Noticias del autor
[tweetmeme]The folks over at DIY Themes have just announced a new SEO product. It’s called Scribe SEO, and it makes SEO copywriting simple. Creating search optimized web pages, blog posts, and press releases used to be time consuming at best and mystifying at worst. Not anymore.
What is Scribe SEO?
Scribe SEO is a WordPress plugin that is used to analyze blog posts for SEO strength. This product is interesting because it is able to ‘read’ your content to produce a report about a post’s keyword strength, density, search volume and more. When I first saw Scribe SEO, I didn’t know what it was truly all about. I signed up for the free test drive to give it a closer look.
My First Impressions
To illustrate how Scribe SEO works, I’ll be taking screenshots of its usage as I write this post. After I installed the plugin, this is what I see in my WordPress admin:
Scribe won’t allow users to Analyze their content until three conditions are met: a complete title tag, meta description, and content. Because of these conditions, users must have the All In One SEO Pack plugin installed, or be using the Thesis WordPress Theme.
My All In One SEO Pack settings for this post looks like this:
In this case, I am looking to rank for the terms ‘Scribe SEO Review’ and ‘Scribe SEO’. Once I’ve filled out theses fields, I am ready to analyze my content.
First Evaluation
The first thing that appears is a large percentage which indicates my overall search engine optimization score. This score is built off a variety of factors such as title length, keyword usage, body content, hyperlinks used, and the description copy.
My first run-through is a 73%, not too bad. On the right, the plugin tells me what I need to fix:
First, Scribe tells me that my content is just 236 words, below its 300 recommended length. I’m not too worried about this because the post hadn’t been completed yet.
Second, Scribe tells me that the keywords ‘Scribe’ and ‘SEO’ are being used too much in the post. I’ll be able to fix this up later.
Along the top of the Scribe popup window are six different tabs that offer more insight into the search engine strength of my post. Let’s take a look at the ‘Keyword Analysis’ tab.
The ‘Keyword Analysis’ tab is beautiful. It determines my primary and secondary keywords. It then takes these keywords, indicates the density at which I’ve used them in my post and estimates the average annual search volume for that particular word or phrase.
Currently, my top two keywords are showing a 7.35% density, higher than the 5.5% which is recommended.
The next tab along the top is ‘Change Keywords’. In this tab, Scribe guesses other keywords which I may be targeting, and how to give them more prominence in my post. The page also shows how to de-emphasize my primary keywords (which had too high of a density).
The next tab is for ‘Tags’. This page shows a list of semantically relevant terms that Scribe has determined to be related to my post. Although several of these I find to not be related, there are still a few tags such as ‘SEO copywriting’ and ‘SEO Reviews’ that will be useful.
The ‘SERP’ tag is beautiful. It displays what my post will look like in a Google results page. The title comes from my Title Tag and description from my Meta Description used in the All In One SEO pack.
The final tab is a list of dynamically updated ‘SEO Best Practices’. It offers a very thorough analysis of different tips, tricks, and usages to rank higher in search engines.
Second Evaluation
After writing the content for my first analyzation, I’ve decided to run a secondary analyzation to see what updates and changes were made. Below are the updates:
Now that I’m up to 87%, the only thing that Scribe has determined weak is my overuse of the keyword ‘SEO’. I went back through my post to remove some of these keywords.
Great! Now it is simply a matter of time to see how well this post will do in the SERPs. I hope this review of Scribe SEO has been helpful. If you are interested in purchasing this product, head on over to the plans page. Prices start at $27/mo for 30 evaluations per month.
There is currently a special offer being promoted where you can get 300 evaluations per month for the same price, $27, as opposed to $97/mo. If you lock yourself in this deal now, you will only pay $27/mo for as long as you use the product!
Final Verdict
I’m extremely pleased with this products interface, ease of use, and simplicity. I won’t be able to judge Scribe’s SEO capabilities until I start using it long-term for all of my posts on Elite By Design. Until then, I trust that this product will help bloggers around the world to make sure they are making the most of their posts and ensuring they are doing everything possible to maximize their search engine rankings.
Leave a comment below to let me know what you think of Scribe and this review.
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It’s been nine years since Apple Inc. started the mobile media revolution with the iPod and iTunes software. iTunes, specifically, has transformed the way that the world stores, organizes, downloads, and listens to music from their personal computers.
In the early days, iTunes was about as sturdy as a house of cards (it still ran on OS9). Today, this magical software offers users the ability to rent movies, watch TV shows, download any of 140,000+ applications for their iPhones, iPod Touches (or iPad), listen to the radio, download podcasts, and manage media collections of a virtually infinite size, all from a robust and intuitive user interface.
In 9 years, iTunes has gone from an incredibly simple design to one of increasing aesthetic complexity and appeal. Only Apple has the ability to make huge amounts of media look good in an application and create a unified, universal, and usable design. The evolution of the iTunes software marks the progress of application interface design, organization, content management, and media consumption in the modern world.
This post is a photographic collection of the evolution of the iTunes software from 2001 to 2010, version 1 to version 9.
iTunes 1
iTunes 1 allowed users to import, compress, and burn CD’s in order to manage and organize their entire music collection. iTunes 1 also came with the iTunes visualizer for…no real purpose, other than to look trippy.
iTunes 2
iTunes 2, released just 9 months after version 1, allowed iPod’s to be synced with an iTunes library. New features included a crossfader, equalizer, and better CD burning. Traction was beginning to pick up for iTunes, however, it was still a Mac-only application.
iTunes 3
iTunes 3 took progressive steps in the audi-playback area, adding sound check (to play all songs at the same volume) and smart playlists. iTunes 3 was the first version to require OS 10.1.4 or higher.
iTunes 4
iTunes 4 was a major upgrade to the application in the release of the iTunes Music Store. The music store allowed users to search and buy any song from an initial library of 200,000 songs for just 99 cents.
Six months later, in the same year, iTunes was announced for Windows.
iTunes 5
iTunes 5 improved the search function of the application. Parental controls, smart shuffle, and iPod Nano support are just a few of the improvements made in the new version.
The iTunes Music Store by now had over 2 million songs for purchase.
iTunes 6
iTunes 6 was released very quickly after version 5 with the addition of movies and TV shows for purchase in the iTunes Music Store. This obviously prompted users to question the use of the word “Music” in the name of the store. Support for Nike+ was added.
iTunes 7
iTunes 7 brought some major user interface changes, including coverflow and different visualization methods for viewing music collections. This of course, is the iTunes version that was updated to support the iPhone and iPod touch. By this point, over 3.5 million songs were on the iTunes store with over 1.5 billion sales, making iTunes the largest music store.
iTunes 8
iTunes 8 introduced the Genius Playlists feature which automatically suggests related songs to the one a user is listening to. HD TV shows also made an entrance in the iTunes store. iTunes 8 also introduced album visualization, which displays a users music and video library based on the album/box art.
iTunes now holds over 8.5 million songs, 30,000 TV episodes, and 2,500 films, 600 of which are in HD.
iTunes 9
iTunes 9 introduced such new features as iTunes LP, home sharing, genius mixes, and a redesigned iTunes store. Improved iTunes syncing also allows iPhone and iPod touch users to manage and organize their apps, right from iTunes.
The iTunes Store remains the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store with a catalog of over 11 million songs, over 50,000 TV episodes and over 7,500 films including over 2,000 in stunning high definition video.
What’s Next?
Apple has regularly pushed the innovative features of iTunes since 2001 all the way to 2010. From a very simple music storage application, to the worlds largest media store that connects with the iPhone and iPod lines of mobile devices, iTunes has, and will remain for the foreseeable future, the number one media library application for computer users.
What features would you like to see in iTunes 10? What has your experience been with iTunes thus far? Share your thoughts below in the comments!
News Press by WooThemes can be classified as some kind of mashup between a personal blog and a more content-heavy magazine-style layout. The sophistication of the layout can thus offer immeasurable value to ambitious bloggers that would like to display their content in a professional way.
Theme Information:
Release date: Dec 18, 2007
Designer: Magnus Jepson
Theme Type: Magazine / News
Demo
Purchase
Unique Features
These are some of the more unique features that you will be able to take advantage of with News Press:
- Emphasised Featured sections to highlight your most important content; and
- Animated horizontal drop-down menu’s for category navigation.
- 9 colour schemes to choose from
WooTheme’s Theme Options
WooThemes has an incredibly intuitive and easy-to-use theme options page that allows you to customize your website in any way you see fit. From colors, to Twitter integration, to banner ad management, to logo uploading, and much more. For more information about the Woo Theme Options, check out this video.
Demo
Purchase
[tweetmeme] Today is the official launch of Elite By Design v.5! I have launched this new design in light of the new year, a fresh new start for Elite By Design, and to introduce a few new key features for the site.
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Old vs. New
The first thing you will notice about the new design is that it is not drastically different from v.4, which can be seen below:
Versus the new (and hopefully improved) design:
What’s New?
A few of the changes made in the new design include a more vibrant background, a brighter color scheme, and a completely redesigned content structure. Version four was overloaded with content on the home page and single posts. The new design streamlines posts into a single-column, easy to read, list.
The sidebar has been cleaned up to show readers how to follow Elite By Design on various social networks. Below these buttons are advertisements, which keep the site up and running.
You will also notice a new Elite By Design Facebook Group which you can become a fan of, to connect with me and get the latest updates from the site right in your Facebook news stream.
The top three tabs of the site represent the three main areas that I am going to be focusing on in the future. The Web Design section will be a showcase of web design and development tutorials, guides, resources, and roundups. The WordPress Themes area showcases some awesome WordPress themes that you can browse, demo, and purchase. Finally, the Inspiration & Resources area is specifically for readers looking for some design freebies, inspiration, and tools.
What’s Next For Elite By Design?
The year 2009 was a disappointing year for myself, and for Elite By Design. With only two posts in the entire year, you could say that I took quite a long vacation. In reality, I was working hard at school to keep my grades up. My academics always come before the internet.
However, even with no activity on the site, my solid foundation of high-quality articles meant that in 2009, Elite By Design still saw over 650,000 unique visitors who viewed over 1.1 million pages. Over 30% of this was from search engines.
My goal for the new year is to bring back the Elite By Design brand and to publish more guides, tutorials, roundups, and resources for designers everywhere. I would like to see my Twitter fan-base grown, my new Facebook Fan Page to grow, and for traffic on Elite By Design to pick up the pace it had in 2008.
Please comment below and tell me what you think of Elite By Design, the new design, and of course, what you would like to see during 2010. Thank you all for your support, even after my year of absence, and I hope that 2010 will bring about lots of new adventures.
After the phenomenal success of the post, 45+ Most Creative Abstract Wallpapers written over one year ago on Elite By Design, I have decided to compile a new collection of abstract wallpapers to spice up your desktop and add some creativity to your work day. If you’re sick of the wallpaper you’ve been using for too long, try one of these 32 most stunning abstract wallpapers.
Avatar has taken the world by storm, leading the box office in the US for more than four straight weeks and earning enough dough globally to earn it the rights of the number two grossing movie in the history of…ever. Props to you James. However, such a movie doesn’t become so popular without its fans. And its fans aren’t satisfied until they’ve somehow contributed to the “Avatar universe.” In a recent trip to Deviant Art, I found quite the stunning collection of Avatar-related fan art. This post is my collection of incredibly inspiring Avatar fan art for your enjoyment and inspiration.
Have your own Avatar Fan Art that you’d like to see featured here? Send me an email using the form below. Be sure the subject is “Avatar Fan Art” so I’ll know what it’s for!
[contact-form 3 "Avatar Fan Art"]
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When designing your next website, overlook no detail, including your login form. Too many designers think to themselves, “Two fields and a button. Simple as that.” Wrong. Your login form should stand out on your site for members to find. It should be aesthetic, usable, fast, and clean.
Too often login forms are overlooked by web designers and can create a gaping hole in a website’s unity and design. Login forms should fit in perfectly with the site, yet stand out in such a way that members can easily find their way. At the same time, the form should blend in enough so as not to distract guest visitors from whatever else they may be doing on the site. This is a difficult balance to achieve, and for that very reason I have compiled this post.
This is a collection of 55 spectacular login form designs as inspiration for your next website design.
55 Spectacular Login Form Designs
Mobile Me’s login form stands out on the solid colored page. It is clean, elegant, and works nicely with the background elements of the site.
The login form on Straw Poll has a gorgeous background illustration to bring color and art to something as simple as their login page.
Scrap Blog’s login form, similar to Straw Poll, uses vivid colors and bright imagery to draw attention to their login form, making it easy for users to navigate and use.
20×200 uses very light colors, intricate details, and simple elements to create a gorgeous login form that is clean, functional, and easy to use.
The login form on Acrobat’s website is actually a dropdown that occurs when the “Sign Up” button is clicked. This helps to reduce clutter on the page and still make it easy for members to log in.
97 Bottles has a great login form that uses consistent colors to create unity. Their logo on the left of the form is a nice touch that reinforces their brand.
Twitter.com’s login form is also a dropdown that occurs when the “Sign In” button is clicked. This is used to keep the home page as simple as possible in order to keep the search form and sign up button the focus of the page.
The sign in form used on The Mattinator is for Twitter accounts, but that doesn’t mean the design doesn’t rock some fantastic hand-drawn elements to stay consistent with the design of the entire site.
Mint’s login form is clean, concise, and easy to find. This allows members to easily find their information and creates a more enjoyable user experience.
The “splash” style of Freelance Suite’s login form means that the only element on the entire page is the form itself. Contrasted with a vivid background, the form is able to stand out.
With a modal popup window, the College Humor login form is very clean and simple. By using a modal popup window, the site is cleaner and has fewer distractions from the main content.
Survs uses neutral colors across their login form to create simplicity and unity. Their form is very clean and elegant.
Virb’s login page is very smooth and aesthetically pleasing. The navigation bar along the top allows users to retrace their steps and discover new information. Light colors also draw attention to the form itself.
The Tuts+ login form is extra large for increased ease of use and legibility. Bright buttons create a clear call-to-action for users navigating the page.
Placed on top of a dark blue background, the white Tumblr login form stands out on the page. Its clean design creates an easy, usable form for members to work with.
White field forms stand out from the light blue background on How R U’s login page. Coupled with clean illustrations, the page is very aesthetically pleasing.
The Tick login form has lots of subtle details, like light gray borders and subtle strokes, to create a visually pleasing and graphically-sound login page.
Go Plan’s login form is once again place on top of a vivid color in order to make it stand out on the page and create a clear direction for members to follow.
Wufoo’s bright login form contrasts the dark gray background of the site to draw user’s attention to the center of the page. Icons in the login buttons are nice touches that create a clean and beautiful form.
The login page for Mochi Media is very simple and clean, yet offers a full navigation to the rest of the site for members to discover new content.
Later This uses solid bold colors paired with a simple login form to create a clean and easy user experience.
Yet another form centered on a neutral background, Good Barry’s login page is clean and simple to use.
Product Planner’s login page is unique in that it offers both a signup and login form right next to each other, using color variation to distinguish between the two separate areas.
Grooveshark’s visually stunning design uses a modal window for their login form to reduce home-page clutter and keep user focus on the search bar of the site.
Digg’s login form comes up as a modal window. It looks very sleek and clean, adding to the overall feel of the site. The large transparent gray border adds style and detail.
With a clean form set against a neutral background color, Roboto’s login form is crisp and elegant.
The login form on Strutta drops in as a modal window. Sound cool? I thought so too – be sure to check it out.
This login form drops down from the top in a chat-style box. The bright red contrasts against the rest of the page to draw attention to the form.
This crisp login form is set against a dark background for added contrast, with subtle gray icons next to each form field for additional flair.
The login form on Pixel House’s website fits in perfectly above the sidebar, with clean borders and crisp colors.
Red Brick Health has a very unique website. It’s colors seem muted, but bright. With a neat illustration for the background image, the login form fits distinguishably on the front page.
This login form fades in nicely when the Login link is clicked. It uses bright colors to contrast from the rest of the page.
This modal login window is very crisp and clean, using a transparent gray border, similar to that of Digg, to contrast the rest of the site.
The login form that so many of us are familiar with is very beautiful. Using subtle dropshadows and a bright button, this form is both usable and aesthetically appealing.
PSD Themes has a great modal window, where, when activated, dims the background of the page to put user focus directly on the form.
My Name Is E has a gorgeous login screen with clean aesthetics, strong colors, and legible text.
This login form is extremely simple, using light colors to create a unified page. A bright green button draws attention to the form, which is centered on the page.
Meebo’s homepage offers several different login forms for different services. Each form uses a logo for identification, clear borders for distinction, and contrast with the background for focus.
This login form is interesting because the only color comes from the sign-in and sign-up buttons located in the form. This draws attention from the eye and puts focus on the login area.
I loved this contact form because of the astonishing use of color, detail, and transparency. Coupled with clean typography, this login form is a winner.
The World Of Warcraft login screen uses a neat background image to put focus on the form in the center of the page. Textured borders around each field keep consistent with the medieval or fantasy feel of the rest of the page.
Krop’s login form has a neat dropdown effect that pushes the rest of the site down. The form area is clean and crisp, using subtle gradients and shadows to put focus on the login form.
Mail Chimp’s login form uses a combination of subtle gradients, bright illustration, and contrasting colors to put focus on the fields in the login form.
This login page is very clean and uncluttered. The top and bottom of the page offer navigation to the rest of the site without detracting from the main function of the login form.
Ustream uses a neat popup box when the login link is clicked that offers a multitude of options for logging into their site.
The login form on Facebook’s homepage is placed horizontally along the top of the page. The white fields contrast nicely with the blue background and offer a crisp, aesthetically pleasing form.
Kongregate’s login form is very neat in that a user can login without the page being refreshed using AJAX. This allows members to login even if they are halfway through a flash game. Very slick, and very convenient.
This login form is very simple and minimalist. The white-on-white feel of the page helps draw focus to the login form without losing usability or function.
Play Xpert’s login form fits nicely into the top menu area so as not to clutter up the page.
The Tengaged login form pops up nicely in the top area of the site when the login link is clicked. This reduces clutter yet still offers a very functional and good looking form.
Using a dark blue background, Myspace’s login form is able to contrast from the rest of the page to draw members attention to the form.
This login form drops down nicely from the top menu when the login link is clicked. It is very simple and has a bright login button for added usability.
iLike is another modal-using site in regards to their login form. Bright orange buttons draw attention and put focus on the fields for members to find.
This login form is very clear and simple. A bright pink login button is bright and vibrant to attract attention.
Ning uses a sidebar navigation for users to either login or register. Using bright blue indicators, visitors can easily interpret where they are on the page and what to do next.
When compiling this list, I noticed a very distinct set of recurring trends that occur in login form design:
1. Modal windows – Lots of website use modal windows to reduce clutter on their pages and offer a slick, aesthetically appealing way for members to login.
2. Dropdown Forms – These are also used to reduce clutter and minimize distractions on the main page of the website.
3. Vivid Colors – Whether it be in the background, the text, or the buttons, bright and vivid colors are often used to draw attention and put focus on the login form.
4. Minimalism – Many websites I looked at when making this list utilized very simple and minimal login forms. They often used very light or neutral colors with no more text than necessary.
This is a reminder that Web Design Tuts only has about 4 days left in auction! If you are interested, bidding is currently at $1,000. View the auction here. Below is the text from the listing for more information about the site.
What Is Web Design Tuts
Web Design Tuts is a web design tutorials website that was established in early 2009. WDT offers in-depth and detailed tutorials that offer help, tips, guides, and inspiration for new or experienced web designers looking to polish their skills or enhance their designs.
Topics
Web Design Tuts covers topics from design tutorials, inspirational collections, web development guides, web design resources, and photoshop tips. These categories embody many of the needed utilities for all web designers.
The Articles
Each article that has been published on Web Design Tuts took several hours of research and work to put together. This work has paid off. Each post ranks highly on Google for its related keywords. Most posts are over 1,000 words and include lots of captioned pictures, examples, and related resources (from Twitter, comments, and other sites). For a good example of one of the more popular posts on WDT, check: http://webdesigntuts.com/web-design/using-white-space-effectively-in-web-design/
About The Site
Web Design Tuts is run on the latest version of WordPress using the WooThemes theme, Busy Bee.
Social Presence
Web Design Tuts has grown a very strong social presence in the 11 months it has been running. With over 1,500 RSS subscribers and over 500 Twitter followers, WDT has built a community of designers who are eager to learn more about web design and development. The Twitter feed is often used to leverage traffic to new posts and attract comments, linkbacks, and more from followers. This account is included in the purchase.
The community following WDT is active as well. With 260 comments on just 13 posts, this site attracts a strong connection with readers and followers.
Why The Sale?
When I launched Web Design Tuts in January, the site was received very well among the design community. The site saw about 50,000 visitors within the first couple of months. However, in February, due to time restraints, I was unable to keep posting new tutorials or guides. Although this listing shows the site averaging 6,000 visitors per month, it is worth noting that in the 11 months the site has been live there has been over 90,000 unique visitors with over 150,000 page views. I am selling the site to allow a worthy designer to take advantage of this superior domain name and massive potential for a killer web design tutorial website.
Revenue Details
When I first launched Web Design Tuts in January, I had strong banner ad sales through BuySellAds. Today, with no posts in the last few months, I still run $10/mo banner ads. However, this revenue is unrealistic.
With regular posting and attention to marketing and traffic, Web Design Tuts could easily see 20,000+ visitors per month after the first month after purchase. Given time, traffic will continue to grow alongside regular posting which can be monetized through AdSense, affiliate programs, and banner ad sales.
Traffic Details
From 01/09 to 11/09 (93,000 visitors, 150,000 pageviews)
Referring Sites
58,000 (62%)
Direct Traffic
23,000 (24%)
Search Engines
12,300 (13%)
From 10/04/2009 to 11/04/2009 (4,876 visitors, 12,943 pageviews)
Referring Sites
1,780 (36%)
Direct Traffic
1,211 (24%)
Search Engines
1,880 (38%)
The past month’s traffic numbers have been consistent (averaging about 6,000 visitors per month) since February/March. Search Engine traffic is growing, meaning more organic traffic. The most popular keywords used to find Web Design Tuts from Google (In Order):
Web Design Tuts
Web Tuts
Inspirational Music
List Design
Webdesign Tuts
Web Design White Space
Web Design Lists
WebDesignTuts
Design Tuts
Web Design
White Space In Web Design
Designing Lists
List Design
White Space
Web Design
Web Design Tutorials
That’s right, I’m selling Web Design Tuts. After being unable to successfully manage the site, I have created an auction over at Flippa. Click here to view auction. I want to pass WDT onto a new owner who will be able to take advantage of this amazing site, with superb content, wonderful followers, and limitless potential.
Please check out the auction if you are interested. If you have more questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to comment below or email me at brian[at]webdesigntuts.com.
Thank you everyone for your support thus far and I know that Web Design Tuts will continue to be a respected source of web design tutorials and inspiration!
I personally recommend WordPress to every client I work with or any person who asks me how to get started in the online world. Why? Because I trust WordPress.
Wordpress is easy to use, easy to learn, and easy to maintain. The problem comes when people simply haven’t been immersed into the online world long enough to learn how to use this powerful tool to their advantage.
I am bombarded with questions about ‘how to do this’ and ‘how to do that.’ Unfortunately, there has never been a resource I could point to that would be the ultimate learning center for an absolute WordPress beginner…until now.
I have created this post as an ultimate guide for people who have little to no experience with websites or the internet. Please pass this on to someone who may be struggling to learn or is constantly asking you WordPress-related questions.
This is part 1 in a 2 part series. Today we’ll be covering why you should choose WordPress, how to install the software, and how to use themes.
Want to skip to a certain section? Use the links below:
What Is A CMS?
Why WordPress?
WordPress Installation
Uploading A Theme
Let’s get started.
What Is A CMS?
Wikipedia defines a CMS, or content management system as:
A content management system (CMS) is a computer application used to create, edit, manage, search and publish various kinds of digital media and electronic text.
CMSs are frequently used for storing, controlling, versioning, and publishing industry-specific documentation such as news articles, operators’ manuals, technical manuals, sales guides, and marketing brochures. The content managed may include computer files, image media, audio files, video files, electronic documents, and Web content.
In a nutshell, a CMS provides a way to collect, store, and electronic data and media that is important to you, and then share it with the world.
Currently, there are many CMS options available. Some of the most notable ones are Joomla, Drupal, Expression Engine and WordPress.
This guide is an introduction to WordPress, one of the most versatile, easy, and manageable CMS’s on the web.
Why WordPress?
Why WordPress? This is one of the most frequent questions I encounter from readers, clients, family, and friends. Why should they choose WordPress out of all the other CMS solutions? What makes WordPress better than Joomla, Drupal, Expression Engine, or any of the others?
It’s Not Better
I’m not here to tell you that WordPress is better than any other CMSs out there. That would be just plain wrong. Each person has their own online needs that might be best suited for Joomla, Drupal, or Expression Engine or another system.
However, I am here to tell you that in the past year and a half, I have found WordPress to be a more ‘people-friendly’ CMS that allows for someone who has little to no experience online to become immersed in a community driven and resourceful environment.
Ease Of Use
WordPress is easy to use. With the latest interface redesign in version 2.7, WordPress is easier and more intuitive than ever before. Managing blog posts, pages, comments, users, plugins, and more is just a couple of clicks away.
Easy To Learn
All it takes is one guide (like this one) for someone to learn WordPress. While the system is complex and may take many months to master, it only takes a couple of hours to get the hang of using the numerous tools that WP offers.
So Much More Than Just A Blog
Finally, WordPress helps people create so much more than blogs. It is a platform that allows for the creation of businesses, stores, portfolios, products, and communities. The problem with other so-called blogging platforms is that they are trapped in their own software, allowing no room for expansion or diversity. The beauty of WP is its ability to adapt to many different and unique situations that each blogger may have.
WordPress Installation
So, assuming you have chosen WordPress as your CMS of choice, you are now wondering how to get it set up on your site. Before you begin, there are a few things you will need:
- A domain name. Where will you install WordPress if you don’t have a website!
- A host. You will need a host to give you server space for your WordPress installation and your content. There are thousands of hosts out there, from major corporations, to independent hosting solutions from individuals.
Elite By Design is currently using Host I Can. (Aff. Link)
- A FTP client. FTP, or file transfer protocol, is in its simplest terms, a way for you to upload content to your server directly from your computer. You will need a FTP client to install WordPress themes, plugins, and in some cases, to Install WordPress yourself.
I am currently using File Zilla as my FTP, however feel free to look up other clients that may better suit your needs.
Once you have the above list of items, you’re ready to begin.
Installing With Fantastico
The quickest, easiest way to get your WordPress installation up and running is through a program called Fantastico. Fantastico tends to come standard with most hosts. To see if you have access to this program, log into your cPanel account (usually http://yourdomain.com/cpanel) and look for Fantastico (or Fantastico De Luxe in some cases).
Be aware that many people have made convincing arguments against the use of this program, mostly on the grounds that later upgrades of your WordPress installation will mess up your site. My fix? A plugin (we will cover these later in this tutorial) called the WordPress Instant Upgrade plugin.
If you would like to use Fantastico as your install method, keep reading. Otherwise, scroll down a little ways and I will explain an alternate method of installation.
Installing WordPress is possible with Fantastico in just three quick steps:
Step 1
Open Fantastico
Step 2
Click ‘WordPress’ and then ‘New Installation.’
Step 3
Fill in the necessary fields and click ‘Finish Installation.’
5 Minute Install
WordPress totes the famous “Five Minute Install” for WordPress users who want to install the software manually. They have written a thorough and complete guide in the WordPress Codex which you can read here.
Here is the text taken off the previously mentioned page to save you a step in your WordPress install process:
Here’s the quick version of the instructions, for those that are already comfortable with performing such installations. More detailed instructions follow.
1. Download and unzip the WordPress package, if you haven’t already.
2. Create a database for WordPress on your web server, as well as a MySQL user who has all privileges for accessing and modifying it.
3. Rename the wp-config-sample.php file to wp-config.php.
4. Open wp-config.php in your favorite text editor and fill in your database details as explained in Editing wp-config.php to generate and use your secret key password.
5. Place the WordPress files in the desired location on your web server:
If you want to integrate WordPress into the root of your domain (e.g. http://example.com/), move or upload all contents of the unzipped WordPress directory (but excluding the directory itself) into the root directory of your web server.
6. If you want to have your WordPress installation in its own subdirectory on your web site (e.g. http://example.com/blog/), rename the directory wordpress to the name you’d like the subdirectory to have and move or upload it to your web server.
For example if you want the WordPress installation in a subdirectory called “blog”, you should rename the directory called “wordpress” to “blog” and upload it to the root directory of your web server.
7. Run the WordPress installation script by accessing wp-admin/install.php in your favorite web browser.
8. If you installed WordPress in the root directory, you should visit: http://example.com/wp-admin/install.php
9. If you installed WordPress in its own subdirectory called blog, for example, you should visit: http://example.com/blog/wp-admin/install.php
That’s it! WordPress should now be installed.
Installing A Theme
Now that you have WordPress installed, you will probably want to start exploring different ways to make your site appear to your visitors. The design of your site, as installed through WP, is known as a “theme.”
There are literally thousands of free WordPress themes out there for your to install, as well as some premium themes that will cost you money for added customization options and support.
When picking your theme, keep the following in mind:
- Your target audience - are they going to be tech savvy, or do they need a theme that is simple to read and navigate?
- Legibility - While some themes have very cool flashy effects, make sure to never sacrifice legibility over looks.
- Sidebars - Some themes come with one, two, or three columns in which you can put content. When choosing your theme, think about how you want to organize your content.
- What “fits” - Choosing a theme isn’t rocket science. Just find a theme that you like, that you think will work for your site, and has some aesthetic appeal, and then go with it.
So where can you find themes for your new WordPress installation? A simple google search for “free wordpress themes” will give you thousands of results.
Here are a few links to take a look at also that might help you find that perfect theme:
100 Excellent Free WordPress Theme
45 Excellent Free WordPress Theme
15 High-Quality Premium-Like Free WordPress Themes
50 Beautiful Free WordPress Themes
Installing A Theme
Installing a theme is quick and simple.
1. Download the theme of your choice
2. Open up your FTP client and login. Find your /www/ folder.
3. Navigate to your wp-content directory (/www/wp-content)
4. Navigate to the ‘themes’ folder (/wp-content/themes)
5. Create a new directory with the title of your choosing (Right Click > Create Directory).
6. Click and drag the theme you downloaded into this new directory
Done!
All that is left to do now is log in to your WordPress administration panel (http://yourdomain.com/wp-admin). In the left sidebar, click ‘Appearance’ and then ‘Themes.’
If everything went smoothly, you should now see the theme that you just installed. Simply click the theme, and on the pop-up, click ‘install.’ That’s it!
Play around with different themes and find something that works for you. There are thousands of options out there, so don’t hesitate to keep searching for something better and new.
Stay tuned for part two by subscribing to the feed.
Update: The site that was stealing content has removed their post, although I did not get any sort of reply email. And to the people that were emailing me from Web Design Tuts with those dirty messages - it was other people stealing WDT content, not the other way around 
Second Update: The site owner has kindly emailed me and apologized for what happened. The article was removed and no harm was done. I will keep this post up as a way to help deter future content thieves. Look everyone, if you’re going to take content, at least don’t steal someone’s bandwidth, and it never hurts to give a credit link. We all make mistakes, but hopefully this will prevent some from happening down the road.
Today I received an email from a reader of Web Design Tuts informing me that someone had republished one my first tutorials on another site. I checked it out, and there it was - my six hours, and 2,000 words of work. I scrolled the page looking for any kind of link or credit to WDT, none. I soon realized that they were even grabbing the images right off of my server, thus taking up my bandwidth!
And THIS, my good people, is why you should NEVER steal online content. I have emailed them and left a comment asking for them to kindly remove the tutorial. Until they do, their readers will see what they have done.
I realize that this happens every day online, but listen everyone: the internet is a community. As bloggers especially, we need to work together to build better websites and put together better content. Stealing is never the right way to go about doing this.
Well I knew it couldn’t stay a secret forever. Today, after writing a 6 hour, 2,000 word Photoshop tutorial, I went ahead and did an early-open for Web Design Tuts. I rolled out a couple of Twitter updates to get a few people’s reactions to the site. Some loved it. Some hated it.
@BuildInternet was the first to actually look up Web Design Tuts on Who Is and noticed that the nameservers were pointed to Elite By Design. And the secret was out!
So yes, I am launching Web Design Tuts as a companion site to Elite By Design. I’ve written some posts in the past here on EBD about web design, but there was something within me that wanted to take it further and really push myself to teach other people what I know, and grow as a designer in the process. I plan on writing one post per week at first on both Web Design Tuts and Elite By Design. As the sites gain more momentum, I’ll be more comfortable increasing the posting rate and even hiring some guest posters down the road.
Until then, feel free to check out Web Design Tuts and read How To Design The PSD Tuts Website In Photoshop. Please be sure to subscribe to the feed so you can get updated when our next post rolls out.
On a side note, I’ve received a few emails, direct messages, and comments calling me out on copying PSD Tuts in naming the site Web Design Tuts. In fact, just a few minutes after launch I already had someone hating the blog.
Let me assure you a couple of things:
- I didn’t name the website to try and emulate or impersonate Collis and his wonderful websites.
- I am not affiliated with the Envato network.
- I support Collis and the Envato network and I am in no way trying to push my site by ‘playing their name.’
If you have anything you’d like to talk to me about in regards to Elite By Design, Web Design Tuts, or if you’d just like to leave your opinion, don’t hesitate to comment on this post or get in touch with me.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions on the new site.
Fresh Folio is the second in our portfolio based themes created to help you promote your skills on a clean, sophisticated design. With a Fresh News influence by default it boasts 7 other diverse styles to choose from. We are confident you will be wooing new clients in no time.
Unique Features
These are some of the more unique features that you will find within the theme:
- Portfolio oriented
- The template will automatically (visually) separate your blog & portfolio content, making this an amazing theme for aspiring designers, developers, artists, photographers etc.;
- Unique page templates for the portfolio, blog, blog archives, tags & search results.
- 7 diverse theme styles to choose from.
- Built in Flickr and Twitter widgets to show your thoughts and photos
Standard Features
These features are probably just as special as the one’s above, but you’ll find these standard features within most of our wide range of themes:
- Integrated Theme Options (for WordPress) to tweak the layout, colour scheme etc. for the theme;
- Optional Automatic Image Resizer, which is used to dynamically create the thumbnails and featured images;
- Widgetized Sidebars.
Check out Fresh Folio today!
Flash News is a firm favourite amongst our users and it is easy to see why… Using a beautiful, clean rounded corner layout this theme incorporates all the best blogging features. And its unique colour scheme picker allows you to mix & match the colours until you are perfectly happy!
Unique Features
These are some of the more unique features that you will find within the theme:
- Featured Posts Carousel Panel using jQuery to scroll between next and previous posts;
- Suckerfish Category Menu’s (Dropdown Menu’s);
- An optional aside / sideblog; and
- Dual colour scheme mashups, where you can choose your own combination of background & content styles right from within our Theme Options backend.
Standard Features
These features are probably just as special as the one’s above, but you’ll find these standard features within most of our wide range of themes:
- Integrated Theme Options (for WordPress) to tweak the layout, colour scheme etc. for the theme;
- Built-in video panel, which you can use to publish any web-based Flash videos;
- Automatic Image Resizer, which is used to dynamically create the thumbnails and featured images;
- Custom Page Templates for Archives, Sitemap & Image Gallery;
- Built-in Gravatar Support for Authors & Comments;
- Integrated Banner Management script to display randomized banner ads of your choice site-wide;
- Pretty dropdown navigation everywhere; and
- Widgetized Sidebars.
Available Colour Schemes
Please note that the theme package includes all of these colour schemes and with the Theme Options backend, it is possible to change the theme’s colour scheme (between these) whenever you see fit.
Check out Flash News today!
Gazette Edition is arguably our most sophisticated-looking theme to date, whilst the trendy featured scroller makes it very unique. The clean, white layout with professionally designed content areas are perfect for users that’d like to run a community newspaper website or a product showcase.
Unique Features
These are some of the more unique features that you will find within the theme:
- A beautiful MooTools featured slider on the homepage to add a touch of class to your website;
- Lavalamp jQuery animation for top navigation; and
- Multiple homepage layouts which allows you to give your site a more of a magazine or blog feel.
Standard Features
These features are probably just as special as the one’s above, but you’ll find these standard features within most of our wide range of themes:
- Integrated Theme Options (for WordPress) to tweak the layout, colour scheme etc. for the theme;
- Built-in video panel, which you can use to publish any web-based Flash videos;
- Automatic Image Resizer, which is used to dynamically create the thumbnails and featured images;
- Custom Page Templates for Archives, Sitemap & Image Gallery;
- Built-in Gravatar Support for Authors & Comments;
- Integrated Banner Management script to display randomized banner ads of your choice site-wide;
- Pretty dropdown navigation everywhere; and
- Widgetized Sidebars.
Available Colour Schemes
Please note that the theme package includes all of these colour schemes and with the Theme Options backend, it is possible to change the theme’s colour scheme (between these) whenever you see fit.
So check out Gazette Edition today!
