Web Logging My Blogging

Ron Dubin has announced his photo book on Bolivia is now available.

On special assignment, Ron toured Bolivia with an eye for taking pictures to help tell the story of the land. The images show the stark hard environment that is populated by wonderful people.

His pictures of trains in their final resting place in the desert will thrill rail fans.

The portraits of the people will make you want to visit, the spirit in their eyes is inviting.

Visit Bolivia by viewing the sweeping vistas and inspired vision of Ron Dubin in Bolivia A Journey.

It’s great that you got your new blog going. I like the way you have used the Thesis theme for WordPress. You can see now why I really like to recommend it.

This is important, this is the first step I always take when working with a new blog and plugins.

Install Plugin Central for WordPress

Without Plugin Central you have to download then upload the plugin. With Plugin Central all you do is put in the name of the plugin and hit “Install Plugins” which is soooo much easier.

Step 1: Download Plugin Central to your hard drive.

Go to Wordpress plugin Directory page for Plugin Central and click on “Download.”

Step 2: Upload the Plugin Central folder to the plugins folder

Your WordPress blog files have a folder specifically for you to put new plugins in. It is in the folder “wp-content.” Here is the path with my host:
topcolorblogs.com/html/wp-content/plugins

There are already two plugins in the folder, Akismet which is in a folder and hello.php which is a single file. Most plugins will be in their own folder.

The Plugin Central folder needs to go in the plugins folder.

There are many ways to do this. One way is to use your FTP program to open your WordPress site folder on your hosted server and then to navigate to the plugin folder.

I’m using Dreamweaver and have a copy of my site on my hard drive. I copied the Plugin Central folder to my hard drive folder then used Dreamweaver to upload to the hosting server.

Activate the Plugin from WordPress Dashboard

Go to your admin area for your blog or as WordPress calls it your “Dashboard.” If you do not have a quick link to it you can just type “wp-admin” after your blog url to get there.

Click on “Plugins” which is in the upper right corner.
Click on “Activate” next to Plugin Central.

Notice that now Plugin Central is next to Plugins and Plugin Editor on the navigational bar.

Click on “Plugin Central”

Now you can just enter the name of the next plugin you want to add.

Rockie, I want you to put in “Google XML Sitemaps.” You need this next with your Rockie’s Ghost Riders! super blog. (another Thesis theme blog)

I know there are other plugins like Plugin Central for controlling your plugins for WordPress. If you are using another plugin, please leave a comment below and let me know which one you like.

Those new to plugins might also want to read the WordPress page on Managing Plugins.

If you go the Vladimir Prelovac’s page, he wrote Plugin Central, you see that he has listed “All in One SEO Pack.” If you are using the Thesis theme for WordPress, you DO NOT NEED THIS. The Thesis theme was written from the ground up with SEO in mind. In fact, author of Thesis is well known in the SEO industry. Rockie, do not add the “All in One SEO Pack.”

Hey Rockie,

You were right in asking me, I’ve been using cformsII a lot lately so I know I can help you. I wrote step by step instructions for how I put together my Contact Page but I can tell you some more tidbids here.

The biggest thing in cformsII is to keep hitting “Update Settings” if you don’t that next action could erase the last things you did. Last night I was working on the Form Settings for an Artist Interview questionnaire and I had made a lot of changes to Fields then I deleted a field that I did not need. Bad move, I should have clicked “Update Settings” first to save all my work, then hit the delete.

As for Styling, most people want to change the basic form style. This is where it can get confusing until you have played with the cformsII plugin for WordPress for a little while.

Read this to avoid a problem. I found that I could NOT simply reload a page I was previewing either published or not and have the changes I made in cformsII show up. This was while I was changing the Style of the form. I had to go to the Dashboard and “Save” my page/post again to make the changes. Even thought there were no changes to the page on the dashboard, the form needed the save to show the latest changes. So if reload does not show your change, go to the DashBoard and “Save” the page.

I had to do this dance to see the different form styles that cformsII plugin for WordPress had.

Caveat: This could have happened because I just installed the WP Super Cache plugin for WordPress.

Here is another bit a quirkiness that I experienced.

The Styling page is for the last form you were working on. You can NOT change forms from this page. If you have two or more forms, make sure you have chosen the correct one before clicking on the “Style” button.

If you go back to Form Settings, it will default back to the 1st form so if you are still working on another form you will need to select it first.

Best tip for cformsII plugin for WordPress: Pay very careful attention to the settings and do not assume.

Thesis Theme for WordPress Steps

Rockie, I know you are using the Thesis theme for WordPress. Here are the steps I take setting up the page. I will just put the cformsII tag in the body.

(Thesis Theme Users) Scroll down and choose “Page Template” and pick “Page Without Sidebars”.

Unless you want your sidebars. For me the form is the most important thing so I like the page without the sidebars. I would rather the user fill out the form than click a link.

Bonus: if you change any css you need to make a backup of it. When you update the plugin for WordPress, cformsII, it could overwrite anything you change there. Having a backup will ensure you keep your cformsII CSS safe.

If you really have to change the css I, and the author of cformsII recommend you use Firebug.

So to summarize,

1. if you need step by step instructions read this post
2. Hit “Update Settings” after you make changes.
3. If your changes are NOT showing up, click “Save” on the page from the WordPress Dashboard.
4. Always watch the settings to make sure it did what you wanted

My forms are here and so far, I have not changed any css:
(Well I did change the font size on one form but when I upgraded I had not saved my css so it was changed back)

Contact page with Fancy White form style

Contact page with the basic cforms.css form style

Directory Submission (with lots of check boxes) with the Wide Form form style

Artist Interview (with 30+ fields) with the Wide Open No Border form style

The biggest thing in cformsII is to keep hitting “Update Settings” if you don’t that next action could erase the last action.

You can use cformsII plugin for WordPress for the comments field for your blog. The latest update had a focus on that including compatibility with the plugin Comment Love. I don’t get too many comments yet so I have not researched this. If you know about using cformsII plugin for WordPress as the comments field, please use my old fashion comments field to tell me about it.

Email to me that prompted this post:

On Tue, Aug 12, 2008 at 10:56 PM, Rockie L. Gaddie wrote:

Hey Wordpress guru!

How can I add a form for people to subscribe to a newsletter?

Thanks
Rg

————————————————————-
Yancey says:
Get the Thesis Theme for WordPress and Enjoy Outsourcing the Update Headaches

I’ve been ordered by the Queen to add another plugin.

After reading on the WordPress Blog that The official site of the British Prime Minister’s Office is using the WP Super Cache I decided it was time to act.

For you the reader, the plugin makes the site load quickly. For the blog owner it reduces the load on your server.

It was an easy installation. After installing the WP Super Cache Plugin I went to the WP Super Cache Manager.

Under “WP Super Cache Status” I clicked “ON”

UPDATE: I’ve changed to “HALF ON” so the page will reset with the default hourly rather than after 100 requests. Based on info here from Rick Beckman.

Under “Super Cache Compression” I clicked “Enabled”

I could see experimenting with the “Expiry Time” if you had over 2500 page views a day. I’m under that unless you go tell ALL your friends to drop by.

“Cache contents” shows you how many pages you have currently cached and also those expired. After turning WP Super Cache on I browsed my site then came back and saw my cached pages go up. This is one way you know it is working. This is where you can Delete Expired and Delete Cache.

REMEMBER this if you install this plugin and then want to make changes to your home page, you may have to Delete Cache with every test of new changes to your blog.

I’ve taken the advice of the British Prime Minister’s Office and loaded WP Super Cache. Thanks for pointing this out WordPress Blog.

I’ve got my head in the clouds over cloud computing. I realized how many systems I rely on fall into that category. But what is Cloud Computing?

Computerworld Magazine defined it like this:

Cloud Computing describes a system where users can connect to a vast network of computing resources, data and servers that reside somewhere “out there,” usually on the Internet, rather than on a local machine or a LAN or in a data center. Cloud computing can give on-demand access to super-computer-level power, even from a thin client or mobile device such as a smart phone or laptop.¹

I’m using Cloud Computing or hosted infrastructure services for hosting, email, documents, site statistics, bookmarking and template design.

I’m hosted on a grid cluster system² that expands and contracts as I need bandwidth. If I have a spike in traffic from everybody reading this Stumbling this then their system will handle it. If I was hosting this myself, I would never provide that kind of flexibility.

You knew I was going to mention Google sometime so I might as well do it now. I’m using Gmail and Google documents. I used Eudora for over 10 years and really enjoyed it for email. However, the computer(s) that I used to run it from home broke down. When I got a new computer, it was easy to switch to Google because of the recent pain of loosing the computer. Now a crashing computer will not take away all my emails. Gmail has a long way to go to be 1/2 as good as Eudora for the Mac. There are a hand full of features I really miss but being able to access my email from any computer connected to the internet far outweighs the disadvantages.

I’ve started using Google Documents and for me, a one person operation it is just fine. While the experts say that cloud computing for the enterprise is several years away, for small operations it is here now.³ I have over 50 documents in my Google Docs and I can search and find them so quick it seems like they are on my desktop. That is the promise of hosted infrastructure services.

I used to use Google Analytics but I have switched recently to Woopra for understanding my website statistics. I could download my raw data files on my website and crunch the numbers myself but what is the fun in that? I can now get Woopra to keep my stats for my site just by putting a bit of code on my page. Best yet, the Woopra team is working to make their statistics package better, not me. Look for a comprehensive review of Woopra from me in the future. I’m still taking notes on the program.

Once again, I lost all my bookmarks and favorites when my old Mac and PCs died. Now I keep my bookmarks and favorites on StumbleUpon. If you use StumbleUpon, PLEASE Stumble this article now. (Sorry, blatant self promotion) I keep my bookmarks on StumbleUpon, others use del.icio.us, ma.gnolia, Google Bookmarks, Yahoo! My Web, Yahoo! Bookmarks, Windows Live and others. Notice the “ShareThis” at the end of this and every article on my blogs. All you (a user) has to do is click that and it makes it easy to bookmark this article.

I’m using WordPress as the controlling CMS (content management system) for my blogs. They allow users to modify parts of the code to control the look and feel of the blog. If WordPress upgrades the changes could render all the changes useless. That is why I am using the Cloud Computing or external control of a special theme called Thesis. The Thesis designer created a special page for me to make my changes and any future upgrades to WordPress will not affect my design. By using the Thesis theme, I do not have to spend my time or resources trying to keep up with the evolving WordPress.

That is how I am using Cloud computing right now. But why is it named Cloud Computing? Russell Kay for Computerworld helps us out.¹

Why a Cloud? For years, in a flow diagrams and PowerPoint presentations, people have respresented the Internet as a fuzzy cloud with communications lines going in and out of it. Now that they’re actually talking about using a remote, black-box approach to computing, the old familiar cloud seems an appropriate metaphor.

Utility, grid or cluster computing has also used the cloud metaphor. My hosting at MediaTemple is on a grid computing system. The Woopra statistics program is hosted on the Layeredtech utility grid computing system. The Google hosted infrastructure services are also on a grid system.

As hosted infrastructure services mature, enterprise will slowly give up control and put their documents and systems up into the cloud.

In the cloud
HP, Intel and Yahoo are only the latest companies to look to expand their cloud computing offerings. Other vendors making news recently include:
- VMware New CEO Paul Maritz said July 24 the company will look to create virtual environments for cloud computing infrastructures
- Red Hat and Amazon Announced June 17 the beta availability of the JBoss Enterprise Application Platform on Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud
- IBM and Google Launched the Academic Cluster Computing Initiative Oct. 8, 2007 to help students and researachers plant the seeds for large-scale distributed computing.⁴

1. Russell, K, Cloud Computing, Users can hook into the power of ‘out there.’ August 4, 2008 Page 25 Computerworld Magazine [↩] [↩]
2. MediaTemple is my host. https://www.mediatemple.net/ [↩]
3. Ferguson, S., The Future of Cloud Computing, HP, Intel and Yahoo team up to crate large-scale infrastructures August 4, 2008 Page 24 eWeek Magazine “While analysis say that true cloud computing is anywhere from five to 10 years away, this type of infrastructure holds the promise of saving money and resources by allowing businesses and universities to offload some or all of their IT infrastructures to a third party and allow for software to be delivered through the Internet. [↩]
4. Ferguson, S., The Future of Cloud Computing, HP, Intel and Yahoo team up to crate large-scale infrastructures August 4, 2008 Page 24 eWeek Magazine [↩]

I’ve set up a page here on the Top Color Blogs that has links to all my artist interviews on my color blogs. Click on Artist Interviews at the top of any page to see the latest.

So far I have nine interviews including international interviews with artists in Germany, Indonesia, and the UK.

Here are the interviews I have so far:

Papuan Sunset by Mangiwau aka Michael Thirnbeck - Top Orange Gallery

Red Arrow Cockpit by icu202 Canon aka Alex Wilkie - Top Red Gallery

Navi’s Side Panel by Rush Nerd aka Andrew Watson - Top Blue Gallery

Spring Rain by Susan Rose - Top Green Gallery - Acrylic on Canvas 3′x2′

“I think in a little while from now…” by Helmuth - Top Green Gallery

Strange Denizens of the Forest by Promethean aka Anthony Ricchi - Top Orange Gallery

Waiting for the Buzzcocks (Latitude 2008) by Julia - Top Purple Gallery

In Your Eye, Flamingo - Los Angeles Zoo by Ron Dubin - Top Orange Gallery

yellow bporn by Sally Anne - Top Yellow Gallery

WP-Footnotes is a plugin for WordPress that I have been using a lot lately. It makes it really easy to put in Footnotes or Endnotes.

I installed it when I was doing an artist interview and the picture was of a mushroom. I found some great information on the mushroom and the mushroom website even had how he wanted his site credited. Since I am talking about one of my blog postings, I will use the footnote at the end of this paragraph. If you want to see the Orange Mushroom post, click the little 1 after the period.¹

I found a web reference to footnotes which shows some of the accepted styles if you were writing a paper for a college course, thesis, dissertation or were submitting to a journal. The sites author, Robert Radford, provides numerous examples. He also has posted the answers to questions that people have written in. I would put the link if a footnote if I was referencing it but since I am telling you about it, I will give the link here.²

How to write footnotes, endnotes and electronic references. by Robert Radfort

Here is how I use WP-Footnotes. After you have installed the plugin go to Settings on your Dashboard. Click on Footnotes.

From here, you can change how you want your identifier to appear. I keep mine simple so I do not add anything before or after it. I also leave it in the 1,2,3 style. I do change the css style, I take out his color choice and let my css control the color. I also check the box next to “Combine identical notes?“.

The best thing about this plugin is how fast it is to type in the footnote. All you have to do is put double(( at the beginning and )) at the end. I made the(( show by putting it without a space next to another word. If I put it in as a space it would not be here.³

1. Retrieved from Top Orange Blog Website: http://toporangeblog.com/archives/63 [↩]
2. No footnote here, just testing. [↩]
3. but it would be down here [↩]

If you are looking for the best theme for WordPress then look no futher. This blog was designed using the Theses theme and WordPress. I run six (6) other blogs that have been easily modified that use the Thesis theme for WordPress, it is the best.

Main reasons why you want to use the best Thesis Theme:

• Thesis code is kept updated
• The layout is easy to read
• The layout is easy to change
• Very active user forum (Get Help)
• Easy WordPress Upgrades .custom CSS
• Integrated SEO techniques
• Dashboard Control Panel with a “Big Ass Save Button”

Thesis Demo Page
Check out the Thesis live demo here.

Chris Pearson leads the Thesis WordPress Theme team. Chris is well known in the theme community with thousands using his Cutline WordPress Theme. He is also well known for his knowledge of SEO or search engine optimization.

Plugins you will NOT need with the best theme for WordPress, Thesis. Thesis does this for you.

• SEO title changers
• Switch RSS to Feedburner
• Mint Analytics
• Google Analytics

Customize Your Thesis Design

One of the reasons that Thesis is the best theme for WordPress is the use of the Custom Stylesheet. Thesis is set up for you to make all your CSS changes here. CSS stands for cascading style sheets. The .custom stylesheet is the last in the cascade and thus has best design control.

I have 6 color blogs. I changed the CSS extensively but it was easy by using the User Manual and reading in the forum. This is another reason that this is the best Theme for Wordpress. Also if  you make a mistake while learning the css, you don’t mess up the theme’s core code. This makes playing with css easy and fun.

Thesis Showcase Gallery

Multimedia Box

The Multimedia Box is at the top of the page, above the two right columns. You can change this to:

• Rotating Images
• Show a Video
• Show Ads
• Use Your Own Code

Navigation Menu

Once you own Thesis go to the WordPress Dashboard and click on “Design” then “Thesis Options.” This is where you can control what users see in your Navigational Menu.

From here you can easily change:

• What Pages to Include in the Navigational Menu
• What Category Pages to Include in the Navigational Menu
• What Links to Include in the Navigational Menu

User Group Forum - Get Help - Help Others

If you are thinking about purchasing the Thesis theme for WordPress and are not quite sure yet, the knowledge of the user group could put you over the top. The people who purchase Thesis are varied from the absolute beginner to blogging experts. Some people know little about CSS, others know quite a lot.

We all get together in the Forums and share our knowledge of WordPress and Thesis. There is a post where you can announce your blog when it is ready.

Searching the Forum can provide a wealth of information on how to make Thesis just right for you.

Thesis Testimonials

I recommend Thesis

I have been working on my six color blogs and this blog for awhile now. I found that using the Thesis theme made my WordPress experience a pleasurable one. In this blog I have outlined the steps I have taken with WordPress, plugins, and Thesis. Click around and see how I have changed Thesis to make it easy for WordPress. Then click the link at the bottom of the page and purchase Thesis for yourself.

Better yet, follow one of these best links right now and purchase the Thesis them. After you have played with it and seen how powerful it is you will be giggling just like the rest of us. Get Thesis Today!

About Thesis

I recommend Thesis as the easiest and best theme for WordPress.

Widgets

WordPress has the main post area that this text in is right now. The two columns, called “Sidebars,” are on the right are there because of the Thesis theme template. The information in the two columns is controlled by the use of Widgets.

Widgets can be a calendar, recent posts, categories, links, archives, plain text and several others. I used the plain “Text” Widget which is a container for text including html. In the middle column, I am using two Text Widgets and the Google Custom Search Widget.

Sidebar 1

1. “Text” - Links to other blogs
2. “Text” - Code for Google Adsense
3. “Google Custom Search” - Google search

Sidebar 2

1. “NextGEN Slideshow” - Transitions through pics in Gallery
2. “Text” - Links to Gallery and About Artists
3. “Search” - Searches the site
4. “Recent Posts” - Shows the most recent posts

There will be others in the future, these are what are there now.

Advertisements

I’m initially going to use Google Adsense because I am comfortable with it. In the future, I will be doing some comparative testing with other networks. I have assigned a Google “Channel” to each area that I put an ad. The Top Blue Blog’s header ad has a Channel called “Header Blue.” If someone clicks on an ad in the header, because I have a Channel associated with it, I will know they ad click came from the header on the Top Blue Blog. The Channel tags the ad space with an unique identifier.

Google allows three ad units as well as three link units on a page. Right now I just have one link unit and an ad unit in the header and the body.

Colored Buttons

At the top of the middle column was a great place to but links between the different colored blogs. Instead of text links, buttons would fill the space nicely. These are the pastel colored thus candy looking buttons that I made. I used the background color from each of the blogs.