Archive | Quick Tips RSS feed for this section

Valio Bundle: Over $400 of Awesome Apps and Tools for $49

By Matthew Guay on March 24, 2011 in Featured, Quick Tips

This week, there’s an amazing deal from our friends at Valio: the Valio Bundle. For $49, you can get a bundle of Mac apps and design tools that individually would cost $438! It seems like there’s always a new bundle coming out nowadays, filled with Mac or web design products at way less than the standard retail price. Usually, though, most bundle deals include a ton of products you’d be very unlikely to purchase otherwise, but the Valio Bundle is filled with popular products you’ve likely wished you had. This bundle is an especially good deal for web developers and Mac users, and between Billings, Hypersaces, the Design Then Code tutorials, beautiful Tumblr themes from UpThemes, and the amazing Pictos font, there’s likely something you already want in the bundle.

Best of all, the bundle is from Valio, which is the company behind the Yoggrt ads that helps sponsor Techinch.com. I’ve been very impressed with the quality of their service, and the Valio Bundle is yet another proof of that. The entire checkout process is handled by Valio’s Quixly digital delivery service, and once you’ve purchased the bundle, you’ll get an email with a link to download all of the products at once along with another email listing all of your product keys. As a nice touch, the final checkout email looks like a cute receipt replicated in your browser!

As a PC (and iOS) user, the Valio bundle didn’t include as many products that I could use, but even still, the themes, icons, Design then Code tutorials, and Pictos font can be of use to all designers and web developers. But if you’re a Mac user, and especially if you don’t already have Billings and Hyperspaces, the Valio bundle is a no-brainer. Now, some of the included tools are basically extended trials: the Virb and Livestats accounts included, for example, are only for 3 months and so if you’re not really planning on using those service, that won’t be very valuable. But there’s plenty in the bundle to make it a good deal for most designers and developers. For once, it’s a bundle that I can promote without hesitation!

$ Get the Valio Bundle Today!

By the way, that shopping cart icon is from the Pictos @font-face font!

Comments { 2 }

WordPress for iPad, Much Improved

By Matthew Guay on March 17, 2011 in Quick Tips

If you’re serious about blogging, you’ll likely end up writing posts from almost anywhere. I’ve personally published posts from hospital waiting rooms, a home improvement store, numerous coffee shops and restaurants, and from the back of the car while traveling down deserted roads in the middle of nowhere (thanks to ubtiquous EDGE). Today, WordPress for iOS is a big part of that as I now use my iPad almost as much as my computer. The WordPress iPad app has traditionally been fairly frustrating to use, but today the WordPress for iOS team released the new 2.7 version of the app that fixes many of the problems and makes it much nicer to use, especially on iPad.

The new WordPress for iOS uses Core Data to store your post info, and seems to be much more stable. Then, the post editor is fully revamped on iPad as you can see in the shot above. Now, when you start a new post, an editor pane will open above the app, much like the Mail app on iPad. Add categories and more with native selector panes, and even upload images right from the editor without switching back and forth between different screens. New pictures are automatically added to the end of your post without any extra taps, either. For this post, I took screenshots, rotated and resized them with OneEdit, then uploaded them directly with the new WordPress for iPad.

Ready to schedule your post? You can still schedule your post or upload it as a draft. This has been changed slightly in the latest version, and now you’ll need to tap the gear button on the bottom of the editor to change the publish settings. This isn’s a problem though, as now it’s much easier to schedule posts as you want with the native menus. Plus, uploading draft posts still works great!

As before, you can edit existing posts and pages from WordPress for iPad, as well as manage comments on all of your sites. This works the same as before, but everything feels much faster and more stable in the new version. WordPress for iOS is still not perfect; I’d love to see either a WYSIWYG editor or an extended code editing keyboard, as right now, adding links or HTML formatting to posts is very frustrating. Also, I’d love to see support for the new WordPress post formats, as well as direct integration with WordPress.com Stats, VaultPress, and more. But, the new changes are encouraging, and they show that the Automattic team isn’t wasting time in trying to get their apps improved. The changes in this version set the stage for more features in future versions, and it finally works good enough that I’ll definitely be using it more. If you’re using WordPress on your iOS device, make sure to update or download WordPress for iOS today!

Download WordPress for iOS (free, universal app)

Comments { 7 }

Add Long Emails, Newsletters, and More to Instapaper

By Matthew Guay on March 16, 2011 in Quick Tips

Over the past several months, I’ve shifted all of my long-form online reading to Instapaper. I keep the bookmarklet in my bookmarks bar on Chrome, where it’s always a quick Ctrl+Shift+B away. Whenever I come across an article I’d like to read but would take more than a minute or two, I’ll add it to my Instapaper queue to read later. That way, I can get rid of all the distractions and just sit down and read on Instapaper, whether in the browser or on the iOS app.

There’s only one thing I haven’t been able to switch to Instapaper: email newsletters. Now, most email newsletters I get go straight in the trash, but some are definately worth reading. From Smashing Magazine’s email newsletter to Om Malik’s Om Says, I get plenty of high quality writing in my inbox that I’d like to take time to read. I just don’t want to have to read it in Gmail. But, if you try the page to Instapaper, you’ll get an error message in your reading log instead of the newsletter you wanted to read.

But, there’s a solution…

After several tries, I finally hit on a way to get email newsletters into Instapaper: the old Print trick. Many articles online are broken into multiple pages, so the best way to get them into Instapaper is to click the Print button in the page and then add it to Instapaper. And guess what? This works in Gmail too. Just click the Print All button to the right of your email, and it’ll open in a plain HTML page in a new tab.

Close the print window that opens, then just click your Instapaper bookmarklet or browser addon in the new tab. Check your Instapaper list, and you should see your newsletter or longer email in Instapaper, ready to read with all of your favorite text settings in your browser, iPhone, or iPad.

If you’re a dedicated Instapaper fan, or have just been looking for an easy way to make it easier to read long emails, this little tip can save you some time and frustration. I’ve personally found it much more productive to add longer reading items to Instapaper and read them later, and now that can include everything from long emails from friends, newsletters, and great long-form articles. Online reading’s never been so nice before!

Don’t have an Instapaper account? Signup today!

Download Instapaper for iPhone or iPad (Universal app)

Comments { 6 }

Download “The Elements of Style” for Free

By Matthew Guay on March 15, 2011 in Books, Quick Tips

One of the most celebrated texts for writers is William Strunk, Jr.’s The Elements of Style. If you’ve ever taken a writing class or done any extra studying about writing, you’ve likely seen this short book quoted or listed as recommended reading. Written initially as a short handbook for his students in 1918, Strunk’s work has remained a standard handbook of English writing ever since. It’s a brief book, but includes some of the best advice on correct English rules of usage, commonly misused and misspelled words, and

In the years since its original publishing, The Elements of Style has been updated numerous times, and in 1935 E. B. White contributed to the updating, causing the book to generally be known as Strunk and White. You can still purchase the most up-to-date version as a paper book from Amazon today, though oddly enough the latest editions are not available as eBooks. Both the Kindle Store and iBooks include copies of The Elements of Style, but they’re actually just reformatted copies of the original edition from others.

Since the original was published in 1918, though, the original Elements of Style is out of copyright in the US and most other countries. Thanks to that, the book was published fully on Wikisource, Wikipedia’s site for public domain books. You can read it online there, and since the chapters are quite short, it’s a great reference to keep bookmarked so you can check whenever you’re writing. Alternately, you can also download The Elements of Style in nicely formatted PDF, mobi, or ePub files from Feedbooks for free. These copies are great to save to your eBook library so you can read the whole book from your computer, iPhone/iPad, Kindle, or other device anytime you want.

Original 1918 edition of The Elements of Style in iBooks

The Elements of Style is definitely still a useful handbook for English writing, and I just read through the first section this afternoon as part of my required reading for my current technology communications class. Interestingly, it’s also a great companion book to the new book from A List Apart, The Elements of Content Strategy, which is written to help writers craft online content that’s as high quality as is demanded of traditional writers.

It’s amazing how timeless the advice in The Elements of Style is for it to still be relevant all these years later. Whether you’re a full-time writer or just need a few pointers to make your writing flow better, it’s a great guide that’s quick and easy to read. For free!

Download The Elements of Style in PDF, ePub, or mobi format from Feedbooks

Comments { 2 }

Use Your Domain Names Anywhere

By Matthew Guay on February 22, 2011 in Quick Tips

Finding a good hosting service and domain name can be two of the hardest things about starting a new site. Once you’ve got a solid hosting service, you can usually use it to host multiple sites. Case in point, both Techinch.com and Maybring.com both run on my same DreamHost account. Once you’ve got a good hosting service that’s running your sites stable, it’s usually quite simple to add another site.

But sometimes, your hosting service may not be the cheapest place to register domain names. Plus, if your hosting service did go bad, it’s a lot easier to move your data than your domain name. For these reasons and more, many people choose to register their domains from a domain registrars and host their sites at another hosting service. You can use this to take advantage of specials as well; Media Temple, for example, currently offers $5 .com domain name registrations to new customers, which is about half price of standard domain registration price.

So how do you get your domains working with your hosting service if you’re keeping everything separate? Here I’ll show you how to add your domain from Media Temple to a DreamHost account, and the steps should be very similar with other registrars and hosting services.

Change Your Domain’s Nameservers

First, you’ll need to change the nameservers on your domain. Login to your account at your registrar where you purchased your domain, and open your domain tools. Here you should find an option to edit the nameservers listed for your domain. This will let you point your domain to your existing hosting account so you can do something useful with your domain name.

Want to learn more about nameservers? This Wikipedia article should help you out.

In your options to edit nameservers, you should find listings to enter 2-3 nameserver names. By default, these will be the nameservers for your registrar’s hosting, but you want to change them to your hosting account’s nameservers. So, in another tab or window, go to you hosting company’s site and find their nameservers, which should be listed under your account’s domain settings. If you can’t find their nameservers, contact their support team. Once you’ve got the name servers, enter them in the nameserver fields on your domain registrar. Below you can see my settings for DreamHost’s default nameservers.

It can take up to 24-48 hours for your DNS nameservers settings to propagate, though often today it only takes a couple hours.

Add Your Domain to Your Hosting Service

Ok, so now your domain is pointing to your hosting service, so it’s time to add it to your account. Head over to your hosting service, and open your domain management panel. If you’re using DreamHost, you’ll see a Manage Domains link on the top left side of your hosting dashboard. From the domain page, select Add New Domain. Don’t worry; you won’t have to pull out your credit card. This is just to claim the domain that you’ve pointed to your hosting service and add it to your account.

Now, on the Add New Domain page, you’ll have a number of options. If you’re wanting to start a new site from this new domain, then enter it in the top field under Fully Hosted. You’ll have the option to set which folder your site’s data will be saved in, specify which user has access to the domain, and whether or not you want to add Google Apps to your domain.

Alternately, if you just want to redirect your new domain to a site you already have, scroll down and enter your domain under Redirect, then enter the domain you want to redirect the new address to. That’s what I’ve currently done with my new domain below, until I have a new site started for it.

That’s all! Now your domain should be running on your new fully hosted site on your existing hosting account, or redirecting to your site. Either way, you’ll be able to keep your domains registered wherever works best for you, while taking advantage of hosting you already have. For me, it enabled me to get 2 domains cheaper than Dreamhost’s default registration cost and add them to my account without much hassle at all.

As far as the best hosting or domain registration service, I’m afraid I can’t give you any absolute recommendation. Media Temple is highly regarded among designers and bloggers, and I’ve seriously considered using them to host Techinch.com. They offer many more advanced hosting offerings than most hosting companies, so if your site is going Pro, they’re definitely an option to consider. Plus, their current special on $5 new .com registrations is a great deal if you’re got a new domain you’d like to snag. Then, DreamHost offers great shared hosting at a very reasonable price, with an amazingly responsive and actually helpful help team. Techinch.com has been hosted on Dreamhost for over half a year now, and has had around 98% uptime which is not too bad. At the end of the day, though, you’ll get different reports from everyone about different hosting companies. The great thing is, your domains can always be moved to the hosting provider you want even without transferring them!

Comments { 1 }