There are many tools available to help people communicate.  An important thing to remember is that different people have different preferences as to how they send and receive messages.  For instance, some people prefer a phone call as opposed to a physical visit.  Some people remember things better when they are written down and some people would prefer an answering machine message that they can refer to.  These days, many people prefer an email as opposed to anything else to help them remember something.

When it comes to social interaction, the Internet and the web 2.0 has afforded us many different options for communication.  We have email, wikis, forums, IM, chat, Twitter and Facebook, plus many more.

In this article I would like to share another tool that I think can be beneficial in ways that other tools are not.  All you need is Wordpress, P2 (and a plugin called “Members Only” if you want it to be private).

P2 is a theme or template for a Wordpress site developed by Automattic (the folks who bring us Wordpress) that is dynamic and simple all at once!  P2 stands for Prologue 2.  The first Prologue was a theme developed a while back in 2008, and it was inspired by Twitter.  The idea was to make it easy to post quick updates to a blog making it more of a Wordpress microblog similar to Twitter (140 characters a post makes Twitter “micro”).

The Automattic folks actually began using such a Wordpress microblog as an internal communications tool.  They’d post updates on what they are doing, where they were going or what they were working on.

They basically put a short form for typing in posts right on the front page which means no messing with the back end at all.  There’s also a line for adding tags which helps organize the topics or categories.  The Wordpress microblog basically makes quicker, shorter messaging easier.

P2 takes all of this to the next level with some super cool features!

First of all, editing posts and comments are done right on the front page.

With the click of a link, you can show and hide the comment threads to make finding things a bit easier.

There is a whole list of keyboard shortcuts for those keyboard lovers in the crowd.

And my favorite, it has real-time updates!  As posts and comments are posted, they appear!  Obviously if you have comments set for moderation, they won’t post until approved, but you get the drift!

So that’s P2 (or Prologue 2), a Wordpress microblog theme.  The communication uses for such a tool are almost endless!  It can be used like Automattic uses it, keeping the rest of the team updated on projects, etc.  It can be used in Church groups.  For instance, leaders can post memos, updates, schedules, and discussion topics allowing the rest of the group to stay informed and have a say in the comments.  It could even be used as a micro-blogging tool much like Twitter, but self-hosted, and with threaded comments, like Facebook!

What’s your opinion?  How would you use a tool such as P2?  What other Wordpress theme or plugin can afford a unique method of communication?  Let us know!

Image credits: MorgueFile.com

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However, it didn’t all go to plan. There was something wrong with the host which left my site back in 1982 until the MUO authors, more specifically Karl, was able to get her up and running while I yelled at my hosting company.

So I was happy. For a while. But then the thought of ‘what if the host was to go belly up right now?’ popped into my mind. At any minute it could all just go wrong and I’d be left blogless. All my posts would be gone. The theme I’ve fine-tuned. The media I’ve uploaded. It would be the virtual equivalent of pulling the pin from the hand grenade and tossing it into the epicentre of my site. The only remnants of its existence being a ‘404′ error. And you want to know the worst thing? No matter how many times your press ‘F5′, the blog simply wont appear. Ever.

There are two things you need to do to have a full backup of your website. The first one is easy, you just have to backups server files. This can be easily done using any FTP client. Just connect to your server and copy the contents of the folder to your computer.

Second, you need to backup your database. Figuring out how to backup your Wordpress blog database is the way to go. Most definitely.

One could do this the hard way. You could manually backup everything using an FTP client and an external hard drive. But that’s the hard way. So here is an easy way to backup your Wordpress blog – in three easy steps no less.

Getting a Wordpress database ‘back up’ plug-in

If there’s one thing that separates Wordpress from the other half dozen popular blogging platforms, it’s the abundance of plug-ins. There are quite a few which back-up your blog but I recommend using the ‘Wordpress Database Backup Plugin’. For those of you familiar with the innermost working of a website – this plug-in will back-up your tables in your Wordpress database. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the innermost working of a website – it will save you a weekend of going through the five stages of grief.

Installing the plugin

Have the plugin downloaded? You sure? You’re not just reading on through this post while your blog sits utterly vulnerable to destruction? OK, good.

Now comes the installation. It’s pretty much the same as any other plugin installation.

First go to the plugin menu on the Wordpress admin page and under plugins click ‘add new‘ as seen in the screenshot. Upload the plugin. You can leave it in the .zip format if you like. Then click ‘Activate‘ once the install has finished.

Setting it up

Go to ‘Tools‘ along the left-hand sidebar in the Wordpress admin area. Under ‘Tools‘ you’ll find a new menu called ‘Backup‘. Click on that.

There are three main areas that you have to fill out in the screen which appears. The first area is entitled ‘Tables‘ and put simply, it allows you to specify what you want to back up. I’d suggest leaving everything ticked. This will basically back up your entire blog including posts, comments, users and settings.

Then, under ‘Back Up Options‘ you can select where you want the backup files to go. You can either save to your server, download to your computer or e-mail to a specified address. Pick whichever one works for you. I’ll be keeping mine on an external hard-drive so I’ll be downloading it to my computer. However the other two options – particularly the e-mail options are also good.

Finally, the third table allows you to choose how often your blog is backed up. This is done automatically. I’d suggest doing it at least weekly. If your blog is really big with multiple posts per hour you can back up hourly, daily and twice daily.

Finally click ‘Backup Now‘ under the second section to make sure you’re safe from the get-go.

So now if it all does go horribly wrong (i.e. a virtual hand grenade has just blown up in serverland) you’ll be back up (no pun intended) in no time by simply restoring the backed up database and uploading Wordpress files using an FTP such as FileZilla.

For more great plugins for your Wordpress blog click here.

Image Credit: John Loo

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Go ahead and download the plug-in files and either upload them via FTP or use the automatic plug-in uploader via your Wordpress wp-admin console. You can see my experience below. I logged in to WP-admin, I hit the plug-ins menu option on the left hand side. Then I clicked Add. I choose the upload option and pushed the browse button. After navigating to my plugins directory where I downloaded the Wordpress exploit scanner plugin to, I was able to hit the Install now button.

While it is installing you can see it’s progress on your screen like so.

Hit the ‘Activate plugin’ button and you are ready to go. You can verify that the plugin is actually active by scrolling through the active plugin list. It should look like this:

Once it is successfully active, you will have a new menu item listed directly under your Dashboard menu item. Click on it to get down to business.

Once you click on the link for the Wordpress exploit scanner, it will start querying your database for all of your files. What it checks is as follows:

1. Modified Core Wordpress File – this is when a hacker modifies system files to have Wordpress do their bidding like injecting code into posts or even serving up malware. You need to be very cautious about this. Thankfully, this came up as Hooray! None of your core wordpress files have been modified! I am thankful for things like this as I will not have to reinstall Wordpress!
2. Suspicious strings. It searches for iFrames – unfortunately I use iFrames on my site for various reasons so I had to scrutinize the entries below. Hackers use iFrames to inject content or ads into your site.

I read through the 1500 entries or so with iFrames and thankfully they were all pointing right back at my site. The attack that I corrected before actually injected these iFrames into my site to show my users Viagra ads! Freaking hackers! It actually got me unlised briefly from Google Searches. But after going over my results with a fine-tooth comb, I am at ease.

Did your search result in any unexpected modified files or some nasty code injected? We would love to hear about it and I would love to lend my expertise in helping out hacked Wordpress owners.

Hit us up in the comments, bloggers – We are here for ya! The plugin author’s website can be found at here.

Wordpress Exploit Scanner

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The other option is actually purchasing web-space (don’t care what some people say, paying for webspace is the way to go), installing Wordpress in the purchased web space, and setting up your “self-hosted” Wordpress blog.

Either way you choose to go, if you are new to blogging AND Wordpress, you have some things to learn before getting too far.  For instance, what are widgets?  Sidebars?  Headers and footers?  For veteran bloggers, these terms are second nature but for a newbie (please don’t be offended at the term), they have to learn.

Enter video WordPress tutorials!  I love being able to help people get started with new technology.  I just recently helped out a few friends with Wordpress sites and it was a blast.  I did a video tutorial or two but what I found out was that much of my work wasn’t really needed!  When I ran into Wordpress.tv, a site with some of the best WordPress tutorials out there, I almost fell over!

Wordpress.tv is a very well-done site full of tutorials showing you how to do everything from managing widgets to adding Twitter updates to your sidebar to adding a Paypal button to you blog!  Now if I want to show someone how to do something, I can either record a screencast for them and figure out how to share it with them OR I can head over to Wordpress.tv and see if it’s something that’s already covered, saving me much time and effort!

Here are a few of the best Wordpress tutorials that may someday help you help someone else getting started with Wordpress:

How to sign up at Wordpress.com…

An introduction to the dashboard…

How to create a static page…

How to write and publish a post…

As you can see, Wordpress.tv has a wealth of well-done video WordPress tutorials to surf through. What I like about the video tutorials is how professional they are, the high video quality, and the very smooth voice integrated into each tutorial.  Also notice that it is easy to turn subtitles on and off (good for those who are hearing impaired).  ALSO, it’s very easy to embed and share the videos (very cool for reviewing and sharing them on sites like MakeUseOf.com!).

What I didn’t mention before is that Wordpess.tv also has a whole section dedicated to presentations done on various Wordpress-related topics from tips to the future of the Internet and the part Wordpress is playing.  Here’s a small selection of the presentations you’ll find:

Chris Molitor on Finding the Perfect Theme for You or Your Business…

Martin Buckley on Self-Hosting Multiple WordPress Blogs (technologically sophisticated)…

Mark Jaquith on BuddyPress and the Future of WordPress Plugins…

The site is fairly simple to navigate.  If you look across the top you’ll see links to the two basic categories of videos (Wordcamp TV and How-To).  Notice that you can also search Wordpress.tv for a specific topic you may be looking for.

Once you’ve arrived at either location, the easiest thing to do browse the category column off to the left (once you scroll past the intro spot at the top with some featured videos).

Once you’ve arrived at a specific category, you are then offered a listing of videos to choose from.

It’s really that easy.  As you’ll be able to tell when you browse the site, they have tutorials for novices and the more experienced.  I think you’ll be pleased by what you find at Wordpress.tv.

Tell us, what other sources do you know of that offer good Wordpress tutorials? Please share them in the comments!

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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I’ve been doing quite a few posts about blogging lately but this one take a step outside the amateur ‘how-to’s I’ve done like the one about improving your Blogger blog. This article is inspired by the website I’m building that’s due to be launched in a month or so – and it’s not for tech newbies, this guide.

Many of us have personal blogs or blogs that make us a second income. And we don’t want to go upsetting our readers by coding and developing them on the Internet. Imagine if every time you visited MUO there were design changes, buggy issues or features constantly being moved about and deleted!

So developing your Wordpress blog offline is the best option because you don’t interrupt readership (assuming the blog is online already and you’re simply updating), you don’t have to upload pictures and media and you can view your blog easily without it being live on the internet for everyone to see you shoddy design work. The easiest way to do this is to learn how how to install Wordpress locally. This is done by creating a host on your PC which acts like a host on the Internet such as GoDaddy.

First of all, to set up a blog offline you have to download some PHP Hosting software. There are several well-known options but I’ve gone for XAMPP because I found I had the least hassle with it. You can download it here from SourceForge. Once you have downloaded and installed it like you would any other piece of software, open it up from the ‘All Programs’ menu. The window shown below will appear.

Beside Apache and MySQL, select ‘Start’ so that they are both running like in the screenshot. Now, your local host is up and running and is available to be prepared to accept WordPress. First however, we must make a database for Wordpress to be saved in on the host.

To do this open your browser and enter ‘http://localhost/’ into the address bar. This will bring you to the screen shown above. From the menu bar on the left, select phpMyAdmin as illustrated.

In the center of the screen is the section where you create a new data base. Name your server and select collation from the dropdown menu if it’s not already selected. In the second dropdown menu select ‘uft8_unicode_ci’. I cannot emphasise how crucial it is that you do not overlook this. It is not selected as default so ensure you have it selected. It’s the last one in the list. Without it, the host won’t communicate with Wordpress and you’re in a world of problems my friends – if you can’t tell I’m talking from experience. I spend an hour yesterday trying to figure out what the problem was!

Once your server is created you’re ready to embark on the world-famous ‘Wordpress five minute install’ and finally set up your blog. Download Wordpress from here. When you have the .zip file, extract its contents to this location:

C:\xampp \htdocs

Your final folder structure should look like this:

If it doesn’t, open the XAMPP program file and drag the extracted Wordpress file into it manually. It must be in there in order for your newly created database to detect it. Then, edit this file using Notepad:

C:\xampplite\htdocs\wordpress\wp-config-sample.php

Scroll down to the part where it asks for database name, username, password etc.. Fill in the details below:

DBNAME: *whatever name you gave to your database*

DBUSER: root

Password: ‘ ’ (This should just be left as two opposing apostrophes)

Then, save the file as wp-config.php instead of the original wp-config-sample.php.

Now, open your browser and enter in the following URL:

http://localhost/wordpress/wp-admin/install.php

This will take you into the Wordpress installation just like you were online. Remember, when you’re returning to your PC to do more coding ensure you have Apache and MySQL turned on – otherwise http://localhost/ won’t exist!

Oh and now a health warning: Coding and toying with Wordpress is addictive. Prolonged exposure may cause excessive caffeine consumption, personal hygiene and grooming to go out the window, social commitments to follow and a truly awesome Wordpress site ready to go live.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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Bookmarklets are designed to make taking action easier and simplify tedious tasks. MakeUseOf has previously recommended 20 must-have bookmarklets for your web browser. But are you of aware of the time-saving Press This bookmarklet for Wordpress?

Grab The Press This Bookmarklet

“Press This for Wordpress” is a cool and convenient way to reblog content that you’d love to share on your blog. No more running to your dashboard every time you want to blog, now automated blogging from your browser is possible! It really makes a world of a difference.

If you’re using Wordpress’ popular blogging platform to manage your blog, this is a must-have tool for you. In fact, it should be on your toolbar, not just in your bookmarks. Trust me, you’re going to use it a lot. Press This is really easy to install.

• Log-in to your Wordpress admin panel.
• In your sidebar on the left, select “Tools”.
• Drag the “Press This” bookmarklet to your browser’s toolbar.
• Start blogging!

Using Press This

From here on out simply click the Press This bookmarklet to quickly log-in and update your blog. If you’re already logged in, Press This will immediately pull up the WYSIWYG blog editor to create a new post. From here you can import images, embed video, select which blog you’d like to post to, categorize, and tag your content.

How to quote an article or debate it a section of the article:

Select the text you’d like to quote with your mouse and then click your “Press This” bookmarklet.

How To Start A Photoblog:

Head to the page featuring the image you’d like to reblog and hit “Press This”. Select the image icon and Wordpress will pull the images from the page you are currently visiting.

Don’t forget to give credit and pay attention to copyrighted or Creative Commons licensed work!

Also, check out Jeffry’s guide to making a Photoblog on Wordpress.

How To Use “Press This” and Wordpress as a bookmarking system.

Easy, just select your text and images, select the bookmarklet, and click publish.

Drawbacks of “Press This”

The emphasis behind this bookmarklet is being able to update your blog on the fly, so the scheduling feature is disabled when using the bookmarklet. However, you can easily save your blog as a draft and schedule it from your normal Wordpress dashboard. You have to use the same dashboard for uploading images from your computer. Press This only allows you to pull in images from a URL.

Plugins that might be available from the Wordpress dashboard may also be disabled when using Press This.

Grab It Now!

Maybe you just don’t have time to start blogging on a separate platform like Posterous or Tumblr, but would love to have their ease and simplicity. If you’re a Wordpress user, they’ve got you covered with the Press This bookmarklet. If you’re having trouble finding a blogging groove, need more of an automated blogging solution or would like a more convenient way to link-back to your friends, give Press This a shot.

Do you use Press This to update your blog?   If so, what pros and cons have you found using it?   Let us know in the comments.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

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You – the house photographer – sits alone in front of your computer. All the images that you shot at the event have been edited and saved inside the hard disk. All you have to do now is share copies with your relatives. You still remember the horrible smiles that the uncles and aunts gave you while saying “send us copies…or else!” Your body trembles at the thought of failing to fulfil their request.

The Cool DIY Way Of Sharing Images

Considering the huge number of family members and the many parts of the world in which they live in, printing the photos and sending the copies to them is not the perfect answer. You don’t have the time, the energy or the funds. Burning the images onto CDs will still cost you your spare time, the blank disks and the postage.

You think about uploading the images to the web and then start looking for an online photo sharing service. But then it struck you. You remember that you have an idle Wordpress blog. Instead of leaving it untouched, why not build a photo gallery web site?

The whole process will not cost you a thing. It will still require your time, but spending the time to build a photo gallery web site is much better than licking envelopes and stamps.

Finding & Installing The Themes (& The Plugins)

Assuming that you already have your self-hosted Wordpress blog ready, you just need to add a few more ingredients: a photo-gallery theme and plugins.

In the past, you needed both the correct theme and plugins to build a photo gallery site. It’s a little bit different today. While you could still enhance the photo gallery functionality of your Wordpress blog by adding plugins, I found out that it’s not necessary anymore. With the advanced development of Wordpress themes today, you could build a cool photo gallery site just by using the right theme.

So our first objective is to find the theme. Stop by the Wordpress site and click on the “Extend” tab to find the Plugins and Themes directory.

Go to the Themes directory to find one that’s fit to be used in a photo gallery site. Use the search feature to help you. I found several nice candidates such as Monotone, Shoot It, Page Photo, Hope, Lunated, and AutoFocus.

But don’t limit yourself to my examples. Go out there into the wild wild web and search for more photo gallery Wordpress themes. You could install and experiment with all of them.

You can do the same with plugins. Different from themes, which can only be activated one at a time, many plugins can be turned on simultaneously. Nevertheless, I suggest that you don’t activate too many plugins at once with the same function to avoid conflicts.

Next, log in to your Wordpress dashboard (http://your.blog.address/wp-admin/) and click “Appearance” from the sidebar to manage your themes.

If you use the latest version of Wordpress (v 2.7 and above), you could do the “searching and installing themes” process directly from within your Wordpress admin area. Just choose the “Add New Themes” sub-menu under the “Appearance” tab (if you still use an older version of Wordpress, now is the perfect time for you to upgrade.)

You could search and limit the results to specific features – color, column, width, features, subject – using the Feature Filter. Tick the ones according to your preferences. Don’t forget to include the “photoblogging” option under the “Subject” filter.

There are several things you can do with the search results: Install, Preview and find out more Details about each theme.

If you like the theme, click “Install” and then “Install Now”

Then activate it.

If your theme supports widgets, you are advised to visit the Widget Setting page to activate them.

Just drag and drop the ones that you like to the sidebar.

Building The Blog

Now that everything is set, you could start writing your post, upload the pictures, and watch your private photo gallery takes its shape.

All that is left for you to do is email the address of your blog to those ‘meany’ aunts and uncles and let them know that they can download any pictures they like by right clicking on them. Add a little note at the end of the email that they could also add comments to the posts to share their thoughts and opinions – an extra bonus that won’t come with the hard copies.

If you’d like to see the results of this little experiment, you could visit Build A Blog. I finally decided to use only the AutoFocus theme without any additional plugins.

Have you built an online photo gallery using Wordpress? Do you know any tips, plugins, or alternative themes to make the photo gallery even more cool? Please share using the comments below.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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Many are. But then, downloading blog templates and installing them can be time consuming, not to mention expensive right? I recall laughing my head off when I seen the prices that some developers are charging for mediocre themes!

Below are five of my favourite free Wordpress blog templates that won’t cost you a single cent.

Creative Art

This theme is really attractive mostly because of that giant notebook-style posting area. The scrappy style is continued on to the left with a ‘Post It’ lookalike categories list. The background and the oddly placed RSS feed button just make it even better. Greys, reds and little features such as the tape that appears to hold up the posting area are nice touches.

This theme would suite your blog if you have a good following and blog about informal yet popular topics such as art, music, technology and the woes of life!

Modicus Remix

The Modicus theme is a little more plain than the last but it is by no means basic. It keeps the same artsy feel as the theme above but leaves more to the imagination. There is no colour at all with this theme, just a stark contrast between black and white. The amount of plug-ins and features that look good to the right-hand side of this theme is amazing – such as that ‘sign in‘ facility for your readers.

I recommend this blog for the more formal of bloggers out there such as those who see their blog as more of a regular column.

Aspire

An individual looking theme that looks like old parchment and worn manuscripts. It’s basically comprised of many different diluted shades of brown that make for a very attractive blog. Again, the posts go to the left with tags with the calendar and recent comments going to the right along with the categories. This theme is also available to download as a ‘Blogger’ version on the download page for those of you who use BlogSpot.

I think this theme would suit the more factual blogs that tend to discuss subjects within a niche. It wouldn’t do so well for a personal blog as the ‘manuscript style’ points to something entirely different.

Reviews Theme

This theme has curved corners with straight edges – one of my favourite styles for business/professional blogs. It looks good but doesn’t over-sell itself with artwork or over design. It has some good features such as a search bar and good navigation buttons along the top to direct the user to various contact and ‘About’ pages which are essential for a business blog.

The deep blue with the white, as I said, doesn’t jump out at you and do a song and dance like the other themes because they’re separated by different tones and shades of blue. The content sells itself. A professional and practical theme for a company’s site.

Light Weight

To end out list we have an elegant theme that has minimalistic design in mind. The baby blue background and the blue text work well together in this theme. The menu bar across the top is good for simple navigation and it separates the headers from the main attraction: your personal posts.

Given its simplicity yet attractiveness, I would recommend this theme for a personal blog. It has the necessary few buttons such as ‘Contact’ and ‘Subscribe’ with the posts being the centre of attention. It’s wide and as such it’s good for big photographs and screenshots that we all post on our personal blogs.

So, what do the MUO readers think of these free Wordpress blog templates and what themes do you recommend for small-medium blogs?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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There seemed to be a couple of security issues with Wordpress 2.8, which is why there are already three new updates in a couple of weeks. I will tell you a little bit about how you can use these improvements to your advantage so you’ll spend less time maintaining your blog and more time creating interesting content.

Theme Management

This version adds a new way of maintaining and installing themes. You can browse and install themes from within your administrator dashboard. It’s a bit like the update of the plugin manager in Wordpress 2.7. You can edit, preview and delete themes easier by just clicking the links in your theme manager. You can also add themes right from your dashboard. Just search on certain keywords or filter on specific features.

Widget Management

One of the biggest and best improvements is the improved handling of widgets. It’s now possible to drag and drop widgets over various sidebars and from your widget collection. You see your multiple sidebars if you have them and the contents and settings of a sidebar widget are stored whenever you disable a widget temporarily.

Another great simple improvement is that you’re able to add multiple instances of a widget like the text/html widget. So simple and convenient, it makes you wonder why they didn’t add it before!

View, edit & post comments from the Edit post section

You can see all the comments belonging to a post in the dashboard, without going to the page of the post itself. You have an overview of the post and the option to delete, edit or spam a comment. This is especially useful for the more commented upon blogs and gives Wordpress some resistance against the comment plugins such as Intense Debate and Disqus.

Finally, working timezones

Up until now, the dashboard displayed the message "Unfortunately, you have to manually update this for Daylight Savings Time. Lame, we know, but will be fixed in the future." Well, guess what, they have fixed it and now you can select a timezone or even a city from a rather lengthy list and your time will be automatically selected.

This only works if your server has PHP5 installed though. If it still has the old way to change the time with the message mentioned above, then check your PHP version.

Overall dashboard improvements

In previous versions the menu of your Wordpress dashboard has been changed for the better already. This time around the contextual menus have been added. This means that with every screen you’re in, there are specific help options displayed in the upper part of your screen.

The overall speed of the dashboard has increased too. I can still recommend using Google Gears to speed up your blogging dashboard. To do this click on "Turbo" in the upper right corner. If you haven’t installed Google Gears yet it will do that and this will save some items of your dashboard to your harddrive to speed up navigation.

There certainly was something going on at Wordpress HQ, because very soon after version 2.8 was released there were some patches dispatched. Most of them are security related, but there were also some new features of WordPress that were adjusted or just cancelled. One of them is the new theme and plugin editor. I really feel the editor could use some improvement and they had added tag color coding and function lookup to make it more like a real code editor. Unfortunately this made the editor very slow and already in update 2.8.1 it was changed. Only the functionlookup remains in version 2.8.4.

So all in all Automattic, the company of Matt Mullenweg the creator of Wordpress has improved the open-source blogging software once again. It is nice to see the software has such a high iteration of new versions. Even when security or user issues are detected, there are updates within weeks. Wordpress 2.8 has closed more than 700 problem tickets in its development. I believe this makes Wordpress really earn its place as the most used blogging platform.

Image Credit : teamstickergiant

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• ScribeFire vs DeepestSender: One Blogging Addon to Rule Them All! (18)
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This is awesome for me as I do a lot of my work and writing on my Windows Mobile Device. I have a HTC Fuze aka the Touch Pro.

Let’s take a look at WLW Mobile Beta and how it works.

First, we start off by visiting the product site because this is a third-party application and not originally written by Microsoft.

We download the application which is a ZIP file that can be extracted to your device. You can store it anywhere but to execute it you need to browse to it using your File Explorer. Browsing to it you should see a screen similar to this:

From here all you need to do is hit that WLW.exe and it will launch. No installation necessary. After launching it for the first time, you will be greeted with this screen prompting you to set up your settings like so:

I clicked OK and the settings window popped up. The default settings will work for most blogs. You can also change the language between English and Czech.

I clicked Save settings and was ready to set up my Wordpress account for publishing to http://www.askTheAdmin.com, my personal Blog. To enter account information, I clicked on the Account Manager button as you can see below:

Now, we are ready to write a test post. I clicked OK and went back to the main menu. From there, I choose New Article and away I went!

When I was done, I hit next and saw a screen asking me if I want to publish this post or any others I have drafted on my device.

I hit Publish and the article was on its way to the Web after confirming the account I want to use. At that point, I got a Czech pop-up which said this:

It gave me two choices: OK or Cancel; but what the prompt said… I had no idea! So, I hit OK!

I checked the web and the post was there in all it’s glory! I logged in to my Wp-Admin and deleted it. Now, I know I can post articles on the fly from my handheld device! Sweet!

Not using Wordpress? Learn how to blog to Blogger from your cellphone.

Do you have another mobile blogging tool that you want to share with us? Well, what are you waiting for? Do it now! Leave them in the comments.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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With the release of BuddyPress, there is now a third way that is both easy to handle and allows you to have full control: turn your WordPress site into a social networking site.

BuddyPress is not a standalone social networking software. It is in fact a set of WordPress plugins and themes that enables the users to add social networking modules to their sites. You can either use it as an addon service to your existing blog, or convert your domain to a full fledge social networking site.

In case you are rushing off to grab the software and install on your site, here is the warning: BuddyPress doesn’t work on just any version of WordPress. You have to install (or upgrade if you are already running WordPress) WordPress MU before you can run BuddyPress. WordPress MU is an extension of WordPress that allows the users to easily create multiple blogs in one domain. BuddyPress requires this multiple blogs creation capability of WordPress MU to allow the users to register, set up and create their user profile

Installation

Since BuddyPress is essentially a series of WordPress plugins, installing BuddyPress is as easy as activating the plugins in the Plugins page. To fully integrate BuddyPress into your site, you’ll have to first change your WordPress theme to a BuddyPress-capable theme, then add the respective modules (widgets) via the Appearance -> Widgets section. Unlike WordPress, there are only few BuddyPress themes available for download. However, if you have experience with creating/modifying a WordPress theme, you shouldn’t have any problem in creating your own BuddyPress theme.

Activating BuddyPress in the Plugins page

Adding social networking widgets to the site

Features

Some of the features that you find in BuddyPress include extended profile, private messaging, adding of friends, forming of groups, activity streams, own blog etc.

BuddyPress is also able to integrate with bbPress, the WordPress-style forums. In future release, other features such as status update and photo album upload will also be included.

Back when BuddyPress is still in development stage, there has already been plenty of plugins available to enhance its functionality. These plugins are usual WordPress plugins and you can easily install/activate them in the Plugins page.

Useful Links

Here are some of the links that would be useful to you when you are integrating BuddyPress to your site.

• BuddyPress demo site: http://testbp.org/
• WordPress MU installation guide: http://codex.buddypress.org/getting-started/installing-wordpress-mu/
• BuddyPress installation guide: http://codex.buddypress.org/getting-started/installing-buddypres-from-combo/
• Buddypress plugins: http://buddypress.org/extend/plugins/

Have you tried BuddyPress? How do you find its functionality compared to other social networking software?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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On the good side, one of the best things about WordPress is its plugin system that allows anyone to install any plugins or create your own plugins to extend its functionality, including improving security.

Here, I have listed some wordpress security plugins (and a couple of tricks) that you can use to secure WordPress blog.

All the plugins and tricks listed below are meant for WP 2.7 and above. If you are still using an older version of WordPress, it’s time to upgrade your blog.

Protecting Your Login

1. CHAP Secure Login

This plugin uses the CHAP protocol to encrypt your password.  The password is first salted with a random number (nonce) generated by the session, followed by the md5 transformation algorithm. This result is then sent to the server where it is decrpyted and authenticated. This is a zero-configuration plugin, which means you can use it immediately after activating it.

2. Stealth Login

Stealth Login obfuscates your login page by allowing you to define a custom login page rather than the default wp-login.php. In the event that your password is leaked, the hacker will also have a hard time finding the correct login URL. A good use of this is to prevent any malicious bots from accessing your wp-login.php file and attempting to break in.

3. Login Lockdown

Login Lockdown is useful in preventing a brute force attack. What Login LockDown does is to record the IP address and timestamp of every failed login attempt. If more than a certain number of attempts are detected within a short period of time from the same IP range, it will lockdown the login function and prevent any people from that IP range to log in.

4. AskApache Password Protect

This plugin adds an additional HTTP authentication to provide a second layer of defense for your blog. You can set up password protection for your blog using HTTP Basic Authentication, or you can choose to use the more secure HTTP Digest Authentication.

Note that this plugin might/might not work depending on your server capability. If your site does not pass the AskApache configuration tests (the tests run by the plugin to detect your server capabilities), contact your web host and see if they can make changes on the server side.

5. Semisecure Login Reimagined

This plugin provides a “semisecure” login environment by encrypting your password with the RSA cryptography

Protecting Your Database

6. WP-DB-Backup

Perhaps for some of you, backing up a database could mean a troublesome technical chore. With WP-DB-Backup, you just need to configure it once and get it to run automatically at regular intervals.

What this plugin does is to automate the backing up of your database and have it sent to your email inbox. Other than the default table created by WordPress, you can also backup custom tables created by plugins. In the event that your account crashes, you can easily import and restore the database with the backup.

7. WP-DBManager

Wp-DBManager is just like a phpmyadmin within your dashboard. You can easily manage your database directly within your dashboard. There are useful features such as optimizing/repairing/backing up/restoring your database and if you are technical enough, you can even run your own SQL query from the option page.

On the bad side, if any hackers manage to login to your site, this plugin is going to be a gateway for them to create havoc in your database.

8. Change database table prefix

The default prefix used by WordPress is “wp”. You can easily change the prefix to other terms that are difficult to guess using the WP-Security-Scan. More detail on this plugin below.

9. Protect your wp-config.php file

Your wp-config.php file contains all your database login credentials and it should be hidden from public view in all circumstances. In your htaccess file, put in this line:

<Files wp-config.php>
order allow,deny
deny from all
</Files>

to prevent anyone from viewing the wp-config.php file.

Protecting Your Admin Page

10. Admin SSL

This plugin forces SSL on all pages where passwords can be entered so that all information transmitted are encrypted.

One thing though, you have to own a SSL certificate before you can do it. If you are not willing to shell out the extra money to buy a private SSL certificate, you can ask your Web host about Shared SSL. Most web hosts provide Shared SSL for all their clients and it is easy to configure.

11. Change login username

Using “admin” as your login username is the last thing you want to do. When you first installed WordPress, you should immediately create another administrator account with your own username and password and delete the “admin” account.

Prevent Others From Viewing Your Internal File Structure

12. Hiding the WP version

In most WordPress themes under the <head> section, there is always a line of code showing the WordPress version that you are using. Giving away your WordPress version number means telling the hacker what exploit to use to hack into your site.

Since WP2.6.5, WordPress has made it even harder to remove the wp version as it embeds that information within the wp_header tag. A plugin that you can use to remove that information is WP-Security-Scan.

13. Hiding the WP-content

The WP-content folder is where you stored all your plugins and theme files. This is the place where you want to prevent other people from looking into. You can either upload a blank index.html file to the wp-content folder, or create a .htaccess file in the wp-content folder and add this line:

Options All -Indexes

14. Block wp-folder from indexing by search engines

While you want the search engines to index your blog and bring in lots of traffic, the last thing that you want to see is to let the search engines expose your internal file structure to the public. What you can do is to block all your wp-folder from indexing by search engine by adding the following entries to the robot.txt:

Disallow: /wp-* 

Maintenance

15. WP Security Scan

I have mentioned this plugin several times, so it is time for me to explain what it does. WP-Security-Scan checks your WordPress for security vulnerabilities and suggests/provides corrective actions. The corrective actions include changing your database prefix, hiding the WordPress version number from the header and allows you to test out the strength of your password.

Once in a while, it is a good idea to run the inbuilt security scanner and check your blog for any security invulnerabilities.

16. Change password regularly

Not only should you change your password regularly, you must also make sure that it is a strong one. If you have difficulty in creating one, find one how you can create strong passwords that you can remember easily.

17. Update WordPress and all plugins to the latest version

Needless to say, upgrading to the latest version of WordPress and plugins is the best way to protect yourself.

Protecting Your Connection

18. SFTP

Transferring files to your online account is a common thing to do. However, instead of using the unsecured FTP, you should use SFTP (Secure FTP). This will create a SSH connection and sent all your files encrypted to the server. If you need help creating a SFTP connection, here’s the guide.

The above information should be sufficient for you to create a secure WordPress blog. If you have not implemented any of these, I would urge you to do so now.

What other methods do you use to secure your WordPress blog?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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However one utilizes their own blog, they almost always rely on two things, readers and reader’s comments. Without any type of feedback from the reader, you typically lose interest in writing and regular posting dies like it does with many blogs everyday.

The problem is, most readers almost always need some type of motivation to provide the type of feedback you are looking for. Many times a user comments on someone’s blog, asking a question or adding a simple thank you, only to forget about it by day’s end. Without any real way of turning the comment into a conversation, the reader will not likely comment on their next visit. Some blogs, including MakeUseOf, do offer the ability to subscribe to a thread of comments and send notifications by e-mail. These however, can become an annoyance to many readers, especially when that check box is selected by default. Why not allow the user to control their own comments in their own way?

This brings me to today’s post. Back in 2007 we wrote about a couple of different comment tracking systems, one of which has died, that give you the ability to track your daily comments with responses, stats and adding more capability to the typical blog conversation. Since that original post, many more options have arrived on the scene and I’m bringing you a few of the more popular ones today. I’ve separated each of the sections into their own respective category.

Track Comments (For Blog Readers)

CoComment

CoComment is a Firefox and/or blog add-on that not only follows all of the comments you’ve submitted on any compatible blog platform, but also opens you up to more conversations and may even garner you more traffic to your respective blog.

Compatible blog platforms include Wordpress, Blogger, Typepad and Movable Type.

Different platforms will display the CoComment toolbar in different ways, but once it’s working properly, you’ll have the ability to track any comment.

After that, CoComment.com can track all of your conversations.

Commentful

Commentful is not all that much different than CoComment, in that it also includes a Firefox add-on for conversation tracking.

Commentful also supports all of the major blogging platforms, can track up to 200 conversations, and can track items up to 365 days of the year.

If you’d prefer not to install the FF add-on, you may also use a simple ‘Add to Commentful’ bookmarklet. However, with the extension you have the added benefit of receiving notification on updated conversations.

Manually add a URL to your watchlist.

Monitor your comment tracking via the Commentful website, or through an RSS feed.

BackType

With Backtype you not only have the ability to track your current conversations in real-time, but you also have the ability to claim previously written comments. They do this with their unique search system. Their advanced search algorithm also offers the ability to search by keyword and setup alerts for indexed comments.

A look at BackType trends. A summary of the most popular keyword searches that relate to you.

Setting up keyword alerts is very similar to Google Alerts, but by indexing comments only.

Commenting Systems (For Blog Moderators)

Disqus

Disqus is a commenting system and an add-on that not only enhances your blog but essentially turns each post into its own forum for discussion at forumname.disqus.com. Once the code is implemented, Disqus takes over the currently implemented system for Wordpress, Blogger, Typepad and more.

One of the great things about Disqus that just recently came about is Facebook Connect integration. It’s not enabled by default, but does have the ability.

Jorge did an in-depth write-up of Disqus back in December here.

A look at the Disqus integration about page.

Once enabled on your site, a user may easily connect to Disqus and monitor their profile in real-time.

Intense Debate

IntenseDebate is another blog enhancement, compatible with all the major platforms that also takes over your present comment system. It not only converts your present system into threaded comments automatically, but also the ability to reply to comments by e-mail and through your RSS reader.

So essentially it not only takes over the commenting machine, but also your comment moderation machine. It also includes user profiles for worldwide tracking as well.

A look at the threaded comments on Intense Debate’s official blog.

A look at my empty dashboard on IntenseDebate

SezWho

SezWho, another competitor to the previously mentioned two, but with somewhat different abilities. It does include user profiles, for comment tracking, and a similar conversation aspect, but its main feature is its rating system.

After SezWho is put in place, it creates a rating scale for each comment on your blog. These rated comments may then be filtered and organized to your liking.

A look at a blog with SezWho implemented.

A summarized screenshot of a user profile and their reputation for each comment.

As you can see, whether you are looking to implement something to entice more discussion on your blog, or you’re just simply looking to track your own comments, you do have some options. Try each of the tools out and see if they fit what you might be looking for. All of the above sites are well established and very easy to use, so you shouldn’t be disappointed with your options.

Let us know what you think. Have you used any of these products? Do you find them useful or recommend them for anyone specific?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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After the installation however I found that there were so many controls and options, and I found myself googling for podpress tutorials. Unfortunately, there is very little material on how to podcast with Wordpress.

Assuming that you know how to install Wordpress plugins, and burn your feeds using Feedburner, I’m going to show you how to get your podcast file from your hard drive to the iTunes podcast directory. Don’t worry, it’s very simple really!

WP admin

After you’ve installed and activated the PodPress plugin, go to the settings page in your Wordpress admin.

Go to the ‘Feed/iTunes Settings’ under the PodPress plugin menu in your sidebar. In there, you will find PodPress has automatically filled in several details like your feed URL and such. You need to enter details like your Podcast title and other details. Your main job here is to provide thumbnail images for display in the iTunes Podcast directory.

You can browse through the General and Player settings to see what options you want to tweak, but you don’t need to worry about much as the settings are auto generated.

Burning your feed

I’d highly suggest you burn your podcast feed using Google Feedburner. This will let you analyse your traffic better than just feeding iTunes directly. To burn your feed, copy the feed URL from the ‘Feed/iTunes Settings’ window, and paste it into the Feedburner’s field. Check mark the “I’m a podcaster” option while you’re at it.

Writing your post

Write your post as you normally would. However, under your writing window you will notice the Podpress controls. Click ‘Add Media File’ and specify your podcast file from the drop down list. The podcast file itself needs to be uploaded (using an FTP client) to your wp-content/uploads/ folder to show up in the list.

Once you select your podcast file, you’ll need to specify the kind of file (whether it’s a mp3, movie, etc), while the size and length can be auto detected. You can also add specific settings for iTunes, like whether the episode is explicit or not. Failing to comply will result in your feed getting banned on the Podcast directory so be sure that you take care of these things.

Submit Your Podcast to iTunes Store

In the iTunes Store, navigate to Podcasts from the left sidebar. At the bottom left you will see a link to submit your podcast (direct link) to iTunes. In the following window you need to specify your feed URL. Paste in the feed that Feedburner provides you with. After this you will be asked to specify your category, whether it is explicit and a few other details.

The iTunes staff will then review your podcast and accept or reject it based on their criteria. This can take up to 2 days. They will send you an email when your podcast is accepted or rejected from the store so you don’t have to keep checking.

That’s it. The next time you post, all you need to do is upload your media file to your Uploads folder, and specify it while writing your post. Just hit publish, and watch those subscribers flutter in!

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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With this said, there are easier ways to blog then others.  These Firefox add-ons empower you with quick and easy ways to blog.

Zemanta

With Zemanta you’re able to receive countless suggestions that correlate to your blog topic or content posted in your blog post. These suggestions can aid you in writing your post while you’re inside your blogging dashboard.

This extension lets you add your Flickr account and link any image you’d like as well by logging into the Zemanta web user interface.

You’ll also be able to connect to your Facebook, MyBlogLog and/or Twitter accounts as well.

This add-on not only gives you suggestions that have to do with your post, it also helps you with your search engine optimization by giving you suggestions on tags to use when you’re about to publish your posts.

Image selection from related content within your post:

WordPress.com Sidebar

By pressing alt + w when you’re in your browser you can bring up a quick sidebar that will allow fast and easy access to your WordPress blog without you having to access the actual site. This nifty little sidebar lets you view your site stats, create bookmarks relating to your post, and finally you can construct posts and publish them directly onto your blog without ever visiting your WordPress dashboard. Access this Firefox extension here.

View your blogs stats:

Create a post or copy and paste content from a web page and publish it onto your blog:

DashBlog

DashBlog feasibly lets you gather videos, images, texts, songs, and capture browser screen-shots from any existing web page. You can utilize this collection of content to publish them directly onto your blog or your Twitter account.

Supporter blogs include but are not limited to: Blogger/Blogspot, Tumblr, WordPress and more.

From any web page all you have to do is click on the small DashBlog icon located at the top left hand corner of your browser and the DashBlog options userface will instantly pop up.

How it Works

A few steps are needed to post content on your blog from DashBlog:

Create a post with content located on the webpage of your choice (text/quotes, images, videos, and audio)

Click on the “OK, Post” button and wait for confirmation that the post has been blogged.

Now visit your blog and view your DashBlog post. Your readers will have no idea that you used a third party Firefox extension to create the post they are reading.

What Firefox add-ons would you recommend that help you to blog more easily?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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PHP Speedy is a WordPress plugin that cleans up and compresses your code so that it can load faster. There are few technical configurations that you need to make, but it is definitely manageable, even when you don’t have any coding knowledge

The details…

There are many factors that can cause your WordPress blog to slow down. One of them is having too many javascript and CSS files in your site that choke up your bandwidth. This often happens when you installed too many plugins, or placed too many advertisements on your site. The more javascript/CSS files you have, the more HTTP requests that your site has to make and the longer it take for the page to load.

What PHP Speedy does is:

• Consolidates all the javascript and CSS and combines them all into two files, one for the javascript code and another for CSS (only applies for those files listed in the <head> tag). This includes all the javascript and CSS file introduced by any of the other plugins.
• Minifies and compresses the combined file and saves it to the cache.
• Removes all the javascript and CSS link in the <head> tag and serves the combined file from the cache to the readers.

With PHP Speedy, your site now makes less HTTP requests and serve a smaller compressed version of the file to your reader. I have used it on my site together with the SuperCache plugin. The result has been impressive. I am able to shave three seconds off the loading time, and that is a whopping 40% improvement.

Installing and configuring PHP Speedy

The PHP Speedy plugin is not found in the WordPress plugins repository, so you have to download it from the developer’s site.

Install the plugin just like any other plugins.

On the plugin setting page, there are several options that you can configure.

Javascript libraries

This is the part where it lists down all the Javascript libraries used by the WordPress software. Although it is unchecked by default, it is wise to check them all and let PHP Speedy handle them.

Ignore list

If you have javascript or CSS files that you don’t want PHP Speedy to handle, here is where you list them all down.

Minify Options

This is the part where you specify whether PHP Speedy should minify your file. As before, it is better to choose Yes for all.

Compression

I would strongly recommend you to use the htaccess or the WP-SuperCache plugin to activate the compression function for your server.

Expires header

The Expires header informs the server that the content is still fresh and the clients (browsers) should load the files directly from the cache. There is no need to retrieve the files again from the database.

Some limitations

While PHP Speedy is very useful, there are some issues that it cannot solve:

• If you are using external javascript of CSS files, there is no way that PHP Speedy can handle them.
• It does not support javascripts that use the document.write feature. In such cases, it is better to include that particular javascript in the ignore list.
• PHP Speedy only sets the expiration for your CSS and JS files. It doesn’t (yet) handle the images, which would further reduce the site’s loading time.
• If you are using @import syntax in your CSS file, PHP Speedy won’t be able to support it.

If you can live with the above limitations, then I am sure PHP Speedy will be very handy to you.

What other plugins do you use to improve the performance and speed up WordPress blog?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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Of course I won’t say it goes as far as that, but it’s a good idea to keep both of them close together, so that either side does not miss out on anything.

If it’s just twittering you want, then be sure to check out this post on twitter services or these twitter tools that will get you into the twitter elite. If however you want your blog and twitter account to seamlessly merge into a single platform to get your word out, here are a bunch of twitter extenders that will effortlessly popularise your blog among all your twitter followers, and beyond.

TweetSuite

You may already be using some sort of Twitter plugin on your Wordpress blog, but the time has come to switch to something else. Developed by Dan Zarella, TweetSuite takes the concept of Tweetbacks to the next level.

TweetSuite adds server side tweetbacks to your posts, so if someone tweets about your post, it adds it to the list. Users get to retweet any of the tweetbacks, or can click on the ‘tweet this’ button to announce your post in their twitter feed. The “tweet this” button is completely automated, with title truncating and URL shortening so the user doesn’t have to do anything but click on the update button.

TweetSuite also includes a bunch of widgets for your sidebar, including ‘most tweeted’, ‘recently tweeted’, and others. You can of course automatically set TweetSuite to tweet any of your new posts to your own Twitter feed. I have yet to come across a more complete twitter plugin for Wordpress.

Twitter Avatars in Comments

Gravatars are a great addition to any blog, giving the blog a much better visual appeal. However, non-technology blogs find it hard to implement them as most of the users are not techie enough to create a gravatar of their own. This results in a lot of ‘blank’ avatars in the comments field.

Created by Ricardo Sousa, especially for Smashing Magazine, ’Twittar’ aims to increase the possibility of finding an avatar by linking the email address used with a Twitter account. The plugin will, in the first instance, look for a Twitter avatar but failing that it will look for a gravatar. Considering that Twitter already has millions of users, many of whom are not tech savvy, the likelihood of finding an avatar is greatly increased.

TwitterCounter

Sure you advertise your RSS feed readers, but what about the 1000’s of Twitter followers that you have? Prominently displaying them will surely increase the importance of your blog. TwitterCounter for Wordpress integrates the TwitterCounter badges in your Wordpress blog.

Of course, this plugin is basically the same as the HTML code generated by TwitterCounter, so if you are adept at editing your site’s code you can get this counter there itself.

Check out Jimmy’s story on TwitterCounter.

TwitterSplit

Anyone and everyone who uses Twitter periodically sends out interesting links to their followers. These links are not pointing to your site, so other than creating goodwill among your followers, they offer no ‘return’ for your blog.

How does one share interesting links, as well as making sure that your blog gets something out of it?

which leads to :

TweetSplit is an interesting concept, as it embeds the external page, inside of your URL. The user will see the intended page, but also see an unobtrusive bar at the top reminding the user who it is that brought them to the page. You could embed any graphic or even an ad at the top (don’t over-do it!) to make the best of Twitter.

The next time someone retweet’s your links, you can be sure that those new visitors will be seeing your branding on the landing page.

Twitip ID

The standard comment field in most Wordpress blogs shows the name, email and URL. Well now since most people have a Twitter account as well, shouldn’t that also be included in the feature set? A lot of coders have included a second URL feed for people to add their Twitter IDs, but it is not a very elegant way to do so.

Twitip ID takes away all of the pain and provides a simple way to add a Twitter ID to the comment posted. It will display the @username and link it up with the Twitter account. It requires minimal fiddling around in the comments.php file so anyone with a little skill should be able to implement it.

Twitter style links

The habit of Twitter has been carried to the blogs, and now when we reply to someone in our blog comments, we usually use @nickname to address the person. Twitter style links will search for @nickname’s URL in the comments list of the current post, and convert that @nickname to a clickable link. Of course, this has nothing to do with Twitter as such, but it does bring the two conceptually closer together.

Autolink to Username

A simple plugin that will automatically link any @username in your post to the Twitter account. For instance, all I would need to do is insert @makeuseof and it will link that to twitter.com/makeuseof without any user interaction.

That should definitely get your blog or Twitter feed the recognition it deserves. Of course, Twitter, Wordpress, and the community that surrounds it are always evolving. So if you find an interesting way to bridge the gap between blogs and Twitter, do let us know in the comments.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• Wordpress Exploit Scanner Helps Administrators Scan Their Database For Malicious Files (10)
• The First Wordpress Plugins You Must Install (29)
• Speed Up Your WordPress Blog With PHP Speedy (18)
• Make Your Wordpress Blog iPhone Compatible with WPtouch (12)
• Liven Up Your Wordpress Blog Comments With MyAvatars (6)

The main reasons: it’s very good and very free – not to mention very expandable in functions and very flexible in looks if you use the self hosted Wordpress.

Given those facts, it surprises me that lots of people are still afraid of the (self hosted) Wordpress. “Wordpress is for geeks,” they say, “It’s too difficult for me.”

Well, you can’t love what you don’t know. So, the first step is to get familiar with it and what better way to know more about Wordpress than to install Wordpress locally on your own computer? Be it a Windows, Mac or Linux PC. Plus, this is also the best way to check out plugins and themes before using them in the real live online blogging world (and start building your own Wordpress themes and plugins – should you choose to go that far).

Here’s how you do it :

Step 1: Building The Local “Web Server”

In order to install Wordpress locally, you need to have a SQL database and a PHP environment in your computer. Before you ask with fear what creatures they are, let me clarify that these days you can easily summon them just by downloading and installing one of these:

• For Windows: XAMPP or WAMP (Read MakeUseOf review)
• For Mac: MAMP
• For Linux: LAMP

I use a Mac so the steps below are explained using MAMP. But the steps are valid under any OS and so slight differences are to be expected.

Step 2: Creating The Database

Open your AMP app and the server will automatically be on.

The web interface will show up in your browser. Choose “phpMyAdmin” tab.

Find “Create New Database” box, put a name there, then click “Create”

Step 3: Getting Wordpress

Download the latest build of Wordpress (at the time of writing is version 2.7)

Extract the zip file into the htdocs folder inside the AMP folder. It will automatically create a “wordpress” folder there.

Step 4: Configuring The Wordpress Database

Go inside the Wordpress folder, then find and open file wp-config-sample.php using any text editor.

- Find these lines:
–> ‘DB_NAME’ and change ‘putyourdbnamehere’ with ‘the database name from step 2’
–> ‘DB_USER’ and change ‘usernamehere’ with ‘root’
–> ‘DB_PASSWORD’ and change ‘yourpasswordhere’ with ‘root’

Save the file as wp-config.php

Step 5: Installing Wordpress

Open this address in your browser: http://localhost:8888/wordpress/wp-admin/install.php

You’ll be asked to put in a blog name and an email address. Click ‘Install Wordpress’ after filling in those boxes.

Wordpress will generate a username (admin) and a random password for you. Please keep the password safe until you have the chance to change it later. Click ‘Log In’ to continue.

Fill in the username and password and click ‘Log In’ one more time.

Step 6: Changing The Password

Congratulations, you’ve just built your own local Wordpress blog to experiment with. But there’s still one more crucial step to take: changing the randomly generated password to something you can remember easily.

Go to menu Users –> Authors & Users –> Admin –> Edit

Find the two password fields down at the bottom of the page, fill in the empty boxes with your preferred password.

Click ‘Update Profile’.

That’s it! Why not start experimenting with your Wordpress blog and see how you like it. If you have any problems, leave a comment and we’ll see if we can help.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• The 5 Free Wordpress Templates To Dress Up Your Blog (15)
• Speed Up Your WordPress Blog With PHP Speedy (18)
• How To Set Up Your Own WampServer (20)
• How To Easily Auto Backup Your Wordpress Database (15)
• 18 Wordpress Security Plugins & Tips To Secure Your Blog (65)

When you integrate Disqus (pronounced “discuss”) with your WordPress blog, you create a new Disqus community that mirrors the post/comment activity on the blog. The blog post becomes the start of a new discussion and the comments are the subsequent thread. Members can also post to the community that you create. This is a great way for readers of your blog to start discussions with you and all of your readers.

As a Disqus user, all the comments you post to other Disqus-enabled blogs will appear on your profile page (you don’t need a blog to have a Disqus account). This is a nice way for others to see all your words of wisdom that you have shared on other blogs. It is also a good method for finding other users and communities you may be interested in following.

Disqus also plays nice with the built-in WordPress commenting system. Existing comments will be imported into Disqus and when comments are posted onto Disqus they are kept in sync with your WordPress blog. If you change your mind later and you no longer want to use Disqus, you can simply uninstall it. You don’t have to worry about losing comments that were posted through Disqus.

To install Disqus on your Wordpress blog:

• Create an account on Disqus.
• Download the Disqus for Wordpress plugin.
• Place the contents of the archive in your WordPress plugins directory.
• Activate the plugin and navigate to Comments > DISQUS.



• Enter your Disqus login credentials and proceed with the installation process.

  

• If you would like to import your existing WordPress comments into Disqus, select Advanced Options and click Import.

For further installation details, you can visit the Disqus integration page and view the Disqus documentation for WordPress.

When a blog is converted to use Disqus, individuals that commented on the blog prior to the conversion can claim their imported comments. When users claim comments, verification links are sent to the email addresses used to post the comments. The Disqus users can click the verification links to associate comments on the converted blog with their profiles.

Disqus also automatically subscribes commenters to any responses to their comments. They will receive the responses at the email address they provided with the comment. The best part of this feature is that they can respond via email! There’s no need to revisit the blog post and respond there, as it can all be done by replying to the email.

Disqus also allows non-Disqus members to post comments just as they would normally on any WordPress blog. Users just provide their name, email address, and post the comment. Responses to their comments are sent to their email address and they can reply by email just the same as Disqus users.  Comments by non-Disqus comments are basically treated the same as imported comments.  If non-Disqus commenters do eventually sign up for Disqus accounts, they can also claim their comments to associate them with their new account.

Unfortunately, WordPress is the only well-documented platform for Disqus at this time. The Disqus help page states that MovableType, Tumblr, Blogger, and TypePad are also supported, but the help links just go to a “coming soon” page.  They also have a JavaScript interface in the works (which would allow you to integrate with any platform), but again there is no documentation for it yet.

Fortunately, there is a well-documented Disqus API. That means that developers can integrate Disqus on other platforms that are not officially supported, which is good news for users (and potential users) on the following platforms:

• Drupal
• b2evolution
• Graffiti
• Joomla
• RubyGem

If your blog does not use one of these platforms or uses one of the undocumented platforms that Disqus claims to support, then IntenseDebate might be a better option for you. IntenseDebate can use JavaScript to display comments, so it can be easily integrated into any blog.

However, IntenseDebate does not have the community features and profile pages are only limited to the last 5 comments posted. Disqus makes all comments you’ve made available from your profile, not just the last five. If you’d like to see Disqus comments in action, here are a few blogs that implement them:

• louisgray.com
• VentureBeat
• obscurely famous
• The Eagle-Tribune

You might want to also check out some Disqus profile pages:

• Louis Gray
• Duncan Riley
• Daniel Ha

What do you think of Disqus and other commenting systems?   Which one do you prefer?  Do you use Disqus on your blog?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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• The First Wordpress Plugins You Must Install (29)
• Liven Up Your Wordpress Blog Comments With MyAvatars (6)
• Kaltura Adds Video Management To Your WordPress Blog (11)
• How To Upgrade Your Wordpress Blog Automatically (16)

Kaltura is the first open source video platform for online video management, creation, interaction and collaboration. Recently, they released the interactive video plugin for Wordpress blog that allows you to add interactive video capabilities to your blog. With the plugin, you can upload/ record/import videos directly to your post, edit and remix content with an online video editor, enable video responses, manage and track your video content.

After you have downloaded and activated the plugin, you will need to sign up with Kaltura for a Partner ID before you can start using it. This partner ID is a license key given by Kaltura to allow you to upload and import media from Kaltura’s partner (Youtube, Jamendo, Flickr etc) and stream media from Kaltura host.

At the Write section where you compose your blog post, you will now find a new video icon that allows you to insert interactive videos to your post.

On the pop up window, you will find plenty of tools that allow you to upload or import videos, audio or photos into your blog

When you are previewing your post on the browser, you will find a Remix button on the Kaltura video. This is where you can edit and create mashup for your video.

Even though it is Web-based, there is no short of video editing tools. You can easily edit, cut, insert content, create mashup and even add transition effects to your video.

Conclusion

The Kaltura’s Interactive Video plugin is the most comprehensive video management platform for WordPress blog. It has a full-feature video editing capability and a well-integrated infrastructure that make it very easy for anyone to use. Not to mention that it partners with some of the greatest sites in the Internet (such as Youtube and Flickr) to give you access to millions of multimedia instantly. If this is not the best, then I don’t know what else is.

Other than WordPress, Kaltura also supports wiki, drupal, most of the php-based and Ruby-based site. In addition, anyone are allowed to stream up to 3GB content from Kaltura at no additional cost at all.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• The First Wordpress Plugins You Must Install (29)
• Liven Up Your Wordpress Blog Comments With MyAvatars (6)
• How To Upgrade Your Wordpress Blog Automatically (16)
• Give Your Wordpress Comments A Makeover With Disqus (12)
• Another 10 Must-have Plugins for Your Wordpress Blog (3)

Many content publishers will be interested in how they can serve their content on as many different internet platforms, designing layouts to work in all browsers and also allowing users to visit their sites on mobile devices.

Internet-capable mobile devices have been gaining in popularity over the last few years but with the release of Apple’s iPhone, websites can be served in their full glory via a 3G or Wi-Fi network. This, however, does not mean that developers aren’t keen to make iPhone compatible websites to keep their users happy. I am happy to report this can also be the case for website owners running the ever popular Wordpress platform.

Today I wish to share with you how easy it is to make any Wordpress installation iPhone compatible.

Step One

Firstly you need to check that you are at least running Wordpress 2.3. If you aren’t, upgrading of your Wordpress installation is highly recommended to patch known bugs and to enable you to use the plugin noted below. This tutorial is based on an installation of Wordpress 2.7 Beta 3, which has minor changes to the style of the admin area. Readers using a previous version of Wordpress will still be able to locate the same areas described in this post.

Next, we will need to download the plugin that makes it all happen. The plugin in question is called WPtouch and is developed by Dale Mugford & Duane Storey of BraveNewCode Inc. I have linked to the download hosted on the Wordpress Plugin Directory as many Wordpress website owners will be familiar with it.

Once downloaded, extract the archive and upload the resulting folder to the plugins folder inside your wp-content directory.

Step Two

Log into the Administration panel of your Wordpress installation. Inside your Plugins screen, activate the recently uploaded plugin.

Without doing so much as uploading and activating a plugin, you have made your Wordpress blog iPhone ready – but we’re aren’t finished just yet.

Step Three

The final step is changing some of the WPtouch preferences to work better for your blog. Clicking into Settings -> WPtouch will bring up a preferences page allowing to select how the plugin will serve your iPhone ready blog.

The first section you will encounter will be Optimization & Template Options. This section will allow you to enable or disable AJAX controls (allowing smoother comment submissions and page loading), decide whether you wish to enable Gravatars or even allow the submission of comments on your Pages (not to be confused with blog posts).

In the next section you can choose how your Wordpress iPhone pages will look. It’s simply nothing more than choosing a colour palette similar to the full version of your site and applying it inside this preference screen.

Wptouch allows you to configure many more options inside its interface.  These include:

• Post Listings Options – Select which post-meta items will be shown beneath titles on the index, search & archive pages.
• Available Icons – You can select which icons will be displayed beside corresponding pages enabled for your iPhone ready blog.
• Default Menu Items – Enable/disable items from appearing in the WPtouch dropdown menu.
• Plugin Support & Compatibility – This allows you to configure plugins that you use to work with WPtouch. Some currently supported plugins include FlickrRSS, Blip.tv and Tag Cloud.

When you have finished amending the sections inside the Administration panel, save your progress by clicking Save Options at the bottom of the page.

Your blog should now be ready to be viewed by all iPhone users. Development of this plugin is ongoing and the team are adding many new features with every release. There are already a few tools that exist to make your website iPhone compatible (MakeUseOf uses a service called Mofuse for example) but for ease of use and customization, WPtouch is a safe bet. You can check out MakeUseOf’s mobile version at http://m.makeuseof.com.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• 18 Wordpress Security Plugins & Tips To Secure Your Blog (65)
• Wordpress Exploit Scanner Helps Administrators Scan Their Database For Malicious Files (10)
• The First Wordpress Plugins You Must Install (29)
• The Best New Features Of Wordpress 2.8 (14)
• The 5 Free Wordpress Templates To Dress Up Your Blog (15)

Of course everyone wants their blog to look pretty. As pretty as possible because looks count. You want your site to look tempting yet professional. You’ll be represented by your site’s appearance.

Perhaps some of you will want to make your own themes. If that’s your thing, Jeffry wrote a great article on how to create your own Wordpress theme here.

If not, read on. Below is a list of some very good places to find your free WordPress and/or Blogger themes.

Free WordPress Themes

Lets start out with the WordPress ones. If you’re looking for Blogger skins, please skip this section.

WordPress is a great blogging engine, and one I would certainly advise to people who want to have a more advanced input.

1. 49 Most Downloaded Wordpress Themes Of All Time (by HONGKIAT)

This site has made a list of the 49 most downloaded Wordpress themes of all time (at the moment of writing). This is a great site with a lot of the best themes available.

You won’t be exactly original, but there’s a good reason these were downloaded this much.

2. 83 Beautiful WordPress Themes (by Smashing Magazine)

Smashing Magazine looked at a few things while creating this list. First, it had to be beautiful. Next, it shouldn’t already be worn out by the community, they wanted things ‘you probably hadn’t seen’ yet. Finally, they wanted it to be user friendly.

“All themes offer quality and elegance.” Here you’ll be able to find some (83) great-looking themes, to give a distinct character to your blog.

Blogger Skins

Blogger has a less advanced interface than WordPress, but it’s still a great blog engine. It was even bought up by Google some time ago.

For people who don’t want things to get complicated, who want to blog in a few clicks without too much fuss, Blogger is great.

1. 70 Fresh And Modern Blogger Templates (by Mashable)

“You can never have a too wide choice of templates for your blog, especially if you’re the experimenting type.”

This is Mashable’s list of 70 free, fresh and modern Blogger templates. Here you’ll find some really great and professional looking Blogger templates.

This list features photo previews of all the themes, as well as a brief review.

2. BlogSkins.com

BlogSkins is my personal favourite. Compared to the above sites, this is not a static site, but a revolving, constantly changing template site. You can browse by Hot Skins, Recent Skins, and each day there’s an elected “Skin of the Day”.

“BlogSkins is a community of blog template designers, users, and friends. Whether you’re looking for a fresh new design for your blog or wanting to share your hot designs with others, this is the place for you!”

Go to BlogSkins.com to find the most recent and most popular blogger templates of the moment.

Where did you find your blog template? Do you have a secret online stash of templates that you’d like to share with us? If so, let us know the link in the comments and tell us why you like them so much!

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• A Beginner’s Guide To Building Your Own Wordpress Theme (9)
• The 5 Free Wordpress Templates To Dress Up Your Blog (15)
• 3 Firefox Add-Ons To Help You Blog More Easily (19)
• Top 10 Blogger Hacks and Tips (123)
• The First Wordpress Plugins You Must Install (29)

After using numerous items, I (and I’m sure that most people too) have reached the point where I wanted to make my own blog. While developing your own Wordpress plugins requires a certain level of programming knowledge, building the themes is not.

So, before the CSS and PHP die-hard fans begin shouting their protests, let me assure you that these two free easy options to build Wordpress themes are only for beginners and for those with basic knowledge.

Online Wordpress Theme Generator

This online Wordpress Theme Generator has been around for sometime but seems to be unheard of among the thousands of freely available themes.

Creating your own personalized theme is a snap. Just tweak the options in the left column and see the real-time results on the right. My experience of using it to create my first theme took me less than ten minutes and resulted in an acceptable design.

I have to admit that the available options will make the ‘really-true beginner’ feel overwhelmed. But if you’ve been around your Wordpress blog for some time, you’ll be fine.

The real beauty comes after you click the “Save” button at the very end of the left column. Aside from getting a download link for your piece of virtual art, you’ll also get the “Theme Setting URL” link (http://tinyurl.com/xxxxx). You’ll be able to share your design with others or re-tweak the design again at a later time.

Becoming a Theme Artist

The second option is a Windows-only application which I stumbled onto by accident. The name is Artisteer and is actually a web design app.

The good news is that this one is a great and easy web design application and is (still) available for free. The bad news is that the beta version is watermarked and I didn’t find it sooner (the beta testing period will end on September 1st with a possible availability of a free version).

Creating a beautiful Wordpress theme is a no brainer. You can choose to tweak each and every element of the design, or let the app suggest a design for you. You then can export the result as a Wordpress theme. (We’ll wait and see what will happen after September 1st.)

Being a person who has tried to build a Wordpress theme from scratch (and failed miserably), I can say that these two are the easiest methods I have ever tried. If you can suggest a better option, shoot it out in the comments below.

(By) Jeffry Thurana is a blogaholic who has just started his own self-improvement journal “Supersubconscious” and manages an Indonesian tech blog “InterNeTips“. He actually thinks there are 30 hours everyday.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• 4 Websites for Great Wordpress Themes & Blogger Skins (9)
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• Online FTP Clients: Use FTP Online without Installing A Client (18)

Unfortunately Murphy’s Law was at work. The computer I had access to had no FTP client (I couldn’t install one/didn’t want to take the time). My two options were to wait till I got home to fix it, or I could use an online FTP client.

The same situation can happen anywhere: school, work, the library….you need to upload or delete something but can’t because of the lack of a FTP client. Luckily some other people have had the same problem and created online FTP clients. I’ll show you three main ones but there are plenty others out there.

1. FTP Live

FTP Live isn’t bad, but not excellent either. It is entirely web-based (no Java, Flash, Javascript, etc.) and can be difficult to use because of the lack of navigation buttons. FTP Live is by far the slowest to upload and download files. It also restricts the maximum upload size to 16MB.

That size can be raised in the Pro version. The Pro version allows you to upload up to 300MB, login via a secure (https) page, along with no ads.

2. AnyClient

For a faster, more graphical online client, there is the Java applet AnyClient. AnyClient is entirely Java, so it looks and acts much more like a traditional FTP client. It has the classic two column view (the online files on the right and the offline files on the left) with the upload / download arrows.

AnyClient also includes a site manager, which is especially useful with the free downloadable version (for Mac, Windows, and Linux).

3. Net2ftp

Net2ftp is by far the most versatile and feature filled of the three. Along with standard FTP features like chmoding, renaming, deleting, downloading, etc, uploading can be done in three different ways. A standard browser upload, a Flash based upload, or a Java upload.

One special thing about the standard upload is that you can upload an archive (zip, tar.gz, etc) and it will extract it on the fly; net2ftp can also zip files and folders already uploaded. The Flash based upload is just a generic upload with a progress bar. The Java upload can upload directories and batch upload files.

Another useful feature of net2ftp is the install wizard. The install wizard (when you click on “Install”) uploads a small php file to your server and gives you a link to that file. When you click that link (or go to the file if the link is wrong) it will allow you to install a number of PHP applications (like WordPress, phpBB, etc).

The best thing about net2ftp though, is that it can be downloaded and hosted on your site (much like WordPress.) This will let you use a version for just your personal website, brand it for a larger website or intranet, or even host your own online FTP client.

These were just three of the many online FTP clients out there, and I hope you find them as useful as I do. However, please exercise caution when using your FTP password online.

What do you think? Should there be another one on here? Do you have a favourite online FTP client that wasn’t mentioned?

(By) Check out Ben’s blog at www.tic-tech-toe.com

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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If it’s just about downloading the latest version, then there wouldn’t be any problem. Unfortunately, the process also involves backing-up the database, deactivating the plugins, uploading the latest installation files (which could be a hellish experience, especially on an unstable and slow internet connection), upgrading the database, reactivating the plugins, and upgrading the plugins (if needed). Add to that the possibilities of crushing your blog entirely and you have the perfect combination of reasons not to try to upgrade.

So when the latest version – 2.6 – of Wordpress was released, my fingers started to tickle again. I was tempted. Still, I was not 100% sure if I was up to the task of upgrading. But then I came across a very useful plugin called: Wordpress Automatic Upgrade.

As the name suggest, this plugin:

-Backs up the files and makes available a link to download it.
-Backs up the database and makes available a link to download it.
-Downloads the latest files and unzips them.
-Puts the site in maintenance mode.
-De-activates all active plugins and remembers them.
-Upgrades Wordpress files.
-Gives you a link that will open in a new window to upgrade your installation.
-Re-activates the plugins.

The plugin can also can be run in the automatic mode where you only have to click on one button and let it do the rest. Sweet!

To be able to use this plugin, you’ll need to install it first. If you’ve read and followed the tips in my previous article about Wordpress, you can do the installation easily from within your Wordpress admin panel. All you need is the file download link.

Otherwise, you can:

- download the file,
- unzip it,
- then using an FTP application, throw everything inside that archive to folder “/wp-content/plugins/” of your Wordpress installation location.
- go to your “Plugin” tab within your Admin panel and click “activate”.

A quick note before you upgrade, you need to have permission to write the files and folders within your Wordpress installation. If you don’t have that permission, at least you must know the details for the FTP account. Please ask the admin of your server regarding this information.

If everything is set, you can begin the upgrading process. There are two options:

1. Using the step by step process will ensure a successful installation. Just follow the step by step “Click Here” instructions, and everything should be fine.

2. Using the automatic process will free you from the hassles as everything is only one click away, but this option doesn’t always work. It depends on your authority status and the Chmod setting of your Wordpress files and folders.

My suggestion is to go with the automatic mode first. Then if this has failed, you can switch to the manual step by step process.

Congratulations, now your Wordpress is up to date – and will always be, easily. Personally, I think the 2.6 version is more comfortable to use. But there is more to upgrading than just to feel more comfortable.

The main reason is security. You will know yourself that the world is full of people who have nothing better to do than to find the loopholes of any application and exploit those holes (or maybe they are paid to do so). Therefore, developers have to continuously provide patches while improving product features. So that’s exactly another reason to keep up with the latest version: more goodies to enjoy!

(By) Jeffry Thurana is a blogaholic who has just started his own self-improvement journal “Supersubconscious” and manages an Indonesian tech blog “InterNeTips“. He actually thinks there are 30 hours everyday.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• The First Wordpress Plugins You Must Install (29)
• Liven Up Your Wordpress Blog Comments With MyAvatars (6)
• Kaltura Adds Video Management To Your WordPress Blog (11)
• How to Insert custom Quicktags into the Wordpress Editor (11)
• Grant PDF Print Power to Your Website Visitors (8)

But if we look it from the perspective of the site owner, giving the readers the ability to ‘PDF-print’ your pages will improve your site likeability by several points, and increase the site’s exposure to new readers.

We have discussed the RSS to PDF option using Feedbooks, but the service is limited to RSS feeds and feeds are sometimes only a fraction of the full articles. Moreover with this option, there’s nothing you can do but get ALL the feeds.

For website owners who still don’t offer an RSS option on their site (if any still exists today!) and/or wants to give their readers more freedom to PDF-print individual articles directly from the webpage, you can use the script from Web2PDF Online.

Here’s how:

1. Getting the code for ‘Save as PDF’

• Register at the Web2PDF Online Site
• Set the conversion options such as paper orientation and margin (in inches)
• Click the “Generate The Javascript” button.
• Copy the script provided in the next window

2. Using the code

Actually, all you have to do is paste the code into the HTML of the page where you want the “Save as PDF” button to appear. This could be a lot of work for those who want to put the button on all of their pages.

But Wordpress users can save time by using the code as a widget.

• From the admin panel, go to Design –> Widgets
• Find the Text widget on the left side of the Widget’s page and click “Add”
• The Text widget will appear on the right side of the page, below other widgets which already been activated before. Click “Edit”
• Give a title to this widget (or not), then paste the Javascript code on the body of the text.



• Click “Change” and then “Save Changes”
• You can drag and drop to these widgets to rearrange the order. But don’t forget to click “Save Changes” again afterwards.

From here on, your readers are able to print your web page(s) to PDF. Everytime they click the button, the page will be converted to PDF and a new window will appear showing a download link to the PDF file.

Do you know any other ways to offer your blog readers PDF functionality? Let us know what tools you offer in the comments.

(By) Jeffry Thurana is a blogaholic who has just started his own self-improvement journal “Supersubconscious” and manages an Indonesian tech blog “InterNeTips“. He actually thinks there are 30 hours everyday.

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New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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It’s also a good idea to look at Mark’s Twitter Tools Apps & Bots article as well as Jason’s Twitter tools article.

Twhirl – Desktop Twitter Client

Twhirl is an Adobe Air application which we have already mentioned here on Make Use Of, and I love it so much I have only used the web interface about twice.

Once you install it you can send direct messages, view replies, simply tweet away or you can view friends, followers, in short, everything you can do on the web.

In addition, the interface is beautiful, with icons displayed just the way they should, interface behaving intuitively and a boatload of skins right out of the box. Minimizing the application puts it on your system tray where it notifies you of Twitters and lets you send with one click.

Alternatively, if Adobe Air isn’t your particular cup of tea, take a look at Twadget, a Vista sidebar widget for Vista (obviously). The functions it offers are considerably less, but development is active, so you can expect new releases soon.

Twist – Twitter trends

Both a tool for fun, but also a serious potential marketing tool, Twist brings you the lowdown on trends on Twitter. Since so many people are Twittering, getting a glimpse of what they are saying could give you loads of information on anything really. You can find out about breaking stories before anyone else, create some interesting statistics for an essay or post, or find out which topic is hottest right now.

Bloggers and website owners can use this tool to track their hype, but also to determine the hottest topics to write about, or upcoming topics they should be researching soon. You can take a look at the list on the left for hot topics, but you can also go into minute detail and look at exactly what people are saying about the topic you entered.

TwittyTunes – Post music and websites to Twitter

If you know FoxyTunes, you will be familiar with the look and feel of TwittyTunes, a Firefox extension which lets you post a number of things to Twitter with just one click.

Basically it’s a simple Twitter client with some pre-defined text available inside Mozilla. You can use it in conjunction with FoxyTunes to send a tweet with the song your listening to in three clicks. You can also easily share the page you’re viewing with others, and this is a feature I personally welcome more, since it saves me a lot of copy-paste time. If you have a blog but don’t like the Twitter Tools Wordpress extension (see below), you can easily let people know about your new posts with this little addon.

As a simple Twitter client it also has the ability to send normal tweets. You can choose between normal text and normal text+URL which will allow you to send a regular message, and add the URL you are currently on to it optionally. The URL does take away characters from your tweet though, so if you’re on a long URL, it may be difficult to get some proper text in there.

Twitter Tools for Wordpress

Twitter tools is a plugin for Wordpress made by Alex King, who has supplied us with lots of popular stuff before, like category overlord, popularity contest and so on (see the link). This won’t fail to impress either, it integrates elegantly and efficiently with Wordpress allowing you to use it in conjuction with your Twitter account.

Among its many features is the ability to create tweets out of your entries and entries out of your tweets. You can use it to automatically post the URL of your newest entry, but you can also use it to create entries from your tweets. This may sound a bit stupid, what are you going to do with 140 character long entries?

Well if you create a separate personal blog and record all your tweets, you may have a huge collection of tweets in no time. This means you can log everything you do, organize yourself with it, create a database of tasks you’ve done or want to do, the possibilities here are endless. You can use it to log all the music you’ve listened to by using it in tandem with the TwittyTunes Firefox addon, the rest is up to your imagination.

What is your favourite Twitter tool? You know by now where to write it! Plus if you want to follow the Make Use Of and its writers on Twitter, just go here to find their Twitter usernames.

(By) Daniel Pataki is the writer of Hack Your Day, his productivity blog and founder of Blogtastique, a blog management service. I feel like I’m leading three lives at once, I’m even too tired to continue using third person here!”

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• Two Undercover Twitter Clients That Don’t Let Others Know You Are Tweeting (17)
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• ScribeFire vs DeepestSender: One Blogging Addon to Rule Them All! (18)

Since I’m a die-hard Firefox user, I headed over to the Firefox addons site to find a worthy candidate. A quick search turned up a few possibilities, the top two being ScribeFire and Deepest Sender. A quick look at the download stats: 1.6 million vs. 57,000 and I had a pretty good idea which one was going to win.

While the reviews for both addons are favorable, these addons are clearly in different classes. Deepest Sender is kind of like manually opening a second Firefox window and doing your Wordpress work there while you browse in another (which is the clunky method that made me start this search in the first place). It doesn’t allow image uploading or adding tags, but it is a decent way to quickly jot down parts of a post or brainstorm.

Deepest Sender is tiny, presents a cleaner interface, and it doesn’t run on your web server – so it would save a bit of bandwidth. Other than that, I don’t see too many advantages to running it.

Ready to move on, I close the window and fire up ScribeFire by hitting F8.

This is more like it! Scribefire springs into action, splitting the Firefox pane in half horizontally and revealing a solid editing environment right inside the browser!

ScribeFire has a lot of killer features – including support for multiple blog sites and publishing systems, tabbed posts (you can see two tabs open in my screencap), complete font control, YouTube and Flickr embedding, source code editing, and even a sharing pane to make it easy to check Technorati stats or add to Digg, StumbleUpon, Del.ici.ous, and more! Oh yeah, there’s an options tab, too, which allows you to change several aspects of ScribeFire’s behavior.

The tabs on the right offer broad support for WordPress’ other post-writing features, including categories, tags, timestamp, trackbacks, and ping options. You can even scroll through older entires and make changes to them on the fly. Is there anything this addon can’t do?

Oh yes…It also supports dragging and dropping from your Firefox tabs, like this:

Keyboard Shortcuts:

A list of all the default keyboard shortcuts used in ScribeFire.

Used in the rich text editor (preceded by Ctrl)

• Bold: “B”
• Italic: “I”
• Underline: “U”
• Link: “M”
• Undo: “Z”
• Redo: “Y”
• Cut: “X”
• Copy: “C”
• Paste: “V”
• Delete: “D”
• Select All: “A”

The above shortcuts were as easy to add as going to the Wiki page, clicking on keyboard shortcuts, and then highlighting and dragging the block down to my ScribeFire editor. Holy ease of use, Batman!

Really, the only downside I can see is the size of my editing area. On my 15.4″ laptop’s 1280×800 screen, I only see about a paragraph of my post at any given time. Still, to have the editor reside at the bottom of my Firefox window rather than on another tab or in its own window, I’m willing to work with that. It’s a pretty minor annoyance, especially in the face everything Scribefire does well. Besides, it’s not the publisher’s fault I can’t yet justify buying a laptop that sports a WUXGA panel.

I didn’t notice any sluggishness when browsing with Scribefire open, and there was no major impact on the size of my Firefox install (the download itself is only 250kb).

The jury’s in, and between these two addons ScribeFire wins hands down. Deepest Sender is outgunned and outclassed this time, and has lost its spot in my Firefox addons list.

All in all, you can have your Windows Live Writer. With Scribefire and my portable Firefox install, I’m ready to blog anywhere with an ever-decreasing number of hassles. For in-browser blogging, Scribefire is about as good as it gets – unless you can convince me otherwise?

(By) Lee Mathews is a blogger who writes to share downloads, links, and tech advice with other slightly frustrated users at Unsightful.com.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• Blog Directly From Your WM Device Via Windows Live Writer Mobile Beta (5)
• 3 Firefox Add-Ons To Help You Blog More Easily (19)
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MyAvatars was designed by an Italian developer and works using Yahoo-owned MyBlogLog. It simply shows the blog commenter’s MyBlogLog (MBL) avatar next to their comment.

It is simple to install on your Wordpress blog and by displaying the person’s MBL avatar next to their comment, it instantly livens up the page and puts a face to the words. It kind of creates an intimate friendly community and takes away the anonymity that normally surrounds blog commenting.

If the commenter doesn’t have a MBL account then they show up as a shadow figure. But I have noticed that this is becoming rarer these days as most people who regularly visit blogs tend to have MBL accounts as they want to become part of the community and interact with the other visitors. But on the off-chance that you get someone not registered with MBL then they will show up as Shadowman (or ShadowWoman!).

But for those registered with MBL, leaving a comment brings up their MBL logo :

I have heard complaints that this plug-in slows down the loading of the blog but personally I have not seen any slowing down of my blog at all. The only time you are likely to see a slow-down is when MyBlogLog is down and since they are hosted on Yahoo servers, that isn’t very likely. When was the last time a Yahoo server went down? Right, I can’t remember either.

If you use this plug-in, you’ll quickly find that people love seeing their avatars featured on their comments. Some have actually told me by email that seeing their shadow avatars next to their comments have actually prompted them to go to MyBlogLog and sign up for an account! This just goes to show that people (despite what they may say to the contrary) love attention, they love seeing their face or their avatar associated with their words and their opinions – and this means repeat visits to your blog!

And if you don’t have a MyBlogLog account, then you need to get one today and upload an avatar. You can open MyBlogLog account and join MakeUseOf community here. It’s free and essential if you are a blogger or visit a lot of blogs. MyBlogLog is the social network for bloggers everywhere.

(By) Mark O’Neill is a blogger, professional freelance writer and the editor of Make Use Of. Check out his personal blog at BetterThanTherapy.net

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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• Another 10 Must-have Plugins for Your Wordpress Blog (3)

If you look underneath the show notes on this page, you will see a little media player where you can listen to the podcast right here on the site. Or if you prefer, you can right-click on the “audio MP3″ logo and save the MP3 file to your computer for listening on your MP3 player or iPod.

We now have the podcast in iTunes so don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast if you have an iPod, or in another podcatcher if you have a different MP3 player.

After listening, please submit your comments below on this page or you can also send me an e-mail with a question, comment, criticism or suggestion, and I’ll also be accepting audio comments, so go ahead and send your MP3 to the same address.

• Jason’s other podcast
• Fluency Wordpress admin theme and others
• Wordpress Codex
• Plurk.com and become Jason’s friend on Plurk
• Taking Search Back To Basics With Wikia Search
• Cool Search Engines to Remember
• 5 More Cool Adobe AIR Applications
• Updating Status Messages the Easy Way
• Jason’s Tumblelog
• PortableApps

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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