Life of a Geek Admin

The Daily adventures of a true geek administrator

Life of a Geek Admin - The Daily adventures of a true geek administrator

Category Archives: Wordpress

Blogging with your Android to WordPress

Great news for all you bloggers suffering with apps to post to your blog. WordPress for Android 2.0 has been released and is available from the Android Market.

According to the site.

Dashboard
The Dashboard is the first thing you see when launching the app. It provides one tap access to creating posts, moderating comments, viewing stats, and more.
Screenshot of the new Editor in Version 2.0 of WordPress for Android
Better Editor

Editing
The new formatting toolbar rests above the keyboard and allows for easy rich text editing. You can now add media content wherever you like, and edit the Title, Caption, Placement, and Size of images.

Tablet Ready
Version 2.0 has been optimized for everyday tablet use. When viewing Posts, Pages and Comments on an Android tablet, you will now see a handy scrollable list on the left.

The app is free from the Android market and installs in seconds. If you are finding ways to post from many different devices then this is an app you must try.

Remotely Posting with Windows Live Writer 2011

On an earlier post I mentioned writing about remotely posting to WordPress with a Windows Client. Well, we have arrived and I am glad to tell you there is a great free tool to do just that. Windows Live Writer 2011 is part of the Windows Live Essentials available for download. Windows Live Essentials 2011 can be found at http://explore.live.com/windows-live-essentials?os=other. It includes Messenger, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Windows Live Mesh, Writer, Family Safety, Mail, Messenger Companion, Bing Bar, Outlook Connector Pack, and Microsoft Silverlight.

The system requirements are:

  • Operating system: 32- or 64-bit version of Windows 7, or Windows Vista with Service Pack 2 and the Platform Update for Windows Vista, or Windows Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2008 with Service Pack 2 and the Platform Update for Windows Server 2008.
  • Processor: 1.6 GHz or higher
  • Memory: 1 GB of RAM or higher
  • Resolution: 1024 × 576 minimum
  • Internet connection: Online services require dial-up or high-speed Internet access (provided separately—local or long-distance charges may apply). High-speed Internet access is recommended for some features.
  • Graphics card: Windows Live Movie Maker requires a graphics card that supports DirectX 9 or higher and Shader Model 2 or higher.

Additional requirements

Some Windows Live programs have additional requirements.

  • Windows Live Photo Gallery and Movie Maker require some components of DirectX 9, which might be installed for you if they’re not found on your computer.
  • Windows Live Mesh requires OS X 10.5 or newer to run on a Mac.
  • Windows Live Messenger video chat requires a webcam, a microphone, speakers or a headset, and high-speed Internet access. HD video chat requires a compatible HD webcam and a 2.0 GHz or higher processor. HD webcams may also have additional system requirements.

Installation is a snap. Click on the Download Now button and click Run instead of Save. Once the file is downloaded you will be prompted to choose which programs you want to install, that’s your choice to make. In my case I just selected Writer. Once the installation is completed you will find the shortcut under Windows Live > Windows Live Writer. Click on the link to fire it up and you will be prompted for your Type of site and then credentials to connect to your site. That’s all there is to it. Type up your entry and click publish and your blog entry will post.

There are many options for formatting and inserting media.

WordPress on XAMPP

Recently after installing XAMPP on my system I wanted to start developing WordPress themes. The best way to accomplish this with Dreamweaver CS5 is to have a local install so that editing the files locally was easy. Looking around I found this is really an easy task to accomplish.

First download the latest from WordPress. Once the download is completed unzip the files to C:\xampp\htdocs, this will create a wordpress directory.

Next step is to create an empty database. To accomplish this task open a browser and type http://localhost/phpmyadmin and you will be connected to the phpMyADmin service. In the create database section type wordpress and click create.

wordp1

Exit phpMyAdmin and open Windows Explorer and open C:\xampp\htdocs\wordpress\wp-config-sample.php with a text editor of your choice.  Find the following lines and change the database name to wordpress and your username and password for XAMPP, which by default is root with no password.

// ** MySQL settings – You can get this info from your web host ** //
/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define(‘DB_NAME’, ‘wordpress’);

/** MySQL database username */
define(‘DB_USER’, ‘root’);

/** MySQL database password */
define(‘DB_PASSWORD’, ”);

/** MySQL hostname */
define(‘DB_HOST’, ‘localhost’);

Save the file as wp-config.php.

Open your Internet browser and type in http://localhost/wordpress/wp-admin/install.php and everything from there should run smoothly to complete the installation.

Remotely Posting Blogs WordPress 3.1

Recently I found the need to be able to use a Weblog client to connect to the sites and post content. There are several clients available to handle this task for Linux, MacOSX and Windows. As a matter of fact this post was created using GScribble (Linux).

Installing the Weblog Client and trying to connect immediately will not work. You have to enable “Enable the WordPress, Movable Type, MetaWeblog and Blogger XML-RPC publishing protocols.” in your WordPress Dashboard.

Login to the WordPress Dashboard for your Blog and click Settings -> writing and check “Enable the WordPress, Movable Type, MetaWeblog and Blogger XML-RPC publishing protocols.” Click Save Settings and you are ready to receive posts.

Now you are ready to install a Weblog Client. For a list of whats available goto Weblog Clients Since I am running Fedora 14 I chose GScribble.

To install it just open a terminal and type $ sudo yum -y install gscribble and you are done!
Next step is to open GScribble and set the preferences to connect to the blog. Just enter in Type (WordPress), URL, Username and password, click OK and you will be connected.

The interface is clean and simple and fairly self explainable. The program allows you some level of formatting and ability to add categories. One issue is that it does not support image uploading and embedding in the posts.

 

That’s all for this quick post. Look for future posts on Windows Clients and more advanced information on Weblog clients and WordPress.

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