Month: May 2011

Categories
Webmaster Wordpress

WordPress 3.2 features and test drive

Automattic seems to be in a spree to bring new and exciting features to it’s most widely used bogging platform WordPress. In the last few months we have seen WordPress is going constant overhaul. And we saw the platform has evolved tremendously. Just recently we heard about WordPress 3.0 and then it WordPress 3.1 was released soon after. Now the talk of the bogging arean is the release of WordPress 3.2. The beta version of WordPress 3.2 is already available for download and the final stable version is expected quite soon.

WordPress 3.2 is expected with a lot of new and exciting features, so we downloaded the beta version to give it a try. And guess what, this version of WordPress is just amazing. Some of the notable features in WordPress 3.2 are a new User Interface for Admin, Distraction free writing, New default theme, change in system requirement and a much anticipated Faster WordPress.

New User Interface for Dashboard:

The Admin Interface in WordPress 3.2 s not a complete makeover but a slight change as compared to it’s predecessor 3.x. This new look good cool and elegant and occupy less space. There is also a new option at the bottom to collapse the menu which will then show the icons for different section of the menu and hovering on the icons will reveal the menu options. The footer area in the Admin dashboard has also got a facelift. Also the Favorite menu at the top right is removed. This new Admin Interface looks quite professional and neat. Overall I like it pretty much.

New Default theme Twenty Eleven:

As we are already in 2011, so the default theme Twenty Ten that comes with current versions of WordPress also need a change. Matt finally realized that and the default theme from WordPress 3.2 will be Twenty Eleven. It does not mean they are scrapping out the Twenty Ten theme. hence WordPress 3.2 will come with 2 themes like the 2.x versions but Twenty Eleven will be installed by default.

Clutter Free Write Panel:

Don’t you feel like putting your complete concentration on the content while writing a post? I surely do. To help us concentrate in creating a better post, the WordPress 3.2 will feature a less cluttered and clean write panel. By default all the options like Excerpts, trackbacks, custom fields etc will be hidden. So if you do not see those excerpts or custom filed, do not panic, you just need to Click oN Screen Options at the top right and check the options which you really need.

If that is not enough, you click on full screen mode and you will see a completely new write panel which you will fall in love with for sure. This full screen write panel is definitely a boon. I am going to utilize this feature to the fullest.

Performance Improvement:

While everything being the same, WordPress 3.2 provides a better performance and a faster site load as compared to it’s predecessors. This is very much essential considering Google is now taking into account the page load time while ranking websites.

Change in System requirement:

If you are quite excited with all these new features and are in a hurry to upgrade to WordPress 3.2 when the stable release comes in, you need to first check with your hosting provider to verify if your server meets the system requirement for WordPress 3.2. As going forward WordPress will require PHP 5.2.4 and MySql 5.0. Once you are sure your host meets the requirement, then you decide to upgrade.

Also WordPress 3.2 will not support Internet Explorer 6. Though the front end of your website/blog will not receive any warning, when you try to log into the Admin Dashboard you will be warn that you are using an unsecured version of Internet Explorer and it will ask you to upgrade the browser.

The current release of WordPress 3.2 is a beta version, so do not use it on your live site. As lot of bug is expected and site might become unstable.

If you have not yet tried the WordPress 3.2 beta, we have setup a WordPress 3.2 test drive site so that you can try it on our server and familiarize yourself with the features. use the username and Password both as qlogix to login.

Categories
Mobile WinMo

Features and the future of Windows Phone 7

The race to produce the world’s best smartphone was and truly opened up with the release of the Windows Phone 7 OS in October last year. While there have been complaints from critics that the range of available apps is poor and that the first release of the new OS was lacking in basic multitasking capabilities, Windows really is stepping up to the plate and seems to be picking up quite a pace to catch up with and surpass the likes of Android and iOS.

At Mobile World Congress (MWC) held in February 2011, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced a major update to Windows Phone 7 due towards the end of this year. The update will see the inclusion of a mobile version of Internet Explorer 9 that supports the same web standards (e.g. HTML5) and hardware-accelerated graphics as its PC counterpart.

By all accounts, this is going to be pretty exciting stuff – demonstrating the new browser during a keynote speech by Mr Ballmer at the MWC, Microsoft’s corporate vice president, Joe Belfiore, used a fish tank video to show off the updated OS’s speed and graphical capabilities. Mr Belfiore also compared the smooth motion of the tank’s 50 fish with the same video on an unnamed HTC model (surely not the HTC 7 Pro?), demonstrating just how fast and flawless the movement was with IE9 compared with its Safari (iPhone) counterpart.

While Belfiore didn’t really emphasize the fact that this version of IE9 wouldn’t be due until towards the end of this year, and while it was also indicative of the strength of Windows Phone 7’s competitive edge, it’s also very likely that Safari will be subject to similar standard of improvement, given Apple’s track record.

Even more exciting news, according to gottabemobile.com, Windows Phone 7 will also, thanks to their alliance with Nokia, be the forerunner of the smartphone OS industry by 2013. Having conducted research into the growth of the various leading smartphone OS giants such as iOS, Android and Blackberry, Pyramid Research’s senior analyst, Stela Bokun, prophesised that WP 7 will beat previous predictions that it will be ahead of the game by 2015 in two years.

Bokun proffered the idea that while Android’s primary strength has always been its availability with the various members of its Open Handset Alliance, WP 7’s availability on a variety of hardware besides Nokia will see WP 7 enjoy similar success. Bokun explained: “While Android will continue to grow beyond 2013, its growth will slow down compared to the skyrocketing surge in 2010 and 2011. Even though WP will maintain the leadership from 2013 through 2015, the battle with Android will be fierce going forward and will result in many overtakings and ties between the two operating systems going forward – all at the expense of iOS and BlackBerry, which will experience a losing streak.

“While RIM and Apple are powerful players in the smartphone market, their desire to limit their mobile operating systems to their own hardware has antagonized large manufacturers, such as Samsung, LG and Nokia, who have the capacity to enjoy the benefits of economies of scale and whose devices account for an overwhelming portion of the smartphone market.”

Expected Features in Windows Phone 7:

With regards to specifics about the updates, Microsoft revealed earlier this month that Bing on WP 7 will be subject to a major overhaul. Bing Navigation will be updated to give people faster access to common searches like ‘movies’ and ‘traffic’, while also providing a handy satellite navigation service (turn-by-turn voice navigation).

Not only that, but the Windows Phone Dev Podcast – which featured Windows Phone 7 director Brandon Watson as a guest – announced that a new function called Bing Audio will be featured in the new updates. If you’re familiar with Shazam, you’ll know that it’s able to recognise music and tell you that artists, track and album. Bing Audio will do just that, whilst also being able to sell users the tracks through Zune.

Next, Bing Vision – it’ll use your smartphone’s camera to read barcodes and do optical character recognition, while it may also offer support for augmented reality apps. Updates may also include voice-to-text for SMS messages, allowing users to send texts without the need to type. All in all, Windows Phone 7 has an exciting future ahead of it – and we can’t wait to try out the new updates. Watch this space.

Further reading:

Winning with Watson Windows Phone will beat Android Mobile IE 9 review Nokia and Microsoft partnership

Image courtesy of Expansys

Categories
Webmaster Wordpress

Mashlife the best Mashable clone theme released

The elegant look of the Mashable website has enticed many theme developers to create a theme similar to Mashable as well as many bloggers want to have a website that look like Mashable. All thanks to the elegant Mashable design. Some of the theme developers have tried their hand on doing something similar but nothing is as appealing as the recently released Mashlife theme. If you are not convinced then a look at the demo site of Mashlife will definitely make you spellbound.

Mashlife WordPress theme is the first theme developed by Qlogix Solutions and they have done a fantastic job. Almost all the features available in Mashable has been cloned into Mashlife theme. So we regard Mashlife as the best Mashable clone theme.

Mashlife is a clean, elegant looking and SEO optimized WordPress theme and have lots of customization option through Theme option in Admin panel without getting into the real code. Qlogix Solutions have also created many video tutorial as well as text based tutorials to help setting up the theme for newbies. Apart from that fantastic support is also available through email. So if you are looking for an amazing professional theme and ready to go online within minutes, Mashlife is the best theme choice for you.

Features of Mashlife theme:

Mashlife not only offers the look of Mashable but also offers many of the features available in it. let’s have a look at the amazing features:

General features:

– Compatible with the latest version of WordPress (3.1.2) and utilizes many advanced features like menu managment.

– Clean and elegant look

– Advanced theme control panel to customize various aspects of the theme

– Logo switcher between image/text and custom logo.

– Home page style selection between blog and magazine.

– Widgetized footer area and sidebar

– Author bio box for single posts.

– Automatic thumbnail creation and caching for better loadtime.

– Flexibility of thumbnail selection through custom filled for featured post.

– Integrated google analytics

– Integrated Gravatar support

Social Features:

– Built-in support for social media network and feedburner

– Built-in support for Open Graph protocol and Facebook like button.

– Integrated Facebook Like box in sidebar.

– SEO and adsense optmized

Advanced Features:

– Ads control through Theme control panel.

– Custom page template for full width page, job board etc.

– Advance features like custom post type to place job board like  Mashable on the frontpage.

– Mashable like colored menu for categories.

– Support for lazy loading of images upon page scroll

– Support for related posts without any plugin.

– Amazingly fast loading to help in google ranking. (With the help of a caching plugin like W3 total cache it will be much faster and will give much better page speed score)

– Lots of new features to be added in the upcoming releases.

These are just some of the features of Mashlife theme and we feel unless you have a test drive of the Mashlife theme on your own, you will not be able to realize the true potential of this theme.

Mashlife theme is available for purchase in 3 different flavors, e.g Single use license to be used in only 1 website, multiple use license to be used in more than one website and developers license without any restriction.

Pricing:

Single License Mashlife theme:  USD 39.9

Multiple site license mashlife theme: USD 99.9

Developer license Mashlfe theme: USD 149.9

If you are wondering, we are using an advanced version of Mashlife theme with developer license here in Techie Zone.

View Mashlife Theme Demo

Buy Mashlife Theme

Use the coupon Code TECHIEZONE while checking out to get a 15% discount.