Archive for WordPress
WordCamp Fayetteville, 2011
Posted by: | CommentsFayetteville, AR held their second WordCamp July 30-31, Twitter hashtag #wcfay, and @wcfay I hadn’t been to one since Dallas in 2009, so I had been looking for one close to the OKC area to attend and this one fit the bill. It was one I could do without an overnight. I was especially excited to see Jane Wells on the program. She works with the WordPress Foundation and her title is Master of Suggestion. 
The Conference was held on the University of AR campus. The organizers did a great job of communication with all attendees, giving us updates, encouragement and directions. Unfortunately, the directions to our building on the U of AR website were horribly wrong (the school had them wrong, not the organizers). Finally got there with the help of another lost soul.
This WordCamp had three tracks, or focuses. There was the Developer track – for those who are coders and those who really like to get into the meat of WordPress. I did not attend any of these sessions.
Next, they had a Business track, which focuses on using WordPress in or for a business. I started out here listening to Collin Condray & Eric Huber speak on Yin and Yang of Your WordPress Site. The link is to the slides from their presentations. You can find many of the video presentations here, but I started listening to a couple and the quality was such that I couldn’t hear very well.
The last track was for Bloggers, for those of us who want to learn some skills to get us on the road to being a better blogger, both mechanically and in our writing styles. I attended Andy Crofford’s Guest Blogging: How to find the best and avoid the Pests. I especially enjoyed this one as I’ve been getting a lot of emails from people wanting to guest blog and some of them are a bit strange. His tips on how to manage requests and manage the process were helpful.
When it was Jane’s turn to speak, she opted not to do her presentation and instead took questions from the audience.That was a disappointment to me as I wanted to hear her talk about the ‘State of WordPress’. It looks like she does this at about all the WordCamps she attends, so perhaps she wanted a change. Then there was the ear-splitting audio feedback problems that plagued both her and the next speaker.
I listened to Lela Davidson speak on Social Media Consistency: Skip the Overwhelm and Create A Schedule that Works. She gave tips and drew upon her personal experiences with social media and what she did to become comfortable and eventually successful in using social media to increase visibility and become connected with the ‘right’ people.
I finished my day in the Business Track listening to Cotton Rohrscheib speak on Making WordPress Profitable for Design Firms/Agencies. He brought to our attention some of the ‘housekeeping’ chores that are necessary with any WordPress site, such as hosting, software upgrades, training and maintenance. He pointed out that providing these services can provide consistent monthly revenue for those of us who build sites or develop with WordPress.
I missed the last hour of the day as I decided to hit the road for Oklahoma. I got to meet some nice folks and talk to them a bit about why they were there and their experience with WordPress. I believe close to 200 were registered for the meeting, so a nice sized group. I’ll be looking at their agenda next year to see about returning.
BackupBuddy–The Must-Have Plugin
Posted by: | CommentsUsing BackupBuddy from iThemes to backup my site is a lot like using Carbonite to back up my hard drive. Once my settings are in place, I know I’m protected and can easily recover everything.
BackupBuddy is a premium WordPress Plugin that backs up your website or blog– not just your posts, but your theme, widgets, plugins and SQL database. This is superior to any other backup plugins out there because BackupBuddy will actually restore your site to its former state. You won’t have to reconfigure your widgets or wonder what was there. Just follow the instructions to get quickly back online.
BackupBuddy Menu
I’ve had BackupBuddy installed on my site and any sites I maintain for over a year now and recently upgraded to the new 2.0 version that includes even more and better features. I’ll highlight the ones I find most important below.
BackupBuddy Features
- schedule regular backups for database only or a full backup
- tell BackupBuddy to email you upon successful (or unsuccessful) backup
- tell BackupBuddy where you want your backup sent. Choices are: Amazon S3, Rackspace Cloud, an FTP/FTPS account, or your email.
- ability to completely restore my site (they have great instructions & video tutorials in addition to the best support).
- ability to migrate my site. So if I wanted to move to a different host, or if I wanted to build a new site and get it all ready while leaving my old one up, this makes it easy.
- a malware scanner to let me know if something bad is on my site. It also gives me several screens full of details about what versions of software I’m running, links, any errors and even if my domain is blacklisted
- server information that lets me know if my host is up to date on their settings and software
Server Readout (partial results)
If you’ve invested time and/or money in a website or blog, why wouldn’t you take the same precautions as you do with the data on your hard drive? (You do have your hard drive backed up, don’t you?) There are so many things that could happen…your site could become infected, an upgrade could go very wrong, a plugin could mess things up…spend a few bucks for insurance and peace of mind, you’ll be glad you did.
Interview With Lisa Sabin-Wilson
Posted by: | CommentsIf you’ve used WordPress, you’ve probably heard of Lisa Sabin-Wilson, WordPress rock star and author of the popular WordPress for Dummies (the 3rd edition is coming out in June). She also wrote BuddyPress for Dummies, a book about delving into the social side of WordPress by creating your own on-line community from within WordPress. This book came out just this month (April, 2010).
Lynn Dye & Lisa Sabin-Wilson
Lisa was here in Oklahoma City last weekend (4-23/24-2010), for the ithemes Builder Bootcamp. She kicked off the Bootcamp by sharing how WordPress came to be as well as her background with WordPress. Something she said has really stuck with me,
“WordPress is free…and priceless at the same time.”
A simple statement that says much. Think about the flexibility and professional, or whimsical look that can be obtained by a start-up business or an everyday blogger by using WordPress.com for free or WordPress.org, where you obtain your own hosting.
I asked Lisa how she came to write her first ‘Dummies’ book. She was at SXSW (South by Southwest) in 2006 and met, quite by chance, someone from Wiley Publishing. During their conversation, it became evident to the Wiley representative that Lisa knew her stuff and she asked Lisa if she’d be interested in writing a book about WordPress. Until then, writing a book hadn’t entered her mind. In fact she mentioned to me that her 8th grade English teacher would be shocked to know she had written any kind of book!
The writing process is interesting to me, so Lisa explained that with Wiley and the ‘Dummies’ series, there are definite guidelines and formats to follow that took time to adjust to. She is grateful to all the editors, proofers and staff who guided her through that process. Now with 3 editions of WordPress and the first BuddyPress book under her belt, things go more smoothly.
I asked if any new books are in her future and she said she will be doing another book for Wiley. The title is still under wraps until July, but it is WordPress related and should come out in December—just in time for Christmas!
Lisa Gives Back to the WordPress Community
Lisa is active in the WordPress community and believes in giving back. She’s the chief organizer of the Chicago WordCamp and is invited to pretty much all the WordCamps. I learned that no travel expenses or honorariums are given to most speakers at these WordCamps. She’s grateful that she has built a business from WordPress that supports her and her family and she enjoys traveling around the country to meet fellow WordPress enthusiasts.
Her business is WordPress focused. Lisa started her web design business in 1998. When she started using WordPress in 2003, she realized its potential and now, her business, E.Webscapes offers a wide range of blog and web services. I asked how she maintains a business along with her volunteering to attend so many WordPress related functions. She has a talented staff along with a virtual/personal assistant who work with her to make it all work. She also maintains a more personal blog at justagirlintheworld.
You can read my thoughts of the ithemes Builder Bootcamp directly below this post. I was thrilled when I read ithemes was going to do a bootcamp right here in Oklahoma City. Then when I found out Lisa was coming, that just made it all the better. I found her to be very approachable and I along with many others benefited from talking with her during the breaks and getting our books autographed. Thanks for coming to Oklahoma City, Lisa–we look forward to your next visit.
What I Learned at the ithemes Builder Bootcamp
Posted by: | CommentsLast Friday and Saturday (April 23-24), were spent in tech bliss (and overload), at the first ever ithemes Oklahoma City Builder Bootcamp. Here are a few things I learned…
Dustin Bolton, Chris Jean, Matt Danner, James Dalman
1. Builder is even better than I originally thought. I purchased Builder the minute it was available (sign up for their email newsletters, you could probably snag a discount coupon on product releases {sorry @jamesdalman, I had to mention coupons}). I listened/watched some of their demos and on-line workshops and thought that this is going to be great for we non-geeks to use. Being at the workshop and seeing the staff explain and demo the features taught and/or reinforced the Builder skills I had been developing.
2. There’s a distinction to be made with Builder and the Child Themes. We think about Builder being a theme, but really, when using Builder, we upload and activate a particular child theme and that child theme is actually the theme being used. That’s the way I was doing it, but I didn’t really understand the genius behind their thinking.
3. Rename Child Themes before tweaking them. I’ve not been brave enough to do this yet, but if I do, I’ll be sure to save the original child theme and then rename the child theme I want to revise. They said that the child themes usually don’t need to be upgraded and that the major changes/fixes/enhancements they make will be in the Builder theme upgrades. (I hope I got that right!)
4. Delete your inactive plug-ins – they are a security risk.
5. Chris Jean @chrisjean is a genius. He’s the author of Builder, he answers all my novice-type questions so kindly and on my level, and he’s one of the few guys I know who can multi-task! I mean this guy is always working on code while doing other stuff! (p.s. to Chris—remember my request for a feminine/lighter color child theme!)
6. Lisa Sabin-Wilson @LisaSabinWilson is very approachable, knowledgeable and gives back regularly to the WordPress community. She was at our Bootcamp and enhanced everyone’s experience by being there and participating. She let me do a short interview with her, which I’ll publish later this week.
7. Getting to know fellow itheme students. There were people here from CA, TN, NM, MO (Duct Tape Marketing folks), MN, MT and elsewhere there. A valuable serendipity was exchanging contact information with these people and hopefully keeping in touch with them.
I want to thank the ithemes team for hosting the workshop right here in Oklahoma City. It’s wonderful to have this premium theme company leading the OKC tech community. I got to meet Cory Miller @corymiller303 for the first time and found him to be as genuine, passionate and dedicated as I thought he would be. I also got to visit with James Dalman@ jamesdalman for awhile about what he does and the new Web Design Services iThemes is starting to offer. I found out his other role at iThemes is body guard for Cory Miller 
So to Cory Miller, thank you for deciding to hold this Bootcamp in OKC. I’ve been around some of your team at our local WordPress meetups and have found them to always be helpful, gracious and patient. It was evident at the bootcamp that there is a special camaraderie you all share. The team was available and willing to help any and all this past weekend. It was a great experience and I’d recommend any future Bootcamps you decide to put on.
Please read David North’s post of what he learned at the Bootcamp. David is the OKC WordPress Meetup group organizer. Anyone in the local OKC area is invited to the monthly WordPress meetups. We meet the last Monday each month.
How To Add A Facebook Fanbox or Badge To Your Website
Posted by: | CommentsUpdated Post on Facebook Fan/Like Badges Available Here (7-9-10)
Do you have a Facebook Fan or Business page and want to get the word out that it’s there so more people will find you? Maybe you want to promote someone else’s fan page on your website or blog.
Facebook has made it so easy with code to copy and paste into your website or blog.
First, you’ll need to be an administrator of the Fan Page you want to promote. So log in and look on the left for editing options and you’ll see the ‘Add Fan Box to your site’.
Click on Fan Box and it’ll take you to the next page where you’ll select either to add a Fan Box or a Fan Badge to your site.
You’ll see choices of Blogger, TypePad or ‘Other’, so choose the appropriate one and then you’ll be taken to another page where you’ll either sign into Blogger or TypePad, or you’ll be taken to the ‘Other’ page where you’ll see a box with instructions. Just put your cursor in the box and it automatically will select all the text. Click Ctrl+ C to copy and then you’ll need to paste it into your website or blogsite.
If you have a hosted WordPress account (you have wordpress in your url), this won’t work for you. I found it only works in the self-hosted wordpress.
Since I don’t have a Business Page, I tried this with the Technology Innovations Fan Page I administer and it worked great. I added a text widget and pasted the code in it, added a heading and it was finished. I did have to tweak the width settings a bit as the default of 300 was a bit too wide for my current theme. I set the width to 200 and it fit. When you paste the code in, you’ll see it says ‘width=300’, just change the number if you need to. The length will automatically adjust for you. If you prefer a Facebook badge, follow the same instructions except for selecting the badge part.
The code can be added to a traditional website as well. Here’s a short video by Rich Brooks that explains the process for you.
Try implementing this simple, but powerful marketing tool from Facebook.
Windows Live Writer Review
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I’ve been using Windows Live Writer for over a year now and recently downloaded the update and did some exploring on what’s new with Writer and how it allows me to easily use its various tools to make my blog postings look great without having to know a lot of code and other technical stuff.
Live Writer isn’t a web-based app, you download it and it becomes a program/client on your computer (so you can work on your article off-line). After it’s installed, you’ll need to take a few minutes to get it synced up with your WordPress, or other blog. Look for the top line of menu settings and click on ‘blogs’ and roll down to ‘edit blog settings’. Here’s where you will need to know and enter in the url and other login information to your blog. If you do it right, you’ll get connected to your blog. If you edit/write multiple blogs, you can enter the information in for each and Writer keeps them all organized. Writer even downloads your current theme onto your desktop so you can have the experience and feel as if you’re writing on-line.
There are so many useful features, here are a few things I regularly use and find helpful:
insert picture function (after it’s inserted, you can position it, wrap text and align
do a preview of how the article will look on-line with the ‘View’ & ‘Preview’ function
easily change fonts, colors, and other formatting
add my categories, tags and publish date all from Writer
Writer has free plug-ins (reminds you of WordPress), that are easy to install and use. For this article, I installed quite a few (for example, the cool bullets I’m using and the web screen shot below)
The thing I like best is all the screen real-estate I get when composing my articles. I know you can make the box bigger in WordPress, but the feel is a bit claustrophobic for me.
The Plug-Ins are worth taking some time to scour. There were 112 of them when I looked and I think there’s something for everyone. They are in categories and there’s even a search feature to get your download quickly.
I’ve installed several of them and used the website image plug in for the above graphic. However, when I went to edit on-line, the graphic disappeared. Furthermore, when I switched from editing on my XP computer to my Vista computer, the website image plug in wouldn’t work at all. I tried installing it again and Writer seemed to know I had problems as it said it was going to do a repair – still didn’t work.
I noticed that the downloads for some of the plug ins were only in the hundreds, so they are new and evidently bugs will need to be worked out.
You can set up Writer to automatically ping servers when you publish – one more thing to automate and not have to worry about!
If you’re a blogger, download this free app and give it a test drive. I think you’ll like it. You can also read more about it.
