Blazing the Trail in 2013

Greater things are yet to come and they are exciting. There’s always something magical whenever the New Year comes. Technically, if you really strip this day down to what it really is and take away all the fireworks and celebration, it’s actually another normal sunrise and sunset in the calendar. Fortunately, this is not how majority of us see it. Many of us look forward to it with a lot of hope and expectations, a chance to start again, an opportunity to embrace new challenges, a time to let go of the old and wipe the slate clean, a new beginning for many.

For those of us in the WordPress community and the greater Internet population, things have never been more exciting. Imagine a single video garnering more than a billion views and still counting. Why is this significant? This simply gives us the information that there are a billion or more active Internet users out there that we can reach out to. As global interconnection continually increases, social behavior continues to adapt and our world seems closer and more reachable everyday. By force majeure the older generation are being pulled in by the tech savvy younger generation into the digital age as this has now become the common tool for communication. Social networking continues to expand and so has its demographic base.

For those who are in the WordPress marketplace and are serious about it, the hard questions need to be asked. Is it enough to simply ask what the ideal WordPress theme really is or what the perfect theme looks like? Are the current themes in the market today meeting the needs of the consumers, real and perceived? What about creativity and originality? Or innovation? Are we willing to think out of the box and be experimental as far as theme features and designs are concerned or are we just going to play it safe and blend with the crowd? Are we ready to meet the demands of the unstoppable rise of mobile computing and the multilingual global marketplace?

As we look into the future, those in the Internet and web development industry, (WordPress included) need to take a wholistic approach in planning for the next 12 months and beyond. Maybe some are just dabbling in WordPress theme development for fun while others are seriously considering it as a viable business opportunity worth investing in. Perhaps as we plan future steps maybe we can take a step or two back and view the WordPress themes market from a different angle or with a fresh perspective – to work backwards and use the future to strategically determine today’s activities. Somebody once said, “If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.” Who would have ever thought that an Asian guy would teach the world (1 billion+) how to do a horse dance? Mind-blowing but undeniably real and possible. Maybe he did what wasn’t normally done and got the results nobody expected. Guess what? So can all of us.

WordPress Plugins 2013: Trends

WordPress themes, free or premium, come with common, basic features and functionalities upon installation. Some are built in together with the WordPress version you are using while others come with the theme you plan to use and install. Technically, these plugins are a set of one or more functions, written in the PHP scripting language, that adds a specific set of features or services to the WordPress weblog. Simply put, these plugins offer new additions to your blog that either enhance features that were already available or add otherwise unavailable new features to your site. Here are some of what we think will be the WordPress Plugin Trends for 2013:

Jetpack Plugin

The JetPack plugin supercharges your self?hosted WordPress site with the awesome cloud power of WordPress.com. You can activate this plugin if you have an existing blog on WordPress.com. Once connected and activated, several awesome features available on WordPress.com like: Contact Form, Gravatar Hovercards, Shortcode Embeds, Spelling and Grammar, and many others become available to your self-hosted site. All this is powered by WordPress.com’s cloud infrastructure.

WordPress SEO Plugin by Yoast

This popular plugin designed and developed by WordPress Consultant Joost De Valk. WordPress SEO is the most complete WordPress SEO plugin that exists today for WordPress.org users. It incorporates everything from a snippet preview and page analysis functionality that helps you optimize your pages content, images titles, meta descriptions and more to XML sitemaps, and loads of optimization options in between. It has recently been updated and is now compatible with WordPress 3.5.

ALO EasyMail Newsletter

One of the best ways to connect to your market is to get them to subscribe to your newsletter via email. It is also one of the most tedious things to do if you do not have an ARS (auto responder system) provider who will automatically distribute your newsletter. ALO EasyMail Newsletter is a great email marketing marketing tool that allows you to gather and manage subscribers and write and send newsletters right within WordPress. It also supports internationalization and multi language requirements.

WP Smush.it

Improving your page ranking is not just about having the right keywords. Fast loading pages are now part of the equation. WP Smush.it is a plugin that offers an API that performs image optimizations like optimizing JPEG compression and converting certain GIFs to indexed PNGs automatically to help improve site performance. As sites continue to become more image intensive, plugins like this are helpful in managing load rate.

Photonic Gallery for Flickr, Picasa, SmugMug, 500px and Instagram

Social networking has branched out into different streams and has integrated images into its arsenal. Hence the popularity of Pinterest and Instagram. Photonic takes all that and lets you use the WordPress gallery shortcode and ramps it up with a lot of added functionality including glamming up your social networking images like Instagram. It supports Flickr photos, Photo sets, Galleries and Collections, along with Picasa photos and albums, SmugMug albums and images, 500px photos and collections, and Instagram photos and users. You can also enable authentication for your site visitors that will let them see private and protected photos from each provider.

WordPress 3.5 has been released so some of these plugins may need to be updated to work with the latest WordPress update. Please check the developers’ links to see of they have a version compatible with the latest update.

Top 5 Themes for Non-Profit Organizations

It’s now that time of the year when most of the world celebrates Christmas. It is the season when the Christian world reflects on the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ which ultimately leads to his sacrifice on the cross so people may live a much better life in Him. It is also during this time when people are reminded to think beyond themselves and work towards causes to make the world a better place to live in. In the spirit of Christmas, we are featuring top 5 best selling and well rated themes for non-profit organizations:

1. Churchope

Churchope is a WordPress theme designed for churches. The homepage features a great slider perfect for giving visitors a brief presentation on what the church mission and beliefs are. The theme has capabilities for embedding videos as well as playing audio tracks. It also has a great calendar system to keep church members updated on the next church event. Overall, whether it’s viewing or listening to the latest sermon online or catching up with the next church activities, Churchope meets those needs and so much more.

2. WP Church

This is another theme that’s perfect for churches. It has an amazing slider set on a wood finish background. WP Church also gives visitors the chance to watch videos and audio tracks, listen to preaching or testimonies, and keep track of event countdowns on a dedicated event page. It also has a special scripture tool that automatically adds scripture text when the scripture reference (e.g. Ps. 121:1) is typed.

3. Campaign

This is a special theme for individuals running for public office. Candidate updates and news may be posted as well as a schedule for campaign events & sorties. There’s also a special tool for capturing names & email addresses of constituents and supporters and even a special, easy to set-up donation button. This theme can also be used for fund raising, charity events and the like.

4. Earth

This premium WordPress theme is designed for today’s eco-warriors. The environmental movement relies heavily on images to tell the stories of how the planet’s resources are being depleted because of human and industrial factors. Earth has great multimedia presentation capabilities that can help tell that story. This theme has an amazing slider that capable of embedding powerful video presentations to stir up conservation. It also has great sortable portfolio pages perfect for documenting various conservation projects of any environmental organization.

5. Animal Care

Animal care is a theme designed for cause oriented groups or movements who want to establish an online presence. This theme’s home page has a beautiful slider that can be used to effectively communicate the organization’s mission. The theme has allotted ample space for images, blog pages, and there is also a special box for special news posts regarding the organizations activities. Interested parties are given an opportunity to donate via a special donation button on the homepage.

There are more themes out there designed for non-profits. Hat tip to all the designers and developers who have created these themes to help the advancement of great causes.

22 Awesome jQuery Typography Plugins 2013

In today’s fast moving internet world every website owner is using all the tools that he can to make his website look more visually appealing and more attractive in terms of design. This makes sense because if you think that websites should only provide information then you should not consider starting up a website at all.

Now many different types of technological tools are available out there which can help you design better websites. In this article I have chosen to focus on jQuery plugins.

jQuery is a JavaScript library that simplifies HTML, document traversing, event handling, animating and Ajax interactions for rapid web development.

Below I have compiled 22 awesome jQuery typography plug-ins which you can use to enhance your site. To show one example how these plug-ins can help you, let’s take a look at the first plugin J Rumble. I am sure you know sites that change the link color when you move your hover over the link. This effect is known as “hover effect”. J Rumble takes this technology one step further. By using this plugin, as soon as someone chooses an element of your site, the element will rumble, vibrate, shake or rotate.

There are 21 other plugins that will make your life easier. So scroll down and take a look.

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Fusion Theme from Elegant Themes Coming Soon

Elegant Themes recently announced their new and upcoming theme: Fusion – a theme designed to “fuse” professionalism and pizzazz to create that perfect solution for technology companies and blogs alike. If you run a tech blog or an app development company and you need a really cool looking theme that’s hip and modern then Fusion is probably the theme for you.

The general design of this theme is similar to Elegant’s recent themes, Nimble and Harmony, taking off from that single page design while adding the modern, graphic flavor to it. One of the many benefits of a “one page” design is that you get a quick and easy, concise at a glance look, quite handy for mobile devices, with options for details in sub pages.

Similar to Nimble and Harmony, Fusion has large sections clearly delineated from each other. Fusion has a section allocated for a logo, navigation menu and other corporate brand or social networking icons all prominently located above and seamlessly flows into a generously spaced section for a slider. This slider section can be used to showcase featured images or products, attention grabbing spiels, and other important announcements useful to your visitors. This can be followed by a section where static text boxes or placeholders can be used to feature select products or services. You also have an area to feature the latest blog post headlines that link to the full posts on the and there is also provision for sponsor links or ad banners. A widgetized footer area can also be setup to add more features and functionalities useful to the site.

So far we we’ve seen that Elegant Themes has been consistent as far as quality is concerned and so far, each product released remains true to its reputation for great design. This commitment can be experienced and has been experienced by so many customers in every Elegant Themes subscription. This latest theme offering is something to look forward to and no doubt it will be something that will surely be according to Elegant Themes’ strict standards.

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Specialty: Clean Business WordPress Theme

The main purpose of a business theme is to create awareness, generate interest, and convert casual visitors to engaged followers/clients/customers. For a business theme to be effective, it has to have the following elements:

  • Great SEO capabilities.
  • Great design recall.
  • Readable, well organized text and multimedia content.
  • Effective interactive feedback system.

WP Business Bundle just released Specialty, a responsive premium WordPress theme designed to present your business or your company in a clear and concise manner. Overall, the theme is clean, modern and generous with whitespace. It has a great, sizeable slider that can really grab attention of casual visitors. Visitors are given control over slider transitions which gives each slide the appropriate airtime based on visitor preference.

Content is definitely readable on this theme. Font size and spacing between text boxes are great, giving visitors an uncluttered, relaxed reading experience. Images are displayed in a clean, well organized portfolio grid style which can also be sorted according to category. There’s also the option to use a jQuery masonry layout for those who want that Pinterest look. Thumbnails are slightly bigger that typical portfolio pages giving visitors a better overview of the work. Pages containing detailed narratives include large images of the work. This theme can also handle video and it includes a large section where you can showcase a special video or image right on the homepage.

Specialty does have a responsive design giving visitors the chance to appreciate the site’s content on smartphones and tablets. Specialty includes a basic contact form, custom post types, an easy to use custom panel, and just the right amount of widgets and features to get your site up and running without much fuss.

More Features:

  • Import/Export Functionality for Theme Options
  • Seven Pre-Defined Color Schemes
  • Breadcrumb Navigation
  • Adjustable Footer Widget Area (1-4 Columns)
  • Custom Post Types: Slider | Portfolio |Testimonial
  • Engaging Portfolio Layout with jQuery Masonry
  • HTML5 Markup | CSS3 Effects

Specialty Premium WordPress Theme is part of a bundle of themes and business-tailored plugins at WP Business Bundle available starting from $79. This theme includes documentation, future updates. For an additional $9 per month, you also get the PSD files, XML files, and access to the theme’s support forum.

Join WP Business Bundle Now

Harmony Theme from Elegant Themes is LIVE

On Nov 29, Elegant Themes officially released Harmony, a versatile premium WordPress theme designed for musicians and bands. Its key features are its custom audio player for sampling music tracks, event manager features and eCommerce functionality. Visitors can listen to the band’s music, purchase concert tickets via the band’s ticket vendor of choice and purchase music/merchandise through the theme’s WooCommerce powered e-store pages. It’s a one-stop website both musicians and fans will surely enjoy.

Harmony is a well designed, well developed theme considering this is Elegant’s first step into music themes. A lot of expectation and inputs have been given by users since the theme’s announcement on Nov. 7 and these suggestions have been carefully woven into the theme as best possible. The theme continues to deliver that signature Elegant Themes look and upholds its reputation for simple yet sophisticated design that distinguishes it, specifically Harmony’s aesthetics, from other music themes in the market. In addition, its excellent event management capabilities make it convenient for fans to patronize the band’s latest gigs and concerts as seamless and as effortless as scrolling through the pages.

Harmony includes an integrated MP3 audio player which gives fans and potential fans the opportunity to listen to audio samples of upcoming or already released music tracks. The theme is also equipped to display music videos and concert previews as an effective marketing tool to attract the attention of this media savvy generation of fans. This theme is also responsive and will work well on handheld and mobile devices – a staple of every ear plugged music fan out there. This means that fans can enjoy their favorite band’s music anytime, anywhere – which is definitely music to any musician’s ears.

Features:

  • Responsive Design
  • Theme Options
  • Shortcodes
  • Page Templates
  • Perpetual Updates
  • Secure and Valid Code
  • Browser Compatibility
  • Complete Localization
  • Unlimited Colors
  • Unparalleled Support

Harmony Premium WordPress Theme includes top-notch tech support provided by Elegant themes’ support staff to help you setup your site and get it running in no time.

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17 Awesome Adobe air apps for designers

One fine day I was trying to fill in an important official form online on my Mozilla Firefox’s browser. After spending about half an hour I reached the last few questions of the form. One question there asked me to click a checkbox to answer but I could see no checkbox on the screen. After wasting a lot of time reading the instructions and every possible detail over and over again I asked for advice from my friends. One person told me that I should try to refill the form on Internet Explorer. I tried it and now the checkbox appeared and I successfully completed and submitted the form online.

The problem just described occurred because the form was designed to work especially for Internet Explorer. You see, designing an application for all systems is tedious as one has to tweak the runtime code again and again to make it compatible to work with different systems. Here is where Adobe AIR jumps in. If an internet application is designed using Adobe AIR then it will automatically work for all systems and browsers.

Technically speaking:

“Adobe AIR is a cross-operating system runtime that lets developers combine HTML, JavaScript, Adobe Flash and Flex technologies, and Action Script to deploy rich Internet applications (RIAs) on a broad range of devices including desktop computers, netbooks, tablets, smartphones, and TVs. AIR allows developers to use familiar tools such as Adobe Dreamweaver®, Flash Builder®, Flash Catalyst®, Flash Professional, or any text editor to build their applications and easily deliver a single application installer that works across operating systems.” – Adobe’s website.

Adobe AIR has a wide array of apps that can help designers design better applications. Below I have selected 17 of them.

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The Basic Web Page Structure – HTML5 List of Tags


You can think of an HTML page as a series of containers. After an opening statement that defines the type of page to follow, there is one large element, the <html> tag, that contains the two primary structural elements, and <body>.

HTML documents consist of a tree of elements and text. Each element is denoted in the source by a start tag, such as “<body>“, and an end tag, such as “</body>“. (Certain start tags and end tags can in certain cases be omitted and are implied by other tags.)

Here’s how the basic essential code for an HTML5 web page looks:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title> Title of document goes here </title>
</head>
<body>
Visible text goes here…
</body>
</html>

Before we can fully appreciate what these containers or placeholders do to our webpage we need to know how they function. Below is a list of HTML5 compliant tags we can use to study and familiarize ourselves with as to the description and function of each tag. Let’s do a little exercise. As you go through the list, pick a web page (any, even this one) and right click on it. Select “view page source” and try to find the tags listed here and look for them in the page source. Try to classify which ones are basic tags, formatting tags, image tags, and so on. While you are at it, challenge yourself to decode the code. Have fun!

<bdi> Isolates a part of text that might be formatted in a different direction from other text outside it
<mark> Defines marked/highlighted text
<meter> Defines a scalar measurement within a known range (a gauge)
<progress> Represents the progress of a task
<rp> Defines what to show in browsers that do not support ruby annotations
<rt> Defines an explanation/pronunciation of characters (for East Asian typography)
<ruby> Defines a ruby annotation (for East Asian typography)
<time> Defines a date/time
<wbr> Defines a possible line-break
<datalist> Specifies a list of pre-defined options for input controls
<keygen> Defines a key-pair generator field (for forms)
<output> Defines the result of a calculation
<figure> Specifies self-contained content
<audio> Defines sound content
<source> Defines multiple media resources for media elements ( and )
<track> Defines text tracks for media elements ( and )
<video> Defines a video or movie
<nav> Defines navigation links
<command> Defines a command button that a user can invoke
<header> Defines a header for a document or section
<footer> Defines a footer for a document or section
<hgroup> Groups heading elements
<section> Defines a section in a document
<article> Defines an article
<aside> Defines content aside from the page content
<details> Defines additional details that the user can view or hide
<summary> Defines a visible heading for a details element
<embed> Defines a container for an external (non-HTML) application

Don’t forget that WordPress uses PHP but PHP is a server-side technology (runs on a server) that dynamically generates the HTML that will be sent to the browser (IE, Safari, Firefox, Chrome). HTML is whatever you view on a website.