Tag Archives: WordPress

Come Fly with Us! Has 7 Subscribers

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Already! Cool!

Come Fly with Us!, the video podcast I whipped up for Flying M Air the other day, already has 7 subscribers. I think that’s pretty cool.

I checked the iTunes Music Store and found that it was listed there. Oddly enough, only two subscribers are checking in with iTunes. The others are using MyYahoo, Jakarta Commons, and a Java-based reader. I’m wondering if they’re all seeing the video that goes with the podcast. I hope so, since that’s all there really is.

I wrote an article about how to publish a video podcast using WordPress and submitted it to InformIt for possible publication on their site. If they take it, I’ll link to it when it’s published. If they don’t, it’ll appear on this site and on our WordPress VQS support site.

I created the second release for Come Fly with Us! on Tuesday. It’ll be released next Monday. I’ve decided to create the episodes in advance and release them on Mondays. It’s pretty easy to do with WordPress — just date the entries in the future and they won’t appear online until that date and time rolls around. I sometimes do that with entries on this site — like the About the Photos entries that were appearing quite regularly for a while. I wrote all of those in August and set them to release weekly for the next four months. (Time do do more, too.)

Next Monday’s release will show the Swansea Town Site ghost town. Those photos were taken on the ground. Some of them are a few years old. I think I’ll do a release on Wickenburg for the following week. Got some pictures today when I was out flying with my friend Kathy. Then possibly Sedona, from the air and on the ground.

Now if only I could get this ambitious with my personal podcast. I haven’t recorded an entry for a few months now.

Flying M Air Video Podcast Now Online

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It took me a while to figure it out.

Come Fly with UsI spent about 4 hours yesterday morning and another hour this morning publishing a video podcast for Flying M Air. Why so long? Because I couldn’t find a single how-to guide online to explain how to do it the way I wanted to get it done.

On Friday, I got back from a 3-1/2 day trip around the southwest with photographer Richard Noll. Rick and I took tons of pictures and video — much of which was from the air — of the places we visited. The goal of our trip was not only to perform a final check on travel, hotel, and tour arrangements for the Southwest Circle Helicopter Adventure, but to gather images I could use to market Flying M Air’s tours and excursions. I now have over 1,000 still images and 4+ hours of video to go through.

iMovie HD 6 and iDVD 6: Visual QuickStart GuideI spent some time early Saturday morning with iMovie and Jeff Carlson‘s excellent book, iMovie HD 6 and iDVD 6: Visual QuickStart Guide. The book has everything you need to know to create a great looking movie in iMovie HD, from choosing a video camera to building the movie with titles, transitions, and effects. It then goes on to discuss IDVD (which I’m not ready for yet). I learned a lot of things, including that I can reverse and slow down video clips — two effects I’ll need for my final project: a 20-minute promotional DVD.

Yesterday’s starter project was to build a slide show of images taken in the Phoenix area. The slide show would make good use of the Ken Burns effect to add motion to still images. I’d also included opening and closing titles, transitions, and music. It was a very simple project, and with Jeff’s guidance, I was able to knock it off in about an hour with about 15 slides. The final video is about 2-1/2 minutes long.

Although Jeff’s book discusses publishing a video podcast with iMovie and iWeb, I was not interested in using iWeb. It might be a great tool for Web publishing newbies, but it lacks the control features I need. (This might sound strange, but the software is so easy that it’s hard for an experienced user to use.) I wanted to publish a video podcast of this and future Flying M Air movies right on the blog-based Flying M Air Web site. This way, the videos would be available immediately to site visitors as well as by podcast to subscribers. I knew this was possible, but I couldn’t find any clear guidance on things like format (Was the export to iPod format the right one?), linking (Was it as easy as just including a link to the file?), and server settings (Did I have to modify .htaccess?).

Phoenix Tour ThumbnailI got the answers to all of these questions through Web research and trial-and-error. I got it working at about 5:30 AM this morning and was pleased to see the new podcast file being downloaded into iTunes. I then spent another hour tweaking the settings for Flying M Air’s WordPress theme files so instructions would appear onscreen when a site visitor checked the contents of the new Video & Slide Shows category.

Interested in seeing my first effort? You can download the m4v file (which can be viewed in iTunes or QuickTime) or subscribe to the podcast.

And if you’d like to read a how-to article that provides step-by-step instructions for publishing an iMovie project as a podcast with WordPress (rather than iWeb), keep checking in. I’ll write it up today, but Informit.com has first dibs. After all, I do like to be paid for my work.

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The Book has [Finally] Arrived!

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I get my author copies of WordPress 2: Visual QuickStart Guide — only about three weeks after they were expected.

When I got home from work yesterday, a case of books was waiting on my doorstep. That alone was kind of odd. Where I live in Wickenburg is quite a bit off the beaten path, down an unpaved, bumpy, steep, unmaintained road. The UPS and FedEx guys know where my office is. Since that’s a lot easier to get to — especially with a big truck — they normally deliver things there, even if the address on the box is my home address. In fact, the UPS guy came by the office yesterday to drop off an envelope for Mike — even thought it had our house address on it. And they dropped off the new ground handling wheels for my helicopter there, even though there was no one there to sign for the box. (The old UPS guy used to just throw packages into my Jeep if he saw it parked somewhere in town. I’d come out of the post office or supermarket and there would be a box on my passenger seat. Things are a little different here in Wickenburg.)

So I didn’t expect the books to arrive yesterday. Yet there they were. Horray!

WordPress Book Cover.I opened the box to remove my “shelf copy.” I have a kind of weird superstition. I have a bookshelf with five shelves where I keep a single author copy of every book I’ve ever written, along with the translations I’ve been sent. Three shelves are completely full; this book will start the fourth shelf. The books are placed on the shelf in order of publication, with their translations placed to their right. The English-language book that goes on the shelf is always the first one I get. Normally, for Peachpit Press books, I get a single advance author copy directly from the printer when the book is done. That’s the book that goes on the shelf. The box of author copies that comes later goes into storage for giveaways, etc. For other publishers’ books, the book that goes on the shelf is the first one I pull out of the box.

I usually refer to my author copies (on the shelf) when I’m writing a revision or if a reader has a question (submitted to the Q & A system on this Web site, please). The book will come off its place on the shelf, spend some time on my desk, and be returned to its place when I’m done with it. The other day, I pulled out my very first book’s author copy just to scan the cover of it for a blog entry. I don’t lend out author copies — people are terrible about returning books. To me, for some reason, it’s important that the book be placed on the shelf in its proper place.

Anyway, I need to confirm what Miraz’s first impression was when she saw the book for the first time: it’s shiny. Sometime last year, Peachpit redesigned the covers for books in the Visual QuickStart Guide series. I think they just wanted to freshen them up. The design is similar, as the two illustrations in this entry show, but the new design is also coated with something that makes it very shiny.

QuickBooks Book CoverMy QuickBooks 2006 for Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide, which was published last fall, was probably the very last book Peachpit published with the old cover style. I recall seeing other VQS titles on Peachpit’s Web site and talking to my editor about the new design. But this is my first book with the new design. I like it. It’s a little “cleaner” looking — whatever that means. Maybe more modern. The color scheme always changed from one book to the next, so that’s not the difference. It’s the extra white on the cover, I think. And less text in all those boxes. It looks good. And shiny.

Anyway, I’m glad the books have arrived and anxious to put the shelf copy onto the shelf.

Now let me update this site to show the right cover on the WordPress book support pages.

WordPress QuickStart Almost Done

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Due to ship to the printer this Friday.

WordPress 2 Visual QuickStart GuideMiraz Jordan and I have been putting the finishing touches on WordPress 2: Visual QuickStart Guide for Peachpit Press. The book is set to go to the printer this coming Friday and should be in stores by the end of the month.

You can order a copy in advance from Amazon.com, BN.com, or Peachpit Press. The book appears to be selling quite briskly at Amazon; it’s ranking is relatively high for such a limited-interest book that hasn’t even been published yet.

Miraz and I will be providing support for the book on a separate Web site — www.wpvqs.com — although you’ll also find support articles here and on Miraz’s site. As I write this, the support Web site is already set up. But it’s a mess because we’ve been using it as a testing ground for plugins, theme file modifications, and other topics covered in the book. One day soon, I’ll wipe the site clean and reinstall WordPress from scratch. We’ll then build up the support site with articles, links, and other features to help readers learn more about WordPress.

So if you’re a WordPress user — or want to be one — keep checking in to learn more about WordPress and our book.

WordPress

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Maria Speaks Episode 25: WordPress.

A discussion of the WordPress blogging platform.

Transcript:

Hi, I’m Maria Langer. Welcome to Maria Speaks episode 25: WordPress.

First of all, I have to apologize for not keeping up with the podcasts as promised. Although I have plenty to write about in my blogs, I don’t seem able to get it together for a podcast. I know there are podcast subscribers out there waiting for new content, but none of them have provided any feedback about what they’d like to hear. So I’m just kind of floundering around without guidance, waiting for someone to give me an idea.

To make matters worse, I had a bit of surgery early in May and have been recovering more slowly than I expected. I’m okay — I’m just a little slow — and you can take that any way you like because it probably applies. It’s very frustrating for me. I can’t wait until everything’s healed and I can really get on with my life.

Today I decided to do a podcast about WordPress. Those of you who read my blog know that I use WordPress now to create and maintain not just my blog but my personal Web site and my book support Web site. You also might know that I’m co-authoring a book with Miraz Jordan about using WordPress. The book, which is for Peachpit Press, is called WordPress 2 Visual QuickStart Guide and it should be in stores by June.

WordPress is, on the surface, a blogging platform. With PHP, MySQL, XHTML, and CSS under the hood, it offers an easy-to-use, Web-based interface for adding posts, managing categories, handling comment moderation, and performing other blog-related tasks. A novice user can use WordPress without knowing a thing about what’s under the hood. But a user with some knowledge of HTML and CSS could go nuts customizing the blog’s appearance. Add a little knowledge of PHP and plugins available to WordPress server installations and the sky’s the limit on blog customization.

But WordPress is more than just a blogging tool. It’s a complete content management system. That means you can use it to build an entire Web site, with static pages and navigation. This is what I’ve done with the two sites I recreated with WordPress: aneclecticmind.com (where you can find the transcript for this podcast) and wickenburg-az.com. WordPress is a perfect tool for maintaining a Web site that needs fresh content added regularly because its blog format automatically displays new content on the home page and archives old content so it’s always available. No need to code HTML and manually revise pages. WordPress does it all for you.

When I first started using WordPress last year, I got very excited about it very quickly. Finally, a Web publishing tool that gave me the power to create my own custom solution without knowing XML. (I never did bother to learn XML or JavaScript, both of which are popular programming languages for Web publishing.) I realized that I could customize my sites little by little, tweaking them to meet my needs. It was a dream come true — a Web publishing project that I could work on forever without it ever looking only partially completed.

Best of all, WordPress is open source software built with open source software. That means its free for most uses.

WordPress comes in two versions: WordPress.com and a WordPress server installation. Let me take a moment to explain the differences between the two.

WordPress.com is a Web site built and maintained by the WordPress development team. Users can create a free WordPress.com account and immediately start blogging. There’s no need for a server or a domain name or any knowledge of any programming languages. WordPress.com bloggers have some control over the appearance and navigation options of their blogs, so they can personalize them to some extent. A WordPress.com account is a great, free way for novice bloggers — or bloggers on a budget — to get their words out.

A WordPress server installation requires the blogger to either install WordPress on his own server or on an ISP’s server. This requires a bit of technical know-how, as well as certain versions of MySQL, PHP, and an Apache-compatible Web server to be installed on the server. It isn’t difficult to do — after all, I managed to do it on a spare Macintosh G4 running Mac OS X Tiger server. But you can also set it up on an ISP’s server if the server meets the minimum system requirements. I was able to set it up, for example, on a GoDaddy.com hosting account. A WordPress server installation is a costlier and more complex way to use WordPress, but it does give you complete control over the way your WordPress-based Web site looks and works. Only through a server installation can you fully customize theme files and install WordPress plugins.

No matter how you set up your WordPress blog, it’s easy to create blog entries and static pages. Just use a Web-based form with just about any Web browser — I prefer Firefox — to compose and edit content. The blog’s administrative interface gives you access to all the tools you need to set up categories, moderate comments, add links and blogrolls, and manage user accounts. WordPress.com server installations support multiple blogger accounts for a blog, making it great for a site that’s built and maintained by multiple people. Content appears online immediately, as soon as it’s published.

It’s also easy for blog readers to enter comments about your entries — if you allow commenting. This creates a dialog between you, the blogger, and your readers. (A two-edged sword sometimes!) Both types of WordPress installations have comment spam prevention tools, so you don’t have to worry much about comment spam.

There are millions of blogs out there, millions of bloggers sharing their thoughts with readers. If you’ve always wanted to be one, why wait? Visit WordPress.com to get started.

But if you’re like me and are just looking for that perfect Web publishing tool to make your sites easy to build, customize, and manage, a WordPress server installation may be just what you need.