Another Photoshop 2020 Thing

There are a number of things in the new Photoshop. This is one I don’t remember seeing mentioned by others. I think it is handy for making pattern backgrounds.

While I am pointing out somewhat ignored features I’ll include this WordPress-Facebook feature.

In WordPress when posting there is a feature section labeled Open Graph and Twitter Card Tags. You may have to go into WP’s settings and enable Open Graph display on the editor. Whether in the Classic or Block editor the section will appear below the bottom of the editor.

There are two fields in the section, Use this image and Use this description. These are for automated systems that pick up on articles in your blog. The image field needs to be set to avoid Facebook, aggregators, and other automated systems grabbing the first image they find to use with their display of an article on your blog. If these systems comply with web standards they will use these two fields, if available, in whatever they post. Continue reading

WordPress Annoyance

If you have found the new WordPress panel for editing URL/Links annoying join the crowd. Add your voice to the thread at: New WordPress URL Popup Causes More Work.

Annoying new popup url panel

Annoying new popup url panel

This change is a serious annoyance.

Lots of people do not want the links leading off site to replace their page with the destination page. I’m one of those. So, I have do a bunch of clicking to tell the link to open a new tab. It was bad enough with the previous panel/popup. Now it is way worse.

If you too are annoyed, please drop by the WP site (link above) and add your voice.

WordPress Site Icon 2015 Tutorial

This month WordPress added Site Icons. I saw this when I updated my site to the latest release of WordPress and in looking at what is new, I saw the Site Icon feature. I lost my site icon when I moved my site from a Windows server to a Linux server. So, I have needed to redo it for some time. So, I figured this might be a quick way.

New WordPress Site Icon Setting - 9/2015

New WordPress Site Icon Setting – 9/2015

Prior to this a site owner could only use the Windows Favorite Icon and the Mac equivalent to create an icon that can be used with bookmarks. Not an exactly a user friendly thing. With release 4.3 I thought adding the site icon got easier. But, the feature isn’t what I expected or what I think most of us will expect. So, here is how to use a WP Site Icon and create a favorite icon that is used with bookmarks.

The WP Site Icon feature is for theme builders. It doesn’t do much for site owners that aren’t into coding. Konstantin Obenland, release lead for 4.3, says,

This v1 marries Jetpack’s Site Icon module with the Media Modal, reusing code from the Custom Header admin. For now, the core-provided icons will be limited to a favicon, an iOS app icon, and a Windows tile icon, leaving .ico support and additional icons to plugins to add.

So, as best I can tell, implementing the feature on my site did nothing. That means the favorite icon I lost moving my site from Windows to Linux still has to be redone. At some point the WP peeps plan to add favorites icon support.  Continue reading

Flickr Image Embed Code Change

Flickr™ has changed the embed code they provide people for displaying Flickr images. That meant I had to change how I embed their images in the blog. I’ll explain some of what you can do with the new embed code. There is a discussion at Flickr about the new code here: New version of Flickr’s embed code.

City of the Ancient Gods

City of the Ancient Gods

Surely, you have noticed I use more Flickr images these days. It saves me time and there are so many gorgeous images from Second Life™. Taking the time to find gorgeous places and get great photos… it was becoming work. Embedding an image is easier.  Continue reading

WordPress Updating 3.9

WordPress has been releasing several updates. Today I see they have released version 3.9. If you are a WordPress user, this is an interesting update for you. This update has lots of improved editing features. There are lots of people writing nice reviews of this release. So, I’ll only link to those:

If you use Ultimate TinyMCE, you won’t like the new editing window. Version 3.9 basically trashes its interface. 3.9 does not provide all the bells and whistles that Tiny MCE has. So, Tiny MCE users lose some functionality.

Adding a Facebook Like Button

Adding Like Buttons to Your Blog

Adding Like Buttons

For those of us that blog, something to help bring more readers is a bit of the Holy Grail. Today Hamlet posted an article on New World Notes about the Facebook LIKE button we see on his site that brings in more readers. Checking it out, I found the links leading to the rather geeky version of the button. So, if you are a casual or super geek, here is how to get the button working… not that you need my help if you’re a supper geek…

There are 3 basic ways to install a new function in a blog; add a widget by uploading the thing, add a widget via the Plugins Panel, or add some code to the blogs programming.

Continue reading