Classic Creations Design » The Design Blog

Project Management

admin — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:27:08 +0000

Service Providers: are you looking for a way to keep track of your projects all in one place (including budget, payments, and deliverables)? In January 2010 I began using the system at Mavenlink. My clients are loving it, and it’s the perfect way for me to organize my projects and communicate with clients through the entire process from beginning to completion.

They will soon be adding the abilities to do proposals and contracts in the system as well! Be sure to check them out…they are currently offering a free 30 day trial!

10-27-09

admin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:11:01 +0000

Need to integrate reader surveys into your WP site? Get a free SurveyGizmo account: HERE. Then install the WP Plugin – works seamlessly!

My Favorite Wordpress Plugins 2

admin — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:01:29 +0000

Part II – Magazine Style Themes

To continue our discussion of my favorite Wordpress plugins, today I’m going to tell you about some plugins that work well with a magazine style theme. What’s a magazine style theme? A theme where the home page is arranged differently from the interior pages of the site, in that it shows excerpts from many different “sections” of the site. Some examples that I’ve designed would be:

• The Business Image Journal
• Linwood Farms HOA
• Long Island Community Fellowship

These themes pull posts and other information from within the site to the home page as “teasers”, just as a magazine or news site will do. The following plugins help your Wordpress magazine theme to function more smoothly, and help you control the content more efficiently.

Excerpts

The newest versions of Wordpress have an “Excerpt” area underneath the post content box. If you’re a planner, and have time to, you can easily create your own post excerpt using this box. There are also ways within the coding of your site to limit the number of words or characters an excerpt contains. If you are the end user, and want to do this yourself, the easiest way is to install the Advanced Excerpt plugin. This plugin allows you to set many different parameters regarding your excerpts, including: length (in word OR characters), html coding (for links, etc.), images, font coding, and more.

Featured Stories

One of the most popular ways to call attention to the Feature Stories of a magazine site, is to use the Featured Content Gallery. This plugin allows you to assign images that help convey your message to your posts, and then rotates them in a set area on your home page…all while linking to the post itself. (for example: The Business Image Journal)

Announcements

Announcements are the news items you really want people to notice, and you may have more than one. What better way to display them than to use a plugin that will scroll through a select number in a designated area on your home page?! The Announcement and Vertical Scroll News plugin does just that. After installing you can use the widget, or if you’re more code savvy, you can add a snippet of code to the appropriate area of your home page template.

Another simple way to add announcements to your home page or sidebar, is to use the Category Posts Widget, which allows you to select one category to show posts from in a section-and choose how many posts to show. Set up an “Announcements” category, and away you go.

Most Popular

It’s always a good idea to let your readers know what other readers like on your site. This is very easily accomplished automatically using the Popular Posts Plugin. You will also need to download and install the Post Plugin Library plugin for the Popular Posts plugin to work. Check your plugins, first, though…you many have already installed that one if you’re also using Similar Posts, Recent Posts, Random Posts, or Recent Comments.

Forums or Message Boards

Do you also have a phpBB forum for your site? What better way to get your readers to join in on the discussions there, than to have the latest topics showing on your home page! By using the WP phpBB Last Topics plugin, you can easily insert a section into your home page or sidebar using a widget. Keep in mind…your phpBB forum must be in the same directory as your WP site for this to work.

Audio

Do you have mp3 audios (speeches, tutorials, etc.) that you’d like to share with your readers? In my opinion, the best player (and easiest to use) is the Audio Player plugin. It also allows you to change the color of the player to match your website (if you so desire), keeping the integration seamless. This player is designed to work within your posts and pages, not your sidebar, so keep that in mind. It also does not work for streaming audio or playlists.

If you do a Podcast, you might want to consider the Sponsors Slideshow Widget. It uses a link category (and those links’ images) to create a slideshow. The widget allows you to set the time between rotation, the fade effects, and more. You can also use multiple widgets within your site.

For classified advertising (whether paid or free), I prefer using post. Of course, we no longer need the Wordpress Automatic Upgrade (since that’s now built in to the newest versions of WP), and I have to admit, that I’d probably remove Event Calendar, and replace it with WP ListCal, but that’s only because I use this one much more often than a calendar these days-it puts events in a list rather than in a tabled calendar.

While my list in the other post was basically a “you really should have these plugins” type thing…this post is more of a “you may not need these right now, but I LOVE what they do” list.

As I create more and more custom Wordpress themes, I am challenged to find plugins that perform exceptional feats!

Image Display

My absolute favorite, for anyone who needs to offer a web portfolio of images (photographers, designers, artists, performers) is GRAND Flash Album Gallery. This plugin makes keeping your images organized and updated a breeze! Images are uploaded directly via your WP Dashboard using a flash uploader. You set the color scheme, as well as the image sizes and resolutions. Thumbnails are automatically generated for you. Visitors can easily scroll through each category and view the images above a thumbnail “scroller”. Should you feel you want a litte extra “umph” from yours, you can even purchase custom made skins for the display.

Twitter Integration

Show your Tweets! If you use Twitter (and let’s face it if you’re using Wordpress and/or blogging, you probably do), its really handy if you can keep your blog readers updated with your tweets, right? In my opinion, the best twitter integration plugin is Wordpress Twitter Widget Pro. If you are handy with CSS (or have a web designer who is), you can make this widget look any way you want! I’m currently using it on my main blog page – at the top, as well as on single post pages (at the end of a post). I’ve made mine relatively plain, but you can use your stylesheet magic and your imagination to make it stand out and get attention!

Google Calendar

Do you have a Google Calendar that’s publicly viewable? Would you like to share it on your blog or Wordpress website? The WPNG Calendar Plugin is exactly what you’re looking for. The plugin allows you to enter your Google GDATA API key, and automatically integrate your Google Calendar into your site. Full instructions for installation and setup can be found on the Google site.

Visitor Sharing

While the WordPress Theme Gallery, or you purchase the license for a theme…you already have a majority of the work done for your design. The coding of the theme is there, you just need it “tweaked” to be what you want for your website. That “tweaking” means creating/adding/editing some graphics such as your logo, buttons, headers, etc. and editing the color scheme in most cases. If you’ve found a theme that meets most of your needs, there’s no reason to pay the higher rates associated with something totally custom!

If you just cannot find a theme that meets your specific needs, then it’s worth the time and money to have a unique WordPress Theme designed for your business. WordPress offers such functionality and flexibility, that once you have that unique theme created, you will end up spending much less in the long run. Make certain that your Unique WordPress Theme design is cross-browser compatible, and easily upgradeable, so that your design will stand the test of time! Be prepared to provide details of what you want your site to accomplish, and exactly how you want the layout of not only the home page, but any interior pages. Remember, with page templates, you can have many different layouts within one theme! You can also have your blog posts publish to a page within the site, rather than having a separate login for your blog.

Be sure to have each designer list what’s included in their “custom” wordpress theme, and question anything that’s not perfectly clear to you. Always ask whether the fee includes customizing an existing theme, or creating a unique one from scratch. Doing this will insure that you receive the best option for your budget!

Find Out What Classic Creations Design can do with WordPress!

Moving Your WordPress Website

admin — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:43:07 +0000

It can be very simple to move your WordPress website to a new host. WordPress has some built in features that, when used along with a plugin or two makes it a very simple process.

Step 1: Back up your database. You can use the WordPress. Be sure you create a new wp_config.phg file and also download the latest versions of all your plugins!

Step 5: Create or set up a temporary URL at your new host (at mine, I created a subdomain that pointed to my regular domain).

Step 6: Upload the core WordPress files to the temporary URL (include all plugins and your Theme files).

Step 7: Install WordPress (type the temporary URL/wp-admin/install.php and follow the directions).

NOTE: Starting @ Step 8 it will be easier to proceed if your logged in to your old WP site dashboard in one browser “tab” and logged into the new WP dashboard in another “tab”–this way you can easily switch back and forth for any copying and pasting or any setups.

Step 8: Remember to set up your permalinks the same way as your old site (Settings>Permalinks in the left navigation).

Step 9: Install and activate your plugins, then set them up like they were on your old host.

Step 10: Select your Theme and activate it. Remember: if you have a Theme that requires you to create a page for “home” and “blog” this is when you should do that and select the correct page templates for them. Then go to Settings>Reading and select the correct Home and Blog pages.

Step 11: Import your Export file. Back in Step 3 we did an export from your old site/host. That’s the file that we’ll use now. Under Tools>Import you will click on “Wordpress” and be prompted to browse your computer to that export file. Once you’ve found the export file on your computer, click the “Upload file + Import” button.

After these steps you are basically finished with your move. However, there will be some things to “tweak” in most cases.

• If you use the WP Table Plugin your tables will have to be rebuilt.
• Your Blogroll/Links will not transfer, so you’ll have to re-enter them.
• Double check the set up of all your plugins.
• Go through your entire site on the new host to be sure everything looks correct.

Once you have verified that everything on the new host is good to go – you are ready to complete your hosting transfer by setting your new DNSs.

When the DNS change is complete, go into the Settings>General section of your new Wordpress site dashboard and change both the “Wordpress address” and the “Blog address” to the correct URL (no longer using the temporary one).

You can also check the Wordpress Codex for other ways to move your site.

If you’re not comfortable with doing the move yourself, or if you have any questions, Contact Me

As always, never attempt something such as this unless you ARE comfortable with the “backend” of your Wordpress site.

Happy Moving!

Your Web Host DOES Matter

admin — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:23:07 +0000

Your website hosting company DOES make a difference!

For a while now, I’ve had email server issues, and it’s driven me to the brink of insanity! Last week, my site’s load time slowed down so much that even I was frustrated by it. Posting to my blog became a 2-3 hour ordeal!

Time to take action! Just because my site had been hosted at the same place for 5 years didn’t mean that I needed to stay loyal! I finally took some time out, and moved my entire site to Classic Hosting. All of my other sites were there, and just because my main site is done in WordPress didn’t mean it would be impossible to move!

What a difference! My site is now FAST and my email troubles are all gone! There were only a couple of bumps in the road during the move, but my tech guys were there in a flash to help me.

Don’t be intimidated by the fact that your site is in WordPress. It’s much easier to move than you think! I’ll post all the steps to easily moving your WordPress site, next.

Doing Business with Friends

admin — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:09:55 +0000

I’ve been wanting to blog about my crazy Summer for months now! I started June this year, with a situation that truly frustrated me, and it quickly turned into one of those “What??!” types of things. I’m hoping I can help you avoid the same type of situation with some advice:

1) Never hire friends just to “help them out”. If they need help, there’s probably a reason and you should stay clear from a business standpoint. Be a FRIEND-listen and respond, but don’t take their issues into your business. Keep in mind, though…if you know your friend well, and know their work ethic is excellent, that changes the dynamic completely!

2) Before you recommend another service provider to your clients, be sure you know that provider’s work ethic very well. Recommending someone without a good one [work ethic] can and will come back and reflect poorly on you…causing you to have to repair relationships.

I’ve spent too much of my Summer recovering from my “What??!” situation – and it’s been a heart breaking waste of energy (because I could have avoided it all).

Friends are personal, Clients are business. Sometimes one can also be the other. Use your judgment and think it through seriously, before mixing them.

Becoming a Better Writer

Nola — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:58:31 +0000

Well, in my case it would be becoming a writer. I have written marketing materials and website content in the past, but I was PAINFULLY slow. When I write things I feel I have to let them “ferment” before I can actually use them. I love to write, I love to tell stories, but I’m not the most comfortable person doing those things in front of people LOL.

So, I was reading blogs, and found this great post on one of my favorites: http://www.copyblogger.com/better-writer/. Reading this post made me feel better about my style (or what I always thought was a lack thereof) of writing. This has inspired me to finally get a hosting account for NolaCooper.com (which I’ve owned for years), and use it as a personal blog to just “play around” with. I’ll be spending my spare time creating a custom magazine style theme for the new site, and setting it up in WordPress very soon. I’m already excited!

WordPress Website Security

Nola — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:00:16 +0000

Just taking a quick minute to post a link to the WordPress Codex: Hardening WordPress. Great information about keeping your WordPress website secure!