Wearable Technology and Its Impact on WordPress

Believe it or not, wearable technology has been around longer than you think. Think about all those old James Bond movies, the Mission Impossible series, or the Get Smart series. We all marveled at those nifty gadgets – pens that become bomb detonators, shoes that turn into phones, virtual reality or augmented reality gadgets, etc. The novelty of ordinary items turning into high tech gadgets that do more than what is expected of them is always a crowd drawer. And if they are all that they claim to be you’ll probably want one too.

But not all wearable technology survive the acid test of customer approval. In the past, some have, although a lot more turned out to be duds that have long faded away. Hence, the wary and lukewarm response to these types of products. That is until recently. Times are changing. Technology is way better than it ever was. People are more interested in wearable technology today more than ever. Companies are putting out wearable gadgets focusing on health and lifestyle, content, and even education.

Google Glass, Apple Watch, Pebble, OpenGo, etc. – Is Wearable Tech The New Frontier?

It’s daring. It’s risky. It’s experimental. But that’s what trailblazers are made of. You’ll never know if you don’t dare. Wearable tech is interesting but it’s still early stages. People are definitely interested but not necessarily buying, yet. However, if we are to consider the future of the “internet of things”, it’s just a matter of time before people get warmed up to it.

On Wearables — According to analysts at ABI Research, over the next five years businesses will integrate into their wellness plans more than 13 million wearable devices with embedded wireless connectivity. Wearable tech also ties into the rapidly evolving Internet of Things (IoT), which refers to a future world where all types of electronic devices link to each other via the Internet. Today, it’s estimated there are nearly 10 billion devices in the world connected to the Internet, a figure expected to triple to nearly 30 billion devices by 2020. The inherent versatility of Atmel’s microcontrollers and radio chips have made our silicon a favorite of Makers and engineers . Atmel is right in the middle of the wearable tech revolution, with a comprehensive portfolio of versatile microcontrollers (MCUs) that power a wide range of platforms and devices.

source: Atmel and the Internet of Things

Wearable WordPress?

Did you know that there are WordPress plugins that allow you to publish using Google Glass? True! Who would have thought that you could manage your content using a pair of glasses? But it does exist. You can actually take a picture or a video using Google Glass and upload it on your WordPress site straight away. Some notable Google Glass WordPress tools, apps, and plugins include:

  • wpForGlass is the first plugin that allows you to post to your WordPress blog from Google Glass.
  • Umano for Google Glass allows you to read your posts from your favorite sources to you. You can also get in touch with Umano to have your content included on Glass.

The recent release of the Apple Watch received mixed responses. Nevertheless, for a company like Apple to invest in such a product means that they will provide the support and infrastructure to make it succeed. How it will affect the way content providers and publishers (WordPress users included) deliver to their audiences remains to be seen. It is however, worth taking note of.

As in the early stages of Cloud Computing and everything being stored “above our heads”, so is wearable tech at this point. Developers need to be able to show consumers how they can integrate daily activities seamlessly using these wearable gadgets. The novelty is good for a while. It is, however, the long-term benefits of these gadgets that will determine whether it will once more get buried in the gadget graveyard.

Membership Plugins For WordPress January 2014

WordPress is a proven powerful tool you can use to create your own website any way you want it. What’s also great about it is that you can take it even further and enhance its functionality to suit your needs with the help of plugins. From personal blogs to eCommerce sites to BuddyPress to so many other types of websites – a plethora of options is available out there for WordPress users.

One of the many ways you can use WordPress for is to make it function as a membership site where you can allow users to register, access or deny specific functions and sections, or create a social hub where fellow users can interact with each other.

Here are some popular WordPress plugins that can turn your website into a fully featured membership site:

Member Mouse

MemberMouse is an easy to use WordPress membership plugin that allows you to sell products, subscriptions and memberships, setup a password protected member’s area, offer 1-click upsells and downsells, manage customers, automate customer service, track critical retention metrics and more. No matter where you’re starting from, MemberMouse has the power you need to maximize revenue and get your business running like a well-oiled machine.

MemberMouse gives you everything you need to easily manage a successful online business. No matter if you sell digital products, subscription content, software as a service, or ship physical goods, MemberMouse provides a flexible platform that you can quickly shape to your business, with absolutely no programming required. This powerful plugin gets you up and running quickly, and handles many of the common tasks in your business, freeing you to focus on your value proposition.

Membership by WPMU Dev

Membership is a flexible, powerful, easy-to-use WordPress plugin for dividing your website into free and premium content. It’s a plugin built by WPMU Dev with WP Multisite in mind that can transform your entire network into a fully featured, multi-tiered membership and subscription site s o you can host a variety of membership sites, for yourself or for clients. Features include: a drag and drop interface to customize according to your exact specifications, control how access to any content or functionality is given, works with BuddyPress, add payment gateways easily (Authorize.NET AIM, 2Checkout, PayPal Express, etc.), built with WP Multisite in mind.

Restrict Content Pro

Restrict Content Pro is a complete membership and premium content manager plugin for WordPress developed by Pippin Williamson. This plugin can help you create an unlimited number of memberships levels, including free, trial and premium. Manage members and their subscriptions, track payments, offer discounts with a complete discount code system, and provide premium, members-only content to your subscribers.

Restrict Content Pro includes a complete member management system that lets you easily view all active, pending, expired, cancelled, and free users. Member’s subscriptions can be added or modified at anytime. This premium plugin is integrated with PayPal payments where all subscription payments are made via PayPal, allowing extremely fast and secure transactions.

Paid Memberships Pro

Paid Memberships Pro is a customizable WordPress Plugin and support community for membership site curators. PMPro’s rich feature set allows you to add a new revenue source to your new or current blog or website and is flexible enough to fit the needs of almost all online and offline businesses. Integrated with Stripe, Authorize.net, or PayPal® for recurring payments, flexible content control, themed registration, checkout, and more to help you process all your business transactions. You can: name and control access for unlimited membership levels. Members are added as a WordPress User at the subscriber level in addition to their selected membership level during registration, create your Payment Gateway with any of the built in payment options and then paste your API information into the plugin’s setup page, control access for each membership level offered, and so much more.

WP eMember

WordPress eMember is a powerful WordPress Membership Plugin that can help you build a secure and reliable fully featured WordPress membership site easily. This easy to install plugin lets you selectively protect articles by creating various membership levels (example: Free, Basic, Premium, Ultimate etc.) and protect the content (posts, pages, comments etc) of your site. The plugin manages all the membership management side of things. Key features include: content protection where you can create different membership levels and select what content (posts, pages, categories, comments) can be viewed by each membership level., unlimited membership levels where you can create “Basic”, “Premium”, “Ultimate”, or any other levels you want, Multi Site License – you can use it on as many sites as you own, Autoresponder Integration – can be integrated with Autoresponders (AWeber, MailChimp, GetResponse) so that members automatically get signed up to your list/campaign for email marketing purpose, and so much more.

Discover the many benefits of creating a membership site with these plugins and build your network faster than ever.

Explorable Now Available From Elegant Themes

How would you like to go around the world and explore it in a matter of minutes? Create the perfect travel blog that will transport readers and visitors to exotic and distant lands with Explorable Premium WordPress Theme. This location-based theme takes your readers on a journey through different locations as tagged in your posts. Be the ultimate resource for travel bugs and backpackers with Explorable – the ideal theme for travel blogs, travel agencies, local business directories and similar sites.

Explorable’s homepage backdrop is a full-width map where each post you make is pinned to a specific location. This interactive map is a fun way to introduce different places for people to visit and explore. Clicking on a pin opens a picture window on the left side of the page containing an excerpt about the location. Clicking the image opens into the page containing the full post content. Not sure what location to look for? Discover new places by just clicking the side arrows of the picture window to scroll through pinned locations. You can also filter the displayed pins to show posts according to specific posting type, location and rating.

Explorable also has other page templates that are available if necessary. The portfolio template can be used as an image gallery of trips, travel, and on location photos to share with users. The blog template can be used to document travel details, reviews, recommendations and even ratings to guide soon to be travelers. The advanced search template makes it easy to search through posts and pages or according to category. These templates can serve as tools to enhance user experience on your site.

As far as appearances and functionalities go, this responsive theme includes shortcodes to help you customize this theme and make it completely your own. From colorful buttons, content boxes, toggled or tabbed content, slide presentations, layouts with 1 to 4 columns, and even pricing tables. Create the ultimate destination website with Explorable Premium WordPress Theme.

Features:

  • Responsive Design
  • Shortcodes
  • Page Templates
  • Secure and Valid Code
  • Complete Localization
  • Google Maps Integration
  • Visitor Ratings System
  • Filterable Listings Search

Explorable Premium WordPress Theme includes perpetual updates, unparalleled support, and access to 81 high quality WordPress themes included in every Elegant Themes subscription.

Get Explorable Now!

Voyage: Travel WordPress Theme 2013

We all love an adventure. Who doesn’t dream of traveling or going on that dream vacation? According to the Global Online Travel Report for 2012, some of the key findings and statistics featured in their report listed below are:

  • The trend of booking trips online is expected to grow further in 2012, especially in emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil.
  • In 2012, the “Online Travel Segment” is forecast to represent almost a third of the total global travel market value.
  • Online travel sales in the US are forecasted to increase by more than +10% in 2012 compared to 2011.
  • The UK is projected to remain the largest share of Europe’s online travel market in 2013, followed by Germany and France.
  • Gross bookings on the Asia Pacific online leisure/ unmanaged business travel market are expected to increase by more than +30% in 2012 compared to 2010.

Meanwhile, according to US Travel.org,

“Activities with the greatest level of interest among U.S. adults are, in order, visiting friends and relatives, sightseeing, beaches/waterfronts, visiting zoos/aquariums/science museums, national parks, visiting a state park, going on a cruise, theme parks, visiting a city and visiting a mountain area. Interest in the engaging in the activities varies by generation, household income, gender and most other demographic characteristics of leisure travelers.”

Based on these statistics and findings, barring local and international security issues and safety, people WILL travel. Perhaps it is also safe to say that the travel industry, at present, is definitely a viable industry. It may be also safe to say that the internet has contributed a great part to making travel reachable and accessible to a lot of people all around the globe. Access to online airline e-ticketing, booking and reservations, destination packages, hotel reviews and ratings have made people bolder in making travel decisions. Even if only a fraction of the 7 billion world population have the means to travel, travel agencies have not fully saturated this market. So, if you are considering putting up your own online travel agency, this is great news. The next step is to setup your own website and what better way to do it than through WordPress and with a theme that’s specifically tailored for travel agencies.

Voyage Travel WordPress Theme is a gorgeous feature packed premium WordPress theme built for this specific niche. The responsive theme’s highlights include an extremely powerful search and filter option that clients can use to find the travel package of their choice. The theme also includes lots of pages for showcasing a variety of holidays, special prices and latest promos, packages according to destinations, and a whole lot more. It also comes bundled with a Blog and Contact Page and tons of shortcodes you can use to customize or tweak the theme according to your needs. A lot of these powerful functionalities are based on one of Themefuse’s best and most complex theme, Homequest. Another great thing about Voyage is that you can actually play with it for 14 days, using Themefuse’s test labs feature, before you decide to purchase.

Features:

  • Responsive
  • One click auto install
  • Best for a travel agency website
  • Powerful search and filter options
  • Dynamic Sidebar Widget Creation
  • jQuery Image / Video Light box

Voyage Premium WordPress Theme includes video tutorials, theme documentation, and access to an AfterCare Forum for theme issues, questions, and support.

Voyage: $49 | Demo & Download

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.

Let’s Write Some WordPress Poetry

If you have been following this basic WordPress journey, you would have learned some very basic info about WordPress, HTML, CSS, PHP, tags, html templates, css stylesheets, and a whole lot more. It’s about time to put that basic info to the test and write something “poetic” or at least attempt to. The key word here being “attempt”.

Our attempt is to write something very simple and easy. We will assume that you already have your own domain name and that you have WordPress installed and running on your site. If you’ve never coded a WordPress theme before or your brain freezes at the sight of all the gobbledygook and unintelligible mishmash of hyphens, brackets, parentheses, asterisks, colons and semicolons, and so much more, this might help you. For the experts out there, pardon the language, because this might turn out to be too barbaric for your code sensibilities. Sounds scary already.

We now know that HTML and PHP are two distinct “web” languages and that WordPress is written using PHP. WordPress Themes are basically plain HTML templates, with WordPress specific PHP tags integrated into specific areas where needed.

Just like the old snail mail letter where you have the date, the heading, the greeting or salutation, the body of the letter, the closing, and the signature, the basic components of a typical WordPress theme consists of:

  • the Header
  • the Menu (navigation)
  • the Sidebars
  • the Content Column and
  • the Footer

And just like the traditional snail mail letter where you need to write on real paper, you will need a text editor to write your code. Those are the basics.

In a previous article, we wrote that one of the fastest ways to learn a language is through immersion. We will attempt to apply this immersion technique in this exercise and hopefully we can learn to understand, then “speak” and “write” WordPress code as we go along. In this little experiment, we shall choose a theme, (Twenty Eleven, in this case), analyze it, try to dissect it and break it down, and then ry to create our own version, super simplified of course, based on our understanding of how it works. We will be working backwards instead of coding from scratch.

Let’s take a look at what Twenty Eleven’s Main Index Template (index.php) contains and let’s dissect. (The code below is taken from an existing website. Some of the tags have been color coded only for the purpose of this discussion).

Note that the items highlighted in red refer to the basic components of a WordPress Theme. If we strip it down to these basics, eliminate the rest of the code (strings, integers, and variables) and leave just the basic, we can actually begin to write simple code that looks like this:

(The Header)
<?php get_header(); ?>

(The Menu)
<?php if ( have_posts() ) : ?>
<?php twentyeleven_content_nav( 'nav-above' ); ?>

(The Content)
<?php /* Start the Loop */ ?>
<?php while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>
<?php get_template_part( 'content', get_post_format() ); ?>

(The Sidebar)
<?php get_sidebar(); ?>

(The Footer)
<?php get_footer(); ?>

Of course we might be breaking a few syntax rules here and there but we’ve managed to write some sort of broken WordPress poetry. Haiku-like perhaps but nevertheless, it IS code. Till next!

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.

On Becoming a WordPress Professional

How does one become a certified WordPress professional indeed? Earning your stripes as a WordPress professional does not come from a course you enroll in and study for X number of years in your regular university. Neither do you get a degree or a diploma for the numerous WordPress conferences, seminars or webinars you attend. In truth, becoming a WordPress professional is not age bound, race bound, location bound, language bound or educational background bound. One key ingredient is the willingness to learn, make mistakes, and learn all over again.

Many current WordPress professionals and practitioners did not start out as such. Perhaps some have come out from the corporate world and taken a radical sabbatical from their daily grind while others probably started out in their dorm room or garage. Maybe others began tinkering with WordPress while they were in their teens while some are going through a second wind in their careers. The Internet has this built-in democratic leveling quality where anyone can make it regardless. Since the year is about to end, maybe some of you are considering a quiet change or transition into something else – a new career path of sorts. You don’t necessarily have to be a developer or a designer to be a WordPress professional. Here are a few options for you to think of if you are considering a shift into the exciting world of WordPress:

Developer

Web development is the back-end of the website, the programming and interactions on the pages. A web developer focuses on how a site works and how the customers get things done on it. Good web developers know how to program CGI and scripts like PHP. They understand about how web forms work and can keep a site running effectively.A good web developer will have excellent programming skills and be able to use a range of programming tools. He or she will be able to provide solutions to give a website the functions required. Web developers will use a range of programming tools such as ASP, Javascript, XML and SQL. The focus is more on the backend and the functionality of the site.

Designer (Themes)

Web design determines the look and feel of a website. It covers the layout, navigation and colors of a website. Web design is more concerned with aesthetics and user experience than functions. A web designer will make a website easy to use and fit for purpose. A good web designer will have graphic design skills and a good understanding of marketing. He or she will know how to grab the attention of visitors and encourage them to explore a website. A web designer is concerned with how a site looks and how the customers interact with it. Good web designers know how to put together the principles of design to create a site that looks great. They also understand about usability and how to create a site that customers want to navigate around in.

Developer (Plugins and Widgets)

Plug-ins and widgets are a great way to enhance the functionality of your site by adding in extra features. These can be placed anywhere inside your template by function hooks. You can start creating and eventually selling stand-alone plugins that add value to existing or new themes.

Support Professional

One of the most common deficiencies in the WordPress themes marketplace is the lack of or absence of theme support. You can start a career by being part of a support team that is responsible for providing after-sales support to customers who have purchased specific themes.

Consultant/Marketing

Providing consultancy services, networking, and hooking up clients with designers and developers is another option to becoming a WordPress Professional. Many times, a lot of great designers do poorly sales-wise because of a lack of marketing skills. You can offer your services to acts as a marketing consultant to WordPress designers and developers who have little or no time to do the marketing themselves.

Blogger/ Theme Description Writer

With the explosion of WordPress themes in the marketplace, there is very little difference between one theme to the next and a lot of them look like clones. You can offer your services as a writer to create a marketing hook for designers and developers who would rather write code than a marketing spiel.

Documentation Writer

Providing appropriate and useful detailed documentation that is easy to understand even by WordPress beginners is another option. Transcribing the installation and setting up process in easy to follow steps adds value to the theme and a well written piece will mean less resources spent on support.

WordPress Trainor

If you have acquired a certain level of proficiency in WordPress and you are confident enough about what you know, you can also try going into teaching and training.

These are just a few ideas to think of as you consider starting or shifting to a career as a WordPress professional.

30 Inspirational Non-Profit WordPress Themes 2013

Amongst all the civilized life of shopping malls and movie lexes we must not forget that there are parts in this world whose inhabitants don’t get even the basic necessities of life like food and water. Innocents get killed everyday in calamities like bomb blasts, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc. Children are out of schools as their parents cannot pay for their education. People die even from minor curable diseases merely because they didn’t have the money to see a doctor. The situation is far more serious than what I can describe in a few sentences. The statement that I wish to make is that we should care about others and should donate generously to non-profit organizations that are trying to help those in need.

Perhaps the following collection of 30 WordPress themes, designed especially for the non-profits may make a small contribution in making the world a better place.

Of course different niches have different site design requirements. A social networking site should look and behave in a completely different way than what a gaming site should look like. Special care and attention was devoted to the following templates so that they craft out into a good and clean look, which is what is required for non-profit organizations.

Some of the templates below are without charge but due to certain restrictions we can’t just giveaway everything absolutely free, although we would have loved to. Hence we have charged a nominal amount in the remaining templates. Scroll down and take a look.

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