thanassis blog - Blogging

Using Wordpress instead of a static site

nospam@example.com (thanassis) — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 03:33:56 +0000

Instead of a static site you can install Wordpress, change it to look like a static site, and benefit by all its features and plugins. I just tried an example and it works wonderfully.

You can follow this simple 6 step guide to upgrade a static site with a wordpress based equivalent.

1: Download and install Wordpress
Download the latest Wordpress version and read the 5 minute install guide.
You will need to have an available mySQL database and to upload the Wordpress files to your webserver. Then you point your browser to the server, fill the installation form with the database details and click install.

2: Select and install a Wordpress theme.
There are hundreds of themes available. At themes.wordpress.net you can view the themes by thumbnail and test drive the ones you like. Once you locate the one you prefer you must download it and upload it on the webserver under the directory : /wp-content/themes
To enable the theme, use the Wordpress admin screen and go to Presentation->Themes. The new theme should be available to enable.

3: Install the plugin Filosofos.
Filosofos makes changing the normal Wordpress blog-based view to a static view very easy. Download the plugin, upload it to the plugins folder in wordpress, (/wp-content/plugins) and activate it by going to the plugins admin menu. Go to Options-> Home Page Control and change the home page to a static wordpress page. To make a Wordpress Page you select Write Page rather than Post.

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First Test Using The Performancing Extension for Serendipity

nospam@example.com (thanassis) — Sat, 20 May 2006 15:30:51 +0100

I am trying the performancing firefox extension with this s9y based blog.
Thanks to the article How to config PFF for Serendipity, I got it working

Thank you Performancing!

I wonder how I could also pass tags whilst submitting....

Installing Plugins in Serendipity

nospam@example.com (thanassis) — Mon, 15 May 2006 08:53:18 +0100

I started installing plugins in Serendipity, changing themes, and trying to figure out how to link it with thanassis.com. Let me know if you like what you see.

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Choosing a Blogging System

nospam@example.com (thanassis) — Sun, 14 May 2006 09:44:25 +0100

Starting a blog was on my todo list for long time. Few days ago, I felt an urge to tackle it. I initially subscribed to wordpress, as many would do, after a quick search in google . But then I wised up..

I searched a little harder and figured that for reasons very well explained on the "how to Blog" blog, I better put my own system up. This way, if I ever want to change the blog or my server host, I can do it without redirections.

But which blogging software shall I use? Many systems, opinions, and blogging related forums. I found what I needed at opensourcecms.com. Opensourcecms.com has a list of many of the available open source cms's and lets you test drive them with admin rights. Users vote and give feedback.

After checking the features, reading the feedback and trying out each system, I decided to go for the Serendipity blog cms. It looks clean, it's easy to setup, has hundreds of useful plugins, and seems to have many happy users. I hope I'll be one of them.

If you are trying to find a good open source blog system, give Serendipity a try at the opensourcecms demo site. If you do, the username is "admin" and password is "demo".