Tag Archives: wordpress

September 28, 2010 · 5:13 pm

Which Blog To Blog On

Windows Live Spaces is dead. Or terminally ill, with the plug to be pulled shortly. Long live WLS + WP.com. The links give you both accounts of the same story. WordPress, with Org and Com combined, is I believe, by far the most popular platform for bloggers. By how much differs according to what metrics you want to use. This, apparently, doubles the Dot Com user base. As a WordPress.com blogger, I see good and potential bad in there.

Firstly, I like what Microsoft is doing thesedays. The new Hotmail is a revelation. Their photo tools are top class. Integration with Facebook has lead me to reinstall Messenger. And the link up between  WP and Windows Live may lead to some cool things. Providing that WordPress have the infrastructure to take on all those new users at once.

If you’re thinking of starting a blog, you’ve still got choice. My Opera has a great community, easy customisation and tends to gain more traffic than other platforms. WordPress.com is simple, clean and professional, but limited when it comes to add ons. No such limitations with Blogger, but Blogger blogs are usually less than professional looking. That’s a generalisation – those who really know their HTML etc, and those who leave the customisations alone produce nice enough blogs.

But Blogger commenting is frankly pathetic. I know. I’ve said it a million times before. But still. A blog with comments gives a writer the opportunity to start great, flowing conversations. Blogger’s comment systems does all it can to prevent it. I keep recommending Disqus, but no one listens.

The idea of replacing a buggy, half arsed, non threaded comment system with no positive social integration with a system which works, looks a million times better, lets conversations flow and integrates social networks is absolutely not on the cards! Even though it’s now as simple to implement as pressing a single button. Wake up Bloggerists! Seriously, it frustrates me. Because I read Blogger blogs, and I want to join in a conversation, and 9 times out of 10 (at least, probably more) I don’t comment because of the commenting system.

I can’t help it. When it comes to Blogger and the comments, I go off on a rant. And now I can’t remember what it was I was going to talk about. Such is life!

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June 28, 2010 · 6:20 am

Fifa Blog Fest

I’ve mentioned more than once, I primarily write my blog for me. It’s like an online diary, of sorts. To accompany my photo collection on Flickr. But people do add comments. Conversations do start. Arguments occasionally break out, but have happily always remained civil and mostly constructive. Or have been deleted by yours truly! Friendships have been made. Some virtual, but every now and again, friendships have spilled over to the real world. Some say bloggers are just so, so narcissistic. They have a point. But there can be more to it than that.

Fame has been achieved thanks to my blog. Twice now. Not much fame. Not even five minutes, both combined. But still, I’ll take what I can get. I’ve taken advantage, twice now, of the generosity of someone who reads my blog. The first time getting a camera brought to me from the US, at US prices. That’s priceless. The second time? More on that later in the week.

And today I met a chap who reads my blog for the first time. And another who I met for the second time. The location – the Zocalo. The event – England v Germany. I had a fellow Englisher to commiserate with. And a Mexican to rant my frustrations at. He got off easy really. We (or should I say ‘the England team’ and gently disassociate myself from that walking disaster…) weren’t good enough and the game wasn’t close enough for most of the 90 minutes, for stress levels to really build up. But it was good to have some fellow footy fans to share the game with. Paola does offer support, but she doesn’t really get why they couldn’t just add on a goal for England at the end of 90 minutes to make up for it!

Blogging is fun. It’s a record to look back on. It’s a way of keeping alive old memories, of inspiring things to do to create new memories, and to share what you find. It’s a good way to connect with people who have stuff to share in return. And it’s a continual source of creating new friendships. And getting cheap cameras!

Don Felipe, I’m still waiting for that coffee in Coyoacan. Time is ticking. Only six months left for me here! You have a question that I haven’t gotten round to answering….it’s one to be asked over a latte. :) Incidentally, the masked man in the bottom right photo – no idea who he is. Probably doesn’t read my blog. But I liked the shot. And he did come over to take my photo in my England shirt later. He was probably mocking me. Like photographing an animal you just shot….

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March 8, 2010 · 1:05 pm

Self Branding

The top banner isn’t the most important part of my blog, but I change the design now and again anyway. It keeps the site looking neat and, hopefully, attractive. I assumed I’d lost all my old banners as I’d replaced them, but I stumbled across a folder in Pacasa the other day and found all the old ones I’d had for Blogger. And a quick look in WordPress revealed the few I’ve had on this platform too. So a post for posterity…here’s all my old banners.

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February 11, 2010 · 12:05 pm

The Wonders of WordPress

It’s been almost a year since I moved my blog from Blogger to WordPress, and today seems like a good day to share my WordPress experience. Not least because yesterday I got my highest number of visitors ever. I rarely look at the statistics to be honest, but I got an email from WordPress.com telling me that my post on Mexican Chess was being promoted on their homepage. I also got a load of comments from new people. So I had a peek. Over a thousand. Woo hoo.

There are lots of reasons to blog. Mine are simple. I blog for me, mostly. I like looking back at old posts sometimes. Quite often I need info on somewhere I’ve been, and I can often find what I need. Or just take a walk down memory lane. I quite like writing as well, which helps. But I have a few narcissistic tendencies too, of course. So extra visitors boost my little author ego. And the comments are always welcome. Voyeurs, stalkers, lingerers and general passersby – this is the post you can finally say hello on.

But anyway, I digress. WordPress. The dot com version, which is the platform I use. I like it. A lot. There’s lots of competition for blog hosting, and I’ve tried plenty of them. My Opera, Blogger, Tumblr, Posterous to name but a few. But WordPress.com is definitely my favourite. In many ways, it can be quite limited, unless you want to start paying for extra features. But I’ve decided I like it that way. With Blogger I continually got carries away with all the millions of things you could add and install to make it sparkle and pop. Which makes it easy to lose focus on the point of the exercise – the content.

With WordPress I chose a clean simple template, put up a simple top banner to stamp my mark on it, and started writing. The machinery behind the blog is simple, clean but very functional too. The widgets are practical. The comment section works well. The stats are informative, if you care to look at them. They tell me I’m gaining visitors month on month quite nicely. The spam controls catch almost everything. I like the Pages. It’s all good, basically. Blogger is fine, but I have to say I much, much prefer WordPress. And its limitations.

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February 9, 2010 · 4:33 pm

Vimeo

I’ve written a few posts recently about my efforts at creating video content. firstly, I’m taking delivery of a new camera in a few days which will drastically improve the quality of video and audio out of the camera. I also tried out Corel VideoStudio Pro X3, to see if I could improve the quality and presentation of videos on my PC. I liked it, but I’ve since tried out Cyberlink PowerDirector 8. To be fair, they are both very similar, both in features, functions and even their user interfaces. They both worked pretty fast on my old laptop, but I slightly prefer PowerDirector. This is partly due to the fact I have been using PowerDirector 7 for the last year or so, and am just that little bit more familiar with the software. I also prefer the transitions they offer, and their production options – the bit where you turn your video into a file.

So last, but not least, having taken the footage with my camera, turned it into a movie on my PC, I need a host to keep and share the file online. I wrote a post about that not long ago too, weighing up the pros and cons of YouTube, Vimeo and Blip.tv. I made the point there that although Vimeo’s site and player are nice, the $60 they charge for annual membership is too much. And I was going to stick with YouTube. Except….I’ve changed my mind.

The simple fact is, Vimeo puts the highest quality video out onto the net. And as I’ve spent so much money on cameras and software, it seems a shame to skimp on the hosting. So I forked out. Now I am a Vimeo Plus member (click here to see my Vimeo page) with 5gb of weekly upload (plenty more than enough for my needs) and unlimited HD uploading and embedding. I do think they are very tight in limiting HD embed plays to 25,000 a year though. An embed play is when you embed one of your HD videos in a blog and someone presses the play button. That’s one play. If others embed your HD video in their blogs, you could get through your plays. But even if you use up all 25,000 plays (unlikely for me) then the video remains, just playing in SD quality. I have set my HD videos to be embeddable only on my blog – anyone else embedding one of my videos will have the SD option only.

That brings my total annual internet spending on subscriptions to a couple of coins under 1,500 pesos. About $115 in US money. Which is a fair amount for me. That’s $60 on Vimeo, $25 on Flickr, $20 on upgrades to let my WordPress blogs use their own domains, and about $10 for the two domain names. However, it’s only about 4 pesos a day. So I’ve had a cunning plan. I have a tin. I have a couple of print outs I created (below image) and I will be saving 4 pesos a day, every day. So at the end of the year, when it comes time to pay up, I have it ready.

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