Hummingbird604.com » wordpress

Learn some basic coding/HTML if you have a WordPress blog

Raul — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 17:00:36 +0000

After careful reflection on the fact that I was NOT at WordCamp Victoria 2011, it just occurred to me the kind of talk I *could* have given had I remembered at the time of proposal submission. One of the things that I think facilitates my blogging and allows me to crank as many posts as I do per week is that I learned a little tiny bit of coding and HTML to facilitate my workflow. I know exactly which plugins I want to use, and how a plugin or a theme should be hacked to make it do what I want. I try to write for the web and think for the web (two very useful complementary skills). As Ariane Colenbrander said to me at my WordCamp Fraser Valley talk: “I’m a good art designer”. There’s also a little back story to this, actually two.

Photo credit: Peregrino Will Reign on Flickr

The first one: I started using computers when I was very little, inspired by the American TV show Whiz Kids. So, I have had a penchant for computer programming. Yeah, this is probably one of the reasons why I enjoy blogging so much, and doing my own stunts. Heck, the computer geekery has stayed with me even as I grew older. When I was deciding what to do a Masters’ degree in, I dipped my feet wet and took 1 semester of courses in a Masters of Science in Computer Science. Yes, I took Boolean Logic, Set Theory, C++ Programming and Visual Basic.

The second story has to do with my good friend Rebecca Bollwitt. When we first met, I was pretty much a newbie. I had blogged for over a year and a bit, but I hadn’t moved to WordPress, I hadn’t really learned much of the code behind it, etc. I was just a writer. I knew nothing about WordPress. Rebecca taught me A LOT of what I know about WordPress and the PHP and HTML behind/underneath it, over coffee, lunches, liveblogging the same events, etc. And she immediately understood what I meant when I said that I liked doing my own stunts: even if I’m not a web developer, I love being able to create my own websites. Basic as they may be, but I just love being able to do some of the basic HTML coding. Rebecca taught me and enabled me to do that with my websites.

Much of the customization you’ve seen here on Hummingbird604.com was done by good friends of mine: Rebecca taught me a lot of the basic inner workings of WordPress, J. Karen Parker adapted the Deviant art WordPress theme for me, and several other good friends have helped me with stuff here and there (Ianiv Schweber with some of the theme issues, Mike Yurechko, Tris Hussey, Andy Peatling and almost every time I scream for help, someone on Twitter is willing to help me.

photo credit: Charles Williams

But still, I code by hand a lot of the HTML tags that make WordPress do the things they do (e.g. embedding my photos and align them to the left or right, change fonts, etc). I *love* doing this basic coding. It makes me feel that I am independent and self-reliant. So, even if you are a blogger or a website copy writer, I would very strongly recommend you to learn some basic HTML and learn a bit more in-depth.

And a fun fact – I wrote by hand all the HTML code around the photo shown to force it to align to the left and provide the photo credit underneath with a link back to Flickr (pretty much the way my PhotoDropper plugin does). How cool is that?

On being self-reliant in building websites

Raul — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 15:52:10 +0000

photo credit: Markus Rödder

About two-and-a-half years ago, my good friend Rebecca Bollwitt (Miss604) helped me secure my domain name (e.g. Hummingbird604.com) and move from just having a WordPress.com blog to having clean URLs (that map directly without the .wordpress.com). I was so proud of myself that I blogged about how I did it. It became one of my most popular blog posts. In November of 2008, I decided to host my sites in an external server outside of WordPress.com. My good friend J. Karen Parker moved all my three websites to the server where they are currently hosted and customized the WordPress theme Deviant Art to make it look and do what I wanted it to do.

My professional activity is NOT building websites. I am primarily an academic and researcher who dabbles occasionally in the field of social media consulting, given that I am a power user and love applying the tools of social networking and this kind of consulting project. BUT, I also love doing my own stunts (to quote my beloved Jennifer Garner).

So, in the past week, I decided that I needed to rebuild my consultancy website. So I bought the new domain, created the WordPress database I needed to install WordPress 3.0.1, FTP’d WordPress on to my server and installed it. All by myself. Of course, I did ask Twitter a few questions and my good friend Catherine Winters was very helpful (thanks also to everyone who answered on Twitter). But for the most part (I’d say 99%), I did it all by myself. Suffering through the sometimes horrendously complicated documentation both for my host and for WordPress (I love you Matt, Andy, Lloyd, but the Codex needs some serious rewriting).

Once I saw the “WordPress has been installed” sign and got on to my login and entered my credentials and launched the Dashboard, I almost wanted to shed a tear. I did it. I am able to install my own WordPress and create a website should I ever need to do it again. I am self-reliant.

You could say “well, you *could* hire someone to do this“. And yes, I could (theoretically, if money wasn’t a constraint, which in my case, IS very much a constraint). But the most rewarding feeling to me was to know that, come hell or high water, and even though my hosting company is pretty raw in what it offers (e.g. it doesn’t have a very non-geek-friendly CPanel), I can, if I need to, build another website from scratch and generate everything I need on my own.

And that is an amazing feeling.

Redesigning Hummingbird604.com

Raul — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 15:30:34 +0000

There’s something that needs to change here at Hummingbird604.com

Not sure exactly what, but I have been feeling the need to re-theme my site. This theme was completely customized to my liking by my good friend J. Karen Parker. She fiddled with the CSS to adjust the column width, moved stuff here and there. She made sure that everything looked good (this site has a customized version of the Deviant Art theme).

But right now I think I need to give it a change of look. Not sure why I feel the need to do the re-theming right now, but I know one thing. I’m not going to use TwentyTen. Yes, even though WordPress 3.0 has been released, and even though I could fiddle with Thesis, and I could do a few things here and there, I think I’m going to instead spend some time exploring a few WordPress themes that would make my site look still professional. But not TwentyTen. Why not? Because it’s the generic WordPress.com theme. And that would make my blog exactly the same as the other 20 million blogs hosted on WordPress.com

And I don’t want that

Improvements to my site to increase the bi-directionality and conversation

Raul — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:12:57 +0000

I have previously indicated on my blog that I’m primarily interested in keeping the conversation up and engaging with people. My personal behaviours (engaging with people who follow me on Twitter and with whom I’ve met at tech events) are also indicative of this pattern. However, I had been remiss for the past few months to implement a few changes that would make interaction much easier.

While many excellent bloggers take a substantial amount of time to customize their sites with relative frequency, I am going to admit that I am, for the most part, somewhat reluctant to go into the techie parts of my site. Uploading plugins, activating them, customizing them, changing the theme, personalizing the site, etc. I know that all of these are things we need to do in order to facilitate and maintain good interaction between me as the blog writer and my readers, and amongst the people who read my blog.

The past couple of days, I decided to do some upgrading, and I’ve enhanced the blog with a couple of plugins. First, now all my comments are CommentLuv-enabled. This means that every time you drop a comment on my blog, this WordPress plugin will try and parse your latest post for display. How is this relevant? Well, it gives you as a commentator exposure as the title and link of your most recent blog entry will show directly underneath your comment (therefore creating link-love).

Second, I have enabled a handy contact form so that you don’t have to use your email client to send me a message. The contact form is in my About Me page. Third, I enabled “Subscribe to Comments” which will allow you as the reader to track the conversation that is occurring on the comments section. Finally, I have managed to install a stats package (not that I care that much about stats per se, but they do give me some sense of what people are reading).

Feel free to drop a comment (I am particularly testing these two plugins) on the blog post, and I hope it is useful for you as a reader!

Using Twitter and WordPress to create and maintain friendships

Raul — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 00:07:54 +0000

As I tweeted earlier today, my posts for the day are all themed around friendships. I am a very, very blessed man. I am very lucky in that I have amazing people who inspire me every day, who comfort me when I’m down, who can confront me with the truth and tell me right to my face when I’m doing wrong, and who are always happy for my growth and improvement.

Last Friday, I had the privilege of having lunch with Rachel Black, whom I met (not surprisingly) through Anthony Nicalo (and I met both of them through Twitter). Rachel does research on water as well (from an anthropological perspective) and (yes, call me academic geek) it was awesome not only because of Rachel’s personality and charisma, but also because we both got a chance to talk tenure-tracks, publishing research, and potentially collaborating in projects.

I wouldn’t have access to the many wonderful individuals I have in the past year if it hadn’t been for Twitter. I met Melanie Hoyt through Twitter and even though she is in the US now, she’s coming to Vancouver soon and we’ll get to hang out in real life. I keep in touch with Yam, a friend I made here in Vancouver, through Twitter. So, in reality, Twitter has given me an opportunity to build new connections, friendships and to grow them.

So, when I was watching Lorelle’s keynote presentation at WordCamp Whistler (read my liveblog here) I completely understood where she was coming from. I have used social media, and specifically WordPress and Twitter, to create new friendships. And yes, maybe, just maybe, social media may actually help me land my dream job. But that’s another completely different topic.

In closing, yes – I DO know that sometimes I’m noisy on Twitter. But bear in mind that, to me, Twitter is a relationship-building tool. I have tried very hard to keep my @ replies to a bare minimum (I follow 300 people, and I would follow more if I had the actual physical capability to do so – I don’t follow everybody back simply because I can’t not because I don’t want to).

Yes, I have gained a lot from Twitter – I have made NEW FRIENDS. And for that, I am always grateful.

WordCamp San Francisco 2008

Raul — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 04:05:48 +0000

No, I didn’t go to WordCamp San Francisco, but two friends of mine (Duane and Andy) did. As a matter of fact, Andy gave a great presentation on BuddyPress. I didn’t get to see it (obviously), but I know the project, as we’ve talked about it over beers. Duane liveblogged it (not sure if this is your first liveblog, but it was really good!) and apparently they’re now downing beers at the WordCamp SF social (why am I not surprised?). Congratulations to Andy on a good presentation and to Duane for a great liveblog. I’ll see you guys when I get back, and we’ll chat about all things WordPress.

Upcoming events in Vancouver – early Aug to early Sep 2008

Raul — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 03:02:38 +0000

Even though I’m not in Vancouver right now, I always try to provide link love for friends of mine’s causes. Actually, when people let me know about what’s going on, I feel much more connected (because let’s face it, I do miss Vancouver). Anyhow, without further ado.

CHARITABLE CAUSES

- Karen Parker is doing the Bicycle Trek for Life and Breath, and you can sponsor her here. I am not sure if you can still participate in a draw she was having, but trust me – 4 hours of her geeky tech support is equivalent to gold, so sponsor her and get a chance to get some tech help from Karen!

- Barbara Doduk and Keira-Anne Mellis are doing the SPCA Paws for a Cause on September 14th (the day that my flight back is scheduled, though not sure if I’m actually going to be back in Vancouver then) and you can donate to their causes here (Barbara) and here (Keira-Anne).

- Tanya Davis (aka NetChick) is joining Team Diabetes, and you can pledge her here.

LOCAL EVENTS

- The Vancouver Queer Film Festival takes place from August 14th to … Unfortunately, I am in Mexico and won’t be able to attend, but if you do attend and want to do a movie review on my blog, you can be Hummingbird604.com’s official correspondent Actually I kinda need an official correspondent. I could even find something to throw as a reward… how about a free beginners’ salsa lesson? Even if you think you have two left feet, I’ll teach you how to dance at least the very basic 2 steps, how’s that? Or one or two hours of conversational Spanish/Italian/Portuguese?

- VinoCamp is taking place on August 16th, 2008. I am not able to participate but you really should attend. Wine and geekery, what else do you need?

- Travis Smith just sent me an email about an upcoming event (the ExpressionEngine Road Show) that you can check out here.

VANCOUVER MEETUPS

- I am a big supporter of Vancouver meetups, particularly since I frequently organize them (Vancouver Bloggers Meetup), live-blog or recap them (Vancouver Young Professionals Meetup, Sales Performance Meetup and Real Estate Tech Meetup). And since I missed this month’s Vancouver Real Estate Tech Meetup (where Steve Jagger gave a presentation), I was feeling bummed. Fear not, Steve himself uploaded a recap!

- I will be missing the Third Tuesday and Net Tuesday meetups, but I’ll be linking to them as soon as I get any scoop. I am particularly bummed about Net Tuesday as I am a total non-Drupal geek, but I want to learn.

- Jordan Behan has been organizing impromptu, informal Tweetups sorta regularly (I hope you keep doing it at least until I can make it to one!) around the Gastown area. You may want to check on Twitter what’s going on (or search Summize for #GastownTweetup)

NOT SO LOCAL EVENTS, BUT STILL…

- WordCamp San Francisco 2008 is taking place this weekend too. Two of my Vancouver friends, Andy and Duane are going down. Andy is presenting on the status of his project BuddyPress and Duane is attending the whole Camp, although given that Duane and Dale’s BraveNewCode project, WPTouch 2.0 for the iPhone was just released, I would have thought that Matt would have invited Duane to speak. Next year, I’m sure. I will link to Andy’s talk if he (or anyone else) uploads video. Heck, who knows. If I become really proficient with WordPress, maybe I will be presenting at WordCamp!

IF YOU MADE IT THIS FAR…

And somehow I didn’t highlight your event, fear not – drop me a comment or send me an email or a tweet. And while I am sure that most of my readers follow her blog, Rebecca usually has the comings-and-goings in Vancouver, so if I missed something about an event here, I could almost bet she has it there

Switching to WordPress from another platform: What do you want to hear?

Raul — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:13:30 +0000

I’m a bit of a keener (surprise, surprise!). I had my PowerPoint slides for Word Camp Fraser Valley (which is taking place tomorrow, Wednesday July 16th, from 6-9pm) prepared since last week. I know what you’re going to say and yes, I always sat at the front of the class, and yes my notes were written in very neat handwriting, and my distillation towers were designed with different color pens, and I was probably the only chemical engineer in my undergrad who chose to do his homework instead of going out and drink heavily (actually, I did my homework in between dance classes, language classes, going out with my friends, training for competitive volleyball, and martial arts).

But I digress… so the point is, even though I’ve already written my presentation, I would like to ask – if you are considering WordPress as a blogging platform, and/or are considering a switch from Blogger or (dare I say) Movable Type to WP – what kind of things would YOU be interested in hearing about?

In my presentation, basically, I’m going to tell you how I switched from Blogger to WordPress (after MUCH peer pressure) and the results I got from the platform switch-over. But I’m sure you have LOTS of questions that could help me prepare (this is like preparing for a final exam!), and I’d love to hear from you.

I have a standing bet with Jodi, and I have promised her that I will buy her a Dr. Pepper if, after hearing all the presentations at WordCamp, she is not convinced of switching from Movable Type to WordPress. I’m bringing the Dr. Pepper just in case. I have faith in my abilities and those of the fabulous team of bloggers and techies who will be presenting tomorrow, but JUST in case, I’m going to err on the side of caution

Accepting suggestions for my 1000th post

Raul — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:10:28 +0000

I’ve been polishing the presentation for Fraser Valley WordCamp and in the process, I’ve come to realize that I am REALLY close to 1000 posts on WordPress (I lost 132 posts in the importing process, which was kind of awful, but oh well). Since I’m at 922 (this post included), I have been thinking of organizing a MargaritaCamp + NachoCamp + GinCamp to celebrate my 1000 posts.

At my current writing rate, I estimate that’s going to fall somewhere around the week of Blogathon, so I might have a middle of the week RaulCamp (or simply combine it with the Vancouver Bloggers Meetup!) because, after all, it’s all about me (inside joke, you’ll have to see the t-shirt to know what I’m talking about).

So, I’m opening the floor for suggestions for my 1000th post. I was actually thinking of holding it at a wifi-enabled site (like the Blackwater Cafe) or a bar so that we can celebrate the actual moment of pushing the “Publish” button on my WordPress Dashboard. Any interest in joining for said RaulCamp?

I want to convert you… to WordPress!

Raul — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:40:40 +0000

As I’ve posted before, I read pretty much every blog on my blogroll and then some. Thanks to a handy RSS feed reader, now I can do that in the blink of an eye, literally (I speed-read). However, I took some time to see who of my friends are still on Blogger (I am talking to you Barbara, Phaedra, Pat, Jennifer, Marina, Dan, Mitch, Sarah, to mention just a few).

If you’ve been reading my blog at all, you’ll know that I am speaking at WordCamp Fraser Valley, precisely on the topic of how I transitioned from Blogger to WordPress. I am in no way associated with WordPress, they don’t pay me a cent (although I do have friends who are indeed associated with Auttomatic).

The truth is that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed writing my blog on this platform. So, I’m basically plugging you to switch and since many of you Blogger friends are also my friends, friends, you should come to WCFV and hear me speak like Ulysses listened to the siren’s sweet voice “WoooordPreeeess…. WoooordPreeeess” (ok, that sounds better when I say it than when I read it).

So, join me and a roster of fabulous bloggers (Rebecca, John, Kerry, Kulpreet and yours truly) on July 16th, 2008 from 6-9pm. For more details, click on the link that says “I’m Speaking at WordCamp Fraser Valley“. And in case you didn’t know, the registration is almost full so, you REALLY want to register as in, like, right now.

The CSS customization and going self-hosted “light”

Raul — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:12:40 +0000

My WordPress-ification process has been quite intense, and it’s hard to juggle searching for a job, doing academic work, socializing AND trying to master WordPress. But right now I feel pretty good about it, and wouldn’t go back to the Blogger platform. The last time I posted something on Blogger I was actually kind of weirded out. “WHOA. It’s like I’ve never used this“.

This week (probably Thursday or Friday, as I want to stay away from the computer for a while), I am buying the CSS customization option for WordPress as I want to be able to tinker with the layout and the theme color scheme. Since I’ve been previously known to avoid the WordPress Codex, I figured this time I would follow the rules and go and read the Codex before I ask my friends “how do I go about this…”

Both Rebecca and Andy wrote recently about themes, and Rebecca unveiled her awesome new theme just this week. But to be quite honest, I still had one question in my mind – what IS a theme?

A WordPress Theme is a collection of files that work together to produce a graphical interface with an underlying unifying design for a weblog.[WP Codex-Themes]

Yeah. RIIIIIGHT. The preceding paragraph proceeded to explain what a theme is in WPGeekSpeak. That’s the point where I realized one of the things that I hadn’t done (shame on me) ever – CHECK THE GLOSSARY. So I went to the Codex WordPress lesson semantics. Are themes the same as CSS? I have discovered that no, they’re not. I roamed around the glossary and semantics site for a while, and now I understand that by customizing the CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), I will be able to define colors, layouts, etc. The theme is more overarching, then…

I may request help to customize my CSS, but I also want to learn how to change it myself, because I don’t want to be a fake geek. I like being a true geek, and I like to do my own stunts. I am well aware that asking for help is one of my challenges, but thankfully, being a computer geek is complicated enough that I am always willing to ask someone to give me a hand. So, I hope that soon enough, you’ll see a different color scheme, although it may be a while for a change in theme!

The move from WordPress.com to WordPress.org and self-hosting

Raul — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:30:17 +0000

My blog is looking nice and the header has been very well received. I blame social media superstar Rebecca Bollwitt for my wonderful new blog look, as she did a fantastic job with the header and the new layout, and the changes to the theme (only the ones that WP.com allows you).

The discussion has been around with some of my geeky friends (of which, as Tyler Ingram very properly said, I now have A LOT) and Karen Parker suggested that I ask around all of you geeks who read my blog (particularly those who are self-hosted and/or WordPress Jedi Masters) about suggestions for self-hosting. With the new theme re-design, the increase in readership, my interest in being able to manipulate my own CSS, use plug-ins, customize my side-bars, etc., it appears as though the move to self-hosted would seem rather imminent. Which is kind of too bad since I already paid for the domain mapping. But whatever.

In the mean-time, while I decide what to do for self-hosting, etc., I’ve decided that I am going “self-hosting light” (as aptly named by Rebecca). I am going to buy the customization of my CSS. It’s been decided. That’s the only way I can change the color scheme in my blog.

To be quite honest, I am really enjoying the process of re-designing my blog and having a lot of fun while sharing it with the blogosphere, particularly because I have found that geeks are such a friendly bunch (of which I am now a part of, at least as a partial-geek – because, please do remember – I DO MY OWN STUNTS), and everyone is always offering to help. I am very grateful and very blessed.

And now on to the question…suggestions on the move? I know that everyone (and I’m not mentioning you by name because you know who YOU are) has been gently pushing me towards self-hosting, and giving me advice on the matter. I still have a myriad of questions – suggest providers/hosts? 2.6? *HELP!* Or maybe I should just wait until WordCamp Fraser Valley and have this conversation after the event? At any rate, do feel free to drop a comment.

My new header, with thanks to Miss604 :-)

Raul — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:10:17 +0000

Since last week, Rebecca Bollwitt and I have been chatting about the feedback I got from Jordan Behan and Boris Mann re: the header of my site last week. Jordan, Rebecca and Boris agree: my blog *needs* to reflect the concept of ME… sort of “this is Raul – and this is what Raul is all about“.

After last week’s blog re-design, I’ve got a lot of positive responses to the new layout, but the header of the blog still kept feeling somewhat … how to put it… STILL NOT ME. Since the new header image was a modification of the standard image in this blog, it didn’t really reflect ME. Rebecca thought about the header for a while and came up with the one that is currently on the blog.

I’ll discuss more about the blog re-design in further posts, but instead of telling YOU what the changes are, I’d like you to tell ME – what do you think? If you have met me in person (or even if you haven’t) … does it reflect who I am? Thanks first of all to Rebecca for the hard work in creating the header, and to you my readers for providing the feedback

The WordPress Codex – Refusing to read :-)

Raul — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:40:58 +0000

Sometimes I wonder if my friends (particularly the new friends I’ve made through blogging) just shake their heads in disbelief. For all my interest in blogging and platforms, and CSS, and themes, and geek-speak, I rarely visit the WordPress Codex. I talk about it. I enjoy having drinks and discussing it. Yet I avoid at all costs reading it. Why? Because I am a hands-on kind of guy.

I read blogs/news/books/journal articles/papers in a large, overview kind of approach, to help me understand the world. But if I want to use a piece of software, or a platform, my brain kind of shuts-off. It took me all of ten minutes to absorb what Rebecca did for my new theme (e.g. changing the header image, which is as far as WordPress.com will let you go). She showed me how to add text on my sidebar. Visually, it was a piece of cake. Andy helped me fix the centering problem I was having with my photos. It took me all of ten minutes to understand what exactly he had done to help me with a theme that overrides the center tags. Piece of cake. Show me once, I can do it myself. Kulpreet has also been always very helpful on Twitter giving me small bits of advice here and there.

However, the problem with me is that I am very visual when it comes to computers. I don’t like having to read to learn how to use a program or a platform. Show me how to do it. Don’t do it for me, let me do it myself. Do it along with me. So, if I could find someone who has digested the WordPress Codex and just sit down with him or her and get a tutorial (or two or three, however many I needed), then I’d be in WordPress bliss. But I am sure I am not going to get that pipe dream, so I am writing this post to encourage those of you who use WordPress and are in what I call the “intermediate” stages of geekification, to check the Codex.

And to my geeky friends whom I frequently ask questions re: WP – apologies in advance, but I’ll still keep asking you random questions about how to do this or that in WordPress. Hope you don’t mind

Thoughts on the re-design of my blog’s theme?

Raul — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 17:14:33 +0000

Dear all,

I have a LOT of posts for your reading entertainment, but at the same time, I also would like to pause for a moment and listen to feedback from all of you, readers, fellow bloggers, random visitors… what do you guys think of my blog’s re-design? Rebecca was kind enough to spend time changing the theme of my site as I told her that I wanted a change (thanks Rebecca!).

Here are the changes if you want them in a summary, point-form (e.g. the elements I told Rebecca that were important to me in the re-design):
- Narrower column for the text. Sometimes I write A LOT, and I don’t even realize it. I think that sometimes, readers may get tired from reading and that might not be a good idea. Yes, I know that content is everything and sometimes I need more space to develop an idea, but I think this looks crisper, cleaner.
- Cleaner layout and top, header-type page alignment. That is, the pages (my “About Me” page and the “Some of my most popular posts” should be on the top, right below the header.
- The header needs to have the hummingbird symbol that Rebecca kindly adapted for me.
- I wanted the header image to look ‘geeky‘ (although this element has already sparked controversy).
- I wanted to include the badge for WordCamp FraserValley 2008 on the side bar.

So, any thoughts on the theme re-design? Suggestions always welcome. Drop a comment. Thanks!

WordCamp Fraser Valley 2008

Raul — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:27:13 +0000

Gary Jones from BlueFur invited me a while ago (after the very successful, and superbly organized WordCamp Vancouver 2008, by Tazzu) to speak at the first ever WordCamp Fraser Valley 2008 , and I was thrilled to accept. I really respect the work of Blue Fur and I’m very happy to contribute in any way I can. As a matter of fact, I owe a lot of the increase in my readership to WordPress-specific tools and tricks.

Matt Mullenweg in WordPress gear. Photo credit: Niallkennedy on Flickr.

The following is an abstract of the talk I’m going to give, hoping that it will be useful. I know for a fact that John Chow and Rebecca Bollwitt (aka Miss604) will be speaking too. This will be SO MUCH FUN!

Here’s the abstract of my talk:“I Switched to WordPress, and So Can You”

I started blogging on the Blogger platform for ease of use (and because several friends of mine were using it too!). On March 23rd, 2008, I took one of the best decisions in my burgeoning blogging career: I moved my blog entirely from Blogger to WordPress. Many bloggers seem afraid of taking the plunge and switching to WP. Currently, I blog primarily on the WordPress.com platform, and have enjoyed an increase in readership of over 300%. In this presentation, I will talk about my experience switching platforms, outline the advantages that I see in WordPress, and speak about the next steps I plan to take in the process of becoming a WP geek.

I am, of course, open to any questions or comments you might want to include. I am sure that some of you might want me to post some video, being the owner of a Flip and having attended a Reachd.com awesome seminar. I will try to do at least some vlogging – most likely, I’ll be live-vlogging Rebecca‘s as she will be too busy giving her own talk to be able to vlog it!!! (but knowing Rebecca, she might even be able to live-blog/vlog her own part of the WordCamp!)

Making your posts searchable with unique categories

Raul — Tue, 27 May 2008 17:14:59 +0000

I am usually REALLY bad at coming up with categories. I never saw the purpose to them, until Rebecca actually taught me to differentiate between Tags and Categories. Then Rastin asked me to tag my posts for WordCamp Vancouver 2008. On Tuesday night (at the Vancouver Metbloggers drinks @ Library Square) Rebecca and I were talking about how much we hate it when people don’t tag their photos or posts.

I try to tag all my photos on Flickr with my first name (raul) or my nickname (hummingbird604). I do the same for all other bloggers (e.g. Rebecca with miss604, Corinna with gusgreeper, Tanya with netchick, John with johnbiehler or johnbollwitt as the case may be, Nancy with moneycoach, MJ with urbanista, to give a few examples). With the posts, I haven’t really created very unique categories. But I’ll have to say that Meg Fowler and Beth Snow probably take the cake for degree of uniqueness with their categories. While some of us use “blogosphere” or “random thoughts”, Meg for example tells you which posts she thinks are “not a super crucial topic“. Beth’s “rampant consumerism” is also fairly unique (although someone else also has that tag now). I’ll say both really try for unique categories.

I am trying to create unique tags and categories for myself, so I think the very first that is really super unique is “geekifying myself“. I guess I should really create a category for this type of post that should read something like “you really shouldn’t have clicked on this blog post”.

Slightly unhappy with WordPress.com

Raul — Tue, 20 May 2008 01:14:26 +0000

Not sure if this is really WordPress.com’s fault, but I somehow manage to lose links on my blogroll. When I had just a few bloggers there, it didn’t matter as I would pick up the mistake quickly (as it happened when it made my Matt and Maktaaq’s links disappear). But right now I have a lot of blogs on my blogroll and therefore I can’t tell when they disappear. One of them has (I’m not telling which one, to avoid embarrassments). I am seriously thinking I’m going to migrate to WP.org… it would allow me to do CommentLuv and a few other awesome plugins, including the Flickr one. Actually it might have to happen.

The intermediaries: Talking geekspeak to non-geeks

Raul — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:00:36 +0000

One of the highlights of this past week was a chance to sit down with Rastin and Teresa. Rastin is a programmer and most definitely, a full-blown geek, he describes himself as a Web Application Architect. We were having a really fun conversation on the geekification process, a conversation that I am sure I have previously had with Rebecca. Sometimes I need stuff to be translated from geek-speak to plain English.

This reminds me from the Fantastic Four movie line (Sue Storm, The Thing and Mr. Fantastic).

Mr. Fantastic - “Ben, we need to analyze how the radiation changed your molecular structure”
The Thing - “Huh?”
Sue Storm – “We need to check you out to know what got zapped”
The Thing – “Ahhh!”

There are a couple of interesting insights I gained from this conversation. First, writing your own HTML is not exactly coding. I want to be able to understand the platform (I use WordPress, which is written in PHP and backed in MySQL). I don’t want to learn PHP, although I do know SQL to some extent. Teresa really wants to learn more programming and coding, and be able to control and manage the content on her blog. And while we are having these exchanges, Rastin indicated that coding and programming was much more than just knowing how to use the tags and HTML. This is most definitely true.

Nowhere did this statement ring more true than at DrupalCamp ’08. I *really* wanted to go, because I want to be able to know all the geeks and coders and social media folks on a first name basis, hang out, share ideas, etc. But the thing is, even if I had had the time to go (which I don’t) it would have been a waste of my time to some extent. Why? Because I am not fully educated yet. I don’t speak geekspeak *just* yet. I’m *learning*, however.

I was very proud of myself when I could start writing my own HTML tags. I was also proud when I bought my own domain and cleaned the URLs (which I wouldn’t have been able to do without JT and the outstanding and patient step-by-step guidance of Rebecca Bollwitt). However, I am not yet fully geekspeak-educated. Why do I think it is important? I’ll tell you why… that’s the second insight I gained from my recent conversation with Rastin and Teresa.

A little bit of background – amongst my academic qualifications, I have the equivalent of an MBA, and I’m also an engineer. The reason why I did the Masters degree that I did is to be able to “speak business to engineers” and viceversa. Well, just the same… there *needs* to be someone to speak geekspeak with the developers AND speek plain-English to non-geeks. That’s why I see the role of people who work in social media AND are good writers/communicators as key. Those of you (and you know who you am referring to) that are able to translate the needs of users into geekspeak AND viceversa, will be VERY successful, that’s my prognosis.

Now, these insights may look insignificant to many of you who have been fully immersed in social media. However, for me, realizing this was a really big deal! It has taken me many months, lots of writing and the help of numerous bloggers to be able to manipulate the platforms (first Blogger now WordPress) to make my blog what it is now. And I’ve also come to the realization that, whether for a career or just to improve my own blogging, I DO want to be able to speak geek. So, the next opportunity I have, I will FOR SURE go to DrupalCamp. Or whatever event where I can learn more about Drupal. And WordPress. And PHP. And MySQL. Geekification, FTW!

Making WordPress.com appear as your own domain.com

Raul — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:56:57 +0000

In the interest of sharing what I learned from a number of awesome bloggers who have encouraged me to move forward with my blog towards self-hosting (baby steps, though), here is the procedure I followed so that WordPress.com users can make their websites look as though they are self-hosted.

For example, if you look at Duane Storey’s blog, he is self-hosted with a WordPress.org install. However, if you look at GusF’s blog, he is doing the same thing that I am. What is that, you ask? Well, here is what I did (thanks Rebecca for walking me through the steps, John Chow and John Biehler for scaring me into buying the domain and reminding me of domain squatters and Gus for providing suggestions).

1. I bought the domain http://hummingbird604.com

Remember to buy your PRIVATE domain registration UNLESS you want everyone to know where you live through a WhoIs search.

2. I mapped the WordPress servers using the method shown on the WordPress.com. Note that there are 3 servers you need to map.

3. I mapped my domain on WordPress using this method and waited for the DNS propagation. However, much as I love Matt Mullenweg, this is a VERY confusing webpage for a non-geek.

4. This is the part that I wasn’t getting right and that was creating non-clean URLs (hat tips to Rebecca for the term ‘clean URLs’ and generally, for help on this matter!). From the WordPress Domain Mapping site:

Q: I own domain.com, can I map that to my wordpress.com blog?
A: Yes! Here is what you need to do:Go to your domain registrar and change the nameservers to the following, being sure to remove any existing nameservers that may be there:

ns1.wordpress.com
ns2.wordpress.com
ns3.wordpress.com

If your registrar needs the IP addresses:

72.232.101.25
76.74.159.137
64.34.177.159

Then you need to wait. DNS propagation could take up to 72 hours – though it is frequently less.Go to http://dnsstuff.com In the top right is the DNS Lookup box – enter your domain name. If it says our nameservers, you can proceed here. If it does not you need to wait some more until it does.In your blog click Settings > Domains. Put your domain name in the box, click ‘Add domain to blog’.

Your domain should then appear as a choice below that button. Next to the domain name it will say “Put blog here“. Click that.

The bolded part I show above is the part that, unless you read VERY carefully, you can get wrong. So what I had done before is – I had redirected my domain to http://hummingbird604.wordpress.com. But last night, while I was playing with WordPress.com, I found that I should have put my domain there (see graph below). VOILA! I now have clean URLs and the domain mapping works, so even if you use my WordPress.com URL, it still shows as hummingbird604.com.

I’m very proud that, while I received external assistance, I did all of this all by myself (look Ma, no hands!). As I said, I prefer to do my own stunts

Bar review – Flux Bistro

Raul — Fri, 02 May 2008 00:58:23 +0000

Slightly hidden in the main gateway of Gastown (162 Water), Flux Bistro is a perfect example of where I’d definitely go for drinks (haven’t managed to eat dinner yet there, but Rebecca did, and she seemed to enjoy her salmon!). After Tazzu’s very successful WordCamp, we went for a round of drinks at Flux Bistro, generously sponsored by Automattic (creators of WordPress). Big shout-out and high-fives to Automattic!

So, what is Flux Bistro, you ask?

flux bistro is all about change, while remaining true to the best of the past. chef/owner vincent wong has developed a creative west coast menu rooted in classic cooking techniques, a perfect foundation for the best in global cuisine. A friendly team of knowledgeable servers offer guests a relaxed, enjoyable dining experience.

the restaurant’s décor deftly encompasses the history of gastown and the evolving nature of a diverse vancouver. warm brick and original beams reflect the building’s heritage status while the dynamic lighting design, sleek bar and splashes of red throughout, mirror the energy of this young coastal city.[Flux Bistro's About Page]

Photo credit: Rebecca (Miss604) on Flickr.

I found Flux’s menu fairly good, and not unreasonably priced (particularly for this part of town – Gastown tends to be a bit on the pricey side). But what really attracted me to Flux Bistro in the sense that I will most definitely come back for either dinner or just drinks with friends was the drinks menu. Even though I consumed local (and organic!) beer, I found their cocktails menu varied and solid.

Duane seemed to enjoy his burgers, so if he drops by here, perhaps he could leave a comment and indicate whether he liked them. They seemed fairly good burgers! As for the drinks, I thoroughly enjoyed mine, and the folks from WordCamp seemed to have had a great time. Kudos to Rastin and Jenny for choosing Flux Bistro, it gave me a chance to have yet another bar review on my blog!

Photo credit: Ianiv and Arieanna on Flickr.

Tazzu’s WordCamp 2008 Vancouver – A total success

Raul — Thu, 01 May 2008 07:03:48 +0000

First of all, kudos to the Tazzu creators, Rastin, Jenny and Ash (and Teresa) for a phenomenal first WordCamp Vancouver.

Secondly, a big shout out and standing ovation to Rebecca (aka Miss604) for live-blogging (I would’ve live-blogged your segment, just so that you know, hehehe). I’ve inserted my notes on her talk here, she’ll update her liveblog with this quick summary of Rebecca’s presentation. I wouldn’t want to go into a full recap of the evening, and instead would just like to point out my overall assessment of the WordCamp.

Summary of Rebecca’s presentation: INSERTING PHOTOS INTO WORDPRESS.

Rebecca’s presentation (Photo credit: Raul on Flickr)
Two main elements of Rebecca’s presentation.

First, the insertion of photos into WordPress, when it is self-hosted (e.g. WordPress.org). There is a very neat plug-in from TanTan Noodles (linked here) that allows you to insert photos into your WordPress post. The advantage of using PhotoAlbum is that you can use it in a synchronous mode with WP-AddQuickTags (also linked here). If you use them both simultaneously, you can quickly select from your Flickr account any photo you want to insert and using the QuickTags, you can easily insert the caption AND link back to Flickr.

However, for those of us who aren’t hosting our own blogs, Rebecca did also a demo of how to insert photos into Flickr. You can see a teaser of the screencast here on her Blip.tv stream and also the full screencast that she did as a response of one of my requests on how to insert the photos.

Rebecca also showed the Flickr RSS feed that showcases a certain number of your recent photos on the sidebar (or as a widget). I am not 100% sure if this is just WordPress.org or my WordPress.com version can also do it, haven’t tried it yet.

Photo credit: Retrocactus on Flickr.

[As you can see, I inserted the photo location using the IMG button, and then I linked back to John Biehler's photograph, using exactly the method described by Rebecca]

Finally, Rebecca pointed out to the concept of Creative Commons and indicated several suggestions on how to credit (and/or ask the photographers). This is a pretty important pet-peeve of mine, as I am the son of two lawyers (one of them who actually has a very strong understanding of intellectual property law), so I seriously dislike when people don’t link back to a certain Flickr photo, and don’t provide attribution.

Rebecca’s photos (like mine) are licensed under Creative Commons as Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike (which means, if you want to use one of my Flickr photos, you should link back to me, DON’T download the photo AND DON’T insert it in your server, instead copy the photo location AND link back to it using the codes for link). In the screencasts (and while she did her presentation) Rebecca showed how to find the photo location AND how to link back using the Link button on WordPress.

This part of the WordCamp was very lively because everyone wanted to ask questions related to copyright AND photo attribution. Kudos to Rebecca for opening up the discussion, and to everyone who presented. All of you guys did a WONDERFUL job.

WHY WAS IT A SUCCESS?

Some of the crowd at The Network Hub. (Photo credit: Raul on Flickr)

I attribute it to several factors:

a). Social media interconnectedness – Even though I’m not on Facebook, I *am* on Twitter (@hummingbird604). Therefore, I knew about WordPress Camp Vancouver almost the day that it was conceived as an idea. Facebook helped spread the word, and many other bloggers took it upon themselves to invite more people and/or just disseminate information related to WordCamp 2008.

b). Superb organization skills – I got to The Network Hub (on which I’m writing a featurette, upcoming later tomorrow) very early, close to 4.30pm. Rastin, Jenny, Ash, Teresa and the folks at The Network Hub were already setting up, and fixing things, organizing the audiovisual and getting the coffee and donuts. They were SO synchronized it was almost unbelievable. If I were to hire these folks to organize an event for me, I’d do it in a second. They were right on the money, seriously.

c). Excellent location – Again, I’ll be writing about The Network Hub later, but even though the space was reduced for >80 people who actually ended up showing up, it *is* an amazing concept. People work at The Network Hub because it provides a one-stop-shop for everything they need. I took a few photographs of the offices and open spaces and I was positively impressed. Besides, it’s so close to so many transit routes AND Skytrain.

d). Outstanding list of speakers – Everyone who spoke knew their topic inside-out. It was clear that they were very prepared. Nobody could find any gaps in the presenters’ slide shows. The most important thing – they kept a really strict time-keeping register. And the presenters didn’t go over their time limit. That was, simply outstanding. I’ve been to so many academic conferences and *this* kind of excellent time-keeping, free-flowing conference doesn’t happen often.

e). Phenomenal bunch of attendees – Everyone who went there was hungry for knowledge. The questions were very good (even though a couple were slightly offensive, in my own personal view) and I would say that the interactions between presenters and listeners were very pleasant.

f). Great outline of presenters’ design – The break in the middle of the presentations was excellent. Gave an opportunity for people to socialize, get to know each other and exchange ideas and tips, seek clarification, etc.

g). Outstanding choice of bar for afterwards drinks - Flux is *the* bar where we should all go and get a drink. Spacious, nice staff, great drinks. I think this was excellent. And thanks to Automattic for sponsoring the one round of drinks afterwards! UPDATE – Andy (who works for Automattic) was there too, socializing and handing out WordPress stickers.

h). Unparalleled list of sponsors, both financial, location, food and media sponsors. I don’t have the whole list with me, but I could recognize Phillip Jeffrey, Lisa Bettany and of course, Rebecca Bollwitt. I was also a media sponsor (last minute kinda thing, but hey here is my analysis of the evening!). Some outstanding photographers, including Amanda Abrams and Ianiv (from Ianiv and Arieanna). And of course, it was great to see Stephen Rees, John Biehler, Erika Rathje, and a lot whom I probably will miss!

WHAT WOULD I DO DIFFERENT NEXT TIME

As I told Rastin, this is an excellent precursor to what can be the next series of Vancouver WordCamp’s. These are my suggestions for the next WordCamp (or series thereof).

1). Divide in tiers – There are the recreational bloggers, the self-hosted WordPress.org and the non-self-hosted WordPress.com kind of users. It was hard for some of us who are not coders to keep our eyes on some of the presentations. For the people who code, it was kind of difficult to remain focused when talks were discussing basics.

2). Charge, even if it is a nominal amount - Hello? This was a three-hour, totally free event where people got coffee, donuts, even a free drink AND lots of good insights from fellow bloggers and developers. Even if there was a minimal cover charge (say $ 3.00) it would help offset some of the costs. I am just saying (if you’ve got anything to say against this, that’s where the comments section comes).

3). Make it a series of events – Maybe one monthly. It would be great. The format is excellent as it leaves time for socialization.

Big shout-outs to everyone who was there, I could attempt and wave hi to everyone whom I saw, but honestly, it’s late, I’m past my degree of consciousness here and I’d like to get some sleep, maybe grab a sandwich. I can comment tomorrow on how nice it was to see everyone, and to meet some of the folks I had just met through their blogs (like Lisa, or Phillip Jeffrey, or Ianiv and Arieanna). But that’ll come tomorrow. For now, I leave you with this. And of course, lots of pretty pictures. Just ’cause.