Google Analytics: This plugin is crucial to me, perhaps above any of the others I use. I love Google Analytics - it’s so easy to use, and it gives you so much information. However, I sometimes get a little frustrated with it in conjunction with Wordpress. When I decide I want to switch themes, I have to go through and manually paste the tracking code into each appropriate theme file, which can be frustrating, especially when I realize days later that I missed one. Also, since I’m a frequent visitor to my own blog to make a new post or whatever other reason, that can skew the accuracy of the data being presented. I’ve used the filter feature in Analytics before, but I’m not always at the same location when I access my blog, so for me it’s not that effective. The Google Analytics plugin solves both these problems. It automatically inserts the tracking code you provide into all the pages, making sure that no page view is overlooked - except, of course, for the ones you tell it to ignore. It allows you to choose what user levels not to gather tracking data from, so you won’t see all the visits you (or other authors/admins) make to the site, resulting in a more accurate reflection of the visitors to your blog. This is a must-have for any serious Wordpress user.

Wordpress.com Stats: This one complements the Google Analytics plugins, and between the two you get a wicked good picture of who’s coming to your blog and what’s bringing them there. Wordpress.com Stats tracks information specific to bloggers, and displays the stats in real time. That way you can start seeing immediately once you’ve made a post how long it takes for people to discover it, as well as how they’re discovering it. It tracks the number of visitors, search queries that led them there, most popular posts, as well as other information. Another must-have for any real blogger.

Advanced TinyMCE Editor: Let’s face it, the editor that comes with Wordpress is a little sparse. beyond very basic text decorations and inserting links and pictures, there’s not a whole lot you can do with it. That’s a little frustrating for software designed for a type of web site that’s all about creating content. Advanced TinyMCE Editor is the answer to every dissatisfied Wordpress blogger’s prayers. It provides you with a full-featured editor like you’d expect to find in an office suite or a word processing web application. More advanced text decoration tools, table modification tools, spellcheck, and a lot more that you’ll have to try.

CForms II: A contact form is a great way to let readers feel more connected to you, and to get direct feedback about your blog beyond the comments left on individual posts. I’ve tried a number of different form plugins, but none of them have come close to cforms II. Unlike any others I’ve found, this one lets you create your own forms using a graphical system, and even allows you to use Captcha image verification, auto-clearing and requiring fields, all with the click of a mouse - no code knowledge needed! You can have multiple forms if you’d like to allow readers to contact different people, or want different information depending on the page they visit. The features and options available with this plugin are immense. When you insert the form into a page, it does include a small credit link at the bottom of a form. With most of the plugins I’ve found, that turned me off of them. However, this one’s so flexible and powerful that I was willing (even happy) to help the creator out. There’s no other contact form plugin worth having, so definitely check this out.

Lightbox with Add Lightbox: Lightbox is an awesome plugin that displays images linked on your blog in a cool flash viewer on top of the page.  Add Lightbox automatically inserts the rel attribute into the image link so you won’t have to manually set up using Lightbox on every image.  When combined, it allows your readers to look at pictures on your blog much more easily and quickly, while still making it easy for you to take advantage of this.

These plugins are a great start to making blogging easier and better in 2008.  Slap these in, stir up some content, and you’re good to go!  Happy blogging in 2008!

The file is a complete PHP.INI file with all the configuration options you’d find in a full PHP installation. I’ve changed a few key settings that I found most important, such as max upload size and post size, allowing for high resolution photos to be uploaded.

If you have questions or suggestions about other ways to customize this file further, please leave a comment on this post. Thanks.

GoDaddy-Optimized PHP.INI File

Deluge is a BitTorrent client created specifically to be lightweight, so you won’t have to kill your system performance just to download that new Linux distro (c’mon, we all download legal BitTorrent content, right?).  It provides all the features that Azureus does (or at least the ones that you need) and you won’t even notice it running.  I like to maintain my anonymity when downloading torrents, so the proxy and encryption support are vital to me.  It’s got other cool features that I didn’t have with Azureus, such as a built-in anonymous web browser that has dedicated proxy servers to keep you anonymous while you’re searching for torrents, and the ability to password-protect the program so people can’t just open it from the system tray at a whim and see what you’re downloading.

The interface is similar to Azureus, so it makes switching easier.  There are certain parts of it that are even more efficient, such as the torrent information being visible at the bottom of the window in dynamic tabs, rather than having to open a new tab for every torrent you have running.  The statistics automatically show up when you open or select a running torrent.

I’m definitely sticking with Deluge as my client.  It’s fast, reliable, and easy on the system.  Finally, I can download the new Ubuntu - because I would never use it to download music :-p

• 500 GB disk space
• 5 TB bandwidth
• $5.95/month

I looked a little deeper, and found all the standard stuff that the other big guys offer - unlimited email address, unlimited hosted domains, etc. - along with some other features I didn’t see anywhere else like automatically increasing disk space & bandwidth limits, and streaming & chat server support. I found out that the $5.95/month price only applies if you sign up for 10 years of hosting at once, but the 1 year price isn’t too bad, and if you use a promo code you can get a discount off the first billing cycle. I’ve made a promo code for my readers to get $50 off, which is the maximum amount Dreamhost now allows; the code is cconover50.

There are a few things about Dreamhost as a company that makes me happy to give them my business as well. First off, they are a small business, owned by the employees. Having been self-employed with a small business of my own, I like to support other small businesses when I can. Also, they are a green company which means that they are carbon-neutral. I am a big propoent of alternative energy and environmentally friendly practices, so I’m glad to support a company that believes in it too.

I know this sounds like a paid advertisement for Dreamhost, but I am just a really satisfied customer who thought he’d share his experience with other webmasters/bloggers looking for good hosting.

Who do you host with, and what do you think of them?

Qik is a new service that allows you to stream live video from your phone to viewers around the world via the Internet. It uses software installed on your phone to stream the video captured by your phone’s camera to the Qik servers, where is provides it to other viewers, as well as recording it for you to view and use later. They currently only support a handful of phones (all Nokia), but they say on their web site that they are “constantly adding support for new phones” so hopefully that list will expand to other manufacturers soon. I smell an awesome app for the iPhone, or for Android…

This definitely looks like a service to watch, I can definitely see it becoming the Twitter of video.

What do you plan to do differently with your blog in the coming year?

Once you sign in to your GMail account, and are brought to your inbox, you simply go over to the Google Chat buddy list and click Options, then sign in to your AIM account. It prompts you for your AIM screen name and password, and then you’re good to go. It shows status the same way that it does for Google Talk buddies, and displays aliases as well as away messages right on the buddy list. I have everyone on my buddy list aliased for easy reference, so I was pumped to find that out! The chat window pops up the same way, either within the GMail window you have open, or optionally as a popup window.

Google added in features like chat history from the Google Talk system for use with AIM, so it almost makes you want to just use GMail for AIM all the time. Even if you continue to use the regular AIM client, or something like Pidgin as your primary instant messaging client, it sure is a huge improvement over AIM Express for web-based AIM access. I, for one, give it two thumbs up…right after I finish using them for my conversation.

However, as reported on TechCrunch, the open network policy will most likely result in a “two-tiered” network: one for customers who went through all the existing channels to become Verizon subscribers, and one for people who wanted to bring their own equipment and applications to the table. Verizon isn’t known for giving their customers much control, so it’s not surprising that they’re not suddenly giving it away in one fell swoop.

However, the upcoming FCC spectrum auction may require them to do just that. Part of the requirement for being eligible to bid on the 700 MHz spectrum is to allow open devices and open applications. Verizon seems to be trying to show they’re willing to comply ahead of time, in an effort to demonstrate that they’re really serious about the auction and getting a piece of the newly available spectrum. This auction is a major event in the wireless telecommunications industry, since it will significantly affect the competition in the market. Hopefully, the result of this auction will be a viable alternative to Cable and DSL broadband services. Companies that can buy a piece of it will be able to be competitive, and those that can’t won’t be able to keep up. Verizon knows this, and following their failed efforts to change the FCC’s policy, they are willing to sacrifice a little to be eligible for the auction.

Regardless of the reason, it’s a step in the right direction, and Verizon’s all but permanently made the decision to open up, pending the results of the auction in January. Assuming they are able to grab a chunk of the spectrum, they’ll have to support open devices and applications as long as they own it. Consumers may finally have a little freedom to operate if they subscribe to the largest wireless carrier in the country. Until that new spectrum becomes available to consumers, however, this announcement seems to be a lot more sound than substance.

The WildCharger is capable of charging up to 5 devices at once, and is powerful enough to even charge a laptop.  Each device needs to have either a WildCharger adapter, or have the capability built in, but once your device is WildCharge-ready, you’ll never have to plug it in again!

This thing even appeals to my green side, since it is claimed to be nearly 100% efficient and removes the need for excess chargers, and the materials and manufacturing they require.  The pad itself is $60, which is really pretty cheap when you consider that it’s about $30 to buy a charger for your phone alone, and can be used with any phones you buy after that.

Now granted, I haven’t gotten to try one out so I can’t say first hand just how cool the actual device is, but if it works as advertised then I’m getting one.  I am definitely keeping an eye out for when they make an adapter for my phone, because this is a wicked cool gadget!

Google will most likely be vying for spectrum against big names like Verizon Wireless and AT&T, whose experience in the industry puts Google to shame. However, it’s not that often that the opportunity for true change in a closed, tightly controlled industry - like the wireless telecom industry - is presented. Google has the financial resources to effectively compete against the existing carriers, and has a reputation among consumers for providing easy to use, convenient, free services that work well. If they are able to gain a portion of the wireless spectrum, they stand to present a legitimate threat to the traditional structure of wireless carriers.

Android is an awesome concept, and I hope that it succeeds. However, as I said when that announcement was made, the major roadblock for Android’s success is the wireless carriers, and their ability to lock down the OS once it hits their network. If Google is the network, and allows Android to be used the way they promote it, they could have a strong recipe for success, and - dare I say - revolution in the industry.

I still think, however, that they’ll need a “GPhone” to release with Android, as well as if and when their wireless network is open for business. What do you think?

I’ve updated the Orange Basic theme. I’ve modified the colors and fonts to make it more visually appealing, and I’ve added support for the tagging system introduced in Wordpress 2.3.

View theme page »

One of the members of the club put some pictures of the solar installation online, which you can see here.

The first looks at Android are appealing. The Android developers released a video demonstrating some of the basic functions of Android:

It has the desktop-like browsing, the 3G, the hardware acceleration support (in case you want to play Quake on your phone), most of which look similar in function and hardware interface to the iPhone. I know, everybody’s comparing Android to the iPhone, so it sounds tired that I’m saying it too. But let’s face it: the iPhone has revolutionized the way people think about their phone and the way they interact with it. If Android stands a chance at succeeding, it does to a certain degree have to mimic the iPhone, or create something so revolutionary in both form and function that it makes the iPhone seem obsolete. As much as I’m a fan of Google and their web innovations, and as much as I’m sick of hearing the praises sung about the iPhone and iPod, I just don’t see Android busting the iPhone any time soon. All that being said, there is one major thing that Android has above the iPhone: open source, and the freedom to develop and install any apps you want.

The Open Handset Alliance states that Android will be fully open source, free to modify and develop for. However, it does not require carriers to keep the OS unlocked once it’s installed on phones for their network. So at first glance it looks like the long-awaited answer to the monopoly cell phone carriers have on phone software, yet as it’s written now, it will still allow carriers to keep a strangle hold on the mobile software industry.

The key, I think, will be the handsets it ends up on, to create the full hardware and software package. If Apple had simply created a new mobile OS and contracted with Blackberry to provide the hardware, I doubt the response would have been anything close to what it was. In order for Android to appeal to the general public beyond developers, I think it needs to have a recognizable hardware package as well; something that was developed specifically for Android to act as a “release device”.

I’m very curious to see how Android’s entry into the mobile phone market plays out, and I’m hopeful that it will create enough competition with the closed source developers that the carriers will realize the need for change. However, with the largest carriers in the U.S. (AT&T and Verizon) missing from the OHA and the iPhone still the epitome of next generation phones, I’m not sure how much of a threat it’s going to be able to pose.

Skribit was officially launched this morning, and as stated in the FAQ section of their site, it’s still in “closed beta” so it’s unavailable to the general public. However, you can create an account in preparation for its public release, or simply request to be contacted once it’s available. I’m definitely planning on trying it out and most likely keeping it, so I’ve created an account.

What makes this widget even more appealing beyond its purpose, is the way that it’s implemented: it has a management environment to back it up. Suggestions made to you, as well as suggestions you make, are all organized on the Skribit web site, making it easy to go back and see what’s been suggested in both directions.

It also provides another way for bloggers to discover and connect with each other. Think of it as pre-commenting: rather than readers/bloggers waiting to see what a particular blogger has written and then commenting on that if they have thoughts about it, readers actually get to take a front seat role and help guide the blogger on what his or her readers really want to know about. Plus, the blogger can then discover other blogs they might like themselves, through the people who read their blog and suggest topics.

I’m personally really glad to see such a thing developed. I’ve thought this would be useful for a long time, but haven’t had the resources to implement it, especially not to the scale that Skribit will (hopefully) reach. It looks like it will be a great product, and has the potential to become as much a part of blogging as commenting itself.

The plugin is called Flexible Upload, and its name says it all. It will resize the image to whatever size you specify, and allows you to choose which dimension you want to base it off of. It also creates the thumbnail image to whatever size you want. This makes it very convenient for putting images inside posts, since you can have a thumbnail image that’s larger than the one Wordpress creates by default, but still small enough that it’ll load quickly.

My favorite feature of this plugin is the watermark feature. This allows you to insert your logo or some other identifying image in the image you are uploading, and allows you to choose where in the image to insert it. I have it set up to insert my logo in the bottom right corner of all pictures I upload. That way, all the images on my site will be visually identified with me, whether or not they’re viewed on my site or elsewhere.

There are a number of other features for modifying the appearance and placement of images in posts, to streamline that process as well. It covers things like alignment, link target (especially useful if you use something like Lightbox), etc.

This plugin is a much needed addition to Wordpress. I’ve always thought that the upload system is a little sparse, especially when it comes to images. This fills in the gaps and more. This is a must-have plugin for anybody who uploads pictures to their blog on a regular basis.

SimpleTwitter: Of the plugins I tried, I liked this one’s design the best for my needs. It has an admin panel to specify your Twitter username, and a cache timeout so you can specify how long it cached the latest tweet before looking for a new one. Plus, there’s only one line of code you have to put in your template for it to display the tweet. It only displays one tweet (the latest one), without the username or time posted, so it gives you a lot of flexibility in how you use this plugin in your theme. Sounds great, right? I found only one problem with it: it wouldn’t update. When I first activated the plugin, it loaded the latest tweet, and displayed it perfectly on my site. However, I then posted a new tweet, and even after 3 hours it hadn’t loaded the new one. Now, I had expected that maybe there would be a delay on loading the latest tweet, but no more than an hour. In fact, an hour seemed a bit excessive, but I know that the RSS parser built in to Wordpress can sometimes have a delay of that sort. Nevertheless, that sort of delay, let alone longer, when trying to use a real-time service like Twitter…well, it pretty much defeats the purpose.

TwitterRSS: This is the plugin that Paul Stamatiou says he uses to load his tweets on his site. That being the case, I thought I would give it a shot. This plugin isn’t as user-friendly as SimpleTwitter. There’s no admin panel, so configuring it means modifying the plugin’s actual code. That doesn’t bother me, as I for one enjoy getting “under the hood” of web applications and tinkering with the code. However, for somebody less experienced with things like PHP, this could be an immediate turnoff. Regardless, on the front end it’s pretty similar to SimpleTwitter. Just one line of code inserted in your theme is all it takes to display the tweet(s). Yes, I did say plural, because this plugin also allows you to display more than one of the most recent tweets, the number of which you choose when you configure it. I configured it for my Twitter account, went back to my site, and there was my latest tweet. Just like SimpleTwitter, though, it wouldn’t update either. I posted a new tweet, waited several hours, and still no change to what was displayed on my site. At this point, I was beginning to think that it was my server, or something wrong with my Twitter account. I decided to try another plugin instead.

Twitter Tools: This plugin has a lot more features than the other two, with a more complex admin panel. In addition to displaying your latest tweet(s) in a number of different ways, it allows you to post new tweets when you have written posts on your blog. It also includes a one line piece of code to display your latest tweet, which is what I decided to use. I personally don’t feel a need to make use of all the other features of this plugin, but if you want to have more interactivity between your blog and your Twitter account, you should definitely look into this plugin. I put the line of code in my theme, saved the plugin configuration, and there was my latest tweet. I then posted a new tweet, and this plugin not only updated the tweet shown on my site - but it did it almost instantly. Finally, a plugin that displays real-time information in almost real time. The one thing that I don’t like (and this is just me nit-picking) is that it displays how long ago the tweet was posted, but without any distinguishing formatting so it appears at first to be part of your tweet’s text. I’m sure there’s a way to hack that, I just haven’t investigated it yet. Another thing I noticed about this plugin was that it doesn’t seem to slow down the page loading at all, whereas the other ones seemed to add a few seconds to the load time on every page.

Once Twitter Tools worked properly, I assumed that meant that the problem had not been with my server, or Twitter account, or anything like that but rather with the plugins I’d chosen. Other people, like Paul, have had luck with them, which confuses me a little as to why I couldn’t get them to work.

Has anybody else gotten these plugins to work, or had similar issues?

I have created a new Wordpress theme, called Orange Basic. It is a 2 column orange theme with widget support.

View theme page »

I have updated the Coast Guard Auxiliary Wordpress theme, to now include widget support.

View theme page »

I have updated the Nautical Clean theme, to include widget support.

View theme page »

I have updated the Sunrise theme, to add new features. Sunrise now provides widget support, and has improved cross-browser CSS compatibility.

View the theme page »

I have developed a new Wordpress theme, called Sunrise. It is a 2 column theme with a right-aligned sidebar, in a sunrise-like color scheme.

View the theme page »

I have designed a new Wordpress theme, intended for use with Coast Guard Auxiliary-related sites and blogs. It is a 2 column theme which makes use of Coast Guard Auxiliary graphics and colors.

View theme page »

Picking the right colors can be a little challenging, especially if you’re not very familiar with the color wheel and the different properties of color. This is especially true when it comes to web design. Not all colors are good choices for use with web sites, so it’s important not to use the ones that aren’t. One of the best ways to avoid color problems is to use a color scheme generator. This will allow you to pick out the base color you’d like to use, from a choice of predesignated “web-safe” colors, and create a color scheme for you from those. Some are more powerful and flexible than others, so I’ll give you a variety to choose from.

Color Scheme Generator 2: Simple color scheme generator, using a color wheel and some basic color combination techniques, such as complimentary and triad. This is very useful if you already have a color in mind.

Color Palette Generator: This allows you to create a color scheme from an image, such as a photograph. Simply provide the URL to the photo, and the software generates a color scheme based on the colors found in the image.

Color Schemer: Downloadable software to help you create color schemes. Similar to Color Scheme Generator 2, but a little more powerful. My favorite feature of this software is that in addition to picking out colors for you, it shows typical site layouts and how you could use the colors in the layouts.

ColorZilla: An extension for Firefox which helps you pick colors based on colors used on other sites. Includes a feature called Eyedropper, which will tell you the exact color code in RGB and Hex for any pixel on a page, even in an image, to help you determine exactly what color you’d like to use.

These tools can make color scheming much easier, and can help to improve the overall visual appeal of your site. Happy scheming!

The Nautical Clean theme has been updated, and is now on version 1.2. Cross-browser compatibility and content display issues have been fixed.

View theme page »

To be honest, I really haven’t been impressed…at least not the way I should be after five years since the last version of the Windows operating system was released. I’m used to a release cycle of about six months, where even inside of that time frame improvements are still noticeable. So, after five years, a part of me (albeit, the part of me that doesn’t live in reality) was expecting the holy grail of operating systems. Needless to say, that wasn’t what was delivered.

For the average user, nice graphics and GUIs are all that’s needed to have the appearance of a revolutionary new operating system. Throw in a few new menu layouts, and you not only have the appearance of a new design, but maybe even new functionality. Unfortunately, surface is about all that was added…and some higher processing power requirements. In order to enjoy all the new “benefits” of Vista, you have to install the DVD-sized operating system on a computer that has at least a 1GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM (1GB for anything other than Home Basic), and 15GB available on the hard drive (a 20GB hard drive is required for Home Basic; 40GB for everything else). How much is the user benefitting if the minimum requirements for their computer are so ridiculously high, just to run the operating system? It makes you wonder what all’s running on the computer…especially when the actual operating system doesn’t differ all that much from XP.

Yet, there are a few neat features that, while they themselves don’t make the case for upgrading, are nice bonuses if you already have. Windows DVD Maker is very handy, as it allows you to create a DVD movie from any video file you have on your computer, in any format you have a codec for, complete with animated menus all with a few clicks of the mouse. That is a program I can get comfortable with, even if it is a 100% Microsoft product.

My new computer is also built to be much more multimedia-friendly, with media buttons right on the keyboard and even a remote control. So, naturally, the new version of Windows Media Center is a nice complement to these hardware features. It looks and feels a lot like a full-service media server you might find as part of a highly expensive home theater system. Granted, it really wouldn’t do much for me if I didn’t have the hardware add-ons to really make it convenient, but in its own right it does its job well.

For anybody who is a productivity user, and doesn’t really do anything multimedia-related on their computer, such as most of the business world, perhaps, there really isn’t much reason to spend the money to upgrade to Vista.  If anything, the hardware and software compatibility issues that have surfaced since Vista’s release make it more of an IT nightmare than a solution.  For the personal user, though, it may have a few things to offer.

Overall, I’ve been underwhelmed with Vista. However, a few things have made me more hesitant to “upgrade” to XP.  Hopefully by the time the next version of Windows comes out, they’ll have fixed the problems with Vista.  I’m not holding my breath, though.