The reason I came to WordCamp was because The Matt Mullenweg‘s going to be there and the event’s all about WordPress, which is only my favorite blogging platform. Because of WordPress, I have a freelance job at E.Webscapes. I’m not gonna deny it, the money is good in the blog design industry. Thank you, Matt, for WordPress!

These three girls are witnesses to my being a pathetic fangirl last weekend. I’ve been wanting to talk to Matt the whole day of Saturday, not just for a small talk but to really converse with him about WordPress. I actually have a lot of questions for him (which I was too chicken to ask in front of everyone in the Q & A). But because there was very little chance I can approach him and because I’m actually very shy (I really am!), having one two photos with him and getting him to sign my WordPress for Dummies that Lisa gave me should be enough to make me all giddy! IT’S MATT MULLENWEG, GUYS!

Aside from wanting to see Matt in person, I also went to WordCamp to be with my blogger friends and to meet new people. I got to meet these awesome bloggers in person: Julie (and hubby), Ia, Jeric, Carlo, Karla, Marc, Helga (and lover), Ade, and Peter — and some familiar faces: Ganns, Normi, Romzkee (and Manny), Tina, Red, Jeff, and LA. I wish I brought my dSLR so I could have taken better pictures, but I didn’t want to have to lug it around with me the whole day.

Having said all that, evidently, I did enjoy my time at WordCamp. I do have some comments about some people there but I’ve decided to just forget about it. Let bygones be bygones! Check out the pictures below.

Btw, I’m so looking forward to WordPress 2.7 in November! The new features rock!

When I found out this morning that I have to write a post about the WordCamp I honestly hesitated for a bit (coz I was lazy). Then I realized that the event is completely free and writing this post is the least I can do for them. Heh. Beggars can’t be choosers. And I do love WordPress to bits!

The first WordCamp Philippines will be on September 6, 2008 at the Augusto-Rosario Gonzalez Theater in the College of St. Benilde (Taft Ave., Manila). Both WordPress and non-WordPress users are encouraged to come. The following are the topics that the organizers are considering:

• Blogging 102 – Basics & Beyond
• Other Ways to Use WordPress
• Video and Mobile Blogging
• Cascading Style Sheets
• Blog Monetization
• Migrating to WordPress
• Organizing / Optimizing Your WordPress Blog
• Advanced WordPress Management
• Developing WP Plugins / Best Practices in PHP Coding
• Designing WP Themes
• WordPress & SEO
• WordPress E-commerce Site
• Configuring & Deploying WordPress MU
• Developing WP Aggregator Sites
• WordPress Security / Anti-Hacking Techniques
• WP Development Ethics
• Microformats

And here’s the list of sponsors:

• i.PH: the Domain for Individuals
• Free Online Flash Games
• Wazzup Manila Philippines
• Real Estate CRM
• Real Estate Website Designers
• Orange County Real Estate
• Auto Insurance Quotes
• Lane Systems Inc.
• RedMedia
• Orange County Business Lawyer
• Cebu Pacific Air
• Buddy Gancenia Reality TV
• SmartBro Wireless Broadband
• SPOT.ph
• Make Money with Performancing Ads

This is one blogger event that I definitely don’t wanna miss! See you in September! Sign up today.

What’s even greater about this Live Writer is you can connect directly to your WordPress.com or self-hosted WordPress.org blog (just enter your login details in the configuration popup screen) then it copies your “Weblog Style” so you can see the actual layout of your post while you’re typing. Here’s a screenshot of my Live Writer:

Pretty nifty, huh? You can can also choose the Web Preview option:

It’s packed, of course, with all the other useful blogging thingamajigs like “Save Draft”, “Spell Check”, “Insert Picture, Hyperlink, Table, Map, Tags, Video”, “HTML Code Editor”, and more. It also provides the quick links to your blog and your Dashboard on the left side of the screen, and it automatically uploads the images on your post to the “Uploads” folder in your server.

Windows Live Writer can be downloaded FREE from this page. Read more about it here. I tried to install Live Writer on my PC in the office, but apparently it doesn’t work with MS Office 2003. I’m not sure what it actually requires, but it works well with the MS Office 2007 on my laptop.

Evidently, Live Writer is only for PC users. Mac users can enjoy the same capabilities by purchasing MarsEdit at $29.95 with a free 30 day trial.

Btw, I got this desktop blogging idea here. This is not a sponsored post!

I’m working on 3 projects this month — well, 4 if I include a personal project, heh. It’s a huge weight off my shoulders that I’m almost done with one of them. I’m not really given deadlines but I have this schedule I usually set for myself that I try to keep pace with. That way, I don’t go insane and I still get to complete them on time. Lol.

Anyway, I just wanted to update this blog (coz I really got nothing else to write about) so let me share this one project that I’ve almost completed. Check out what I’ve done so far. Actually, I only came up with the design and WordPress functionality. The brownish header on top was cropped from its previous layout like the client wanted. Good thing Sheena, the website owner, is already familiar with WordPress and html so she was able to tweak the sidebar all on her own. She got the hang of it really quickly. She’s even adding new stuff every minute! (Although I’m not too happy about the extra codes, they’re throwing xhtml errors all over the place. Oh well, it was valid when I was done with it, lol.)

The client wanted a “tropical”, magazine-style type of theme (and lots of green and brown!), and fortunately I was able to hit the nail on the head on my first try. Check out her blog sometime: kauairentals.biz.

One (almost) down, two to go!

So to you, Dino, who’s anticipating this post — here it is!

The Registry Notice was delivered to our apartment yesterday, and today my dad claimed the parcel at the Post Office for me. So yay, I finally received my copy of WordPress for Dummies that Lisa sent!

A personally signed WordPress for Dummies! W00t! Thanks, Lisa.

The package arrived in the Philippines last November 23, but it took the postman 17 friggin’ days to show up on my doorstep. Why am I not surprised?

Anyway, that doesn’t matter anymore. I’m just glad it’s here. I haven’t read the book but I’ve been browsing through it since I held it in my hands a few hours ago, hehe. Contrary to popular belief — and, well, the book title itself — I don’t think the book is just for dummies. I’ve been studying and tweaking WordPress for almost two years now yet there’s still a lot about it that I don’t know. I usually consult The Codex or bug some people whenever I encounter a problem but now I’m glad that I actually have pages to turn (and sentences to highlight) to make bookmarking for future reference easier. The book does not only contain basic stuff about WordPress but also a comprehensive list of template tags, PHP commands, scripts, parameters, and more customization guide that I personally find very useful.

I haven’t tried setting up WordPress MU yet. But if I have to, I know now where to run!

Fine, I admit it. I AM A DUMMY! Lol.

Let me just say that I think Lisa did an awesome job with WordPress for Dummies. I’m amazed at how she was able to compile this enormous amount of data to create a wonderfully written WordPress guide. It’s truly an honor to be working for a professional blog designer like her. I hope that in 10 years I could at least be half as good as the Lisa Sabin-Wilson. And in 20 years, if I’m luckier, I can be one-third as good as the Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress… I WISH!!

As Lisa mentioned, WordPress for Dummies is the #1 bestseller in the Blogging & Books category on Amazon today. Congratulations, Lisa! And to Nika, for winning a signed copy.

Now if I can just get my hands on that CSS for Dummies, I can finally move past my “dummy” blog designer state! Haha

Anyway, I have a blog to customize and a WordPress book to read. Why don’t you get your own WordPress for Dummies copy today?

After months of waiting, the official WordPress for Dummies book by Lisa Sabin-Wilson is now available! You can get it at Amazon.com, Barnes and Nobel, Books-A-Million, Dummies.Com and Wiley.Com. But if you can’t wait for the book to be shipped, you can just get the e-book version from Wiley.com. Download the book’s teaser here.

About the WordPress for Dummies Book:

WordPress is one of the most popular blogging tools available, with over a million registered bloggers, and climbing! This all-new Dummies guide delivers just what would-be bloggers need to get up and running with WordPress and start communicating with the world. WordPress For Dummies covers blogging basics, choosing a hosting solution or setting up a host, developing blog content, syndicating blog posts with RSS, launching a specialized blog (including podcasting, photoblogging, mobile blogging, and videoblogging), and even earning revenue. It includes help on every aspect of installing and using WordPress, illustrations from real-world WordPress blogs, step-by-step tutorials on key topics, and insights from bloggers who use WordPress. (Read more)

Incidentally, the author, Lisa Sabin-Wilson, is also my boss at E.Webscapes Blog Design Studio. EW is just the best online company to work for with the most supportive co-designers and developers who are ready to go off their way to help you if you need it. It’s also a very organized place so if you’re looking into having a custom WordPress theme with your own specs, functionality, and other ideas in mind, you can request a blog design quote and have the chance to work with professional people *ahem*. At E.Webscapes, it’s not just about the design, but it’s also about establishing the overall functionality and flexibility of your WordPress blog, official website, or e-commerce site.

Win a copy of WordPress for Dummies

Anyway, if you’d rather not purchase the WordPress for Dummies book, there are ways that you can get it for free. One is at Leanne’s blog where she’s having a Pumpkin Carving Contest. This contest is perfect if you had just carved a fancy-looking pumpkin for Halloween and would want to put the thing to good use. Heh. You only need to take a photo of your pumpkin and submit your carving there. She will then post it on her blog and the owner of the pumpkin that gets the most votes will win a free autographed copy of WordPress for Dummies! The Pumpkin Carving Contest will end on the 31st, so if you’re interested in joining, you better pimp that pumpkin and set it up for a photoshoot today. (Read more about the contest)

But wait there’s more! You can also get the chance to win a free autographed copy of WordPress for Dummies at Lisa’s blog. She’s celebrating her 5th Blogiversary (Check it out – she mentioned me in her post! Lol) and she’s giving away 5 copies so you have more chances at winning. To join, you only need to:

Make a post on your blog about how WordPress has helped, or harmed, you with your blog. Include plugins you use, themes you use, stuff you’ve learned, opportunities you’ve taken.. people you’ve met. (Read more about the contest)

Just to be clear, I did NOT write this post as a contest entry. I just thought I’d help promote the contest. And I don’t think I’m eligible to join given I work for her and all, haha. Besides, I was promised I’d be sent my own autographed copy soon. *Hint hint*

I know of another upcoming contest that’s giving away a copy of WordPress for Dummies too, but I’m in no position to spill the beans, so, just watch out for that blogger’s announcement. Hehe.

Then again if you’re not up to joining these blog contests and you’ve got the moolah, you can always get your own copy directly.

Incompatible Plugins

My decision to go ahead without testing it was obviously a bad one as there were errors that appeared in my blog the moment I upgraded it. But it was only for about 10 minutes, nothing too complicated that I couldn’t fix. Besides, WordPress 2.3 has an update notification, so there’s really no need to panic. The update notification is found in the Plugins menu in your WP 2.3 dashboard. If there’s a plugin that needs updating, you will see a note and a link just below the outdated plugin that says: “There is a new version of [Plugin Name] available. Download [latest version link] here.” Just click on those links, download the latest version of your favorite plugins, delete the old plugins via FTP, upload the new ones, and activate them in your admin panel.

Here’s the list of plugins that I needed to upgrade:

1. Full Text Feed by Cavemonkey
2. Get Recent Comments by Krischan Jodies
3. Google XML Sitemaps by Arne Brachhold – The previous version of this caused an error in my blog and in my dashboard. Make sure you deactivate yours first.
4. Another WordPress Meta Plugin by uberdose – Although this one had an updated plugin, I decided to switch to All-in-one SEO Pack instead.
5. Sideblog WordPress Plugin by Kates Gasis
6. WP-PostViews and WP-UserOnline by Lester ‘GaMerZ’ Chan.
7. Subscribe to Comments by Mark Jaquith
8. Headlines Images by Brian “ColdForged” Dupuis – This one doesn’t have an updated version so I had to get rid of it. I hated to see it go, but it’s not like it played a vital role in my blog layout. I’ll just replace it with the same kind of plugin next time.

It’s a must that you deactivate all your plugins first before you upgrade to WP 2.3 as what those pros have been mentioning in their blogs over and over again. But I also know that there are cases when the deactivation of a plugin is the one that’s causing an error. This is where the “If” PHP statement before your plugin command tags comes in handy. To be safe, make sure all the plugin tags in your blog layout are within these conditional tags:

<?php if (function_exists('insert-plugin-name-here')) { ?>
insert-plugin-php-tag-here
<?php } ?>


or simply:

<?php if(function_exists('insert-plugin-name-here')) { insert-plugin-command-tag-here(); } ?>

Here’s a working example with plugin the_views:

<?php if (function_exists('the_views')) { ?>
<?php the_views(); ?>
<?php } ?>

or simply:

<?php if(function_exists('the_views')) { the_views(); } ?>

Hopefully, once you’ve got all your plugin command tags covered, there will be no error when you deactivate all your plugins and do the upgrade.

Adding WordPress 2.3 Tags to your Theme

One of the features of WP 2.3 that I was looking forward to try was the built-in tagging function. I honestly thought it makes use of Technorati tags, but I was wrong. Apparently, the developers of WP have moved away from favoring Technorati that even the “Incoming Links” feed in the admin panel is no longer supplied by Technorati, but Google Blog Search. In my opinion, Google Blog Search is more efficient in fetching my blog’s trackbacks or pingbacks, but I still find Technorati’s listing of all my blog’s backlinks (and not just pingbacks) useful. But OK – whatever. I don’t really need to see Technorati feeds in my dashboard. I can just go directly to their website.

Anyway, in order for you to make your WordPress 2.3 tags appear within your posts (I have mine at the bottom of this post), you need to modify your current theme’s index.php and/or single.php, depending on where you want the tags to show up. The PHP command tag is just a one-liner, and it should be placed inside The Loop. This is the format I used:

<?php the_tags(); ?>


After you’ve placed that one line inside The Loop, you can then make use of the tag feature whenever you write a post. You will find the “Tags” field just below your WYSIWYG or code editor. To learn more about adding and customizing your WordPress 2.3 tags, go here and here.

Good luck!

Anyway I decided that this blog needs an overhaul. I’ve been working on this layout since last week but because I’m finally paying the price of my being in front of the computer 14 hours a day (give or take a few) which caused my back to ache like crazy, I wasn’t able to finish this as soon as I hoped. It’s nothing fancy but I’m sure the fresh look would do everyone good, especially me who, after some time, gets tired of the same old design.

Thanks to Deej my laptop is working almost as good as new again! I should have asked him to reformat the darn thing a long time ago. I may be a borderline computer geek, but I’m a loser when it comes to hardware stuff.

The title of this new theme Just A Little is a line from Bethany Joy Galeotti‘s song “Let Me Fall“. You can play the audio player at the bottom of this post to hear it.

Let’s see.. I’ve been mentioning how I love her songs in the past few blog posts.. I even embedded an MP3 of When The Stars Go Blue in one entry.. Hmm, can you guess the songs that are playing on my media player at work over and over again for the past two months?

Speaking of Bethany Joy Galeotti, One Tree Hill Season 4 has finally come to an end. It’s a little surprising that they didn’t put more cliffhangers on the finale episode like they did the past 3 seasons, but — oh well. I’m still gonna catch the 5th season, if there’s a 5th season. Here’s the summary of the last episode:

Dan (Paul Johansson) must face the harsh consequences of his decision to murder Keith as Karen (Moira Kelly) and Haley’s (Bethany Joy Galeotti’s) pregnancies complicate the lives of Nathan (James Lafferty) and the graduating seniors of Tree Hill High.

Lucas (Chad Michael Murray) wrestles with his post-high school options, and Peyton (Hilarie Burton) and Brooke (Sophia Bush) prepare to spend the summer in Los Angeles together.

Oookay. How did the subject on blog overhaul suddenly segue into a One Tree Hill update? Talk about incoherence.

Let Me Fall
[audio:LetMeFall_BethanyJoyLenz.mp3]

• Since WordPress is Open-Source, it is FREE! Just go to their website, download the latest WordPress version, and install it in your own server. But if your hosting offers the Fantastico commercial script library, then you can just perform a WordPress one-click installation from your CPanel.
• There are tons of free themes to choose from! Web Tools Collection and the Theme Viewer have awesome WordPress themes selection.
• The many, many plugins (and continuously growing in number) are free for everyone to use. Plugins are my personal favorite. They make a blog more usable, accessible, highly customizable, and of course, fun! For a long list of working plugins, I recommend the WordPress Plugin Database.
• WordPress adheres to W3C standards for XHTML and CSS. If your blog has valid XHTML and CSS, it will most likely appear all right when viewed using different standard-compliant browsers.
• With WordPress, you have the freedom to set the categories of your posts (add / delete / edit) and there’s no limit!
• Once you’ve successfully installed WordPress, the standard RSS and Atom configurations for feed readers or Aggregators are automatically good to go.
• WordPress has a built-in trackback or pingback feature. Trackbacks or pingbacks lets another website know that your blog has an entry that references that particular website, and vice versa (It also notifies you when another website used your blog as reference).
• WordPress has the Codex! The WordPress Codex is a comprehensive tutorial website that helps you with everything you need to know to tweak your blog. I also find myself coming back to explore the Codex once in a while when I need something or when a client requests for a specific thing to appear in his or her blog.
• WordPress is not only for “blogging”. Since it’s a CMS, it’s also useful for corporate websites that need regular website updates. You can actually modify WordPress to not appear like a blog.
• Best of all, WordPress has a large user community. When you’re part of this community, you can be sure that interaction with other bloggers is easier and faster.

I’ve been using WordPress for more than a year now and I can say that I’m very pleased with it. WordPress allows me to have full control over my website. Whatever I need or want to do, there is almost always a solution.

And here’s something exciting: Ever since I set up my personal blog with WordPress, I’ve been able to (slowly but effectively) improve it in terms of backlinks, unique visits and page views, readership (well, not really. lol) and search-engine friendliness. I’m happy that my blog has reached that certain level of “worth” some advertisers are looking for. Thanks to my blog (which is powered by WordPress) I’ve been making some moolah on the side.

WordPress database error: [Can't open file: 'wp_comments.MYI' (errno: 144)]
SELECT * FROM wp_comments WHERE comment_post_ID = '331' AND comment_approved = '1' ORDER BY comment_date

And because I’m actually very ignorant when it comes to WordPress codes and databases, I sort of panicked and started re-uploading some files. Then I stopped trying before I’ll completely ruined my blog and went to bed. Fortunately, Lisa, THE ULTIMATE WORDPRESS GURU, was kind enough to lend me a hand. She helped me fix my database (well, actually I did nothing except give her an access to my cpanel, lol) and ta-dah! She got it fixed!

I don’t know how she did it exactly, but she successfully repaired the comments table in my database. Apparently, she already discussed this database problem before on her blog. She enumerated recommendations for WordPress users to avoid this kind of problem:

• Use Akismet for spam protection. Use it in conjunction with other spam protection plugins if you don’t feel like putting all your comment spam fighting eggs in one basket. Akismet has proven to be a phenomenal tool at killing spam….dead
• Manage your spam. If you’re not using Akismet (Akismet automatically deletes spam comments every 15 days) – then make sure you’re not ignoring those comment/trackback spams that are sitting in your moderation queue or whatever queue you may be using for comment spam control. Don’t let them build up and fester in your database. Make it a habit to get rid of them on a regular basis to avoid database bloat
• Make it regular habit to make a backup of your WordPress database. Doing this couldn’t be easier – especially if you use The WordPress Database Backup Plugin – - for which you can find the support forums for right here. If you have CPanel, or whatever website admin. tool your web host gives you, you can create database, and full account, backups there. You can also create a backup if your web host gives you access to phpMyAdmin – - some good instructions on how to do that can be found in the WordPress Codex.

The problem that occured is a bit strange because I have Akismet installed on my blog and I don’t have comments awaiting moderation (I think). But there’s definitely something that I failed to do, I just don’t know what it is. Haha.

Click to read more about this WordPress database error.

So, what are you waiting for? Install Akismet, moderate those comments, and perform a WordPress database backup today you lazy dog! :p