Let’s Encrypt

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For some time now, the online security of websites has improved, thanks in part to SSL certificates. Most major browsers acknowledge this with that little green padlock ‘trusted’ icon in the URL bar, and Google is starting to roll out a change in its ranking algorithms to favor sites with SSL. At this time that boost is minor, but they plan to significantly increase that. Soon, browsers will start to warn users away from sites that do not have SSL.

The only drag factor in this progress has been cPanel. cPanel software is installed on the majority of the servers being used to provide low cost hosting solutions and their customers have been been clamoring for a free and easy to use SSL solution. cPanel 58 has been out now for many weeks and has proved very stable, and it introduced a new tool for web administrators called AutoSSL. The single most requested feature to add to this, proving one of the most popularly supported feature request in years, was to add Let’s Encrypt to the AutoSSL tool. Even though cPanel are not usually known for acting with speed, they have now released a plugin to do just that. This blog post tells how to install it. As I type this, right now, I am going to do just that on my server. Let’s see how well that goes (BTW, my server has cPanel 58 on the ‘Current’ updates channel, using EasyApache 4). (more…)

August 14, 2016   1 Comment

Goodbye PHP 5.5

php55Yes, another milestone this weekend as PHP 5.5 reaches the end of its safe operating life on web servers. As of July 9, 2016 it will receive no more security updates. Should you be concerned? Maybe, if you are one of the many web designers and site owners whose server runs on PHP 5.5.

I see into the admin panels of many sites every day, and the majority are still using PHP 5.5 or earlier. I still see some with PHP 5.2, and many with PHP5.3. Such a security risk cannot be worth taking, surely? (more…)

July 10, 2016   14 Comments

Data Centric WordPress Website Design

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Good planning makes a website much easier to design and deliver, making you more profit and getting the website to the customer faster and more efficiently. Let’s ignore all the fluff and magic that makes up the appearance of the website, but instead take a look at the data structure underlying your design. We are going to look at how WordPress and Ultimatum give you the tools to make your website design Data Centric. (more…)

July 9, 2016   6 Comments

Sticky Scroll Header Menu in Ultimatum

sticky-notesThere are many ways to implement a sticky scroll header menu feature in WordPress and Ultimatum; this blog post will focus on making a sticky scroll header menu in an Ultimatum partial header layout without using a sticky scroll plugin or the sticky header option in Ultimatum layouts.
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May 17, 2016   7 Comments

100K Sites and Growing Fast

wordpress-frameworksYes, well over 100,000 (now nearly 102,000) sites are now powered by Ultimatum (as measured by active API connections). Add in all those that do not have their toolsets connected, and the figure could well be a lot higher. That’s simply amazing. And it is all down to the creativity of Ultimatum users. Made possible by the most flexible and powerful WordPress theme designing tool available today. So says a recent poll at GoBarrelRoll. Read the results here.

gobarrelrolllogoThe survey by GoBarrelRoll pitched the major frameworks against each other and asked the users to vote … and they did. A fast, hard-run race, but the worthy winner was Ultimatum. Ultimatum users know just how powerful this great framework is. Under the hood it is just so powerful and flexible. Using the Bootstrap 3 grid, it has a huge variety of styling options, together with an impressive list of premium plugins.

What makes Ultimatum so popular? One voter added this comment, “I am so pleased I bought Ultimatum Pro. I echo everyone about the advantages of the theme, and the helpfulness of the company through support, blogs, YouTube tutorials and the forums.” With every release Ultimatum gets better, more powerful, more flexible. It helps the web designer be more efficient; as one voter said, “… you have more time to make your layouts beautiful and keep your customers happy.”

Have you tried Ultimatum yet? Why not? Come on in and grab a license today, you won’t regret it. See what our members are making every day with Ultimatum on our showcase. Read the testimonials written by genuine users the world over. Make Ultimatum the last WordPress theme you ever buy.

April 1, 2016