Category : Blog

New Plugins!

This month there is loads more news than usual, and not much of it is easy to bear. Here in California we’ve been ordered to stay home now for more than a week. I’ve distracted myself by typing lots and lots code. It’s about time I addressed your ongoing request for a PDF watermarker that preserves internal links such as table of contents. For many of you with longer PDFs, these page indexes are crucial. While my proposed solution is more expensive and mildly more complicated to install than WaterWoo & EDDiMark, it offers improved PDF parsing/writing and heftier encryption, as well as backing by the PDF gurus at SetaSign. Bottom line: if it is essential your PDF keep its internal links, you want a -Stamper plugin, not WaterWoo or EDDiMark. Introducing PDF Stamper and EDDiStamper PDF Stamper for WooCommerce continue reading…

Now watermarking in any font!

Sort of a long time coming, but folks have been asking politely over the years if we could build in a font uploader for WaterWoo, such that fonts could be added without knowledge of PHP. As it was, it wasn’t too complicated to hook into the existing TCPDF addTTFfont() function, but we get it: not everyone likes PHP like we do! As of WaterWoo version 2.10, there is now a hidden admin settings page at yoursite.com/wp-admin/options-general.php?page=wwpdf-fonts (make sure to replace yoursite.com with your site), also linked from the main WaterWoo settings page under the font dropdown/selector. Visiting this settings page, you will see an uploader similar to the native WordPress file uploader. You can either click to upload files, or drag files (one at a time) into the uploader area marked by dashed lines. In order for the font file continue reading…

A Consideration for Password-Protecting PDF Files

A few emails came in and got me thinking about use cases for passworded PDF files. One person wanted to know how to change the pop-up/alert in her PDF reader to let users know the password was their email address. Another person just wanted to know how to change the wording on the WooCommerce Thank You page and in order confirmation emails. Unfortunately, we cannot use PDF syntax to tell a PDF reader to use different wording in the password pop-up. That would be neat, but probably still buggy since there are dozens and dozens of different PDF reader applications (Acrobat/Reader, Foxit, Nitro, Preview, your browser), all with their own way of displaying that pop-up. So we must alert our customers in other ways that their password will be their email address, or what it will be. That way they continue reading…

FPDI/FPDF dropped in Free WaterWoo version

Big changes for the free version of WaterWoo PDF! We finally took the plunge and abandoned the pay-walled FPDI parser in favor of TCPDI, an open-source derivative. What does this mean for users of the free plugin? A couple things: 1) All PDF versions are watermark-able, not just versions prior to 1.5. This limitation was a bit silly, and we apologize it took us so long to obliterate it. 2) Slight watermark positioning change on the Y axis (up/down the page). You might want to check your watermark position if you are using the free version to make sure it is still sitting where you want on the page. If you are coming up with blank pages (every other page), then move your watermark UP (smaller Y-axis number). Download the free version of the PDF watermarker plugin at WordPress.org. Buy continue reading…

Dropbox Support Dropped

Unfortunately, we can no longer claim WaterWoo (or WooCommerce for that matter) will work with Dropbox-served files using the WooCommerce Dropbox plugin. It was brought to our attention that files are not being reliably served intact to WooCommerce from Dropbox by the plugin. Since support for the WooCommerce Dropbox plugin seems to have gone away, and the plugin hasn’t been updated in two years, we recommend you use another solution for hosting your files externally until the Dropbox/Woo plugin is repaired or a new solution becomes available.

PDF Watermarking Limitations, explained

Update March 2020: PDF Stamper (a separate plugin from Waterwoo PDF Premium) now allows PDF owners to keep their PDFs exactly as they are, but add a stamp. PDF Stamp is a drop-in plugin and requires users also purchase SetaPDF-Stamper software to install alongside it. Learn more here. WaterWoo is magic, but it does have its limitations. And one particular limitation has been disappointing customers, and frustrating us, for years. We'd like to explain. First of all, let's explain how WaterWoo works. In a nutshell, WaterWoo works by first reading a PDF into memory, then spitting it back out onto the page with watermarks rolled in. If the parser (FPDI or TCPDI) which reads the PDF does not read all the PDF, or cannot read certain PDF versions, then WaterWoo fails to deliver the expected. Ultimately, WaterWoo is built on continue reading…

TCPDF Performances

Make sure to test your watermarking thoroughly before going live! TCPDF is a fallible third-party library which does its best to parse/understand and re-write your PDF with your desired changes (watermarks/encryption/etc), but it cannot possibly work on all PDFs and on all servers 100% of the time. Stay realistic, think carefully through the process, plan, and do your testing. PHP Version You should be running at least PHP version 5.6 for the plugin to work, but higher that for it to work WELL. WordPress recommends you run PHP version 7.2 or higher. Our plugins are PHP version 8.3 compatible, so don’t hesitate to upgrade after making backups. PHP 7.0 is twice as fast for WordPress as PHP 5.6, and processes demands much more efficiently! Updating the PHP version on your server is the first thing you should try if you’re continue reading…

Jim and Patty’s Sour Cream Coffeecake

This recipe was printed in the Oregonian today. You can try to make this yourself, or you can just be reverent and pick up the untouchable, ineffably good real deal at Jim and Patty’s, 4951 NE Fremont Street, Portland. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour a 9-by-13 inch deep baking pan. TOPPING: 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (1/2 sticks) 1 cup finely chopped roasted hazelnuts CAKE: 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks) 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 4 eggs 1 1/4 cups sour cream TO MAKE THE TOPPING: In a bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar and continue reading…

Mother Earth F*cker

“Like Earth, we receive the gift of life through an act of Divine creation. From birth to death the vital force of sexual energy is a primal influence. Profound intimacy and ecstatic pleasure are realized when sexuality is embraced with deep sensitivity and passionate awareness. Understanding the synergistic harmony of love, sex, and spirituality is fundamental to a happy life.” ~ Heather Firth I recommend looking further into Heather Firth’s work. She’s got a good eye for sexy rocks. Keep a keen eye peeled for whether sexy artifacts exist in a synthetic environment such as your neighborhood sidewalk or workplace conference room. If they do, are they sexy? Or just silly and obscene? Is the ultimate sexual object organic/coincidental or synthetic/intentional? Like clothing over a beautiful skinscape, Christo & Jeanne-Claude drape cloth over beautiful landscapes. I might venture to say continue reading…

Boob Tubes and Ozone Doosies

It’s National TV Turnoff week, and Americans will play along (in theory). This event seems geared towards getting children off the sofa. We found this month that television is both bad and good for children. What about grown-ups? And don’ forget Earth Day this week, Thursday. As a resident of Stripmallville, Oregon, I think I’ll adopt sprawl as my personal theme for Earth Day, and maybe I’ll come back with my ideas (aside from dirty bombing) as to how to combat it. In Stripmallville, it’s the first time I haven’t lived in the hub of a city (or even in a city at all). Today in Portland I walked several blocks to use a payphone because my mom doesn’t have a land line. Portland felt like my own livingroom. While on the MAX today, I got nostalgic for the way continue reading…

Depending on How You See a Thing

For some reason I have Grace Quek in my head, aka Annabel Chong. She’s fascinating and it’s horrible. Spiros Markou, the Greek writer and critic, summed up Chong’s dilemma when he recently said to me “emptiness, she seems to be filled with emptiness, and therefore tries to get fulfilled through the body.” While pondering his remark, an early scene from the documentary kept coming back. It is of Mrs. Quek reminiscing of happier times, when her daughter was very young. She fondly remembers her daughter’s independence from a young age, and tells of leaving her alone while she and her husband were away. She used to pin a handkerchief to little Grace’s clothes, she says, and instruct her daughter that if anything went wrong, or if she wanted to cry, to use it. ~ Senses of Cinema Last night I continue reading…

Little Package