Month: March 2007

WordPress Widgets

I’m a little late jumping on the bandwagon on this, but I just successfully integrated WordPress Widgets to one of my other sites. It’s very intuitive and has a lot of potential, so I’m planning all future themes/sites I do will utilize Widgets.

Bui4Ever v14b (this current theme) utilizes the Hemingway Blocks, which is the predecessor to Widgets. While the Hemingway Blocks work great, in terms of being able to add new blocks is limited. So in the next coming days, Bui4Ever v14b will become Bui4Ever v14c which will replace the Hemingway Blocks with Widgets.

For those who don’t know what the Hemingway Blocks and Widgets do; it is an add-on that allows for on the fly customization of the sidebar without having to be familiar with HTML code or PHP code. It also allows for simple sidebar customization such order and what is placed in the sidebar. Previous to the Hemingway Blocks and Widgets, any changes to the sidebar must be made via code. Both of these two system utilize AJAX to drag and drop blocks and widgets.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Since i’m part Irish, I especially enjoy this day and learning of the history. We’ll be going to the St. Patty’s Day Parade in San Francisco today.

The day is the national holiday of the Irish people. It is a bank holiday in Northern Ireland, and a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Montserrat, and the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. In Great Britain, the United States, Australia and the rest of Canada, it is widely celebrated but is not an official holiday. Continue reading Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Osmosis: The Enzyme Bath Spa

This is the third time we’ve been to Osmosis and I’ve finally decided to write a review about this place. The best thing about Osmosis is the general ambiance of nature and relaxation. Osmosis is located out in Sebastopol, CA, near Rohnert Park and 30 minutes from Wine Country. The location has a small, intimate town feel void of traffic and general city people. The decor of the place is Japanese and follows in the traditions as such. Shoes are removed before entering and many of the doors are sliding Japanese doors. Tea is served while waiting for your appointment. Continue reading Osmosis: The Enzyme Bath Spa

Got a packet bigger than max_allowed_packet bytes

Introduction

Recently I was getting this error: WordPress database error: [Got a packet bigger than ‘max_allowed_packet’ bytes] every time I was making a new post, editing an existing post, making a new page, or editing an existing page. I was hoping nothing was messed with my WordPress database, fortunately this message doesn’t mean anything is wrong with the database.

How Do I Fix It?

The answer to this question depends. If you have a virtual private server (VPS) or root access to MySQL, it’s an easy 5 minute fix. If you don’t have a VPS, don’t know how to do it, or don’t have root access, you’re web host will have to fix it for you.

For those who do have access, here’s what you do:

  1. Login as root. This is what I have: 
    root@vps [~]#
  2. Because that is the wrong directory, I do a change directory command: 
    root@vps [~]# cd ..
  3. That will then give me: 
    root@vps [/]#
  4. My etc directory is there, so I: 
    root@vps [/]# cd etc
  5. Pull out the trusty vi editor: 
    root@vps [/]# vi my.cnf
  6. You may not exactly have the same information as I have in my my.cnf file, but the principle is the same: 
    [mysqld]

set-variable = max_connections=500

safe-show-database

set-variable = key_buffer_size=3M

set-variable = table_cache=132

set-variable = read_buffer_size=2M

set-variable = join_buffer_size=2M

set-variable = sort_buffer_size=2me: vps.bui4ever.com2007

set-variable = read_rnd_buffer_size=2M

set-variable = query_cache_size=64M

set-variable = query_cache_limit=4Mold-passwords = 1
  7. Between [mysqld] and set-variable = max_connections=500, add: 
    max_allowed_packet=16M

In many cases, that will resolve the issue. Worse case scenario, you’ll have to increase it to as high as 32MB. It’s not a good idea to set it to high as it will utilize more server resources and also cause other errors. For more reading, go to MySQL Reference Manual B.1.2.9 Packet too large.