Tag: internet

404 errors from admin-ajax.php in WordPress

I am developing a dynamic website and when I stress some of the dynamic functionality I am getting occasional 404 errors from admin-ajax.php.

I am currently developing a minor dynamic website. Towards the end of the development I was stress-testing some of the dynamic functionality.

Unfortunately I am getting occasional 404 errors from admin-ajax.php.

The request seems to be sent and processed because on refresh of the page I can see the updates. However it is a bad user experience because the user’s page just stalls.

After a little troubleshooting, mainly with crude debug statements from admin-ajax.php into HTTP headers, I have noticed that admin-ajax.php is not even entered.

At the moment I am not sure whether the error is related to one of the WordPress plugins I am using or whether it is due to my webhost.

There are no visible errors in weblogs nor in error_log.

One thing I noticed that a new incognito browser window resolved the issue.

This made me suspicious of cookie issues. I manage to narrow it down to the PHPSESSID cookie. Clearing it resolved the issue. The 404 error from admin-ajax.php is gone… for a while at least.

I recommend using the excellent Eat This Cookie extension If you are using Chrome or Brave browser.

The search continues…

Google talk

google talkThe Google empire has released yet another (Beta) service which this time is an instant messenger network and client Google Talk.
While their standard is to release ground shaking services (GMail, Google Earth, desktop search and more) this time I have yet to feel the rumble.
Google talk is a lean instant messaging (IM) client that supports high quality voice chats. It also notifies the user of any new Gail messages and there is a short cut to send Gail emails. But that’s it!
You have to have a Gail account to be able to use Google Talk. I have plenty invitations to spare so leave a comment if you need one.
Once again the client is Windows only but since Google talk is “built to support industry standards” you can use compatible clients on other operating systems:
OSX – iChat
Linux – GAIM
Windows – Trillian Pro
The “industry standards” is the Jabber/XMPP protocol and it let’s other clients play with Google Talk network in an authorised way.
This one subtle detail that most users will not notice nor understand makes Google Talk special. It is a stab at the established messengers (MSN, AIM, Yahoo, ICQ) to show them how to play fair with Internet users.
Rumours are many in the blogosphere regarding the potential and future of Google Talk. Will it be the preferred client on the future Google Network? Will it allow searching all chat history similar to GMail search? Will it record all voice conversations, and allow searching? What will be the revenue stream(s)?
I just hope that the original Google motto “Don’t be evil-TM” will not be replaced by the new corporate “Must Make Money” motto.

Easter eggs:
Add [email protected] to your buddy list and send it a text message of “play” to play the old school game Hunt the Wumpus.
Create bold text by using * and italics by using underscore (_)

Mozilla Firefox 0.9 released

Of course I downloaded it as soon as I got the news that a new version of the fabulous browser Firefox was out. I have had just minor issues with version 0.8; sites that are IE “optimised” and forgetting cookies being the major ones.
The new version does not bring any radical changes. Instead it focuses on ease of install and usage of extensions.
Downloading it is fast because the whole application is just 4.5MB.
There is a new dedicated extensions and themes manager that keeps track of what has been added to Firefox and whether a new version is available. Very user friendly.
First thing you want to do after installing Firefox 0.9 is to get new extensions because 0.8 extensions are not re-installed. I managed to corrupt my installation by downloading extensions for the 0.8 version. Go to update.mozilla.org to get the correct extensions and themes!
Google toolbar, IE view, Web Developer and AdBlock are a must.
Update 17/06/04
And if you still are looking for reasons to go away from IE, read Lockergnome’s excellent article on Why You Should Dump Internet Explorer