Nate Covington

Editor's Note:
I'm posting this article because it goes into a fair amount of detail about how a web site's hosting account and how its various parts are configured play an important role in handling large spikes in traffic.  Most of my clients never encounter this type of a problem.  It's always good to be ready.  If you're not sure if your hosting account is set up to handle large bursts in traffic, let me know, and I'll put together some recommendations.  For most folks, enabling caching is going to be sufficient.  Others might appreciate the extra protection provided by a service like CloudFlare.

Millions relied on Space City Weather—here’s the configuration that weathered Hurricane Harvey.

HOUSTON—I had enough to worry about as Hurricane Harvey plowed into the Texas Gulf Coast on the night of August 25 and delivered a category 4 punch to the nearby city of Rockport. But I simultaneously faced a different kind of storm: an unexpected surge of traffic hitting the Space City Weather Web server. This was the first of what would turn into several very long and restless nights.

I recently switched a client's site from HTTP to HTTPS (SSL encryption) and needed to come up with a solution to their "social sharing counts" resetting to zero.  This is not a flaw or bug, it's working as it was intended.  

Here is how it works.  When you share a page via social media, it uses its URL:
http://www.yoursite.com/the-page-you-are-sharing

When you switch to SSL / HTTPS, your URL changes, similar to if your domain name changes altogether:
https://www.yoursite.com/the-page-you-are-sharing

With the new URL, you lose all of your social sharing counts, a source of major pride (and potential profits).  

My wife and I have been avid iPhone users for a decade.  We recently switched over to Android and I wanted to write up this post to share my thoughts and findings.  

First, Why?

We recently learned about these new Huawei phones and did some research on our own.  We wound up purchasing matching Huawei Honor 8's.  First, the specs are great.  They stand up spec-per-dollar wise when compared to iPhone 6s, which was going to be the iPhone that we went with if we stayed in Apple's ecosystem.  The iPhone 7 doesn't have a headphone jack and that was a deal breaker for us.  The Honor 8's have a 'full' 1080-resolution screen squeezed into 5.2 inches.  This basically means that the screen is a little larger than our old phones, but the clarity is amazing.  Huawei has openly stated that they intend to compete with Apple and Samsung, head on.  I personally believe they will be successful.  

The Joomla 3.7 release added new features AND 8 (eight) low-level security patches.

What they should have done, was to release 3.6.6 with all of the security patches as a ‘security’ release.   Then, after the dust settles, release v3.7.0 with the new functionality.  They combined both “security” and “new functionality” into the 3.7 release.  To me, it seems they should have pushed the security patches into 3.6.6 and then the new features into 3.7, rather than a combination. 

The result is a scramble in the Joomla community where everyone rushes to install version 3.7 because it contains security patches.  Then, another scramble to install 3.7.1 because 3.7.0 had a new security issue.  It seems like a racket, no? 

This article was originally posted on SearchEngineLand.com

Google often provides useful information to the SEO community, but columnist Nate Dame argues that ultimately, the company's advice is in their best interest, not yours -- so make sure you understand the nuances.

Last month, Google released a video detailing best practices for hiring an SEO company, and it is positioned to become the go-to guide for hiring an SEO. After all, who better to tell companies what they should look for in an SEO than the operators of the world’s most popular search engine?

Starting in January 2017, any website with a "login" form visible (e.g. Client Logins, Shopping Carts, etc) will show an "insecure" message in the browser's address bar if the site does not have an SSL certificate properly installed and configured.

Particularly for my clients that are security-minded, it's important to consider how to proceed with this information.  Some of my clients already have SSL certificates running on their sites, even ones that don't process credit cards.  For clients who already process credit cards, their sites already have the necessary SSL encryption certificate (https), so this is a non-issue. 

I had been researching this issue for a client and wanted to share it with everyone.  My client and I had been discussing the ability to collect recurring payments via PayPal WITHOUT requiring the user to have an actual PayPal account. 

I recently received an email that is referenced in this forum thread.  I was going to post my response on this other site but it tried to get me to sign up for a premium plan in order to post a response.  Instead, I am posting it here:

After much research and effort to find a programmer for our website, I had the good fortune to become aware of Covington Creations.  I have worked with Nate Covington for several years now and can state without hesitation that he is a highly skilled, hardworking, trustworthy programmer.

Nate takes his work very seriously and gets projects done on time and on budget.  He understands the needs of a small business and is always there to answer questions, fix problems and offer ideas.  Moreover, he explains things in language that a non-technical person can understand.  I have worked with programmers in the past who were very good, but I have to say that Nate is a cut above.  I highly recommend his services.

"I began my longstanding relationship with Covington Creations when I started my website in 2006.  Nate is a great businessman; he’s not happy until you’re happy with your website.  He is intuitive and explains the “behind the scenes” aspects of what your site needs or may need in the future.  He is also a thoughtful and patient teacher who has taught me everything I know about maintaining and updating my site.  Any request or concern I have, I just email him and it is promptly handled in a professional and thorough manner.  Thanks to Nate’s guidance and abilities, my website is now earning money through Google Adsense (paying for itself and then some)!"

- Jessica, Editor
LoveToTeach.org