Wordpress if one of the simplest content management system (cms) available. It is easy to install, deploy, and modify when compared to other GPL cms like Joomla, Drupal etc. With a huge user base, there is a vast pool of themes and plug-ins (mostly free) to choose from.

When I started using Wordpress in late 2006 the sites I designed didn’t have much traffic. I had the flexibility to use any plug-in or theme on the sites. But as the traffic increased the server couldn’t stand it. Then I realized that it was not only the site traffic that determines how much server resource is required to run the site.

The Wordpress core in itself is light-weight but when it is coupled with add-ins and custom themes it can be very resources hungry. The worst resources hog I experienced was a Related Post plug-in.

- Plug-ins can be heavy. Not all plugins are that bad but to be on a safe side; use less number of plug-ins
- Templates with a lot of features and that comes with plugins can also be very heavy.
- Keep homepage as light as possible with less javascript, images and scripts.
- Keep Wordpress updated and secured.
- Spams – fight them. Nobody needs them and they are heavy on server too. Use plugins like Akismet, Defensio, reCAPTCHA etc.
- Caching – When site traffic increases the database overload can occur. MySQL database limps trying to get the information needed to render the page. Best solution is to cache the pages so that database gets less load. There are various plug-ins like Wp-Cache, Wp-Super-Cache etc., to do the job.
- Revision – Latest version of Wordpress features ‘revision’. It is good to have history of every revision made on every post. But, it can be heavy on database too. There are plugins to limit the number of revision or delete revisions to make the database light-weight.

Real problem is the ‘del’ key. I still remember the time when I had to struggle in differentiating between the ‘backspace’ and ‘del’ keys. Now, I am longing for one.

It is not that hard to delete files in Mac:

– Drag to the trash can and empty.
– Hold the Control Key while clicking on the file for the sub-menu to delete (move to trash).

Mac OS is based on Linux so I hope the shell command might help.
[rm - remove a file use -r to recursively remove a directory]

But, I miss the luxury of ‘Ctrl+Del’.

As for the regular ‘forward delete’ key can be assigned to one of the regular keys in the keyboard by a free software, doublecommand. It however didn’t work for deleting files.

I was used to taking screenshots by ‘Print Screen’ key in PC but the key is missing in the Macbook I recently acquired. It can take screenshot for sure but in Mac OS the keys are: ⌘-Shift-2

Apart from taking the screenshot the command saves the image in the desktop too. If you don’t want to save it automatically you need to press one more key. The command ⌘-Shift-Control-2 copies the screen to clipboard.

The key 3 in place of 2 gives more flexibility in selecting what you want to include in the image.

In summary, for Mac OS:

⌘-Shift-2 – Captures screen and saves in a PNG file
⌘-Shift-Control-2 – Captures screen to clipboard
⌘-Shift-3 - Captures the selected screen area to a PNG file
⌘-Shift-Control-3 – Captures the selected screen area to clipboard

That was for Mac OS. But if you have installed Windows OS using Bootlogger then you would need different keys to do screen capturing. Screen capture keys are fn + F11 for built-in keyboards. For external keyboards, F14 does the job.

Summary for Windows OS:

F14 – Capture screen (External Mac Keyboard)
F14 + Option - Capture the selected area of screen (External Mac Keyboard)

fn + F11 – Capture screen (Built-in Keyboard)
fn + Option + F11 – Capture the selected area of screen (Built-in Keyboard)

In the Mac OS there is ‘Grab’ application, found in the Applications folder to take trimmed screenshot. Grab allows you to take a timed screenshot by selecting “Timed Screen” from the Capture menu. Snow Leopard takes this concept a bit further by allowing you to record video of your actions on screen in QuickTime Player.

Nice ad Microsoft!

Here is the video:

Are you throwing away your Mac and buy a PC? You might not need to even if feel like testing it. A Mac version would always be around the corner.

Most of the successful Microsoft Windows releases were numbered and few named versions received disappointing responses except for Windows XP. For example, Windows Me released in 2000 was called "Mistake Edition" by PC World; Windows Vista could never gain confidence of the XP users. (Network versions – Windows NTs were released with numbers attached to them).

Windows 7, the new operating system from Microsoft, is going on sale today. It has received some favorable reviews and some new features to help Windows rebuilt its image. Some notable features of the new OS are faster booting, Device Stage, Windows PowerShell, less obtrusive User Account Control, multi-touch, improved window management, homegroup networking, multiple thumbnails for combined taskbar buttons, and better power management for notebooks.

Reviews of final release will tell how the new Windows are perceived by the users. Till then, let’s wish Microsoft luck.

Many blogger (blogspot) users ask question on how to add meta keyword in their blog. Those who have used custom made themes in their blog might have already figured it out but for those who doesn’t know add meta description: follow the method explained below.

1. Sign in to your blogger

2. Click "Layout" tab in Dashboard

3. Click "Edit HTML".  (Precaution: Before you change any code, make a habit of backing up your code by clicking “Download Full Template” link. In worst case, you can restore the previous code)

4. Search following line of code (you can use Ctrl+F to find it)

<b:include data="blog" name="all-head-content" />

5. Copy the following code below the code from step 4.

<meta content='DESCRIPTION' name='description'/>
<meta content='KEYWORDS' name='keywords'/>
<meta content='AUTHOR' name='author'/>

6. Replace the WORDS (with bold capital letters) with your appropriate values.

7. Click on "Save Template" (don’t forget this most important step )

You are all done. I wish you all the best with your blog.

But, typical to a copy-paste code; a strange error occurred while I tried to get the filename of current sheet through an add-in. I wanted the filename of the excel file I was editing but I kept on receiving the name of add-in. It took me a while to realize that ‘ActiveWorkbook’ and ‘ThisWorkbook’ behave differently.

?ActiveWorkbook.FullName
C:\Documents and Settings\XXXX\Application Data\Microsoft\AddIns\test.xla

?ThisWorkbook.FullName
C:\Test\test.xlsx

I was copying a sheet and saving it as a new file. If you want to do the same, following subroutine can be handy :

Sub CopyMySheet()
Dim DstFile As String 'Destination File Name
Dim CurrentFileName As String
Dim wb As Workbook
CurrentFileName = ActiveWorkbook.FullName ' returns C:\Test\test.xlsx
CurrentFileName = Replace(CurrentFileName, ".xlsx", "")
DstFile = CurrentFileName & "_new" & ".xlsx" ' returns C:\Test\test_new.xlsx
Worksheets("st_orig").Copy 'Copying original sheet
Set wb = ActiveWorkbook
wb.SaveAs DstFile 'Saving the copy
wb.Close 'Close the file
End Sub

Sub CopyPasteSave()
Dim NewName As String
Dim nm As Name
Dim ws As Worksheet

ErrCatcher:
MsgBox "Specified sheets do not exist within this workbook"
End Sub

This code will ask for the new file name before it closes. You can tweak the code to suit your requirement.

Microsoft and free? Yes, and I am excited. Hopefully, I won’t need to install the bulky Office application in my netbook anymore.

It is told that all these web-based versions of these products will be based in the cloud and will have fewer features than their desktop cousins. Only featuring some basic tools to edit and change documents these tools will surely help in some last minute modification from one’s handheld devices.

I use the Windows Task Manager a lot to close unresponsive and memory hogging application. The Chrome task manger is also helpful in closing those plugins like Flash, Java, or unresponsive tabs.

To start task manager in Chrome:
press Shift+Esc keys

Now you can select the plugin or tab and click End process to close it.