Unlock The Online World
blogging tips, tricks and other information

I have been an Entrecard member for quite a while now, and I love them even more now that they have added a Twitter feed widget to their blog.

Whenever a tweet is made about Entrecard, it will show up in the sidebar! You can read about it in more detail on their blog post. I am on twitter as well, although I have merged all my Twitter accounts into one account. So be prepared for odd mismatched ramblings. To do this simply go to @EmmaBShireen.

On another note, the votes are in on the poll and it looks like most of you would love to see my blog wearing the Revolution Lifestyle theme. Thank you for helping me make up my mind. I will be tweaking the themes images offline and will test it out on a demo blog of mine before installing the design here.

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Brian Gardner of Revolution Themes and Jason of WPElements.com have unleashed their new open sourse themes website, Revolution Two!

Every category has at least one or two themes ready for download. The themes are free but support has to be paid for. At the bottom of the package options look for “With the purchase of…Download the unsupported version.” to get the theme for free.

Unlock The Online World will soon be sporting one of the Revolution Two themes but I want my readers opinion on which one I should use.

The themes currently available are (these are demo links):

• Revolution Code Blue
• Revolution Code Red
• Revolution Code Gray
• Revolution Church
• Revolution Lifestyle
• Revolution Charred
• Revolution Chrome
• Revolution Black Canvas
• Revolution Office
• Revolution TV

In the following poll, I have put all the themes that I like and would love to get your opinion on which one I should use for Unlock The Online World.

Another thing that should be noted is that WpElements Featured Content Gallery plugin is now part of the Revolution Two website.

Do you think the themes look good? Will you be using one?

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Today, I checked my Entrecard account messages and found one from ThatGrrl who complained about not being able to leave a comment on my personal blog because a weird popup came up. Needless to say, between classes I went to the Internet Cafe and clicked around my website.

An odd popup that looked like a PDF file came up and after checking my source code, I noticed an Javascript code inserted at the bottom of the page. It had a lot of odd characters which tipped me off. I checked my other websites which are hosted on the same account and saw the same code with just different characters in the same locations in the source codes.

How did I fix it?

Well, first I cried. Then I proceeded to upgrade my Wordpress to the latest version using the Automatic Upgrade plugin. I checked all the source codes after upgrading and they are gone. Yay!

Please let me know if you have ever had any experiences with being hacked and how you dealt with it :).  Also please let me know if you notice anything strange going on with the website.

AND REMEMBER, BACKUPS ARE YOUR BEST FRIEND!!!

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Installing Wordpress with FTP can be quite difficult, especially for new bloggers. Read on for a step by step guide on installing Wordpress via FTP. Make sure you have a FTP software ready, for this guide, I will be using FireFTP. For information on how to configure an account using FireFTP, please refer to “Priscas FireFTP Beginners Guide.”

1. Download the Wordpress files from the Wordpress.org website. Extract the filed to a readily accessible folder on your computer.
2. Open FireFTP, “Tools>FireFTP,” and connect to the account that you configured for the website you want to install Wordpress on. Go to the location/drectory you want your blog to be on.
3. Find your Wordpress files on your computer and open it up. Make sure your not uploading the whole Wordpress folder. You only need to upload the contents. This will take a while so chill out, listen to music, look for theme you plan to use.
4. After all the files are uploaded, go to the blogs directory in your web browser. For exmaple, if you installed it on the main domain, then it would be yourdomain.com, I installed mine in a directory which was unlocktheonlineworld.com/installtut.
5. Make sure your database is ready. For easy database creation, use the Dtabase Wizard made available in your domains cPanel.
6. Go to “yourdomain.com/wp-admin/install.php”, and enter your database details.
7. Choose your blog title, and enter your email address.
8. The installer will send login details to your email account.
9. Thats It!

For more information visit the Wordpress Docs.

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There are many ways to install Wordpress but one of the easiest ways to install Wordpress is by using Fantastico. Read on for a step by step guide on installing Wordpress via Fantastico

1. Find the Fantastico icon in your hosting control panel, for most people this is probably your cpanel. Depending on which cPanel skin you used the icon will look different. For some, it may look like a wizards hat. For others, it will look like a blue smiley face. It should be located underneath “Software/Services.”
2. Click on the Icon and you will be taken to your Fantastico dashboard.
3. In the sidebar you will see a list of items that you can install, click on “Wordpress.” This will bring you to your Wordpress installations overview.
4. Click on the link that says “New Installation”, this will bring you to the installation screen.
5. Under the heading “Installation Location”, choose the domain you want to install Wordpress on or type in which directory you want it on. Please note that the directory cant pre-exist.
6. After step 5, fill in your desired login information under the heading “Admin Access Data.” This is where you will select your admin username and password. Make sure the password is secure, yet something you will remember.
7. Under the heading “Base Configuration,” type in your desired nickname, and your email address. You can change these later if you want, it isn’t like you will be stuck with them. Enter your site name and description. The description is actually your tagline, and you can change anything under base configuration later.
8. Click the button that says “Install Wordpress,” this will bring you to a screen that has the heading of “Install Wordpress (2/3).” It will tell you what your database was named and will show you the location you chose to install Wordpress on, as well as the blogs URl.
9. Click the button that says “Finish Installation.” This will bring you to a screen that has the heading of “Install Wordpress (3/3)“. Under it, there will be two items that say somethime along the lines of “/home/hostusername/public_html/blogdirectory/wp-config.php configured
   /home/hostusername/public_html/blogdirectory/data.sql configured.” It will also give you your login details.
10. Enjoy your Wordpress blog!

For information on how to upgrade your installation using Fantastico, read “Upgrade Using Fantastico“

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Pretty soon UTOW will be sporting a new theme. This theme is called Lightbreaker and it is free. You can find it on Eblog Templates or at WPThemesPlugin. I will be customizing it bit by bit so that it will reflect my own style. So look forward to that and I hope you like the new look that I will be sporting!

There is a lot more coming out on Unlock The Online World, now that I have straightened out my college routine. So be sure to subscribe!

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One of my favorite blogs, WpThemeDesigner has been pretty much unupdated but when I checked my subscriptions, I had a new post from her waiting for me!

She really is “back with a bang!” with a new theme release that is available in a variety of colors from red, ice blue to rustic organge.

Check them all out on this post.

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Its been quite a while since I have been able to do my link love posts, but I am starting to get settled so things should be back to normal soon.

Link Love

Here are five stellar articles from two of my top commentators. To get some link love from UTOW all you need to do is comment, no spam please Also, I only choose articles that pertain to my niche which is Internet, blogging, and Wordpress. My other top commentators either weren’t in my niche, or their site did not work at the time of this post so I filled their slots with blogs I personally subscribe to.

1. Nihar-How to group chat with GTalk
2. Tara- Social Network Rundown
3. WPCandy- Easier Theme Development With Sample Posts
4. Pearsonified-How You Can Use WordPress Functions to Run a Smarter Blog
5. Justin Tadlock-Replacing WordPress content with an excerpt without editing theme files

Updates & Announcements

Well, I am now getting into the groove of things at college so I should be able to churn out at least 3-4 articles a week depending on my assignment and test load at school. In other news, I wont be ablr to continue the Blogging Experiment that i had started as my laptop broke which contained a lot of things that I would have needed. I am using my stepmother-in-laws computer which is “state of the art” and she requested that I don’t download anything which goes for Firefox addons too.

I am hoping to have it fixed soon, but I will do my best.

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While Wordpress is the most commonly used option for a blogging platform, it is not the only one out there. Here is a list of 5 options including Wordpress, and their features. They also include CMS software that also includes an option to use them as a blog such as Joomla and Tikipedia.

PLEASE NOTE THAT I AM TALKING ABOUT SELF-HOSTED OPTIONS.

Wordpress.org

Wordpress is one of the most popular choices for blogging, and best yet it can also be used as a CMS. Here is a list of the top five features, based on my personal opinion.

1. Fairly easy to install and upgrade-You simply have to either upload files using FTP or through Fantastico. I will be explaining how soon in one of my posts.
2. Multiple authors’ capability-You can register as many users as you want each with their own authoring or drafting privileges. Great for multi-author websites.
3. Comments and comment management- You can choose which posts and pages you want open for comments and which ones to be closed. You can also moderate your comments and delete any that you don’t want showing up on the blog.
4. Highly Customizable Appearance- With the vast array of Wordpress themes available you can change the look of your blog the way you want. There are also a lot of resources online for creating your own. If you don’t want to do that then you have the option of hiring a designer/coder to do it for you!
5. Spam Protection. Wordpress has its own inbuilt spam protection system that helps keep spam from making it onto your blog. There are also plugins for Wordpress such as Akismet that make it even better!

Nucleus

Nucleus is another option to ponder and here are its five redeeming features.

1. Multiple Authors. Just like with Wordpress, you are able to have multiple users with posting rights. Use for team blogs and corporations.

2. Drafts/Scheduled Posts. This feature is also available in Wordpress, with this you can save a post to finish later, or schedule a post to air at a certain day and time.

3. Commenting system is built in. The commenting system is built-in so your need for comment plugins is low, it also enables you to allow karma ratings on comments.

4. One click Backup and restore. With a simple click of your mouse you will be able to back up your database.

5. IP-Banlist. If there is an incorrigible spammer on your site or other such things, you will be able to block their access by banning their IP.

b2Evolution

B2Evolution has quite a few features that I wish Wordpress could have although most of these things can be done via Wordpress plugins. Now on those features!

1. Contact forms. This software comes with author contact forms so that each author can have their own personal means of getting contacted.

2. Time zone Handling. B2Evolution is able to convert time zones to suit wherever the readers’ country and area is.

3. Integrated Stats. This software enables you to check out your stats without the need to install or use an external program.

4. XHTML Input Validator. If you use code and html in your posts this feature will be handy for making sure your post will validate.

5. Multi-Page Posts. If you are posting a long post, then this will come in handy in breaking it into sections.

Joomla

Joomla is not a readymade blogging platform but is a CMS that can also be used for blogging. It’s a bit difficult to work with especially when you’re completely new to it but it tends to get easier after a while.

1. Banner Manager. Monetizing your blog is simple with the built-in banner ad manager.

2. Polls/Surveys. This feature enables you to grab readers’ opinions!

3. Built-in Email Article and Print. The options to email the article to a friend or to print it are readily available for your readers.

4. Author Submission Module. Enables you to have multiple authors submit their posts to you before posting.

5. User editable look and feel. By moving modules around you can get your site working the way you want it to.

Drupal

Drupal is another CMS system that I have seen being used as a blog.

1. Friendly URLs. Drupal allows you the option to create a search-engine friendly URL as well as a reader-friendly one.

2. Threaded Comments. Drupal enables comments on your site to be threaded in which people can reply to certain comments.

3. Multi-Language. With this feature you would be able to run an International blog!

4. Personalization. Using user-defined preferences this feature comes in handy for displaying your site the way you want it to,

5. Content Syndication. Unlike most CMS platforms, Drupal has the ability to make your posts RSS-ready!

Of course, the only person who can decide which blogging software to use is you! So install a couple of these, give them a whirl and see which one you like!

There are countless other platforms out there and I encourage readers to leave their recommendation.

 

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