Archive for June, 2010

I’m often asked about a good beginner’s book for WordPress. There are so many good books that offer good information at so many levels that it is hard to pick just one. If you are just starting out, however, and want a good overview then Lisa Sabin-Wilson’s WordPress For Dummies is a good choice.

Generally I just don’t like the For Dummies series of books for the implicit put-down the title conveys but, getting past that, this book is a comprehensive guide to getting started with, and using, WordPress. It is well written and easy to understand.

The author is thoroughly versed in her subject and presents practical advice in an easy-to-follow manner making this book an excellent step-by-step guide to WordPress. It also offers a selection of places you can go to find additional resources.

Topics covered include plug-ins (extensions to the basic WordPress system), hosting your own stand-alone system, themes (both selection and development) and migrating your blog from an existing site.

You won’t go wrong with this book.

Free Blogs There are a number of online blogging sites — TypePad, Blogger, WordPress, LiveJournal — which are not only easy to use but they are FREE. That seems to make them a great choice for blogging and all the good things a blog can do for your online presence. This may be true for the beginner but, as soon as you move even slightly beyond the level of novice, you will find many things lacking, not the least of which is being able to do everything you want with your blog.

If you want to do a little more with your site than just blog, perhaps offer items for sale, host banners or pay per click advertising, or any of a number of typical revenue generating activities, then you will quickly discover that you have pushed beyond the limits of either the functions or the rules of your host site, or perhaps both. If you are already blogging you’ll want to move up to a self-hosted or commercial blog. If you haven’t started yet you really should consider where you will ultimately like to take your blog and, therefore, where you really should begin.

Managed Blog Sites Both the single stand-alone and the multi-user installations of WordPress allow you to create powerful multi-page websites with integrated blogging support. The new WordPress extends well beyond blogging, offering the site owner all the features of custom e-commerce websites and then some.

Whether you install and manage a WordPress installation yourself, or hire someone like me to do it for you, having your own website with integrated blog allows you to control what you do, for both personal and commercial use.

A multi-user installation (WPMU) allows you to manage multiple independent blogs from the same control panel or sub-let blogs to others, passing along independent control of each blog to it’s respective user while still maintaining over all master control.

WordPress Themes Often called skins on other packages, WordPress themes allow for an easy way to change the look of your website. Free themes abound and can be great choices, though there is a very good chance you will run into many others using the same one you choose. Commercial themes will have a more limited distribution though some are sold many times. Custom themes are also available providing a unique image and identity for your site.

Be sure you check out your theme choice carefully as not all themes are suitable for all purposes. Some are designed just for single-page blogging sites. Some have limited support for multiple pages or other add-on features that you may want now or in the future. Some will no longer be functional on current WordPress releases.

I can assist you in choosing the right theme (free or commercial) for your WordPress site, I can modify a theme that doesn’t otherwise support the feature(s) you need, or I can create a custom theme specifically suited to your needs and plans for the future. I can also edit or redesign an existing theme to suit your business.

Contact me to discuss your needs. My rates are very affordable. Discussing your needs, and the solutions I can offer, is always free.

Dufferin County’s Premier Bulletin Board System

AMBASSADOR BOARD

A Wildcat! BBS

For six years AMBASSADOR BOARD was Dufferin County’s premier BBS — and the longest running 24 hour board, too! But sadly, in January of 1996, AMBASSADOR BOARD was closed permanently, primarily due to financial and time-contraint considerations.

In it’s hey day it sported five local lines, extended area lines including Flesherton, Dundalk, Feversham, Grand Valley, Orangeville, Caledon, Caledon East, Palgrave, Bolton, Castlemore, Victoria, Brampton, Malton, Woodbridge and the entire 416-metro Toronto dialing area — not bad for a tiny BBS in the little town of Shelburne, Ontario, Canada.

The ‘bass grew to a regular user base of over 1000 and offered over 200 doors (most registered!), over 8000 files on-line (HD) as well as 52 CDs serviced via ROMDOOR database and two CD drives. Puny by today’s standards for even the smallest ISP, but considering this was a time when hard drives cost more than a dollar per megabyte and single speed CD drives were over $400 a pop, it wasn’t too shabby.

Local mail was augmented by echo mail from NANet, WildNET, MSI SupportNET as well as UseNET NewsGroups and Internet e-mail via UUCP using Mustang Software’s powerful wcGATE suite. A satellite feed via Planet Connect guaranteed fresh files and up-to-date news feeds daily.

There were no upload:download ratios, file limits or post:call ratios. Users were free to use their time as they saw fit. For some strange reason the board was never beset by file-base plunderers nor were message conferences bereft of mail. It seems that if you treat callers like human beings they will participate openly and often! The ‘bass set the standard of excellence for others to follow. And many did. Many bulletin boards grew up in the area as would-be SysOps who had cut there BBS teeth at the ‘bass foraged out into new territory and created such virtual worlds as Megabyte, Cat!acombs, Hotel California, AOU, and others. Several of these boards continued to operate successfully for several months after the ‘bass was closed. The last one, Cat!acombs, closed it’s electronic doors for the last time in October of 1999.

AMBASSADOR BOARD was a fun place to visit and according to most callers the best BBS they had found. Calls came from as far away as Madrid, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Dalas, Miami, Melbourne and Igloolik! Many regular users were with us for the entire six years.

Over the years five Co-SysOps shared with Steve in the running of the ‘bass. A special thanks to Ed Howard, Bill Pooley, Don Cortell, Rob Brown and Paul Curtis. Callers and SysOps both will miss the ‘bass!

Maybe someday there will be an AMBASSADOR II…