WPTidBits

How to Display Backslash Character in WordPress

ID Safairis — Wed, 23 May 2012 17:01:30 +0000

By default wordpress post editor is allowing forward slash character to be displayed in wordpress post as we normally use it for displaying links. But how to display backslash character in wordPress post when we require it for expressing directory paths which will only use backslash? Let us see the simplest way how to display backslash character in wordPress post.

The key of displaying characters in wordpress post is in the HTML mode. By changing from visual mode to HTML mode, using standard HTML ASCII codes for characters, we can display backslash easily. In standard HTML ASCII table, backslash character is represented by \ or \

Let say we want to display the text C:\Windows\System32 in wordpress post:

In HTML mode view, type the text as C:\Windows\System32

Do not change from HTML mode to visual mode after applying this ASCII code. Publish it immediately. Otherwise the code will be displayed as in C: \Windows\System32 in wordpress post.

Another way is to use syntax highlighter plugin for wordpress.

Weekly Inspiration and Web Design Resource no.18 and 19

ID Safairis — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:43:18 +0000

Continuation from previous weeks, this week we should be featuring another small list of useful links and web design resource that we found across the web and somewhat from our own posts. From it we hope they can be of inspirational and reference for designers, web developers and newbies. Herewith we revised what happened in these last two weeks.

Articles from WPTidBits

8 Simple Tips to Reduce and Optimize Website Loading Time

Augmented Reality Google Glass Project is All Hype?

Enable PHP LDAP Module in XAMPP

IT can now manage RIM, iOS and Android from BlackBerry Mobile Fusion

40 Most Inspiring CSS3 Animation Tutorials and Demos

Interesting Web Design Resource

Create CSS 3D Transform Card Flip Gallery

Underwater Hotel in Dubai

50 Best Night Shots from Canon 7D

CARBURE

Converge SE 2012

8 Simple Tips to Reduce and Optimize Website Loading Time

ID Safairis — Tue, 22 May 2012 11:36:16 +0000

Waiting is always irritating and everyone hates to wait. This is also true for websites and blogs, if your website takes too much time to load then it starts losing its visitors and customers. As a website owner it should be your aim to not only make your website user friendly but also make it server friendly. We personally suggest you to focus on reducing loading time of your website. If your website loads fast then it will also be loved by those who have slower internet connections and Search engine algorithms also consider your site’s load time. Let’s have a look on how we can reduce and optimize website loading time.

Choose good web hosting

Known to all, better service may come at a higher price. Faster web hosting may not come cheap. Actually there are many good web hosting available. Some are reasonable cheap and fast too. We are using Siteground web hosting which we find best for us right now.

Clean and Organize Codes

Codes include php code, css, javascript, HTML and etc. Remove unnecessary codes, empty lines and comments ( you can do this easily by using minify and compress service available online)
No broken links. Broken links will have negative effect on loading times such as 404 error and etc.
Reduce or prevent use of redirection. Redirection made the browser load new url every time redirection happens.
Use backslash at the end of link. Backslash reduces the server’s website identification and location time. It helps server to locate the target immediately.
Use CSS shorthand: eg:


h1 { color: Blue; font-style: oblique; font-weight: bold; }
p { color: black; font-style: oblique; font-weight: bold;}
We can optimize this rule into a single line like this:
h1, p { color: black; font-style: oblique; font-weight: bold; }

Organized references. Put stylesheet references at the top so that it loads first, and other scripts at the bottom so that it loads later. CSS stylesheet loads faster than scripts.

Focus more on Content Area

More text, less images. More text will load the page faster as text are more readable than images.
Avoid the use of video and audio. Video and audio is known having bigger size. The bigger the size, the slower it loads.
Prefer text links over buttons (if require, don’t use image button, use CSS button). It loads faster.
You can use jQuery Lazy Loading if require lots of images to load. It will load images only on sections where you view the web.

Optimize Images

Define height and width.
Compress images size while still retaining the original quality.
Use the right format where PNG and GIF for logo, Jpeg for content images.
Avoid scaling down on images in html. Scale the image itself using image editor.
Use CSS sprites with combined images.

Optimize Files

Minify and compress files such as javascripts, videos, audios, etc. If your videos and flash files are of lesser size then they will also take less bandwidth.

Minimize http requests

Use CSS sprites on images. CSS sprites will call only single request while serving many images in one single image file.
Less external request (iframes and external files). Eg: Facebook, twitter follows etc.
Combines styles, scripts into less files. Eg; Two stylesheets can combine into single stylesheet. Thus reducing http request.

Cache Web Pages

When you cache your page, it saves a static version of it to be presented to the user browser instead of recreating it every time it’s requested. Loads slow only first time and faster next.
For WordPress, check out WP Super Cache and W3 Total Cache. Drupal core has native caching.

Use CDN

This totally can reduce page loading time by serving the web files from various locations, thus increase user interaction. Web files will be served from the nearest location node to visitors.
We are using the combination of WordPress W3 Total Cache and MaxCDN.

Augmented Reality Google Glass Project is All Hype?

ID Safairis — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:32:51 +0000

Have you ever imagined looking all around through your visual field with few data superimposed and virtual captions that enhance the scan of your eyes? Just by few gestures and voice controls you can interact with what you see, update your social status, find your way through maps, make voice and video calls, and lot of other things that we can imagine. Follow us to see more what this is about.

Recently, started on April 2012, Google has started testing a futuristic product called Project Glass. It is a research and development program by Google to prototype and builds an augmented reality head-mounted display (or HMD). The New York Times reported that the glasses would be available to the public for “around the cost of current smartphones” – $250 to $600 – by the end of 2012, but other reports has stated that the glasses are not expected to be available for purchase soon. Google has patented the design of Project Glass, the augmented reality (AR) spectacles. The intended purpose of Project Glass products would be the hands free displaying of information currently available to most smartphone users, and allowing for interaction with the Internet via natural language voice commands, in a manner similar to the iPhone application Siri. The software powering the glasses will be Google’s Android operating system. (Wikipedia)

The same mission also will be leading towards the use of Augmented Reality in contact lens. The same technical lead of Project Glass, Mr. Parviz, who is also an associate professor at the University of Washington, specializes in bionanotechnology, which is the fusion of tiny technologies and biology. He most recently built a tiny contact lens that has embedded electronics and can display pixels to a person’s eye.

Image: Raygun Studio

Whether these two projects can be a reality or not let’s just wait and see. Before that, enjoy this promo video of “Augmented Reality Goodle Glass – Project Glass: One day..” and tell us what you think.

Check out our previous post on Augmented (Hyper) Reality.

Enable PHP LDAP Module in XAMPP

ID Safairis — Sun, 20 May 2012 18:33:15 +0000

As in our experience, on a very rare situation, we were required to use Windows Active Directory or OpenLdap as our user database in WordPress. We need to enable php ldap module in XAMPP. By default this php ldap module is not enable in XAMPP as most web servers are not using ldap as their database or directory. Follow these simple steps to enable this module.

To enable php ldap module in XAMPP, find the following files and copy them.

From C:\xampp\php copy the following files to C:\Windows\system.

libeay32.dll
libsasl.dll
ssleay32.dll

Find and edit C:\xampp\php\php.ini and uncomment “extension=php_ldap.dll” around line 965.

Restart XAMPP (restart Apache service) and you should now have access to the PHP LDAP functions.

You can check ldap functions enabled in ldap by clicking phpinfo() in http://localhost/xampp/.

Done!

Check out our previous post on XAMPP:

Run Web Server on Your Computer Using XAMPP

Install WordPress Locally on Your Computer Using XAMPP

Try this and enjoy!

IT can now manage RIM, iOS and Android from BlackBerry Mobile Fusion

Alysa Jeff — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:15:09 +0000

On Tuesday Research in Motion unveiled its IT solution by the name of BlackBerry Fusion which is now available for use publicly. Through this new launch of Mobile Fusion, RIM aims to assist business IT administrators and make working with a number of smart devices easier. With BlackBerry Mobile Fusion the IT specialists will now be capable of managing a large variety of smartphone’s and tablets from one single central software. This new system is said to be capable of handling BlackBerry Smartphone’s as well as Android and iOS smart devices. Though this is not the first launch of the software and this offer was also seen back in November. Since that time though some minor alteration and changes to the package and deal over all have been integrated. Today the BlackBerry Fusion is available as a free download however this is not considering the cost of the client access licenses. Licenses to go with the software will start from $99 for each user or alternatively can be paid at $4 monthly though the billing for the package is done annually. As it is a fresh software from RIM and the first of its kind, some may not be ready to invest the money all at once, such users may choose to opt for the free trial which lasts sixty days.

Managing a variety of devices under one roof can be quite a hassle at both, the business or government level regardless of the magnitude. With the BlackBerry Mobile Fusion software all of this clutter can now be cleared up and put into a simple solution. Through this platform taking care of a variety of devices won’t be a problem and will be much easier in terms of both cost effectiveness and resource management. This would also translate into the fact that businesses or governments would no longer have to look for a security solution which is common in all the platforms. By employing the BlackBerry Fusion managing BlackBerry, Android and iOS devices can be done more personally with each device, managing them all individually from a unified software. RIM went on to mention the new functionality that this software with provide users. The BlackBerry Mobile Fusion makes use of the Blackberry Enterprise Server 5.0.3 for more complex and advanced IT management and will also be providing a single outbound security connection. It will also introduce the BlackBerry Balance technology which in itself will be a big leap forward. Not to mention over-the-air capability for software and application installation on all of BlackBerry’s smartphone’s. This list of compatible BlackBerry devices is inclusive of the upcoming BlackBerry 10 devices together with the PlayBook tablets.

- image courtesy of fonearena

The BlackBerry Balance software is formulated specifically to make a single BlackBerry device useful for both work and personal use without the danger or threat of compromising any sensitive corporate data. This is an interesting feat with is now achievable through BlackBerry Balance software and this simultaneous functionality is achieved by a rather simple solution. By simply having the users log in to a corporate network via person specific log in credentials, just as they would for any other account, corporate information can be segregated and once logged in they can make use of the corporate network and or resources.

This new release has been brought forward under the management of the new CEO Thorsten Heins. After Jim Balsillie left RIM to take a different route the firm did mention that it would be now focusing on the enterprise customer base more so than individual users, the BlackBerry Balance is a result of this change.

40 Most Inspiring CSS3 Animation Tutorials and Demos

ID Safairis — Thu, 17 May 2012 08:36:44 +0000

CSS3 is already awesome itself. Not only used for most current web styling standards, it also able to do something beyond imagination combined with some other standards like HTML5 and jQuery. While much awaiting CSS4 is already announced and starting, let see what CSS3 have for us. Herewith we present you a compilation of 40 most inspiring CSS3 animation tutorials and demos for your reference.

Some of the CSS3 animation effects may not be visible in Firefox. But worry not, you can have Safari and Chrome as useful alternatives. Enjoy!

3D animation using pure CSS3

Turning Coke Can (Control With Scrollbar)

3D Meninas

Multiple 3D Cubes (Slide In/Out)

7 Javascript-effect Alternatives Using CSS3

CSS3 Accordion

Analogue Clock

Andrew Hoyer Experiments

Animated Buttons

Animated Polaroid Gallery

Animated Pricing Column

Animated Rocket

Another CSS3 Accordion

Another Fisheye

Another Image Gallery

AT-AT Walker (No Flash or Javascript)

Awesome Overlays with CSS3

BATTLEFIELD CSS3

Big Deal

Bokeh effects with CSS3 and jQuery

CSS3 Clock With jQuery

Colorful Clock

Colourful rating system with CSS3

Creative CSS3 Animation Menus

Animated 3D Helix

CSS3 animations and their jQuery equivalents

CSS3 Man

CSS Dock

3D Cube That Rotates Using Arrow Keys

Lightbox Gallery (Draggable)

Dribbble Ball Bouncing

Duff Roll

Dynamic Presentation Without Flash

Dynamic PNG shadow position & opacity

Dynamic Stacking Cards

Elastic Thumbnail Menu

The Expressive Web

Falling Leaves

Frame-by-Frame Animation (Hover to Play)

Graph Animation

Later we will bring you another 43 Most Inspiring CSS3 Animation Tutorials and Demos.

Weekly Inspiration and Web Design Resource no.15, no.16 and 17

ID Safairis — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:29:36 +0000

Continuation from previous weeks, this week we should be featuring another small list of useful resources and web design that we found across the web and somewhat from our own posts. From it we hope they can be of inspirational and reference for designers, web developers and newbies. Herewith we revised what happened in these last three weeks.

Articles from WPTidBits

47 of the Best Dark and Black Free WordPress Themes

Making Money With Squidoo

Change WordPress Excerpt Length Depending of the Category

6 Free Tools To Help Increase Website Traffic

Becoming a Better Expression Engine Developer

Interesting Web Designs & Resource

Code a Fantastic Animated Circular Thumbnail Gallery With CSS

Real Shadow

TouchTouch – A Touch Optimized Gallery Plugin

How to Build an Accordion Image Gallery with only CSS

G’nosh

Yoyo Design

Monthly Roundup of April 2012

ID Safairis — Mon, 07 May 2012 05:22:00 +0000

Started from this year we are featuring a new type of post which is Weekly Inspiration and Web Design Resource that can be of inspirational and reference for designers, web developers and newbies like us. In addition to that also we are presenting roundup of every month just to give a list of what we have posted during the whole period. Now let see what we have in this Monthly Roundup of April 2012.

47 of the Best Dark and Black Free WordPress Themes

Making Money With Squidoo

Change WordPress Excerpt Length Depending of the Category

6 Free Tools To Help Increase Website Traffic

Becoming a Better Expression Engine Developer

Remove Hyperlink from Single Post Title

Should I Fix My Computer On My Own?

Display post excerpts on WordPress Pages

7 Best Website Content Management Systems

Five Sure-fire Ways to Defeat Your Competitors in Flash Website Design Services

Landing Page with Call to Action

Below are some of the snapshots from posts in April 2012

47 of the Best Dark and Black Free WordPress Themes

ID Safairis — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:18:05 +0000

Portfolio site works well with dark and black colored themes. Using a dark WordPress theme can be very effective as they may look to stand out more and at the same time give the site an elegant and sophisticated look. Only somehow we have to be very careful with readability issues with dark themes and make sure the text color selected is suitable with backgrounds. Anyway, finding free WordPress theme is a time-taking job as you have to devote time to find the best themes. Check out this awesome list 47 of the best dark and black free WordPress themes we gathered only for your use. Plus if they’re completely free, you have nothing to lose.