I know it’s been talked about by other bloggers, but I’ve gotten asked about which WordPress plugins I use. So here goes…
Plugins serve to extend your WordPress blog — to give it more oomph, more pizzazz even. But most importantly, they help you make sense of your whole blogging experience. It could be to make blogging more fun, such as running polls or contests off your blog. Or to maintain a directory (as opposed to a simple blogroll). For me, my primary use of plugins is for extending the power of the already-powerful WordPress platform.
So here’s a list of the plugins that I use in almost all my WordPress blogs. They’re all compatible with version 2.2.1, by the way. ••• Read on»
Tagged: WordPress, WP plugins
Besides writing about various topics for my blogs, I also dabble in a bit of coding, some designing (not the actual work, just the ‘conceptualization’), and plugin-testing. I’ve actually crashed one blog because of my wanton installations of seemingly harmless 3rd-party plugins for WordPress. Lessons learned in the other side of blogging. But… plugins are like a minor addiction. They just make so many cool things happen, don’t they??
So I’ve learned to first watch out for potential disasters when it comes to trying out plugins. And I’ve learned to check first how popular my desired plugins are before I even try using them. One such blog I happen to always pick up nice finds is Jayvee’s abuggedlife.com. And I’ve found another one I immediately liked over there: Postreach.com’s ClickComments. ••• Read on»
Tagged: favorite blogs, WordPress, WP plugins
I was blog-hopping after not doing it for a while, and I chanced upon Karlo’s PinoyBlogero.com. He’d linked to MindanaoBloggers.com to help spread the word about the upcoming bloggers summit in Davao this October, and that’s how I found his site. Thanks for the helping hand, Karlo!
What attracted me to the blog, and made me stay and browse, was the blogger’s use of anime characters that he’d drawn himself. I like this style, because I try to use it myself over at AngDabawenyo.com (although it’s not me doing the drawings of “Dave” but my cousin Ria). Aside from photos and videos, I believe that original artwork like drawings and even paintings can encourage your blog’s readers to stay longer and read more posts. ••• Read on»
Tagged: blog promotions, bloggers
Batang Yagit tagged me with this über lengthy meme. Still… stuff like this does get the blogging cobwebs out of the way, so here goes.
3 things that scare me
being stuck inside dark, dank caves (happened to me twice already!)
cockroaches
this made me jump out of my seat!
3 people who make me laugh
Misterhubs
Christine on YouTube a.k.a. happyslip
Mandaya Moore-Orlis
••• Read on»
Tagged: personality quirks, tag games
Even with just a few respondents, the poll I ran presents it quite plainly that people blog “to keep a journal” mostly. This could actually be accurate, judging by the sheer number of personal and ‘emo’ blogs out there. The answer “to be heard” was meant for probloggers and advocacy bloggers to choose. Well, the poll is still live…
I was surprised that there were actually people who read my blog but don’t blog themselves. It was a very straightforward and simple poll, though. Maybe I’ll do a more extensive survey in the future.
I’m really sorry about this, but I did a monumental clusterf–k when I was upgrading DavaoBlogs.com. As a result, the aggregator site’s down and inaccessible for a few more days. There’s more. The Davao Blogs Directory (http://dir.davaoblogs.com) is also down, because it lives in the same server.
What happened was, I upgraded the WordPress installation from v2.0.8 to v2.1.3, without deactivating the plugins. Next thing I knew, the PHP scripts were wreaking havoc all over the place. Good thing that I was able to keep a very recent backup of the site! And then I read somewhere that WP 2.1.3 isn’t a very stable release…. That’s what I get for not reading reviews first. (I can almost hear my friends chanting, “RTFM! RTFM!”)
So, please bear with me for a few more days. The Davao Blogspace will be up and running again soon enough, on a faster and more powerful server!
Tagged: Davao Blogs Directory, Davao Blogspace
The Philippine justice system, I’m sorry to say, is in the pits. Oh, this has been said countless times before. But recently I had a good look at just how bad the situation is. With the forward strides that our country’s IT industry has been making, it’s sad and frustrating that a highly necessary institution of ours is stuck in the Medieval Ages.
My friend Harold B., a fresh grad who’s full of potential and hope, was wrongfully incarcerated three months ago. He was released just last week: he was found to have had nothing to do at all with the illegal recruitment case against an agency that the police raided that time. ••• Read on»
Tagged: Philippine justice system, social problems
One fun way of driving traffic to your blog — as well as increasing awareness of it — is to run a contest. If done with proper care and timing, this can promote your online presence exponentially (”viral marketing”, as many bloggers are now wont to say). Plus, you get to build a loyal base of blog readers.
Blog contests are like tag or meme games, but with rewards. You could do something big (i.e., the prizes are expensive or really desirable); or something more down-to-earth. If it’s big, it’s most probably the winner’s loot that will bring participants in droves. There’s nothing like winning, say, an iPod or a digicam… heck, why not a 40″ flat-panel LCD TV!? ••• Read on»
Tagged: blog promotions, contests
Today I finally gave myself practically the whole day to sit down and start a site I’d been planning since early this year — www.davaoblogs.net (davaoblogs.com is the Davao Blogspace). Actually, I’ve been using davaoblogs.net as an email service, powered by Google Apps, but kept the website itself on the backburner… Until now.
Now it’s been conceived and born all in one afternoon as a community blog, called the Davao Bloggers Network, with Marc J., Christian T. and myself as the initial authors. It’s generally going to be all about blogging — tips, best practices, what have you — from the perspective of Filipino bloggers. But who knows what my co-authors will come up with, eh? 
Why don’t you head on to the brand-spanking-new blogsite and leave us some feedback? Some link-love would be nice, too!
Tagged: bloggers, Google Apps
I do not disbelieve that God answers prayers. But it’s been said often enough that He does so in His own time and through His own mysterious ways. To me this implies that, though we pray for something, it still depends on ourselves whether or not we deserve what we’re asking for. In other words, prayer serves but to strengthen our own resolve. God our Father, in His infinite wisdom, shows us the way to attain our goals by our own means. ••• Read on»
Tagged: prayer, religion, spirituality
