Gloson Blog

I have been using WordPress, the ultimate blogging platform, for some time already, and I think it rocks! In this post, I would like to point out 4 features I just love about it.

1. Redirection to the new permalink structure

You want to change your blog permalink structure. However, you are worried because you have many links to your posts and are afraid they will be broken after you change your permalink structure.

Clever wordpress would redirect the visitors who visits the old permalink to the new permalink.

For example, before you changed the structure of your permalinks, your post permalink is
http://www.(yourblog).com/2009/02/the-blog-post/

After you change it, it becomes
http://www.(yourblog).com/the-blog-post/

Anyone who visits http://www.(yourblog).com/2009/02/the-blog-post/
will be redirected to http://www.(yourblog).com/the-blog-post/

To change the permalink structure (if you use wordpress), go to
http://www.(yourblog).com/wp-admin/options-permalink.php
Change (yourblog) to your blog’s domain name.

2. Making post revisions

You’ve just published a post. After a few days later, you think you can improve your blog. You then edit it, and click ‘Update’. After several days, you realized the edited version of your post is not very good after all, and the first version of it is better.

WordPress automatically saves your post before you edit it. Therefore, if you edit a post, you can always get the old version back if you feel that it is better.

3. WordPress 2.7: Quick edit

When I was using wordpress 2.6, I wondered, “There must be a way to quickly change the category of a post,” because my posts and their categories were quite messed up.

After I upgraded to wordpress 2.7, I found that it has just what I need! It has a quick edit feature which lets you edit the title, slug, tags, and some other settings at the list of your posts. It even saves the changes without refreshing the page!

4. WordPress 2.7: Replying to comments from the administration area

I was so amazed when I found out this feature! Now, I don’t have to go to a post, wait for it to load, and reply to comments, one by one. I can reply to comments right from the administration area.

All I have to do is go to the dashboard, view the latest comments, hover over it (some options will display), click reply, type the reply, click ‘Publish’, and tada! Oh, and it does this without refreshing the page, too.

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WordPress, so far, has been doing a good job for Gloson Blog. If you are thinking of starting a blog (with your own domain name), wordpress is the ultimate choice for you.

Oh, and for those who wish to upgrade to wordpress 2.7, click here.

So, you are using Gmail, eh? Gmail is the best email client ever, and that’s why almost everyone is using it. It is fast, advanced, and reliable.

If you are not using Gmail yet, you really should try it out! Here’s some reasons why I love Gmail.

If you are a Gmail-beginner, you should definitely read this post to get you using Gmail like a pro.

Use labels

Labels, in short, are like email tags. If you use them, your emails would be more organized. They help you to indentify emails easier. They also help to group them.

For more information on labels, click here.

Use Filters

You want to star every mail that you receive from one of your friends. You don’t have to manually star it. Filters would do the job.

There are many actions filters can apply to the mail that you choose. To create a filter, click the create a filter link somewhere near the right of the search box.

Then, specify the mail that you could like to filter

Next, select the action that you wish to apply.

Click create. and you are done!

Use keyboard shortcuts

The great thing about the keyboard shortcuts is that they help you to navigate faster… and easier.

First, you must enable Gmail keyboard shortcuts by enabling them in the settings. After you enable it, you will see a black cursor near your emails.

Click here for the list of the shortcuts

For more information about this, go to
Gmail Keyboard Shortcuts: How To Use Them Effectively

Download Google Talk for new mail notifications

So, you want to receive notifications when you receive a mail? Download Google Talk. I used to leave Gmail on in my browser so that I can know when I received another mail because I was an emailholic . Gmail takes up quite a lot of memory usage, and therefore, my computer slowed down.

Out of curiosity, I downloaded Google talk to see what it can do. I discovered that it notifies you when you receive new mails. And when you click on the notification, it will open up a link in your browser in which you can view the mail

Besides that, it also lets you chat with your online contacts, of course…

Use a beautiful theme

On November, Gmail released a new feature – themes.

You must be wondering, “What has using themes got to do with this?”

Well, themes make Gmail beautiful and stylish, which makes it more relaxing and nicer to use. It is better to use a beautiful theme, right?

To choose your theme, go to Settings >> Themes.

I recommend ‘Tree’ for a beautiful and adventurous theme. I am currently using the ‘Tree’ theme now. Its weather changes according to the weather in your location.

What tips would you add?

If you’ve been using Gmail and have learned some tips on using Gmail effectively and easily, please feel free to share them here in the comments section. I’ll be looking forward to read them .

WordPress 2.7 has been around quite a long time already, and I was still using wordpress 6. It was because I do not know exactly how to upgrade it. So, I didn’t upgrade to wordpress 2.7.

One day, my friend, Sundar, asked me whether I have upgraded to the latest version of wordpress. I said no. He then introduced a plugin that lets you upgrade to 2.7 easily. It’s called WordPress Automatic Upgrade.

According to its description, here’s how the plugin works:

1. Backs up the files and makes available a link to download it.
2. Backs up the database and makes available a link to download it.
3. Downloads the latest files from http://wordpress.org/latest.zip and unzips it.
4. Puts the site in maintenance mode.
5. De-activates all active plugins and remembers it.
6. Upgrades wordpress files.
7. Gives you a link that will open in a new window to upgrade installation.
8. Re-activates the plugins

It will guide you step by step through all that.

After finishing the steps, I saw wordpress 2.7 in front of my eyes! It is more advanced and is much easier to navigate than 2.6.

I hope you will find wordpess 2.7 useful and easy. Again, to download the plugin, click here.

Further reading…
10 Things You Need To Know About WordPress 2.7

Are you using Gmail? If so, you could try out one of its convenient features – keyboard shortcuts. Gmail keyboard shortcuts saves you time navigating with your mouse. In fact, sometimes, it makes navigating much faster!

To enable them, go to settings 

Click ‘Keyboard shortcuts on’ and click ‘Save Settings’ at the bottom. 

After you enable it, you will see a cursor (the black arrow) at the conversations list. 

Click here for the list of all the shortcuts

To move it down, hit ‘J’, and to move it up, hit ‘K’. To expand the message, hit ‘Enter’. To select it, hit ‘X’. To star it, hit ‘S’. To return to the conversations list, hit ‘U’.
I find the above shortcuts the most convenient.

If you click ‘J’ or ‘K’ when you are in conversations view (to go to conversations view, simply click into the mail), it will move to the previous or the next mail. This saves you time navigating back to the inbox and clicking into the next mail. Cool, isn’t it? If you find an interesting email, simply hit ‘S’ to star it. Quick and simple!

I hope you will find Gmail keyboard shortcuts useful. Gmail rocks!