Boutros AbiChedid

How To Build an Authority Website

Wes Burns — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:21:19 +0000

Authority Websites are highly respected in Google and other Search Engines, and owning one makes your life easier. New content is quickly indexed and ranks with little work on your end. You get lots of traffic, you can reach out to thousands of visitors with a single post and you own a truly valuable asset. Authority Websites are powerful and long-lasting. Continue Reading »

How To Obfuscate Email Addresses in WordPress Without a Plugin

Boutros AbiChedid — Sun, 13 May 2012 00:10:58 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you how to Protect email Addresses in WordPress, and prevent email spam with the built-in WordPress antispambot() function. You probably did not know that there is a function in WordPress that automatically obfuscate an email address.

Spam bots are regularly scanning the Web to find emails to spam. But what if you want to display your email, or other Authors´ emails on your WordPress blog? Continue Reading »

How To Create a Variable Length Excerpt in WordPress Without a Plugin

Boutros AbiChedid — Tue, 08 May 2012 12:59:48 +0000

WordPress Excerpt is a summary of your posts. In this tutorial, I will show you how to generate variable Length Excerpt that completes the sentence. Meaning that the Excerpt is not cut off mid-sentence. Also, I will show you how to preserve All, Some or None of the HTML formatting in the Excerpt, among several other features listed below. Continue Reading »

Top 17 Free WordPress Security and Backup Plugins

Boutros AbiChedid — Tue, 01 May 2012 00:08:36 +0000

Securing your WordPress Website is critical in growing your online presence. As your Website becomes more popular it becomes more attractive to Crackers.

If you are looking for Security and Backup Plugins for your WordPress Website, then look no further. In this article, I share and review the Best 17 Free WordPress Security and Backup Plugins that don´t cost you anything. Continue Reading »

Choosing the Right Personal Content Management App

Eric Greenwood — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 00:26:29 +0000

The area of online storage has dramatically expanded in the past several months to encompass a more robust theme: that of a personal content management. The idea that you can create a repository of your personal files and access them from any Internet-enabled device is the next logical step in cloud computing.

Yet, deciding which Personal Content Management App is the right choice for you can be a challenge. Continue Reading »

How To Remove Header Tags and Their Content in WordPress Excerpt

Boutros AbiChedid — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 01:07:05 +0000

WordPress Excerpt is a summary of your content. In this tutorial, I will show you how to selectively remove Header Tags (h1 through h6) and their content for the automatically generated excerpt. Also I will show you how to selectively remove Header Tags and their content while at the same time preserving HTML formatting for other HTML tags. Continue Reading »

Top 5 Mobile Website Building Tools

Hasan Mahmood — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 03:00:58 +0000

Using the Internet on mobile handheld devices is a rather convenient option for users. Considering such convenience, entrepreneurs and SME owners initiated a dazzling idea of mobile Websites. The launch of mobile Websites originated a marketing oriented trend that received increased user engagement and hit a never touched market segment. In this post, we will review the top 5 mobile Website building tools to consider. Continue Reading »

How To Disable Self Pingbacks in WordPress Without a Plugin

Boutros AbiChedid — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 02:32:38 +0000

By default, WordPress blog automatically send a pingback to itself any time you link to one of your own internal old post. It would be nice if this self-pingback feature can be turned off in the dashboard.

Self-pings, or pings within your own blog, are found useful by some, annoying by others. Those who find them useful feel that self-pingbacks is a good approach to increase inter-linking between posts. Continue Reading »

The AbiChedid’s Days of the Week

Boutros AbiChedid — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 22:46:02 +0000

The objective of this post is (hopefully) to cheer you up for April´s Fool day and also to celebrate my 98th post on this blog. I was supposed to publish this yesterday, on April First, but I am late. But as they say: “Better late than Sorry.”

You know the English version of the days of the Week, and this is the AbiChedid´s version:

The AbiChedid´s Days of the Week
English Version	The AbiChedid’s Version	Your Version
Monday	Manday	? Continue Reading »

Trackbacks and Pingbacks in WordPress

Boutros AbiChedid — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 23:28:33 +0000

In this tutorial, I will discuss the basics of Trackbacks and Pingbacks in WordPress. For now, remember that both are methods for blogs to communicate with each other. Trackbacks are more prone to spam than Pingbacks. All WordPress Websites are set up, by default, to send and receive pingbacks automatically.

If used properly, trackbacks and pingbacks are another way to increase traffic to your blog and build links. Continue Reading »

How To Display & Modify Allowed HTML Tags in WordPress Comments | allowed_tags

Boutros AbiChedid — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 13:17:11 +0000

In this tutorial I will show you how to display the WordPress default allowed HTML Tags list for the comment form on your WordPress blog, as shown in the image below:

Also, I will show you how to modify the allowed HTML tags and attributes list to fit your needs. I will show you how to remove tags from the default list and how to add HTML tags to the list for the Comment textarea in WordPress. Continue Reading »

CodeLobster Integrated Development Environment (IDE) – Review

Boutros AbiChedid — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:42:55 +0000

CodeLobster is a code editor for PHP, HTML, JavaScript and CSS. A shareware product that offers code debugging, syntax highlighting, dynamic help, auto-complete, class view and other features that helps with coding. Codelobster PHP Edition streamlines and simplifies PHP development process. You don’t need to keep in mind names of functions, arguments, etc. It is implemented for you in the auto-complete feature for PHP, HTML, JavaScript and even CSS. Continue Reading »

How To Fix Disk Defragmenter Failing to Start in Windows

Boutros AbiChedid — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 12:13:13 +0000

Are you running Windows Vista or Windows 7 operating system? Have you ever had the problem where the Disk Defragmenter tool is NOT opening or Failing to start even when you try to run as an administrator?

Disk defragmentation is the process of consolidating fragmented files on your computer´s hard disk. Fragmentation happens to a hard disk over time as you save, change, or delete files. Continue Reading »

Google Authorship: How To Show Author Information in Search Results (and my Frustration With it)

Boutros AbiChedid — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 18:21:05 +0000

This tutorial is specific to WordPress, but if you use other blogging platforms, you may be able to adapt some of the instructions. This tutorial, is intended for single-author WordPress blogs. References will be given for multiple-author blogs and for Guest bloggers.

Several months ago, Google started including authors profile in Search Results by highlighting authors in SERPs. Continue Reading »

WordPress Tip: How To Separate Comments From Trackbacks & Pingbacks Using wp_list_comments Function

Boutros AbiChedid — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 12:41:10 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you how to separate pings (Trackbacks & Pingbacks) from comments when using the wp_list_comments() function in WordPress. The wp_list_comments() function is located in the comments.php file in your theme´s folder.

The wp_list_comments() purpose is to display all comments (including Trackbacks & Pingbacks) for posts based on a variety of parameters including ones set in the dashboard in Settings -> Discussion panel. Continue Reading »

WordPress Tip: How To Exclude Pages From wp_nav_menu Function

Boutros AbiChedid — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 00:44:19 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you how to exclude certain pages from the navigation menu when using the wp_nav_menu() function in WordPress. The wp_nav_menu() function is usually located in the header.php file in your theme´s folder.

To my surprise, I discovered that the wp_nav_menu() does not contain “exclude” as one of its parameters. So in this case, how to prevent certain pages from showing up in the menu? Continue Reading »

How To Add HTML Sitemap For Custom Post Types in WordPress

Boutros AbiChedid — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:29:48 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you how to dynamically display an HTML Sitemap for Custom Post Types in WordPress without the need of a plugin. Dynamically means that the Sitemap updates automatically with every new Custom post added. Yes, there are plugins that add an HTML Sitemap to your blog. But I encourage you to read my previous post about unnecessarily adding plugins to your theme, and you don´t need a plugin for such a simple task. Continue Reading »

How To Add Sortable Custom Columns in WordPress Dashboard

Boutros AbiChedid — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:38:54 +0000

In a previous tutorial, I showed you how to display a plain, non-sortable “Views” Column for Posts in the WordPress Dashboard. In this tutorial, I will show you how to make that “Views” Custom Column Sortable for Posts, ascending or descending based on the number of post views.

A WordPress developer asked me the following question: Is there a way to make the “Views” Custom Column sortable in the WordPress dashboard? Continue Reading »

Top 10 Free Antivirus Software For Windows

Boutros AbiChedid — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 04:00:51 +0000

Antivirus software provides an essential layer of protection from a range of viruses, trojans, worms, spywares, adwares, dialers, keyloggers and rootkit infections. Most current Antivirus programs have a reasonably good detection rates of all forms of malware.

When your computer connects to the Internet, it is exposed to viruses and other malicious software. Continue Reading »

How To Display Most Commented Posts in WordPress Without a Plugin

Boutros AbiChedid — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:25:24 +0000

Do you want to show your Most Commented Posts on your Blog? In this tutorial, I will show you how to display your most popular posts (based on Comments) in WordPress Without a Plugin. Probably you already have seen Blogs displaying the Most Commented Posts and you wonder how it is done.

Yes, there are plugins that display the most popular posts on your blog, but they all tend to do a lot more than you need. Continue Reading »

How To Display Most Viewed Posts in WordPress Without a Plugin

Boutros AbiChedid — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 22:01:25 +0000

Do you want to show your Most Viewed Posts on your Blog? In this tutorial, I will show you how to display your most popular posts (based on Views) in WordPress Without a Plugin. Probably you already have seen Blogs displaying the Most Viewed Posts and you wonder how it is done.

This tutorial is a natural progression from my previous tutorial: How To Track & Display Post Views Count in WordPress Without a Plugin. Continue Reading »

How To Track & Display Post Views Count in WordPress Without a Plugin

Boutros AbiChedid — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:11:57 +0000

Do you want to know how many times a post has been viewed on your Blog? In this tutorial, I will show you how to count post views and display it on your WordPress Blog and also in the dashboard without the need of a plugin. Probably you already have seen some Blogs displaying a View Counter for each post and you wonder how it is done. Continue Reading »

Pagination for Custom Post Types in WordPress Without a Plugin

Boutros AbiChedid — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 00:30:54 +0000

For a WordPress blog, pagination refers to displaying a limited number of posts per page. Pagination allows users the ability to navigate much easier and deeper into the archives. In this post, I will show that my previous tutorial about adding Pagination without a plugin in WordPress, can also be used on Custom Post Types without any modifications. Continue Reading »

Top 21 Websites to Get Free Photos For Designers

Boutros AbiChedid — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:45:24 +0000

For print and Web designers, Stock Photography is a must. Several years ago, there were only a few Free Stock Photography Resources, but now their number has dramatically increased and finding the best ones that offer free high-quality photos can be a headache at best.

Do you need a free photo for you next creation? Continue Reading »

How To Style Author’s Comments in WordPress Without a Plugin

Boutros AbiChedid — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 00:57:24 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you how to Highlight and Style Author’s Comments on WordPress Posts (or Pages) without a plugin. If your WordPress theme, does not already style the Author´s comments differently from your visitors comments, and you like to know how to do that, then this tutorial will show you the way, along with several examples and scenarios and all the details you need. Continue Reading »

The Future of Online Storage

Eric Greenwood — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 03:20:38 +0000

In the past year, Online Storage has really come into its own. Services like DropBox and Box.net have risen in popularity. Apple seems to have finally struck a chord with its cloud offerings in the form of iCloud (after two relatively lukewarm previous cloud and online-storage related attempts). Businesses as well as consumers are more and more moving their data to online storage Websites. Continue Reading »

How To Add WordPress Comment Pagination Without a Plugin

Boutros AbiChedid — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 00:33:24 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you how to add and style Paged Comments to your WordPress Blog without a plugin. For a WordPress blog, comment pagination is used to display a limited number of comments per page. Instead of using the default « Older Comments or Newer Comments » links, paginating comments display a full list of comment pages using numeric indexes. Continue Reading »

How To Change WordPress Comments From Linear to Threaded (Nested) Format

Boutros AbiChedid — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:15:59 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you how to transform comments in your WordPress blog from a Linear format into a threaded (or Nested) format without the need of a plugin. There are probably plugins that enhances commenting, but I don´t think you need any, since threaded comments feature in WordPress is not new and is available since version 2.7. Continue Reading »

How To Add a Dropdown Navigation Menu To WordPress Without a Plugin

Boutros AbiChedid — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 02:20:32 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you how to dynamically add a Multi-Level(up to 3-level deep) Dropdown Navigation Menu to your WordPress blog without the need of a plugin. This tutorial is NOT about creating custom Menu widgets but rather a native theme support for Page or Custom multi-level navigation menu. The navigation menu can range from a single top level and up to 3 level deep. Continue Reading »

Introducing a New WordPress ‘Diary’ Theme For This Blog

Boutros AbiChedid — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:21:11 +0000

For this blog, I decided to give my visitors yet another theme to choose from: the Dairy theme. This theme is coded with the latest HTML5 and CSS3 standards, and thus it is best viewed with the latest browser versions.

Same as the other 3 themes available for this blog, the Dairy theme has been extensively customized, modified, enhanced with new features and functionality, and fixed to fit this blog. Continue Reading »

How To Put Your WordPress Website in Maintenance Mode Without a Plugin

Boutros AbiChedid — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:53:56 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you how to easily redirect your visitors to a temporary maintenance page without the need of a plugin. The custom maintenance page lets your visitors know that your WordPress Website (or blog) is down for maintenance. Logged-in administrators will still have full access to the Website while visitors see a customized maintenance message. Continue Reading »

17 Point Checklist to Successfully Switch Your WordPress Theme

Boutros AbiChedid — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:56:22 +0000

One of the great things about WordPress is the ability to customize your Website by using Themes. WordPress themes provide much more control over the look and presentation of the content on your Website. A WordPress Theme is a collection of files to produce a graphical interface with an underlying unifying design for a Website. Continue Reading »

How To Add a Dynamic HTML Sitemap in WordPress Without a Plugin

Boutros AbiChedid — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 14:35:07 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you how to dynamically display an HTML sitemap for your WordPress blog without the need of a plugin. Dynamically means that the sitemap updates automatically with every new post and other blog changes. Yes, there are plugins that add an HTML sitemap to your blog. But I encourage you to read my previous post about unnecessarily adding plugins to your theme. Continue Reading »

5 Useless Internet Marketing Tactics

Christine Kane — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 16:14:07 +0000

Every time you search on Google you are flooded with all sorts of Websites and tutorials telling you what you NEED to do to succeed. Sometimes it can be hard to weed out what you actually should be doing and what is a waste of time. Instead of looking at all the different tips you should be doing to make your Website successful, here are five of the most useless Internet Marketing tips out there you should avoid:

[Useless Tip1] » Focus on SEO and Backlinks, and worry about your Website later

It is easy to get wrapped up in figuring out how to build up your backlinks and increase your Website traffic, and in the process let your Website slide to the back burner. Continue Reading »

Top 5 Cheat-Sheet Directories for Developers and Designers

Boutros AbiChedid — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:02:10 +0000

For developers and designers, cheat sheets offer essential help in providing quick reference guide. In my previous post, I listed 37 must-have cheat sheets for Web developers and Web designers. Nonetheless, I left out many more cheat sheets for other Web programming, scripting and markup languages, and for different frameworks and Web technologies, that is impossible to list. Continue Reading »

37 Must-Have Cheat Sheets and Quick References for Web Developers and Designers

Boutros AbiChedid — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:01:31 +0000

A Cheat Sheet, also known as a crib sheet or quick reference guide, is a concise set of notes used for quick reference. It is a document containing summarized information used for quick reference. Most Web developers and Web designers know that cheat sheets are extremely useful, where you can use them for quick reference and easy learning. Continue Reading »

Understanding the Significance of Using Symbols in Logo Design

Maitreyee Sinha — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 16:16:56 +0000

Logo design is a challenging and creative task for a graphic design professional. It involves painstaking hours of research and brainstorming apart from the actual design work. It is possible to use various types of design elements for making stunning logos. A number of designers use various types of symbols for logo design. Some professionals also use symbols with text shapes for creating the desired effect. Continue Reading »

How To Fix ‘Failed to Connect to a Windows Service’ Error

Boutros AbiChedid — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 20:25:22 +0000

Are you running Windows Vista/7 operating system on your computer? Have you ever had the problem where the desktop is black, the trash bin is the only item on the desktop and a message appearing at the corner of your screen saying:
“Failed to connect to a Windows service: Windows could not connect to the User Profile Service service. Continue Reading »

DoFollow Versus NoFollow What to Choose for Your Website?

Boutros AbiChedid — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 23:45:32 +0000

DoFollow and NoFollow are important factors for SEO that influence the ranking of a particular Website in search engines. DoFollow is a term that does not exist. It is a term given to Websites that are not using the rel=“nofollow” attribute in links. nofollow is a value that can be assigned to the rel attribute of the HTML link to instruct some search engines not to pass on any influence to an outbound link. Continue Reading »

How to Select Your Website Design Agency

Richard Fisher — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 13:56:13 +0000

Selecting a Website design agency can be a challenging prospect. When you type in “Website design agency” in Google, thousands of results come up. So, which agency should you choose? You can either select the first one which shows up in the search results or ask your acquaintances for a recommendation. Researching the best agencies in the business is also a good option but it is going to take excessive time and effort. Continue Reading »

How To Turn Your WordPress Blog From NoFollow to DoFollow Without a Plugin

Boutros AbiChedid — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:57:51 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you how to easily turn your WordPress blog from the default NoFollow to a DoFollow blog without the need of a plugin. Why not turn your blog into a DoFollow blog and get more visitors, more traffic and eventualy more recognition in the Online community. Probably you already have seen some blogs displaying the DoFollow image and you wonder how it is done and what it really means. Continue Reading »

Top 8 Free Cross-Browser Testing Tools and Services

Boutros AbiChedid — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:07:46 +0000

This post is for Web developers and designers who struggle with testing their Websites across multiple browsers and platforms. A Website might render differently in different browsers and platforms and even in different versions of the same browser. Cross-browser refers to the ability of a Website or Web application to support all Web browsers in all platforms. Continue Reading »

Top 13 Websites for How-To and Tips

Boutros AbiChedid — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 10:18:13 +0000

There are many Websites that offer information about anything you can imagine, Websites that share tips and How-To´s. It can get confusing and difficult to figure out the best ones with the accurate and reliable information. In this post, I have listed the best 13 Websites that offer free tips and How-To’s.

No matter what you are looking for, these Websites will show you the way. Continue Reading »

How To Create WordPress Theme Switcher for Your Visitors and Theme Viewer for Your Customers

Boutros AbiChedid — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:54:48 +0000

Have you ever wondered if your visitors are fed up with your WordPress theme? The same theme over and over again? I know I am.
How about giving your visitors the option to change your theme? Do you want to know how to allow your users to view different themes on your WordPress Website?

In this tutorial I will show you how to create a multiple Theme Switcher for your users and also how to create a Theme Viewer to showcase your unpublished themes to your customers. Continue Reading »

3 Focused Apps for the Distracted Blogger

Mariana Ashley — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:29:02 +0000

As any blogger will tell you, blogging is no simple task. There are so many aspects of maintaining a successful blog that go unnoticed and unmentioned for the most part. In many ways, maintaining a truly successful and active blog requires the same commitment that a second job would. Successful blogging demands constant attention. Bloggers have to update their blog regularly with new material, respond to comments and correspondences each day, maintain the workability of their blog, find new avenues for inspiration, and much more. Continue Reading »

6 Reasons to Use Windows Live Writer for Blogging

Kate Croston — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 22:32:11 +0000

In a previous post, Boutros discussed the top free offline desktop editor for your blog. In this post I will elaborate further… As bloggers, I think it is pretty safe to say that we are always trying to find ways to make our jobs a little bit easier. Any shortcut comes greatly appreciated because crafting quality blog posts takes a fair amount of time and effort. Continue Reading »

3 Ways You Can Use Genesis to Build Your Own Web Design Business

Alvina Lopez — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 15:30:56 +0000

Making a living working online is a more and more common daydream in today´s world, and with good reason the number of potential Internet jobs is increasing every day, with no end in sight. In a very real sense, the only limit to the number of jobs the Internet can provide is how imaginative and entrepreneurial people are capable of. Continue Reading »

Byblos Rentals (byblosrentals.com)

Boutros AbiChedid — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 23:55:05 +0000

This is a short post to announce (and advertise) my latest work: Byblos Rentals Website.

It is a simple Website that I hand-coded using only XHTML, CSS and JavaScript.

Some characteristics of this Website are:

It follows HTML and CSS standards required by the W3C.
It follows accessibility standards required by Section 508 Federal law, and by the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 for people with disabilities. Continue Reading »

Why You Commentators Need Gravatars!

Lauren — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:09:55 +0000

And why you are losing out without one… Before the Internet, I was not a fan of marketing. It all seemed like a misleading façade to convince people to buy a product they didn´t need. Because of the billions of dollars of advertising campaigns and corporations could spend on marketing, I lost complete faith in grass-roots or do-it-yourself (DIY) marketing. Continue Reading »

Gaining Website Authority – The Right Way

Brian — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 02:44:11 +0000

In the past, it was relatively easier to put Websites at the top of the search engine results with a little bit of tweaking of features like content and SEO. However, with Google´s Panda update, it is clear that Google wants to promote only those Websites with rich and authoritative content. Hence the concept of Website authority has gained even more significance. Continue Reading »

How To Customize WordPress Login Screen Without a Plugin

Boutros AbiChedid — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 22:33:03 +0000

Are you tired of the default WordPress Login screen? Would you like to customize the Login screen for your WordPress Website or your customers´? In this tutorial, I will show you how to easily Customize WordPress Login screen, to standout from the crowd, without the need of a plugin. Specifically, I will explain how to replace the default WordPress logo in the Login screen with your Logo or your customers´ Logo for a more professional look and better branding. Continue Reading »

Five Reasons for Choosing White Hat SEO

Carol — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:26:48 +0000

If you are looking for a short-cut method to successful SEO, STOP!

There are black hat SEO techniques…short-cuts that are considered illegal by the search engines. Never opt for black hat SEO, it will lead your Website to doom and ruin your reputation. To rank higher in SERPs, always use white hat SEO methods. Continue Reading »

Top 5 Free FTP Client Software

Boutros AbiChedid — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 04:30:58 +0000

Web developers need to install an FTP client software to transfer files between local computers and Web servers. People doing a lot of file transfers, especially people involved in Website development and maintenance, understand the value of a reliable, secure and fast FTP client.

FTP is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another over a TCP–based network such as the Internet. Continue Reading »

Top Free Offline Desktop Editor For Your Blog

Boutros AbiChedid — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 00:13:01 +0000

A Desktop blogging editor, also known a Weblog client is a software that runs on your desktop and let you post to your blog via remote publishing XML-RPC specification. Think of a Weblog Client as the equivalent of an Email client such as Outlook Express or Mozilla Thunderbird. Essentially, the Weblog client allows you to write a post offline; then you can publish it the next time you connect to the Internet. Continue Reading »

How To Display the Author Profile Box in WordPress Without a Plugin

Boutros AbiChedid — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 21:15:49 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you how to easily develop and display the Author´s Bio box in your WordPress posts without the need of a plugin. Probably you already have seen some Websites displaying the Author´s profile at the end of each post and you wonder how it is done.

Are you putting a face to your articles? Continue Reading »

How To Display Word Count of WordPress Posts Without a Plugin

Boutros AbiChedid — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 16:13:26 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you how to easily display the word count of a WordPress post without the need of a plugin. Admittedly, this is probably not very common to see the word count displayed in a Blog. However, in case you need to display the post´s number of words, this tutorial will show you how. Continue Reading »

WordPress 3.2 is Available

Boutros AbiChedid — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 12:20:12 +0000

Yesterday, WordPress 3.2 has been released. The focus of this release is to make WordPress faster and lighter, with a new dashboard design and a new default Twenty Eleven theme that fully supports HTML5, among other improvements.

When you can, download and update to the latest version of WordPress 3.2, or you can automatically update via your WordPress admin panel. Continue Reading »

Completely Remove WordPress Generator Tag Without a Plugin

Boutros AbiChedid — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 00:33:56 +0000

In this tutorial I will show you the right way to completely remove the WordPress generator meta tag from the header section of your WordPress Website´s source and from your feed. Also I will show you the full code for removing other default tags generated in the header of your WordPress Website.

By default WordPress leaves its footprint on your Website. Continue Reading »

Top Three Tools for Testing Website Speed and Performance

Patricia Garza — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 10:36:23 +0000

The speed and performance of your Website has quickly become one of the most definitive aspects of successful blogging. As we have all experienced, our society today is rapidly becoming obsessed with speed and instant gratification. With the internet so heavily involved in our everyday lives, the speed and performance of your Websites is essential to holding readership and gaining more traffic. Continue Reading »

How To preserve HTML Tags in WordPress Excerpt Without a Plugin

Boutros AbiChedid — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 13:23:50 +0000

WordPress Excerpt is a summary of your content. In this tutorial I will show you how to preserve HTML formatting for the automatically generated excerpts without the need of a plugin, and also choose what HTML tags to keep. For a manually typed excerpt, WordPress will keep all HTML formatting you have included in the excerpt. Continue Reading »

How To Improve WordPress Excerpt Without a Plugin

Boutros AbiChedid — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 23:05:16 +0000

In this tutorial I will show you how to enhance WordPress Excerpt by using simple functions and without the need of a plugin. WordPress Excerpt is an optional summary of your content.

The relationship between the Manual Excerpt, Automatic Excerpt, and Teaser is this: When a post has no manual excerpt and the post template uses the the_excerpt() tag, WordPress automatically generates an excerpt by selecting the first 55 words of the post followed by the unlinked ellipsis “[...]”. Continue Reading »

13 Best Free Blogging Platforms

Boutros AbiChedid — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 00:29:38 +0000

This is my thirteenth post in this series. It is a handy list, a one stop shop if you like, of the best free blogging software platforms available nowadays.

There are many blogging platforms available and it can get confusing and difficult to figure out the best ones. But after an extensive research, reviews and trying few of them, below are the best free blog publishing tools. Continue Reading »

26 Best Free Content Management Systems (CMS)

Boutros AbiChedid — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 21:38:27 +0000

And you thought there are only three. This is my Twelfth post in this series. It is a convenient list, a one stop shop if you like, of the best free self-hosted Content Management Systems available these days.

There are many Content Management Systems available and it can get confusing and difficult to figure out the best ones. Continue Reading »

17 Best Free PHP Frameworks

Boutros AbiChedid — Tue, 31 May 2011 16:48:20 +0000

This is my eleventh post in this series. It is a convenient list, a one stop shop if you like, of the best free PHP frameworks available today for your next Web project.

There are many PHP frameworks available and it can get confusing and difficult to figure out the best ones. But after an extensive research, reviews and personally trying couple of them, below are the best free PHP frameworks available nowadays. Continue Reading »

How To Add Related Posts to WordPress Without a Plugin

Boutros AbiChedid — Wed, 25 May 2011 20:10:44 +0000

Displaying “Related posts” is a popular feature and an excellent way to keep visitors longer on your WordPress blog and help them discover other related content. One way to keep them interested is to display a list of related posts; otherwise, they might just leave.

The picture below shows an example of Related Posts generated for this blog. Continue Reading »

WordPress Editor Behaves Strangely in Internet Explorer

Boutros AbiChedid — Fri, 20 May 2011 16:58:49 +0000

If WordPress Editor in your Administration Panels behaves strangely and not as you expect it, then continue reading, this post might be your solution.

Problems With the WordPress Editor

A little background: This blog is a self-hosted WordPress blog. Since its creation, about 14 months ago from this post date, I was using IE7, and then IE8 to access the WordPress Dashboard. Continue Reading »

Secure Your WordPress Login Page by Limiting Login Attempts

Boutros AbiChedid — Wed, 18 May 2011 01:19:57 +0000

WordPress is the most popular blogging platform, but with its popularity increases the risk of your WordPress Website being cracked. There are more things that you can do to help protect your WordPress Website as I discussed in details in my previous security tutorial.

One aspect of hardening WordPress security is your Login page as shown in the image below. Continue Reading »

17 Best Free JavaScript Frameworks and Libraries

Boutros AbiChedid — Sun, 15 May 2011 00:39:34 +0000

This is my tenth post in this series. It is a convenient list, a one stop shop if you like, of the best free JavaScript frameworks and libraries for your next Web project.

There are many JavaScript frameworks and Libraries available and it can get confusing and difficult to figure out the best ones. But after an extensive research, reviews and personally trying couple of them on my work, below are the best free ones available. Continue Reading »

boutrosabichedid.com

Boutros AbiChedid — Mon, 09 May 2011 12:30:37 +0000

This is a short post to announce that I recently purchased the new domain http://boutrosabichedid.com/, but I did not buy the Web space for it. So for now it will be redirected to a subdomain of this blog.

The beauty of this Website: it is a simplistic Website that I wrote using only HTML and CSS. Continue Reading »

22 Best Free Online Tools for the Perfect Domain Name

Boutros AbiChedid — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 14:04:50 +0000

This is my ninth post in this series. It is a handy list, a one stop shop if you like, of the best free online tools for searching existing domains, suggesting and registering new Web domains.

In my previous tutorial, I have outlined some tips for choosing the right domain name for your online presence. Continue Reading »

How To Choose the Right Domain Name

Boutros AbiChedid — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 23:48:31 +0000

Are you considering a domain name for your business? If so, I have listed 13 important tips to help you select a great domain name. A domain name is your unique business address online. It helps bring traffic to your business and suggest services or products of the the business.

Deciding on a domain name is an important decision you need to make. Continue Reading »

Flash Website: Advantages and Disadvantages

Boutros AbiChedid — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 11:35:58 +0000

Are you considering a Flash Website? If so, it is important to understand the advantages and disadvantages of Flash Websites. Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity. Flash is a powerful authoring tool, but like any tool some things are best solved with Flash, while others are not.

Advantages: Reasons to Use Flash

Flash use in advertising and online games is increasingly common. Continue Reading »

WordPress 3.1.1 is Available

Boutros AbiChedid — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 15:01:10 +0000

Two days ago, WordPress 3.1.1 has been released. This is a maintenance and security release that fixes almost thirty issues from the 3.1 version.

Whether you have already upgraded to WordPress 3.1 or not, this is the best time to download and update to the latest version of WordPress 3.1.1, or you can automatically update via your WordPress admin panel. Continue Reading »

How To Find Tag ID, Page ID, Post ID, Link ID & Category ID in WordPress

Boutros AbiChedid — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 00:07:20 +0000

This simple tutorial shows you the easiest and the most convenient way to find the ID of your tags, pages, posts, links and Categories in WordPress without the need of a plugin. Prior to WordPress 2.5 these IDs were listed as an additional column in your administration panel. However; this is not the case anymore with the newer versions of WordPress. Continue Reading »

How To Customize WordPress Tag Cloud Without a Plugin

Boutros AbiChedid — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 21:55:45 +0000

For a WordPress blog, a Tag cloud displays a list of tags. Tags are usually single words, and the importance of each Tag is shown with different font size. The size of each Tag is determined by how many times that particular Tag has been assigned to posts. Tags are links that lead to a list of posts associated with each Tag. Continue Reading »

How To Add Custom WordPress Pagination Without a Plugin

Boutros AbiChedid — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 23:51:07 +0000

For a WordPress blog, pagination is used to display a limited number of posts per page. Compared to the default WordPress page navigation, numbered pagination allows users the ability to navigate much easier and deeper into the archives, like numbered pages of a book. Pagination is used in almost every Web application to display returned data on multiple pages. Continue Reading »

15 Best Free Online Data Storage & Backup Services

Boutros AbiChedid — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 16:28:28 +0000

This is my eighth post in this series. It is a handy list, a one stop shop if you like, of the best Freemium Online data Storage, File Sharing, File synchronization and Backup services. Ok! I admit, there are NO totally free services available.

Everyone needs to backup important data in one way or another. Continue Reading »

How To Prevent Skype from Highlighting Phone Numbers

Boutros AbiChedid — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 03:19:04 +0000

In this tutorial I will show you 3 solutions, from a developer´s point of view, how to prevent Skype from automatically highlighting phone numbers displayed in your Website. Also I will show you, from a user´s point of view, how to disable Skype phone highlighting in Internet Explorer.

The Problem

If you have Skype installed on your computer and you use Internet Explorer as your Web browser, then there is a good chance that Skype highlights phone numbers on Web pages as shown in the image below. Continue Reading »

Complete Backup of Your WordPress Website in 2 Simple Steps

Boutros AbiChedid — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 21:00:41 +0000

In this tutorial I will show you a 2 step process for a full backup of your WordPress Website. This is an important task as discussed in Tip3 of my previous tutorial about WordPress Security. This tutorial mainly focuses on manual backups of self-hosted WordPress Websites.

Why Backups are important? Because you cannot depend on your Web host to keep a current backup of your Website. Continue Reading »

Change Your WordPress Table Prefix in Few Simple Steps

Boutros AbiChedid — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 04:04:32 +0000

In this tutorial I will show you a step by step process how to change the default WordPress database table name prefix long after your WordPress Website has been online. This is known as "security through obscurity", in which by no means is, on its own, enough to secure your WordPress Website, but it is a one piece of an overall security strategy, as I discussed in my previous tutorial. Continue Reading »

12 Practical Tips to Improve WordPress Security

Boutros AbiChedid — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 23:31:47 +0000

Securing your WordPress Website is critical in growing your online presence. As your Website becomes more popular it becomes more attractive for Crackers. Keeping WordPress Website secure is not something many administrators take seriously.

WordPress security starts by using a reputable hosting company. If by default, your server´s setup is not secure, then no added security measures is going to keep Crackers, Spammers, Black hat Hackers, and Script Kiddies out. Continue Reading »

How To Add WordPress Breadcrumbs Without a Plugin

Boutros AbiChedid — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 02:33:39 +0000

Breadcrumbs or breadcrumb trail is a navigation aid used in a Website. It gives users a way to keep track of their locations within the Website. Breadcrumbs typically appear horizontally at the top of a Web page. Breadcrumbs provide a trail for the user to follow back to the starting or entry point.

Breadcrumb trail is an important supplementary element of a Website´s navigation, especially for complex Websites. Continue Reading »

14 Tips for Maximum WordPress Performance & Speed

Boutros AbiChedid — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 23:07:10 +0000

The tips in this post are specific to WordPress. Before tackling the tips here, I advice you to implement as many related tips from my previous post. The previous post constitutes the foundation for this tutorial.

It is obvious, everyone hates a slow Website. Performance is a key factor for any successful Website including WordPress. Continue Reading »

18+ Essential Tips to Dramatically Improve Website Speed

Boutros AbiChedid — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 03:12:56 +0000

The tips of this post are general and can be applied to any type of Website be it dynamic or static. In my next post, I will specifically discuss how to speed up a WordPress Website.

Why is my Website slow? is a popular question and is a vital issue. A good Website should never compromise on the user´s experience. Continue Reading »

Caching a Dynamic Website. Does it Make a Difference for Loading Speed?

Boutros AbiChedid — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 01:26:28 +0000

Did you know!

You can significantly speed up a dynamic Website´s load time with caching.

For a static Website, browsers cache the content on the client´s computer, in memory and on disk. Wikipedia…

What is Web Caching?

Web caching is caching of Web documents to improve performance, reduce bandwidth consumption and server load. Web cache stores copies of documents passing through it; subsequent requests may be satisfied from the cache if certain conditions are met. Continue Reading »

HTTP Compression. Does it Make a Difference for Website Speed?

Boutros AbiChedid — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 15:20:59 +0000

HTTP Compression?

HTTP compression is a capability that can be built into Web servers and browsers to make better use of available bandwidth, and provide faster transmission speeds between both. The most common compression are gzip and deflate. More from Wikipedia…

HTTP Compression saves bandwidth usage and may speed up a Website loading time by reducing the amount of data sent. Continue Reading »

How to Delete and Limit Post Revisions in WordPress

Boutros AbiChedid — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 15:41:07 +0000

WordPress Revisions?

WordPress 2.6 and above has a new feature which is the posts and page revision. WordPress automatically creates revisions of your posts or pages. Whenever you save a post or a page, the old version is retained so you can revert back at any time. Older revisions are never deleted so you always have a full history of all changes. Continue Reading »

Creating a Custom 404 Page for your Website

Boutros AbiChedid — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 12:52:06 +0000

What is 404?

The 404 or “Not Found” is the error message displayed whenever someone requests a Web page that is not available on your Website. The 404 message is an HTTP standard response code indicating that although the client could communicate to the server, the server could not find what was requested. As there is no Web page to display, the Web server sends a generic page that says “Not found”. Continue Reading »

14 Best Free Web Analytics Tools

Boutros AbiChedid — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 23:39:15 +0000

My seventh post in this series. It is a handy list, a one stop shop if you like, of the best Free Web analytics tools. While there are many expensive Web analytics tools available, you will be pleased to know that there are also many free alternatives. I currently use Google analytics and Mochibot. Whatever you decide stick to one (at most two) and don´t clutter your pages with extra unnecessary code, since your pages might take longer to load as each analytics tracking code will add some delay to the load time. Continue Reading »

8 Best Free SEO Add-ons for Mozilla Firefox

Boutros AbiChedid — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 14:17:30 +0000

This is my sixth post in this series. It is a handy list, a one stop shop if you like, of the best Free SEO extensions for Mozilla Firefox browser. Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a Website from search engines via natural search results. All links are External. Continue Reading »

25 Best Free Online SEO Tools

Boutros AbiChedid — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 01:17:31 +0000

This is my fifth post in this series. It is a handy list, a one stop shop if you like, of the best Free online SEO tools. Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a Website from search engines via natural search results. While there are many expensive SEO tools, you will be happy to know that there are also many free SEO tools. Continue Reading »

17 Best Free Online Color Tools for Web Designers

Boutros AbiChedid — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 05:35:31 +0000

This is my fourth post in this series. It is a handy list, a one stop shop if you like, of the best Free online color tools that a Web designer needs. Color tools are very important in Web design. A good color combination tend to communicate with the user. The Website´s look is half the battle in attracting users (the other half is content and SEO/SEM). Continue Reading »

16 Best Free Photo Editors

Boutros AbiChedid — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 22:06:04 +0000

My Third post in this series. It is a handy list, a one stop shop, of the best Free online and desktop Photo editors. In my opinion, Adobe Photoshop remains the dominant desktop photo editor but it is expensive. Luckily, below are the free alternatives. All links are External.

Hover over each image or link for a short description about each editor. Continue Reading »

7 Best Free Website Speed Tools

Boutros AbiChedid — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 01:29:25 +0000

My second post in this series. It is a handy list, a one stop shop, of the best Free Website speed check tools that a Web developer/Web designer needs. There are many online tools, but in my opinion these are the best. My favorite ones are the first three. All links are External.

Website Speed?

It means how fast a Website loads. Continue Reading »

14 Best Free Web Validation Tools

Boutros AbiChedid — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 18:39:56 +0000

This is my first post in this series. It is a handy list, a one stop shop if you like, of the best Free Website Validation tools that a Web developer and Web designer need. Validation is an important process of checking the code against formal guidelines. All links are External.

Make sure to hover over each image and link for a short description about each validation tool. Continue Reading »

301 Permanent Redirect for an Apache Web Server

Boutros AbiChedid — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:51:59 +0000

First let me emphasize that the 301 Permanent Redirect covered here is strictly for .htaccess file redirects in an Apache Web server with the mod-rewrite module turned ON.
Therefore before you proceed, first make sure that your Website is running on an Apache Web server having the mod-rewrite module ENABLED. One way to check is to ask your hosting company. Continue Reading »

Creating a Mobile Friendly Website. How to “Mobilize” your Website.

Boutros AbiChedid — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 13:25:02 +0000

A “mobile-friendly” Website offers content without clutter and is easily viewable on mobile devices. Creating a mobile-friendly website has become crucial if you desire a presence on the mobile web. With more people browsing the internet from their mobile devices, it is important to make your website accessible to these users. If your business relies on the internet to generate revenue, then it is critical that you make adjustments to accommodate mobile customers. Continue Reading »

How to Resize a Batch of Images in Photoshop CS3

Boutros AbiChedid — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:49:16 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you how to use the “Image Processor…” function in Photoshop CS3 to automate the image resizing process. For this tutorial, I am using Photoshop CS3, but it might be the same for CS4 and CS5 versions.

Before We Begin

In order to automate the image resizing process, all your “raw” images have to be the same dimension, meaning same width and height for all images to be processed. Continue Reading »

How to display transparent PNG images in IE6 (IE6 PNG Hack)

Boutros AbiChedid — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 02:18:08 +0000

As a Web developer you surely stumbled upon the display issue of transparent PNG images in the buggy Internet Explorer version 6 (IE6). As much as I would love that IE6 gracefully disappear, the reality is that according to Global Market Share Statistics there is still 13.06% of the users (as of December 2010) that still use this browser. Continue Reading »

WordPress Comments – IE8 HTTP 500 Internal Server Error

Boutros AbiChedid — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:34:13 +0000

I have an interesting problem happening with this WordPress (version 2.8) Comments. This happens only in IE8. Here is what I noticed :

Whenever I submit a Comment to my posts while leaving blank any of the required fields (name, Email, comment textarea), I get the HTTP 500 error message. Even if I typed the name and comments but I typed an invalid email address, I still get the HTTP 500 error in IE8. Continue Reading »

Why a Website is Essential for a Small Business

Boutros AbiChedid — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 22:37:40 +0000

There are still small business owners who are wondering whether they need a Website. Small businesses need an online presence as much as they need a phone. A Website has become an essential link between customers and businesses.

Most potential customers begin their search for a product online. Having a Website is very valuable for small businesses. Continue Reading »

Caution! Adding Plugins to Your WordPress Theme

Boutros AbiChedid — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:25:44 +0000

You probably, like in my case, spent many hours to search for a nice WordPress theme for your Website. You chose a theme that is valid (or mostly with some minor tweaks) for CSS and HTML, and compliant with the accessibility standards (or mostly at least) as required by Section 508 law, and suggested by the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Continue Reading »

Testing and Validating a Website

Boutros AbiChedid — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 21:32:46 +0000

When I develop a Website, I use several tools to test the Website and validate the source code. I test often during the development process and upon the final phase, in order to ensure compatibility with the maximum number of browsers. So far I hand-coded all the Websites I developed. I am not a fan of any WYSIWYG editors. Continue Reading »

Text Reflection in Photoshop CS3

Boutros AbiChedid — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 10:38:06 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you the step by step process of creating a Text reflection in Photoshop CS3. I assume that the process is very similar, if not the same, in Photoshop CS4 and CS5.

Step 1: Create a New Photoshop Document

Create a new blank Photoshop document from the File menu at the top left of the screen and choose New. Continue Reading »

PHP/CFML Source Viewer

Boutros AbiChedid — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:49:43 +0000

What is PHP?

PHP is an open source, server-side, HTML embedded, scripting language used to create dynamic Web pages. In an HTML document, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by the web server, which generates the HTML document. Because PHP is executed on the server, the client cannot view the PHP code. Continue Reading »

Web Accessibility

Boutros AbiChedid — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:19:52 +0000

What Does it mean?

Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web. Web accessibility also benefits others, including older people with changing abilities due to aging.

Web accessibility encompasses all disabilities that affect access to the Web, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, and neurological disabilities. Continue Reading »

Hello!

Boutros AbiChedid — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:12:52 +0000

Welcome! This Blog is about topics that interest me, and hopefully you, relating to WordPress, Web design, Web development, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Internet Marketing and other Software related topics. I hope you enjoy and learn from my tutorials.