7 Web Tools to Help You Cross-Browser Test Your WordPress Theme |
- 7 Web Tools to Help You Cross-Browser Test Your WordPress Theme
- WordPress Plugins: The 24 I Use On My Blog
- I Got 99 Problems but a Blog Infected With Malware Ain’t One
- Facebook for WordPress: New Official Plugin Makes WordPress Sites Social
- How to Add a Beautiful Flipboard to Your WordPress Site
- United Nations Considers Global Internet Tax, Targets U.S. Websites
- White Label WordPress: Ultimate Branding Gives You Complete Control
| 7 Web Tools to Help You Cross-Browser Test Your WordPress Theme Posted: 13 Jun 2012 12:21 PM PDT Testing your WordPress theme across different browsers can be a daunting task. You may have the latest versions of most of the most-used browsers on your computer, however it is worth testing previous versions too. Traditionally you would have to use a different installation of an operating system on a virtual machine or another computer in order to test; these were inconvenient methods. There are now other methods to test different browsers effortlessly. Web-based SolutionsIn recent years there have been web-based services set up to let developers and designers do cross-browser testing quickly and efficiently. Some of these services are effectively screenshots of your website across different browsers, however some others work like virtual machines. These services are generally free, however some will offer a paid membership which will guarantee you a quicker and better service. Below are some of the free services. Adobe Browserlab (Free)Browserlab Browserlab is a free service provided by Adobe that allows users to live-test their website on various modern and old browsers and across Windows and Mac OS. Browserlab works like a virtual machine. A split-screen mode is available so that users can compare their website on different browsers. The list of available browsers are however limited only to the latest version of Chrome, Firefox (on both Windows and Mac OS), Safari, and the four latest versions of Internet Explorer. On average it took around 20 seconds to load the WPMU.org homepage. Browsershots (Free & paid)Screenshot Result Browsershots takes screenshots of your website and allows you to download medium-sized images of the results. The results, however, only show the top portion of the website depending on the preset resolution size of the browser. The list of available browsers is enormous (164 versions of browsers across three operating systems) and even includes the little-used and little-known ones like Avant and Flock. Browser Choice Browsershots provides both a free and paid service, however the free service is quite slow and there's a limit on how many screenshots you can request in a day. The paid version is $29.95 or €23.95 per month and is much quicker, you will be able to get 30 to 50 screenshots in two to five minutes. Requesting screenshots from the four latest IE browsers took 15 minutes on average. Browserling (Free and paid)Browserling Browserling allows users to live-test old and recent versions of the five most-used browsers (IE, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera) however you can only view one browser at a time. It works like Browserlab, however you are restricted to one virtual machine per session. Users will also be able to change browser resolution. Unregistered users will be able to view their website for a maximum of three minutes, after that the user will have to refresh the session. Registered users will be able to view their website for a maximum of five minutes. Their paid plans range from $20 per month to $250 per month depending on the usage required. IE6, IE7 and IE8 are restricted to paid users. On average it took around 10 seconds to load the WPMU.org homepage. IETester (Free)IETester IETester is a free IE browser-testing application which runs on Windows XP, Vista and 7. It allows users to test their website across IE5.5 to IE10. IETester is useful because Windows does not allow multiple versions of IE on the same installation of the operating system. Unfortunately IETester does not run on Mac OS, however it can be run through a virtual machine. Saucelabs (Free and paid)Saucelabs Saucelabs is a service that allows users to live-test their website and works like Browserling, however Saucelabs includes additional features such as being able video-record your sessions for debugging. Free accounts include 45 of test minutes per month. Premium version range from $29 to $279 and will give users unlimited test minutes. On average it took around 30 seconds to load the WPMU.org homepage. Browsera (Free and paid)Browsera Browsera renders the user's website and displays them side by side, highlighting the differences found in displaying the website on each browser; it also detects Javascript errors found when rendering the page. Their free account allows 25 tests per month with Firefox 3.6 and 7, and IE7 and IE8, however more browsers can be unlocked by subscribing to their paid service. Their paid service range from $39/14 days to $99/month. On average it took around two minutes to load the WPMU.org homepage. TestiPhone (Free)TestiPhone If your website has a mobile version, you may want to check how it'll look like on the iPhone with TestiPhone. On average it took around 5 seconds to load the WPMU.org homepage. ConclusionThere are many tools out there to help you with cross-browser checking. Check each one of them to see if you would be comfortable with using it continuously as it's important to test your design early; there's nothing worse than working for days on a theme that looks perfect on one browser only to find that it's completely messy on another. Do you use any of the services listed above? If not, let us know how you perform cross-browser checks and which ones you find most useful. Featured Image courtesy of gui.tavares Related posts:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| WordPress Plugins: The 24 I Use On My Blog Posted: 13 Jun 2012 11:00 AM PDT
You may not know that as well as writing for the likes of WPMU and other sites, I have my own blog. Often, when I write up a review for a plugin, I first found it when looking for ways to achieve something with Leaving Work Behind. Keeping the number of plugins I have running on my site to a manageable number is an ongoing battle. I regularly go through the list of what I have installed and try to make an objective decision as to whether or not I really need them all. Having just done this, I thought it would be a nice opportunity to share the plugins I have running on my blog with you. Enjoy! The List
No related posts. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I Got 99 Problems but a Blog Infected With Malware Ain’t One Posted: 13 Jun 2012 09:05 AM PDT “Security warning – Malware detected!” Or as anyone who’s site has ever been attacked will tell you, “Drop everything! You’re about to spend the next week cleaning this script off of your site – and even when you do get it cleaned, it will come back again… and again…” That’s how I looked at it until I invested in Sucuri.net’s services. The Free PluginSucuri offers a free plugin – you can grab it from the WordPress repository. Once installed on your blog, it will allow you to scan for malware and potential issues; give you one-click controls to harden files and access points; and help you determine if you have any “holes” that scammers could find and exploit. If you haven’t been infected by any viruses or attacked with malware, the free plugin is a good option for staying on top of potential issues.
The Paid ServiceIf you’ve been hit by a virus or malware, though, the paid version is worth every penny (IMHO). With a subscription, Sucuri.net will scan your site on regular intervals (you decide… daily, every 6 hours, etc). Not only will they tell you if they find a problem – they’ll fix it for you, within a few hours. Here’s a great example of why this is a worthwhile investment… Last week while I was enjoying 8 rounds of “Kickball Home Run Derby” at my sons’ elementary school Field Day, two of my sites were under attack. All of the attacks were caught by Sucuri.net, who cleaned the sites, closed up the hole the scammers had found and sent me a list of recommended steps to further protect the sites. And I had no clue until I was walking off the kickball field and found the notices from Sucuri in my inbox. The DashboardAs hands-free as the whole process can be – they do have a really nice dashboard. Here’s a look at a report that shows the current status of one of my domains: At a glance, I can see that everything is fine on this site… but if it weren’t, the areas of concern would be clear. And, if I were to beat Sucuri to the punch and find a security issue before they did, I can ask them to look into it and fix it using this simple form:
Finding this plugin and service has saved me countless hours of frustration. Plus, it’s saved me from the greater costs of losing visitors who receive security warnings when trying to visit my sites. So, even if you’re not going to implement this on your site today – in the future, if your site does get attacked just remember “kickball” and “malware” – I’m pretty sure this is the only post this site (or on any site possibly!) with that combination!
Photo: Hacking from Pixmac. Related posts:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Facebook for WordPress: New Official Plugin Makes WordPress Sites Social Posted: 13 Jun 2012 08:00 AM PDT
Social PublishingThe new official Facebook plugin was designed to “make your WordPress site social in a couple of clicks”. It offers powerful cross-publishing from WordPress to multiple Facebook Timelines for mass distribution of your content. The Official Facebook Plugin Features include:
The plugin also includes three widgets for easy display: Activity Feed Box, Recommendations Box and Like, send, and subscribe buttons. You will be required to set up a Facebook app after activating the plugin, but it shouldn’t be a problem because Facebook provides step-by-step instructions. Developer documentation for the official plugin can be found at the Facebook for WordPress page if you’d like to delve a bit deeper into how it works. Have you tried the new Facebook plugin? Will you be using it on your site? Related posts:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| How to Add a Beautiful Flipboard to Your WordPress Site Posted: 13 Jun 2012 07:00 AM PDT I find myself using FlipBoard more and more every week. The application is currently available for iPhone, iTouch and iPad though is being rolled out to Android users now too. For those who haven’t used the app, FlipBoard is a news and social media aggregation application that lets you flip through content as if you were reading a book. It may sound a little gimmicky but it really does make reading a joy. Due to my love of FlipBoard, I was really excited when I came across the WordPress Flipper plugin in the CodeCanyon marketplace. The plugin lets you add a jQuery featured area to any post or page. The video below shows you exactly what the plugin can do.  The plugin isn’t currently responsive however it does support touchscreens. This allows people viewing your site on tablets and mobile phones to browse through content on your website by flicking their fingers on the page. Setting WordPress Flipper UpSetting up your flipper is a breeze though confusingly, the developer chose to call different flippers ‘widgets’ despite the fact they have nothing to do with the WordPress widget system. I soon realised after checking the widget area that the plugin does not work with widgets. Thankfully, when I spoke to Nikolay regarding this issue he admitted that he had used the word ‘widget’ as he couldn’t think of anything better, though the name will be changed in the next update to avoid any confusion. The general options page lists all the flippers you have created so far. You can those you don’t need any more and clicking on the name of a flipper will allow you to edit it. In the general settings area you define the width and height of your flipper. The number of pages of content can also be defined here. By default the flipper shows navigation circles underneath and arrows at both the left and right hand side for skipping pages. These can be switched off if you prefer. There are 9 default layouts to choose from. You can choose from one or two columns and an small, medium or large image can be integrated into the page. There is a custom option available too if you want to design it yourself using CSS. The plugin cannot pull content from your posts or pages. Like many featured slider plugins, you need to add the content manually via the content area. Clearly the plugin was designed as a cool way to present additional content rather than an alternative way to publish posts and pages. Nikolay hinted in the comment area of CodeCanyon that he may upgrade the plugin in future to allow posts, pages and custom post types to be pulled inside the flipper. I’d love to see this introduced as it would make the plugin much more versatile. On the last tab of the settings area you can see a preview of your flipper. Adding Flipper To Your WebsiteOnce you have finished setting up your flippa you can add it to any post or page on your website using shortcode. You simply need to ensure to state the name of your flipper e.g. [flipper name="WPMU Flipper"]. I tested it out on the default WordPress theme Twenty Eleven. The final result was impressive though the current version has a CSS issue that displays content directly underneath the flipper area. Due to this, the page navigation buttons underneath overlap the content. Nikolay ensured me via email that this was just a simple CSS issue and it will be resolved in the next update though I must admit I was surprised to see a simple error like this end up in the final version. This is a commercial product after all so you would expect it to at least be tested on the default WordPress designs Twenty Ten and Twenty Eleven. Unfortunately, there is no way to insert the flipper into a page template. This makes it difficult to add the flipper to a specific area of your design such as top of your home page or in your footer. Hopefully a future version will include basic instructions as to how flippers can be added to your site using PHP include (or something similar). OverviewFeatured sliders are so common now that the majority of WordPress business, portfolio and blogging themes come integrated with one. WordPress Flipper isn’t really a featured slider though. I initially assumed that this was the case though it’s better to consider it as a unique way of presenting content within a post or page. I can see a variety of uses for the plugin. It would be a cool way of displaying frequently asked questions, instructions or perhaps presenting information on your about page in a unique way. Despite the small CSS issue and confusing use of the term ‘widget’ in the options area, I was impressed with the plugin. It’s very quick to set up, very easy to use and the final output looks great. A license for WordPress Flipper retails for only $14 from CodeCanyon. I recommend checking it out if you are looking for a unique way of displaying content within posts and pages on your site :) Thanks, * Many thanks to developer Nikolay Dyankov who sent us a test copy of this plugin for the purpose of this review :) Related posts:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| United Nations Considers Global Internet Tax, Targets U.S. Websites Posted: 13 Jun 2012 06:00 AM PDT
The tax, which would likely hit sites such as Google, Apple, Facebook, and Netflix could lead those websites to deny access to users in developing countries where the financial cost of delivery would outweigh the gain. Presumably, of course, this could also extend to WordPress.com – which comes in 18th place on the list of the world's most visited sites, according to Alexa.com. Other large sites such as Wikipedia and Twitter could no doubt be candidates as well. European Telecom Lobbying Group Proposes Tax
"That review has created an opening for countries with a weak appreciation of free speech and civil liberties — with Russia and China in the lead — to propose the U.N. establish an new 'information security' regime or create an alternative to ICANN, the nonprofit organization that has acted as the Internet’s de facto governance body since the late 1990s." One Country, One VoteIn the ITU, which consists of 193 member states, each country receives one vote. While both sides of the political aisle in the U.S. are in rare agreement over opposing more global regulation over the internet, traditional U.S. allies in matters such as these, namely Europeans, may be voting the opposite way in the hopes of scoring financial gains from large U.S. companies. Again, according to the above-mentioned article from Cnet:
Photo: Broken Piggy Bank on a white background, World Map Information from BigStock
No related posts. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| White Label WordPress: Ultimate Branding Gives You Complete Control Posted: 12 Jun 2012 02:14 PM PDT
This is why we’ve created a unique way for you to be able to continue to promote your brand throughout your client's dashboard experience. Continuous branding reflects a lasting mark of excellence that can continue to sell your services and impact your sales long after the project is complete. Just imagine your Multisite or BuddyPress installation reading "Powered by Your Brand" instead of "Powered by WordPress." With the Ultimate Branding plugin, white labeling WordPress has never been so easy! Awesome Features Include:
Ultimate Branding gives you even more options for completely white labeling WordPress by letting you use CSS to customize the Login and Admin experience as well as remove the permalinks menu if you choose. Controlling your branding experience has never been so simple. Check out the Network Admin interface for enabling various modules: Give your Multisite project the professionalism it deserves with a truly rebranded experience. With Ultimate Branding you can say goodbye to custom hacks and dozens of different plugins, because you get everything you need for white labeling in one package! And with WPMU DEV, you can always count on new releases, upgrades and guaranteed support. Download Ultimate Branding today to start taking advantage of this strong opportunity to brand yourself. Related posts:
|
Anyone who is familiar with my writing for WPMU will know that I am a bit of a plugin junkie. I can’t get enough of them. And since I spend rather a lot of time testing and reviewing plugins, I find it rather difficult to curb my addiction at times.
Tom Ewer on Google+
You work hard to provide the best possible website for your client or community, so why should you have to sacrifice an ongoing branding opportunity by using the generic WordPress dashboard for custom projects?
| You are subscribed to email updates from Wordpress Themes, Plugins, Tutorials & More - WPMU.org To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment