Archive for plugins
Static HTML Pages vs CMS Generated Sites
Posted by: | CommentsWeb development is an essential aspect of the internet industry, being directly responsible for the origin of user-friendly interfaces that we enjoy on a daily basis. There are many ways to design a site, from advanced programming platforms to simple site builders that are included with eCommerce hosting plans, each one accommodating the needs of various webmaster skill levels. A type of web development that has become incredibly popular in the last few years has been CMS site creation.
A CMS (Content Management System) is essentially a web based application included with most hosting plans that let you design, organize, and manage your web sites with ease. In essence, webmasters that use CMS to create their sites are considered new school, while those that still utilize static HTML pages are considered to be old school. In this articles we’ll discuss some of the differences between the two so that you can make an informed decision for your own web sites.
Simplicity
As a developer, using static HTML pages gives you limited functionality unless you’re highly proficient with various programming languages that can be utilized within certain frameworks. Basically, it is much more difficult to express yourself as a developer using static HTML pages because it requires a great amount of skill to match the quality of a CMS generated page. With a CMS you can utilize templates that give you a head start in the development process, and you can also add, delete, or edit content on your pages through the convenient user interface. Creating a web site consisting of HTML pages requires you to create each page individually, whereas CMS templates apply to the entire web site.
Functionality
Content management systems can be improved and expanded upon infinitely because they are open source software. As a result, there are hundreds of plugins available for popular CMS like WordPress, all of which enhance the functionality of the software allowing you to perform tasks that were previously impossible, or simplifying tasks that are currently mundane. Some content management systems even have SEO plugins that will improve your search engine ranking. Instead of designing a page from scratch you use predesigned templates, and then simply edit the CSS/Style sheet of the template to change colors, font, borders, and various other aspects of the site’s formatting.
Conclusion
If you want to continuously maintain your page without having to edit HTML coding repeatedly then you should strongly considered the superior functionality of a good content management system. On the other hand, if you want to improve your skills as a developer and create completely original pages from scratch then it may be advantageous to learn some HTML. Learning HTML is certainly beneficial for most web developers, as it enhances their ability to edit or even create new CMS themes. However, if you decide to use content management system templates then the only programming language that you really need to understand is CSS.
The Advantages of WordPress 3.0
Posted by: | CommentsWordPress is one of the most popular content management systems in the world, if not the most popular, with tens of thousands of devout users and hundreds of new people joining the community each month. If you have been looking for a simple solution to manage your web site then you have probably heard about WordPress, but have you considered WordPress 3.0.
Why the Delay?
There has been a lot of mystery surrounding this new edition of WordPress, with many people wondering exactly what new features will be introduced. WordPress 3.0 was set to be released on May 1st, however the official release was delayed until June due to some bugs. To prevent any unnecessary upgrades the WordPress development crew has created one of the best versions of WordPress to date, without completely changing what everyone loves about this content management system, its simplicity.
What is the Future of WordPress?
The graphical interface of WordPress is expected to stay relatively similar, with the only major difference being the incredibly improved functionality. The WordPress development team at WordPress.org is doing everything within their power to keep WordPress the most popular CMS available by extending its capabilities even more through the development of the WordPress API, plugins, Codex, and theme directories. The goal is to make the software more compatible and easier to deal with for both the developer and the end user. In basic terms, you should expect the most powerful content management system available for free, with a seemingly unlimited library of plugins, and an exponential growth in interest amongst independent plugin developers.
What are The Major Improvements of WordPress 3.0?
At first glance it can be difficult to discover the major improvements of WordPress 3.0, primarily because the improvements are being made below the surface, where only a developer can see. This doesn’t mean that there are no new added benefits for the end user, in fact it means there will be more improvements to come for many years. By making it easy for developers t work with WordPress and improve it, the WordPress team is essentially growing their network of WordPress builders to bring you what will eventually be the best possible content management system available. Expect more plugins, more themes, and more functionality in all. The WYSIWYG editor is expected to be drastically improved, making it easier for web site owners to manage page formatting and other important aspects of content creation.
Conclusion
Although the major differences between previous versions of WordPress and WordPress 3.0 are not readily apparent, they will become more pronounced as the year passes and more plugins are introduced with the new WordPress framework. With each upgrade WordPress users have come to expect more functionality and greater capabilities, and WordPress 3.0 has lived p to these expectations and more by reshaping the way the program works as a comprehensive and robust content management system.
Content Management Systems and The Importance of Plugins
Posted by: | CommentsContent management systems assist you in the creation and maintenance of web sites even if you have very little previous training. Operating a content management system is about as elementary as managing the Windows OS, so if you’re self-assured in your ability to deal with your OS, then you should be skilled enough to construct and maintain your online business correctly utilizing a website CMS.
There are numerous CMS for sale in the internet marketplace at the moment, a handful of which are free. Even though each content management system offers you lots of the same features, there are some particularly notable dissimilarities between each CMS. The most obvious differences are typically found within the graphical GUI, in which most of your site’s administrative tasks can be executed. Ordinarily speaking, just about all site CMS try to provide a simplistic interface, as this tends to make the software a bit more convenient.
What Makes a Quality Content Management System?
The full value of a content management system cannot be seen in it’s root capacities, but somewhat in the ability to interact with plugins to enrich functionality. Without these addons most Content Management Systems would be essentially pointless when attempting to perform more innovative tasks. Aside from their compatibility with plugins, a quality Content management system ought to be effortless to use, as it is the interface you will be working with to control your web pages on a scheduled basis.
What Exactly Do Plugins Do?
In basic terms, plugins let you expand the functionality of the CMS without the need for extra expensive software or programming skills. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands of plugins available that can assist you in nearly every aspect of site management and improvement. Most plugins are free, and can be found by using the search function within the CMS itself. For example, WordPress provides an installation/search module that lets you find and install plugins within one fell swoop. Plugins can do everything from help you organize your site, to improve your search engine ranking. If you’re not currently utilizing plugins within your content management system then you are not receiving the full benefit of your CMS.
Can I Create My Own Plugins?
The reason why so many plugins exist is because people are creating new ones on a daily basis. You can create your own plugins, however, you would need some PHP programming experience. You could also hire a programmer to make the plugin for you, using a freelancing sites. There are plenty of skilled programmers that are struggling to make a living and would love to help yo with your project for a very nominal fee. If you find that there is a task you would like to automate or improve within your CMS, first try doing a plugin search, as most tasks can be executed using plugins that have already been created. However if you find you need a plugin that is completely unique, then you could easily contract the help of several programmers simultaneously to expedite the plugin development process.
20 Best Photo and Image WordPress Plugins
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Image or photo powered blogs can be great ways to gain web site visitors, because everybody likes to browse though photos. Then again, any web site could really be benefited by using images or photos in new and interesting ways too. From image enhancements to full photo blogging power, here are the twenty best photo and image related plugins for WordPress.
NextGEN Gallery – NextGEN Gallery is a full integrated Image Gallery plugin for WordPress with a Flash slide show option.
Shadowbox JS – Shadowbox is an online media viewing application similar to Lightbox and Thickbox but with more functionality. Supports all types of media.
Flickr Photo Album – This Flickr plugin for WordPress will allow you to pull in your Flickr photo-sets and display them as albums on your WordPress site.
Featured Content Gallery – Used to create a customizable rotating image gallery anywhere within your WordPress site.
Shutter Reloaded – Darkens the current page and displays an image on top (like Lightbox, Thickbox, etc.), but is a lot smaller (10KB) and faster.
Page Flip Image Gallery – Flipping Book WordPress Gallery plugin helps you to create Image Gallery with Page Flip effects on your blog.
Random Image Selector – Selects a random image from a specified folder, and provides a tag for it.
Dynamic Content Gallery – Creates a dynamic gallery of images for latest or featured content selected from one category, a mix of categories, or pages.
Yet Another Photoblog – Convert your WordPress 2.5+ installation into a full featured photo-blog in virtually no time.
Lightbox Plus – Lightbox Plus permits users to view larger versions of images from the current page and display simple slide shows, all in an overlay.
Lightbox 2 – Plugin used to overlay images on the current page into neat Javascript-powered overlay pop-ups.
Broken Link Checker – This plugin will check your posts, custom fields and the blogroll for broken links and missing images and notify you if any are found.
SEO Friendly Images – SEO Friendly Images automatically adds alt and title attributes to all your images. Improves traffic from search results and makes the tags w3c/xHTML.
Lazyest Gallery – Lazyest Gallery is an integrated image gallery with automatic thumb and slide creation, comments on images, and a slide show.
Thumbnail Viewer – A minimalist image viewer with an effect similar to Lightbox JS, only much faster with a whole lot less Javascript.
Regenerate Thumbnails – Allows you to regenerate all thumbnails after changing the thumbnail sizes.
PhotoXhibit – PhotoXhibit provides an interface to set up gallery widgets using Picasa / Flickr / SmugMug / Wordpress Uploads and jQuery.
flickrRSS Allows you to integrate Flickr photos into your site. It supports user, set, favorite, group and community photo-streams.
PhotoSmash Galleries – user contributable photo galleries for WordPress pages and posts with options. Auto-add galleries or specify.
Hope you enjoyed this collection of WordPress plugins. We would not suggest trying to use them all at once – however there are enough listed here to fit just about any image or photo idea you have. WordPress is a powerful content management system that you can proudly host using one of the many Lunarpages web hosting plans too.
Have a favorite plugin we might have overlooked? Leave it in the comments and share it with the rest of us.
Customizing Your Content Management System
Posted by: | CommentsBuilding and maintaining a website efficiently requires the utilization a variety of tools, resources and skill sets. Without access to the proper software, every menial task can become a difficult burden on your everyday workload, hindering you from focusing on the more important aspects of eCommerce. Everything that can be outsourced, automated or simplified should be, for the sake of productivity. One of the keys to a successful website is the back end interface which is utilized to control and update the site on a regular basis. Without maximum control over your site’s appearance and functionality it can be very difficult to portray the image of professionalism and reliability that is needed to bring your online business to the next level.
Customizing Your Site With Themes
Themes are a way for you to quickly change the appearance of your site without the need for advanced coding or web design knowledge. The number one fear most people have about starting an online business is the fear that they will not be able to have a professional looking website due to their lack of experience. CMS themes integrate seamlessly with your site’s content management system, letting you instantly change the appearance, functionality and backend interface of your site, without changing the content of the site. There are thousands of themes available online that can be uploaded within a mater of minutes.
Learning to Use Your Theme
Although themes are relatively simple to use, every theme has different characteristics and options that let you modify your website. After uploading your theme it is a good idea to explore your CMS and see what custom options your theme has available. Some themes, like the WordPress Thesis theme, offer a wide selection of settings that give you maximum control over site design and onsite features. If you are new to using content management systems, then you should considering starting with WordPress as it offers a flexible platform that can be used to become acquainted with backend management. One of the best ways to get the most out of your theme is to establish contact with the theme’s developer. Many times themes will come with access to forums as well, which are full of experienced members that can provide valuable insight if needed.
Plugins and Custom Themes
One way you can enhance the functionality of your WordPress theme is by adding plugins that allow you to do just about everything imaginable. If you’re having trouble carrying out a specific task you can be sure that there is most likely a plugin available that can assist you. Plugins can be installed just as quickly as themes, and are used to add integrated features to your content management system. There are literally hundreds of plugins available, with new additions being added to the library on a daily basis. In WordPress you can search for and install plugins from directly within the user interface, which is another primary example of why it is a suitable solution for novice webmasters.
5 Best Web Development Extensions for Google Chrome
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When it comes to extensions, Firefox is king – with thousands upon thousands to choose from. However, Google Chrome is just now starting to gain ground with the idea of having an extendable interface, so how many good web development extensions are there for this alternative browser from Google? I did my search and found five of the best web development related extensions for the browser.
Speed Tracer is a tool to help you identify and fix performance problems in your web applications. It visualizes metrics that are taken from low level instrumentation points inside of the browser and analyzes them as your application runs.
Chrome Extension that generates random dummy text.It uses a minimalist and well looking design. Many other extensions of this type – in other browsers – simply complicate this task, using really extensive code, XHR, etc. The main purpose of this one, is to use the less amount of code (and also memory) and help the developer/user to get the job done.
This handy SEO tool shows you the Google PageRank of web pages beside the address box. If the PageRank of the page in current tab is not available, the tool shows the PageRank of the domain instead, prefixed with ‘S’.
The Google Chrome SEO extension provides easy access to Search Engine Optimization Tools that can help you with Competitive Analysis, Keyword Research, Backlink Checks and other daily SEO tasks.
Use Internet Explorer to display web pages in a Chrome tab. Some sites can only be displayed using IE, and with this extension you can now see those sites without leaving Chrome.
Know of any more that I might have missed? Be sure to drop then in via the comments, and help us all learn a little more about the web development tools the Google Chrome browser provides.
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