WebFadds.com has recently completed two interesting CMS website projects — one offers a complete shopping cart built into WordPress, and the other was designed to match an existing website. Both are hosted at WebFaddsHosting.com.

Have you heard of the eastern mystic and poet — Rumi? He was a prolific writer 800 years ago, and now the Society for the Understanding of Mevlana (Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi, that is) has a full CMS website solution with an integrated shopping cart to sell rare translations of his works, at sfumevlana.org.

What does CMS stand for? Content Management System. This means that pages, links, and key content is generated dynamically, and promotional feeds and pings are sent automatically. Editing is easy — much more so than “old-school” websites. If you’ve used a shopping cart, then you’ve seen content management first hand. We enjoy building website solutions on the WordPress platform, because you get the same dynamic advantages with your pages and posts, that shopping cart owners enjoy.

Above, the shopping cart is integrated into the sidebar for users, and into the administration area in WordPress for managers.

Notice that the “blog” area of sfumevlana.org is secondary to the bookstore and other CMS pages, and is not on the home page. WordPress has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a simple blogging solution to allow for just about any sort of structure you need at your sites.

The sfumevlana.org site includes our eNewsletter Installation compete with customized template shown above. The newsletter plugin we use automatically addresses items to your customers, and offers a paid subscription option. A newsletter and RSS feeds are a powerful duo to get your marketing messages out.

WordPress is very flexible. Take for example the new site WebFadds.com produced for BolenComm.com — a sales enablement provider for B2B businesses. Bob Leonard of BolenComm.com wanted to take advantage of the dynamic promotional strengths afforded by a WordPress blog, but he wanted the blog to match his existing website. Take a look:

Above, at left is the original website of BolenComm.com — while at right is the blog designed to match by WebFadds.com

To get an estimate for your own custom installation and order one today, just visit our Blog Services page. Solutions like these require a hosting plan (our WebFaddsHosting.com has excellent plans starting at $7.95mo.). Standard Installation is $79 on your server, $49 on our hosting one of our hosting plans.

WebFadds.com is a Modern Web Development Company focused on Website Services and CMS (Content Management System) website solutions built on the evolving WordPress publishing system. Reach Scott Frangos, your lead Project Manager, and Managing Partner for WebFadds.com by email at sales [at] WebFadds.com, on Skype messaging service (scottfrangos), via our Contact Page, or by phone at 360.566.2451.

Tags: News, WordPress CMS Help by Partner
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by Scott Frangos, Managing Editor - WebHelperMagazine.com

Countdown to WordPress version 2.5

2.5 is almost here — below, a screenshot shows some of the planned revisions to the administration area in the next upgrade of WordPress — version 2.5. Revisions are still being made, but the DashBoard area looks streamlined, and the menus have been reorganized to aid editing.

Above, the new widget management structure does away with a drag and drop interface in favor of adding a new widget by clicking on Add in the list at left, then editing the widget when it shows up in sidebar position at right. You can drag a widget up or down at right to change its position order in your sidebar, however. I like it.

WordPress 2.5 is due for release in about 8 days, so get ready for a new and revised administration area (above), some revisions to the plugin structure, built in avatar support (show little pics of your blog readers, a revision to the widget management functions, and an automatic plugin updating feature (nice). Kudos to the WordPress team and their Open Source spirit in providing this program and excellent upgrades.

So… should you update right away? Well, my advice is to hold off a bit and check to see that your important plugins have been updated for the new release. There are some changes to how plugins are handled (plugin authors can check the helpful style tips given by Joost de Valk at his blog), and so you might wait a couple of weeks after the initial release before you take the plunge. This also allows time for the WordPress development team to fix any bugs noticed after the first brave BlogMasters implement the update.

Some Helpful New Plugins

There are a couple of new plugins that I like, and some usage notes:

1) Collapsible Elements ->>

This is the plugin that enables the AJAX pop-down effect that reveals more information. I’m using it here. In the words of the author “Collapsible Elements adds a button to the code editor which creates the code for having multiple collapsible elements in a page or post.” Get the Plugin Above, the Collapsible Elements plugin adds a new button in the post and page editor.

2) SEO Tweaks ->>

This plugin adds a number of tweaks that are helpful even if you use a major SEO plugin like HeadSpace2, and some that just address theme issues like adding “read more” after post excerpts. Get the Plugin Above, the Tweaks plugin offers SEO fixes and non-SEO fixes.

3) Audio Player ->>

Like to play mp3 files at your site, but not ready for the more complex podcasting plugins? Audio Player is a smart option with a built in Flash Player that makes it simple to drop audio files into your posts. Get the Plugin Above the simple, one-page admin. configuration options are just right for adding MP3, and you can even style the color of the player that will appear in your posts (inset, top right).

Six Theme Picks: A thumbnail review of new and interesting themes…

Here is a look at six new themes for WordPress (click them to see larger images — site download link in captions). One of the great advantages to going with WordPress as a Blog, or CMS website solution is the wealth of themes (templates for newbies), available for almost every concept and purpose. The important thing is to pick one that functions best for your online business mission — remember, form follows function. And, no — I don’t think you have to have a them with two columns on the right mostly filled with ads. Here are my picks of the month:

(click a theme to enlarge it)

Architec Theme - I like this one with its two header options, widget ready programming, and CSS Styling.	Options Theme - This one is loaded with options including five category sections, three features sections, and two videos sections. Nice for an eZine, or video community, this one turns your WordPress installation into a full CMS solution.	Blue Leaves Theme - Sometimes simple is more… and this one color tone theme may be all you need for a personal blog, or small niche website
Color Play Theme - Features a 2 column right sidebar layout and clever option to change colors (clicking a square at top right changes the background and headline colors). A good pic for an art-related business or photography studio.	Vehicle of Novelists Theme - Here’s a unique design with a right sidebar running up to a large, bold graphic. (The link goes to the direct download from Zinruss Studio.com http://www.zinruss.com/, a high-end flash site that’s alittle difficult to navigate.)	Naruto Strikes Back Theme - This theme offers an interesting graphic at top, which you may change to suit your design concept, but I picked it because the design really emphasizes the search function with space for a sub-slogan at left then an interesting catch phrase above the search field. Perfect for a directory concept, note that the author may have envisioned a travel website (”Looking for an adventure?” is above the search box).

WordPress Jobs

Have you checked out the new job board at WebHelperJobBoard.com. Since we are able to filter jobs by different criteria, we included a range of openings just for BlogMasters and WordPress experts. Some are on location positions, and some are for telecommuters.

A couple of examples WordPress Jobs:

• Custom WordPress Theme Creation Needed
• WordPress Themes from HTML Files (lots of work available)

Take a look, and get the job board RSS feed.

That’s a wrap of this edition of the WordPress round-up. Stay tuned for a full review of WordPress version 2.5 in the next edition.

About the Author: Scott Frangos is Managing Editor for WebHelperMagazine.com, and writes the OpenSourceWebMaster.com Blog there. He also builds dynamic Blog and CMS websites with WordPress for WebFadds.com and is a college level instructor for Graphics and WebMaster subjects. He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife, Pepper, and their three dogs: Wisdom, Spirit, and Steggman, and is a great believer in the WordPress movement.

Tags: CMS, WordPress CMS Help by Partner
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WebFadds.com recently completed custom installations of WordPress websites for two real estate companies, designed to synchronize their new blog with the existing main websites of the agencies.

“We custom programmed the navigation system to synchronize with the main, existing websites for these real estate agencies using the Content Management System features of WordPress, and finished the work by installing Search Engine Optimization functions on both sites,” explains Scott Frangos, Managing Partner for WebFadds.com.

Navigation Enhancements: Below, the navigation links of the blog for JohnsonsTahoeRealEstate.com link integrally into the main website, so that visitors move seamlessly between the new blog and key existing website pages like New Listings, and Listing Search pages:

Custom Redesign: Below, before and after screenshots show the templates used to build the new blog areas, and how they looked after a custom graphic redesign to match the existing websites:

Above, JohnsonsTahoeRealEstate.com blog before and after template customization.

Above, RealEstate-LakeTahoe.com blog before and after template customization.

To get an estimate for your own custom installation and order one today, just visit our Blog Services page. Solutions like these require a hosting plan (our WebFaddsHosting.com has excellent plans starting at $7.95mo.). Standard Installation is $79 on your server, $49 on our hosting one of our hosting plans.

WebFadds.com is a Modern Web Development Company focused on Blog Services and CMS (Content Management System) website solutions built on the evolving WordPress publishing system. Reach Scott Frangos, your lead Project Manager, and Managing Partner for WebFadds.com by email at sales [at] WebFadds.com, on Skype messaging service (scottfrangos), via our Contact Page, or by phone at 360.566.2451.

Tags: Graphics, News, WordPress CMS Help by Partner
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WebFadds.com just completed a custom installation of three Real Estate blogs for companies in the Lake Tahoe area. BuckingHam Properties, South Lake Tahoe Realty, and Tahoe Paradise Realty wanted the blogs to help their agents get ahead of the competition, and for the Search Engine Optimization strength that a blog brings — particularly one with all of the SEO controls that WordPress offers.

The companies contracted with Beth Abernathy of Integrated Resource Management, to help them gain a competitive advantage through smart use of social media optimized for search engines. Abernathy, an SEO specialist, reports that “Real Estate agents have been attending seminars where the recommendation is that they get a blog, take advantage of RSS, and get the word out.” WordPress is ideal for those applications, so she hired WebFadds.com to do the installations and customizations.

Above, WebFadds.com Standard Installation service includes these professional, widget ready WordPress Themes, plus four essential “plugin” programs — a great set of solutions on which to develop your blog and websites. Order this service on our Blog Services page.

The blogs used the WebFadds.com Standard Installation, which comes with nine professional themes (above), and four essential plugins (see Blog Services Menu).

Professional Design Customization for each Blog

Next we gave each blog a design customization to achieve a consistent graphic look with the companies’ main websites.

Here’s a look at the theme we started with for two of the blogs, and the resulting customizations:

Above, WebFadds.com found the Sunset Idea Theme and used it as the starting template for two of the new blogs.

Here’s how each of the customized blogs look, sitting next to their parent Real Estate website:

On right, above, are professional blogs installed and customized by WebFadds to match the existing company sites at left.

To get an estimate for your own custom installation and order one today, just visit our Blog Services page. Work like this requires a hosting plan (our WebFaddsHosting.com has plans starting at $7.95mo.), Standard Installation ($79 on your server, $49 on our hosting), Custom Blog Headers ($199), and in this case, some additional customization — CSS styling, and navigation link programming.

WebFadds.com is a Modern Web Development Company focused on Blog Services and CMS (Content Management System) website solutions built on the evolving WordPress publishing system. Reach Scott Frangos, your lead Project Manager, and Managing Partner for WebFadds.com by email at sales [at] WebFadds.com, on Skype messaging service (scottfrangos), via our Contact Page, or by phone at 360.260.3646.

Tags: CMS, Graphics, News, WordPress CMS Help by Partner
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by Scott Frangos, Managing Editor - WebHelperMagazine.com

Security Update 2.3.2 Released Dec. 29th…

WordPress 2.3.2 is an urgent security release that fixes a bug that can be used to expose your draft posts. 2.3.2 also suppresses some error messages that can give away information about your database table structure and limits and stops some information leaks in the XML-RPC and APP implementations. Get 2.3.2 now to protect your blog from these disclosures. See below regarding update methods.

WordPress Version 2.4 is on its way — get set to upgrade

WordPress 2.4 is due out in the last week of January… prepare to upgrade, as I think this release will be a great one which will include a needed overhaul of the Admin interface (you can track other features the WP team is developing at Westi on Wordpress blog). Should you upgrade right away, or wait until the bugs shake out? Well, there usually is a fix-it release that comes 2-4 weeks after the initial release, and you may wish to wait for that. There’s always the question of updating your plugin set, too. Here are a couple of steps you can take to make the process easier:

Use the WordPress Automatic Upgrade plugin — I’ve used it for the past 3 -4 upgrades and it works fine. See our overview article of the Top 10 WordPress plugins, for a screenshot and link.

Make it a habit to keep your plugins current – if you have upgraded to 2.3.x, then you will see notification in the Admin. area for plugins when the author updates a plugin at the WordPress plugin repository. TIP: check the plugin author’s site too — they may have an update there that is newer than the one at the WordPress site, which is where your One Click Plugin Updater fetches updates.

Six Picks: A thumbnail review of new and interesting themes…

Here is a look at six new themes for WordPress (click them to see larger images — site download link in captions). The first one is a news style theme, and is offered as a “premium” theme, costing $99.95 for a single user license. I am pleased to see good theme designers offer premium themes to be rewarded financially for their work.

I don’t know about you (leave a comment below), but I am tired of all of the two columns on the right themes, so you will find some different layout designs here.

Premium News Theme ($99.95)	INBW theme - a fluid three column theme	Clean Blew Theme - another two columns on the right design.
HeliosGrin - a Web 2.0 style with two fixed width columns.	The Harvest is a 2 column theme, navigation on right, designed with an eye for providing a good blog layout for a photographer or artist.	Greenleaves theme is a narrow two column theme with navigation on the left.

The Fast Way to install WordPress Themes & Plugins…

Ever wish you could just snap your fingers and your new WordPress themes, or plugins would automatically be installed? Well, now a combination Firefox Extension, and WordPress plugin allow you to do just that — the One Click WP installer. See full article, with installation tutorial - here…

Is WordPress really a CMS (Content Management System?)…

Well, evidently PACKT Publishing who awarded WordPress a best CMS award, thinks so. Ford Motors uses it to create their Auto Shows website (http://autoshows.ford.com/) with no blog in play, thinks so (see article). A company called “Know Now” even offers an “Enterprise Edition” of WordPress for larger company applications.

But you know… there are always some naysayers. In a thread which began as a poll about web development trends over at WebMaster-Talk.com, (31% of those polled believe that CMS (Content Management Systems) are replacing “old school” websites), the debate has evolved into strong cases being made for and against Open Source solutions and WordPress in particular. You may like to jump on over and make your own voice known. For those interested, here’s how the poll looks there, so far:

Poll Results: Looks like most WebMasters there believe XHTML is replacing HTML… did you know that the developers of WordPress believe it too? See the WordPress codex article on HTML to XHTML - http://codex.wordpress.org/HTML_to_XHTML.

Some Favorite WordPress Reference Sites…

I like using Google Reader as my RSS feed reader, and they just implemented a “share with friends” feature whereby I can share with all of you friends… some of my favorite recent blog posts about WordPress. Note that you should take a look at the source websites — all excellent resources for WordPress BlogMasters. And of course, this is just another example of the web, as a Content Management System (with Google as the big Kahuna):

FYI… my shared items are also available as a web page at: http://www.google.com/reader/shared/00499286454965925497

Just think of the possibilities for your own RSS shared web page. Is it a new form of magazine? Oh… and there’s a Feed (of my Feeds) too. Talk about consumption — as I’ve always said, “chew the web, and you will be its master.”

WordPress Jobs on New Job Board…

We’ve added a new job board at WebHelperMagazine.com - http://www.WebHelperMagazine.com (just visit and click on “Jobs”), and since we are able to filter jobs by different criteria, we included a range of openings just for BlogMasters and WordPress experts. Some are on location positions, and some are for telecommuters.

A couple of examples WordPress Jobs:

• Wordpress Theme Design @ oDesk
• PHP and WordPress Developer @ Comsys, Inc

Take a look, and get the job board RSS feed

That’s a wrap of this edition of the WordPress round-up. Stay tuned for a review of Version 2.4.

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