal information (name, address, phone number) which means if you felt compelled to use the app but had strong objections on privacy grounds (and were also a little paranoid) you could get a PAYG SIM and use it on a “burner phone” that has Bluetooth. In the video I made that’s kind of what I did, because it’s a SIM-less iPhone that no longer connects to the mobile network thanks to a broken antenna, so I use it entirely for listening to podcasts and browsing the internet when I’m at home on WiFi. It also has Bluetooth, so with the app installed I can take it out of the house, if I like.

You could argue of course that the app knows who I am because I had to install it through my account (in this case my Apple.com account), so there’s that. I’m not even sure Apple have my address info and since no payment was required, they have no need for it, but I suppose in theory, if the French Government wanted to know who in France had downloaded their app they could demand this info from Apple and Google – but it’s definitely not information that is required (no account is needed) so, if you regularly download apps and games etc. and have never worried about this before, why start now?

Have you installed it?

So, having read how easy it is, have you decided to go ahead and install it? If not, what are your reasons for not doing it? Please send me your comments and feedback and I will try to address them in an upcoming FAQ on the app and how it works.

Productivity Tools, Tutorials, Videos

Really Easy Invoicing Template Instructions

admin

If you’re still committed to using Excel or a similar spreadsheet app for your invoicing, you can make thing simpler by using a template.

A good template will give you a standard look and feel while also limiting the actions you can take.y

The Really Easy Invoicing Template does exactly this.

You can download the free version from here. The free version works in exactly the same way as the paid for (PRO) version – coming soon – except it has fewer invoice pages (30) and no advanced reports.

Whichever version you’re using, this video explains how to first set it up with your company details and then to create your first invoice.

A set of colourful badges with the "W" from the WordPress logo - and banner text saying: Working with WordPress: Site Migration Tips"
Tools & Tips, Tutorials

Access WordPress Installation without a Domain

admin

Let’s say you’re moving a WordPress site from one host to another. Before changing the DNS settings on the domain you want to migrated the site’s contents and test it rather than make all the changes to a live site. The way to do this is to make a few simple edits to a text file. Here’s how.

Instructions for editing your Host file, to direct your browser to WordPress on the server.

Find your server’s IP address.

Login to your CPanel account. The IP address you need is shown under the heading Shared IP Address in the General Information. Make a note of this.

Navigate to the hosts file and open it with a text editor.

The file, called hosts, is stored in C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc. You may need to click through a popup asking for Administrator access. Just click Continuewhen prompted.NOTE: If you are trying to open the file from within an application, such as Notepad++, and are not in Adminstrator mode, you won’t see the file. To rectify this, navigate to the file via Explorer then double-click to open it in your text editor.

Update the file.

You will see some intro text describing the purpose of the file and then, at the bottom, some text that includes an IP address and a label, like this: 127.0.0.1 localhostThis is an instruction that says, “when I type localhost into my browser, redirect the request to 127.0.0.1.”We will use this to redirect requests to the domain to your copy of WordPress on the server. Add a new row of text under any other redirects, in the format shown below: X.X.X.X yourdomain.comwhere, X.X.X.X is the IP address you just retrieved from your CPanel account. yourdomain.com the domain you will be transferring to (where WordPress is installed.)

Save the file.

When you’ve finished editing, save the modified hosts file.

And that’s it. Now, when you type the domain into your browser you will access the server-installed WordPress installation. Now you can get this all set up, transferring all the data from your old site to the new server, making sure everything works, before changing the DNS settings on your domain to point to the new host.

But what about when you want to see online version of the site? Well, simply open the hosts file and comment out the edits by adding the # symbol in front of the code, so:

X.X.X.X yourdomain.com
becomes
# X.X.X.X yourdomain.com

Now you can test your site on the new server before changing the DNS settings on the domain. No downtime!

A small blackboard with the text, "Set up a group email list in Roundcube" written on it.
Tools & Tips, Tutorials

Create a group email list in Roundcube

admin

An email list enables you to send the same message to a group of people. For example, you might want to send messages to a list of family members, club members, or a social group.

If you’ve changed host and were using the webmail package on your host’s server rather than a local application like Outlook or Thunderbird, you will need to recreate your lists in the webmail application provided by your new host.

With our hosting packages you can choose one of three webmail applications (Horde, Roundcube, and SquirrelMail). The instructions in this article describe how to create a group email list in Roundcube, which is the email software I recommend to clients.

To create a group email list in Roundcube, do the following:

Login to your webmail account.

You can access webmail by typing your domain name followed by /webmail, for example, www.yourdomain.com/webmail.

Open your address book.

Click the Contacts button, which is located at the top right of the screen underneath your account name.

Create a new group.

Click the + symbol at the bottom of the Group column.Give your new group a name, then click Save.

Add your existing contacts to the group.

To add a contact that is already in your address book, click on Personal Addresses and drag the name of the person over to the group list name. If you need to add a contact not listed in your address book, see Step 5 below.

Add your new contacts to the group.

Click on the group name to make sure it is selected (in the example below, the group name is My Group List). Click the + symbol at the bottom of the My Group List box, fill out the form with the new contact’s details, then click Save. Repeat until all the new contacts are added.

With all your contacts added, you’re ready to send an email to the group.

Note: When you click the group name, all the email addresses will be visible in the To box of the email you are sending. It is a good idea to use the BCC box for group emails like this, as this protects the email addresses of everyone in the group.

That’s all!

I no longer offer tech support, preferring to focus on websites, SEO, and branding. However, I still love writing! If you like this post and want to support me, please click the button below!