Create WordPress Posts from Flickr
April 29, 2010
Linking your Flickr account to your WordPress blog means you can turn any Flickr image into a blog post without even leaving Flickr. Just create a photo category on your website and make it the default category, add your blog to Flickr, then click on the ‘Blog This‘ button above any of your images to create a new post.
You can also add your Twitter account for tweets directly from Flickr. If you take lots of photos but aren’t much into writing blog posts, this could be the perfect way to keep your blog fresh and up to date. It is also a great way to bring your readers attention to your images.
Step #1 – Create a Photo Category
- Login to your WordPress website/blog
- Create a new post category for photo posts
- Go to Settings/Writing and select this category as the dafault post category
- Further down the page, tick the XML-RPC remote publishing
- Save Settings
Wordtube Media Player for WordPress
April 21, 2010
Wordtube is a WordPress plugin which works with the JW Flash Video Player allowing you to embed videos, music and other media files on your website. It is easy to use and looks clean and professional. It’s like your own ‘YouTube’!
Once you have activated the plugin on your WordPress website, you can upload all sorts of files including streaming video formats (Format .flv or .swf), sound files as MP3 and JPG, GIF or PNG graphic files. Sort the files into playlists, then insert the individual files or playlists into your sidebar, a post or a page.
Website visitors can view the files without leaving your website or having to download any special software. Your website could be playing:
- your own music
- Your own video clips
- audio/visual presentations
- graphical presentations
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Flexible Homepage Layouts with Genesis
April 10, 2010
With most WordPress themes, the homepage layout is usually the least flexible part of the design process. In many cases unless you use ftp and know some css and php, you wont be able to customise (yes, this is how we spell customise in NZ!) the layout homepage at all.
Widgets are the Answer!
The new Genesis theme framework from StudioPress has widgetised not only the sidebar but also the entire homepage and even the right hand side of the header. This means that you create your homepage layout by dragging a combination of different widgets into the various homepage sections in the Presentation section of your website admin. For example, if the theme’s homepage layout is split into top left, top right and bottom, you just drag widgets into each of these areas.
Not Just Any Widgets
It gets even better. StudioPress has created a series of special widgets which make customisation even easier and quicker. Here’s quick run down…
| Widget | What it Does... |
|---|---|
| Featured Page widget | Select one of your pages from the dropdown, choose to show with an image, align the image, decide how much text to show |
| Featured Post widget | Select one of your categories from the dropdown, select number of posts to show, choose to show with an image, align the image, decide how much text to show |
| User Profile widget | Choose an author from the dropdown, choose whether to show avatar, link to bio or add custom text |
| Twitter Updates widget | Add your twitter name, select number of tweets to show |
| Genesis Page Navigation Menu widget | Tick the pages you want to show and drag top right to use instead of nav bar or into sidebar. |
| Genesis Category Navigation Menu widget | Tick the categories you want to show and drag top right to use instead of 2nd nav bar or into sidebar. |
| Social Profiles Widget Download plugin | Select social media icons you use and link them to your profiles. A selection of icon styles to choose from. |
Change Your Website for a Promotion
April 3, 2010
These days, there’s a whole generation of people (including myself) who visit a website to find products and services or just to check things out before they ever visit a shop or purchase a product.
If you’re spending time and money on catalogues, sale flyers and print advertising, don’t forget to add promotions, sales, events and new products to your website too. Adding graphics or changing colours on your homepage, header or sidebars wont take you or your web designer long. Make sure you write a post too for search engines.
Promotions on Your Website
Here’s a screenshot of what we changed on the Evergreen Garden Centre website to promote their annual plant sale. Visit www.egn.co.nz for a live demo (until end of March).
Web Versions of Your Graphics
By getting web versions of your promotional graphics when you get your print graphics done you will save heaps of time and money. Ask your graphic designer, web designer or printer for the following:
- PDF versions of all catalogues and flyers (these can be viewed in Acrobat)
- A 72dpi screenshot of all catalogues and flyers (include on your blog post or homepage as a teaser and link to downloadable file)
- A square graphic for your sidebar (72dpi, either 125 pixels x 125 pixels or 250 pixels x 250 pixels depending on the size of your sidebar)
- A banner graphic for your header (72dpi, approx 400 pixels x 100 pixels depending on the space on your website header not taken up by your logo) [Read more]
