In early August, I was interviewed by MacVoices producer Chuck Joiner about my new Lynda.com course covering WordPress.com, WordPress.com Essential Training. The interview went live today. You can read about the interview, access related links and listen to our conversation on the MacVoices Web site.

MacVoices, by the way, is available as a podcast. It’s a great way to get news about new Mac products delivered to iTunes and your iPod. If you haven’t checked it out yet, please do! I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

I’ve been doing a lot of work with WordPress.com lately, preparing some new training material to cover the new features and revised administrator interface. Part of my new material is a list of tips for WordPress.com bloggers who want to attract more readers. Here’s the list:

• Create original, well-written content. Too many blogs just rehash what’s already out there on the Web. But if your content is new and original, you’re more likely to attract readers who want fresh information or a different, independent point of view.
• Blog regularly. If you’re serious about attracting readers, you’ll need to post new content at least a few times a week. Be committed and you’ll be rewarded with a strong following.
• Stay focused. Studies have shown that popular blogs have one thing in common: they focus on a limited number of topics. Readers find this attractive because they know that if one of your posts interests them, they’re likely to find other posts that also interest them. This simply isn’t true if your blog covers a very wide range of topics.
• Comment on other people’s blogs. When you comment, you often have the opportunity to include a link to your site. If your comment is thoughtful and appropriate, you might encourage others to come visit your site.
• Share your blog URL everywhere you can. Three good places is on business cards, letterhead, and your e-mail signature. I bet you can think of a few more places if you try hard enough.
• Use appropriate keywords in your blog posts. Key words are picked up by WordPress.com. If you apply an appropriate keyword, WordPress.com visitors may discover your blog when exploring a keyword.
• Enable the Related Links extras feature of WordPress. This includes your blog among those blogs that can appear in related posts list on other WordPress.com blogs.

What do you think? Can you apply these tips to your blogging activity?

One of the challenges of keeping a WordPress blog running smoothly is making sure all installed plugins are updated promptly when new versions become available. WordPress 2.5 makes this easier than ever by adding an Automatic Upgrade feature.

As shown in the following illustration, the a note in the Plugin Management administration panel indicates that the Bad Behavior plugin (which I rely on to keep the spambots off my blogs) has been updated.

I have two options for bringing my blog up to date:

• Download version takes me to the Bad Behavior page on the WordPress.org’s Plugin Directory so I can read about and download the update. This functionality has been around for a while — at least since WordPress 2.3 — with all plugins that support it.
• Upgrade automatically takes the update process a step further. When I click this link, WordPress automatically downloads, uncompresses and installs the new version of the plugin for me. It displays its progress as it works, as shown here, and confirms that the upgrade has been successful.

I’ve been using this new feature for a few weeks now and it’s worked like a charm. It’s a heck of a lot easier than upgrading the old fashioned way.

Displaying a list of your recent Viddler videos in your WordPress blog.

If you start using Viddler regularly — either to create video blog entries as discussed in the previous article of this series or to simply get video content online — you might want to make those videos accessible from within your WordPress blog. Fortunately, there’s a WordPress plugin that makes this very easy: viddlerRSS.

The ViddlerRSS plugin works like most other WordPress plugins. Drop it in your plugins folder and activate it. (You can learn more about how to do that in our WordPress book, so don’t expect to find details here.) Then open your WordPress dashboard and choose Options > viddlerRSS. Enter your Username in the appropriate box, select the number of videos to display and, if desired, enter the HTML code you want before and after each video thumbnail. Then click Update viddlerRSS.

Now roll up your sleeves and open the template file where you want to insert the Viddler video thumbnails. (Need help modifying theme files? You can learn about that to do that in our WordPress book, too.) In most cases, this will be your sidebar.php template. Insert the following code into the file where you want the thumbnails to appear: <?php get_viddlerrss(); ?>

Or you can get fancy like I did and put some intelligence into it, in case you ever need to disable the viddlerRSS plugin. Here’s the code I use, which includes a heading and other formatting settings:

<?php if (function_exists('get_viddlerrss')) { ?>
<li>
<h2>My Latest Viddler Videos</h2>
<?php get_viddlerrss(); ?>
</li>
<?php } ?>

Save the changes to your template file.

Now check your blog to see the results of your efforts. As shown here, I’ve got viddlerRSS set up to display thumbnails for my most recent three videos in my blog’s sidebar. Pointing to a video’s thumbnail displays the title of the video, which can help people decide whether they want to view it. Clicking a thumbnail image opens the video on the Viddler site.

Easy enough, right?

The next (and last) article in this series will explain how you can include a video commenting feature in your WordPress blog. Stay tuned!

Just a quick note to let you know that my most recent article for Peachpit’s Web site, “How to Embed a QuickTime Movie in a Web Page or Blog Post” is now online. The article is free and illustrated. I think you’ll enjoy it.

Recording and posting a video.

If you have a camera — like a built-in iSight, WebCam, or DV camera connected via a cable — you can record video using tools on the Viddler site. This is probably the fastest and easiest way to get a video blog entry recorded and online.

Recording a Video

Here are the steps to record a video:

1. Log into your Viddler account at http://www.viddler.com/.
2. Click the Record button in the green navigation bar (or elsewhere, wherever you see it).
3. The Record from WebCam screen appears with an Adobe Flash Player Settings dialog atop it. Click the Allow button so Flash can access your audio and video input devices.
   
4. In the Select Quality dialog, choose an option suited to your connection speed. I usually choose Medium because I have a relatively slow (512 Kbps) Internet connection. Then click Okay.The screen should show an image of whatever your connected camera is looking at. In my case, I’m using a built-in iSight Camera on my 24-inch iMac, so it’s looking at me:
   
5. Check the Audio, Video, and Quality settings. In the illustration above, it’s using my externally connected iSight for audio, which is wrong. I want it to use the Built-in Microphone, so I select it from the pop-up menu. My built-in iSight camera is identified as a USB Video Class Video — it works, so I won’t argue. I believe the external iSight connected to my computer does not appear in the menu because it’s being used by other software (Evocam, which produces my WebCam).
6. When you’re ready to record, click the red Record button. The status bar animates with a diagonal red stripe as you record. When you’re finished, click the Red button again.
7. Wait while Viddler saves your video. It’ll display a status arrow thingie as it works. When it’s finished, it shows the poster frame of the video. If you wait long enough, it’ll play back to you:
   
8. If you like what you see, click the Save button. If you don’t, hit that red Record button again to discard the video and record a new one.

Please remember that I simply cannot provide details about every single camera that you might be using with your computer and I can’t offer troubleshooting assistance if you can’t get this to work. If you have problems, consult Viddler’s online support options. Although you can post a question in this post’s Comments, be aware that I won’t reply if I don’t have an answer. Someone else, however, may have the information you seek.

Setting Video Options

When you save a video, it appears in a Recorded video window:

There are a few things you should set for it:

• Click the Edit link beside the name of the video (”Recorded video”) and enter a more appropriate name for the video. Don’t forget to click the Save link beneath the new name to save it.
• If desired, enter tags in the Tags field on the right side of the video. You’ll need to enter each tag separately and click the Add Tag button after each one. (I’m not big on tagging, so I don’t usually do this.)
• Under Sharing Options, choose Everyone. After all, if you’re going to put this on your blog, you want everyone to be able to see it, right? If a Save Changes button appears there, be sure to click it.

Posting the Video on Your Blog

This is where the setup covered in Part II of this series pays off.

1. Click the Blog This button under the video.
2. In the list of blogs that appears beneath the video, click the link for the blog you want to add it to.
3. Fill in the blog post form that appears:
   
   The title will be the title of the blog post. The Post is the text that will appear in the post with the video. (I got fancy with some HTML to link to the first blog post in this series.) You can select a radio button at the bottom of the form to determine whether the video should appear above or below the post text. (I usually choose below.)
4. Click the Send button. A message should confirm that the video has been successfully posted to your blog. Here’s what mine looks like:
   

Now wasn’t that easy?

I should note here that you can use the Blog This button under any public video you see on the Viddler site. So if another Viddler user creates a cool video you want to share with your blog’s readers, you can add it to your blog, along with some comments, as discussed here.

Next up: Displaying an archive of your recent Viddler videos in your WordPress blog.

Setting blog options on Viddler.

Once you’ve set up your Viddler account, you’re ready to set a few options that’ll make blogging from it easy.

1. Log into your Viddler account at http://www.viddler.com/.
2. Click the Options button near the top of the page, under the “Hello, yourname” greeting.
3. In the Account Options screen, click the Blog Settings link. You should see something like this, although there won’t be any blogs listed for you.
   
4. Click the + Add Blog button to display configuration fields.
5. Enter your blog’s name in the Blog Name box and select the type of blog from the Blog Type drop-down list. The entry area expands to offer options applicable to your type of blog. Here’s what it looks like for a WordPress blog:
   
6. Fill in the rest of the fields. The Blog API Endpoint is the URL to your blog’s Home page followed by /xmlrpc.php. You should know the Username and Password.
7. To prevent having to enter your password every time you send a Viddler video to your blog, turn on the Remember Password button.
8. Click Submit.
9. Viddler checks the information you entered. If it is correct and provides access to your blog, a green “Success!” message appears. Click the Awesome button. The blog is added to a list under Your Blogs.

You can repeat this process for as many blogs as you have access to. And, as you may have noticed, Viddler supports many different blog types, including TypePad, Blogger, Movable Type, Manilla, and Vox. So even if you’re not a WordPress user, you can use this feature. And yes, it does work with WordPress.com based blogs — not just the server install blogs.

What does this do for you? It sets up your account so that whenever you see a Viddler video that you want to embed in your blog, your account information is already provided and you’re good to go.

Next up: Recording a video on Viddler.

What’s this all about?

One of the things I’ve been following from arm’s length is the audio and video blogging phenomena. I’m talking about sites like Utterz, Seesmic, and Viddler.

I’ve tried all three and until I tried Viddler, I couldn’t get excited about any of them. But Viddler has a few features that make video blogging easy and fun — primarily because it works so well with WordPress.

In this series of articles, I’ll explain how you can use Viddler to create video content with any compatible camera attached to your computer and get that content on your blog. And, if you’re a WordPress user, I’ll tell you about two Viddler plugins you can use to make it easy for your blog readers to find your video content on Viddler — even if you didn’t post it on your blog — and even leave video comments for you.

What is Viddler?

Viddler is an online service that enables you to upload or record videos that can then be shared with others. It’s a bit like YouTube, only classier and used by people who want to communicate rather than show off entertainment-based content.

At least that’s my take on it.

Viddler uses Flash to capture video from a camera attached to your computer. It works great with my iMac’s built-in iSight camera and microphone, as well as the iMage camera I bought for traveling with my old PowerBook.

But you don’t have to capture video directly to Viddler. You can take an existing video file and upload it. Viddler supports .mov, .mpg, .wmv, .avi, and .m4v formats. You can’t, however, upload television shows or other material that’s likely to be copyrighted. Viddler doesn’t have the same deep pockets as YouTube and probably doesn’t want to be sued. Besides, you shouldn’t be sharing that stuff anyway.

Once content is on Viddler’s server, it can be set as private, public, or available to just your friends. (Like most social networking sites, you can create a network of friends to share videos you don’t want the general public to see.) You can also share your videos with others on other social networking sites or by embedding them in your blog or e-mail messages.

Getting Started

Of course, to use Viddler, you need an account. Go to http://www.viddler.com/ and click the big green Sign Me Up button. Then follow the prompts to create a user ID and password. You’ll have to provide a real e-mail address, since Viddler will be sending you a confirmation e-mail. Once you get that e-mail, click the link in it to finish setting up your account.

You can now create or upload videos. I’ll discuss both of those tasks in future installments of this series.

Meanwhile, if you have a Viddler account, why not take a moment to share the info about it with us? Use the Comments link or form for this post to provide your Viddler username so we can check out some of your videos.

I use ecto to compose and post entries on my various WordPress blog-based sites, including this one. One of the things I like about ecto is that is stores all of my posts on my computer, so I don’t need to be online to read something I wrote. This is especially useful when I’m using a laptop out on the road. I can write a blog entry offline and even include links to other existing entries on any of my sites and then post it when I have an Internet connection.

I recently upgraded from ecto 2 to ecto 3, which is still in beta (but looking good). Because of some problems with the updater trying to update the old version of ecto, I decided to delete it and its database of entries and stick to ecto 3. I did that one day last week — I think it was Wednesday.

This morning, I woke remembering that the old version of ecto had, in its post database, a post I’d written but never published. It was a lengthy post with images that I really wanted to save for future publication or other use. But with ecto and its database deleted, the post was gone.

Or was it?

I’d bought a 500GB external hard disk and had set it up for use with Time Machine when I installed Leopard on my iMac last fall. Time Machine is designed precisely for situations like this — when you realize that you’ve deleted something you shouldn’t have.

In my situation, I needed to recover the ecto 2 application file and the folder containing the blog post database. I started with the application. I opened the Applications folder on my computer and clicked the Time Machine icon in the Dock. The cool (but rather silly) interface kicked in. I used the timeline on the right side of the screen to scroll back a few days. The ecto file did not appear. I scrolled back a few more days to the middle of last week. When the screen refreshed, the file was there. I selected it and clicked the Restore button. Time Machine closed and the file was copied to my current Applications folder.

I repeated this process for the ecto folder in the Application Support folder.

Then I double-clicked the ecto application, re-entered my registration information, and recovered the “lost” blog post.

Based on this experience, I’m thrilled with Time Machine.

Got any stories about how Time Machine saved your files? Use the Comments link or form for this post. I’m sure others would like to read about them.

Additional Information

You can learn more about Time Machine on pages 126-130 of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard: Visual QuickStart Guide.

Here are the links of interest to readers of my books for the week ending February 9:

• Two New Anti-Scraping WordPress Plugins
  Information about two WordPress Plugins that can help prevent or reduce the negative effects of feed scraping. On PlagiarismToday.
  (tags: wordpress plugins copyright feed plagiarism)
• 5 Steps: How Not to Look Like a Spam Blog
  Great article of tips for legitimate bloggers to build blogs that don’t look like they’re splogs. On PlagiarismToday.
  (tags: splog blogging copyright wordpress)
• How YOU Can Make the Web More Structured
  Tips for using Meta tags to help build an Internet database. On ReadWriteWeb.
  (tags: howto Internet tagging Web2.0 webdesign)
]]> http://www.mariasguides.com/2008/02/11/february-9-links/feed/ http://www.mariasguides.com/2008/02/05/wordpress-233-urgent-security-update/ http://www.mariasguides.com/2008/02/05/wordpress-233-urgent-security-update/#comments Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:52:43 +0000 Maria Langer http://www.mariasguides.com/2008/02/05/wordpress-233-urgent-security-update/ Information from WordPress.org.

WordPress 2.3.3 is an urgent security release. A flaw was found in our XML-RPC implementation such that a specially crafted request would allow any valid user to edit posts of any other user on that blog. In addition to fixing this security flaw, 2.3.3 fixes a few minor bugs. If you are interested only in the security fix, download the fixed version of xmlrpc.php and copy it over your existing xmlrpc.php. Otherwise, you can get the entire release here.

If you run a WordPress server installation, it’s important that you download and install this update now.

]]> http://www.mariasguides.com/2008/02/05/wordpress-233-urgent-security-update/feed/ http://www.mariasguides.com/2008/02/02/february-2-links/ http://www.mariasguides.com/2008/02/02/february-2-links/#comments Sun, 03 Feb 2008 06:59:08 +0000 Maria Langer http://www.mariasguides.com/2008/02/02/february-2-links/ Links worth following.

Here are the links of interest to readers of my books for the week ending February 2:

• Time Wasting Blog Comments, Comments Policies, and Comment Etiquette
  Good article about creating a comment policy on your blog to prevent marketing and time-wasting comments. On The Blog Herald.
  (tags: blogging comment Web2.0 WordPress)
• Increase Page Rank By Revitalizing Your Old Posts
  Another great post for bloggers from the Blog Herald. This one explains why and how to update and revitalize older posts. A must-read for anyone with posts over 2 years old in their blog.
  (tags: blogging Google Web2.0 WordPress SEO)
• What Is Sucking Your Blogging Confidence Away?
  Yet another great post on the Blog Herald about blogging. This one tackles, among other things, handling mean-spirited comments by readers. Apparently, I’m not the only one who deletes them ruthlessly.
  (tags: blogging WordPress comments Web2.0)
• Magnetic websites
  A great post by Miraz Jordan with some easy-to-follow advice for bloggers and Webmasters. On Tikouka.
  (tags: webdesign web advice blogging)
• Introducing Prologue
  Automattic has introduced Prologue for WordPress, which enables WordPress.com users to create a Twitter-like microblogging environment on their blogs. On WordPress.com.
  (tags: wordpress twitter blogging socialnetworking)
• A color toolbox
  Article covers a number of tools you can use to work with colors. On The Unofficial Apple Weblog.
  (tags: design colors MacOS)
]]> http://www.mariasguides.com/2008/02/02/february-2-links/feed/ http://www.mariasguides.com/2008/01/19/january-19-links/ http://www.mariasguides.com/2008/01/19/january-19-links/#comments Sun, 20 Jan 2008 06:59:24 +0000 Maria Langer http://www.mariasguides.com/2008/01/19/january-19-links/ Links worth following.

Here are the links of interest to readers of my books for the week ending January 19:

• Bad Behavior 2.0.11 Wordpress Plugin Blocking Digg Submission
  Excellent article that explains why WordPress blogs can’t be submitted to Digg with Bad Behavior 2.0.11 installed. Includes instructions on how to fix the problem. On GeekTeks.com.
  (tags: wordpress troubleshooting howto digg)
• Nothing A Little Scotch Tape Can’t Fix
  Comic that pokes fun (and a little hole) in the rumored Mac laptop. On Kalbzayn’s World.
  (tags: Apple technology comics funny humor)
]]> http://www.mariasguides.com/2008/01/19/january-19-links/feed/ http://www.mariasguides.com/2008/01/13/bad-behaviordigg-conflict/ http://www.mariasguides.com/2008/01/13/bad-behaviordigg-conflict/#comments Sun, 13 Jan 2008 13:47:51 +0000 Maria Langer http://www.mariasguides.com/2008/01/13/bad-behaviordigg-conflict/ A problem and a fix.

This morning, while experimenting with a Digg link on my personal blog, I got an unusual message from Digg saying:

This link does not appear to be a working link. Please check the URL and try again.

Huh?

The link, of course, was fine. It was a link to the home page of my site.

Why is this a big deal? Well, being “dugg” can increase the amount of attention your Web site gets among blog readers. A well-dugg post can attract many, many hits. Some of those people might turn into regular readers.

(You can read my experiences with being dugg here and here. Although things can get a bit out of control when you end up on Digg’s home page, I lived through it without any permanent damage.)

Since I was on Digg, I decided to do a Digg search for the error message. The article I found, “Bad Behavior 2.0.11 Wordpress Plugin Blocking Digg Submission” on GeekTeks.com answered my question and provided a fix.

Apparently, when the author of Bad Behavior updated his plugin and spam site references, Digg was blocked as a legitimate site. The solution is to add Digg’s IP address to Bad Behavior’s whitelist. I just did this on all sites running Bad Behavior and the problem has gone away.

Miraz and I highly recommend Bad Behavior in our WordPress book. It not only helps prevent spam comments from being posted to your WordPress blog, but it also reduces the amount of hits to your MySQL database, thus reducing site congestion and theoretically speeding up access to your site.

Do you use Bad Behavior 2.0.11? If so, read the above-referenced article and follow its instructions to fix the problem.

]]> http://www.mariasguides.com/2008/01/13/bad-behaviordigg-conflict/feed/ http://www.mariasguides.com/2008/01/13/january-12-links/ http://www.mariasguides.com/2008/01/13/january-12-links/#comments Sun, 13 Jan 2008 13:29:05 +0000 Maria Langer http://www.mariasguides.com/2008/01/13/january-12-links/ Links worth following.

Here are the links of interest to readers of my books for the week ending January 12:

• Your GTD System Isn’t the Problem
  Excellent advice for people trying to implement GTD to be more productive — and not succeeding. On the Cranking Widgets blog.
  (tags: productivity Advice gtd)
• Making the Switch: Going From Partial to Full Feeds
  Good article about switching from partial to full RSS feeds. On PlagiarismToday.com.
  (tags: feed rss blogging)
• A long list of modifier key tricks
  For Mac OS X Tiger; should work in Leopard, too. On MacOSXHints.com.
  (tags: Apple Mac reference tips MacOS)
• Color Wheel Article
  Link to EXCELLENT article, in PDF format, that explains exactly how colors work together. From Before & After magazine.
  (tags: colors design tutorial reference)
• An Interface of One’s Own
  An anti-Word, pro Scrivener piece (of all things!) in the New York Times. By Virginia Heffernan. Thanks to @ev on Twitter for sharing the link.
  (tags: Word Microsoft software Times)
• Goodbye, cruel Word
  Steven Poole no longer uses Microsoft Word. Here’s why.
  (tags: Word microsoft writing journalism software productivity)
• E-book the letter
  Steven Poole lists the features an ebook reader SHOULD have. I think they sound rather familiar, don’t you?
  (tags: Amazon Kindle funny ebooks books reading)
• What to Expect at Macworld
  More rumors of what might be in store for us at Macworld Expo next week. On ReadWriteWeb.
  (tags: Apple MacworldExpo)
• 10 Ways Twitter Can Boost Your Social News Profile
  Some tips for getting more followers on Twitter, which can boost your profile on other Social Networking sites. On ReadWriteWeb.
  (tags: twitter Web2.0 socialnetworking tips)
• Author Uses Amazon Kindle to Beta Test New Book
  Interesting article about using Kindle to publish a book and entice readers to provide feedback to the author. On ReadWriteWeb.
  (tags: Kindle writing publishing ebooks Amazon)
• Twittering without access to Twitter.com
  A how-to piece with suggestions on how you can participate in Twitter when you don’t have access to the Twitter.com Web site. On Twitter Facts.
  (tags: twitter Web2.0 socialnetworking)
• Mac OS X 10.5, iChat: Unable to participate in video conference
  Workaround for problem using video chat feature of iChat with Mac OS X 10.5. On the Apple Support Web site.
  (tags: Apple MacOS Leopard iChat)
• My essential WordPress plugins
  Great post by Miraz Jordan that summarizes her must-have WordPress plugins. I’ll have to do a similar post soon. On the WordPress Visual QuickStart Guide support web site.
  (tags: WordPress plugin Webdesign)
• Why It Won’t Work
  John Scalzi’s take on why the Sony BMG plan to release non-DRM protected music won’t work. I tend to agree with him.
  (tags: DRM sony music download itunes ipod)
• Apples For The Army
  According to this story on Forbes.com, the U.S. Army is adopting Macs to help thwart hackers. Not exactly good news for Mac users — we don’t need to give hackers a reason to go after us — but good for Apple.
  (tags: Mac Macintosh military technology Apple security)
• DUM
  John Gruber’s take on the Kindle. On Daring Fireball.
  (tags: Amazon Kindle publishing ebooks books)
• Sony caves; DRM is dead, dead, dead
  Sony drops DRM. On MacUser.com. Thanks to @dmoren on Twitter for the link.
  (tags: drm music itunes sony)
• iBed
  Humorous photo of a recycled iMac. On I Can Has Cheezburger?
  (tags: funny humor photo imac)
• The Untold Story: How the iPhone Blew Up the Wireless Industry
  Excellent article about the secret history of iPhone development. On Wired.com.
  (tags: wired Apple history iphone)
• A Savvy Approach to Copyright Messaging
  A great tip for helping to protect an image posted on a Web page from being stolen and used by others. By Derek Powazek.
  (tags: copyright Photography photos)
]]> http://www.mariasguides.com/2008/01/13/january-12-links/feed/