Thread: A Tip On Getting Things To Work On CP.

A Tip On Getting Things To Work On CP.

Let's say,you wonder why when clicking the author's (advertiser, owner) link in an ad in the list view, it brings you to a complete list of just more ads. At first, I thought this was how CP worked. And was confused when others were talking about an author page (author.php file). For me, this never appeared. So I just moved on.

On the weekend, I got a crash course in all kinds of neat things that can go wrong with DB's.(databases) Afterwards, after running some tasks in the DB, I was able to finally see the author page. And I continued to style it and will continue to make it powerhouse of the CP Theme.

So here's my tip: Logon to your hosting account. C-Panel> MyPHPAdmin > click the database named link on the left, which is your DB for your WP CP Site. It will then display a list of all the tables in you DB. Scroll to the bottom of the page. There is a drop down box, pre-filled, "With Selected:". Click on it. You will see a list, Repair Table, Check Table, ect. On the left there is a link, "Select All." Click it. It will select all the tables in your DB.

Now select from the drop down box: "Check Table". This will automatically refresh the page with a list of messages in a column view, saying "OK". Select all the tables again and do the same for Repair Table, then again for "Optimize Table." Don't worry, you can't break anything here. What this does is have the MySQL Server verified first, the tables and all the cells exist with the data in it. I personally never trust computers or software. So run Repair Table, which will have the MySQL Server go through the entire table and make certain it is all in the correct format. All good so far.

One last test. Running Optimize Table does wonders for your sites performance. It basically compresses and re-stacks all cells in the table, removing dead space. When I did all of these three tasks, many lights went on my site, both in the front and backend. So the tip is, when something doesn't work, do these following steps:

1.) Disable all plugins. Don't worry, your settings are still in the DB. This just stops the php files from calling the DB. This helps you determine first if there are any plugin conflicts. Then start activating one plugin at a time, re-building your site. This is a great way to determine which plugin is the problem.

2.) Check, Repair, and Optimize all your DB tables as mentioned above.

That's it. You will save days of frustrations and anguish just doing these two things. Finally, always read more about WP at WP CODEX. Then Read up on MySQL Manual. And C-Panel. If you have a dedicated Server, dig into WHM Manual. These are all online and free. The links are usually in the backend panels. You don't have to read them all at once. But at least start breezing through these items. Because you're going to need them later if you are the Site Admin. And with time, you will become much more proficient at managing all aspects of your website.

If you're still guessing how to make your theme look the way you want, nothing will make you a pro faster, than reading a good book or two over a month or so in CSS. It's priceless!