Sizlopedia » Blogging

Introducing MacPress theme for Wordpress

Saad Hamid — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 04:54:20 +0000

Almost 2 years ago in the very same month of August, we launched the latest version of our Tigopedia theme which was a ultimate hit but lost its development track due to shortage of time and code changes in the Wordpress core. But now we are happy to announce the release of an even better theme for Wordpress called MacPress.

The inspiration for the design of MacPress comes from Mac OS X Leopard, and much like the operating system itself, the theme is simple, elegant, classy and stylish.

Here you go with some of the features of MacPress:

Compatibility - It is compatible with the latest version of Wordpress.
Elegant Design - Much like Leopard, the theme has a eye-catching UI of its own.
Theme Options - The theme also comes with a built-in Options panel.
Validated Code - From the XHTML to the CSS, every bit of code has been validated.
SEO Friendly - It bears a fine code with SEO friendly tags and structure.

And some of the features planned for the future releases:

Styles Chooser - The Options panel would allow the user to select a pre-defined style.
Magazine Layout - A switcher between normal/magazine layout modes.

and lots more to come.

The theme has already been tested thoroughly but if you still find any bugs, please report in the comments. Also if you would like to request some feature, pass a suggestion or comment on the theme, make use of the comment form in this post.

We will be updating the theme on a daily basis to fix the usual bugs so keep checking back for newer versions. The theme has also been submitted to the Wordpress Theme directory and we hope to get it approved soon.

Download and Demo

This blog is currently using the theme itself so for a live demo, simply navigate around and test it out for yourself. And for download, use the following link.

Download MacPress from Wordpress

We would very much appreciate if everyone who uses this theme on their blog joins our Facebook page to become a part of the community, the widget is available in the sidebar.

Solve Duplicate Content Issue with Canonical tags

Saad Hamid — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:23:38 +0000

In my two-year journey as a blogger, I have come across a number of articles on the issues related to Duplicate Content and how it effects the SEO. Some claim it to be a hoax, while others take it to be of much importance.

Google itself discusses the issue in detail at demystifying duplicate content penalty but still remains a little foggy on the measures that could be taken to prevent it.

However, from now onwards, the duplicate content issue can be dealt with full confidence by making use of Canonical link tags that allow you to publicly specify your preferred version of a URL. In this way, all the other URLs without Canonical link tags but having the same content are taken to be pointing towards the same preferred URL.

Lets take an example here. Imagine the preferred URL of a page on your website is something like;

http://www.example.com/product.php?item=iphone

and the same page can be accessed by entering the URL;

http://www.example.com/product.php?item=swedish-fish&category=gadgets

So now you can simply add the tag to specify your preferred version;

inside the section of the duplicate content URLs and Google will understand that the duplicates all refer to the canonical URL.

It not only will work with Google, but with all major search engines such as MSN and Yahoo!. For Wordpress users, a plugin for Canonical URLs is also available.

Make sure to read about this issue in more detail at head on to Google webmaster central blog.

Top 6 Free Web Hosting Services for Blogs

Umar — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 18:05:33 +0000

For newbies who are looking to invest their time in blogging may not want to buy a hosting server in the beginning. Many people will suggest them to make their blogs on Wordpress or Blogspot just to get started.

I've recently learned that you can host your Dot Com domains on free hosting servers which provides a good amount of disk space and bandwidth limit. I would highly recommend that you buy a .com domain instead of working on Blogspot or Wordpress because once you start getting good traffic on it, it won't be easy to switch from your Blogspot domain to your own personal website. You will not only lose your readers but also the traffic and revenue

Below is my list of some of the best Free Web hosting servers available.

1. 000webhost

000webhost is one of the most reliable and feature rich web hosting that runs on users donation. It offers you 1500 MB disk space and 100 GB bandwidth limit along with PHP and MySql database support. It gives you the most advanced control panel in industry with tons of features which are quiet easy to use and manage.

Key features include

Website Builder
PHP scripts Autoinstaller
1500 MB disk space
100 GB bandwidth limit
Backup options
99.9% uptime
FTP support
No advertisement

2. 110MB Hosting

110MB hosting is a ad free web hosting service that offers you 5 GB of disk space along with PHP and MySql support. It gaurantees 99% uptime and you can always create your own free subdomain which will go like abc.110mb.com.

Key features include

FTP support
No Advertisement
5 GB disk space
300 GB bandwidth
Site promotion guides and
99% uptime
1 click blog and forum install

3. SitesFree

Register with Sitesfree.com and get yourself 500 MB of free website space and 7 GB data transfer limit. It support PHP, FTP, MySql and web based file manager

Key features include

Free sub domain eg. yourname.sitesfree.com
7 GB Bandwidth
500 MB disk space
Ability to host your own domains
Powerfull and fast support
FTP access for uploading your files on our free hosting
Web based file manager to upload your free websites
Powerfull online editor to create high quality free websites!
PHP, MySQL

4. Zymic

Zymic is another ad free web hosting that offers reliable and feature packed services on the net. Just like any other free host, its services include PHP, MySql and free domain names.

FTP Access
MySql database support
5 GB disk space
50 GB data transfer
No Ads

5. YourFreeHosting

YourFreeHosting is a new and fast provider of free web hosting. All accounts come with a easy to use control panel that makes it very simple to manage your web site and files. It offers

5 MySql databases
5 GB of Disk Space
50 GB Bandwidth limit
24/7 Technical Support
99.9% Uptime

6. Doteasy

Doteasy is an online service that allows anyone to host their dot come domains on the internet. It offers 100 MB disk space, 1 GB bandwidth, domain forwarding and 24/7 FTP access.

Key features include

Website Creator tool
24/7 Email support
100 MB Disk space
1 Gb Bandwidth
Online Control Panel
Domain Forwarding and more...

Can’t Align Images in Wordpress? Fix it

Saad Hamid — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:30:36 +0000

Wordpress 2.5+ introduced a new image gallery system and correspondingly a new way to align images which was relatively intricate compared to the old one.

The main problem I faced using the new system until now was that I couldn't make Wordpress align the images properly for me. I thought I was the only one facing this problem but a helpful post by Daniel made it clear that there are perhaps more users facing the same problem.

I am sharing the fix just in case someone comes searching through to find a fix for this problem. All you need to do is add the following piece of CSS code to your theme stylesheet and you are good to go.

img.centered {
display: block;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
}

img.alignright {
padding: 4px;
margin: 0 0 2px 7px;
display: inline;
}

img.alignleft {
padding: 4px;
margin: 0 7px 2px 0;
display: inline;
}

.alignright {
float: right;
}

.alignleft {
float: left;
}

This will make Wordpress aware of all alignments.

Admin Drop Down Menu for Wordpress

Saad Hamid — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 08:50:54 +0000

In Wordpress 2.5+, a new administration menu was introduced for Wordpress which takes a lot of useless space and also splatters a lot of links over the screen. Plus the other downside is having no drop down menu so you have to manually navigate to each page.

Planetozh has coded a very neat and useful Wordpress plugin which will not only kill all wasted space in Wordpress administration menu but will also add a css drop down menu for fast and easy navigation.

The basic feature of this plugin is to get rid of all unused space in Wordpress admin menu and instead insert a new menu on the top dark grey bar which makes the layout more compact and easy to navigate.

To install the plugin on your Wordpress blog, simply upload it to your plugins folder and activate it. It is even compatible with Fluency Admin Theme for Wordpress.

9Rules Opens for Submissions Tomorrow. Get Ready!

Saad Hamid — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 03:29:41 +0000

9Rules, one of the most popular blog networks, officialy opens for submissions tomorrow on August 6th, 2008. The submission round starts at midnight EST and ends at 11:59pm EST.

As many of you would know, 9Rules only recruits some of the best blogs on the Internet and to get into 9Rules helps a blog get more traffic as well as perfect branding.

Make sure not to miss this submission round as then you will have to wait 3 months before the next round opens on November 5, 2008.

For bloggers in India and Pakistan, the open submission time frame translates to approximately 11:00am on Aug 6th to 10:59am on Aug 7th. If you submit your blog within this time, there is a 99% chance it will get reviewed by the 9Rules staff.

As for the submission tips, make sure your blog is at least 6 months old and has good original content. A good blog design and branded blog logo is always a plus point.

I am myself hoping for Sizlopedia to get into 9Rules in this round. Good luck to Sizlopedia and all those who are trying for this.

Increase Feedburner Subscriber Count Overnight

Saad Hamid — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 02:13:53 +0000

Feedburner is no doubt the most popular online service tool used by bloggers to track their feed statistics such as subscriber count, popular posts etc but this does not put curtains over how easily the Feedburner system can be manipulated.

Previously there have been hacks that could be used to increase Feedburner subscriber count illegally but a recent hack published by TheNextWeb beats them all.

This hack makes use of a glitch in the Netvibes system through which all the feeds aggregated by FeedBurner are treated individually even if they are subscribed by the same user for the same blog.

To understand and use the hack (not recommended) please watch the video below:

Though its just a matter of time till Feedburner and Netvibes find a solution for this glitch as it has now been revealed publicly.

The other interesting part would be to notice which blogs have had a sudden subscriber count fall once we know that the glitch has been fixed.

Free Wordpress CMS Themes for Your Blog

Keshav — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:53:37 +0000

Wordpress is currently the best blogging platform available on the internet today. It is a state-of-the-art platform that can stand as a blog, as a tumblelog, as photo gallery and also as a CMS. You may ask how as a CMS?

Well, it is a platform you are familiar with, it is extensible, extendable and very much customizable. There are tons of themes available for Wordpress. With a couple of tweaks and plugins, Wordpress can function as a full fledged CMS. On top of that, most of the new start-ups these days select Wordpress as their CMS setup.

Some days back, I read this post on StudioWorpress and got the idea of gathering the best wordpress themes available, which are best suited for a CMS and present them here on Sizlopedia. So here we are, with the best of Wordpress themes for a CMS!

The Unstandard

A WordPress theme comprised of a - grid aligned - images for forward facing pages, and clean textual presentation on the inner pages. Two column theme, with a neat a organized front page. Pictures add to the beauty of the theme. The search bar and the nav-bar and nicely designed

Download/Demo

Wordpress Grid Focus

Another great choice for a CMS. It is a 3 column theme, quite minimalistic and elegant to look at. The extreme left column can carry the news on your site, the middle one can show links and reference material for your visitors and the right column can show advertisements or popular content.

Download/Demo

Mimbo Magazine

Mimbo is a magazine-style Wordpress theme which makes extensive use of WP’s template tag system to create a non-traditional layout. It contains no images and only minimal CSS styling. Mainly it exists as a clean, grid-based starter layout for designers to install and style to their own liking. Best suited for news sites.

Download/Demo

Linoluna

Linoluno is a gorgeous looking theme where the content is presented in a very pleasing way. You have a featured post column in the front and other posts below it, carrying a description and a picture alongwith. It is a simple and neat theme for a magazine-styled site. The theme use the Wordpress’ template tags quite extensively but still, it is very easy to use.

Download/Demo

The Morning After

Quite a popular theme is The Morning After and one of the best crafted with the professional look you will need for your website. The theme was created based on a brief survey on the WordPress forums about what people would want to see in a unique magazine-style theme. It supports widgets and provides all the features you expect from a kickass theme

Download/Demo

Arthemia

You have to see it to believe it. Arthemia is a true wordpress CMS theme! It carries a featured article space, a beautiful navbar and good placements for advertisements. In the middle of the front page, Arthemia has a nice blue-and-black category bar which will help your readers exploring you site. At the bottom, Arthemia is outfitted with a must-have section, a three-list of favorite posts.

Download/Demo

WP Magazine Theme

Another Magazine Styled theme with the Popular, Latest and Sponsors' columns at the first glance. A feature rich theme which will power your CMS setup. Carries a dropdown navigation, is widget capable, can easily be monetized and also has a place for putting up a video!

Download/Demo

I hope you enjoyed the post

This is a guest post by Keshav. He is an enthusiastic young freelance writer who likes blogs and web apps.

Google PageRank Update! Does it Really Matter?

Saad Hamid — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 12:35:39 +0000

Two days ago Matt Cutts (SEO specialist working at Google) announced that a PageRank update would soon hit across the Internet. Finally today, it is being observed that PageRank of some websites/blogs might have been updated by Google.

PageRank and its importance remains a mystery to all. However it should be kept in mind that Google still uses PageRank as a tool to determine the popularity of a website/blog and accordingly assigns a search engine ranking position for a particular keyword.

So the bottom line is that PageRank does matter.

Google still hates advertisers/publishers who try to manipulate the PageRank algorithm by selling/buying links so to remain on the safe-side it is recommended not to be part of such activities. Other such activities which Google may not like is doing paid reviews just for the sake of link advertising.

Also another point to note is that PageRank display is not linear. For e.g. It is more than twice as hard to get a PR6 compared to a PR3.

Congratulation to all those who got a good PageRank. For those penalized by Google, Read how I managed to get back my PR.

Wordpress 2.6 Released! Download now

Saad Hamid — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:07:02 +0000

The new Wordpress version i.e. Wordpress 2.6 was released this morning and I am happy to you inform you that it brings a lot of new features and unique functionality just like all previous Wordpress versions.

There are no considerable changes in the admin theme but the overall usability has been tweaked a lot to provide the best blogging experience along with minor changes related to security.

Some of the amazing features of Wordpress 2.6 are:

Post Revisions - Bloggers can now keep a track of all changes being made to their posts and page with the new post revisions feature just like the one found in Google Docs.
Wordpress Turbo - Turbo mode makes use of Google Gears and allows a user to save admin files on local PC. This helps in lightening fast loading of admin menu in browser.
Press This! - The bookmarklet is back. It enables for easy posting of content from other social networking sites like Digg, Delicious, YouTube etc.
Theme Preview - Now blog admins can preview themes for their blog before making them live to their audience. This feature was previously provided by a plugin but has now been brought to the core.

Some minor new features are:

Word Count
Image Captions
Bulk Plugins Management
Revamped Image Control
External Blog Posting Off by Default

Plus of course there are developer notes, bug fixes and instructions on how to upgrade to Wordpress 2.6 which can be found at Wordpress blog.

Though I would suggest everyone to wait a day or two before upgrading to Wordpress 2.6 as there might be some plugin compatibility issues. However if you feel you are good to go, just follow the link below.

Download Wordpress 2.6

Track Blog Visitors in Real-time in Wordpress

Saad Hamid — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 09:55:51 +0000

While searching for some new plugins in the Wordpress Plugins Database I came across a new plugin called Wassup which claims to track blog visitors in real time and provides detailed traffic statistics.

There are other plugins of this kind such as Wordpress Live (reviewed by us) and Firestats which I have tried before but sadly none of them lived up to my expectations.

However, Wassup has got some amazing features and an excellent interface that even beats professional traffic monitoring apps like Woopra. The best part is that it integrates within your Wordpress installation and records all entries to the database.

Below are some of the great features of this plugin:

Real-time visitor tracking.
Real-time graph plotting based on traffic.
Detailed statistics about online visitors including search engine bots, spam-bots and real users.
Ability to track referring links and keywords.
Spy on visitors in Ajax interface just like "Digg Spy".
IP address tracking and full control on options through the admin menu.

Plus lots more!

The plugin has also got its own official website where you can read more about its installation and usage:

http://www.wpwp.org/

Warning! This plugin makes heavy use of your Wordpress MySQL database so make sure to delete records or set them to autodelete through the options.

Wordpress Goes Turbo with Google Gears

Saad Hamid — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:40:53 +0000

Discussing some features of the upcoming Wordpress 2.6 I highlighted that it will be making use of Google Gears. Sadly it was not meant for offline blogging rather to speed up file loading process in Wordpress.

The good news is that Wordpress.com users can already make use of this feature, now officially known as "Turbo".

To enable it, login to your Wordpress.com blog dashboard and click the Turbo link on the position illustrated. It will prompt you to download Google Gears extension, allow it and you are good to go.

This will speed up administration file loading process to a huge extent as now all files will be loaded locally from your PC. Google Gears currently works on Firefox versions 2 & 3 and Internet Explorer versions 6 & 7 and Safari 3 support is coming soon.

Self hosted Wordpress users will be able to make use of this feature in the upcoming Wordpress 2.6

Wordpress 2.6 Does not Feature Offline Blogging

Saad Hamid — Thu, 29 May 2008 21:27:37 +0000

Almost a week ago I published some upcoming Features of Wordpress 2.6 which included Google Gears Support.

Including me, most of the other bloggers assumed that Google Gears support for Wordpress 2.6 means it will probably feature Offline Blogging however the assumption was quite wrong as revealed by blogger Amit at Digital Inspiration today.

Google Gears support is being added to Wordpress 2.6 for managed offline storage and not for offline blogging. This will improve the loading speed as all static admin interface content (images, css, javascript etc) will now be loaded locally instead of the web server on which the blog is hosted. More information on this feature can be tracked on Wordpress Trac.

This is still a very good new feature that will improve Wordpress performance but not having Offline Blogging support is a big turn off for some bloggers like me.

Wordpress Celebrates its Birthday today

Saad Hamid — Mon, 26 May 2008 21:38:08 +0000

Today, on May 27th, one of my beloved and favorite blogging system turns 5. I have been using Wordpress for over almost 2 years now and since then it has rocked my world.

No other blogging system provides the ease of usability and flexible design choices such as Wordpress does and I am proud to say that my experience with Wordpress has so far been amazing and full of joy.

Recently I used Wordpress as a CMS to make my official University website and I was amazed to discover the wide range of functions it offers. Luckily my site got selected and for this I heartily thank Wordpress.

Congrats to Matt and all other Wordpress developers for keeping this great piece of software alive and healthy. To read articles related to Wordpress please visit our Wordpress category.

Free iPhone-Like Web 2.0 Icons

Saad Hamid — Sun, 25 May 2008 20:36:48 +0000

I love icons and mostly everyone loves good-looking web 2.0 icons so here is a good set of them provided by fasticon.

They have got a good iPhone-Like icon look and can be best used on your blog for social bookmarking or you can use them on your desktop to make it look more web 2.0'ish.

Icons can be downloaded from the link below:

http://fasticon.com/freeware/index.php/web-2-icons/

Thanks to Hack Wordpress for the heads up. Don’t forget to take a look at our tutorial on How To Integrate Web 2.0 Social Bookmark Icons to your Blog.

Wordpress 2.6 Features and Demo Site

Saad Hamid — Thu, 22 May 2008 17:53:22 +0000

Its finally time to look forward to the next version of Wordpress i.e. Wordpress 2.6 as it will introduce some very interesting features and usability improvements.

Wordpress Expert has a good list of features in Wordpress 2.6 which I have summarized below.

Bookmarklet: Remember the Wordpress Bookmarklet? It is coming back to Wordpress in version 2.6 with a new and improved functionality.
Post Word Count: This feature is available for Wordpress.com users and has good chances of making into Wordpress 2.6 too.
Shift-Click Checkbox Selection: In Wordpress 2.6 you will be able to select a range of posts, comments etc using the Shift-Click hack.
Post Revisions: Wiki-style revisions management for blog posts.
Google Gears Support: Probably the most interesting feature yet is the Google Gears Support for Wordpress 2.6. This will enable users to write posts even in offline mode.
Identicons: Choose gravatars for those who don't have one.

Wordpress 2.6 alpha Demo Site is up and can be accessed at the URL below:

http://wp.chrisjohnston.org/wp-admin/

To access the demo blog with administrator privileges use the username: admin and password: demo

As you will notice the UI has not been changed much but overall a lot of new features have been implemented.

Wordpress Security Key Questions and Answers

Saad Hamid — Sun, 18 May 2008 10:06:53 +0000

Since Wordpress 2.5 a new security feature has been introduced which is known as the Wordpress Security Key. Most users don't know the exact function of Seucurity Key and how to use it.

Below I have answered some of the frequently asked questions about Wordpress Seucirty Key which can help users with security of their blog.

What is Security Key?

It is a hashing salt that is not readable through the database or in more easy words the Wordpress Security Key is a unique phrase which causes better encryption of information stored in the user's cookies.

Does Wordpress support Security Key?

Yes! as of Wordpress 2.5 and onwards, Wordpress now supports the use of a Security Key to make your blog more safe and secure.

Can I enable Security Key in versions prior to Wordpress 2.5?

No! this new optional entry was released with Wordpress 2.5 so there is no way to enable it in versions prior to Wordpress 2.5

Can Security Key be one of my Passwords?

Yes! but make sure its really long and very hard. Unless otherwise you would not only risk the security of your blog but also risk the security of your other online accounts which use the same password.

How can I generate a good and long Security Key?

Simply use the Wordpress Secret Key Generator.

Do I need to remember the Security Key?

Absolutely not! Its a random key and is used only to make the information stored in the user's cookies more secure. You don't need to remember it or write it down.

Where to put the Wordpress Security Key?

Once you have generated a Security Key using the Wordpress Secret Key Generator, open wp-config.php and paste it there.

Wordpress Security Scan Plugin

Saad Hamid — Mon, 05 May 2008 18:06:32 +0000

I hope I am not exaggerating here but in my 2 years experience with Wordpress I must have used over a 100 different Wordpress plugins, each with unique feature and functionality but unfortunately none were focused on security. Wordpress is a very secure script but nevertheless there are always security loopholes which make ones blog vulnerable and open to remote attacks.

WP Security Scan is a Wordpress plugin that provides a lot of features based on security. The plugin scans your WordPress installation for security vulnerabilities and suggests corrective actions.

The security dashboard will also alert you if you need to upgrade your Wordpress version, if your MySQL database is vulnerable to remote attacks or if your htaccess file is not in the right directory and etc.

Currently it provides the following set of features:

Password Generator
File Permissions Scanner
Database Security Scanner
Version Hiding
Wordpress Admin Protection/Security

The plugin also lets you change your Wordpress table prefix in the MySQL database which prevents zero-day SQL Injection attacks. More new features are planned for the future version of plugin.

Click Here to download the plugin.

PS: I already took care of all the security vulnerabilities in Wordpress on Sizlopedia so if any Hacker is drooling watching the screenshot above better luck next time pal.

Making Money Online with CPM Ads

Steven — Fri, 02 May 2008 14:27:27 +0000

All long I have been long toying with advertising solutions for websites, everything from CPC, CPA, Sponsorships and of course CPMs. Most webmasters these days start off by using the basic Google adsense on their sites, because it is very easy to integrate and simple to use.

However, Google is based around the CPC style of advertising, where as a publisher you only make money when someone clicks on your ads. That being said, with most new websites they tend to get quite a poor click through rate, thus not allowing them to maximise their revenues. This is where CPM advertising comes into play.

CPM is cost per mille or cost per thousand impressions, so everytime an ad is shown 1000 times on your site, you receive a certain amount of money. CPM advertising is the best way to maximise your revenues if your site has a poor click through rate. Below I have compiled a list of the best CPM advertising networks out there:

All of these CPM networks have their own fill and CPM rates which usually depends on your blog/site traffic and advertiser. Sizlopedia has used TribalFusion for over almost one year and has made good money out of it. If you want to make good money out of CPM ads then my advice to you is to build more traffic and get accepted by a good CPM network like TribalFusion or Burst Media.

Post to a Blog using Google Docs

Saad Hamid — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 15:45:14 +0000

While most of you would have been using Google Docs for quite a long time now, perhaps many of you would still be unaware that Google Docs lets you post to a blog just like Microsoft Word 2007. There are many benefits of using a blog publishing tool which I will mention in the end of the post.

For now I will simply teach you how to post to your blog via Google Docs.

Lets assume you have a document called "Blog Post" in your Google Docs account. First of all open the document and click the share button on the top right of your screen.

Click "publish as web page" and on the following screen click "change your blog site settings".

Now a pop-up will open asking you to configure different settings for your blog.

For Wordpress, select "My own server/custom" and in the API select "MovableType API" and the rest of the fields are self-explained. Once you are done you can simply click the "Post to Blog" button and the post will be published right away.

The benefit of using a blog publishing tool is that you always have a backup of your posts externally. Like if you use Google Docs as a blog publishing medium and later on something bad happens, you can always access the back-up posts in their original form on Google Docs.