1.) How to create documentation for users inside of WordPress

If you’re building a WordPress site for a client, it’s quite often that your client will have questions about many things. Here’s a simple plugin that allows you to create hierarchical documentation about their WordPress installation. This is a great way to provide your client with detailed instructions on how to use their site. The name of the plugin is WP Help.

2.) Create a service for users to receive an email for new posts

Using Mailchimp with WordPress makes it really easy for you to create a beautiful email service that allows your readers to subscribe to your site and receive emails of your new blog articles. There’s two things you need to do. The first is add a email form on your site. The second is to create a RSS driven campaign in Mailchimp. Here’s how to do this…

Creating a email form on your site

1. If you don’t have a Mailchimp account yet, you can signup here.
2. Next create a new list in Mailchimp and call it something like “Post Subscribers”.
3. Install the Mailchimp Widget plugin to your site. Make sure to add your Mailchimp API key.
4. Add the widget to your site’s sidebar and select the name of the list you create in Mailchimp, “Post Subscribers”.

At this point you’ve now made it easy for users to subscribe to your list. Now we just need to setup a way to email them your new post.

Setting up an RSS driven campaign with Mailchimp

1. Within Mailchimp create a new RSS-driven campaign.
2. Copy and paste your site’s RSS feed into the RSS Feed URL box in Mailchimp. If you don’t know your site’s feed just type feed after your sites URL, yoursite.com/feed. At this point just follow the step-by-step instructions of Mailchimp and save your new campaign.

That’s it! Now every time someone signs up on your sidebar, they’ll be added to an email list in Mailchimp and now when you add write new posts, they’ll get email of your new content!

3.) Make your site iPad friendly

Here’s a simple plugin that creates and iPad styled display of your blog with swipe gestures. Just install the Onswipe plugin.

4.) Use WordPress as an interactive resume

Printed resumes are old, interactive resumes really give you the opportunity to show your expertise. WordPress is an excellent publishing platform for your interactive resume. WordPress is known for its SEO capabilities which makes it much easier for you to be found through search engines. And once you’re found having an interactive display of what you’re capable of will truly enlighten potential employers. I stumbled upon this great collection of WordPress themes tailored to resumes and portfolios. Hopefully after browsing this collection you’ll be inspired to build/update your online resume/portfolio with WordPress.\

• 43 WordPress Resume/Portfolio Themes

5.) Dramatically improve page loads and reader’s experience

Here’s a great way to speed up your site and make your reader’s happy all at the same time. This is a combination of 2 plugins that uses two techniques, infinite scrolling and lazy loading. Both of these plugins optimize the reading experience by only loading the content when the user expects it. Infinite scrolling will automatically load more posts when the reader scrolls to the bottom. This is great because the user can continue to scroll down through your posts without having to click on any links to get to the next set of posts. Make sure to set your WordPress reading settings to display only 1 post per page. This can be done under Settings > Reading. Lazy load is a plugin that only loads images when the user scrolls to them. In the case where you have a long post of many images, using this plugin will only load the images that are actually visible to the user. By loading only the content the reader can actually sees speeds up the page load dramatically making the experience a happy one.

• Download the Infinite Scroll plugin
• Download the Lazy Load plugin

One of the most important part of WordPress is it’s documentation.  The WordPress documentation (known as the Codex) was a strong reason for my interest and continued interest in why I choose WordPress.  The WordPress Codex has so many pages of content from absolute beginners to the most advanced developers.  If you’re looking for details on what something is or how it works, chances are, it’s in the Codex.

This past weekend I was involved with the organization of WordCamp Detroit 2011 and while creating the badges/programs I felt impelled to highlight the WordPress Codex.  So on the first page of every attendee’s badge was 1 of 20 different topics, with definitions.  I was asked numerous times if they could get the definitions of all 20.  That’s what you’ll find in this post.

Below you’ll find all 20 topics and their definitions as featured in the WordPress Codex.  These 20 topics is just a small glimpse into the world of WordPress.  Find a Sunday, put down a book and go on an adventure reading topics in the Codex, you’ll be a WordPress expert before you know it!

Bookmark this now: http://codex.wordpress.org/Main_Page

The Loop

The Loop is used by WordPress to display each of your posts. Using The Loop, WordPress processes each of the posts to be displayed on the current page and formats them according to how they match specified criteria within The Loop tags. Any HTML or PHP code placed in the Loop will be repeated on each post. When WordPress documentation states “This tag must be within The Loop”, such as for specific Template Tag or plugins, the tag will be repeated for each post.

Meta

Generally, meta means “information about”; in WordPress, meta usually refers to administrative-type information. So, besides post meta data, Meta is the HTML tag used to describe and define a web page to the outside world, like meta tag keywords for search engines. Also, many WordPress-based sites offer a Meta section, usually found in the sidebar, with links to login or register at that site.

Template Tags

Template tags are used within your blog’s Templates to display information dynamically or otherwise customize your blog, providing the tools to make it as individual and interesting as you are. If you take a peek into the header.php template file that came with your WordPress Theme, you will notice that where it says “My Blog Name”, whatever it is, when you view your WordPress site, it doesn’t say “My Blog Name” in the template file. In fact, it has a bunch of strange arrows and parentheses and words that don’t make much sense. This is an example of a Template Tag.

Plugins

A Plugin is a group of php functions that can extend the functionality present in a standard WordPress weblog. These functions may all be defined in one php file, or maybe spread among more than one file. Usually, a plugin is a php file that can be uploaded to the “wp-content/plugins” directory on your webserver, where you have installed WordPress. Once you have uploaded the plugin file, you should be able to “turn it on” or Enable it from the “Plugins” page in the administration interface of your weblog. The WordPress source code contains hooks that can be used by plugins.

Widgets

WordPress Widgets are WordPress Plugins that add visitor visual and interactivity options and features, such as sidebar widgets for post categories, tag clouds, navigation, search, etc. Widgets are available on properly “widgetized” WordPress Themes in areas such as the header, footer, and elsewhere in the WordPress design and structure. Widgets require no code experience or expertise. They can be added, removed, and rearranged on the WordPress Administration Appearance > Widgets panel.

Permalinks

Permalinks are the permanent URLs to your individual weblog posts, as well as categories and other lists of weblog postings. A permalink is what another weblogger will use to link to your article (or section), or how you might send a link to your story in an e-mail message. The URL to each post should be permanent, and never change — hence permalink.

Dashboard

The Dashboard is a tool to quickly access the most used areas of your blog’s Administration and to provide glimpses into other areas of the WordPress community. The Dashboard Dashboard Screen presents information in blocks called modules. WordPress delivers eight modules, Right Now, Recent Comments, Incoming Links, Plugins, QuickPress, Recent Drafts, WordPress Blog, and Other WordPress News.

Pingback

Pingback lets you notify the author of an article if you link to his article (article on a blog, of course). If the links you include in an article you write on a blog lead to a blog which is pingback-enabled, then the author of that blog gets a notification in the form of a pingback that you linked to his article.

Gravatars

Gravatars are Globally Recognized Avatars. An avatar or gravatar is an icon, or representation, of a user in a shared virtual reality, such as a forum, chat, website, or any other form of online community in which the user(s) wish to have something to distinguish themselves from other users. Created by Tom Werner, gravatars make it possible for a person to have one avatar across the entire web. Avatars are usually an 80px by 80px image that the user will create themselves.

Trackback

Trackback helps you to notify another author that you wrote something related to what he had written on his blog, even if you don’t have an explicit link to his article. This improves the chances of the other author sitting up and noticing that you gave him credit for something, or that you improved upon something he wrote, or something similar. With pingback and trackback, blogs are interconnected. Think of them as the equivalents of acknowledgements and references at the end of an academic paper, or a chapter in a textbook.

Taxonomy

A taxonomy allows for the classification of things. In WordPress, there are two built-in taxonomies, categories and tags. These taxonomies help further classify posts, pages, and custom post types. Also, custom taxonomies can be defined.

Tags

A tag is a keyword which describes all or part of a Post. Think of it like a Category, but smaller in scope. A post may have several tags, many of which relate to it only peripherally. Like Categories, Tags are usually linked to a page which shows all posts having the same tag. Unlike Categories, Tags can be created on-the-fly, by simply typing them into the tag field. Many people confuse Tags and Categories, but the difference is easy: Categories generally don’t change often, while your Tags usually change with every Post.

RSS

“Really Simple Syndication”: a format for syndicating many types of content, including blog entries, torrent files, video clips on news-like sites; specifically frequently updated content on a Web site, and is also known as a type of “feed” or “aggregator”. An RSS feed can contain a summary of content or the full text, and makes it easier for people to keep up to date with sites they like in an automated manner (much like e-mail).

Post Type

Post type refers to the various structured data that is maintained in the WordPress posts table. Native (or built-in) registered post types are post, page, attachment, revision, and nav-menu-item. Custom post types are also supported in WordPress and can be defined with register_post_type(). Custom post types allow users to easily create and manage such things as portfolios, projects, video libraries, podcasts, quotes, chats, and whatever a user or developer can imagine.

Theme

A theme is a collection of files that work together to produce a graphical interface with an underlying unifying design for a weblog. A theme modifies the way the weblog is displayed, without modifying the underlying software. Essentially, the WordPress theme system is a way to skin your weblog. Template files are the building blocks of your WordPress site. They fit together like the pieces of a puzzle to generate the web pages on your site. Some templates (the header and footer template files for example) are used on all the web pages, while others are used only under specific conditions.

Category

Each post in WordPress is filed under a category. Thoughtful categorization allows posts to be grouped with others of similar content and aids in the navigation of a site. Please note, the post category should not be confused with the Link Categories used to classify and manage Links. Each Category may be assigned to a Category Parent so that you may set up a hierarchy within the category structure. Using automobiles as an example, a hierarchy might be Car->Ford->Mustang. In creating categories, recognize that each category name must be unique, regardless of hierarchy.

TinyMCE

TinyMCE is the editor used by WordPress, known as the Rich Text Editor or WYSIWYG (“What You See Is What You Get”). Not all WordPress bloggers use it, but if you do, it will change various codes upon saving an entry to prepare it for publishing. You can Show/Hide the Advanced Editor Toolbar in the standard WordPress installation and unlock a dozen or so extra buttons, including “Paste as Plain Text” and “Paste from Word”. When the Advanced Editor Toolbar is enabled, there is a toggle button available to turn it off.

Open Source

Open source is simply programming code that can be read, viewed, modified, and distributed, by anyone who desires. WordPress is distributed under an open source GNU General Public License (GPL). Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.

Smileys

Smileys (also called Smilies or Emoticons) are stylized representations of a human face, usually displayed as yellow buttons with two dots for the eyes, and a half mouth. Smileys are often used in WordPress Plugins. By default, WordPress automatically converts text smileys to graphic images. When you type in your post you see when you preview or publish your post.

XML-RPC

XML-RPC is Extensible Markup Language-Remote Procedure Call. A Remote Procedure Call (RPC) allows you to call (or request) another application and expect that application to honor the request (answer the call). So, XML-RPC allows a user (or developer) to send a request, formatted in XML, to an external application. All of the mobile WordPress apps (iOS, Android, Blackberry) use this method to “communicate” to your WordPress powered site.

Don’t stop there, the Codex is the ultimate WordPress training.

Continue the journey here: http://codex.wordpress.org/Main_Page

So I got an iPad 2 and honestly, I do have to say, I love it.  This is my first hands on iOS experience (big Android guy) and this is my review of the device, OS and some of the apps that really make the purchase worthy.

The Device.

• iPad 2′s size is amazing.  The engineering behind the size is really something Apple should be proud of.
• The screen is great, it’s vibrant and looks great with games and video.
• Battery life is long, much longer than must devices I’ve had in the past, its great knowing I can actively use the iPad 2 throughout the day without a low battery.

Some Accessories.

• Smart Cover. I really like the fact that this cover is not just a screen cover.  Acting as 2 different level stands and the ability to sleep and wakeup the iPad is great.  My only drawback is that it doesn’t cover the entire device, which somewhat worries me that I might scratch the iPad itself.
• Apple VGA Adapter. One of the reasons for the iPad 2 was for its video out capabilities.  This is the cable that makes it happen.  This makes the iPad 2 a great device for presentations without having to lug around an entire laptop.
• A Stylus. Another purpose of the iPad 2 was to act as a device I can take to meetings and use a stylus to jot down my notes and drawings.   Per Apple’s recommendation I bought the Pogo Sketch.  I immediately had troubles using it.  It seemed flakey and the tip is cheap.  I’m a bit disappointed and plan on returning it.  After reading further reviews, I ordered the Boxwave which I’m excited to get.

Apps I Love.

• Air Display ($9.99) - This app is great for using your iPad as a 2nd (or in my case a 3rd) monitor.  Works with PC and Mac.
• AppShopper (FREE) - I love this app for finding recently discount apps.
• AppStart for iPad (FREE) - If you’re new to iPad, I highly recommend this app.  Shows you the many cool tricks of the device as well as an extensive list of recommeded iPad apps.
• Evernote (FREE) – Having this app on my Android phone, laptop, home PC and now my iPad, its great having all my notes organized and shared between devices.
• Google Search (FREE) – The name of this app is really understated.  It should be call Google.  This is a great portal of many popular Google services such as Gmail, Calendar, Docs, and more.  I particularly love this app because it allows me to add additional accounts, including those that are Google App hosted.
• Kindle (FREE) – I have an actual Kindle device, which I still do most of my reading on, but having this app on the iPad makes it much more enjoyable browsing and purchasing from the Amazon Kindle store.
• Netflix (FREE) – Very few words need to explain this.  Thousands of streaming movies at your fingertips (literally!)
• The Photo Cookbook ($4.99) – This app is an excellent example of the many uses of the iPad.  Perfect photos walk you through the recipe making it near impossible to screw up.
• Square (FREE) - If you haven’t heard about Square yet, check it out.  What I particularly like about the iPad rendition of this app is the ability to create pre-configured items and just select those when completing a sale.  Can you say mobile point-of-sale?
• Teavana (FREE) – Fun app to discovering new teas flavors and blends.
• WordPress (FREE) – Its great being able to moderate comments to many of my WordPress hosted blogs with this app.
• Flipboard (FREE) – This truly one amazing app.  I’ve been using this app to read my daily Facebook and Twitter streams.  I love how it “CURLs” (its geeky term, I know, but essentially reads the contents of many links posted by my friends) the links.
• Garageband ($4.99) – What a fun and creative outlet for making music.  I love the many “smart” instruments making it easier for me to creating tracks.
• Keynote ($9.99) - Now I can create presentations on my iPad and use it with my VGA adapter when actually presenting, awesome.
• Notes Plus ($5.99) – I was looking for a really good app for drawing and handwriting ideas and notes.  I first bought Penultimate, but there was nothing that stood out, honestly a wasted app.  What makes Notes Plus really above the rest is its gesture and shape drawing technology.  I can now draw shapes with my finger (or stylus) and then move them around on the canvas.  Further more I can circle items on the canvas and move them around, or swipe back and forth across a drawing to erase it.  The app has many more great features, but definitely worth its price.
• Prezi Viewer (FREE) – A perfect companion app to my Prezi account making it easy for me to show my Prezi’s when I do presentations.
• Pulse News Reader (FREE) – This app makes reading RSS feeds fun and enjoyable.  As much as I love the Flipboard App, Pulse Reader allows me to scan the many headlines from my RSS feeds and read the ones that interest me the most.
• Amazon Windowshop (FREE) – A fun way of viewing new products on Amazon using a huge scrolling (horizontally and vertically) canvas of product images)

Game I Love.

• Fruit Ninja HD ($2.99) – An addicting, simple game slicing and dicing fruits tossed in the air.  I really love the multiplayer capabilities allowing me to challenge my friends in a Fruit Ninja session.
• Hockey Nations 2010 HD ($3.99) – A really cool hockey game that has awesome multiplayer capabilities, excellent use of the multitouch technology.
• Monopoly for iPad HD ($9.99) – What a great rendition of this boardgame classic.  The multiplayer tabletop mode is awesome.  Just set the iPad in the middle of the table and the controls rotate around the device for each player.  Really fun!
• The Price is Right HD ($1.99) – A fun game of the classic TV show, has many of the favorite minigames you remember from the show.
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 HD ($9.99) – I love the touch controls of this game.
• Wheel of Fortune HD ($6.99) – Another great classic TV show app.  The multiplayer is fun.
• Words with Friends HD ($2.99) - Its really fun playing this game on a bigger screen.  For those of you who haven’t heard of this game, its a multiplayer version of Scrabble.

Lacking/Missing iPad Apps.

• Facebook - I’ve tried a few of the native Facebook apps (Facely and MyPad) but I really wish there was an official Facebook app for the iPad
• Last.fm – I’m currently using the iPhone version of this app, but would like it if there was an iPad version utilizing the bigger screen to show more things such as artist information.
• Meetup - Again, using the iPhone version.  I’m actually using two different apps for  Meetup, the official Meetup app and Snapup app (both iPhone).  I’d really like to see both of these combined together into an iPad friendly app.
• Tweetdeck - Maybe its just me, but the Tweetdeck for iPad app seems to crash a lot, would love to have this fixed, definitely would use it more.
• Google Docs – I know I mentioned the Google Search app above having many other Google services, but most of them just point the browser based iPad friendly site.  This is a lesser of request, but I’ve noticed the Google Docs to somewhat be flaky on my iPad.  Maybe a native app might fix these concerns, minor, but enough for me to make a fuss about it.
• Skype - Where’s Skype?  I want to make some calls, chat, video chat (with the iPad 2′s new front facing camera)
• Mailchimp - Would love to manage my Mailchimp account with my iPad.
• Mint - I use Mint to help manage my finances, having a native app would be great.

Summary

All in all my iPad 2 purchase and experience has been nothing less than amazing and has really been an enjoyable experience so far.  I’m really see myself using this more and more each day.  Do you have an iPad?  What are you using your iPad for?  Any apps worth trying?  Any apps to avoid?

1.) How to convert your blog into a more traditional website

This is a question I get often and surprisingly it’s actually quite easy to solve. By default WordPress comes installed in a blog based format, but with a couple of steps you can easily turn it into a more traditional website in the sense of having a “homepage” with other pages, and maybe a blog as a section of the site. So here’s what to do:

Create 2 new pages in WordPress, name them Home and Blog.

Next, go to Setting > Reading. Select ‘A static page’ and set your Front Page to the new page you called Home and set Posts Page to the new page you called Blog. Save changes

At this point, add content to your Home page and this will always appear as your “homepage” when people visit your site. You do not need to do anything to the Blog page, just leave it blank. It acts as a placeholder for your blog.

2.) How to use page templates

This is theme specific, but next time you’re shopping for a theme, look for how many page templates it offers. Page templates allows for more flexibility with your overall page layout. To see what Page templates are available in your theme, create a new page and on the left side look under Page Attributes. Look for a title called Template. If you don’t see one, this means that your theme only supports 1 template. If there’s a drop-down, your theme supports more than 1 template and allows you to change the layout of your page.

This means you could have pages with sidebars, without sidebars, with headers, different headers, and more. It all depends upon what the theme supports. If you’re looking to add a page template to your theme, here’s a good article to help you do so: http://codehill.com/2010/07/creating-a-new-page-template-for-a-wordpress-theme/

3.) How to have different widgets show for specific pages

There’s a WordPress plugin for that! Widget Logic is a great plugin that allows you to customize which widgets show on different pages. For example, say you want to have a widget only show on the about page which has contact us information, but not anywhere else.

This plugin will do this using WordPress’ conditional tags. Here is a list of conditional tags you can use: http://codex.wordpress.org/Conditional_Tags

To install, search for ‘widget logic’ in your WordPress site or download it here.

4.) Managing your WordPress site through mobile devices such as iPhone, Android, iPad, and Blackberry

There are native apps for the many popular mobile devices which allow you to do things to your WordPress site such as add new posts and moderate comments. Before you install these apps, you have to make your WordPress site compatible for a service called XML-RPC. XML-RPC allows for these mobile apps to send commands to your site to perform actions.

To enable XML-RPC, under Setting > Writing, click the check box to the left of XML-RPC and save changes.

Add this point, just download and install the app for your device and login with your site credentials (username and password)

Here is the list of mobile apps: http://wordpress.org/extend/mobile/

5.) Keep your WordPress database smaller with Revision Control

WordPress has a great feature which saves every revision of a post or page. The problem is, this means that there are inserts in the database for every revision. If you’re like me, saving and updating pages, and sometimes posts, your database can get bulky. Here’s a simple ‘set it and forget it’ plugin that will limit the number of most recent revisions. Just install it, configure it and forget it’s there. Download Revision Control WordPress plugin.

(This is part 5 of a 5 part series, click here to see the whole series)

There are so many great resources out there to learn and explore more with WordPress.  I wrote a post previously on this, but I wanted to recap and leave you with many facets into WordPress.

1.) WordPress Dedicated Sites

The following sites below are dedicated to providing you quality WordPress content…

• WPBeginner.com – If you’re just getting into WordPress, this is a great site that shows you a simple step-by-step approach to getting WordPress installed and setup.
• WordPress.tv – This is a great resource of videos all related to WordPress. If you want to learn how to use WordPress, plugins, or other unique tools with WordPress, watch these videos!
• WeblogToolsCollection.com – I love this blog for the weekly selected plugins and themes. You’ll quickly discover how fast WordPress continues to grow.
• WPCandy.com – Full of fun goodies, tips, guides, and updates relating to WordPress.
• WPDesigner.com – As a developer you’ll find great WordPress code snippets, tricks, and tools to enhance your WordPress development skills.
• WPTavern.com – Keep up to date with the newest stories and features being talked about around WordPress and the WordPress community. This site has an awesome corresponding podcast too (featured below).

2.) Blogs with Heavy WordPress categories

• SmashingMagazine.com
• SixRevisions.com
• SmashingApps.com
• 1stWebDesigner.com
• Noupe.com
• WebDesignerWall.com

3.) WordPress Roundups

Here’s a collection of some other great WordPress roundups I’ve stumbled upon…

• WordPress Theme Developers Tools
• Best Resources for Learning WordPress Development
• The Ultimate Roundup of WordPress Tutorials, Themes, and Guides
• 300 Resources to Help You Become a WordPress Expert

4.) WordPress Books

• 

  WordPress Bible

  Price: $31.49

  (28 customer reviews)

  72 used & new available from $4.75
• 

  Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog (Smashing Magazine Book Series)

  Price: $3.99

  (31 customer reviews)

  40 used & new available from $3.99
• 

  WordPress 2.8 Theme Design

  Price: $34.40

  (9 customer reviews)

  35 used & new available from $7.25
• 

  WordPress Plugin Development (Beginner’s Guide)

  Price: $34.37

  (8 customer reviews)

  36 used & new available from $13.99
• 

  WordPress for Business Bloggers: Promote and grow your WordPress blog with advanced plug-ins, analytics, advertising, and SEO

  Price: $34.00

  (11 customer reviews)

  44 used & new available from $8.95
• 

  ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income

  Price: $4.49

  (56 customer reviews)

  71 used & new available from $4.49

5.) WordPress Podcasts

If you don’t feel like reading, listen to these great podcasts as experts and developers share their expertise…

• WordPress Community Podcast
• WordPress Weekly

6.) Free WordPress Theme Lists

Overtime I’ve found some great lists of free WordPress Themes that I find myself going back to all the time when building a new WP site…

• 20 Best WordPress e-Commerce Themes
• 40 Stylish, Minimal and Clean WordPress Themes
• 29 Premium-Like Free But Extremely Tremendous Portfolio WordPress Themes
• 28 New Great Magazine/Newspaper Style WordPress Themes
• 100+ Free Beautiful WordPress Themes
• 40 Free High-Quality WordPress Themes
• 60 Free, Yet Premium Quality WordPress Magazine News Themes
• 14 Most Visually Appealing Free WordPress Themes
• 50 Beautiful Free WordPress Themes
• 45 Best Free WordPress Themes of All Time
• 110 Free WordPress Themes for 2011
• 50 New WordPress Themes for March 2011

7.) Help/Support Forums

Looking for help or support with your WordPress endeavors?

• Community Supported WordPress Forums – This is the official WordPress support forum. You’ll be surprised how quickly someone will help you out for free, I know .
• Official WordPress Plugin Repository – This is the official place to download WordPress plugins. If you’re looking to extend WordPress with additional functionality, always make sure to check here first!
• Professional WP Help Center – If you’re looking for professional WordPress help here’s a great premium service to ask for assistance.
• WordPress Jobs – If you’re looking for WordPress jobs, here’s a job board for your career hunt!

8.) WordPress Videos

Video can tell a story and make it even easier to learn things with WordPress.  Here are some great video resources for WordPress

• WordPress.tv How-To’s
• List of Youtube Channels about WordPress
• WordPress Tutorials on Vimeo
• WordPress Presentation Videos on Slideshare

9.) WordPress Cheetsheets

Sometimes you just need a quick cheat sheet reference guide. Download and print out these 1 pages and keep them on your desk for quick references during WordPress development.  Checkout these 23 WordPress Cheatsheets.

10.) WordCamps and WordPress Meetups

• List of WordPress Meetups
• WordCamp Schedule

(This is part 4 of a 5 part series, click here to see the whole series)

1.) The Events Calendar

There are many calendar plugins in the WordPress repository, but this one is my favorite for a few reasons.  It has an intuitive admin interface, multiple ways to display your calendar,  includes a sidebar widget, and also a child plugin compatible with EventBrite.

2.) MapPress Easy Google Maps

This plugin makes it easy to add Google Maps to your WordPress site.  I love its AJAX interface and its ability to make it easy to generate directions to your point of business/event.

3.) NextGEN Gallery

A very robust image gallery plugin that has more features than you can imagine.  A few of my favorite features: Different slideshow types, bulk image edit, and watermarks.  In addition, with another plugin, you can allow your users to upload images to galleries and make it easy for your users to share images.

4.) Audio Player

This simple plugin makes it easy to add audio files to be played on your WordPress site.  Next time you add audio to a post/page, the audio view will have a [Audio Player] option to insert into the content.

5.) WordPress SEO by Yoast

SEO, SEO, oh, SEO.  In reality there are too many WordPress SEO plugins to go through, but some stand out.  This plugin has a crap load of SEO features, but I mainly use it for its WYSIWYG Google Search results feature.  At the bottom of each post is a tool to customize how your post will look in search engine results.  Brilliant.

6.) WP-Touch

With more and more mobile devices, its only a matter of time (if it hasn’t happened already) that someone will view your WordPress site with a mobile device.  This plugin will render your site in a very user friendly and digestible format for smaller screens.

7.) GD Star Rating

Looking for reviews and/or ratings on your WordPress content?  This plugin is by far the most feature intensive plugin.  It gives you so many options and formats for ratings.  Just look at some of the plugin’s screenshots, better yet, install the plugin and explore yourself.

8.) Lightbox Gallery

This is a simple plugin that will automatically apply a light box to all photos you link in your site.  It’s a “subtle, but nice touch feature” for sites that have images (yes, this site is using this plugin).

9.) WP Table Reloaded

It can sometimes be difficult creating a table of content that not only looks great, but is easy to maintain.  This plugin does this, and some.  On top of having a very flexible interface for creating tables it also has the capabilities to allow the user to search and sort the table’s content.

10.) Theme My Login

Here’s a nice finishing touch to your WordPress site, customize your login page.  Instead of the standard WordPress logo login page, spruce it up with this plugin.  It also has a widget to add login to your site’s sidebar!

(This is part 3 of a 5 part series, click here to see the whole series)

1.)  Make a post sticky

If you want a post to be on the front page above all other posts, you can make it sticky.  To do this, go the the post’s edit page.  Under the Publish panel, click [edit] to the right of Visibility and check the box “Stick this post to the front page”.

2.) Require a password to view a post

You can password protect a posts individually.  To do this, go the post’s edit page.  Under the Publish panel, click [edit] to the right of Visibility and click the radio box “Password protected” and type a password to view this page.  When someone tries to go to this page they’ll be prompted with a password to access.

3.) Schedule posts for the future

Many times you may find yourself writing multiple posts at once, yet it’s best to moderate the frequency of your publishing.  This has multiple benefits.   To do this, go the the post’s edit page.  Under the Publish panel, click [edit] to the right of Publish and set a time in the future for when the post will go live.

4.) Make images “web friendly”

It’s best to make your images larger than they need to be on the page.  This means if you took a photo with your digital camera, you should resize it before uploading it to WordPress.  Here’s a great Windows add-on for this: http://imageresizer.codeplex.com/

5.) Re-use the same images when possible

You don’t have to upload the same image again if you’ve already uploaded it.  From the post edit page, click the [Add an image] icon.  Click on the Media Library tab at the top and select an uploaded image.

6.) Spell check your posts and pages

Sometimes even proofreading your content multiple times isn’t enough for mistakes to slip.  Use After The Deadline plugin to not only check your spelling, but also check your grammar.  You can install it by itself or as the JetPack package (recommended).

7.) Copy and Paste your Microsoft Word content properly

When copying and pasting content from Microsoft Word, many times you’ll get unwanted characters and formatting in your WordPress.  If you’re writing your posts in Microsoft Word before posting to WordPress you should be using the Import from Microsoft Word functionality of the TinyMCE editor.

8.) Link to other posts quickly

New to WordPress 3.1 is the ability to search your old posts and add them as a link to a new post.  From the post edit page, click the link icon in the TinyMCE editor and click [Or link to existing content].  Here you can search your old posts, click on the post to link and then [Add link].

9.) Easily search and embed content from the web

Researching content for your posts can be painstaking and long.  Using the Insights plugin you can easily embed images from Flickr, videos from Youtube, search Wikipedia and more, without ever leaving your blog post.  Install the Insights plugin to do this.

10.) Write content for the web

Too many times people write their content like white papers or press releases.  The easier users can digest your posts, the more likely they’ll read more of your content and share it.  This topic is big and important, so here’s a place to start and a place to explore more.

(This is part 2 of a 5 part series, click here to see the whole series)

1.) Hide WordPress files

Don’t allow hackers to find your WordPress, hide them.  Here’s a simple trick to help hide WordPress files to the public: http://ox.no/posts/hiding-wordpress-installation-files

2.) Excellent password practices

It’s important to use secure passwords for your WordPress sites (this includes your database password when installing WordPress).  Here’s a great site for creating passwords: http://www.safepasswd.com

Even the most secure passwords can sometimes be found.  It’s good to update your passwords regularly.  Make it a habit to add a monthly reminder into your calendar to update your site’s password.

If you’re going to use a password management tool, I highly recommend LastPass for its YubiKey support.  Like most password management tools, all your passwords are protecting under 1 master password.  If that one password is found all of your sites maybe compromised.  LastPass offers a 2 step authentication which requires a USB key along side your master password to access your vault.  To see more: https://lastpass.com/support_screencasts.php?feature=yubikey1

3.) Change your default login link

By default, to login to WordPress you can just put ‘/wp-admin’ at the end of a WordPress powered site to get to the login page.  Use the Stealth Login plugin to change the login URL to something like ‘domain.com/mylogin’.

4.) Prevent too many login attempts

To protect yourself from brute force login attempts, make it harder by limiting the number of login attempts to your site with this plugin: Limit Login Attempts

5.) Monitor your WordPress installation

If someone does happen to somehow compromise your site by adding, deleting, or changing a file get a email immediately with this plugin: WordPress File Monitor

6.) Upgrade WordPress to the latest version

WordPress is constantly being updated, many times to fix vulnerabilities.  It’s best to have the latest version.  See: Updating WordPress

7.) Scan your install after making admin changes

Its possible that plugins, themes, and even posts can open up vulnerabilities in your install.  So if you’ve recently done some changes to your WordPress install, you may want to run a security scan before walking away.  Here’s a plugin to do so: WP Security Scan

8.) See installing WordPress above

To reiterate, don’t use ‘admin’ as your username, don’t user ‘wp_’ as your database prefix, and don’t create the ‘wp-config.php’ file manually.

9.) Backup your database regularly

Even the most secure site can get hacked.  It’s good practice to backup your sites database.  If all other security measures fail, you can retrieve your database (posts, pages, comments, plugin/theme configurations) from a backup.  Use a plugin to get database backups emailed to you regularly: WP-DB-Backup

10.) I’ve been hacked, what do I do?

Start here: http://codex.wordpress.org/FAQ_My_site_was_hacked

At WordPress Ann Arbor‘s March meetup John Pratt and I decided to team up and go over a collection of things every WordPress user should know. The idea is to build a base of good practices that all WordPress users new and old can follow. This joint effort will cover 10 different topics, each with 10 different tools/tips. So a total of 100 useful things. John and I did 50 things each and presented it at WordPress A2′s March 2011 meetup.

Over the next 5 days each of us will post our 10 things live.  As the posts go live, I’ll update this post with links.  So feel free to book mark this page as a table of contents to our content.  Get ready to enjoy 20 new WordPress things a day for the next 5 days!

Here are the 10 topics over 5 days:

Day 1

• 10 Things to know about Webhosting WordPress
• 10 Things to know about Setup and Installing WordPress
  

Day 2

• 10 Things to know about WordPress Theme Selection
• 10 Things to know about WordPress Security

Day 3

• 10 WordPress Plugins to Install by Default
• 10 Things to know about WordPress Content Creation

Day 4

• 10 Things to know about Theme Modification
• 10 WordPress Plugins to Install for Fundamental Functionality
  

Day 5

• 10 Things to know about Content Organization in WordPress
• 10 Types of WordPress Helpful Resources

Read all before installing!

(This is part 1 of a 5 part series, click here to see the whole series)

1.) Simple WordPress Install

WordPress is really easy to install.  After you have your webhost here’s the quick and dirty on getting WordPress installed. (WordPress shows 5 steps, but you really only need to follow 4, I’ll explain this below.)

• a.) Download WordPress
• b.) Create a database and user
• c.) Upload WordPress files to your webhost
• d.) Follow the on screen step-by-step WordPress instructions

Here’s a video to show you all of these steps for 1and1 webhosting:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViDoAS1R-xI
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyDMHQdp3kE

2.) Automated WordPress Install

Some webhosts offer automated solutions making it even easier to install.  This method can be typically be done through your webhost’s admin panel.

Here are few videos showing how to do with multiple webhosts and their automated method:

• HostICan (Fantastico)
• MediaTemple (Custom)
• DreamHost (Custom)
• BlueHost (Simple Scripts)

3.) More installation Help

WordPress’ recommended ways to install: http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress

For some videos: http://wordpress.tv/category/how-to/installation-how-to/

4.) Don’t create a wp-config.php file manually

I know it says this on the WordPress install page (Step 3), but with newer version of WordPress, setting the database credentials can be done through the easy browser-based install.  Using the browser install helps prevent errors on modifying PHP code in an important install file.

5.) Don’t use ‘admin’ when installing WordPress

This is a security thing, by default, WordPress has its first user’s name ‘admin’ (pre WP 3.0).  Change it to something custom to you.  It’ll make it harder for potential hackers to get into your site.

6.) Don’t use ‘wp_’ as your database prefix when install WordPress

Again, another security precaution.  This is a WordPress default, change it to something custom to the site.  Relating to the previous tip, by changing default values on install you’re eliminating the most common possibility a hacker would use when trying to access your site.

7.) Install more than 1 WordPress site to the same database

Extending 6., by changing your database prefix you can easily install multiple WordPress sites to the same database.  Next time you are installing WordPress on the same webhost of an existing install, use the same database credentials.  When asked to set the database prefix give it something different than your previous install.  You can repeat this multiple times.  (It’s not always ideal to install multiple sites on the same database, i.e. – shared web hosts with small databases, heavily trafficked sites.)

8.) Build your site offline

It’s good practice to setup WordPress on your computer locally.  When the site is ready to “go live” you can move the files to your webhost.  What this means is you would setup a server on your computer and install WordPress to that.  Then you would be able to edit and test your site locally without the fear of destroying the live site.

Here’s the 3 step process

• a.) Install WordPress locally
• b.) Create your WordPress site (this is all the things you’d do with any WordPress install)
• c.) Move WordPress to your webhost

9.) Install multiple sites under one WordPress installation

Use WordPress’ multisite feature to manage multiple sites under one install.  If you have multiple WordPress sites it can easily become overwhelming to remember to update all your sites, plugins, themes, etc.)  With WordPress multisite you can create a super-admin which would allow you to upgrade WordPress once and push it to all of your WordPress installs.  This can also be done with your plugins and themes.  Using multisite will allow you to create all your users in one location.  Setting up a network of sites is a bit more advanced, but here’s some links to helping you do this:

Creating your network

If you’re sites have different domains (i.e. – this.com, that.com more.com) you’ll need to setup domain mapping with this plugin:

MU Domain Mapping

Activating WordPress Multisite (vide0)

10.) Still having trouble installing WordPress?

Here’s a comprehensive FAQ that covers the many facets of installing WordPress: http://codex.wordpress.org/FAQ_Installation

See the many other ways to install WordPress: http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Installation_Techniques

If all else falls search and/or submit your question to the WordPress forums: http://wordpress.org/support/

(You’d be surprised to see how fast you’ll get a response back, I know because I’ve battled others to be the first to help someone out!)