Top 15 iOS apps that can lend great experience to WordPress users or Bloggers

Gone are the days, when phone was only used to communicate with others. Now, it has become more than a communication device, it has emerged as a complete new device named as “Smartphone” that is perfect to replace desktop computers. It can be used to accomplish day-to-day activities like health and fitness, to-do-list, entertainment, reading news and many more.

Now, when we say that small-screen Smartphone are ideal to replace large-screen computers, it means they are providing us all the features of computer in a more convenient fashion.

We know that WordPress is one of the most popular open source Content Management System (CMS) that is dedicated to bloggers and is adapted by more than 60 million websites. This has encouraged mobile app development companies to design some applications to facilitate great convenience to WordPress users.

The simplicity and minimalistic design of iOS makes it the best among other Smartphone. There is no dearth of iOS applications in the market. Just search for a particular category and you will get a truckload of applications for each category. If you are looking for some iOS applications that can facilitate features of WordPress or blogging then here is a list.

IOS apps for WordPress users

1.WordPress

IOS apps for WordPress users
IOS apps for WordPress users

A thought or inspiration can strike you anytime, manage your content on the go with ease by using this app. It allows you to access the revolutionary CMS-WordPress. It offers you a fresh user interface, useful shortcuts and allows access to HTML code image uploads and loads of amazing features.

Free Application

2.Feedy

feedy IOS apps for WordPress users
IOS apps for WordPress users

For a blogger, it is quite imperative to keep himself updated with latest news and market trends. This app offers a convenient and hassle-free way to stay updated by displaying your favorite news and blogs at same place. Feedly is a latest RSS feed reader, which features an appealing magazine style layout. You can even add tags, categorize or share your feeds with others.

Free Application

3.Pocket:SaveArticlesandVideostoViewLater

pocket

Social streams and news feeds contain so much information that make it almost impossible to read all at once. You can use this app to bookmark and save some interesting articles, so that they can be read later at your convenience. Pocket also allows you to share, collect or tag your favorite articles.

Free Application

4.BlogPress

blogpress

Truly an amazing application, BlogPress is perfect to manage various blogging platforms including, TypePad, WordPress, Tumblr and more. This blog management platform features an inbuilt comment management system, facilitates basic blogging operations, images and videos uploading.

Paid Application

5.BufferforTwitterandFacebook

buffer-for-twiter

Schedule your status posts, share your status message on your LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter profiles with breeze. This wonderful application is just perfect for you. You can also activate it on your whole social sharing process by adding an additional app like IFTTT.

Free Application

6.Photobucket

photo-bucket

While writing some articles, we may need to browse a huge photo gallery, and iPhone being a small-screen device can make the job a bit tedious. There comes the idea for this app, you can use Photobucket to conveniently access photos, even from your small-screen devices. It also takes auto backup and features photo editor, new animated GIF maker and more.

Free Application

7.LastPass

lastpress

While working on Internet, it is vitally important to maintain unique and secure passwords for each website. LastPass is a password manager application that can help you create stronger and reliable passwords.

Free Application

8.Evernote

evernote

Creativity hits us when it is least expected; it can come anytime & anywhere. It just hits us, consumes us temporarily and then silently escapes. Evernote is very simple to use and allows you to take notes with ease. It offers great features including, saving bookmarks, to-do-list, scheduling appointments and a lot more.

Free Application

9.Hangouts

hangouts

With video and voice calling, chat, and compatibility with other Google services, Google Hangouts is a great tool for bloggers. It allows you to embed a live Google+ Hangout with viewers and broadcast it live on your website.

Free Application

10.Instapaper

instapaper

Instapaper allows one to save their favorite web pages for offline usage and allows them to read those saved pages later at their convenience.

Paid Application

11.Dropbox

dropbox

This cloud based storage service allows you to share content among different devices and platforms. There are several WordPress backup plugins that allow you to directly backup the website content to your Dropbox account.

Free Application

12.ByLine

byline

You can use ByLine RSS reader to connect your Feedly account and synchronize the latest feeds of your website; it also allows you to access them offline.

Paid Application

13.Pingdom

pingdom

Get notify whenever your website goes down, by using Pingdom application. You can use this app to monitor your website and its services.

Free Application

14.Wunderlist

wunderlist

Manage tasks and notes with ease, by installing this app. It displays a feature-filled web interface and offers sleek navigation. You can conveniently assign sub-tasks and maintain notes along with each task.

Free Application

15.Instagram

instagram

Instagram allows one to share their pictures and moments in a fun and convenient way. Your recent Instagram photos can be easily displayed in WordPress sidebar. Just copy paste the image URL in WordPress and share the photo with your audiences. It is a great app for bloggers.

Free Application

Wrapping Up:

There is a plethora of useful iPhone apps that are designed for bloggers. Some of them are mentioned above, download some, which best suits you; and enjoy blogging or accessing WordPress features with breeze.

free wordPress photography themes – Most Dazzling

The razzle and dazzle of WordPress keeps growing. From quite some time now, WordPress has undeniably been the best Content Management System for creating websites – be it average looking ones or the sites with memorable and unique design elements. And thanks to the versatility of this CMS, you can create websites for different businesses. Be it corporate websites of IT development companies, or be it a eCommerce portals, or healthcare centers, or online portfolio of a designer, WordPress has themes and plugins to help you with all.

Here is nice collection of Free WordPress Photography Themes which will be helpful to all the users who are looking for Free WordPress Photography Themes.

free wordPress photography themes – Most Dazzling

free wordPress photography themes - Most Dazzling
free wordPress photography themes – Most Dazzling

Image source : http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jpgAISlgm7Q/Uwuo7CNdDII/AAAAAAAACis/qWuZFNoUz0s/s1600/Sans+titre.png

Even though there has been a constant influx of several other content management systems and framework in the web development realm, they haven’t managed to outlast WordPress as the choicest CMS. The WordPress community is only growing by the hour and with the rate at which it is racing ahead of its nearest competition, it might as well go on to invade the Internet ambit completely, the direct result of which would be that more and more advancements in store for us. WordPress has made the whole process of website building a seamless one.

Courtesy WordPress, even those with minimal or no coding skills have their own websites, because they hardly have to deal with any cumbersome PHP codes. Yes, you need to have a bit of a technical acumen, but it has nothing to do with software programming as such.

Coming back to the WordPress themes, there are templates for just about every kind of business or personal interest you can think of. And if you happen to be a photographer seeking to have a personal blog, there is no reason to why you should not go with WordPress. The suite of very relevant photography themes offer these photographers a great wherewithal and platform to showcase their work in a manner most visually appealing and at the same time, it takes care of other aspects of web like SEO, social media, etc. There are several set of features and capabilities that make these themes so incredibly useful, and owing to the fact that WordPress keeps tossing more and more of them, the photographers have much to choose from. Here is a compilation of the WordPress templates that anyone seeking to have a photography blog should try out:

ePix – Fullscreen Photography Theme

ePix – Fullscreen Photography Theme

Image source : – https://0.s3.envato.com/files/94101984/preview/01_preview.__large_preview.jpg

What strikes you with ePix is the remarkable interface and a catchy design that makes just the right kind of first impression. There is no doubt over the significance of ePix as a WordPress theme as it can lend an incredibly elegant and sophisticated appeal to your photography blog. The theme is slick and has the perfect blend of colors. The patters are carefully woven together and the responsiveness of the theme makes it a must use photography template.

Vintage Camera

Vintage Camera

Image source : http://wordpress.calobeedoodles.com/files/2012/02/savoy.jpg

Vintage Camera comes with some great skins for you to choose between. This amazing photography theme makes it a breeze to set up your photography blog, and as the name suggests, when you wish to add a vintage vibe to your blog, you don’t have to look beyond Vintage. The classic charm is all too apparent with every facet of the theme that makes a serious boast as one of the very propulsive and stirringly beautiful themes. Apparently it is the most suitable themes for your black and white photographs or the ones with 70s tint to it. Clean and highly responsive, Vintage Camera WordPress theme is for the keeps.

Invictus

Invictus

Image source: http://www.techshaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Invictus-A-Premium-Photographer-Portfolio-Theme.jpg

When you are looking fo

Why Mobile Apps are Preferred Over Web Apps

Apple and Google have catalyzed the era of mobile computing. The mobile apps including both Android applications and iOS applications are endeared by users. There are numerous applications that are available in the app stores and play stores and there are many yet to come.
Gone are the days, when there were few mobile users and massive desktop users. We all know that the incredible features of mobile has drive people crazy and made them to spend more time over mobile rather than on desktop. Now, the browser enabled Smartphone are there in the market so, what has caused ignorance towards web applications?

Mobile apps vs Web apps

Mobile apps vs Web apps
Mobile apps vs Web apps

The stats and figures of past few decades, clearly epitomizes a substantial gap between the number of users involved in web apps and mobile apps, and this gap continues to widen. From using web browsers on desktop to running apps on Smartphones, the transition has occurred in really short span of time.

doninate-mobile-web

When both mobile apps and websites can be accessed on a handy device then what has made mobile applications more liked and preferred over web apps? For this, let’s have a look on the following illustration and know exactly what does the two terms signifies.

  • Mobile Websites and Web Applications

With the advancement in wireless technology, websites that can be easily accessed over portable devices are in demand. The Internet-enabled devices including, Smartphone (like iPhone, Android phone, Windows phone or Blackberry), feature phone, iPad or Tablet, etc., have become lifeline for many of us. They can be connected to a wireless network or a mobile network like 3G networks, 4G networks or Wi-Fi. And offers access over Internet and other web features with a breeze.

mobile-web-applications
Nowadays, the websites are designed to adhere touch screen interface and easily accessibility on the small screen of a handy device. Based on ongoing market trends, website designs that exemplifies a perfect blend of Responsive, Simple and Storytelling designing styles are tend to attract viewers. The website that can adapt itself to the screen of a device and offers easy navigation throughout is preferred more.

The web apps were designed to be accessed over a browser. They are browser applications, which requires some downloading, each and every time when they are run. These apps include applications for banking, gaming, education, security and many more.

mobile-google-docs

With these device agnostic apps you can experience more interactive interface and manage your work conveniently on the go. Example of mobile web app is Safari browser, Chrome browser, simple office softwares like online spreadsheets, Google docs, cloud computing apps for chatting, gaming, sharing any data, etc.

  •  Mobile Applications

Accessing Internet and loading web pages have become a tiresome practice. To overcome this and to meet the upcoming market demands, mobile applications were designed. Lending an astonishing experience, the emergence of mobile application has defined new dimensions for the wireless technology. For running these apps, we need to download them once from an app store or play store via Internet; it runs smoothly on the device’s operating system (iOS, Android, etc.). It can be used for applications like games, reading desired data or managing content. Unlike web apps, these applications does not require full-time Internet support. They user-friendly and attractive Graphical User Interface (GUI), which further enhances their functionality.

mobile-apps-full

There are various categories for mobile applications like gaming apps, education apps, security apps, Photo editing apps, entertainment apps and many more.

Both the applications have some pros and cons. Then, what has attracted users toward mobile apps and why they are avoiding web apps? Answer to this question lies in the comparison below; let’s see how mobile applications are dominating web applications.

Web Apps Versus Mobile Apps

I’m comparing the two applications on the basis of certain factors listed below. This will give you a pellucid difference between the two.

#1. Speed and Performance

mobile-apps
mobile app speed

net-speed

Speed and performance of an application are really crucial. Clunky apps are dumped as soon as they are released, while the one, which offers instant processing and results, rule the market. The code that is used to build mobile app is tuned for great speed, while the code used for web apps is fundamentally, not for optimal performance. And thus, it makes Mobile application a better option.

The speed factor is highly affected in the case of web app, since they are required to be downloaded before running, which consumes a lot of time and lead to low speed. The speed of web apps also depends on the connected network, so, when the network signals are poor, your web app will automatically slow down.

 #2. Offline Support

Users love simple and effective apps that can run instantly with smooth functionality. Mobile apps offer great offline support and are preferred over web apps, as they uses the device’s content and doesn’t require any downloading.

Most of the time, running an app offline reduces the run time and its complexity. Web apps that are created using HTML5 can store data offline, but, it comes with two interregnums; firstly, it offers limited storage of 5MB data, which is not sufficient and secondly, it provides an option to the user to turn off or on the mobile storage; when you offers customer support for task like this, then it could lead to sleuthing and training challenge.

Both the apps can have offline as well as online support. You can use mobile applications to access both online and offline content. But mobile apps are considered more useful for offline use and web apps are apt for online applications.

#3. Access to Device’s Specific Features

Using your device’s camera as a scanner or writing messages by dictating not typing are some of the features that tempt the users and compel them to go for mobile apps, instead of web apps.
Since, the mobile applications are stored in device’s memory and work with the built-in features of the device, they perform faster and facilitates greater convenience.

#4. User Experience

Don’t you like to work on a user-friendly, trendy and optimized interface? Everyone does. Better layout and presentation will obviously attract more users. The mobile apps are designed to offer great user comfort, navigation ease and smooth functionality.

There are different mobile apps for different operating systems like App store contains applications for iOS users, Google play store has applications for his Android users, etc. These device specific applications augment accessibility ease and make them an absolute choice. While, the web apps are meant to be used by various groups of users, they have to follow some standard design or layout.

#5. Security

web-security

Every one wants to keep their device safe and secure from bugs and viruses. They can hamper your stored data and cost a lot for repairing. Security is a prime issue in IT industry. Especially, while dealing with online content, you are open to loads of threats that can destroy the installed softwares, data or can cause privacy issues.

As we know, the mobile apps are stored in device and run on device’s operating system and web apps are downloaded every time and executes on browser, the latter one is less secure and prone to bring virus to your device. Therefore, rejecting web apps and selecting mobile apps is a judicious decision.

Wrapping up:
If you are a developer, then it is very imperative to check the latest market trends and requirements before selecting between mobile apps and web apps. As far as users are concerned, I would rather recommend them to experience and make their choice. Currently, mobile apps are preferred over web apps but, bear in mind that IT is one of the unstable markets, so, stats may change anytime.

how to remove unwanted image sizes from wordpress theme

Many times you do not need the many image sizes for wordpress. You need the original image only for your wordpress sites. Sometime you need the original and thumbanil image only. But many wordpress themes creates the multiple image version in your site which is not useful. Using following code you can remove the unwanted images while uploading the images.

Here in this article I going to show you, how we can remove unwanted image sizes from wordpress theme. Using code snippet, you can easily remove unwanted image sizes.

remove unwanted image sizes

You just need to add following code into functions.php file.

function wpapi_remove_image_size($sizes) {
                unset( $sizes['small'] );
                unset( $sizes['medium'] );
                unset( $sizes['large'] );
                return $sizes;
        }
add_filter('image_size_names_choose', 'wpapi_remove_image_size');
remove unwanted image sizes
remove unwanted image sizes

How to use the cron job with WordPress

In linux OS and windows OS cron jobs been used for backgroud tasks, many times you need to execute the some background tasks based on time. In wordpress creating the cron jobs is very easy. For creating the cronjob you can use the wp_schedule_event() event. You can run the cron based on time defined.

In linux and mac box adding cronjobs are different then using in wordpress. WordPress itself supports the adding cronjobs events or tasks. Here in this article I explained about using cron job with WordPress.

CRON job with WordPress

You can pass following parameters:
hourly
twicedaily
daily

<?php
add_action('wpapi_hourly_event', 'do_this_daily');

function wpapi_activation() {
    if ( !wp_next_scheduled( 'wpapi_hourly_event' ) ) {
        wp_schedule_event(time(), 'daily', 'wpapi_daily_event');
    }
}
add_action('wp', 'wpapi_activation');

function do_this_hourly() {
    // do something daily
}
?>
cron job with WordPress
cron job with WordPress

For more detailed information you can visit
http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/wp_schedule_event

Load jQuery library from Google CDN

WordPress itself uses the jquery in all wordpress themes and loads automatically. But it is always good to load the jquery library through google CDN. It saves your sites bandwidth. Many people already written about same so here I am just putting the method.

Load jQuery library from Google CDN

Load the jQuery library from Google CDN is always good for seo and better performance of site. WordPress itself uses the jquery in all wordpress themes and loads automatically.

For more libraries you can visit the following URL:
https://developers.google.com/speed/libraries/devguide

What you need is, just copy and paste the following code into your functions.php file.

function jquery_from_google_cdn() {
   if (!is_admin()) {
      wp_deregister_script('jquery');
      wp_register_script('jquery', '//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.1/jquery.min.js', false, '1.11.1');
      wp_enqueue_script('jquery');
   }
}
add_action('init', 'jquery_from_google_cdn');
Load jQuery library from Google CDN
Load jQuery library from Google CDN

Load jQuery in wordpress footer section will be best

Many latest framework are loading all javascript in footer. They reduce the page loading the errors. But wordpress load the jquery and other javascript in header.

loading javascript libraries in footer will be always best for every web or mobile application. Here in this article, I will show to Load jQuery in wordpress footer section.
But using following code you can load your javascripts and jquery in footer area. You just need to copy and paste the following code into the functions.php file.

Load jQuery in wordpress footer section

function wpai_add_jquery_in_footer( &$scripts) {
	if ( ! is_admin() )
		$scripts->add_data( 'jquery', 'group', 1 );
}
add_action( 'wp_default_scripts', 'wpai_add_jquery_in_footer' );

After doing the this you js scripts will load in footer. This js will load in footer for only normal users, Not for admin user.

Load jQuery in wordpress footer section will be best
Load jQuery in wordpress footer section will be best

 

Count post views without wordpress plugin

There are many wordpress plugin which will give you the post views using custom tables. But here using following code you can track the post views of your wp site.

Using external plugin, you can get the views and report but it will add more sql quries and extra load to your site. So I suggest use following code for getting the post views.

Count post views without wordpress plugin

Following code will track post views or count views of your wp site. You just need to copy and paste the following code into functions.php file first.


function getPostViews($postID){
    $count_key = 'post_views_count';
    $count = get_post_meta($postID, $count_key, true);
    if($count==''){
        delete_post_meta($postID, $count_key);
        add_post_meta($postID, $count_key, '0');
        return "0 View";
    }
    return $count.' Views';
}
function setPostViews($postID) {
    $count_key = 'post_views_count';
    $count = get_post_meta($postID, $count_key, true);
    if($count==''){
        $count = 0;
        delete_post_meta($postID, $count_key);
        add_post_meta($postID, $count_key, '0');
    }else{
        $count++;
        update_post_meta($postID, $count_key, $count);
    }
}
// Remove issues with prefetching adding extra views
remove_action( 'wp_head', 'adjacent_posts_rel_link_wp_head', 10, 0);

After adding the above code for tracking the post views you need to add following code into single.php file. Note: add following code inside the wp post loop.

<?php
          setPostViews(get_the_ID());
?>

For showing the post views you need to put following code in single.php file. Note: add following code inside the wp post loop.

<?php
          echo getPostViews(get_the_ID());
?>
Count post views without wordpress plugin
Count post views without wordpress plugin

Ref taken from: http://wpsnipp.com/index.php/functions-php/track-post-views-without-a-plugin-using-post-meta/

Show the image attachments count in Post list section

Many people wants to see the number of attachments which are used for posts. In Post list page people wants to see the number of image and other attachments. Using following code you will be able to see the attachment count in post list section.

image attachments count in Post

You just need to copy and paste the following code into functions.php file.

add_filter('manage_posts_columns', 'posts_columns_attachment_count', 5);
add_action('manage_posts_custom_column', 'posts_custom_columns_attachment_count', 5, 2);
function posts_columns_attachment_count($defaults){
    $defaults['wps_post_attachments'] = __('Attached');
    return $defaults;
}
function posts_custom_columns_attachment_count($column_name, $id){
	if($column_name === 'wps_post_attachments'){
	$attachments = get_children(array('post_parent'=>$id));
	$count = count($attachments);
	if($count !=0){echo $count;}
    }
}
image attachments count in Post
image attachments count in Post

Ref Url: http://wpsnipp.com/index.php/functions-php/display-post-attachment-count-in-admin-column/

After WP registration send user to specific page

Many wordpress website users allow user to register on there site. After new user registration if we want to show them specific instructions or registration success page then you can use the following code. Put following code into functions.php file.

In this article I explained you about how can we redirect the user after WP registration and send user to specific page.

WP registration send user to specific page

Before adding the following code create your “registration-done” page.

function wpapi_registration_redirect(){
    return home_url( '/registration-done/' );
}
add_filter( 'registration_redirect', 'wpapi_registration_redirect' );