23 Oct 09 Windows 7 is out, new tutorial, and site restructure
Windows 7 Released
Windows 7 was officially released yesterday and was the buzz on many blogs. I didn’t realize that people had operating system launch parties but hey, some people need any excuse to drink! Besides, that Windows cake looks tasty.
I’ll be upgrading soon, just because I like to have the latest version. I stuck with XP for years (after sticking with Windows ME for years, wow!) and switched to Vista with my new PC a few months ago. People are hopeful about Windows 7 — hopefully it works out better than the Vista release did.
New Tutorial
I added one new tutorial this week: PHP Function Return Values.
Site Restructure
In Wordpress, you have Posts and Pages. Posts are used for blogging and Pages are used for static content, like an About or Contact page. I’ve been using the Pages to post my tutorials, but I thought about it and decided I’ll switch to using the Posts for them.
This will allow new tutorials to show up in the blog feed instead of requiring me to make a special post about the new pages on the site. I don’t know why I didn’t think about this to begin with, but it should be better for all you readers out there!
12 Oct 09 PHP Function Tutorials
Just added two new tutorials about creating and using functions in PHP. I’m still working on another one or two tutorials about functions in specific. Functions are so powerful and important in PHP that I could probably write dozens of articles about them, but these first few tutorials will give beginners what they need to know.
Here’s the first two:
1. PHP Function
A function allows you to reuse a block of code throughout your application.
2. PHP More With Functions
Continue learning more about the power of PHP functions.
These are listed in our Building PHP Scripts, along with most of our tutorials.
04 Oct 09 New PHP troubleshooting section open
I just finished the first article for our PHP Debugging and Troubleshooting section. It is titled Common Beginner PHP Mistakes. Check it out!
I’ve also added the PHP Continue and PHP Break tutorials to the Building PHP Scripts section.
Next I’ll write some tutorials about functions. Then we’ll probably move onto MySQL stuff and start building some basic applications.
10 Sep 09 WordPress plugins used on this site
As a guy who has been using Drupal for the past year, I’m very impressed with how easy it is to install Wordpress plugins. I hope other CMS/blog developers follow their example.
Here’s a quick summary of what plugins I decided to use and what they do.
Akismet
Many Wordpress blogs use this to keep comment spam away. I do too.
All in One SEO Pack
This plugin makes it easier to add TITLE and DESCRIPTION tags to my posts, among other things that search engine appreciate.
Broken Link Checker
Checks my site for any broken links. Very helpful.
FeedBurner
Improved RSS feeds for myself and my visitors.
Google Analytics
Site statistics. Tells me where you people coming from!
Google XML
Makes a XML sitemap of my site. Useful for search engines to find your pages.
p2pConverter
Lets me easily convert posts to pages, or vice versa. I used this in the beginning when I wanted to convert many posts to pages, but I’ve left it installed in case I need it in future.
ShareThis
See the little ShareThis link at the bottom of this post? That’s what this does.
WordPress Mobile Edition (currently deactivated)
This will help my site look better on mobile phone browsers. I still need to tinker with it.
WP-Print (deactivated)
Useful for creating printer-friendly version of your pages. I haven’t activated this one yet but I plan to in the future.
WP-Syntax
Gives my PHP syntax the pretty colors that you see. Helps with understanding and reading code.
WP Ajax Edit Comments
This allows visitors to edit their comments if needed. Many times I wished I could edit my comment and fix a typo!
WP Super Cache (deactivated)
Gives your site a big speed boost by caching pages. I will probably turn this on eventually, provided my server supports what it needs.
07 Sep 09 Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Since I’ve got around 30 pages on the site to begin with, I decided to spend this week focusing on search engine optimization (SEO) and installing useful Wordpress plugins. I figured this is something I should do “right” from the beginning.
My first adventure in SEO land was many years ago when I created my Mario Kart fan site. I didn’t know much, but by following the advice from SelfPromotion.com, I eventually rose to #1 in Google for the keywords “mario kart” and stayed there for a very long time. My ranking has dropped since I began neglecting the site and quit my partnership with Gamespy.com, but I still rank high on searches for “mario kart tips”, among others.
I’ve read dozens of articles and skimmed through many books lately, and I must say I’m a little disappointed. I feel there’s a lot of fluff about SEO out there. After all these years, all I really needed to know was found on SelfPromotion. Neil Patel also wrote a nice article for Wordpress blogs.
Overall, things haven’t changed much. You have your basic strategy of keywords, your usage of META tags, and some other things. Beyond that, the secret to success is creating useful content and getting involved with your chosen community. So this is what I’ll be focusing on.
Tags: engine, optimization, search, seo
PHP Beginner Tutorials
