How we write and test our guides

Web Design Survivalist is a free library of website emergency guides published by Lone Star Data Ranch, a managed WordPress host in Dripping Springs, Texas, hosting sites since 1999. People usually arrive here when something is already broken, so every guide has to be correct, safe to follow and honest about what it does not know. This page explains how we try to get there.

Who writes the guides

The guides come from hands-on work: Lone Star Data Ranch runs WordPress hosting day to day and fixes these problems for customers. When a site goes down, gets hacked or stops sending email, we are the ones on the other end working it through.

Every guide is written by Chris, the founder of Lone Star Data Ranch, who has been working on servers since 1994.

Before a guide is published, every command, setting and error message in it is checked against the official documentation from the vendor or project that owns it.

How a guide is made

1. It starts from real support patterns

We write about the problems we actually see: the error messages customers paste into tickets, the questions that come up after a DNS change, the cleanup steps after a hack. If a problem is rare or we have not dealt with it ourselves, we say so or we do not write the guide.

2. Every command is checked against official documentation

Before a command, setting or file path goes into a guide, we check it against the source that defines it. The main references we use:

• WordPress: the WordPress Developer Resources and the WordPress Advanced Administration handbook.
• WP-CLI: the official WP-CLI command reference.
• Internet standards: the RFCs that define DNS, HTTP, TLS and email authentication (SPF, DKIM and DMARC).
• Providers: Cloudflare’s developer documentation, Let’s Encrypt’s documentation and community guidance, and the documentation of whichever service a guide covers.
• Browsers and the web platform: MDN Web Docs for HTTP headers, status codes and browser behavior.

Where it is practical, we also run the commands on a test site before publishing.

3. Commands come with explained placeholders

Your site is not our example site. When a command needs your details, we use an obvious placeholder such as example.com or [your-database-name] and explain what goes there and where to find it. We avoid one-line fixes that only work on one kind of server without saying so.

4. Causes are ordered from most likely to least likely

Each guide starts with the checks that solve the problem most often and are least risky to try. Rare causes and risky fixes come later, with a clear warning. If you are in a hurry, work from the top.

What “Last checked” means

Every guide shows a “Last checked” date. It means someone on the team went through the guide on that date and confirmed the steps still match how the software or service works.

• We re-check a guide when the software or service it depends on changes in a way that could affect the steps: a WordPress release, a WP-CLI change, a provider redesigning its dashboard, a change to a standard.
• The date only changes when the content has actually been re-checked. Fixing a typo or changing the page design does not move the date.
• If a guide has not been checked in a long time, treat it with a little more caution and tell us if something looks out of date.

Independence

When we mention our own hosting

Lone Star Data Ranch publishes this site, and we say so on every page. When a guide mentions our hosting, it is labeled clearly. The guides are written to fix the problem in front of you wherever your site is hosted. We will never tell you that switching hosts is the fix when it is not the fix. If a problem really does come down to the hosting environment (for example, a server that cannot run a supported PHP version), we explain what to ask your current host for first.

Affiliate links

Some links to third-party tools may be affiliate links. If you buy through one, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. A commission never decides whether a tool is recommended or where it appears in a guide. Nobody pays us to write, change or rank a guide. The details are on our disclosure page.

Our limits

• We never ask for your passwords. No guide asks you to send a password, API key or login to us or anyone else. If someone claiming to be from Web Design Survivalist asks for one, it is not us.
• Back up first. Take a full backup of your files and database before you change anything. Several guides tell you how.
• Not legal advice. Some guides touch on contracts, privacy rules or data breach notification. They are general information, not legal advice. Talk to a lawyer about your situation.
• Every site is different. We cannot see your server. If a step does not match what you see, stop and ask your host or a professional before going further.

Found a mistake?

Tell us. Use the contact page and include the guide, the step and what you saw. Do not include passwords or private keys in your message. Our corrections policy explains what happens next.