One of the reasons SiteGround is my go-to web host for shared hosting of WordPress websites is it’s staging sites feature. However, not every site I work on is hosted on SiteGround or another web host that offers staging. Therefore I was very happy to discover yesterday — way later than I would have liked — a WordPress staging site plugin that has a lot of promise.
Reviews
Articles describing the features, pros, and cons of products or services go here. They can range from intial impressions based on "first looks" to analyses that come from more extensive research and testing.
WordPress Free Booking Plugins Face-Off: Amelia Lite vs. Simply Schedule Appointments
I recently evaluated and compared two free WordPress booking plugins: Amelia Lite (Booking for Appointments and Events Calendar – Amelia); and Simply Schedule Appointments (Appointment Booking Calendar — Simply Schedule Appointments Booking Plugin). Read on for the results of this face-off.
Use FooGallery for WordPress to Show Off Your Stuff
If you have (or are considering building) a WordPress Web site, and if your enterprise revolves around products or services that lend themselves to visual representation, I don’t think you could do much better than choosing the FooGallery WordPress Photo Gallery plugin. The video in this post shows examples of FooGallery in action.
Enhanced Media Library Pro Plugin for WordPress: First Look
While building a WordPress powered e-commerce website for a bridal shop that could have thousands of images to manage, I quickly realized we’d need a much better way to manage images than navigating through hundreds of Media Library screens — especially considering the very limited functionality of the native WordPress Media Library.
I considered several solutions before remembering that I had used the Enhanced Medial Library plugin (free version) on another client site. This is a first look at Enhanced Medial Library Pro (although I suppose it’s also a first look at the free version).
Spoiler alert: For a one-time payment of $25 for unlimited lifetime updates for unlimited sites, you might not have to read past this summary.
(But please do.)
FooGallery Plugin for WordPress: First Look
The demise of the once unrivalled NextGen Gallery plugin for WordPress has nudged me to look for a replacement for several clients’ WordPress Web sites. My criteria for replacement candidates are simple, and I think I may have found it: FooGallery. This article is a first look at this gallery plugin.
Embedded Facebook Posts available to all
As of today, Facebook’s embedded posts feature is available to all Facebook users. This feature allows owners of Web properties (like WordPress Web sites and blogs) to embed Facebook posts into those properties.
One might think, “It’s about time,” since we’ve been able to embed tweets in our Web properties for a long time. But hey, better late than never, right?
Check out this post for a live example.
14 days exploring Pinterest, Day #3
Much of Day #3 in my 14 days exploring Pinterest involved more academic/meta activity: reading about Pinterest. Suddenly struck by the realization that I wasn’t following the very advice I give to every client who has ever asked me how to get started on social networks, I closed most of my browser windows and took actual, concrete (an odd term to use for something on the Internet, no?) steps to end the hypocrisy.
14 days exploring Pinterest, Day #2
Day #2 of my Pinterest exploration. Some assumptions are verified. Searching yields unexpected results. The Help Center is nowhere to be found. “Popular” takes on a new meaning. Don’t surf Pinterest if you’re hungry.
14 days exploring Pinterest, Day #1
Despite the many enthusiastic testimonials I’ve heard and read (or at least seen headlines for in my newsreader) about the power of Pinterest to grow one’s business, I haven’t gotten it yet.
So I’ve decided to embark on a 14-day journey into Pinterest Land. I plan spend at least 24 minutes a day exploring and/or pinning to Pinterest. And I plan to post a daily update documenting my findings and my evolution as a Pinner (is that the right way to say it?). This is my post for Day 1.
Testing Growmap Anti Spambot Plugin
Just installed Growmap Anti Spambot Plugin (G.A.S.P). This blog has been plagued by spambot comments, and I wanted to try something other than Akismet. G.A.S.P. works by adding to the comment form a simple checkbox which must be checked before the comment is accepted. The default prompt for the checkbox is Confirm you are NOT […]