Eric Mann's Blog

  • Server-side Analytics through Google

    Some of the products I build for the web don’t come with a website. But I can still use Google Analytics to track their usage. Thanks to a handy PHP library I found on GitHub, I now have the luxury of tracking the execution of server-side scripts in the same analytics dashboard I use to track web visits!

  • The Things That Matter Most

    The Things that Matter Most video podcast is ready to go and will be kicking off its first episode this Friday at 9am!

  • How to Blog More in 2014

    Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to chat with some incredible people around the WP Watercooler. We were talking about strategies for writing/blogging more in 2014, and I wanted to further explain one strategy I particularly enjoy (and plan to implement this year).

  • Securing XML-RPC for WordPress

    If you use WordPress, you’ve probably used one of the mobile apps for it. If you’ve used one of these mobile apps, then you’ve used XML-RPC. If you’ve used XML-RPC, then you’ve sent your username and password – in plain text – across the Internet. This is hugely unsafe, and I want to work to make a safer Internet. This is my proposal for more secure XML-RPC in WordPress.

  • Passing the Torch

    Six years ago I made the decision to step down as an Assistant Scoutmaster with my troop. A chance encounter that same weekend made me change my mind – I’m glad I did. Now I’m finally leaving, and I’m happy to say I’ll be leaving the unit in very good hands.

  • Opinions. I Have Them.

    This is my personal blog. As such, any opinions contained within are my personal opinions, built out of my own personal and professional experience. The fact that I need to explicitly call this out is, frankly, insulting to both me and the majority of those reading the site.

  • Query, Template, Actions as MVC in WordPress

    I love WordPress. I also love MVC design fundamentals. Unfortunately, these two loves of mine are at odds with one another, and that makes me sad. Here’s my simple idea to make WordPress’ built-in templating engine play nice with MVC sensibilities – everyone can win!

  • Crowdfunding a New Year’s Goal

    After watching a few sessions of WordSesh – particularly the podcasting roundtable – I’ve decided to take another stab at podcasting. This time around I want to cover a broad range of topics, and throw in some video. I’m asking for the community’s help getting this show off the ground, and I won’t be able to get things started without your help!

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  • To Test or Not To Test: Unit Testing and Privacy

    Determining which methods in your application needed testing used to be easy – test everything exposed by the public API. But once you invite other developers to contribute, you are exposing a whole other set of internal APIs to the team. The behavioral consistency of these methods is just as important as that of the public API, so shouldn’t you be testing them too? I would argue you should, even if this internal API consists of private and protected methods. To make life easier, I’ll give you a couple of tools for testing these limited-visibility functions without forcing everything to…

  • Linux-flavored Windows

    I use both Mac and Windows for development because I’ve managed to set up a Linux-style command environment on both. Here are some simple steps you too can follow to have the power of Linux-style commands right from the Windows command prompt.