I am a FireFox user.  I prefer it over Internet Explorer for a lot of reasons.  It has WAY more flexibility.  And one of our MLSs is even going to be supporting it soon.

I had installed one particular plug-in a long time ago, and was left wondering why.  In fact, when I set up the new computer, I didn’t install that particular plug-in.  But while at REtechSouth (#retso), I attended a session of FireFox, and it was mentioned as a ‘must-have’ add-on.

It is back.  And it is back with a companion.

GreaseMonkey is an add-on that allows little ‘scripts’ to be run.  They modify the experience of sites from Amazon to YouTube.  They can be major (literally moving components around) or minor (blocking Farmville notices in FaceBook).

GreaseFire is the companion.  This little add-on finds things that can be modified by a GreaseMonkey script. I’m finding it a bit buggy… and that doesn’t seem to be very different from some other users… but the concept is great, and I would expect that to be fixed in a release in the near future (FireFox just did a major upgrade).

The other way to find scripts is to look on Userscripts.org.  There are thousands of different scripts…

Have Fun.

REtechSouth

After every conference and seminar, there comes the real challenge… implementing all of the VERY cool things I’ve learned, while living in the real world. Setting up client searches, responding to inquiries, dealing with the family, making sure everything that should be on track is on track… they all get in the way of rolling out 3782 changes to my websites and social networks.

I have found that I need to take a little time… and then I need to dive in. Diving in comes next. I have pages of notes, some vendor material and a list of websites and ideas. I have mind-mapping software on my computer… and it needs to get used.

For the last few weeks, I have been unhappy with much of my web presence. I have a great IDX, but I am not getting the most out of it. I have good Page Rank, but I don’t have the level of conversion I feel I should have. My traffic is decent.

And I focused on the sessions at REtechSouth that I thought would help me fix that…

Plenty of sessions to focus on, too…

If you weren’t at REtechSouth, you should have been.

In addition to the incredible information that was presented, the connections that were made and the fun on the exhibit hall floor… there was also the opportunity to hang out with my friends. There are a lot of folks I have been lucky enough to meet from all over the country. And there were some that I was able to meet (in person) for the first time.

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• Where do we go from here? (lanebailey.info)

Part of the power of WordPress is in the extensibility of the platform through plug-ins. The large community of WordPress users have created these little snippets to solve problems or overcome shortfalls of the basic program.

These are some of my favorites…

And I’m going to start off with two that aren’t for WordPress, but that I use ALL of the time…

• Zemanta – This is one of my “blogging assistants”.  Zemanta searches for relavent photos for posts, while I am writing them.  It is a FireFox plugin, and functions on all of the WordPress blogs without installing a WP plugin.  I also have it installed on my Joomla sites…  I did have to install a Joomla plugin…
• ScribeFire – Another of my “blogging assistants” … and a commenting assitant, too.  ScribeFire lets me format posts or comments, even adding video to comments on Active Rain.  I can add headlines, colored text and other features using it.  It is also a FireFox plugin.

I promised WordPress Plugins…  So here are a few…

• Add Post Footer – Just like the Post Footer settings here on AR, I can add whatever I want to each post on my blog with this plug-in.  Automatically…
• All-In-One SEO Pack – Tunes SEO for the blog and posts easily…
• Apture – A different way to present media.  I just started using this on my WP blogs after reading about it here from Brad Andersohn.
• Google XML Sitemap – It is very important to have a sitemap.  This automatically creates, updates and sends to search engines…
• Great Real Estate – I can showcase listings easily on my blog…  I also can run sidebar widgets with the listing pics and other info if I choose.
• Local Market Explorer – This is a tool from Zillow that put market stats, reports, pictures, info and other juicy stuff on pages in my blogs… easily.
• MobilePress – Automatically see when a mobile devide is looking at the blog and tweak it to better display on that device.
• NextGEN Gallery – This is a better gallery system that the stock one in WordPress.  It is also required for Great Real Estate.
• Property Watch – Automatically builds a form so that buyers can send me requests for the type of property they are looking for…
• SoJ Tag Feed – I can create a landing page for ANY tag or catagory on my blog… with this I can create an RSS feed for any tag as well.
• Wibiya – Check out the Toolbar at the bottom of LaneBailey.com.  Although I might have to pull it down to experiment with something else (something BETA this way comes?)
• WP-DB Manager – I can do database management from my blog… and have it automatically email back-ups to me.

There are actually a lot more plugins that I run, but this gives you a good idea of what is available.  it is a VERY extensible platform.

What do you think of the new theme?  Like how it matches GarageHomesUSA, even though they are on different platforms?

from Lane’s Active Rain blog

WordPress themes come in a LOT of varieties.  But, all of the varities can be narrowed down to a few basic families based on layout.

• Single Column
• Two Column
• Three Column
• Magazine Layout

There are certainly variations on these options, but everything can be categorized in one of these groups.

Single Column

This is the most basic… and difficult to find type of theme.  Blog posts simple run down the web page, from top to bottom.  there are no sidebars with distracting links or other content.  In some cases, links and other content could be placed at the bottom of the web page… or possibly even the top.  Of course, ‘pages’ could be deployed with content, but they wouldn’t be on the main landing zone.

Two Column

Now we add a column along the side that we can toss in contact info, pictures, links and widgets.  These are among the most popular layouts.  Here is an example.  Of course, some themes will still allow content at the top and/or bottom, as well as additional pages.

Three Column

I have a playsite that I am working on, and I have deployed a three column theme for it.  Basically, we are adding a second sidebar for content.  Both sidebars can be on the same side or they can be on different sides.  These are also pretty popular layouts.  The advantage is that there can be more content introduced on the ‘Landing Area’.  The drawback is that the content area is narrower. There are also some Four Column layouts, but they are pretty rare and for many people they are quite crowded…  You are better of going to a…

Magazine Layout

These are seriously flexible.  Here is a development site I am doing for my wife.  This is a magazine style layout.  Instead of the posts being front and center, featured content is more controlled.  Using a magazine layout, one can take WordPress and turn it into a more full featured website instead of “just a blog”.  The presentation is more tightly controlled, and so the look isn’t really that of a blog on the front page.

There are also hybrids.  I run a theme on LaneBailey.com that can be a magazine type portal or traditional blog.  As a traditional blog, I can deploy ‘user positions’ at places all over the blog, allowing it to still have a magazine flavor, but function as a blog.  During the recent VAR Blog Brawl, I put a notice asking for votes on my blog above the content between the sidebars.  I also have the ability to move the sidebars from side to side… as do the readers (just below the header on the right side).

Glossary…

page – static content for the site…  also can note specific views of the site, like the landing page, archives, tagged content, which aren’t static.

widget – I code snippet that does something, like the one that displays posts from my other blogs on the sidebar.

landing area – The first view of a site when someone clicks a link or types in the address.

user positions – Sidebars, footers, and areas where the blog posts aren’t, but there is content.  The best way to show you is to go to my joomla site, GarageHomesUSA.com.  Everything you see on the page, except the three stories smack dab in the middle of the page, is in a user position.  Through the back-end of the site I can determine exactly which position in which I want each item to show.  You need to view that site in FireFox or Internet Explorer 8 while I trace down whatever is breaking the site in IE7 and under.

footer – The bottom of the web page.

header – The top of the web page

***Update***

I realized that I wasn’t very clear.  This discussion pertains to WordPress in the self-hosted variety… WordPress.org, not WordPress.com.