Category Archives: Blogging Tools

8 Must Have Android Social Media Apps

Social Media Apps for AndroidWorking as a social media manager full-time, I take it upon myself to make sure I’m updated on the latest news and information related to social media, the internet and the world so I can work on strategies and share them with my team. This may prove to be a daunting task with the vast amount of resources we have. Thankfully, there are various Android social media apps for my phone that help me consume contents more efficiently.

Aside from reading up on social media articles, I also make sure that I share articles I find really useful through my various social media accounts. Hopefully, this list will help you.

 

Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+ and LinkedIn

Of course, you shouldn’t be without these apps developed by the various social media sites themselves. The features you use and love on the Web versions are most likely made available on their mobile apps as well since, well, mobile is the future.

Twitter and Facebook apps for Android

I use my Pinterest app for Android for pinning, liking or even organizing my Pinboards. I use Facebook and Twitter for posting images I find amusing that I’d like to share with my network. I use Instagram for almost exactly the same reason.

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Changes in WordPress 3.4 : Upgrade Now!

I just upgraded my blogs to the new version of WordPress, and I’ve already observed and tinkered with a few of the improvements and additional features of WordPress 3.4 Green‘. I highly recommend you upgrade now, BUT make sure you’ve made a backup of your blog and database first.

Wordpress 3.4 Green

Here are some of the new features of WordPress 3.4 and my feedback:

 

Live Inactive Theme Preview

If you’re planning on switching to a new theme, it’s now easier with WordPress 3.4. It now lets you preview and edit installed themes before you even activate them.

Live Preview of inactive themes

This way, you can design or make changes in the background without visitors seeing any of it. It’s like using plugins like Theme Test Drive.

Live Theme Preview on WordPress 3.4

You can change the main colors, header, background image and basic layout right on the Live Theme Preview page.

The header’s dimensions can also be adjusted depending on your theme. Plus, you can also choose from the default headers that your theme came with or images you already have in your media library.

Change header image on Live Theme Preview page

Every change you make will automatically be applied on the preview on the right. However, in my observation, there’s a slight delay with the changes being applied to the preview, so be patient.

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Free ShoutMix is Gone : Now What?

I was checking and updating my WordPress blogs earlier when I saw this message that ShoutMix free chat box is “currently” unavailable.

ShoutMix free plan is currently unavailable

I clicked on the link and I was directed to this page where Snecx Tan, the owner and creator of the chat box service ShoutMix, shared, through an open letter, that they can no longer continue the free service because it is no longer sustainable.

They said they’ve tried everything and wouldn’t want to impose popup ads like their competitors (they could only mean CBox, right? 😀 ). This was actually the main reason why I switched from cBox to ShoutMix – no annoying popup ads.

Most of the bloggers I know have a chat box on their sidebars where they get to quickly respond to their blogs’ visitors. I find it a convenient way for those who are not familiar with the commenting system to send me messages (though I would prefer they use the contact page since there’s a form they can use and my email address is also posted there).

Now, upon searching for an alternative for ShoutMix, the closest I got was cBox. I’m not willing to shell out $0.99 per month for a chat box I don’t really use as often as my email. But, if you’re one of those who use it a lot, then I recommend you upgrade.

 

Alternative Chat Box Plugin for WordPress Users

For WordPress users like me, there’s actually a cool plugin you can setup on your sidebar and it’ll be your very own chatbox. It uses your commenting system, but it will be setup as a sidebar widget. It’s WP Wall.

I used it on a client’s site. I liked the fact that I can completely change how it looks. I implemented it as a message wall and it’s now displayed on the main contents part of one of the pages on their site instead of the sidebar. Here’s how it looks like:

WP Wall implemented on the main contents section of a page

Oh, how I love WordPress! 🙂

You can fully customize CSS file wp-wall.css to your liking. Plus, it’s updated real-time, meaning you don’t have to refresh the page to see the new messages. You can see IP address of the poster, the time they posted the comment on your dashboard so you can easily moderate them too. Cool, eh? 🙂 These options were for premium or pro plans on ShoutMix so it’s great that they’re available for free from WP Wall.

I’ll be setting this up on my other blogs (Update: I just implemented this at the footer section of this blog). I wish I can find something like this on my Blogger blog.

Found any alternative for ShoutMix you’d like to share with me? Feel free to leave the links in the comments section. 🙂

ShoutMix should remove the misleading message that the free plan is “currently unavailable” since they’re no longer offering it for free. It should read “free plan is no longer offered”.

How to Setup Windows Live Writer

I hope my previous post about Windows Live Writer has convinced you to switch to this offline blog post editor. It’s my MOST important tool in blogging and has been truly helpful in making me want to write more.

Windows Live Writer

Since I’ve been vocal about how much I love WLW, people have asked me to write a guide on how to set it up. I’ve put that off long enough so here’s a tutorial on how to setup Windows Live Writer for your blogging needs. This is part 2 of my series of posts on WLW, by the way. Stay tuned for the rest. 🙂

Requirements:

  • WLW, obviously, only works for Windows operating systems (XP, 7 and Vista).
  • A WordPress or Blogger blog. At least this tutorial is a guide for both platforms.
  • An internet connection is needed for the initial setup. After which, you can start writing offline. 🙂
  • Since WLW isn’t really a memory-hogging program, you don’t need a kick-ass computer to install and use it. 🙂
  • If you are a WordPress user, make sure you have enabled XML-RPC publishing in your settings. Once logged in on your WordPress blog, go to Settings –> Writing –> Scroll down to Remote Publishing and then check “Enable the WordPress, Movable Type, MetaWeblog and Blogger XML-RPC publishing protocols.” as shown below:

Settings on WordPress blogs

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Below are the download links again for Windows Live Writer.

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Windows Live Writer : Why You Should Switch

Blogger's post editor - too limited

I started my personal blog Just Another Pixel in 2008. Back then, I was only using Blogger’s post editor. Though I’ve gotten used to the whole interface, it was just too limited and small for me to compose my blog posts in. Thank goodness I found a better solution – Windows Live Writer (WLW). I never looked back.

Windows Live Writer

If you haven’t heard of Windows Live Writer yet, it is an offline / desktop blog post editor developed by Microsoft Corp.. It’s user-friendly and can handle almost everything a blogger can throw at it. If you’re not yet using this, I’m hoping my series of posts about this amazing blog post editor will convince you. 🙂

 

KEY FEATURES

Windows Live Writer can be used to compose and edit blog posts for Windows Live Spaces, SharePoint, Blogger, WordPress, Typepad, LiveJournal, Telligent Community, PBlogs.gr, JournalHome, the MetaWeblog API, the Movable Type API, Blogengine, Squarespace and those that support RSD (Really Simple Discoverability)*.

I use it for all my WordPress and Blogger blogs. And, to be quite honest, Windows Live Writer has made me want to blog more because of all its features that makes it quick and easy to compose a post and publish it to your blog/s.

Here are the key features of Windows Live Writer:

Blog Theme Integration

When you add your blog account, it will import the theme you’re currently using. This makes it look like you’re writing your post live directly on your blog so you’d already have a preview of pretty much how it’ll look like when published. Here’s a screenshot of a blog post I was writing for Certified Foodies.

A sample blog post composed in Windows Live Writer

Though the header is not positioned properly, you can see that the colors of our post background, the font, and almost all the elements of our blog theme are already there.

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