Most of the people use a single web browser for their all online activities but as a webmaster I need to check my websites in all the major browsers available for compatibility testing. Not just for compatibility testing these browser also help in some way or other so I can work more efficiently.

At present I have following browsers:

1. Google Chrome
2. Mozilla Firefox
3. Microsoft Internet Explorer
4. Apple Safari
5. Avant Web Browser
6. Flock Browser
7. Opera Web Browser

In these I like Google Chrome the most because it is much faster than other browsers. I don’t have to wait for it to start as it starts in a flash and also page rendering is speed is also far better than other browsers.

I use Mozilla Firefox as my second browser to browse my second google  account and also because it has so much cool plugins that helps a lot.

Third Browser I use is Apple safari as it is most used browser on Mac computers and it cannot be overlooked.

Opera Browser is other browser I use because it sync with opera mini browser that I use on my mobile phone. If I find any site that I feel useful when browsing the web on my mobile phone then I bookmark it to see it later on my laptop.

Microsoft Internet explorer is rarely used by me as I don’t like it at all.

Flock Browser is for my social networking needs. It is a special browser built to manage all social networks you use with lesser work.

Other browsers are just for testing purpose.

So which is your favourite web browser and why?

I wrote here about making a  to do list. I use google notepad to take notes whenever I am online but when I was offline I was using my nokia phone to make to do entries as it has a nice built in To do application but the problem with making to do entries in mobile phone is that I just forget about these entries because I am too much habitual of taking mobile everywhere and it doesn’t triggers any thought as I am trying to do something new.

So I decided to do it the old fashioned way by keeping a small pocked diary with me all the time and taking notes whenever I get some new idea. As the diary is new it provokes the feeling of doing new thing and its human nature that we are too much interested in new things.

Lets see how it turns out to be.

Happy deepawali to all Rajeev Verma’s notebook reader..

Whenever I see successful persons, I always wonder what it takes to become one of them. Most of the time we think it is extraordinary talent that makes someone successful. Just look at the video below and you will find talent is not the most important thing that makes great people great. In this video US president Barack Obama is posing with delegates from all over the world. These are 135 photos used to make this video and you will find the same "killer smile" on Obama’s face. That’s a great example of patience. Yes patience is the quality that decides whether we are going to stand in the pool of successful people or not.

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In my previous post I wrote about using windows livewriter to write to and update blogs. Setting up livewriter to post to blogger blogs is somewhat easy but whet it comes to wordpress blogs when we try to give all the details and try to  set it up sadly it fails. You don’t have to worry about it. You just have to enable posting you have enable the WordPress, Movable Type, MetaWeblog and Blogger XML-RPC publishing protocols. This will  make your blog accept connection from windows live writer and you will be able to update your blog using it.

Here are the steps you have to follow to do this:

1. Login to your wordpress dashboard.

2. Click on the “Writing" option under “settings”.

3. You will the option “XML-RPC” under “Remote publishing” section. Enable the check box  in front of it.

4. Click on the “Save Changes”

5. Its Done!!

Now go to Windows livewriter and try to setup your blog again. You wont face any problem.

Happy Blogging..

I have been using windows livewriter to post to this blog and my other blogs for a short time and actually I am loving it. The Best thing I like about using livewriter as blog editing tool is how quickly we can start working on the blog post idea.

Big bloggers always give an advice that as soon as you conceive an idea in your brain you should start working on it. You should first write an idea as a draft after which you can do all your research and later you can turn that draft post into a master copy by editing it and putting all the useful information in it to publish on your blog. With livewriter following this advice of masters become so easy.

If you use wordpress inbuilt blog editing tool you will have to wait to complete the following steps to start working on your idea:

1. Open your web browser.

2. Enter the URL of your blog’s login page.

3. Fill the login details.

4. Enter blog dashboard.

5. Click on the “New Post” link

6. Wait for the editing window to load fully.

7. Start writing blog post.

Only after completing all these steps you will be able to start putting your blog post idea into action. Like most of the bloggers you may be a part time or hobby blogger and if you are tired enough you wont feel comfortable doing all these steps and let the idea go without putting it into action or keep the idea for acting on later ( and later forget).

If you are using windows live writer here is what you have to do to start writing your blog post:

1. Start the livewriter.

2. Start writing.

that’s it.  See how easy it is to put your idea into action with livewriter.

Another useful feature of livewriter is it downloads all the theme files from your blog and store them locally and present to you a look that gives you a feeling as you are writing post directly on your home page or your blog post page. It relieves the tension a bit that we have about the blog that how is the blog post going to look on the blog. Repetitive previewing and editing is not required so it saves your valuable time too.

Windows live writers have a lots of plugins that you can download and install for free and use them to give more life to your posts.

If you want to use windows live writer here is the link where you can download windows livewriter free.

I always have a hard time resizing images to post in my blog. I am no professional web designer I don’t find myself comfortable knowing the perfect size every time.

I was just checking out my blog and I came across this fine plugin, nCode Image Resizer, that resizes the images using the javascript without changing the actual properties of the images. It only resizes the images if they are larger than  the value you have put in the setting of the plugin.

This plugin also give the visitors a option to see images in full size buy showing a bar above the images, clicking on which image shoes up in actual size.

I am not giving a link to download page. If you want to install plugin go to “add plugin” option in your blog and search for “nCode image resizer” (without the quotes) and you will find it. Click install and done.

Screen shot simply means taking a photograph of computer screen. Its very easy but lots of newbies find it difficult to take screenshot . There are few different ways to take screen shot:

1. Most easy one is to use snipping tool built in windows seven or probably windows vista. To take screen shot through snipping tool you simply have to open it ( its present in program files > accessory > snipping tool) click on new and choose the area of screen you want to capture. Selected area will be automatically open as a picture in new window. Save it and use it.

2. If you do not have snipping tool in your PC  you don’t have to worry. The most used technique to take screenshot is by using print screen button. Here is what you have to do:

• Focus the screen you want to take shot of.
• Hit print screen on your keyboard. Sometime th print screen button is labeled as PRTSC or something like that.
• Open you favorite image editing software/tool. If you don’t have one you can use paint (it is present in program files > accessories > paint).
• Click on files > new.
• Paste by using control + “v”.
• Resize it or edit to your satisfaction.
• Save the image in your favorite format.

3. You can use special tools made to take screenshots like hypersnap. These tools have inbuilt editing capabilities to edit your image the way you want. There are many tools available on the internet to take screenshot or to take screen capture.

Like most of the new bloggers I also struggle with writer’s block. We always think of writing when we are not in position of writing a post, new ideas continuously flows in, we gets very excited about the post ideas but as soon as we sit in front of monitor and put our hands on the keyboard, somehow, all the ideas vaporise and whatever we have thought previously looks very idiotic. Looks familiar situation! no?

Only solution to this situation is to start writing a post and not to think about the idea. If it seems foolish let it be, just write it. I promise even if the idea is really an idiotic one you will definitely feel good that you have finished writing it. And second and more important thing that will happen to you writing that post is that you will definitely get another idea about something that is really a good one and you will enjoy  writing the other post. Try it.

For few days I have been looking at the various newsletter services to decide which one to signup for. Most of them are too costly for any starting blogger. I collected the price charts of some services to compare them all at one place. That makes deciding which one is right for us. I am putting them here so it can help someone in search of something like this.

I know there are many other services too but I am listing only those from where I get regular emails as most of my favourite bloggers and marketers use them.

Aweber: Aweber is the most renowned of all the email newsletter services. Its known for its by far the best delivery rates. Its plans starts from 19$ per month. Here is the price chart for aweber:

iContact: iContact claims that they have most number of email templates but I dont think anyone with a solid business in mind care much about flashy designs. Simple and sober designs are most liked ones.

iContact have a serious drawback. On basic plans they allow to send a limited amount of emails. The number of email that we can send per month is calculated as six times the number of subscribers. For example if you have 600 subscribers then you can only send 6*600 ie 3600 emails per month. I dont think that  restriction is good for any business.

Here is the price chart for icontact:

Vertical Response: Vertical response has 2 types of payment plans. First one is monthly plan like all other newsletter services. Here is the chart for monthly plans:

Second type of plan from vertical response is “Pay as you go” plan. In pay as you go plan you only have to pay for the emails you have sent. Its on per email basis or per 1000 email calculation. If you have sent 0 email in a month then you dont have to pay anything. It may be good for few but not for most marketers. The craedits you have purchased must be consumed in 12 month period or it will expire. Here is the chart for cost per email in this plan:

Constant contact: If you look at the front page of constant contact you won’t feel like signing up for their service. The site look so old that it gives a feeling as no one works around there. And one thing more to look at. They have small line written below the price list that says ” Taxes extra”.  Here is the price chart:

Prosender: This service is little unknown. I came to know about it when I recieved emails from johncow.com without signing up for their newsletter and still recieving those emails even after I have unsubscribed. People at comment kahuna also uses this service. Their prices are exact copy of aweber so I dont think their is any benefit in signig up to this service if they are not giving you some special benefit like allowing you to spam as they have given to johncow.com ( read carefully, its not Johnchow.com).

Here is the price chart:

If I have to decide I would definitely go for aweber simply because they have made such a great reputation,  are tested by many and it gives more value for money.