Why IE6 Must Die?
The Internet Explorer 6 was released 8 years ago. Because of its ability to tie up with Windows XP, Microsoft was able to lock in an astounding 95% captive market. Since IE6 was launched in August of 2001, the browser was already plagued with numerous problems that led to a plethora of unresolved browser bugs and security issues. Eight years have passed and the same nagging problems remain and it is now time for me to weigh my options and consider the reasons why it is time for IE6 to go. 1. Absence of Transparency Support in PNG IE6 has not been able to resolve the problem about its inability to support transparency in PNG as we end up with annoying gray color displays as replacement to the transparency. We are better off with Firefox, Opera, Safari and IE7 as they support transparency in PNGs. 2. Serious Security Issues Failure to update your browser is tantamount to opening yourself up to all sorts of security attacks. If you insist on using IE6, then you must have to contend with code snippets that are capable of shutting down your IE6. You can learn everything about them at Wikipedia. Read through the information and find out why IE6 is considered unstable. 3. Facebook, YouTube and Digg are shunning away from IE6 The signs are all written on the wall. Facebook, YouTube and Digg are slowly disassociating from IE6 and they have recently announced plans to scale down their support for IE6. Ultimately, we will reach the tipping point where you will not be able to browse Youtube and Digg using IE6. Due to the reasons stated above, as of this writing, I will not test my themes against IE6 anymore. Also, I will not support any IE6 related issue for my WordPress themes. If you are still using IE6, I strongly urge you to upgrade your browser to IE7 or IE8 to avoid problems. And since IE8 is already released and its market share is getting bigger, I will start testing my themes against IE8. Removing IE6 from my browser test and adding IE8 to the list will now make my themes compatible with IE7, IE8, Safari, Opera, Firefox and...
Read MoreGood and Bad WordPress Web Hosts
This post will be constantly updated to add good/bad hosts after being reviewed. Besides Hostgator, I have also tried several other hosts. To help you choose the right host, here I list the good as well as the bad ones. Good hosts that I recommend These are hosts that I currently have some of my sites hosted with for more than a year. I can’t ensure they will be as good in the future but at least for the past 12 months, I am extremely satisfied with their service. Greengeeks Their management team has over 40 years of experience in providing high quality, affordable web site hosting. It is fully compatible with WordPress with an easy one-click installation. My site is enjoying 99.98% uptime with this host for the past 9 months since Aug 2008. IXwebhosting One of the best WordPress hosting providers. Host multiple domains, 8 dedicated IP addresses, free site builder. My site is enjoying 99.96% uptime with this host in the past 1 year since Dec 2008. Find out more about the Quality Assurance Policy Bad hosts that fail my test These are hosts that I tried in the past. If the hosts are bad, most of the times you’ll know it within 3 months. Indeed, there are more bad hosts around than good ones Webhostingpad Reasons: I signed up for their plan which cost $1.99/mth and they moved my site to a congested server. It took 20 seconds to load my site which used to load less than 3 seconds when hosted with a good hosting company. I used to recommend this host but their service turns bad now. Dot5hosting Reasons: Bad customer support. I contacted them several times within a one-week period but they only get back to me 9 days later! Not a good way to run a hosting business. Globat Reasons: Their server was down 2 days without any fix. Also, they sent their customers (including me, of course) several promotional emails which automatically opted me in. On one occasion where I forgot to opt out, they charged me for the service which I didn’t need at all. Gisol Reason: My account was paid in full in Mar 2009, yet in Oct GISOL suspended it for nonpayment. After long response from e-mail, the support discovered that it was a billing problem and the site was restored. Then in June same thing happened again. Obviously the host doesn’t take their customers...
Read MoreGetting Started with WordPress.org
Once a while, I receive enquiries from users asking about some of the the basic WordPress related questions. I think it is good to write a post to put together questions for WordPress newbies here. What is WordPress? WordPress is the most popular web blog publishing software installed on the web server of the user. The open source software was released in 2003. It is written in PHP and makes use of MySQL database. It is primarily noted for its broad features. WordPress is a user-friendly software that can be used by both the beginner and the advanced programmer. It comes with an interface that is loaded with features. Users can also choose from a wide range of templates for their WordPress themes. On top of these advanced features, users can also enhance the site using dialogs like password protection, user feedback and user registration. What is the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org? WordPress comes in two forms: WordPress.com and WordPress.org. WordPress.com is the open source web blog publishing program. This means that the software is free to use and can be modified by users to suit their specific requirements and needs. However, these open source software present some limitation. On the other hand, WordPress.org provides users with the software in order to create your blog, but will not provide you with hosting service. The user will have to hire the services of another provider to get a domain name to host your blog site online. The advantage of WordPress.org over that of WordPress.com is that it provides customization and flexibility to its users. WordPress.org is basically a free web publishing software where bloggers can install plugins and themes, modify the database, run adverts, and change the PHP code. Anyone can download the software but the users must have it installed on a server before it can be used. Bloggers will have to pay for the web server and it will be their responsibility to host their own WordPress.org blogging software. This is where the difference lies. In WordPress,com, the blogger doesn’t have to do any software download, get the service of a hosting provider and manage your own web server. How to install WordPress.org? The popularity of WordPress is to a large extent can be attributed to the simple and easy to follow installation process. One only needs a web server, the WordPress software and a MySQL database in order to get start using WordPress. Here is the simple and quick 6-step to Install WordPress Step #1 Download and extract WordPress. You can do this by visiting http://wordpress.org/download/. Step #2 Set up the WordPress database including a MySQL user who will have the privileges in modifying and accessing it. Step #3 Change the filename wp-config-sample.php to wp-config.php. Step #4 Open the renamed file wp-config.php in your preferred text editor and provide the information required in the database field which are described in Editing wp-config.php to create and use your password key. Step #5 Locate your file for WordPress in your preferred place on your web server. When doing this task, consider the following: * If you prefer to integrate the blogging software into the domain root then you have to upload or move all the contents of the extracted directory of your WordPress into your web server root directory. * If you intend to put your WordPress installation in its own web site subdirectory, then you have to rename the wordpress directory to the subdirectory name that you prefer and upload or move it to the web browser. For instance, if you prefer to have your WordPress installation...
Read MoreWordPress Theme Submission to Directories and Forums
This post will be constantly updated when I find new sites that accept theme submission. After releasing my theme, how do I promote them? One way is to submit them to the sites which accept WordPress themes. In this post, I show you the list of the theme directories and forums that I used to submit my themes to. Theme submission can only be done manually so you can imagine submitting to more than 100 sites will be such a tedious and time-consuming process. Ever since I found a site which offers submission service at a low price, I never want to do it myself anymore. WordPress Theme Submission via Theme Directories http://www.afreetheme.com http://www.bestwpthemez.com http://www.bgthemes.com http://www.bgthemes.com/upload.php http://www.blogskins.com http://www.blogzoop.com http://www.csstemplates.net http://www.delicious.com http://www.designbump.com http://www.designfloat.com http://www.designm.ag http://www.designmoo.com http://www.designyourway.net http://www.digg.com http://www.dinothemes.com http://www.fbrushes.com http://www.freelayouts.com http://www.freeminders.org http://www.free-template-design.com http://www.freewordpresstheme.info http://www.free-wordpress-theme.net http://www.freewordpressthemeblog.info http://www.freewordpressthemes.com http://www.free-wordpress-themes.com http://www.freewpblogthemes.com http://www.freewpthemes.info http://www.freewpthemesite.com http://www.gothemes.com http://www.hq-templates.com http://www.indeziner.com http://www.ithemes.org http://www.iwordpressthemes.com http://www.joyoge.com http://www.looppress.com http://www.mixx.com http://www.premiumtemplate.org http://www.reddit.com http://www.satinder.net http://www.scriptsz.com http://www.sponsoredtemplates.com http://www.stumbleupon.com http://www.talktheme.com http://www.templatebubble.com http://www.templates-free.com http://www.themeboss.com http://www.themebot.com http://www.themes.mwolk.com http://www.themes.satinder.info http://www.themesandmods.net http://www.themesgate.com http://www.themesjunction.com http://www.themespack.com http://www.themestudio.us http://www.themezoo.com http://www.thepimppanther.com http://www.thetutorialist.com http://www.thewordpresstheme.com http://www.top-best-themes.com http://www.topwordpresstheme.com http://www.tripwiremagazine.com http://www.twitter.com http://www.webdesign-ne.ws http://www.webfrap.com http://www.widgetreadythemes.com http://www.woork.blogspot.com http://www.wordpress3themes.com http://www.wordpress4themes.com http://www.wordpresssite.com http://www.wordpress-solutions.net/freebies http://www.wordpressthemebase.com http://www.wordpressthemesbook.com http://www.wordpressthemeschart.com http://www.wordpressthemespark.com http://www.wpappearance.com http://www.wparchive.com http://www.wparena.com http://www.wpclassic.com http://www.wpcorner.com http://www.wpdaddy.com http://www.wpflx.com http://www.wpsite.net http://www.wpskinner.com http://www.wpskins.org http://www.wp-templates.com http://www.wptemplates.org http://www.wptheme.net http://www.wpthemedb.com http://www.wpthemedesigner.com http://www.wpthemes.co.za http://www.wpthemes.me http://www.wpthemesbot.com http://www.wpthemesdir.com http://www.wpthemesgalore.com http://www.wpthemeslibrary.com http://www.wpthemez.com http://www.xhtmlvalid.com http://www.yourtemplatezone.com http://www.zabox.net WordPress Theme Submission via Forums http://www.9mb.com/forums/ http://www.adminfusion.com/forums http://www.affiliatewebmasterforum.com http://www.australianwebmaster.com http://www.bloggeries.com/forum http://www.blogtrafficschool.com/forums http://www.bulawebs.com/forums http://www.byet.net http://www.bzimage.org http://www.devhunters.com http://www.directoryjunction.com/forums http://www.divisionbell.com/bb http://www.estetica-design-forum.com http://www.experienceadvertising.com/forum http://www.focused.org http://forum.kahuki.com http://www.forum.zced.com http://www.forumcraze.com/forums http://www.forums.digitalpoint.com http://forums.ukwebmasterworld.com http://forums.vmoptions.com http://forums.webicy.com http://forums.webtemplatereviews.com http://www.freehostforum.com http://www.freewebsitetemplates.com/forum http://www.helpingwebmasters.com http://www.iguides.org http://www.istorya.net/forums http://www.mypagadian.com http://www.namepros.com http://www.netbuilders.org http://www.newwpthemes.net/forum/ http://www.seobum.com http://www.seotalkforums.com http://www.siteownersforums.com http://www.talkfreelance.com http://www.talk-mania.com http://www.tareeinternet.com/forum http://www.templatesforums.com http://www.v7n.com/forums http://www.wbtalk.com http://www.webcosmoforums.com http://www.webcosmoforums.com http://www.webdesignchat.org http://www.webicy.com http://www.webjuniors.com http://www.webmasterads.com http://www.webmasterforumsonline.com http://www.webmastermalaysia.com http://www.webmasters.org http://www.webmasterserve.com http://www.webmasters-forum.org http://www.webmastersheart.com http://www.webmastershelp.com http://www.webmaster-talk.com/blog-themes http://www.webtalkforums.com http://www.web-talks.com http://www.webtemplatestalk.com http://www.webzpoint.com http://www.wpforums.com http://www.wpsnap.com...
Read MoreUsing WordPress in iPhone
Now you can start blogging from anywhere. The new facility of ‘WordPress for iPhone’ allows you to access this advanced blogging tool using your iPhone. WordPress for iPhone assists you in accomplishing a number of tasks. You can write posts, upload photos, edit pages, make a comment on any blog you visit and manage comments on your blog as well. This move of WordPress offers a great experience for all those who are familiar with the functions of iPhone as well as the WordPress tools. The ‘WordPress for iPhone’ uses an open source programming so anybody can provide his/her inputs in the development of this plugin. It is launched under GNU, the General Public License. This tool is available in 2.5.1 or higher version. If you are still not aware of this feature, you can check out WordPress official site for the tutorials and guidelines which are important to learn this advanced tool. Till now, many people have used this feature and gave a positive feedback. What are you waiting for? Start blogging today with the help of your...
Read MoreHow to Track the Performance of your Footer/Sidebar Link Advertising Campaign?
The link advertising in the footer/sidebar of the WordPress themes has proven to be an effective way in promoting your sites in two ways. Not only will you get direct traffic from the blogs’ visitors who click on your footer link, it’ll also increase your site’s link popularity, hence your search ranking. When you sponsor (you buy a footer/sidebar link) a WordPress theme, the more users download a theme, the more sites will have your links. Currently, there are 3 advertising models available in the market. Model 1 You sponsor a theme and your links will be permanently placed on the theme. The theme will be promoted via submission to forums and theme directory sites. Model 2 You sponsor a theme and your links will be permanently placed on the theme. The theme will be promoted via submission to forums, theme directory sites as well as the website of the theme owner. Model 3 You sponsor a theme and your links will appear on the theme until a certain number of downloads have been fulfilled. Now the question is: how do you know if your investment returns good results? To answer that question, you need to know 2 things. 1) How many times the theme have been downloaded? 2) How many websites use the themes? The first question is actually redundant because ultimately, you want to know the answer to the second question, which is the end results! Therefore, when a theme owner tells you how many downloads you’ll get by sponsoring their theme as compared with others, think beyond the number of downloads because the big downloads don’t necessary mean that more sites are using the theme. You’ll be surprised it is extremely easy to know how many domains use the theme that you sponsor. There is a catch, however, that you need to keep in mind before taking up a sponsorship. Just follow the steps below… Step 1 Before sponsoring a theme, think of the anchor text that you are going to use. For example, you want to use this anchor text: Quality Travel Agent Step 2 Think of the full keywords that’ll appear in the footer. For example, you want to use these keywords in the footer: Offered by Quality Travel Agent (note that “Offered by” is just text while “Quality Travel Agent” is the anchor text with your URL) Step 3 Do an EXACT search on Google for those keywords. In this case, key in: “Offered by Quality Travel Agent” (include the quotation for exact search) You need to make sure that no results can be found by Google using those keywords. You’ll see this in the Google’s result page: No results found for “offered by quality travel agent”. If the keywords return some results, go to Step 4 Step 4 Change the keywords and do the EXACT search again until no results can be found. Some examples would be: In collaboration with Quality Travel Agent Sponsored by Quality Travel Agent Step 5 Ask the theme owner to add the keywords exactly what you want it to appear in the footer/sidebar. In this case: Offered by Quality Travel Agent Step 6 When your link ad is up, wait for about a week and do the exact search for the keywords again and see how many web pages have been indexed by Google that contain your links. Copy the web pages and save them in Microsoft Excel. From there, you’ll know how many domains are using the theme with your link ad. Step 7 The number of pages using the theme will increase with time so...
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