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Posts Tagged ‘guide’

10

January
0

How to Create a Centered UL with Blocks of LI Links

Whether you are working with a CMS or creating a static page (which is logically the step before your custom CMS theme), you are often left to ponder the best way to display a navigational menu or pagination links so that they are centered and in blocks of equal size. You’d be surprised how easy that is, this short tutorial is to get you to create a list that looks as such:

We want blocks of equal sizes, each linking to a given page (without a gap between the edge of the box and start of the link). And we want the code to be perfectly valid, of course.

First, we’ll start with the markup, which is a very basic unordered list:

<ul class="navigation">
	<li><a href="#">Item 1</a></li>
	<li><a href="#">Item 2</a></li>
	<li><a href="#">Item 3</a></li>
	<li><a href="#">Item 4</a></li>
</ul>

This alone results in a standard list with bullets and links. Now we need to add the CSS that will give us the look that we’re after:

ul.navigation{
	list-style: none;
	text-align: center;
}
ul.navigation li {
	display: inline;
	font-size: 14px;
	margin: 0 10px;
}
ul.navigation li a{
	background-color: #e5f27b;
	border: 1px solid #d9e383;
	color: #666666;
	display: inline-block;
	padding: 2px 8px;
	text-decoration: none;
	width : 75px;
}
ul.navigation li a:hover{
	background-color: #fe8a61;
	border-color: #d78466;
	color: #ffffff;
}

As you can see, it’s very straight-forward and you can easily customize it according to your needs. It’s useful for navigational menus, as well as pagination links to be displayed at the top or bottom of a given page.

2

January
0

Migrating from one WordPress installation to another

When you are working on a revamp for your website and/or move to another host, one major concern is how you will be able to migrate all of the posts and information from the current website to the new one. Depending on the size of the data that you are moving, this could be a long process or a short one, but in both cases, it is rather straight-forward.

  1. The first step is to do a fresh install for the latest WordPress on the new server, you can follow my step-by-step guide to getting your WordPress blog up and running. You might be tempted into moving everything as is and just updating the database credentials, etc. but a fresh installation clears your blog from many potential problems. Ideally there would be a temporary URL that you could use while testing, after which you can update the DNS for your domain and go live
  2. If on a testing server, you should consider using the WP Dummy Content plugin which generates as much fake content as you want to act as placeholders and give you a clear idea of how everything will look on the final website
  3. Once the look and feel is as you’d like it to be, it’s time to install the plugins that you will be using for your website. One option could be as simple as downloading the folders in the “plugins” directory on the old server, but that’s definitely not the kind of attitude you want to take with you in 2010. The best practice would be to re-install the plugins one by one from within the new admin control panel. This will give you to option of researching better alternatives to any plugins you weren’t entirely comfortable with, and also assures that you have the latest of each one
  4. Your temporary testing website is now ready with all of the features and functionality, displayed via fake content. It is now time to import the content from the old website
    • From the admin control panel of the old website, go to Tools > Export to create the XML file that you are going to be carrying to the new blog. If the content is large in size (over 1,000 posts), you might want to use the Advanced Export for WP & WPMU plugin, which facilities the filtering and segmentation of the different sections of the website
    • In many cases, the XML file is too big to be uploaded directly into the new installation. Therefore, you can compress the file using the .gz compression, which is understood by the huge majority of servers nowadays. You can use an open-source application like gzip to compress the XML file to about a sixth of the original size. When you upload the file, your server will automatically uncompress it, meaning you will spend far less time waiting for the file to be uploaded
    • Besides that size of the XML file itself, you could face the problem of reaching your PHP memory limit while uploading. This basically means that your server is only allowed to use a limited amount of memory before it stops whatever it’s doing. There’s a good guide at lost-in-code that shows you how you can increase that limit
    • If the importing process goes smoothly and then suddenly stops at one point, there’s no need to panic. You can simply refresh the page, hence resending the script to be parsed and imported, and WordPress will automatically skip all of the posts that already exist. Meaning that even if it stops every couple of thousand posts, refreshing will make it pick up where it had left off
    • NOTE: Although I haven’t tried this myself, there’s an alternative method for moving the content to the new location using a desktop application such as Navicat. In which case you would enter the database information of the two servers, and the program migrates the entries from server to server
  5. Final testing is necessary before you update the DNS on your domain name to make it point to the new server. It is generally good practice to work on a ToDo list with everything that needs to be done for the website to be final. Those that are urgent should be completed before updating the DNS, while the rest can be done while you are waiting for the DNS to be updated everywhere (could take up to 12 hours)

The best part of it all, is that it’s free. With the power of the open-source tools, you will always find the help that you need all over our beautiful web.

19

October
1

How To Create Your Own Blog: A Guide to Installing and Configuring WordPress

Many are unaware of just how easy it is to start your own blog using the best open source tool for blogging out there: WordPress. This is a tutorial that will get you up and running in no time. It will cover everything from purchasing your domain name and hosting account, to downloading, installing and configuring WordPress on your website. After all, your space on the World Wide Web is your birth right, and giving it up because you overestimate the process involved is a pity indeed.

So let’s jump right into this

Step 1: Domain & Hosting

Makre sure your host supports PHP and MySQL

Makre sure your host supports PHP and MySQL

Before you can run a website or blog, you need a unique address (domain) pointing to a space that you’ve reserved on a remote server somewhere on the planet (hosting). You can view my guide on hosting to fully understand the different categories, and thus, which one is best for you. Generally speaking, if this is your first time, a standard shared web hosting account, that usually offers a free domain on top, gets the job done.

For example, if you choose to go with Blue Host, then simply visit the website, and sign up for an account that will cost you $7 for every month, and you’ll probably pay for two years in advance. Any standard plan from any provider will do, granted it supports PHP and MySQL databases (some providers don’t offer databases with their basic packages, but that’s a bit of a rarity nowadays).

Step 2: Create the Database

Now that you own an account, log on to the administration control panel, which is provided to you by the hosting company you’ve chosen to go with, to create a database:

Find the link to add databases (could also use PHPMyAdmin)

Find the link to add databases (could also use PHPMyAdmin)

  1. Go to your control panel and login
  2. Find the databases link, click “add new database”
  3. Give it a name, for example: WordPressBlog
  4. Add a user that will be accessing the database (by creating a username and password)
  5. Take note of the address of the database (in most cases, it’s “localhost”, but sometimes it’s different. In which case you’ll see it displayed along with the database name somewhere)

Now that you’ve created the database, as well as the credentials for accessing it, you’re ready to install WordPress.

Step 3: Download WordPress, Then Upload It

This is a straight forward process:

  1. Go to http://www.wordpress.org/
  2. Download the zipped file
  3. Unarchive (extract) it on your computer, you should be left with a folder called “wordpress”
  4. Open your FTP client. FileZilla is one of the best – free, open source and efficient
  5. Enter the FTP information for your website (given to you by your provider, usually found in the control panel)
  6. Upload the contents of the “wordpress” folder to the root directory of your website (you can upload the entire folder, in which case the installation would be at: www.yourwebsite.com/wordpress)

Now that WordPress has been uploaded to your server, and your database is created, you are now ready to go through the famous five-minute installation.

Step 4: WordPress Installation

Everything is significantly easier with WordPress, and the installation process is no different.

You'll be prompted to create a configuration file

You'll be prompted to create a configuration file

  1. Direct your browser to where the WordPress files had been uploaded (if in the root directory, then just go to www.yourwebsite.com)
  2. You will be prompted to create a configuration file, this is where you store basic information such as the database credentials. Click on the button
  3. Click on “Let’s go” to enter the information
  4. Enter the database information. You should have all of the details from when you created the database earlier. You can also change the prefix of the tables created in the database, but “wp_” will do just fine
    Enter the database information

    Enter the database information

  5. If the database credentials were correct, WordPress will give you confirmation that the tables have been created and the initial data has been added. In some cases, the configuration file is not writable, in which case you will have to manually edit the file to add the database information. You can follow the steps on the WordPress Codex installation guide
  6. Enter the title and email that you would want to use
  7. When all goes well, you will be given a temporary generated password that you will use to enter the administration control panel for the first time. Click on login and enter the credentials that you were just handed
    Temporary account details. Change password after logging in

    Temporary account details. Change password after logging in

Now’s the time to access the control panel and get ready to start blogging!

Step 5: Configure WordPress

The first time you enter the admin panel, you should change your password to something you can remember (you’ll be reminded to do so anyway). It’s also good practice to add another user to replace “admin” so that your alias appears with the posts. If you want to create another administrator account, click on “Users” from the menu on the left, then add, then enter the information. Don’t forget to make the user “Administrator”. Now that the user’s created, log out, and login with the new username and password. Feel free to delete the original “admin” user, now that the blog has a new administrator.

As any beautiful open source tool, there are tons of options that you could go for right after a fresh installation. Having said that, the following are the personal recommended additions/configurations after you’ve logged in for the first time:

  • Enable Permalinks: This is by far one of the biggest advantages of WordPress; the simplicity of the process of controlling the URLs generated. If you’re a frequent blogger, choose year/month/day/title. Otherwise, year/month/title should do fine
    Enable Permalinks: easy and powerful

    Enable Permalinks: easy and powerful

  • Enable Akismet Plugin: I’ve talked about this plugin in my post Essential WordPress Plugins where I’ve listed and discussed every single plugin used for this website. Akismet is revolutionary in how it automatically detects spam comments and places them in a separate queue that you’ll probably never need to check – it’s never mistaken
  • Browse/Install More Plugins: You can check the list of the plugins I use, or you can simply browse the most popular plugins from the “Plugins” menu item on the left. You won’t lose anything in trying out plugins and disabling them if you’re not satisfied. Almost any website/blog could use popular plugins such as “All in One SEO Pack”, “Contact Form 7″, “Social Bookmarking RELOADED” and “WP Piwik” (here’s why you should be using Piwik instead of Google Analytics)
  • Change Theme: As attractive as the default theme may seem at first look, it’s a good idea to go for a different theme. The new version of WordPress allows you to browse the different themes available as if installing plugins – very convenient. You will find the link to install themes under the “Appearance” tab. Otherwise, there are numerous websites dedicated to free WordPress themes that you can install, upload via Filezilla, and activate with the theme menu item

Now you’re golden. You’ve set everything up, and now you’re ready to start sharing your thoughts and ideas with the entire world.

Step 6: Start Blogging!

You can start by making a test post, just to get acquainted with the interface and features. After that, you may want to go through the following content-related options:

  • Add a couple of pages where you will be displaying information that doesn’t change much (for example, “About Me”,  “Contact”, or “WordPress Guides”)
  • Decide whether or not you’re going to be using categories (best used for posts that are displayed on different parts of the website. Otherwise, stick to tags only). Create your categories from the “Posts” menu item
  • Make links’ lists such as “Blogroll” or “Shout out to my people” where you can share various links with the visitors. The “Links” menu item is found on the left and is also very easy to use

That’s it, you’re done! As you can see, the entire process takes 20 minutes or so, and there are substantial amounts of resources for help and support flooding the net if you need them. Generally speaking, it is a straight-forward process and there’s very small room for issues and problems.

You’re Voice on the Web – Your Right

The most important aspect of yet another revolutionary product from the open source community is that it simply acts as a channel that facilities the communication and information exchange between people across space and time regardless of race or origin. It is very important to take advantage of your right as a member of the community of the World Wide Web, the current generations are the first in history to be granted such a privilege. Underestimating its power, or overestimating the technical skills required, is a shame. So get yourself a blog and write about whatever it is you want to blabber about, you have absolute freedom. Beautiful.

15

October
2

LogMeIn: Remotely Control Your PCs

When working with different computers, it’s hard to guarantee you have everything you need with you at all times. You could follow this guide on centralizing all of your documents so that you can access them remotely at any time. However, in many cases, you are still left stranded attempting to get a hold of files on your home computer. The benefits of reaching your computer when far away are numerous, therefore, it is important to setup that channel, even if you don’t see the need for that at this point in time – you’ll be thankful in the future.

LogMeIn is the easiest solution

LogMeIn is the easiest solution

Accessing your computer remotely is not as complicated as many would think. There are programs, both free and commercial, that could that for you, each with their pros and cons. LogMeIn is a little different. It’s a website that allows you to create a free account and add computer associated with your account. They could be running Windows, Mac or Linux, which makes it an ideal solution for those juggling OSs across different computers.

LogMeIn tool on Mac

LogMeIn tool on Mac

The process is straight forward: sign up for an account, add the computer you are using, download and install a plugin, and repeat the process with every computer that you will be adding to the list. On Mac, for example, the LogMeIn tool automatically runs on startup, meaning you only need to make sure that your Mac is turned on, so that it is reachable.

Computers' list

Computers' list

To access one of your computer, go to the website, login, and you will find a list of the computers associated with your account, with links to “remote control” those that are switched on. Clicking on that link opens a screen that streams the desktop you are controlling. The performance and accuracy will always depend on both, your current internet connection, and that of the computer you are controlling. Many ADSL subscribers will regret the low uploading capacity in their connections, but there’s always the option to reduce the number of colors transported, significantly enhancing performance.

The best part of it all is that it’s free. If you are to regularly rely on LogMeIn, you might find that the free version is a bit limiting, for that the makers offer you a wealth of options. The most common of which is LogMeIn Pro, that allows you stream music from the remote computer, drag and drop files between the two, and more. For now, the free version will do just fine.

There's always LogMeIn Pro

There's always LogMeIn Pro

Even if you don’t deem it necessary to make your computers reachable and connected at all times, you never know what’s coming. You might find yourself across the Atlantic craving for files on your home computer, in which case, all you need is LogMeIn, and of course, the beautiful internet.

14

October
4

What You Need To Know About Hosting

Web hosting is something every individual comes across at one point in time. Whether you are creating your online presence (as you should), or coordinating a website or blog for someone, you should have a clear idea of the various types of web hosting available, and the differences between them. This is a brief guide to the different kinds that will help you decide on which one is the most suitable for you.

Everyone's connected to servers

Everyone's connected to servers

The internet essentially connects millions of servers worldwide allowing sending and retrieving data between them. If you want to create a website for yourself or your organization, you’ll need a space on one of those servers that is made publicly available. Thus, when someone visits www.yourwebsite.com, he or she is directed to the public folder on that particular server, and views the web pages created via the browser. You need a server with the basic components found in any computer. More importantly, you need to have constant power supplied to it without interruption (otherwise your website wouldn’t be accessible), and constant high-speed internet access. It is also crucial that there is an advanced cooling system, or else your server will die off after running non-stop for months on end. Purchasing your own server and hosting it at your home or office is ideal for testing and learning purposes. However, for a production site, you are bound to offloading that responsibility to those who are professionals and will take the burden for a monthly fee.

Shared Web Hosting

This is by far the most common of the lot. Any company with a bit of cash to spare purchases a handful of servers and places them in a data center. After that, they attract thousands of subscribers by mind-blowing prices as low as $4 a month. Shared hosting providers are very aware that 95% of their subscribers will only receive visits from their mammys and best friends the first few days, and then close to nothing till Christmas the following year. This is where the risk factor comes in.

A standard server that is designed to carry five or so medium-sized websites and online applications, is used for about a hundred. The majority are pleased with the server because they never notice when it’s down or under-performing. The exact number of clients on a given server is never revealed publicly, but suffice to say that if you are expecting high daily traffic, you’ll inevitably suffer from the dubiously legal under performance.

Servers on rack

Servers on rack

Shared web hosting is the traditional entrance to cyber space. If this is your first time to deal with hosting, and if your website is more of a “microsite”, you can explore the various providers and make your choice. The following are the characteristics that are common between the majority of shared web hosting providers:

  • Cheap: Less than $12 monthly
  • Limited space: Even if they claim that you have unlimited space, you’d be extremely lucky to get away with 10GB (more than the average person would need, but significantly less than what the providers promise)
  • Poor performance: Uploading and downloading video files is a no-no. But you won’ face problems exchanging documents and basic media files
  • 90% uptime: Almost every single provider will promise you 99% uptime (meaning that your website will be unreachable only 1% of the time), but if you are to read the fine print, you’ll find many-a-loopholes that gives them the legal backing to leave you stranded substantially more
  • Control panel: A simple administration panel that makes it easy to create email accounts, add databases, etc. You never need to worry about the actual server

Decent options include Blue Host, Dream Host and Yahoo!. There are many candidates to try out, but whatever you do, do not go with IXWebHosting. Also, stay away from lists of the best shared hosting providers -- the majority charge fees to give providers high rankings.

Dedicated Web Hosting

For large websites that attract thousands of visitors and are mainly for profit, a dedicated server is the wise choice. If slow performance or downtime means your company or organization will lose money, then shared hosting just doesn’t cut it. Dedicated server means that there is an actual server that only you are using. It’s kept in the provider’s data center, meaning you’re covered as far as cooling, power, and high-speed internet connection is concerned.The price depends on the hardware specs of the server that you are purchasing, but don’t expect to pay less than $300 dollars a month. While that might seem excessive, e-commerce websites wouldn’t mind shelling out a relatively small fee to ensure their clients’ experience is uninterrupted and perhaps encourages investment.

With dedicated hosting, you are given the choice of managed or unmanaged plans. Managed means the provider handles everything technical related to the server, including updates and maintenance, leaving you to focus on the website itself. Unmanaged means that besides the basic needs for the server to survive, you’re on your own. You’d need to install the technologies you will be using, and spend time updating and maintaing the operating system and web server running.

Commonly found in dedicated server hosting:

  • Price: Expensive, but it’s all relative. Large businesses would pay anything for quality service
  • Performance: Normally, you’d purchase a computer with a strong CPU, plenty of memory RAM, and a couple of spacious hard disks. It’s a powerful computer, all for you to use
  • Control: whether it is managed or unmanaged, no one tells you what to do. You have complete freedom and control of your server

There are many candidates for dedicated web hosting, and generally speaking, they are far more credible than shared web hosting providers simply because it costs more, and they are dealing with demanding professionals.

Cloud Hosting

This is relatively new, especially because cloud technology has only picked up in the last three years or so. It is based on the idea that the resources are shared, and whenever a website requires more, it is automatically granted its needs. This results in accounts automatically expending and spreading across a number of servers to maintain the same level of performance, and to ensure that it stays online (as oppose to going down). On the other hand, resources are not given to those who aren’t using them, meaning nothing’s gone to waste.

The following video does a very good job in illustrating how cloud computers work:


It’s more like a genius piece of art! Beautiful and informative.

With the economic crises on the rise, many companies and organizations are keen on saving money on hosting, without sacrifising performance and quality. At about $100 monthly, you’re guaranteed to have a website that is not short of its needs, and is constantly expanding to accomodate for the increasing number of visitors. As a small to medium company, this solution is probably your best bet.

Here’s what’s on the table from the cloud hosting providers:

  • Price: mid-range. Usually starts at around $100 and only increases if your consuming more bandwidth and space
  • Performance: It’s no dedicated server, but it’s close enough. It always depends on the provider, but you shouldn’t be facing any issues
  • Control: Depending on your package, you might be granted access to run your “virtual” account just as if you were to control a dedicated server. In many cases, you access an advanced control panel providing you with many features

Cloud hosting is becoming more and more popular. And the big guns to pay attention to are Rack Space Cloud and Amazon Web Services. The former of which is used for this website, along with a couple of dozen more. Personally, Rack Space had given me lots of problems, and I was on the verge of moving away. But they have apologized and have recently significantly improved their service. It turns out that their client-base was growing much faster than they had expected, and their infrastructure couldn’t handle it. They have seemed to have expanded appropriatly to maintain their level of service.

Other Types

There are a couple of other options that you are unlikely to come across, but should be aware of nevertheless:

  • Collocation Hosting: This is when you buy your own server (you can even assemble one just like you would with a desktop computer) but store it in a data center where it is being monitored, but not controlled
  • Free Hosting: Remember the Geocities days? Those might be over, but there are more and more Web 2.0 applications that grant users a subdmain using their service
  • Home Hosting: As mentioned earlier, you can buy a computer, place it in a cool room with and AC and fans for cooling, and rely on the electricity coming into the house, and the ADSL used at home

In conclusion, no two types are the same. Depending on how important the content of your website is, and how much traffic you attract, there is a kind of web hosting that is appropriate for your needs. Within a particular type, there are various providers to choose from, something that you should not take lightly. Nothing’s as tedious and frsutrating as having problems with your web host and having to migrate to someone else. Therefore, take the time to examine the different options and reviews written by fellow users before investing.

You can learn more from the Wikipedia page on web hosting, as well as the information summerized in the W3Schools website.

Remember, your space on the world wide web is your right as a member of the internet community -- passing up on your opporrunity is sacrificing a priviledge that no generation in history was granted.

12

October
3

Centralize Your Files on a Remote Server

As a freelancer of any sort, you’re always on the move. In most cases, you travel distances as part of your work, and have to maintain a certain level of productivity at all times. Web designers and graphic designers alike can only last so long with a laptop, mainly due to the the small screen sizes, but also because of the limited capabilities of laptops in comparison to assembled desktops. This normally results in an investment in a powerful yet affordable desktop at the central location (be it the office, home, or anywhere else), accompanied by a notebook that allows for work continuation on the road.

That particular scenario raises a number of inconveniences. First and foremost, when you initiate a given project on one computer, you have to physically transfer everything via a USB flash memory or an external hard drive of some sort. When you’re back to your original PC, you’re left pondering which files have changed and thus require being transfered back, and which haven’t, and therefore would be a waste of time moving them back to overwrite the originals. Secondly, when your work is scattered between a couple of different computers, unless you can physically access either one of them, you are left stranded with your documents out of reach. Finally, when multi-tasking with a handful of projects, you’ll inevitably become completely disorganized, significantly reducing your efficiency and productivity.

Centralization of documents

Anyone in the vast IT industry probably has his or her website on a shared server. If you don’t, then you should. Besides the fact that you can get your own web space for as low as $6 a month, it has become crucial that you have a presence on the web, regardless of your field. Remember that the web means power to the people, and investing a small monthly fee is a small price to pay for the amount of freedom that you are granted in return. After you’ve established your own website, it is now time to take advantage of your space on the World Wide Web.

Store your files remotely

Store your files remotely

If all of the important documents that were placed on your main computer were accessible from anywhere and at anytime, then life would’ve been much easier. Unfortunately, unless you’re willing to buy a dedicated IP from your ISP and leave your computer connected 24/7 with constant electricity, Internet and cooling, then that’s not an option. This is where the remote server comes in.

By placing all of your documents with your hosting provider, you can access your files from anywhere with an Internet connection. Going away for the weekend? No problem, upload all of your work on your remote server, and when you reach your destination, get a hold of any computer with an internet connection to download the necessary files and start working. This means that you might not even need a laptop if you are sure of a qualified computer for your tasks at the location you’re heading to.

Synchronization and not manual transfer

If you use an FTP client (such as FileZilla) to upload all of your documents, and then download them from another computer using FTP, or HTTP (by visiting the exact location from the browser and downloading). That saves you the hassle of carrying around memory sticks or external hard disks where your data is stored, but you are left with the same issue of figuring out which files are supposed to stay, and which should be replaced. This is precisely where automatic synchronization comes in.

Using a synchronizing software, you can simply create profiles that mirror local directories with equivalents on a remote server. This means that if you have a folder on your hard disk named “contracts”, for example, you can create a profile so that under your website (or ideally, on a subdomain such as storage.yourwebsite.com) the same folder is created. Whenever you have completed a working session, you run the application and scan for differences. The program automatically selects the changed files on either end and lists them for you. By starting the process, you will have essentially left the program to download and upload only the changed files via FTP. Fast, efficient, and lets you get on with your daily tasks, as oppose to worrying about irritating ones.

Install the synchronizing software on every computer that you use, and when you are using one that is not yours, you can simply access the URL where the files are stored and download the necessary ones. You can use a web application to give you HTTP access to your files, such as the PHP Directory Listing Script, and therefore finding and downloading your files becomes a breeze.

Choosing the appropriate synchronizing client

Unfortunately, this is a field that is lacking options. Like everything else web-related, it is probably a temporary issue, but after extensive research, I’ve only found two powerful synchronizers. Both are commercial, albeit reasonably priced. The following are the features that were the base of my search:

  • Two-way synchronization: Allowing you to upload and download, as oppose to using the remote server simply as a backup
  • FTP support: This one knocked off quite a few of the candidates. It is essential to be able to synchronize with a remote server via FTP, as oppose to a physical hard disk connected to computer being used
  • Interface: while an attractive appearance is not necessary, an organized display of the local vs remote files side-by-side is absolutely vital. Without an easy way of comparison, you’re wasting your time

After experimenting with a few, the following are the creme de la creme

GoodSync Pro

Screen capture taken from GoodSync.com

Screen capture taken from GoodSync.com

Never mind their 90s-style website, this is by far the best synchronization tool the world has experienced. Light-weight and extremely easy to use, this application runs smoothly and leaves no room for confusion or frustration.

At the start and end of any working session, run GoodSync and you’re guaranteed to have the most updated files in a very limited time. You can view the long list of key features on their website, but here are the ones that stand out:

  • Allows for synchronization or simple backup
  • Not a memory hogger, fast and does not interrupt your multi-tasking needs
  • Automatically detects and fixes time shifts. By far one of the most important features
  • Visual comparison avoids mistakes regrading overwriting files with others
  • Timer and scheduler let’s the application do it’s job while you’re not even on your computer

At $30, you’re certainly getting a bang for your buck. The downfall that has sadly pushed me away from it is that it is only available for Windows. If one of the computers you will be synchronizing with is a Mac, then this software is no good for you. After using a genuine version for over a year, I had to move on to a competitor that offered Mac support. The disappointment was so deep, that I wrote them politely asking them to develop a Mac version, but without success.

Super Flexible Synchronizer

Gets the job done

Gets the job done

They might have a much more professional website than that of GoodSync, but that’s probably where the loud praise would end. Super Flexible Synchronizer can be installed on a Mac, PC or Linux, making it the obvious choice for those juggling different OSs.

This application includes the basics required by anyone synchronizing with a remote server, but besides its support for the various operating systems, there isn’t too much to brag about:

  • Not a very inviting interface, but gets the job done nonetheless
  • Slow performance, especially when scanning large remote directories
  • An incompetent time-stamping technique, potentially forcing you to upload and download the same files repeatedly (view work around below)

Although not as impressive as its $40 price tag suggests, it remains the best option for cross-browser remote server centralization and synchronization. Before you can fully rely on Super Flexible Synchronizer, you should remove the time stamp, as it is redundant and leads to the repetitive transfer of the same files:

Save yourself the hassle and remove SFS's time stamp

Save yourself the hassle and remove the time stamp

  1. After creating a profile, click “Edit Profile”
  2. Under “Advanced Setting” to the bottom left, select “Comparison”
  3. Under “When size is identical”, check “Ignore Timestamp Altogether”

What this does is tell the program that if the file sizes are identical, even if the time stamped on the given files are different (and they always are because SFS stamps when uploading OR downloading), then assume they are the same. When there is a difference in file size, it goes on to the modified date of the actual file, which means that the newer replaces the older. Otherwise, you’ll probably end up uploading and downloading the directories back and forth. This permanently solves the problem.

Conclusion

To summarize, the following is what you need to do in order to centralize all of your documents on a remote server, and synchronize with the different computers that you are using:

  1. Sign up for a domain and hosting with any of the hosting providers (for example, Blue Host) if you haven’t done so already
  2. Create a subdomain exclusively for storage (like backup.yourwebsite.com, or storage.yourwebsite.com)
  3. Install the PHP Directory Listing Script on your web server (instructions on the website)
  4. Download a copy of either GoodSync Pro, or Super Flexible Synchronizer (depending on whether or not you’re syncing with a Mac)
  5. Setup profiles that mirror local directories with the same but on your remote server, via FTP, using the software you chose in step 4
  6. Start syncing right before and right after extensive work sessions

This solution is ideal for web designers, developers, graphic designers, or anyone always on the move while working on different computers. You could also use it to store photos, music and videos. The only problem might be the limitations of your internet connection, making it almost impossible to upload large files, as well as your shared hosting provider’s connectivity, slowing down communication with the server. As the services and features provided to us by the beautiful Web increase, organization is a must.

6

October
2

Understanding the Twitter Cycle

The divide between those in the twitter planet and the outside world is constantly growing. Some twitterers could go as far as arguing that unless you’ve been active for extended periods of time, you are almost clueless as to the capabilities of the Web 2.0 revolution, and the power that it gives you. After the traditional Twitter introduction to those who remain oblivious, we reach the more advanced topic to the simple web application: How to take full advantage of Twitter.

Twitter is extremely powerful

Twitter is extremely powerful

There exists a minority who use Twitter to send constant updates to family and friends, but let’s not kid ourselves, their numbers don’t exactly compare to those of big armies. The majority of the Twitterers are trying to achieve the highest number of followers, and thus be able to send out links that could drive traffic to certain destinations. Whether you are a designer, journalist, merchant or even a celebrity, Twitter opens unprecedented channels of communication, and facilitates interaction with an ironic 140-character limit per tweet. As the internet has taught us over the years, you can never expect people to give you their attention if you are not offering them anything worthwhile. And that applies quite accurately to Twitter.

Many believe that they can open a Twitter account, within a few days have hundreds of followers, then make a tweet linking to their blog, and they’re set for life. Unfortunately, the reality is far from that. Before anyone can trust you, you have to prove yourself to them. This basically means having quality, noticeable tweets on a regular basis. With time people will label you as a credible source, and therefore might opt to follow your links. The beauty of this phenomenon lies in the fact that you have to constantly give to the community, before anyone’s ready to return the favor. That in turn prevents selfish contributors from gaining more than what they deserve, and rightly rewards those exerting efforts to helping the community – perfect.

Steps to becoming a successful twitterer

  1. Initial phase: Sign up for the account, and plan out who are the type of people you are going to be following, and more importantly, who you’d want to follow you. For example, as an IT professional, you’d want to build relations with big IT geeks from around the globe, and hopefully find means for collaboration or connections. As a musician, you’d want to connect to other musicians, but you also want regular users to visit your MySpace page frequently, join your Facebook fan page, and eventually buy your music and tell everyone about it.
  2. Chose who to follow: After you’ve come up with a plan, follow those whose tweets will interest you (regardless of the field – doesn’t matter at this point), as well as those you hope would follow you back. It is important to only follow a small number, because many people would neglect to follow an unproven twitterer, and therefore it is better to build a strong Twitter portfolio so that when you follow someone, they give you the chance to shine by returning the favor. I recommend starting with about 50 users (friends and family included)
  3. Start tweeting: This is the tricky part. It is absolutely crucial that you constantly tweet, however, if you go overboard, you’ll lose followers. Therefore, you have to keep providing interesting content so that people take note of you. If your tweets are meaningless (which is relative, but you should be aware of what the crowd you’re after seeks), then it turns into a headache. If you’re making 20 to 30 tweets a day, all with interesting thoughts, comments, ReTweets and links, then you will have become a provider and not a burden. However, you should avoid sending out links that are for your own sake, otherwise it could be seen as undeserved publicity, and that could scare away some followers. You should pay close attention to the language that you use, and the subjects that you discuss. If you are strictly targeting marketing professionals, you should keep your political opinions to a minimum. If you are a journalist covering politics and socio-economic issues, few will want to hear about your breakfast and showers, and some might write you off as unprofessional if you’re using foul language and making immature tweets.
  4. Add followers: There are two schools of thought
    1. Mass followers: those are the people that follow up to 5,000 people so that the huge majority of them follow in return. It is an easy way to get people to follow you, but I’d personally deem it unclassy. You shouldn’t follow people whose tweets are of no interest to you. And when you gain thousands, the huge majority couldn’t care less about what you have to say, because you’re not a valuable follower. Therefore, it becomes a mutual acquaintance, and can never become intimate.
    2. Picky followers: those who carefully choose who they’re following, and usually keep the number to below 300. That helps build your Twitter portfolio as it becomes a bit of a complement to those who you’ve chosen to follow, and builds much more intimate communication levels with fellow twitterers. You are unlikely to reach high numbers in a short period of time, but those who follow you are much more loyal to your tweets, and thus you are far more likely to drive useful traffic to your website/blog/service, whatever its nature. In both bases, it’s generally good practice to follow a bunch, and then weeks later, use a service such as Buzzom to see who are not following you, and mass unfollow them.
  5. Incorporate PR: Only now would be a convenient time to attempt to attract visitors. By that point, you will have been active for a significant period of time (at least 3-6 months), you will have built connections with peers, and you will be regarded as a credible source. It is important to note that you will be able to grab people’s attention to the subject area your working for, but whether or not your actual content is successful is a completely different story that is beyond this guide.
  6. Maintain momentum: By this point, you’ll be an expert in utilizing Twitter, and you’ll see the light that very few have been lucky enough to experience. However, it is important to avoid becoming complacent. We are living in a demanding Web 2.0 environment, and that requires constant work and dedication. Just like the people have given you a credible voice, they have the power to take it away from you. Just like everything the internet has produced, Twitter is essentially power to the people.

Therefore, converting Twitter to a successful PR tool requires six months of constant activity and depends on what you bring to the table. However, the beauty of the open-source community is in the fact that whatever you do, you can always contribute, and there will always be a crowd eager to learn from you, and ready to exchange knowledge with you. Twitter is but a plateau where the people take the stage, and act out the play. An example of a true product of the beautiful Internet.

8

September
1

Surf the Web on Your Mobile

One of the biggest advantages of the latest generation of cell phones and hand-held devices is the ability to browse any websites, check your e-mail, follow your RSS feeds, etc. While there are mobile devices, such as the iPhone, that are pay particular attention to the user’s experience with the web, the huge majority leave you the option without encouraging you to fully exploit it. For that reason, I’ve put together a quick tutorial on how to take full advantage of the web-surfing capability on your mobile running, running Windows Mobile or Symbian. I am using the Nokia E71 (which I’ve reviewed many months after, as well as compared to lower-end counterparts), but the process is the same for most phones of the same category.

Connectivity

Although 3G Internet access has become significantly cheaper, it is still more economical, as well as rapid, to access the web via wifi whenever available. Therefore, if at a wifi hotspot, it is imperative that you take advantage of the connection and add it to your list of regulars. Aside from free wireless connections, the average telecommunications provider automatically detects the type of phone, and sends a configuration file in shape of an SMS to get your mobile phone on the net in no time. As a result, whenever you open the browser that comes built in, you are prompted to select the access point of choice. Having said that, it is a bit of an inconvenience to make the choice every time, and the process because repetitive and rather tedious.

Birdstep: The makers of SmartConnect

Birdstep: Makers of SmartConnect

The solution is a free software available for most called SmartConnect from Birdstep. It carries out a simple task that could save you infinite time and energy. It allows you to create connection groups where you place your preferred access points, and then allows you to move them up and down the priority list. Logically, you would place all of the wifi networks of the places where you are frequently located, followed by the 3G connection from your provider. You can name the group any unique name, such as MyConnections.

After that, any program on your phone that accesses the internet can be configured to make the smart choice. Simply access the settings area of each, and make the default network of connection the group that you created (in this case, MyConnections – yes it appears as a network connection, even though it is merely a group of favorite connections, and that’s the beauty of SmartConnect).

As a result, whenever you access the Web, you will always be automatically on the free wifi if available, or your 3G network if not, without having to answer any questions or calculate the possibilities.

Browsing the web requires a good browser

Now that you’re on the right connection, you will notice that it is not very convenient to use your phone regularly for surfing, even if it’s via a free wifi connection. The reason being that with a small screen and limited functionality, you immediately realize that nothing’s worth so much sacrifice, and will consequently opt for a full browser on your computer. While the difference is too big to consider mobile browsing in any way a contender to the real deal, there are still measures that can be taken to ensure the most pleasant experience on the web.

The web browser that comes built in with the Nokia E71 and similar Symbian-based phones is not even good to be part of the past. Mainly due to the following:

  • Below-par performance: takes ages to open simple text websites
  • Not intuitive: no matter how much experience you have using it, you never get used to handling it
  • Zoom: You can only zoom out at 50%, and you can only do so when the page is done loading. If you’re opening a large-sized website, it could take a solid few minutes before you are allowed to zoom out, when you still can’t see anything because the pages simply don’t fit
  • Limited functionality: limited or no control over font size, image settings, RSS feeds, etc.
Opera Software logo

Opera Software logo

The Internet Explorer that comes with windows does not have much to brag about either (and let’s not get started on the problems of the desktop version). Needless to say, this needs to be taken care of. This is where Opera comes in. An experienced, open-source browser that has been specializing in mobile devices from the times of dial-up connections. The main advantages of the Opera browser on your mobile are the following:

  • Performance: extremely fast and light-weight
  • Usability: very easy to use, you become best friends at first sight
  • View port: you initially get the entire website and can automatically zoom in to any section of the page. IT makes it very easy to spot info and get closer to fully view it
  • Advanced options: you can control if you want to photos to be rendered at low quality (saves immense amounts of time, especially since you never notice the difference from a small display like that of your cell phone), default text size, and more

Above all, it’s free and open-source! To install Opera on your phone, simple open the default browser and go to http://www.opera.com/ and you will be automatically directed to the site optimized for mobile phones. Go to the download page and find your version (Windows or Symbian). If your phone is from a select few (the Nokia E71 included), then you can click on the corresponding link that allows you to download and install Opera Mini, which works like magic.

There you have it, the adequate connection automatically chosen and connected to on your behalf, combining with the best browser for mobile phones available, giving you the optimum solution for fully exploiting the web-surfing capability with the majority of cell phones offered through the market today.

5

September
15

Arabic Support in Mac OS X

While it might seem like a bit of a hassle, adding support for the Arabic language on your Mac is a simple, straight-forward process. This is a quick guide to adding the Arabic keyboard to Mac OS X, as well as the softwre to use in order to open and edit office documents in Arabic.

Add the Arabic Language and Keyboard

The first step is to add a foreign keyboard, and that can be easily achieved via the System Preferences:

  1. Click on the Apple logo on the top-right corner, and open System Preferences
  2. Under the Personal group, select International
  3. Go to Input Menu, check Keyboard viewer, scroll through the languages, and select Arabic
    The international input menu

    The international input menu

  4. Check Show input menu in menu bar for quick and easy access
Languages' menu

Languages' menu

You will notice that your Mac OS X’s native language flag has appeared on the bar across the top (for example, USA flag for US English). In order to start typing in Arabic, simply click on that flag, and select Arabic from the menu that appears. If your keyboard does not have the Arabic alphabet printed on, you can select “Show keyboard” from the flag menu for access to a visual keyboard then you can use your mouse clicks to type. Of course, it is an inconvenience, and you are much better off either getting the letters printed on, attach transparent stickers with the Arabic letters on the keyboard buttons, or purchasing and attaching an external USB keyboard.

Opening and Editing Arabic Office Documents

Many Mac users choose to install Microsoft Office for Mac (the latest of which is the 2008 edition) to use programs such as Word, Excel, or Powerpoint. Aside from the fact that it is yet another Microsoft product with stability issues and unexpected flaws, the software bundle has an attractive and intuitive interface, and helps make you productive and efficient. The only major disadvantage, however, is the lack of support for Arabic. This means that you cannot even open a .doc file, for example, that is written in Arabic.

download OpenOffice.org

download OpenOffice.org

There are two main office bundles that can tackle this problem: Apple iWork (with Arabic support), and OpenOffice.org. The former could be quite pricey and does not necessarily offer the smoothest transition from its Microsoft counterpart. The latter, on the other hand, is free and open source. Even if OpenOffice.org cannot be considered a direct replacement, it remains a convenient solution as it sits comfortably side-by-side with Microsoft Office without consuming much space or resources in general.

Thus, this is how you can install and configure OpenOffice.org to work as a supplement:

  1. Go to http://www.openoffice.org/ and download the installation file
  2. Install OOo on your local machines and move it to your Applications folder
  3. Open OOo and go to the Preferences menu
  4. Under Language Settings, select Languages, check Enabled for complex text layout (CTL)
  5. Select Arabic (Egypt) from the CTL drop-down list
    OpenOffice.org Language Settings

    OpenOffice.org Language Settings

This will result in the ability to type, create/edit office documents, and open files, all in Arabic. The same could be applied to any language, but Arabic in particular tends to scare people off with its apparent complexity, but as you’ve seen, it’s as easy as basic configuration, and a beautiful product from the open source community.

24

August
0

DOCTYPEs And Validation

When developing a website it is crucial to do so in the cleanest, most standards’ compliant way. After spending sleepless nights getting your website to render properly on IE6 (which I hope will be dieing soon), the next major task on the list is to validate your CSS, as well as the markup. In most cases, having a clean, organized code that is valid goes hand-in-hand with proper browser rendering. However, before we go further, we need to know what exactly are the different DOCTYPEs, and which one we should be using.

DOCTYPE is short for Document Type Declaration and it is the very first element that appears in any web page (preceding the <HTML> tag), and it basically indicates to the browser how to look at your code. If you do not declare a DOCTYPE at the start of your document, browsers become confused and act differently. Therefore, regardless of how professional you want to go around doing this, a DOCTYPE is absolutely vital. You can read more about why you should use a DOCTYPE at the A List Apart website.

Having said that, you know need to make the decision of which of the various types are you going to stick to. The most important types are for HTML and XHTML, and on three levels: Frameset, Transitional and Strict. This is how the line of code looks like:

HTML 4.01 Frameset

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Frameset//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/frameset.dtd">

HTML 4.01 Transitional

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">

HTML 4.01 Strict

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">

XHTML 1.0 Frameset

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Frameset//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-frameset.dtd">

XHTML 1.0 Transitional

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

XHTML 1.0 Strict

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">

You can see the full list of DOCTYPEs at the W3C website.

Now you need to make the choice. If you are looking to become a professional web designer, then your goal is to stick to the XHTML 1.0 Strict DOCTYPE and produce valid CSS and code. This means your code is strictly organized and the syntax is perfect. However, this might be extremely difficult to reach at your first attempt. For that reason, you may want to use the Transitional, which is the same, but far looser and will let many little “errors” slip without making a big fuss about them. In all cases, you should not use the Frameset DOCTYPEs because we have successfully embarked the 21st century, and frames are a thing of the past.

You might want to start out with the XHTML Strict DOCTYPE and see how the validation goes. If your website is online, you can use the W3C Validation Service as you work to follow the errors that come up. If it’s not online, and you are developing from your local machine (via MAMP, for example, which I had talked about), you can use the Web Developer Firefox add-on (one of several that you should be using as a web designer) and click on Tools > Validate HTML. If you are getting 500 errors, that it might be too little too late. However, if you have 200, for example, you can work to fix them all. If that’s way too much work that you don’t think is worth the time, then you can go Transitional, and the error count should be significantly reduced, to eventually give you valid Transitional code.

Why Should I Validate My Code?

In theory, a proper DOCTYPE with validated CSS and XHTML will render properly across all browsers. However, since there are “browsers” such as Internet Explorer 6, a perfectly valid code could still lead to a perfectly disfunctional website. However, it will most probably render as you would want it to on the remaining browsers in the market. Over time, the issue with validation has moved from being essential for cross-browser compatibility, to being a prestigious title that is well worth striving for.

Therefore, as a professional web designer, you should put every effort into producing validated code to ensure that it is:

  1. Future-proof: Any new browsers will properly render it
  2. Cross-browser compatible: Will require less work to show up perfectly on all of the current browsers
  3. Professional: Having the “valid CSS” and “valid XHTML” on your website are indications of the value of your work – something to be proud of

The good news is that the huge majority of frameworks and scripts that are used as the base of any website (I had previously talked about the 960 Grid System, as well as Blueprint as CSS frameworks) are developed with valid code to allow the most uptight of designers and developers to rely on them. So if you start developing your website by declaring the XHTML 1.0 Strict DOCTYPE, using the 960 GS, on your Mac using MAMP, you can use the Web Developer Firefox add-on to keep track of the validity of your code. That would hopefully result in a sleek, professional, CSS and XHTML-valid website!