I finally had the chance to watch Adam Curtis’s documentary, “All watched over by machines of loving grace”. At least the first episode, anyway.

At first it might need some adaptation to the calm tempo and the seemingly unrelated plots, but it soon fits together and connects quiet impressively. With many points to reflect on, one in particular caught my attention; a women by the name of Carmen Hermosillo, was an avid user of the new cyberspace and as early as 1994 published a rant against it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

You can read the full article here. Her argument is mind-blowing, to say the least. It is so rich with avant-garde ideas that, years later, it leaves you doubting your relationship with the web – something that has long been taken for granted. Summarizing her points would not do her justice, but let’s do it for the sake of the argument.

I’ll dare to say that Carmen’s main point is that the idea of cyberspace giving each person his or her voice is complete falsehood, and at the end of the day, it comes down to converting all sorts of interaction on the web to commodities that are traded like products. She argues that we as users vent out our feelings to feel good about ourselves, and then websites use them to ultimately make money. She went as far as saying that since there is minimal human interaction via cyberspace, we do not act in humane ways and in fact commit unethical actions as result of the medium.

Perhaps more-importantly, Carmen shares the sad-but-true story that the idea of power spreading equally across the masses is an illusion – it is just that power becomes transferred to an elite in cyberspace. We’re just replacing elites with others. Talk about cynical.

For the most part, I agree. Sometimes we as human beings get carried away into thinking that computers and technology will feed the poor, educate our children, and discover the future. We bet our blind faith on ‘innovation’ and technological developments. Our definition of progress is ironically old-fashioned and traditional.

Moreover, our channels of communication are businesses exclusively after making money. In the ‘humdog’ days, it was CompuServ and America On Line, now it’s Google, Facebook, twitter and the likes. Whether we’re nurturing the feel-good factor inside us, or simply expressing ourselves online, we’re ultimately helping a few business make more bucks.

Not only that, but it’s gotten worse because there are a limited number of ISPs throughout the globe controlling a handful of cables that deal with the entire internet traffic all over the world. Therefore, if any website is hosted on a server according to the terms of the hosting provider, any user accessing has to go through one of the ISPs in the country that are allowed to function under government surveillance. The hosts themselves have to stick to their country’s ISPs and governments and travel through the cables. Ultimately, there is no such thing as control-free information on the web.

Added on to that, social networks like twitter gave birth to the term ‘infleuncers’. An influencer is someone who has a lot of followers and therefore his or her word is valuable and results in notable change. People go to an influencer for advice. In fact, people trust the influencer and are less likely to question. In short, an influencer is powerful and has a great say on how matters will be perceived, and thus how we will move forward. In short, an influencer is part of the elite.

But that’s the extent of my agreement with Carmen.

When the makers of twitter put together a startup and gave birth to a revolutionary social network, they had a vision. As fascinating as their ideas might be, they are completely irrelevant. And the reason is that we, the users, are the ones who make the call. We decide how this network is used, and we redefine it, repeatedly. It’s gotten to the extent that twitter themselves would not dare make any decision that we don’t agree on; the backlash would be unbearable.

Thus, as the internet users grow in numbers, we, as a group, become more powerful. There’s no doubt that businesses attempt to squeeze every penny out of us, but that is more of a problem of capitalism on a global scale – something beyond this argument. And of course we have elites who receive special treatment, but it is completely different to elites in a traditional hierarchical society.

The elites in society are born as such, with little social mobility and never earn it. On the web, however, you become part of the elite after consistently providing valuable content for long periods of time. When you work hard, you are rewarded elite status. However, if you commit mistakes, you can lose that status, and therefore you have to keep up. Moreover, as an elite, if you watch a YouTube video, it goes up one count. If you retweet a tweet, the retweets go up one count. If you vote in a poll, your voice counts as one, and only one.

Therefore, the internet’s elite is no more than a wise man (or women) whose voice is given more weight, but he or she can never ultimately dictate the masses.

Our interaction via the web is relatively minimal, yes. But with time it’s becoming easier and cheaper to cut the distance between the two. Thanks to the web, you can now chat live with video, and it’s becoming increasingly available on the phone. That’s not exactly practicing the sense of touch virtually, but it is decades ahead of plain text forum chatting from back in the day.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Progress does not necessarily mean gadgets and wires, it has a much more profound meaning to that. But the human race hasn’t done much progress since poverty and misery are only getting bigger. However, such a drastic change requires some sorts of revolutions, and it is the web that is the ideal tool to exchange information across space and time and mobilize the people. In theory, if we were all on the web, bringing about social change would be as easy as wanting it. I said in theory.

One major player that Carmen failed to mention (and understandably so, it was .94, remember?) is open-source. This is a true demonstration of effective collaboration via the web that creates products and services whose sole function is make our lives better and they are all absolutely free.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Open-source single-handedly fights the disadvantages of the web. For example, the issue of lack of privacy and controlled information via the monopoly of the ISPs and the cables could be solved via Tor – which is a web of virtual channels that ensure communication is encrypted. There are infinite examples of open-source projects that help protect the people from censorship, surveillance and lack of privacy.

In conclusion, Carmen was right. Cyberspace is mostly a silent place, a commodification of its users. That is what cyberspace was. However, the web is different. We, the people, the users, the masses, have taken control and redefined what the web means and how it is used. We have given birth to an organic system that grants the elite status to those who deserve it, but is purely prestigious in nature – we each have no more than one vote. We have embarked on an information super highway where companies have learnt not to go against us, or even attempt to push us in a certain direction.

And what better way to illustrate than with my all-time favorite YouTube video?

Click here to view the embedded video.

This is, my friends, power to the people. And it’s just getting started.

January 25th will be remembered throughout history as the day of irony; the National Police holiday eventually had the entire security forces roaming the streets from all parts of Egypt in an attempt to control an overwhelming turnout for anti-corruption demonstrations. While the protesters were mobilizing and collaborating together, the Egyptian authorities resolved to desperate attempts in order to hinder the communication.

Tahrir st. on the way to downtown

Over the span of a few hours, websites like Bambuser, twitter and Al Dostor newspaper (amongst others) have all become inaccessible after an old-fashioned ‘pulling of the plug’ by the genius personnel of the Egyptian authorities. It is not clear how long the censorship will go on for, but in all cases, the following are the different ways in which you can bypass censorship and access any website you want:

1. Use a proxy website, such as hidemyass.com or any of the websites listed here
   Advantages: Very easy, just go to the website, and use the provided bar to visit any website. No installation required, and it’s free
   Disadvantages:  You’re left with an annoying header that occupies a large portion of the screen, and it’s certainly not ideal for long term. It’s better used as a quick temporary fix
2. Use the browser Opera with its Opera Turbo option (available by clicking the small clock symbol at the bottom). It is available for Windows, Mac and Linux
   Advantages: Opera is a cool browser anyway, and it’s free of course. Enabling the option is cake, and you don’t need to worry about banners or anything getting in the way – just browse normally
   Disadvantages: The Opera Turbo option compresses and caches all websites, so any image you come across will be at a noticeably lower quality than the original (that’s how they can speed up the page loading)
3. Use a free proxy software that you install and run, after which you’re free to browse any website normally. You can use Hotspot Sheild, or any of the ones listed here
   Advantages: After you install, you can have it run automatically, or just click ‘connect’ before getting started, and then any browser activity is made anonymously. It’s free
   Disadvantages: You’ll have to put up with some banner ads here and there (that’s how they can make money to support the servers that you’re going through)
4. Use a professional VPN service, such as USAIP, that not only bypasses censorship here, but also makes websites believe you’re in another country (with a handful of choices)
   Advantages: Available for all operating systems, and smart phones as well. Very simple to set up, and all you need to do is connect before starting any internet activity (not only websites, but any app you have accessing the internet). You can choose from many locations within the United State and Europe (which allows you to use websites like Hulu and BBC iPlayer)
   Disadvantages: Costs $8 monthly

I personally recommend using Opera because it’s easy and straight-forward. This should work as a temporary solution until we see the final outcome with the Egyptian authorities’ censorship stance. In the case of the prolonged continuation of web censorship, investing in a proper VPN would certainly be worthwhile. I’ve had a USAIP account anyway, so that’s what I’ve been using today.

It’s ironic that the Egyptian government declared January 25th an official holiday to commemorate the Egyptian police forces, because it’s probably the most stressful day of the year for them. But I think that it’s even more ironic that they censored the web thinking that they would be able to control us better, when it is precisely that move that will make us take advantage of the internet to its fullest extent, and work together to bring down this corrupt regime.

The beauty of the web is that it is by us, and for us, and there’s nothing that Mubarak’s family can do about it.

The other day my friend Hatem Seoudi called me up to ask ‘what makes a good website? How can I tell if I’m looking at a kick-ass website, or a not-so-hot one?’

Good question. Needless to say, the answer is highly subjective, and depends on numerous aspects. But like everything else, there are a set of rules and guidelines that make sure you’re on the right track. After that, whether or not a website is ‘good’ enough is up in air. The following are the indicators to judge the overall quality of any website.

1. Addresses target audience
   If you’re not the target audience, then your judgment is to a large extent irrelevant. At the end of the day, a website offers information of value to a certain group of people. The broader the target, the more difficult the task at hand. For example, a website like deviantart.com is targeting a certain niche. It’s a community of digital artists from various backgrounds, but with a common ground. On the other hand, Google, or any search engine for that matter, is for anyone accessing the web. Therefore, the later is more likely to be extremely simple, and avoid making any associations or unorthodox approaches to ensure it appeals to the masses. The question of audience is carried on and applies throughout all of the coming points.
2. Ease of use, informative
   A website could boast unique, valuable information. But if the content is difficult to reach, or if it’s not clear where you should go or what it is you need to do, then it’s absolutely useless. That’s where usability comes in. Before working on the design concept, the creators of any website need to go through the process of dividing up the content into the different sections, and coming up with a suitable layout. A website like HSBC Egypt requires a dual degree in ancient Japanese and advanced algebra. Standard Chartered‘s, although far from perfect, is light years ahead.
3. Aesthetically pleasing
   This is obviously the aspect most prone to subjectivity. However, very few have invested endless hours and creativity and ended up with an ugly digital representation. If the website’s targeting  a young, tech-savvy crowd, then the more interactive and loud (in terms of colors), the better. The Web Designer Wall is one of many that hit the spot for the ones who seek. The NPR‘s website, although ‘minimal’ in comparison, is phenomenal in terms of design and layout. For an example of what a website should not look like, look no further than Masrawy (or any of LINKdotNET‘s websites).
4. Performance
   If the best website in the world takes more than 30 seconds for all of it to show up, then it useless. Quality websites require top-notch planning and coding, which means that there is less code to render, and therefore everything’s lighter and faster. Fubon‘s Flash website is impressive, but it takes less time to find a parking spot in Cairo. You’ll notice that community-driven social networks like Flickr offer pleasant performance, despite boasting large multimedia files. There are many ways in which you can reduce file sizes and load time, without sacrificing design or functionality.
5. Frequently updating
   ‘No news is good news’ is old news. With the web, information becomes outdated in a matter of minutes, and people’s patience have all but gone extinct. In fact, the only reason visitors will return to a website (hence making it a ‘good’ one), is if there is valuable content offered. This requires fresh material being posted as frequently as possible, even if it’s not a news-based site. This ties in strongly with social media, and having something like a blog be a vital part of your website.
6. Easy to share
   A good website makes it easy on the visitors to share its content and help it go viral. This includes sticking to SEO standards (available with any popular Content Management System), providing clean, direct links for all of its content, and making it a click away from posting to Facebook or tweeting it to your followers. A good website will require minimal effort from you to invite others to share your experience. Until recently, there wasn’t an easy way to share articles from BBC News on social networks (and now it still doesn’t shorten the URL when posting to twitter). Their Spanish counterpart, El Pais, are one of many daily news sources that have mastered the art of facilitating content sharing.

Regardless of the purpose or audience of the website, if it addresses those points, then it’s definitely on the positive side of the spectrum. How valuable and/or successful it is, though, is for us, the people, to decide. No ‘industry standard’ can tell us how we should react, and that’s part of the charm of our beautiful web.

The reason why the web is the ideal tool to give power to the people, is because it allows us all to connect with each other directly across space and time, sharing knowledge and experiences. That is why the web should always act as a mean to an end that will benefit us all, and it is events like this weekend’s GeekFest in Cairo that allow us to take interaction and engagement to the next level.

Cairo’s version of the GeekFest is a Creative Commons event that brings techies of all sorts together to learn from each other and share ideas. Whether you’re interested in tapping in on the twitter community in Cairo, learning about start-ups, open-source, expression via the web and new media, or anything related to our beautiful information super highway, stop by the GeekFest at the Sawy Cultural Wheel in Zamalek.

Event Details

Saturday, May 29, 2010
4:00pm – 9:00pm
Al-Sawy Culture Wheel
26 July St, Zamalek

More details at the Facebook Event page. You can also check out Maggie Osama‘s blog post.

When non-profit organizations and foundations made the realization that, despite their limited budget and resources, they could reach their target audience effectively (all thanks to the web), their objectives suddenly became much more attainable. Carrying out the tasks of a given development program might be costly, but at least spreading awareness of the issue, and reaching out to volunteers and doners, has become significantly easier.

KnowMore.org is a community-driven wiki that aims at aggregating corporations and entities to a publicly-accessible database to raise awareness about human-rights violations. It does so by researching and finding the companies and multi-nationals that are responsible for “attacks on democracy, worker’s and human rights, fair trade, business ethics and the environment.” It’s a brilliant initiative that brings valuable information in a centralized location for everyone to benefit from.

Not only is KnowMore.org impressive because of the initiative and online presence, but also  because of the way in which they’ve exploited the web (no pun intended). First of all, the look and feel of the website puts it way ahead of the rest (including many corporate websites). Secondly, the fact that it’s very easy to use (spin off from the widespread Wikipedia) inevitably encourages anyone with interest in the field to take part and add to the extensive database.

That’s not all. They’ve actually taken it to the next level by offering a Firefox add-on called KnowMore Extension. What this does is bring up a notification underneath the toolbar of Firefox whenever you are visiting a website of a company that has violated human rights one way or the other. And in order to avoid being what opposition would rush to claim generic, or over-generalizing, they actually indicate the exact rights that have been violated, as well as providing the link to learn more about the illegal activities of that particular company.

KnowMore.org notification bar

It’s like having the community do all of the work for you while you’re browsing.

There are many organizations and non profit entities out there that are striving to make this world a better place. KnowMore.org is like many of them in principle, but far more effective in practice. That is because they have managed to reduce their costs by making the entire platform online, engaged with visitors via the attractive interface and the easy, familiar wiki system, and reached out to many more via the effective Firefox plugin.

If you are part of an NGO or a social development initiative, then the standards set by KnowMore.org should be your immediate goal. That is partly why our beautiful web is power to the people.

As brutal and corrupt as many governments can be nowadays, some are oblivious to the fact that the Web empowers the people beyond control. Dictators like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea, and Hosny Mubarak of Egypt might like to think that they rule with an iron fist that is virtually impossible to dismantle. While that is certainly close to the truth, little do they know that their technological incompetence and their underestimation of the power of the web is a potentially serious threat.

Egypt, for example, has opened up the press freedom over the past decade, which has encouraged a number of independent newspapers to take the stage. That, along with the exponential technological advancements that the world as a whole has experienced, has left the government thinking that perhaps it has bitten off more than it can chew. In the 80s, the three main papers were all governmental, and any story shared between the three, regardless of it authenticity, become true to the masses. Not only that, but propaganda posters and cartoons were highly effective.

Now the times are-a-changing.

After the horrific sectarian clashes in the south of Egypt, the entire Egyptian blogosphere was talking. Twitter was on fire. Facebook was flooded. And the blogs discussing the issue were scattered all over. That is when Al Ahram, Egypt’s main government-run newspaper, decided to weather the storm. Besides the fact that their website, when it actually works, looks like cow manure reshaped to fit within a computer screen, their approach was older than the president himself:

The ridiculous propaganda cartoon by Al Ahram

The “illustration”, which seems to have been scribbled and slapped together by a six year-old with mental illness, depicts the happy Egyptians together celebrating peace and prosperity. A Muslim coming out of a minaret shouts out simultaneously with his Christian counterpart standing on a church tower, “our shared enemy is the devil.” If that’s not enough, the “doves” in between are carrying hearts back and forth to imply unconditional love exchanged by all the peoples. The worst part of it all is that it’s not a joke – Al Ahram genuinely thought they would indirectly fool the crowds into believing that the all is well at the land of the Pyramids.

20 years ago, the cartoon could’ve stood a chance. Now, it could only make matters worse. The main reason being that with access to unlimited and uncensored information between the different people across space and time, old school propaganda has become ineffective. People no longer fall for the idealizing images of brutal dictators, nor photographs of happy citizens enjoying life. Not only does it need to be far more sophisticated, it also needs to be significantly more convincing. After all, there’s a lot of competition, and the web is anyone’s to create and share.

Dictators with over a quarter of a century under their belt might feel safe, but few have hopped on the fast-track trail of the internet and are therefore are not in as much control as they would like to think. For that reason, along with education, health care and infrastructure, internet access should be one of the aspects in the developement of over-exploited nations. Since effective communication is key to any change, the web is absolutely crucial in connecting the people and giving them the power they need to gain equality and justice.

The web has been, and will always be, power to the people – nothing can take that away from it.

When working on any web projects, organization is key. Perhaps when you are working on your own, using a handful of tools to be sure that you are on top of things is not a priority – it could in fact become a waste of time. However, once you start collaborating (the key word) with others on projects, it is crucial that you establish a system of communication. Between the projects, tasks, milestones and tickets, you’re sure to be left MIA if email and chat programs are your paths to international communication.

A very popular web-based project management tool is Base Camp by 37 Signals. Although its price tag is not at the attractive end at the spectrum, when you are ready to work with a group and are bidding for bigger projects (with a goal of making more profit), Base Camp’s monthly charge is a small price to pay for a significant increase in efficiency and productivity. The long list of alternatives (both open-source and commercial) could be discussed at another point, the one aspect that I wanted to pay close attention to is tracking issues and bugs.

Without a doubt, one of the best and most popular bug tracking tools is Bugzilla. The free and open-source application can be installed on any server and provides a web interface to be accessed from any browser. However, aside from an interface that could confuse a designer or two, Bugzilla’s main problem is that it requires ‘root’ access on the server it is installed on, which virtually eliminates the vast majority of web hosting providers. If you are not willing to invest in a dedicated server (see my posts on the different types of hosting), or at least a Virtual Private one, nor setup your own server at the home or office, then you’re in a need of an alternative – ideally one that runs entirely using PHP and MySQL.

WebIssues client on Linux

Look no further, for the ever-progressing planet of the beautiful open-source brings you WebIssues; an open-source, self-hosted issue tracking and team collaboration tool by Michał Męciński. Just visit the website, download the zipped file to be unarchived and uploaded to your server (preferably under a sub-domain such as bugs.mywebsite.com). You’ll need to do edit the configuration file and type in the address and login of the database that you’ve created for the application to use. After that, download and install your WebIssues client (available for Linux, Mac OS and Windows) and start reporting bugs.

As oppose to a strictly web interface, WebIssues provides a powerful access via the desktop client. Think of it as replacing your webmail with a desktop email client; performance is much better, the options are much easier to access and far more advanced, and searching/filtering is a walk in the park.

Some of the main features, besides the aforementioned desktop client access, include:

• Easy searching, filtering and sorting of all issues
• Fully customizable issue types, which allows you to tailer the interface for your particular projects
• Different permission levels and security

WebIssues desktop client on Mac OS

Perhaps more importantly, WebIssues strength lies in it’s strong database structure, and its easy-to-use API which allows you to add to it as you see fit. With time, not only will the application itself improve, but developers contributing will introduce even more features and enhancements that we could all benefit from. After the inclusion of an extensive system for reports, as well as a basic web interface, it’s hard to see WebIssues being outdone by any competition.

A core part of a team’s collaboration on web projects consists of tracking all of the bugs that arise, otherwise finishing off projects will become an impossibility. The free, open-source WebIssues allows you to do precisely that, regardless of the OS you use, while hosting it on your own server.

NOTE: WebIssues was first spotted by Omar Mohamed (website under construction), a web developer from Helwan, Egypt.

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

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)

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

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

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

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 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.

I had previously discussed the 7 must-have Firefox add-ons for web developers and designers. I had also spoken about AdBlock Plus, which is, at times, the most downloaded Firefox extension out there. Now I think it is important to bring up an add-on that revolutionizes the way many people exchange files via bulk storage and sharing websites such as RapidShare and Megaupload.

SkipScreen is a seemless addition to the world’s best browser that automatically skips tedious and frustrating intermediate pages preventing you from reaching the file you are trying to download. Whenever someone wants to share a large file (regardless of its nature) and chooses to do so via a file-sharing online service, he or she saves the hassle of having to own web space accessed via an FTP client, and it’s free. The problem, however, is that the recipient has to pass by at least three or four ad-flooded pages before reaching the point of having to wait for a timer to finish because he or she has done the blasphemous move of refusing to sign up for a “premier” account.

Not anymore. Not with SkipScreen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io8_J5cBkj0

Click on the link and start the download immediately. No more torture.

Regardless of how often you come across files hosted on any of the numerous supported websites, this add-on is golden like the oldies. Install it directly from the Firefox Extensions page, and forget that it even exists, just like it’ll make you forget about painful intrusions ruining the otherwise beautiful and seamless web experience.

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

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

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

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 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.