Stephen Burge's Blog, page 111
September 3, 2015
Drupal Slideshows with FlexSlider from WooThemes
Flexslider is a jQuery plugin by WooThemes and it makes it very easy to create slideshows.
You can integrate it into Drupal easily, using the FlexSlider module which has full Views integration.
The FlexSlider page on WooThemes.com, shown below, gives you an idea of the slideshows you can build with FlexSlider.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
You can integrate it into Drupal easily, using the FlexSlider module which has full Views integration.
The FlexSlider page on WooThemes.com, shown below, gives you an idea of the slideshows you can build with FlexSlider.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
September 2, 2015
How to Redirect non-WWW to WWW in Joomla
For SEO reasons, it's best to redirect your non-www site URL to www or vice version.
For example, When trying to access our site via https://ostraining.com, it redirects to https://www.ostraining.com. Note the "www" in the second URL.
Technically, the non-www version and the www version are two different domains. So redirecting one to the other improves our SEO. Google and other search engines won't have to worry about two different domains.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
For example, When trying to access our site via https://ostraining.com, it redirects to https://www.ostraining.com. Note the "www" in the second URL.
Technically, the non-www version and the www version are two different domains. So redirecting one to the other improves our SEO. Google and other search engines won't have to worry about two different domains.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
OSpam-a-not: A User-Friendly Alternative to CAPTCHA in Joomla
CAPTCHAs do a great job of keeping bots away, but many times it's at the expense of users. They are often difficult to read, slow to complete, and a frustrating experience.
In this tutorial, we'll show you a user-friendly alternative in Joomla. It does a great job of keeping bots away, while adding no extra steps for users.
The solution we'll use is OSpam-a-not. It's a free plugin that adds hidden checks for bots. Real users won't have to do anything extra and won't see it on the site.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
In this tutorial, we'll show you a user-friendly alternative in Joomla. It does a great job of keeping bots away, while adding no extra steps for users.
The solution we'll use is OSpam-a-not. It's a free plugin that adds hidden checks for bots. Real users won't have to do anything extra and won't see it on the site.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Win Monstroid, the New WordPress Theme from Template Monster
Monstroid is a brand new, multipurpose WordPress theme from Template Monster.
It was released with a splash in July this year, and has already managed to gain a lot of attention.
Monstroid costs $79, but today 3 of you have a chance to get Monstroid absolutely free! If you want to be amongst the winners, read on ...
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
It was released with a splash in July this year, and has already managed to gain a lot of attention.
Monstroid costs $79, but today 3 of you have a chance to get Monstroid absolutely free! If you want to be amongst the winners, read on ...
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Views Bulk Operations Makes Mass Updates Easy in Drupal
Views Bulk Operations (VBO) is one of those modules whose name and Drupal.org description doesn't indicate how useful it is.
Here's the short version of what VBO does it:
Allows you quickly select all the items displayed in a View.
Allows you to perform advanced operations on all the items you selected.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Here's the short version of what VBO does it:
Allows you quickly select all the items displayed in a View.
Allows you to perform advanced operations on all the items you selected.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Use the Boost Module to Improve Drupal's Cache
Drupal has strong default caching systems, but the Boost module offers significant improvements.
Boost creates a cache in the file system rather than the database, so Drupal never needs to commuicate with the database. This provides major a performance and scalability boost for sites that receiving mostly anonymous traffic (it doesn't help so much with logged-in users).
Boost will cache and compress your site's HTML, XML, Ajax, CSS and Javascript. There's also a built-in that will regenerate pages once they are marked as expired.
Boost isn't always this easiest module to set-up, but this video will help you get started.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Boost creates a cache in the file system rather than the database, so Drupal never needs to commuicate with the database. This provides major a performance and scalability boost for sites that receiving mostly anonymous traffic (it doesn't help so much with logged-in users).
Boost will cache and compress your site's HTML, XML, Ajax, CSS and Javascript. There's also a built-in that will regenerate pages once they are marked as expired.
Boost isn't always this easiest module to set-up, but this video will help you get started.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
September 1, 2015
New Video Class: CSS for Joomla
Getting your Joomla website to look exactly the way you want often involves editing some of the CSS provided by your template.
In this week's new class, Rod discusses the best ways to use CSS in Joomla.
Rod starts by explaining Joomla's template structure and how to use a custom.css file to safely make changes to your site's design. Rod than explores page and module class suffixes, plus loading a custom CSS file for each component.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
In this week's new class, Rod discusses the best ways to use CSS in Joomla.
Rod starts by explaining Joomla's template structure and how to use a custom.css file to safely make changes to your site's design. Rod than explores page and module class suffixes, plus loading a custom CSS file for each component.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
New Video Class: CSS for Joomla
Getting your Joomla website to look exactly the way you want often involves editing some of the CSS provided by your template.
In this week's new class, Rod discusses the best ways to use CSS in Joomla.
Rod starts by explaining Joomla's template structure and how to use a custom.css file to safely make changes to your site's design. Rod than explores page and module class suffixes, plus loading a custom CSS file for each component.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
In this week's new class, Rod discusses the best ways to use CSS in Joomla.
Rod starts by explaining Joomla's template structure and how to use a custom.css file to safely make changes to your site's design. Rod than explores page and module class suffixes, plus loading a custom CSS file for each component.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Customize the Read More Links in WordPress
WordPress makes posssible to override many things, but it's not always easy to override language strings.
Sometimes language strings are in the WordPress core and you can override them using plugins.
However, sometimes language strings are included in the theme, and one common example is the "Read More" link for posts.
In this short tutorial, I'm going to show you how to customize the "Read More" link with a few lines of code.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Sometimes language strings are in the WordPress core and you can override them using plugins.
However, sometimes language strings are included in the theme, and one common example is the "Read More" link for posts.
In this short tutorial, I'm going to show you how to customize the "Read More" link with a few lines of code.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
August 31, 2015
How to Add Microdata to Articles in Joomla 3
Microdata makes it possible to search engines to understand important details about your site's content.
Microdata provides Google and Bing with extra information about your content such as names, descriptions, dates and ratings. And, because search engines can understand your data more clearly, they often reward you with a higher ranking.
In Joomla, microdata support was quietly added in Joomla 3.3 which was released in April 2014. The best to way to provide microdata is by using your template.
Some templates provide microdata support, but many do not. If your template was released before April 2014, it probably doesn't support microdata and will need to be updated.
I'm going to show you how to test your template and then add microdata if needed.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Microdata provides Google and Bing with extra information about your content such as names, descriptions, dates and ratings. And, because search engines can understand your data more clearly, they often reward you with a higher ranking.
In Joomla, microdata support was quietly added in Joomla 3.3 which was released in April 2014. The best to way to provide microdata is by using your template.
Some templates provide microdata support, but many do not. If your template was released before April 2014, it probably doesn't support microdata and will need to be updated.
I'm going to show you how to test your template and then add microdata if needed.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://OSTraining.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
