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Thursday, June 21, 2012
Why would you want to quit Facebook?
As I said, recently, quite a few people have been either deleting or deactivating their Facebook accounts. Perhaps Google+ is to blame. But on a broader spectrum, Facebook itself is responsible for most of it. First, of course, is the enormous waste of time. Facebook is a void where no matter how much time you put, nothing productive is gonna come out, nor will that wasted time come back. Users might end up on Facebook for hours, looking through statuses, playing games, sharing funny images, and so on.Then, of course, is the privacy issue. People get hacked every day, or get phished for sensitive information they do not want to divulge. Contact information is being leaked and people are being spammed. Photos are edited and spread, and scandals are being made. There's really no limit to what these hackers can do. We recently wrote a post on how to protect your privacy on Facebook. You can take steps to ensure your privacy, but there's never a 100% guarantee. Hackers always seem to be one step ahead of security engineers. So for some people who don't use Facebook very much, it might be a good idea to step off altogether.
There's also the competitive attitude associated with Facebook use. Users are competing with others, and comparing each other, and hence developing complexes. Rude posts and images are not only being liked, but also being spread, which is something one wouldn't do in real life. All of this could be contributing towards psychological instability. As Bertrand Russel says, if you can't provide an outlet to your emotions, they'll make you all the more weaker. And you definitely can't express your emotions in front of a computer screen.
The bottom line is, Facebook has lost a certain of its charm. And since I've been using Facebook for around 7 years now, I can safely say that. Anyhow, you get the point. Here are some things you could do to preserve your information before logging off for good.
1. Back up your Profile
Backing up Facebook profile is one of the best ways to preserve your information. You can download a copy of your Facebook profile, with all the photos and your statuses and wall posts, along with your contacts. To back up, simply go to your Account Settings, and you'll see an option for Downloading a copy of your Facebook Data. Click on that and you'll be guided through the steps. Facebook will send you an email once it has done creating a back up for you. You can download that back up. For more information, read the article below- How To Backup Your Complete Facebook Profile
2. Sync your contacts
Android and iOS smartphones have apps that let you sync your Facebook contacts with your smartphone. iOS has SmartSync, while Android has AddressBook. These will fetch contact information from your Facebook friends, and add them to your phone book. Contact information include email addresses, phones numbers, home addresses (if available) etc. You get to choose which friends you want to Sync, and what information you want to sync. This is a really handy way of staying in touch with your friends.3. Export Birthdays
You can also preserve birth day information for your friends. If you go over to your Facebook Events page, you will see a magnifying glass icon. Click on Birthdays, and it will appear again. Clicking on that will give you an option to export birthdays in a variety of formats compatible with major scheduling programs.4. Organizing events
For organizing events, you don't necessarily need to use Facebook. There are other plenty of services that will create events for you. Once such is Doodle, while another is Evite. You can simply fill out the details for an event, and these services will send out emails to your friends, to which they can RSVP easily. This way, you can keep your events private. And sending out emails make them feel more personal and connected to you.5. Back up your photos
Facebook does not allow you to transfer your photos to another site directly. But there are other indirect ways. First of all, when you back up your profile as we mentioned above, your photos will be backed up as well. But if you want to move your photos to another site, you will have to do that manually. You can, however, transfer them easily to Google's photo sharing site, Picassa. For this, you'll need a Google Chrome extension, Move Your Photos. This allows you to see all your Facebook photos as thumbnails, which you can sort or move over to Picassa.Thursday, June 21, 2012 0
According to Google, 97% of the customers look for local businesses
online. Another fact has it that 73% of online activity is related to
local content. Since Google is the only search giant that boasts of a
66% share in the market, we can only assume the facts are true. But true
or not, they must be based on some sound basis, which is good enough
for me. Now this throws new light on how important online promotion can
be for small local business.
Google helps such local businesses by providing them a way to reach out to their customers through Google Places. Previously, we talked about how Google Pages help promote businesses.
Today, it's all about Google Places. Formerly known as Google Local
Business, Google Places aims at drawing local business towards Google to
promote their services, since Google is the search giant and most
people search on Google. Hence, this is a great opportunity for business
owners to promote their services n Google and attract more customers.
What are Google Places?
People are always looking for
great places they can go to for having dinner, buying jewellery, dry
cleaning, and so on. Most of these people search on Google. So what
better place to promote your local business? According to Google, Places
are "a
web page for every place in the world, organizing all the relevant
information about it." So in essence, Google Pages represent a business
online, with its information and location on Google Maps, other people's
opinion about the services, reviews, and more. Previously, Google used
to pull the reviews from other third-party websites. But now, reviews
are present exclusively from Google. See how Google is trying to
integrate all of its products together?
How is a Google Place different from a Google+ Page?
A
Google+ Page is like a Fan Page. You can follow them to get latest
updates. But Places are slightly different, although they are integrated
into Google+. For a Place, there must be a location. On a Place, you
can write a review there or look for directions. Here is a sample Place
for a KFC outlet
near where I live. It helps me see where the outlet is located, what
route to it would be best, what do other people who have been there say,
and so on. If I don't like it, I can write about my bad experience in a
review.
Here are some of the businesses that benefited from Google Places.
See how different Places are from Google+ Pages?
How to get started?
If
you are a local business owner looking to sign up, it is very simple.
You just need a Google Account. If you already have one, then go to Google Places and
log in. You will be asked a series of questions, such as your country,
phone number, business name, etc. Submit all your information from basic
info to photos etc. Also, verify your listing by phone or post card.
Once verified, Google will show your listing after some time.
Once
your Place is set up, you should fill out all the relevant information.
Information such as your service areas, your operating time, categories
i.e. what sort of business do you have, payments etc. The more complete
the information is, the better it is for your business. Not only will
customers find your business easily, you will be ranked higher in your
respective category. Remember; a complete profile is always favored over
an incomplete one.
Based
on the information you provide Google, such as email address, your
phone number, business name etc, Google will crawl the web and find
relevant information regarding your business. For example, if you
already have a brand page for that business, then that page will be
associated with your Place. Additionally, Google will fetch any reviews
provided by other people, and all of this will be linked to your Place,
visible for all to see.
Why Google Places?
There
are various features and advantages you'll get if you create an online
presence for your business. I hope you already know how important Google+ is for businesses,
online or otherwise. This is much the same. As I mentioned at the very
beginning, 97% of the customers look online for information on local
businesses. And since 66% of the total searches in the world are made
through Google, that means around 64% of the world's customers look up
local businesses on Google. So one thing is for certain. Local business
owners can extend their exposure far beyond the pedestrians walking by their shop.
Google Places allows you to define service areas
for your business. So service and home based businesses are the
beneficiaries here. Let's say you have a pizza shop that delivers pizzas
within Manhattan.
So when people living in Manhattan look online for a good pizza place
to go, or to order pizzas from, they'll come across your business. They
can then call you and place an order. Thus, you get an immediate
advantage over your competitors who don't have a presence on Google
Places.
Google
is also offering free business photo shoots in some select cities. You
can upload your own pictures of your business, but you can also request a
free photo shoot. Google photographers will come and take their own
photos of your business' interior as well exterior using panoramic and
fish-eye lenses, something business owners might not be able to do
themselves. This way, your Place will gain more credibility.
With
Google Places, you can also take advantage of the QR Code technology.
Google will generate QR Codes for you, which you can print on your
business cards or other marketing materials. Additionally, you can print
out decals that can be hung up on your windows. Customers can scan
these codes using QR readers for some smart phones,
which will then take them to your Google Place page where they can get
additional information about you. To demonstrate how this works, you can
see a QR code on the right. If you have a smart phone that can read QR
code (usually through a third-party app), then scan this code and see
what happens :)
Google
also gives you the option to get your listing stand out by paying $25
per month. This could greatly increase your chances of success.
Google
provides a lot more features business owners might be interested. Many
businesses spend a lot of money in their advertising campaigns. But very
few realize that they can achieve far greater success through this free
service. Google is really trying hard to influence individuals as well
as large businesses, all to create a seamless experience for the average
Google user. And I must say, it's doing a really good job. After all,
it isn't the leading search engine and the largest Internet company for
no reason.
Monday, June 11, 2012
When inserting codes into the Blogger template, page element, or blog post, you may have seen error messages that the code could not be parsed, was not well-formed, was broken, or that the elements were not closed properly.
These errors can be corrected if you understand the rules that must be
adhered to in XHTML documents. Blogger templates use the XHTML 1.0
Strict Document Type. In this article, we shall explain some of the
XHTML syntax or rules, so that you may troubleshoot and resolve the
problems if these error messages should occur.
XML, HTML and XHTML
We shall keep this short. Just so as you understand what we said about document type, view the Page Source or Source of your Blogger blog. You should see this document type declaration at the very top:-
The terms – XML, HTML and XHTML - refer to the markup language used to write the web pages. Many of us would have heard of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), invented by Tim Berners-Lee, and used since the early days of internet. XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a meta-language, used to create other markup languages. The traditional HTML was later recast to use the rules of XML and that resulted in a new XML application, called XHTML (Extensible Hypertext Markup Language). Because XHTML rules are strict and unforgiving, not conforming to them when attempting to modify the template would result in error messages. So, what are these rules that Bloggers like us should take note of?
Basic Rules of XHTML
1. Codes to be in lowercase
Since XML is case sensitive, all the element keywords and attribute names used in XHTML should be in the lowercase. For example, the template code is not this:-
but this:-
If you have noticed, the elements and attribute names between the lesser than (<) and greater than (>) signs have to be in the lowercase. However, the value, which in this case is “Tips for New Bloggers”, can be in the uppercase, lowercase, or mixed case.
2. Attribute values to be in quotation marks
All the attribute values have to be enclosed either in single or double quotation marks. The following examples are not accepted by XHTML:-
Instead, they should be written as such:-
3. Container elements must have closing tags
This is not correct:-
In XHTML, there must be a closing tag with a forward slash (/) at the end:-
Examples of the many non-empty elements that have opening and corresponding closing tags are:-
4. Standalone elements to be closed
Some of the elements are empty or standalone. They do not have associated closing tags. Common examples are:-
Nonetheless, in XHTML, these elements must be terminated or closed. There are two ways to do that. One way to terminate the element is to put a forward slash (/) at the end like this:-
The second way is to add a corresponding closing tag like this:-
5. Elements to be properly nested
This means that elements must be closed in the reverse order. For example, this code is not accepted in XHTML:-
It is improperly nested because the form was created first followed by the table. To close them in the proper order, the table must be closed before the form, like this:-
6. Document to have only one root element
In the XHTML document, you will see that except for the document type declaration, all the codes are nested between <html> and </html>. This is the root element and all other elements or sub elements are in between. The document structure will look like this:-
7. Attribute minimization is not allowed
In XHTML, all attributes should be in the form name="value". Even if the value is the same as the name, it cannot be minimized to one word. Hence, in our Add Text Box and Textarea article, the textarea code is not this:-
but this:-
XHTML Character Entities
Quite a number of readers had asked why they were unable to display HTML codes in their blog posts or why their codes were not well-parsed when inserted into the template. If you have noticed by now, the codes are wrapped in the lesser than (<) and greater than (>) signs. The moment these are posted, they will be interpreted as codes and will trigger an action by the browser. Should you want to display these as part of the text, use their character entities instead.
The next time you see an error message to the effect that the code is not well formed, not well parsed, not properly closed, etc., take a look at this guide, troubleshoot the problem and try out the possible solutions.
XML, HTML and XHTML
We shall keep this short. Just so as you understand what we said about document type, view the Page Source or Source of your Blogger blog. You should see this document type declaration at the very top:-
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
|
|---|
The terms – XML, HTML and XHTML - refer to the markup language used to write the web pages. Many of us would have heard of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), invented by Tim Berners-Lee, and used since the early days of internet. XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a meta-language, used to create other markup languages. The traditional HTML was later recast to use the rules of XML and that resulted in a new XML application, called XHTML (Extensible Hypertext Markup Language). Because XHTML rules are strict and unforgiving, not conforming to them when attempting to modify the template would result in error messages. So, what are these rules that Bloggers like us should take note of?
Basic Rules of XHTML
1. Codes to be in lowercase
Since XML is case sensitive, all the element keywords and attribute names used in XHTML should be in the lowercase. For example, the template code is not this:-
<TITLE>Tips for New Bloggers</TITLE>
|
|---|
but this:-
<title>Tips for New Bloggers</title>
|
|---|
If you have noticed, the elements and attribute names between the lesser than (<) and greater than (>) signs have to be in the lowercase. However, the value, which in this case is “Tips for New Bloggers”, can be in the uppercase, lowercase, or mixed case.
2. Attribute values to be in quotation marks
All the attribute values have to be enclosed either in single or double quotation marks. The following examples are not accepted by XHTML:-
<div id=header-wrapper>
<a href=http://tips-for-new-bloggers.blogspot.com>Text Link</a> <img src=photo.jpg/> <table width=200 border=0 cellpadding=2> |
|---|
Instead, they should be written as such:-
<div id='header-wrapper'>
<a href="http://tips-for-new-bloggers.blogspot.com">Text Link</a> <img src="photo.jpg"/> <table width="200" border="0" cellpadding="2"> |
|---|
3. Container elements must have closing tags
This is not correct:-
<p>A paragraph.
|
|---|
In XHTML, there must be a closing tag with a forward slash (/) at the end:-
<p>A paragraph.</p>
|
|---|
Examples of the many non-empty elements that have opening and corresponding closing tags are:-
<ul> ... </ul>
<li> ... </li> <table> ... </table> <h2> ... </h2> <div> ... </div> <span> ... </span> <dt> ... </dt> <dd> ... </dd> <a href> ... </a> |
|---|
4. Standalone elements to be closed
Some of the elements are empty or standalone. They do not have associated closing tags. Common examples are:-
<br>
<img> <input> <frame> <hr> <meta> <link> |
|---|
Nonetheless, in XHTML, these elements must be terminated or closed. There are two ways to do that. One way to terminate the element is to put a forward slash (/) at the end like this:-
<br/>
<img/> <input/> <frame/> <hr/> <meta/> <link/> |
|---|
The second way is to add a corresponding closing tag like this:-
<br> ... </br>
<img> ... </img> <input> ... </input> <frame> ... </frame> <hr> ... </hr> <meta> ... </meta> <link> ... </link> |
|---|
5. Elements to be properly nested
This means that elements must be closed in the reverse order. For example, this code is not accepted in XHTML:-
<form><table> ... </form></table>
|
|---|
It is improperly nested because the form was created first followed by the table. To close them in the proper order, the table must be closed before the form, like this:-
<form><table> ... </table></form>
|
|---|
6. Document to have only one root element
In the XHTML document, you will see that except for the document type declaration, all the codes are nested between <html> and </html>. This is the root element and all other elements or sub elements are in between. The document structure will look like this:-
<html>
<head> ... </head> <body> ... </body> </html> |
|---|
7. Attribute minimization is not allowed
In XHTML, all attributes should be in the form name="value". Even if the value is the same as the name, it cannot be minimized to one word. Hence, in our Add Text Box and Textarea article, the textarea code is not this:-
<textarea readonly>Hyperlink Code</textarea>
|
|---|
but this:-
<textarea readonly="readonly">Hyperlink Code</textarea>
|
|---|
XHTML Character Entities
Quite a number of readers had asked why they were unable to display HTML codes in their blog posts or why their codes were not well-parsed when inserted into the template. If you have noticed by now, the codes are wrapped in the lesser than (<) and greater than (>) signs. The moment these are posted, they will be interpreted as codes and will trigger an action by the browser. Should you want to display these as part of the text, use their character entities instead.
| " | " |
|---|---|
| & | & |
| < | < |
| > | > |
The next time you see an error message to the effect that the code is not well formed, not well parsed, not properly closed, etc., take a look at this guide, troubleshoot the problem and try out the possible solutions.
Monday, June 11, 2012 0
Friday, April 13, 2012
| Demo | Download |
Best Blogger Templates Style - Floor Is an Excellent Two Column Blogger Template with a Right Sidebar.The template uses the latest jQuery effects throughout including in the auto featured slider and animated links.The Template Colors Dark and mainly Black and Dark Blue.The Templates Features Include a stunning featured posts slider, Drop down menu, Site search, Ribbon wrap around effects, numbered page navigation and 3 column footer.You can download This jQuery Rich Blogger Template for Free from BestBloggerTemplates.Net.
Similar Templates - Our Free Premium Blogger Templates
Friday, April 13, 2012 0
| Demo | Download |
Best Blogger Templates Style - Namisan Is an awesome Two Column Blogger Template with a Right Sidebar.The Template Colors are Black, White and Pink.The Templates Features Include a breathtaking featured slide show, top menu links, fixed read more posts on home page, Numbered Page Navigation, Stylish Comments Section and more.You can download This Magazine Blogger Template for Free from BestBloggerTemplates.Net.
Similar Templates - Best Templates With Featured Slider
| Demo | Download |
Game Zone Is a Two Column Blogger Template with a Right Sidebar.The Template Colors Are bright mainly white.A great template that will work not only on Gaming Blogs but on all blogs.
The Templates Features Include :
- Navigation menu.
- Split header with blog title on left and Search and Social icons on the right.
- Featured posts slider or image slideshow.
- 125x125 banner section in the sidebar.
- Fixed read more with thumbnails on the home page.
- 4 Columns in the footer for extra gadgets and widgets.
You can download This Gaming Theme Blogger Template for Free from BestBloggerTemplates.Net.
One of the popular features of Blogger Blogspot Templates is the Featured Post Slider or Slideshow Carousal.Not too long ago a very plain Image Slider was the best you could hope for and you were lucky to even get that.However now with so many awesome Free Blogger Templates and Designers creating templates and converting Css and Wordpress Themes to Blogger the options are fantastic.We constantly see templates of premium quality with stunning Image Sliders available for free download.In this post i will list 16 of the Best Blogger Templates With Featured Post Sliders, Image Sideshows and Picture Carousals.All the Sliders are created with jQuery which allows some cool features such as the transitions (The effect between each slide).
So in no particular order here is the list !
-Click On The Screenshot Of Each Template For The Demo and Download Details.
That's the list have you a favorite ?
You can check out more Blogger Templates With Featured Sliders Here.
For Help check out the Blogger Template Video Help Page on BestBloggerTemplates.Net for instructions on uploading and using custom templates.
Here on Spice Up Your Blog i have more great templates lists including My Favorite Gallery Templates, Magazine Templates and Some Strange Odd Templates.
Add Your Comments And Questions Below.
So in no particular order here is the list !
Sixteen Free Blogger Templates With Fitted Featured Sliders
-Click On The Screenshot Of Each Template For The Demo and Download Details.
Namisan - Stunning Slider Blogger Template
Namisan has the latest jQuery Featured Slideshow from Cu3er with stunning transitions that completely slice up the images between slides.A well coded template packed with gadgets and features Namisan has a two column layout with right sidebar.Ocenolis Magazine - Advanced Blogger Template
A colorful Three Column Blogger template with Two right sidebars.The Featured Slider, Image Slideshow Displays the images in a stacked fashion which rotate on click.Nyke - Magazine Blogger Template
The Featured Slider, Image Slideshow has a very unique rounded bottom and a number of coll transitions between images.The template has a two column layout with right sidebar.Floor - jQuery Rich Blogger Template
This is a dark colored template with a right sidebar.This template has a featured Carousal section brilliantly built into the design.Using jQuery the slides, info and link approach from different directions.Game Madness - Assassins Creed Blogger Template
The Featured Slider, Image Slideshow on the Game Madness template spans the full width of the blog with nice transitions from each corner.The template has lots of extra gadgets and a gaming theme.MoonLight - Clean Magazine Blogger Template
The Featured Slider, Picture Slideshow on Moonlight has a more simple design but fits neatly above the posts with auto scroll and manual scroll options.The template has a minimalist design with two columns and a right sidebar.Simplex Buzz - Full Background Slideshow
Simplex Buzz has a very unique Slideshow indeed as the blogs entire background is the slideshow !.Then template also has a secondary featured posts section and a two column design with right sidebar.Oracle - Advanced Magazine Blogger Template
Oracle has a beautifully fitted Featured Slider, Image Slideshow with the sides fading away.The slides auto scroll with a manual scroll option.The template also has a two column magazine design with a left sidebar.Extreme - Portfolio Magazine Blogger Template
Extreme Portfolio has a full featured section below the header were users can scroll through featured posts.The template also has a second categories section and a two column layout with right sidebar.Superb - Advanced Blogger Template
Superb has a really amazing and unique Featured Slider, Image Slideshow.The slides are stacked and move across with the titles listed vertically on the side.Superb has lots of other great features and a two column layout with right sidebar.Modern Photography - Abstract Style Template
Modern Photography is a specialist Blogger template with a cool large Featured Slideshow, Image Carousal.The slider has a continues scroll and manual scroll option.The layout is two column with a right sidebar.Calenotis - Photographers Magazine Blogger Template
Calenotis has a beautiful full width Featured Slider Slideshow that has a 3D design.The slides are on auto scroll with a number of different transitions.The template also has a professional magazine design with a two column right sidebar layout.Magulesco -Featured Magazine Blogger Template
Magulesco has an extremely clean professional design.The Featured Slider Slideshow sits over the header and body with a wide crisp design.The slides have some neat transitions with description section on each.The template also has a two column magazine design with right sidebar.Dimenzion - 3D Style Blogger Template
Dimenzion has a classic featured slider with the featured posts listed to the right of the slides for navigation.The templates design is bright and somewhat unique with a two column right sidebar layout.Glow - Free Premium Blogger Template
Glow has a beautifully constructed Featured Slider Slideshow.The slides are visible as thumbnails on the left of the full size slider.The template also has a glowing two column magazine design with right sidebar.Mahasoli Tribune - Magazine Blogger Template
Mahasoli Tribune features a stacked style image slider, each image has a description and all images overlap to open out when clicked.The template has a magazine design with a two column right sidebar layout.That's the list have you a favorite ?
You can check out more Blogger Templates With Featured Sliders Here.
For Help check out the Blogger Template Video Help Page on BestBloggerTemplates.Net for instructions on uploading and using custom templates.
Here on Spice Up Your Blog i have more great templates lists including My Favorite Gallery Templates, Magazine Templates and Some Strange Odd Templates.
Add Your Comments And Questions Below.
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