iOS 6 vs Android 4.0 ICS vs Windows Phone 8

Here we take a quick tour of what each of the three major players in the smartphone market deem to be the best home screen solution. Apple’s iOS 6, Google’s Android 4.0 and Microsoft’s shiny new Windows Phone 8 will be the software we look at and it is worth remembering that two of these have yet to be released – anything and everything could change between now and the software being made available to the public. Still, we think it better to compare the latest versions to be shown off, so  there you go.

iOS 6

The oldest of the three major smartphone operating systems, iOS is what drives not just Apple’s iPhone, but also its tablet device, the iPad. Whilst iOS is the oldest, it is also one of the most improved since its original inception back in 2007. The home screen though has remained largely unchanged since that time. By largely unchanged, we mean it has remained completely unchanged.

OK, so we’re possibly being a little harsh on Apple’s developers. While it is indeed true that the actual home screen has not changed a great deal in five years, if at all, Apple did add some much needed notification management to iOS 5, and has taken things a step further with the unreleased iOS 6. Similar to Android’s solution, the Notification Center houses all push notifications (should you so wish – they can be turned on and off on a per-app basis) as well as two new buttons. One of these buttons gives users quick access to sending new tweets, while the other, predictably, allows quick status updates to be pushed to Facebook. Keeping your Twitter and Facebook friends apprised of what you are up to is never more than a few taps away.

As far as the actual app launcher is concerned, you’re left with a Dock across the bottom that always shows the same four icons no matter which home screen you are on and a grid of apps above that. Icons can be placed into folders and moved around, should you want to keep all your social networks apps in one place for example.

Apple has been mocked for its lack of willingness to change the way iOS looks and feels over the years, with some important updates missing amongst the ones that have arrived. With Windows Phone 8 very much ‘alive’ with real-time updates and colorful icons, iOS is arguably beginning to look a little dated. It isn’t harming sales, though, and for all its whiz-bang showmanship, Windows Phone isn’t exactly selling by the truck load, is it?

Android 4.x Ice Cream Sandwich

With the next version of Android set to be called Jelly Bean and announced at the upcoming Google I/O event, Ice Cream Sandwich may soon be yesterday’s news, but until then this is the newest, shiniest version of Android there is. Not that many people have it, as the Android version number by user percentages like to show. Still, if you’ve got it, it’s pretty sweet depending on what skin is sat on top of it.

Similar to iOS, Android sports a collection of home screens which can be home to a collection of icons, all pointing to an app. Where Android differs though is the ability to add widgets to that homes screen. You can have clocks, weather notifications and the like, as well as quick access to your social media streams or music controls. There really is a plethora of widgets out there, and the chances are you’ll find one to suit your needs.

Just like iOS – in fact, Android did it first – Android features a pull-down drawer that plays host to all your notifications. They may be handled slightly different to iOS, and they certainly do not offer the same granular control as Apple’s implementation, but they work.

Icon arrangement can depend on the skin you happen to have installed on your smartphone of choice, with some allowing more icons and widgets on-screen than others. Being able to install different launchers, though, means Android phone owners have the power to customize almost every facet of their home screen experience. Not something that either iOS or Windows Phone owners can say.

Windows Phone 8

Something of an unknown quantity, Windows Phone 8 is the update to the Windows Phone platform that is still waiting to take off. That failure to launch is evident despite Finnish giant Nokia throwing all its chips behind Microsoft and then putting out some pretty impressive hardware to back it up. Microsoft, and Nokia, are hoping that Windows Phone 8 will be a hit.

As far as the home screen experience is concerned, Windows Phone 8 is set to be the most ‘live’ experience to date. With Live Tiles constantly updating to reflect statuses rather than simply being dumb icons, users can have constantly updating data right on their home screen. Windows Phone 8 adds the ability to move and resize Live Tiles, meaning that users can choose to have one massive tile that displays recent emails, for example, meaning they don’t need to launch an app just to read the latest addition to their inbox.

The whole Live Tile experience lends Windows Phone something of an ‘online’ feel. The handset almost feels alive because the home screen is constantly updating with new data, new colors and fancy images. It can be a little busy at times, but you pays your money, you takes your choice.

The Amazing Spider-Man Game For iPhone, iPad And Android

It doesn’t matter how old we get or what we currently have going on in our professional and private lives, I am pretty sure that every single one of us would love to slip into a superhero costume and take to the streets looking for social wrongs to put right. Regardless of whether you want to be Superman, Batman, The Green Lantern or one of the other spandex clad heroes, the time has come for you to lock yourself indoors and prepare for some serious web slinging action as Gameloft has officially released The Amazing Spider-Man game for iOS and Android.

The latest release from Gameloft comes in the middle of all the hype and media attention that is surrounding the Hollywood movie of the same name, a story that tells the origins of the legend that is Spider-Man. Players of the game will need to quickly slip into the blue and red spandex costume and head over to the mean streets of New York City in order to save the local residents from the evil tyranny of The Lizard and his rampaging misfit gangs.

Using his spider-like characteristics, Spider-Man has to web-sling, crawl and fight his through the each level in an open plan New York that features beautifully created 3D environments and immersive experiences that will keep players yearning for more action. The game gives access to districts of New York City, all of which are available to explore through a series of 25 missions designed to test even the most accomplished superhero. A new and unique fighting system is also included in the game, and offers players a bunch of new combos to tinker around with.

As the game progresses and users get more involved in missions, upgrades become frequently available that allow attacks and skills to be upgraded, meaning a more powerful and lean crime-fighting machine. Apart from the 25 missions that exist within the game, exploring the mean streets of Manhattan will often result in secret hidden missions. Gamers will need to keep their wits about them and utilize all of their Spidey sense in order to survive this experience.

Advanced graphics and beautifully rendered visuals make The Amazing Spider-Man a truly outstanding gaming experience on a smartphone or tablet device and definitely a worthy gaming sidekick for this year’s blockbuster movie. Remember though, with great power comes great responsibility. The people of New York City have put their trust in you.

Download The Amazing Spider-Man for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad [iTunes Link]
 

Download The Amazing Spider-Man for Android [Google Play Link]

Google Chrome Browser For iPhone And iPad Released

Google is on a roll at I/O, with the second day of proceedings again bringing in a number of notable announcements and releases that will certainly please iOS users. Day two of the event is well underway with delegates and attending developers being informed that Google’s Chrome browser has been released for iPhone and iPad and is now available for download immediately.

Google Chrome is one of the world’s most advanced and popular web browser, used by millions of people around the world on desktop and notebook computers, as well as mobile devices running the Android OS. Until now, users of the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad had been left in the dark in terms of an official Chrome release, and instead had to settle for Apple’s Mobile Safari or other alternative browsers on the App Store.

Google Chrome for iOS allows users to benefit from the same lightning fast speed which Chrome is famous for and blesses users with full Google account services and synchronization of data across multiple devices registered under the same account. An excellent tabbed browsing experience that offers unlimited number of opened tabs will also make an appearance in the iOS Chrome build. Incognito browsing is also making an appearance in this mobile version of Chrome, affording users the same luxuries as the desktop version relating to private browsing.

One of the great things about Google pushing out a native build of Chrome for iOS is that it will allow millions of people to enjoy a more consistent web browsing experience across the multiple devices that they own rather than having to flick between Chrome and Mobile Safari. Demonstrated by Brian Rakowski, who is the VP of the Chrome division at Google, the browser does indeed give Mobile Safari a healthy competition on the same platform.

The release of Chrome is definitely a welcome addition to the App Store, but sadly, Apple doesn’t allow iOS users to set any other browser as default apart from Safari, meaning that any app or link that requires a web browser to be opened will automatically invoke Mobile Safari instead of anything else. Users who are involved in jailbreaking will be aware of a tweak that allows default browser settings to be altered, but stock users will need to get used to a rather choppy experience.

It is also important to note that in order to comply with guidelines of Apple’s App Store, Chrome for iOS uses same engine as Mobile Safari.

Download

Chrome for iOS can be download from iTunes App Store here

5 Web Applications of Designers

Webapps–compared to their desktop counterparts have the distinct advantage of being flexible in terms of the environment they have to run in; if you have a web browser and an internet connection, you’re good to go. This allows designers who work in a variety of locations, from office cubicles to the neighborhood coffee shop, to do what they need to do without being bound to a single spot.

The web applications you’ll see here aren’t all specifically for designers but, as you’ll soon see, it’s not surprising why designers love them.

1. Kuler

Coming in at numero uno: Kuler, managing to garner nearly a third of the total votes, is a web application that lets you make, store, and share color schemes. It’s wonderful for remembering your favorite color combinations and getting color scheme inspiration for your design projects.

2. DropBox

DropBox is a file syncing tool that’s fast, reliable, and very easy to set up. DropBox also has a web interface that allows you to manage, upload, delete, and organize your synced files. DropBox is free, allowing you to store 2GB of files (and you can get up to 5GB for referring people to join) – if you need more storage space, the $100/year is more than worth it, especially if you’re using it for work. DropBox is my personal favorite: it’s become an essential component to my work.

3. Basecamp

Basecamp is a project collaboration tool aimed mainly towards small-to-medium sized organizations. You can share and upload project files, create to-do lists, set milestones, participate in real-time collaboration (with Writeboard), and a lot more. I’ve been using Basecamp for roughly six months, and it’s made teamwork with co-workers and communication with clients a breeze.

4. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a free web application that tracks site statistics. This is a favorite tool amongst web designers for seeing how effective their web user interface designs are. It lets you create custom reports that you can PDF and ship off to your clients (you can use it to show the effectiveness of that recent redesign you did for them). I use Google Analytics on Six Revisions for traffic reporting, and it’s, without a doubt, the best web analytics out there – free or otherwise.

5. FreshBooks

FreshBooks (coincidentally Six Revisions’ longest standing site sponsor) is a time-tracking and invoicing tool targeted towards freelancers. It’s perfect for project-based work, with the ability to keep your time logs, keep track of your expenses, create repeating invoices, and much, much more. FreshBooks comes in many flavors, and for those wanting to try before buying, the free version gives you all the features of the webapp (but is limited to only three clients). As a FreshBooker myself, I can’t say enough good things about this web application, only that it’s crucial for people who work on contractual jobs.

5 underrated tools for Web Design

If you build websites for a living, you'll undoubtedly use the obvious web design tools - Firebug, Browsershots, plus the various font embedding services and page speed analysers.

So this article isn't about them. Instead it's about the more underrated tools that we use that can help you improve client-side (browser) development and rigorously test everything that you build. Hopefully you'll find something useful in our list of five underrated web design tools.

1. Opera Mobile Emulator

This small program is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. It allows you to test what your web pages will look like in Opera browsers installed on a variety of phones and handheld devices. A less functional, web-based version is also available.

2. Google Rich Snippets Testing Tool

A quick and easy way to check that your web pages are properly marked up with Schema.org metadata.

3. JSLint

JSLint checks JavaScript code against his rather fastidious coding conventions. A less pedantic, and less robust, alternative is available in the form of JSHint 

4. W3Clove

Every designer will be familiar with the W3C's collection of client-side code validation tools. They're extremely useful, but would be more so if they could validate more than one web page at a time.

Enter W3Clove, which taps into the W3C's APIs to conveniently validate the HTML for all web pages on a single domain in one go. Nice.

5. JSFiddle

A great web-based application, which enables you to create JavaScript, HTML and CSS and see the results in real-time. This web design tool is a handy 'playground' and is particularly useful for creating reusable user interface widgets.

Alternatives include JSBin, which is optimised for JavaScript and particularly DOM work. There's also the new Dabblet, which is more oriented to building up CSS style sheets.

You should also take a look at SQL Fiddle for prototyping data schema.

Android as a web server

At first this might sound comical, but the ever-increasing power of our handhelds makes it a pretty legitimate option. It’s hard to come up with concrete uses off the top of our head, but we’re sure there’s value in being able to pull the phone out of your pocket and serve some content.

The app BotBrew Basil makes the installation process nearly automatic. It gives you point-and-click access to install the lighttpd webserver package and set the daemon to run automatically at boot time. That’s it! Of course you need to supply your own HTML to be served.

Next you also need a way to resolve the address of the phone. In this case it’s assigned a static IP from the router, and a dynamic DNS service provides a link that maps to the router’s location. But since these phones are running Linux (at least on the lowest level) it should be pretty easy to add a cron job which will send IP address updates to the service if you want to take the ‘webserver’ out in the world with you. You can watch the entire video after the break.

How Ajax Works

In traditional JavaScript coding, if you want to get any information from a database or a file on the server, or send user information to a server, you will have to make an HTML form and GET or POST data to the server. The user will have to click the “Submit” button to send/get the information, wait for the server to respond, and then a new page will load with the results.

Because the server returns a new page each time the user submits input, traditional web applications can run slowly and tend to be less user-friendly. With AJAX, your JavaScript communicates directly with the server, through the JavaScript XMLHttpRequest object.

With an HTTP request, a web page can make a request to, and get a response from a web server, without reloading the page. The user will stay on the same page, and he or she will not notice that scripts request pages, or send data to a server in the background.

This picture is a simplified introduction about how Ajax works:

The user sends a request that executes an action and the action’s response is showed into a layer, identify by an ID, without reload the full page. For example a layer with this id:

<div id=”ajaxResponse”></div>

In the next steps we will see how to create an XMLHttpRequest and receive response from the server.

1. Create XMLhttpRequest

Different browsers use different methods to create the XMLHttpRequest object. Internet Explorer uses an ActiveXObject, while other browsers use the built-in JavaScript object called XMLHttpRequest.

To create this object, and deal with different browsers, we are going to use a “try and catch” statement.

function ajaxFunction()
{
var xmlHttp;
try
{
// Firefox, Opera 8.0+, Safari
xmlHttp=new XMLHttpRequest();
}
catch (e)
{
// Internet Explorer
try
{
xmlHttp=new ActiveXObject(“Msxml2.XMLHTTP”);
}
catch (e)
{
try
{
xmlHttp=new ActiveXObject(“Microsoft.XMLHTTP”);
}
catch (e)
{
alert(“Your browser does not support AJAX!”);
return false;
}
}
}

2. Sending request to the server

To send off a request to the server, we use the open() method and the send() method.

The open() method takes three arguments. The first argument defines which method to use when sending the request (GET or POST). The second argument specifies the URL of the server-side script. The third argument specifies that the request should be handled asynchronously. The send() method sends the request off to the server.

xmlHttp.open(“GET”,”time.asp”,true);
xmlHttp.send(null);

3. Writing server side script

The responseText will store the data returned from the server. Here we want to send back the current time. The code in “time.asp” looks like this:

<%
response.expires=-1
response.write(time)
%>

4. Consuming the response

Now we need to consume the response received and display it to the user.

xmlHttp.onreadystatechange=function()
{
if(xmlHttp.readyState==4)
{
document.myForm.time.value=xmlHttp.responseText;
}
}
xmlHttp.open(“GET”,”time.asp”,true);
xmlHttp.send(null);
}

5. Complete the code

Now we must decide when the AJAX function should be executed. We will let the function run “behind the scenes” when the user types something in the username text field. The complete code looks like this:

<html>
<body>

<script type=”text/javascript”>
function ajaxFunction()
{
var xmlHttp;
try
{
// Firefox, Opera 8.0+, Safari
xmlHttp=new XMLHttpRequest();
}
catch (e)
{
// Internet Explorer
try
{
xmlHttp=new ActiveXObject(“Msxml2.XMLHTTP”);
}
catch (e)
{
try
{
xmlHttp=new ActiveXObject(“Microsoft.XMLHTTP”);
}
catch (e)
{
alert(“Your browser does not support AJAX!”);
return false;
}
}
}
xmlHttp.onreadystatechange=function()
{
if(xmlHttp.readyState==4)
{
document.myForm.time.value=xmlHttp.responseText;
}
}
xmlHttp.open(“GET”,”time.asp”,true);
xmlHttp.send(null);
}
</script>
<form name=”myForm”>
Name: <input type=”text”
onkeyup=”ajaxFunction();” name=”username” />
Time: <input type=”text” name=”time” />
</form>
</body>
</html>

Common Mistakes to choose a CMS

There are several possible reasons for using a Content Management System, but the main reason for using a CMS is to make creating and editing of content simple and easy. Often developers forget that this is the main purpose of a CMS and in search of more and more functionality, they cripple themselves (or their customers).

Content doesn’t just include text however. Sometimes the content you need on a site is a contact form or user authentication system. The trick is to find the CMS that provides the functionality without sacrificing ease of use for yourself or, depending on the situation, your customer. A good CMS will allow you to spend more time focused on the design of the frontend then on implementing extensions or functionality. Following are some common mistakes to choose a CMS:

Mistake 1: Choosing a Geek Friendly CMS

First and foremost it is imperative for those developers building sites for customers that they remember that not everyone is as tech savvy as you are. Even if you’ve found a CMS that you like and work well with, it doesn’t matter unless you’re making the site for yourself. The most important factor in the site should be whether or not the customer can use the site like they imagine it should work. So, in the long run, it will be better for your health if you pick a CMS with a simple admin interface, even if you have to customize it more to meet the customer’s needs.

Mistake 2: Bigger is Better

Beware of any CMS, open source or not, that cites its huge following as reason to use their system. Don’t be taken in by the promises of a huge, helpful user community, and all the beautiful extensions or plugins the systems already have to offer. It’s a TRAP!

Just because many people are using a CMS, does not make it good. Take for example the huge amount of people who insist on running Linux. I still have no idea why people wish to inflict that kind of pain on themselves. Similarly, picking a CMS based on a following is an extremely bad idea.

Another reason why people will choose these types of CMS’s is because they see that there is a huge community of developers or amount of money behind a certain web application.

Mistake 3: Going With the Little Guy

Again, this is the same as #2, where in an attempt to recover from an unfortunate run in with a behemoth you pick an overly simplistic CMS. Always make sure to check that the CMS you are looking into does include extensions with the functionality you will need. Many times you may stumble upon a promising CMS, but do not invest in it until you have found that it offers what you need. Unfortunately some of the best CMS’s out there are still developing.

Mistake 4: Not Doing Research

Always, always do research before settling on a CMS. Check sites they give as examples. Email the administrators of those sites and discuss the pros and cons of the CMS. Talk to developers and keep an open mind.

Mistake 5: Allowing an IT Guy to Pick the CMS

Never, ever, ever allow an IT guy to choose your Content Management System. It is a rare breed that understands both code and a friendly user interface. Whether you are a big company or small group of freelancers, it is imperative that whoever the Mac guy is among you, sign off on anything that the IT guy presents. It may be a headache, but making sure that the CMS you use has a good user interface is essential and will save you a lot of pain in the long run.

What is phoneography?

We have the ability to take extremely stellar pictures with the same tool we use to make a phone call or send a text message. The reason we have this privilege is because of the speedy advances in technology. For example, we have the iPhone, which many people believe is the phone or Apple is the brand for designers. Because of this, the phone was equipped with a pretty decent camera. Now, because the iPhone has a good camera, many other smart phones have got to have a great camera because they want to be seen as good competitors. So now we have all these smart phones, with fairly awesome cameras.

Many camera phones are equipped with the ability to shoot between five and eight megapixels, have the ability to focus in for macro shots, provide adjustments for aperture or ISO, as well as brightness and contrast. Some have the ability to recognize faces as well as shoot in HDR mode. Many of these features on the camera phones are extremely comparable to that of digital cameras that one could purchase in Best Buy or the electronics store of your choice.

photography and phoneography

Photography is basically the art of taking pictures. (can insert more definitions). What makes a picture good is not just it’s composition or what’s in the picture, but it’s also the feeling that is conveyed in that picture. The way a picture can convey that feelings is not just about who and what is in the picture, but it can be additives such as colors (or lack of color) as well as texture, or quite frankly any other thing a photographer finds necessary to make their picture better.

Apps such as Instagram, HippoCam, or Pudding Camera make it easy to take a picture and add a look or theme to it that looks like something you might find in an art exhibit or in a magazine. It’s easy. As far as photography is concerned, one can take a good picture and at the click of a button, have the ability to add that extra feeling or that extra depth to a picture taken on your camera phone.

Advantages of Phoneography

Sharing and social capabilities

With your high end camera’s, most times you have to hook up your camera to your computer or attach the SD card and dump your photos. Heck, some photographers still believe in using and developing film. There’s nothing wrong with these techniques, but phoneography allows ease with sharing pictures, whether it be via email with a pal or through social networks.

Less expensive

Smaller businesses are always looking to get the most bang for their buck. Sometimes they aren’t even looking for bang at all, just their basic needs and depending on the strategy, there’s nothing wrong with that. If you have a smartphone, you probably have a decent camera that can take a nice picture, especially one acceptable for the web.

Technological advances

Of course, the newer the phone is, the better your camera will be. Companies are figuring out ways to really add some great features to phones. Not just that, but there are companies that have many additions to phones such as camera lenses that chance the look of your pictures (i.e., fish bowl) as well as products that you can connect to your phone that allows you to click and take your picture rather than have to push a button on your touch screen phone—adds that more natural feel.

Tips of Optimizing WordPress for Search Engines

So, you have this amazing WordPress site, but for some reason the search engines just don’t show you much love. You post killer content, make it easy for users to share via their social networks, and people are subscribing to your RSS feed, indicating that they’re like what they’re reading. If you’ve tried everything to drive traffic to your website, and search engines still ignore your site, maybe you need to evaluate how search engine friendly your website is.

In this article, I will go over a few steps you should take to optimize your WordPress installation for search engines. While WordPress has good SEO features out of the box, these tips will help you maximize your search engine results while also making sure your site is the best it can be.

1. Optimize your titles

By default, WordPress usually puts the title of your blog before the actual post title. Since most search engines only display the first 50-64 characters of your <title> tag, you want the actual blog post title to come first.

For example:
Tips for Making WordPress Friendly to Search Engines - YourSiteName.com

is better than:
YourSiteName.com - Tips for Making WordPress Friendly to Search Engines

Always be sure that the title of your post comes before anything else. Two main reasons are:

1. Search engines will like you more if the title of the post comes first. This helps them put more importance to the keywords in the title.

2. A descriptive and optimized title is one of the most important aspects of your page SEO. The title lets the search engine and users know exactly what this page is about before they visit it.

Use the All In One SEO plugin to keep the proper title formats over an entire blog without having to edit any template files.

2. Use good meta descriptions

Most bloggers who use WordPress never do much on the SEO side for meta descriptions because they believe that the auto generated descriptions that comes standard with WordPress is good enough; but that’s not truly the case if you’re concerned about effective keyword indexing on search engines.

Your best chance of getting a high ranking on a per-post basis is by manually typing in a good description for every article you write. Again, I would suggest using the All In One SEO plugin as it allows you to do this very easily. By combining a keyword-rich title with a matching description, you are bound to see an increase in search traffic.

3. Rewrite your URLs with permalinks

Permalinks are enhancements to your existing URLs that can improve search engine optimization by presenting your post, page, and archive URLs as something like:

http://sixrevisions.com/tools/managing-your-fonts/

rather than
http://sixrevisions.com/?p=423

Changing the default web addresses/URLs that WordPress generates to something more readable is effective to search engine optimization because it is presumed that URLs are taken into consideration when indexing and prioritizing search results. Often, these URLs are called "pretty URLs" because they’re much more readable and gives the users a clue as to what the web page will be about. (As in the above comparison of URLs)

Making your permalinks friendlier and readable requires little more than a short trip to your WordPress admin panel. Once you are there, go to Settings > Permalinks and edit the settings

4. Generate an XML Sitemap for search engines

An XML Sitemap is a listing of all the pages and posts on your website. This helps the search engine crawlers get a machine-readable structure of your websites. Having a properly structured sitemap has great benefits in the search engines.

5. Describe your post images meaningfully

Another often-neglected item in WordPress SEO is using proper and keyword-accurate alt and title attributes with images in a post or page. Adding a short description of your image using proper keywords can boost your search engine hits through image searches like the one from Google Images. Since you are using WordPress, adding alt and title attribute values to images is easy.

While saving your image, be sure to give a short and simple name with a dash between each keyword. For example, if you have a picture of a California Redwood tree, name it appropriately, such as california-redwood-tree.jpg or california_redwood_tree.jpg instead of something vague and non-descriptive like postimage03.jpg or screenshot20.jpg.

Once you place your image in a WordPress post or page, it will automatically use the title given as the proper alt description.

If it does not fill it in automatically, you can type a description in the title input field. By implementing these image attributes, it will also make it easier for people who use a screen reader to browse your site.

6. Link to related posts

One favorable method for helping search engines find content that is relevant to a given web page is adding a "related posts" section that links to other posts that have a connected subject.

By doing so, you also have the primary benefit of showing your readers other posts that they may want to read as well.

Many WordPress plugins will automatically generate a list of related posts for each of your posts. There are way to many too mention here, but you can find a list in the WordPress plugins section at WordPress.org just by searching "related posts".

WPSwitch currently use the Yet Another Related Posts Plugin and it works very well. This is our favorite because it gives you a templating system that allows control over how the related posts are displayed.

7. Use good keywords in post headings

Search engines give more weight to keyword items depending on what type of heading that is being used. To get the most juice out of your titles, make sure the post title is an <h1>.

The name of your blog should only be an <h1> on your front page. On single, post, and category pages, it should be no more than an <h3>, some even choose to use other HTML elements such as a <p> element to keep the markup semantic. The title of your site does not need to carry as much weight as the topic you are writing about. To make sure your site name is only an <h1> on the home page,

Headings are super easy to edit and are found in the single.php and page.php and various archive pages of your WordPress theme. If your current theme does not use headings in this manner, I suggest you take a few minutes to make this easy change.

8. Avoiding duplicate content with robots.txtWith WordPress showing the same posts on multiple pages like the index, tag pages, archives, author pages, and category pages, it is very easy to have duplicate content. Duplicate content, in the eyes of search engines, is frowned upon. By creating a robots.txt file, you can completely avoid this issue.

A much easier way if you are not code-savvy is to use the Robots Meta plugin. This modifies the default one made by WordPress from your original install.

Some Missing Features in WordPress

The popular publishing platform, WordPress, released its latest major version: WordPress 3.0 (dubbed "Thelonious"). This iteration of WordPress introduces plenty of convenient new features such as drag-and-drop interfaces for building navigation menus (for those not comfortable modifying their theme files), the ability to deploy multiple sites under one installation (by the inclusion of WordPress MU) and a system for making custom content types other than posts and pages.

However, some new features appear to be superfluous. Why have a built-in link shortener (yet not include social media web service integration that benefit from link shortening)? Why release a new default theme every year? Is it really worth the increase in the code base’s bulk to give end-users an interface for designing custom headers?

With all of that in mind, let’s go over some of what I believe are missing features in WordPress.

1. Web Caching

Every time a visitor views a web page in a WordPress-powered site, the system performs multiple server-side processes and database queries to generate that page for the visitor. This affects the speed in which a web page can be rendered and — for people running the publishing platform on an underpowered web server — can cause major down times and slowdowns.

One of the best ways to improve page performance is through web caching files on the web server — storing static versions of each web page so that the system doesn’t have to perform redundant work whenever a page is requested.

This feature should be an optional feature that WordPress site administrators can enable, with option settings on how long to keep the cached files that they can tweak according to their site’s updating frequency and traffic load.

2. Displaying Related Posts

Findability can be greatly improved if related content is displayed on a post. Right now, theme developers can take advantage of the get_category/get_categories for pulling out the posts’ category and wp_get_post_tags for the post’s tags, however, what’s more difficult is displaying related posts.

There are ways to try and display related posts, such as picking, say, 5 random posts from the same category/categories or posts tagged with the same words. However, the accuracy of how related the queried posts will be to the current post is, a lot of times, poor.

There should be more "signals" to determine the relevancy of one post to another, such as seeing if the title of posts have the same words, how many tags are the same on both posts, and if the current post links to another post.

3. Social Media Integration for Popular Web Services

An essential feature of content-centered sites is the ability for its users to share published content. Blogs that don’t have social media buttons and sharing options using email are uncommon.

I think it’s relevant to include native integration for at least the popular web services like Digg, Twitter, StumbleUpon and Facebook so that end-users don’t have to rely on and maintain third-party plugins.

Social media integration is so commonplace that the "twitter" plugin tag is a popular tag amongst more general keyword tags such as "Post", "widget", "image", and "sidebar."

4. Site Statistics

The capacity to learn about what content works and what doesn’t is key to being able to produce content that people view the most. The tool that’s central to this understanding of our content is website analytics.

The Automattic team, founders of WordPress and WordPress.com, has developed a statistics plugin that’s among the top WordPress plugins installed — it gets over 30,000 downloads per week.

The plugin shows administrators top referrers (where visitors are coming from), popular posts, site traffic statistics, and a pretty line graph that visualizes site traffic trends.

It’s time to adopt this plugin into WordPress.

5. Web Form Builder

HTML web forms are crucial to most modern sites: They’re the primary means of enabling communication and input from users. Comments, surveys, polls, contact forms, and content submissions are all large components of content-driven sites and they all need web forms.

Having a form builder interface, similar to the navigation and header builders that came with WordPress 3.0, can help users create custom web forms to increase interaction with site visitors.

6. Content Rating

The ability to rate content, including user comments, pages, and other content types is a good design pattern for increasing user participation. Content rating opens up a lot of possibilities, such as displaying a dynamic list of the most popular content based on user rating on the sidebar or the ability to sort archives based on popularity.

Content rating can also help the site owner identify content that users like so they can make more of it. Additionally, under the expertise of a theme developer, it can help with site maintenance, such as in the case of auto-deletion of spam comments if a comment is downvoted a lot or flagged as spam.

Apple's back with new more powerful MacBooks

Apple on Monday, 11-Jun-2012 unveiled a new lineup of Macintosh laptops, including a revamped MacBook Air, the lightest of the computers, and a thinner, more powerful MacBook Pro.

The move keeps Apple, which has been dominating the market for tablet computers like the iPad, in the game against a new line of slimmer laptops using Microsoft Windows or the Google Chrome operating system.

"Today we've updated the entire MacBook line with faster processors, graphics, memory, flash storage and USB 3 connectivity," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing.

"We've made the world's best portable family even better and we think users are going to love the performance advances in both the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro."

The MacBook Air is facing new competition from PCs which have slimmed down for extra portability but Apple boasted about the superiority of the MacBook.

"Everyone is trying to copy it, they find it's not so easy," Schiller said, adding that the new models will see a boost in speed and memory and cost $100 less than previous versions.

The high-performance MacBook Pro will include the so-called retina display used on the new iPads, giving an extra high resolution screen.

"It is simply the best computer Apple has ever made," Schiller said.

The 15-inch MacBook Pro will be 0.71 inches (1.8 centimeters) thick and weigh 4.46 pounds (2.02 kilos) and include the retina display, described as "the world's highest resolution notebook display with over five million pixels, three million more than an HD television.

"The MacBook Pro with Retina display pushes the limits of performance and portability like no other notebook," said Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive.

"With a gorgeous Retina display, all flash architecture and a radically thin and light design, the new MacBook Pro is the most advanced Mac we have ever built." Prices start at $1,399.

The MacBook Air is as thin as 0.68 inches (1.7 centimeters) and weighs as little as 2.38 pounds (1.08 kilos). Its price starts at $999.

Become a Better PHP Developer

PHP is probably the most popular web development language right now. At least 20 million domains use PHP and it’s the language used on major sites such as Wikipedia and Facebook as well as in some of the world’s biggest open source projects like WordPress and Drupal.

In this article, I’ll share with you ten things I wish I was told when I was just getting started with PHP development, and I’m hoping you’ll be able to learn a thing or two if you’re just taking your first steps into this awesome web development language.

1. Use PHP Core Functions and Classes

If you’re trying to do something that seems fairly common, chances are, there’s already a PHP function or class that you can take advantage of. Always check out the PHP manual before creating your own functions. There’s no need to create a function to remove the white space at the beginning and at the end of a string when you can just use the trim() function. Why build an XML parser for RSS feeds when you can take advantage of PHP’s XML Parser functions (such as xml_parse_into_struct)?

2. Create a Configuration File

Instead of having your database connection settings scattered everywhere, why not just create one master file that contains its settings, and then include it in your PHP scripts? If you need to change details later on, you can do it in one file instead of several files. This is also very useful when you need to use other constants and functions throughout multiple scripts.

Using a config file is a popular web application pattern that makes your code more modular and easier to maintain.

3. Don’t Over-Comment Your Code:

Proper documentation of your code through comments in your scripts is definitely a good practice, but is it really necessary to comment every single line? Probably not. Comment the complicated parts of your source code so that when you revisit it later you’ll quickly remember what’s going, but don’t comment simple things such as your MySQL connection code. Good code is self-explanatory most of the time.

 

4. Keep Favorite Code Snippets Handy

You’ll be coding a lot of the same things throughout your PHP development career, and keeping code snippets always available will help you save a lot of time. There are several apps that can keep and sync your code snippet collection for you, so no matter where you are, you can always have your snippets available. Some apps you can use to corral your code snippets are Snippet, snippely, Code Collector, and Snipplr (web-based).

5. Use a Good Source Editor to Save You Time

Your editor is where you’ll spend the majority of your time, so you want to use something that helps you save time. Syntax highlighting is a must and definitely something you should be looking for as a software feature. Other bonuses include code hinting, code navigation and built-in debugging tools. All of these features can end up saving you massive amounts of time. An example of a source code editor/IDE for PHP is phpDesigner.

Take the time to get familiar with your source code editor’s features by reading the documentation and reading tutorials online. A bit of time investment in this arena can really streamline your coding workflow.

Check out this list of source code editors for developers as well as this list of free text editors for coders to discover popular code-editing applications.

6. Use a MySQL Administration Tool (Like phpMyAdmin)

I know some crazy hard-core developers who like working with MySQL (the popular Database Management System pairing for PHP) via command line, which, to me, is inefficient and just, well, crazy. It’s a good thing to know how to administer your MySQL database using mysqladmin, but afterwards, you should use a graphical user interface like phpMyAdmin to speed up database development and administration.

phpMyAdmin, in particular, is an excellent open source database viewer/manager that allows you to view your MySQL databases graphically so that you don’t have to waste time doing things via the command line. You can quickly build databases and their tables, export your databases into SQL files, run SQL queries, optimize tables, check for issues, create MySQL database users and set up their privileges quickly, and much more. There is a good chance your web host already has phpMyAdmin installed, and if not, it only takes minutes to install.

7. Use a PHP Framework

It took me a really long time to accept the fact that using a web application development/rapid application development framework would help me out. You have a small learning curve in the beginning, and there will be a lot of reading to do to learn how the API of the framework works, but you get amazing productivity and efficiency benefits later. Using a framework forces you to use better web development patterns that you might not be using right now.

Using a PHP framework pays off big time when you have to share your code with others later on or when you have to work together with someone; it gives you a standardized platform for building web applications. I learned the importance of this the hard way when I had to start hiring other developers.

Some popular PHP frameworks are CakePHP, CodeIgniter, symfony, and Zend.

8. Connect with Other PHP Developers

You don’t know it all. And even if you think you do, there are thousands of others out there that know how to do something better than you do. Join a PHP community like PHPDeveloper and interact with others. By connecting with other developers, you’ll learn better ways of doing the things you’re currently doing.

Fast And Accurate Rain Radar for Android

Weather. You can’t help but be ruled by it. Sometimes it’s scorching and all the fans on your web server are going mental, and sometimes you can’t feel your extremities because of the cold. Yep, the weather’s awesome.

Possibly the most tangible weather is rain. You can’t really miss rain because, obviously enough, when it’s raining you get wet. That’s as good a reason as any to want to know when it is likely to rain, helping you make an informed decision as to whether you’re going to pack that extra coat, or pick up that umbrella.

If you’re a smartphone owner, then you’re probably already tied to your weather apps, keeping an eagle eye out on what is forecast for the week ahead, and planning your busy life around that. Awesome, keep up the good work. But, if rain is your bag, then there’s an Android app that offers something a little more specific and, we have to say, a little more interesting.

Rainy Days, a free Android app, offers an animated rain radar for American and Europe. It’s worth noting that the radars used display the incoming rain, rather than the clouds, which makes for a more accurate representation of what is going to happen and, more importantly, whether you’re likely to get all soaked from that water pouring from the sky!

Those who like their science will be interested to know what technology is behind the images that are generated by Rainy Days. We’re told that Doppler images from buienradar, meteox, vaderradar, eumetsat and nws using Google Maps are in there somewhere, and who are we to argue with the man behind the app?

If you like to know when it is going to rain, and when it’s not, then Rainy Days for Android may be right up your street. Bringing radar images to your smartphone, the app is free and is available to download from the Google Play store right now.

Download Rainy Days for Android [Google Play link]

Updated 3D Google Maps For Android with offline Mode

After some significant changes made to its mobile Maps apps, Google has just announced along with both offline mode and 3D maps heading to Android and iOS soon. After Apple’s rumor surfaced on removing Google Maps from their iOS list, Google trying to get it back with awesome features like 3-D mapping and some great and wanted ones and made its way for the launch.

Similar to the actual news about the Big G’s purchase of Quickoffice – just after it was revealed Microsoft would finally come up with own Office suite to mobile, the same happened with the updated G-maps app. While the Apple was planning for several months to ditch the stock Google Maps app within iOS in favor of its own, in-house solution, and with 3D mapping with courtesy of C3 Technologies, being one of the major features, now Google is looking to retain its actual position in the mapping market.

While to take mapping to a new dimensions, 3D mapping will quite litarally offer stunning visuals in a more feature-rich consumer experience. With the bird-eye view, Google would be in the top place and willing to maintain that influences with these large updates.

The offline 3D mode mapping capabilities obviously be music to the ears of those with abnormal connections. While for both iOS and Android versions of the app will definitely step forward, meaning the work can be planned and locations can be discovered regardless of whether you’re connected to the internet or not (Offline).

If a device has a compass, Maps will utilize that in aiding navigation wherever a cellular or Wi-Fi connection isn’t available, which could clearly allow your smartphone devices to earn its “smart” moniker. In the already released beta of “Labs” for Android of course gives us a little indication of the map-related Google software and features like Street View, directions and navigation, and how its going to work.

In Labs, you can easily enable offline maps by saving a portion of a local area – currently limited within a 10-square miles area. Note in Google’s track record for delivering in this field, and however those boundaries will reveal when the upcoming iOS and Android updates arrives or lands directly into the App Store


New 3D imagery for Google Earth for mobile

Enable High Quality Video Recording On Galaxy S III

The recently-released Samsung Galaxy S III is a powerhouse matched only by a couple of devices within the smartphone market, but that hasn’t stopped one modder from pushing the boundaries just that little bit farther.

Cameras are notoriously limited by the device’s software, but serial modder hyperX bleeds every last drop of power from the Galaxy S III’s snapper, allowing 1080p video to record at 24Mbps in fine mode (up from 19Mbps), as well as 30Mbps in superfine mode.

In terms of 720p video – the minimum level required for high definition, the usual 10Mbps in fine leaps up to 15Mbps, while in superfine mode, the quality transcends all the way up to 19Mbps. The tweak is a work in progress, and with all current resolutions and modes recording audio at 192Kbps, hyperX is looking to include a 60fps option in the near future.

By default, Samsung blocks use of the camera when the battery is below 15 percent, and although they are only looking out for our interests in conserving battery for more important situations, it does feel somewhat like we’re being mollycoddled a little too much. Luckily, the mod overrides the block, meaning if that Kodak moment does arise and you’re low on juice, you can not only capture it, but the quality will be superior than before.

As well as the pet peeve that be the battery-related restriction, you can also utilize the volume buttons in order to use your camera whilst on the phone, which is always useful if you spend a great deal of time chatting.

Please bear in mind, though, that while it does a good job in uncapping the software limitations, your resulting file sizes will be noticeably larger, so if you’re only rocking the 16GB model, make sure you either manage your clips in an organized fashion, or – if you’re like me – grab yourself a microSD card to give you enough space to procrastinate from tidying up!

Transfer Movies And Photos To Your iPhone And iPad Without iTunes

It doesn’t seem to matter how experienced a user you may be with iTunes, there is always some part of it that just doesn’t make sense. I have personally been a regular user of iTunes for the last five years and in all honesty, it still manages to perplex me with alarming regularity. One of the issues which users have relates to the need to sync data across to their iDevices, such as photographs, albums and videos.

If you are one of the few who want to transfer things like photos and movies to your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad without actually having to sync them via iTunes, then the DC Copy app available through the official App Store could provide the required functionality for you. DC Copy makes use of iTunes’ built-in file sharing capabilities to allow certain file types to be copied across to the device’s file system without using iTunes.

One of my personal bug-bears which I encounter when I have to sync images across to the device using the standard iTunes method is that it automatically creates its own personal image folder within the Photos app on the device. This folder is entirely independent of the Camera Roll, and in all honesty, is very limited in terms of what the user can do with them. I prefer to maintain total control over what is on my device, and with synced images, I then have to rely on iTunes to remove them if required.

DC Copy is an extremely simple app with a very simple to use user-interface which consists purely of three buttons. When the app launches, it will check to see if any file sharing rules have been set up with the desired account through iTunes, If they have been, then the app will display the number of media items it has found, if not, it will remain blank with the option to refresh when the rules have been set up. Pressing the ‘Start’ button will invoke the import process with all media being brought directly into the device’s Camera Roll. It is that simple.

The DC Copy app is available as a free of charge download from the official App Store and is compatible with the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad as long as they are running iOS 5 or above.

DOWNLOAD:

Download DC Copy for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad [iTunes Link]

Samsung Galaxy S3 Launched In Europe

The latest Galaxy S smartphone hits stores in 28 European and Middle East countries, including Germany and Britain.

The new Samsung Galaxy S3--recently named bestseller pre-ordered phone of the year--has landed in Europe. The S3, running on Google's Android operating system, boasts a 12.2-cm (4.8-inch) screen. Interestingly, its screen is bigger than the 8.9-cm (3.5-inch) display on the iPhone 4S and the 11.9-cm (4.7-inch) screen on HTC's One X model. Weighing 133g, the phone is only 8.6 mm thick. The Galaxy S3 also includes Samsung's quad-core microprocessor.

"The Galaxy S3 is a real challenger to the upcoming iPhone," said Francisco Jeronimo, an IDC analyst based in London. "This is likely be one of the most sold smartphones this year, though the real test will come when the next iPhone is launched."

Samsung unveiled its first Galaxy smartphone in 2010 to challenge Apple's position in the global smartphone market at a time when players like Nokia were struggling to make much impact.

The phone offers features like 'Smart stay', using which the phone recognises when you are looking at the phone and can also maintain a bright display for continued viewing pleasure.

"Designed to be both effortlessly smart and intuitively simple, the Galaxy S3 has been created with our human needs and capabilities in mind. What makes me most proud is that it enables one of the most seamless, natural and human-centric mobile experiences, opening up a new horizon that allows you to live a life extraordinary," quipped JK Shin, president and head--mobile division, Samsung Electronics.

The phone also packs 'Pop up play' feature which allows user to watch an HD video on the phone while sending an e-mail or text simultaneously. Its 8-megapixel camera features a zero-lag shutter speed that lets user capture moving objects without delay. The 'Burst shot' function allows users to capture 20 continuous shots. HD video can be recorded even with the 1.9-megapixel front facing camera. 

The phone also includes near field communication (NFC) technology.

A quick look at the specs:
Android 4.0 with TouchWiz
1.4 GHz quad-core Exynos 4212 processor
12.2-cm (4.8-inch) HD Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1280 x 720
8MP camera with AF, LED flash, BSI sensor and 1080p HD video recording
1.9MP front camera with a resolution of 720p for video chat
16/32/64GB Internal memory, expandable upto 64GB
1GB RAM
NFC, Wi-Fi, DLNA, GLONASS, micro-USB 2.0, HDMI, Bluetooth 4.0
2100 mAh battery