Plugins – Way To Increase Content Management Flexibility

By Tunde Asaju

Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s blog post. Looks like we survived Drupal (don’t be too sure, the marks aren’t up yet). But we are entering into a new world, the world of WordPress. WordPress as some of you already know is another content management system, just like Drupal, Joomla etc. According to the bard, it is easier to use than most of the others. If you doubt me, check out the statistics.

Okay, this week, we would be talking about plugins – yes, you read right! Actually, if you punch that into a computer, you don’t get those annoying red underlines. Cool what that means is that lexicographers (those guys who write dictionaries) have sanctioned or approved it.

Plugins are what accessories are to your desktop – like having to buy a word document if you need to create awesome texts etc, or buy the Adobe Suite if you must use its design features.

However, unlike the examples mentioned supra, plugins are basically free. They are created to make your journey in web building and management a piece of cake. You simply download the plugin of your choice, install it and you begin to enjoy its functions – wait for it – free! Awesome.

But if you are a techy geek, you can even take your creativity further. Instead of downloading something from the net, just write your own plugin and when you’re done, drop it there in cybersphere where other geeks can see, appreciate, critique, or improve on it for the common good.

Since this is an exciting new experiment for me, I have decided to play with Hotfix. You may ask me why? The reason is simple, I hate the world of bugs. Hotfix simply fixes selected WordPress bugs before the guys at WordPress could figure out how to do that. Now, isn’t that just clairvoyant? Plus, aren’t things hot supposed to be hot?

But, if unlike me, you don’t want to associate with hot things (remember the screen does not feel heat – except of course there’s a practical inferno in your house or office), you could check in on other plugins. And to make your choice easier, WordPress comes with a Plugin Directory (www.wordpress.org/plugins). Read the simple descriptions of what they do and you are on your way to a hassle-free content management.

Heh, time to go! Until next-week, don’t forget to share any plugin feature you discover with the rest of the world.

(By the way, this is Electric Moose, a company I work for and your blogger is the only black face on the left - we're all techies).

Benefits of Responsive Web Design

Hello readers,

Today, I am feeling like an old school teacher. So, let’s wear our imagination goggles and picture me as an old time school teacher standing in front of your class at the start of winter. I am wearing a short-sleeve shirt with a tie properly knotted, my pants are short with starched creases in front, and my socks reach to the knee well tucked in my shiny brown shoes – so reflective you could see your face in it – okay, only if you bent that low!

That was back in the day, when computers were locked in a room with a big sign screaming – Out Of Bounds! Right, I know none of you remembered those days. That is how far it seemed since web developers had to design for only one platform – the computer screen or do different designs for every different platform.

Today, information is shared across platforms such that the same message is passed from desktop to laptop, iPad to iPod, and everywhere else to mobile phones.

So, what did we ever do without these things? Well, let’s turn the question round and ask how difficult it is for people to design for all these platforms?

Well, it’s really not that difficult – there are various design templates that allows us to think multi-dimensionally (pardon my French) as we design. What more, it is easier because once we design using these templates, we set the foundation for better and easier content management. How? Well, when you design multi-dimensionally, you only need to use one template. Once that template is completed, you simply save and hit publish or whatever you do and it is available on all platforms - pronto.

This means that web managers have more time to do other things. They save precious time (remember time means money), and yet reach more clients simultaneously. So how is this possible? Well, one popular way to do this is the Zen Garden web design template – which allows you to design for all platforms at once. Google has that capacity too and several others.

In the age of podcasts/downloads, responsive web design makes work available on or offline without losing the resolution or the aesthetic beauty of the work. As a web developer/administrator, you are king of the pack if you are able to design responsively. You save time, save money and you are regarded as modern in your approach. This means you can take a lot of work off dinosaurs who have no clue what responsive design means.

Any questions? Please send them to tundeasaju@gmail.com 

Heh, I thought I just heard the bell ring. This means it’s time to go. You should be happy that I did not come with my cane. Hope you learnt something. Till we see again – tara!

Tunde Asaju

New Trends in Web Development

By Tunde Asaju

The advent of new media is changing the way we see and perceive web development. When the internet first started, it was working in a whole room filled with junk machines dubbed computers. Times have changed and we seem to have forgotten those bad old days. Today, we have internet on the go and that is a great but interesting challenge for any web developer.

For one, we have moved from big screens located on our desktops to the smaller monitors. Our telephone lines are no longer just for making and receiving calls and text messages, they are now an all-purpose secretariat for all our web needs. Of course we still make those boring calls and our telephones ring in odd places from crowded elevators to conference rooms and political rallies. Not to talk about going off when we are invites to a radio or television show. If you still go to church or mosque, you should be forgiven for having your quiet time with God disturbed by the annoying decibels of a phone from your neighbour’s pocket.

But by and large, our phones and devices (androids, ipads and iphones) are our secretariat from where we send and receive mails; they have calendars that help us keep tab of our appointments and of course, have apps that helps us check the proper spelling of words. But most of all, if we need to do research on the go, we must use the browser. This is why there is a challenge for the web developer.

The devices we use range from really small to really big. Things we design display differently on different monitors. Thus, the first challenge is to make our designs responsive – viewable on all devices – from monitors to LCD screens.

Our pictures must be sized or positioned in such a way that they are also viewable across platforms. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then it must be visible to convey its needed message.

Just Google social media and click on images and you are bound to be impressed or confounded by the array of buttons which take us to the social media. Looks like we are nothing without them. So, we have to take the appropriate design that would convey the message and retain its cool techy feeling.

You wouldn't want to keep scrolling as you are reading this brief work. That is another challenge – to make sure that the layout is short and simple and navigable. That also means that navigation has to be friendly both to the eyes and to the user.

Heh, what about fonts? We have to be conscious that the people we are designing for don’t want to usually put on their binoculars to read what we have posted or designed. So, we have to find user-friendly fonts that appeals to the eye of all.

There are more challenges, but then, this is not meant to be a Bible of web design, just for us to ruminate on few of the challenges that confront us as we work.

See you at the next blog and thanks for showing up here.

Modules and their effect in web administration

There are two types of modules -
1. Core module
2. Contributed module

The purpose of a module is to make your work as an administrator or blogger easier. Anything that takes you away from having to memorize the contents of your work should be welcome - right? Well, if you have a porous brain (like mine) and an incredible schedule, you need modules to ease your work.

My module of choice is Drupal Speak Spellcheck Dictionary

This module does all the spelling issues for you while you just tap away at your keyboard. It helps you know when you are speaking Frenglish (ok, that's a combination of French and English) or in my case, YagbEnglish (amalgamation of Yagba and English) without having to reach for your dictionary.

If you want to write beautifully without having to knock about the internet looking for something to spell check for you, this is the module of choice. If English is your language of choice but you don't want native speakers to be insulting you because you think in a different language other than the one you write in, this is the module of choice.

Okay, did I confuse you about modules? Sorry. If you want more, enrol in the Algonquin Interactive Multimedia programme, pay up and start learning how to do things - remember, in our world, there is no free lunch.