Tag Archives | plugins

Make Your Site Look Better on the iPhone

May/27 in Web Development Tutorials

WPtouch - mobile plugin for WordPress Looking for an easy way to make your web site more mobile-friendly?  If you are using WordPress, then I would highly consider checking out the WPtouch plugin. 

It will automatically transform your WordPress powered blog into an iPhone application-like experience when viewed from an iPhone, iPod or Android phone.  All your standard WordPress features are there too – including tags, archive, search, photos and more.  Along with some cool ajax work and effects, you will be one lean mean mobile browsing machine.

Now where many mobile devices show some web sites just fine, other web sites might need a lightweight version that would be more friendly to the mobile web browsers out there.  That is who and where this plugin for WordPress is aimed at. 

You can pick up the WPtouch plugin at bravenewcode.com.

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Nice and Easy Forum Setup with bbPress

Dec/17 in Forum Scripts, Web Development Tutorials

Quick and Easy Forums

Via a request I got via e-mail I recently posted a tutorial for Lunarpages on how to install bbPress onto your run-of-the-mill Linux-based hosting account.  I have to say, I had never used bbPress before till then, and I like it a lot.

For those of you who may not recognize the name, bbPress comes from the creators of WordPress.  As they make note of via their web site, “bbPress is focused on web standards, ease of use, ease of integration, and speed. We’re focused on keeping things as small and light as possible while still allowing for great add on features through our extensive plugin system.”  Think of it as WordPress for forums – but a little less popular than WordPress is today.

You have plugins and themes there too, so you can customize the forums as much or as little as you like.  Personally, I kind of liked them how they were via the default install. I am sure though I’d want to add something eventually though, so nice to know the option is there.

bbPress - forum softwareIf you want to try out the back end and front end demos, head over to OpenSourceCMS.com.  They have a working demo of both up for you to tinker with and see if you like it or not.  Those who have used WordPress before will be greated with a very familiar interface.  You can download bbPress or get more information at bbPress.org.

More Great Content! Bonus -  be sure to check out our other free forum script reviews! More Great Content!

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WordPress

Dec/12 in Web Development Tutorials

By far, if you want the most bang for your buck, WordPress is the hottest blogging script out there today.  I have spent the past few weeks looking at a lot of WordPress alternatives, but when push comes to shove – thus far nobody does blogging scripts better than WordPress, in my humble opinion.

The install is simple, and famous for being able to be done in 5 minutes or less.  As far as features go, you have link management, post categories, tags, auto-saving of posts, categories, and more.  It would take me days to list them all.

Here is video of WordPress 2.7 doing what it does so well:

You have plugins and themes included too, which means you can customize and add features you might need, but the developers for got about. Here are a few more usual WordPress links that any WordPress fanatic should have handy:

I haven’t had much time yet to really play with an appreciate the newest version of WordPress yet, but from what I have seen thus far – WordPress 2.7 is a great improvement visually over the previous versions.  You can pick up WordPress via WordPress.org.

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Easy Blog Publishing with Zomplog

Dec/11 in Web Development Tutorials

zomplog-blog-script

Are you wanting to find a weblog or CMS system that is user friendly and easy to use out of the box?  Well, the people behind Zomplog describe themselves as being focused at helping you with publishing your content rather than learning a lot of code. 

As far as free blogging scripts go, Zomplog appears to have all the bells and whistles.  It is highly extendable, and tons of great features.  Here is a little more from the developers:

Just because Zomplog is easy to use, that doesn’t mean it only lets you do basic things! Zomplog supports static content, or pages, if you like. This way you can easily use zomplog as an simple content management system! Want to be a broadcaster? Zomplog lets you create podcasts or video podcasts (vodcasts) on the fly! Just upload, and everything else is taken care of!

Sounds great, right?  The only big problem I had with them was I could find no install guide via their web site.  I had to download the the script, and then hunt through the files in there for one called “read me”.  I did finally find it, however it was a lot of work.  Nothing too surprising in there, setup the script, your databases and you are good to go.

There are a number of various themes and plugins to check out too, to help you mold your Zomplog powered blog to something you can use or that you need.  If you are the type of person who likes to play with a script before you install it, you can have a look around at the interface on the demo hosted by OpenSourceCMS.com.

Zomplog is another fine blogging script alternative worth checking out.

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Beautiful Blogging with Textpattern

Dec/09 in Web Development Tutorials

Textpattern is another one of those great blogging scripts that often gets forgotten about with the surge of popularity that WordPress has had over the past few years.  It is a elegant, flexible and easy to use content management system that is both open source and free to use.

textpattern

The requirements are pretty basic to get it up and running, so any Linux-based shared hosting environment should do.  The install is just as simple too, with your basic download, configure, setup database, and upload.

It can handle just about any blogging task you throw it’s way.  From content publishing, multiple contributors, link management and the inclusion of Textile, a simple syntax for nudging plain text into structurally sound and stylistically rich web content, it is not lacking in features.

If you want to give it a test drive, there is both a front end and admin demo up on OpenSourceCMS.com.

It comes ready for themes and plugins too.  Your best resource to pick those up would be the Textpattern Resources web site.  TextGarden.org also has a number of Textpattern themes to use.

All in all, I think Textpattern is a simple, yet effective blogging script that is well worth trying out. 

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WordPress Sucks? Try Nucleus CMS

Dec/05 in Web Development Tutorials

Nucleus CMS is like WordPress’s less popular friend, that does all the same things but doesn’t get the same love from the public.  A light, flexible and secure publishing platform, Nucleus CMS is definitely worth check out if you are looking for an alternative blogging platform.

The Nucleus CMS install process isn’t rocket science, so that is defiantly a good thing.  Any basic Linux hosting account should make a good home for it. 

nucleus-screenshot

You can check out more screenshots of Nucleus CMS in action here.  You can also play with the demo too, if you what to try some of the features out for yourself.

Here is a little more about Nucleus CMS from the developers:

Thanks to an international community of sophisticated developers and designers, Nucleus CMS remains simple enough for anyone to learn, and expandable enough to allow you to build almost any web site you can imagine. Nucleus CMS lets you integrate text, images, and user comments in a seamless package that will make your web presence as serious, professional, personal, or fun as you want it to be.

The must for any blogging platform, skins and plugins are both there.  So this means you have even more possibilities when it comes to customizing Nucleus CMS to meet your own needs. 

You can download Nucleus CMS for free, so why not give it a shot?

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LifeType is Your Blogging Solution?

Dec/03 in Web Development Tutorials

lifetype-blogging-help A “state of the art blogging solution” is how LifeType describes themselves.  For me, they were filed in the drawer labeled “blogging engines I had never heard of”.  It does a good job at covering all the blogging basics.  

They have ping and trackback, RSS, blogroll, permalinks, and come reading for moblogging too. 

How easy is it to install?  The installation process looks pretty straight forward.  Should be good to go on any Linux-based hosting setup with MySQL database support.

LifeType also has a very interesting history, as described by their about page:

The LifeType project started in February 2003 when its leader, Oscar Renalias, needed a set of dynamic scripts for his personal web page. Even though he did not know about the idea of weblogs back then, the outcome of the first iteration of the project already resembled one. A few weeks later Francesc, another one of the founding members, suggested that developing a blog with support for multiple users and blogs could be a better idea, and so pLog 0.1 was released on the 2nd of September 2003 featuring most of the features that are still part of the core features nowadays: multi-user and multi-blog from the ground up, template engine, localizable and extensible via plugins.

It seems it was also known as pLog for some time, but they had to drop the name due to trademark concern with Amazon.

Here are a few more links you may wish to have handy:

  • LifeType Templates and Styles – The styles for LifeType are fully customizable, so you can fix it up to suit any design need you might have.
  • LifeType Plugins – As with other blogging scripts (like WordPress) LifeType comes with the ability to add a number of different plugins too.

If you want to give it a whirl before you install, you can try out the admin and user interface demo over at OpenSourceCMS.

LifeType’s biggest feature is that they support multiple blogs and users in a single installation.  You can download LifeType via their web site, and if you have had any experience with it, I would love to hear your feedback.  Is it really the state of the art blogging solution it claims to be?

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A Better WordPress Admin Layout?

Sep/18 in Web Development Tutorials

There is a new poll, put out there by the WordPress team, seeing if you would like to change up the WordPress admin interface any. 

It seems like they would like to move all of the stuff currently across the top to the side, creating more room for you to view your pages inside of the WordPress admin space, without scrolling up and down.  I like the idea, but I want to do it now – not later.  If you find yourself seeking the same type of WordPress admin interface, give the Fluency Admin plugin for WordPress a shot.

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As you can see, the menus are rearranged, main menus down left, sub menus across the top.  If you are using WordPress 2.6 and up, then you should not have any issues getting going with this awesome plugin.  I added this to one of my smaller sites the other day, and love it.  I might have to be adding it to others later on. 

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Akismet Help and How-tos

Sep/10 in Web Development Tutorials

raid19b Out of all the years I have been using WordPress, I have probably not used one plugin more often than I have used Askimet.  Now that might be because it rocks, or because it came with WordPress, so it was kind of always “there”.  Love it or hate it, it does get the job done when it comes to filtering out spam comments from your WordPress blog.

The way it works is it checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam or not, then you can review if necessary. 

Akismet Says I Need an API Key.  Where Do I Get That?

WordPress.com has what’s called “API keys” which allow you to use services and enhancements built on the WordPress.com platform. This allows you to leverage the power of WP.com while still hosting your blog elsewhere.

All you have to do is sign up for a WordPress.com account, and you will get your API key to add to your Akismet settings so it will work.

I Deleted Akismet Before I Knew How Awesome it Was.  How Can I Get it Back?

You can download the spam comment fighting plugin here:

http://akismet.com/download/

How Can I Show a Badge of How Many Spam Comments I Have Filtered Out?

If you want to put the Akismet fear of God into any spam commenters looking at your site as a target, just cut and paste this tag into your template:

<?php akismet_counter(); ?>

That will display how many spam comments Akismet has caught for you.

I Am Getting a Akismet 2.1 Parse Error.  How Can I Fix It?

You can find a fix here or better yet, upgrade Akismet to the latest version, which fixes this bug that was in the Akismet 2.1 release.

Where Can I Find More Help for Akismet?

Try searching the WordPress.org forums.  Using the “akismet” tag, you are bound to turn up a lot of results to browse through too:

http://wordpress.org/tags/akismet

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WordPress Help, After the Install

Feb/25 in Web Development Tutorials

wordpress-logo It isn’t a big secret that I love WordPress and feel like it could be used for just about any project out there, blog or not. There are a lot of guides out there on how to install WordPress, but not many tell you what to do after you get it on the server. Now everybody has their own methods after a WordPress install of how to configure things but this is what I do.

Configure the Basic Options

First, login to your WordPress admin interface and click on Options > General and setup the General Options. Need to check and make sure your blog title and your addresses are correct. Next go to Options > Discussions and edit your comment and trackback settings. I like to make sure I get e-mailed when anybody leaves a comments, and I like for comments to be filtered through me before they get posted. With the plugins I’ll give you in a few hopefully we will get rid of the need for you to moderate too many.

Grab Your “Must Have” WordPress Plugins

Here are the WordPress plugins I like to use on the basic install of any WordPress powered site:

Update Your Permalinks for SEO Friendliness

Now you need to go back into Options > Permalinks and choose the Date and name based option then hit the Update Permalink Structure button. If your .htaccess file is set to be writable, then it should update it automatically. If not, then you can copy and paste the permalink code from WordPress into your .htaccess file.

Past this point, you may want to go check the rest of your settings, add a blogroll and configure your theme. I think I have gotten most of the important steps out of the way. If you stumble into any problems always remember to go check WordPress.org. They have tons of information on installs, backing up, upgrading and more.

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