Using images in WordPress has developed rapidly in recent times with the introduction of native thumbnail support as well as the ability to use images in the header and background images of your theme. You also may or may not know that WordPress has support for image galleries built in. As such, before you go install all kinds of plugins to support these various features, take some time to research what is already available in terms of using images in WordPress. 

Read the rest of this post »

Wordress 3.2 was just released and it is cool! It's not nearly Christmas yet, and it ain't my birthday, so I have no right putting up a wishlist. But here goes just for fun. Wordpress is my bread and butter these days. And it is a really awesome package, but when you work with something a lot, you always come across things you wish you had... Now, this is a curse we all suffer from...what if...it did this? What if it did that? So here goes nothing with my Wordpress Wishlist.

Read the rest of this post »

Imagine having a website...without "having a website"... In essence, an invisible website. What do I mean by this? Well, simple, you can publish content to your website, without having to login or physically go to your website to do so.

Read the rest of this post »

For those of you that use Wordpress. You would know that the Wordpress admin area is already pretty user friendly. However, there are a few steps one can take to make them a little more user friendly still...

Update 03-10-2011: WP Tuts+ has a great little overview on customising the WP dashboard which covers most of what the White Label CMS plugin does, but via your own functions.php file. 
http://wp.tutsplus.com/articles/12-useful-customization-and-branding-tweaks-for-the-wordpress-dashboard/

Read the rest of this post »

How many of you use open source technologies?

Be they Wordpress, Joomla, Magento, Drupal or even Expression Engine sites or any number of other open source technologies?
Recently I have read a few articles encouraging users to get involved in their open source and online communities and I would like to add my 2 cents.

Read the rest of this post »

You may know that Wordpress is a fantastic tool for running and managing your website. The sheer control you have over what your site can do and how it is presented is mind blowing. The size, continuous evolution and creativity of the Wordpress community is a testament to this. However, in recent times, there have been a few challengers to the Wordpress throne. I have been running this blog on Posterous for some time now, and I have to say that I really like its simplicity. It does certain things very well, and makes the process of content creation and publishing as easy as it should be. I think their web writing/publishing screen is quite good. I find it friendlier and easier to use than the Wordpress screen. However, this is not where Posterous shines. Posterous shines in its ability to publish content from anywhere via email and mobile. And this is an area where Wordpress lags a bit in its publishing experience.

Read the rest of this post »

Recently I have been making inroads into the world of the freelance agent. Even though I have been "freelance" for two years this is the first time I am truly "on my own" as such. My daily process now encompasses client meetings, project briefs, project specs, project management, wireframings, quotes, designs, coding, builds, invoicing etc. These are all parts of a process I have always been involved with in some or other way, but this is the first time it's all me...and only me.

Or is it?

Below are some very useful resources I have recently come across. So if you are heading out into the wild on your own, pay these a visit for some useful tips:

Read the rest of this post »

I recently made my first purchase on Amazon. This may sound crazy, but yes. This was the first time I ever used Amazon. And to be honest, though it is a great service, there were some things that I found confusing, not least of all was the differences in their pricing on their websites.

Read the rest of this post »

Have you ever spent hours having to delete spammy comments from your website?

Does everyone that reads your website seem to be obsessed with Viagra, penis enlargements and obscure pharmaceuticals? 

Well, you are not alone, and no, your readers aren't perverts. You are being spammed, and sometimes you may well spend more time dealing with spam than actually creating content. And this is a problem that needs to be solved.

Read the rest of this post »

Since returning from the UK a few months ago, I have been finding out more and more about how things are done online here in South Africa. I have been quite amazed at how much things cost, and in certain cases what how little you actually get for that cost. Now there may be other factors at play here, but I think it is best to let the numbers speak for themselves and you can decide for yourself.

Read the rest of this post »