My site was giving me error messages until I enabled the XML-RPC feature under Settings > Writing > Remote Publishing but now all is well. Holy crap! It’s like the future!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Mobile app: WordPress (geekwithkids.com)
• WordPress, Matt Cutts, And Google (wptavern.com)
• WordPress Now Lets You Phone in Your Blog Posts (mashable.com)

Image via Wikipedia

Has anyone else noticed how long it takes for pages to load with those crappy Facebook Like or log in apps included on them? You sit and watch the page loading and down in the little status bar it’s always Facebook something something or Google analytics. Well, aside from AdBlocking analytics (which I do on some of the more highly trafficked sites I visit) there’s not much we can do about Google but Facebook’s contribution to the web is debatable  to me and well worth removing for a faster surfing experience. Thankfully someone agrees with me.

This fun little outfit called Webgraph has developed a plugin for Safari and Chrome that will block Facebook goodies on sites other than Facebook. Yes! Now you could probably (and easily) do the same thing by blocking the Facebook bits using AdBlock (if you already use that) but this niche plugin may be the scalpel you were looking for rather than the butcher’s knife. Let me know what you think.

Go here to download.

Related articles by Zemanta

• HOW TO: Put Facebook’s “Like” Button on Any Website (mashable.com)
• Google to rev up Chrome release schedule (macworld.com)
• Best Google Chrome Extensions According To The Google Team (crenk.com)
• Bitter much? Hide your exes with Ex-blocker. (thenextweb.com)

Stay tuned.

Image via Wikipedia

to my old friend Jason Derifaj (DARE – A – FAY – you’re welcome). He’s got a great looking site here he just revamped and you may want to keep an eye on his blog as well. Fun stuff for web peeps and fans of web peeps – if fans of web peeps exist. If you’re looking for help with your javascript and/or Flash coding, do yourself a favor and give Jason a shout. Or just call us and we’ll put all of you talented people together to do something really cool.

Related articles by Zemanta

• On the Android Flash demo at FlashCamp Seattle (jeffcroft.com)
• Web Design Concepts for Non-Web Designers (cameronmoll.tumblr.com)
• Life is Beautiful (zeldman.com)

Disclaimer: Do not use a javascript hack to fix each browser rather than adjusting your style sheets or using a reset style sheet first to solve the big stuff. This is last resort stuff here.

I managed to find a way to have Chrome show styles only set for Internet Explorer. Don’t ask me how but it has something to do with pulling Twitter updates via a js file into a custom WordPress template. The updates themselves already have styles attached to them before I pull them in so I have to undo/override them on my side.

This worked for all browsers using a conditional statement for IE and that straightened it all out – except Chrome. I know what you’re thinking. It can’t be broken in Chrome if it works in Safari. They’re both based on Webkit so they have to obey the same rules. Well, I found one they don’t agree on.

Anyway, here’s a last resort solution for you that will target any browser you want to via the style sheets by just adding the browser name to the selector like .chrome. I was led to the solution via Nathan Rice’s post on the subject but I used the one described in the contents since I couldn’t get his to play nice with the rest of what was going on. Here’s that solution:

Just upload this file to your server, call the script in the header of the page like this:

<script src="css_browser_selector.js"  type="text/javascript"></script>

and then just set your trouble maker selectors using the browser name as a class. So let’s say you want links to be red for IE 6, black for Chrome and blue for Firefox 3.5. You’d do this in your style sheet:

.ie7 a { color: red; }
.chrome a { color: black; }
.ff3_5 a { color: blue; }

Pretty snazzy and works like a charm. Again, don’t use unless you have to but it’s great to know this is out there. There are tons more usage examples and all the browser class titles here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Is Google Chrome Usage Soaring at Firefox’s Expense? [STATS] (mashable.com)
• From Zero to Almost Ten Percent: How Chrome Surpassed Safari (thechromesource.com)
• Chrome Gains More Converts, Edges Out Safari (wired.com)
• Chrome Passes Safari To Become #3 Most Used Browser In U.S. [Browsers] (gizmodo.com)
• Chase Bank Fail: “Use IE6? (lockergnome.com)

It turns out that during the last round of updates or possibly a software update over the weekend (I reboot my Mac so seldom it’s difficult to pinpoint which update caused it) the Java settings have been reset or updated on your computer. Here’s how you fix it (courtesy of the smart people over at Mac OS X Hints):

1. Go to Applications > Utilities
2. Click on Java Preferences.app
3. Under General (the already selected tab), click “Restore Defaults” in the top half of the app window.
4. Close Java Preferences
5. Restart Mail
6. Go back to living a happy, peaceful existence

Related articles by Zemanta

• ? Apple’s System Apps (daringfireball.net)

Check out the video below highlighting the changes in this newest (and long awaited) version.

Send me a note if you’d like me to build you a site using this awesome content management system / blogging platform or if you have questions concerning your current WordPress site. Those of you with sites already based on WordPress and hosted with GroovySoup will be updated as we sort through the changes and make sure everything works as it should. Remember: all installs are different due to the plugins you use and the custom code used in your site themes. These differences can cause parts of the site to stop functioning correctly until they are sorted out. That’s why we’re taking our time rolling this one out :)

Update: We did find a bug with our site and All in One SEO forcing us to deactivate that plugin. It’s not necessarily the plugin’s fault but turning it off solved our issue which was the live site not displaying correctly or at all.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Get Ready for WordPress 3: Backup Your Database (trishussey.com)
• WordPress 3.0 for Web Designers (carsonified.com)
• WordPress 3.0 RC1 – a look (studionashvegas.com)

We might have a solution for you, but only if you can be subtle about checking your phone. That’s right. GroovyMail is now on your smart phone. That means iPhone and Android users can now view their campaign stats in full HTML graphic goodness glory while they’re on the go – without their laptop and the glares that would induce at the dinner table ;)

So here’s the deal: go here like you always do: http://www.groovysoup.com/groovymail and log in using your normal info. GroovyMail will know if you’re using your phone and will automagically show you the stats for your latest campaign right on your phone – and not teeny tiny but normal size so you can read it and see what’s going on without your spouse seeing your phone – well, not if you’re cool about it anyway.

You know what else is cool about it? If you’re on iPhone you can just add it as a bookmark to your Home Screen and it will create a snazzy little icon that saves you from logging in next time. Cool, huh? Give it a try and let us know what you think, and if you’re not already using GroovyMail for your HTML email campaigns, drop us a note and we’ll get an account set up for you right away. Your spouse will thank you for it :)

Related articles by Zemanta

• iPhone still second-place US smartphone while Android grows (arstechnica.com)
• iPhone Will Get Mutitasking This Summer (rev2.org)
• Google Gains, Apple Stays Steady, And Palm Loses In Smartphone Share (techcrunch.com)

You’re going to need to gather some info about your MP3s in order to build these files. Here’s what you need:

1. Artist name
2. Title of each track
3. Length of each track (in seconds – multiply the number of minutes by 60 and add the seconds to it. So 4:22 would be 262 seconds)
4. Full file name for each track (ex. Overview.mp3)

Okay so let’s build our files, M3U first. According to Wikipedia, the file starts out like so:

#EXTM3U

#EXTINF:41,Artist Name - Track Title
filename.mp3

So for the additional tracks in this file you just cut and paste the example above (except that opening line (#EXTM3U that tells your software what kind of file it is), the #EXTINF: will stay for all files, the 41 is the track time, artist name, hyphen, track title, line break, filename are all kind of self explanatory. It needs to be in this format including the hyphen and line break. Then skip a line and paste your next one in.

For the PLS file things are pretty similar. Here’s what it looks like for a two track playlist:

  [playlist]

File1=01_Overview.mp3
Title1=Overview
Length1=41

File2=02_What_is_Meditation.mp3
Title2=What is Meditation
Length2=287

NumberOfEntries=2

Version=2

So things look pretty similar here. Filename, title, length in seconds. Then you tell how many entries were in the list and it has to be Version=2 for some reason. Again, Wikipedia has the scoop on this but this will get you started. Copy and paste tracks like you did before and duplicate the line breaks like I have here.

Here’s the key to both of these files as far as keeping it simple for your user: Zip all of your files together and include the M3U and PLS file in that zipped directory. Why? I know Wikipedia doesn’t tell you to but the thing is, when your user downloads the files, you don’t really know where they are going to be saved. By zipping the files up, you make sure all the files will be in the same place as your playlist files. So, when the user clicks one of the playlists, the player will look for the files RELATIVE to where your playlists are, and since they’re in the same directory they’ll work correctly :)

Related articles by Zemanta

• How to Print a Playlist of Music (jakeludington.com)
• 5 Smart Playlists to help you manage your iTunes library (tuaw.com)
• Backing up an iTunes library (computerworld.com)

Let’s say you’re trying to upgrade all of your plug ins at once using Tools > Upgrade. Let’s also say that WordPress hangs mid upgrade with the site in maintenance mode. How do you fix it? Assuming you have FTP access, go to the top level directory for your WordPress install and delete the file named “.maintenance”. This file is created when you opt to do mass upgrades and generates the “Site in Maintenance mode, come back in a minute” message.

Related to this potential disaster is the “I can’t get my damn WordPress to auto update” issue. I happen to have been suffering from this one on a few blogs and guess what? It’s one of the plug ins I have installed on the site(s). Solution? Go to your Plug ins page, deactivate all of your plug ins, do your WP core upgrade, then re-activate all of your plug ins. It worked for me but your results may vary :) I found this solution here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• WordPress 2.9.2 – Should you Upgrade? (howtospoter.com)
• Migrating from Blogger (esp FTP) to WordPress (nofluffjuststuff.com)
• WordPress Plugins – A List of 5 Recommended Plugins (thewordpresswizard.com)