One way to ensure that your blog can be seen by mobile devices is to install a plugin called WP-Touch. This awesome WordPress plugin can tell the difference between a visitors browsing from a Tablet, Smartphone or Desktop computer.

How to Install WP-Touch

1. Click Add New under Plugins on the left navigation bar in the WordPress Admin area.

2. Search for WP-Touch.

3. Click Install Now and click Activate.

How to Use WP-Touch

Click WPtouch from the left navigation once you installed it to view all of the settings available. There is really nothing you have to do but install WP-Touch but you might want to change the language, landing page, site title, exclude certain pages, add a custom Footer message and more.

You can even add your Google AdSense ID to support mobile advertising in WPtouch posts and embed Google Analytics stats.

WP-Touch is a great plugin to install that will make your WordPress blog mobile ready.

Until Google+ comes out with a permanent way to create a vanity URL for your Google+ Fan page here is another way we found to create one.

Visit http://gplus.to and give your page a vanity name and then type in your Google+ ID number. Click Add and GPlus.to will create a Vanity URL you can share. Gplus.to is kind of like using Bit.ly in that it just masks the original URL and gives you a shortened version of it. The difference with Gplus.to from other sites that shorten URLs is that it is a good way to give your Google+ Fan page a vanity URL because it allows you to type in what you want it to look like.

Now my Google+ Fan Page URL looks like plus.to/thecomputerlady instead of plus.google.com/116679993454402408983

Some Things to Note about the Google+ Fan Page:

As of this post writing there is no way to create a Google+ Fan Page vanity URL.

The URL for my fan page is https://plus.google.com/116679993454402408983. In the future I do see Google+ keeping up with Facebook and allowing a vanity name on the end instead of an number so watch for that.

Update: I did find a workaround way to create a vanity URL for your Google+ Fan Page.

If you have a business, group, club, or organization where multiple users or members will want to access the Google+ Fan Page you are setting up, make sure everyone has access to the Google account you will use to create this page with. As of this post writing Google has not explained how you can add multiple users to have administrator rights to update and manage the Google+ Fan Page you create here.

It is still unclear as to what the difference is between Customer, VIP, and Team Members.

How to Setup a Google Plus Business Fan Page:

Setting up a fan page is simple and only requires a few steps:

1. Start by logging into your Google Plus account. You can create an account easily once you are on the Google + site or just log into your Google.com or Gmail account.

2. Visit plus.google.com/pages/create and click the Create button.

3. Pick the category your Google+ Fan Page falls under, Local Business or Place, Product or Brand, Company, Institution, or Organization, Arts/Entertainment or Sports, or Other. If you can’t figure out the right Google+ Fan Page category now you can always change it later.

4. Type in the name of your site and URL. Make sure to pick what age groups can access your Google+ Fan Page from the :Any Google+ user drop-down list. Agree to their terms and then click Create when you are done.

4. Type a description and set the profile image. Note: The profile image needs to be 150px x 150px in size. If you don’t have an image to use for your profile that size you can resize it when you upload it.

5. Share your Google+ Fan Page. Now that you have your Google+ Fan Page created you can click to share it in your Google_ Circles. When you are done sharing click Finish.

Note: You may want to share the page a little later after you have added some posts to it. If you share now anyone viewing your Google+ Fan Page will see an empty page.

On the last page you get after setting up your Google+ Fan Page you will see options for adding your Google+ Fan page to your website or blog, your unique URL for sharing with friends and readers and information on how to build your circles.

To view all of your Google+ Fan Pages and access them easily in the future click on the Google+ Home page icon and then next to your personal profile picture click the drop-down arrow to view all of your pages. Click Manage Pages to edit each one or click on a specific Fan Page to view it and use it.

Have you learned anything new about creating a Google+ Fan Page since I wrote this article? If so, please share it below so we have the most current information.

One of America’s most cherished holiday events, the 85th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade ® will step-off this year (2011) at 9 a.m., Nov. 24, at 77th Street and Central Park West in New York City. For more information visit www.macys.com/parade

2011 marks the launch of the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade app The app is compatible with the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, is Free! It requires iOS 3.2 or later.

Now you don’t have to worry if you missed any of the parade on TV because you can watch it live on the app or go back to the app and see what you missed.

Macy’s is working with MyCityWay on this project to bring you this app.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade app gives you access during the Parade for live action and:

• A Look at Parade Participants
• The Line of March (on Parade Day Only)
• Traffic Cameras to view the Parade in real time
• The Parade Route
• Balloon Inflation Event Locations
• Blue Sky Gallery
• Parade History
• Balloons Over Broadway
• Parade Shop

MyCityWay offers a bundle with the Parade app that includes:

• New York City Tourism Guides and Information
• Dining Locations and Reviews
• Popular and Nearby Coffee Shops
• Nearby and Parade Route Wifi Spots
• Regional Transportation Guides
• Thanksgiving Day Transit Information
• Full Subway Map
• Nearby Restrooms
• Weather Forecasts and Updates

Parade Participant Tracker allowing spectators to track 14 various Cheerleading and Dance Troupes, Marching Bands, and even Santa’s float!

Download the Free Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade app through the iTune store or through the App store on your device.

The easiest way to get the latest plug-ins or JavaScript enhanced browser is to download the updates for your current browser.

Do this check to see if you have JavaScript:

If you are using Internet Explorer:

1. From the Tools menu, click Internet Options.

2. Select the Security tab.

3. Click Custom Level.

4. Scroll down to Active scripting.

5. Click Enable (or Prompt) depending on whether you want it to ask you everytime.

6. Click OK twice.

If you aren’t sure which option to pick click Medium-High from the Custom Rest section and Click Reset Internet Explorer will set Javascript up the way it should work for the medium security level.

If you are using FireFox:

1. From the Tools menu, click Options.

2. Click on the Content tab.

3. Check the checkbox next to Enable JavaScript.

4. Click OK.

If you are using Chrome:

1. Click the wrench icon at the top right and click Options – or type chrome://settings/browser in the address bar.

2.Click Under the Hood on the left.

3. Click Content Settings.

4.Click next to Allow all sites to run JavaScript.

5. Close the tab. There is no Save or OK button you need to click to save the changes.

First, you will need to download and install an iFrame plugin. There are lots out there. For this lesson we are using iFrame.

1. Click Add New under Plugins from the menu on the left.

2. Type iFrame and click Search Plugins.

3. Click Install Now.

4. Click Activate Plugin.

Copy the YouTube iFrame Code

Locate the YouTube.com video you would like to embed. Once you find the video follow these steps to embed it into your blog post.

1. Click the Share button under the video.

2. Click the Embed button (next to the Email button).

3. Choose a size at the bottom of the page or type a size you want in the Custom size box.

It is always best to use a custom size so you know it will fit into the post area and not overlap into the sidebars. If you don’t know how many pixels wide your blog post area is just guess. You can go back and change it and recopy it again.

4. Copy the iFrame code.

Add the YouTube Code Into your Blog Post

1. Open the blog post you want to add the video into (or create a new post).

2. Paste the iFrame code where you want it to appear. It doesn’t matter if you are in Visual or HTML view.

Now you are going to modify the code just a bit to make it appear.

3. Change the < at the beginning of the code to [

4. At the end of the code remove > < / iframe > and replace it with ]

If you did it correctly the video will appear just like this cute video of Mishka the talking dog

Note: Every WordPress iFrame plugin will work slightly different but most work similarly. Most will require that you just modify the iframe code at the beginning and at the end.

1. Go to www.facebook.com

2. Click on your Profile on the top right.

3. Click Info on the left.

4. Scroll down until you see the Activities and Interests section and you will see the list of all of the Facebook Fan pages you Like.

5. Click the Edit link at the top right of the Activities and Interests title to make changes to pages you like and remove Fan pages you don’t want to follow.

How to Use Send Space

Send Space is a free site that allows you to send large files. To use Send Space do this:

1. visit www.sendspace.com

2. Click the Browse button and upload your file. Then type the recipient’s email address and your email address.

3. Click Upload.

A neat feature that SendSpace.com has is the ability to drag and drop a file.

To do it you must have the browser window side by side with a window on your computer where the file is located. Click the file and drag it into the Send Space window and it will appear, ready to upload. While this is a nice feature it might be easier for most people to just click the Browse button.

4. Wait while your file uploads to the Send Space site.

They are actually storing it for you so it needs to be uploaded to their server. If it is a large file it make take a little while. This 24 MB file in my test took approximately 20 minutes to upload.

5. When your file has completely uploaded you will see the Upload Complete screen.

An email will automatically be sent to your recipient giving them a link where they can go on the SendSpace.com site to download the file.

You will see the link you can share with them in case they don’t get the email or if you want to share the file with someone else and you forgot to add their email address on the first screen.

You can also delete the link. Click it and it will remove the file permanently from the Send Space site.

Another free site you may want to try is YouSendIt.com.

By choosing Recent Stories you will be able to see posts in your Facebook stream in the order they were posted on your wall not by their popularity which is what “Highlighted Stories First” will show you.

You can choose to show “Highlighted Stories First” or “Recent Stories First”

Recent Stories First: Stories will appear in the order they were posted. Highlighted stories will be marked with a blue corner.

Highlighted Stories First: Highlighted stories you haven’t seen yet will appear at the top of your News Feed. (If you don’t see highlighted stories, it’s because there aren’t any new highlighted stories since your last visit.)

How to Show Recent Stories First:

1. Visit Facebook.com

2. Look for the SORT link at the top of the page.

Note: If you don’t see the SORT link make sure you are on https://www.facebook.com and not your profile page. Then look for the top section: Update Status, Add Photo/Video, and Ask Question. The SORT link is just below and to the right of Ask Question

3. Click the down arrow next to the word and click on Recent Stories First.

How to Show Facebook Fan Pages in your Newsfeed

If you aren’t seeing the updates from your favorite Fan Page try this

1. When you see a Fan Page update in your Newsfeed hover over a recent post.

3. Click the drop-down arrow to the right of the title.

4. Click Highlight this story.

Now, more stories from that particular Fan page will show in your Facebook Newsfeed.

Have you found another way to make sure all of your Facebook stories are showing in your Newsfeed? Have you found another way to make sure all of your Facebook fan pages are showing? Let me know and I will include it in my post.

From Yahoo News:

Don’t worry if you can’t see this option yet — it’ll be available to you as it rolls out to more accounts in the coming weeks. If the revamped news feed is merely one of your Facebook woes, however, you can try third-party fixes to address your other grievances such as the Chrome extension that nullifies the equally-disliked Ticker and even the Timeline.

The Portfolio Slideshow has several options. You can install a photo gallery that allows the reader to sit back and watch as the photos move or you can disable that feature and require that they click Next and Previous, or you can insert an actual static gallery of the individual photos.

First, you will need to install the plugin.

1. Click Add New from the Plugin section on the left column. If you don’t see Add New click the Plugin title to show the menu.

2. Next, type Portfolio Slideshow in the search box and click Search Plugins.

3. Click Install Plugin and Click OK.

4. Click Active Plugin.

You will now see the Portfolio Slideshow plugin installed under Settings on the left column. If you don’t see it click on the Settings title to show the options.

Customize Portfolio Slideshow Settings:

1. Click Portfolio Slideshow from the Settings menu on the left.

2. Here you will see all kinds of settings you can change from the size of the pictures (only available on the Pro version), to speed, to autoplay features, and whether the navigation if text based or a graphic (only available on the Pro version). If you don’t understand what a feature is for hover over the ? and it will show you a tip.

Another thing that is great about this plugin is they include the documentation right on the settings page so you don’t have to go to their site to find or read it. Click the Documentation tab on the settings page to see what I mean.

How Add the Slideshow to your Post:

1. Create a new post.

2. Upload the photos as normal by clicking the image button on the toolbar. I suggest adding all of the photos you want to use.

When you add them you can edit each photo and add the title text and caption if you want by clicking the Show button and adding that information. Do not click Add to Post. When you are done adding the titles, etc. click

3. Do not insert the photos into your post.

4. Click and drag each photo to put it in the order you want them in.

5. Once you have the photos in the order you want them click Save All Changes at the bottom.

6. Type this in the post where you want your photo gallery to show up.

Note: the only bad thing I have found about Portfolio Slideshow is that it will add every picture you have in your post into the slideshow and there is no way to not include some, as you see in my gallery below. All of my screenshot are also included. If would be nice if there were a way to pick what pictures you want in the gallery. Maybe that is a feature of the Pro version. I don’t know since I haven’t purchased it yet.

In my example I have the slideshow automatically playing, am showing titles, have the support for fluid layouts on, and have the Clicking on a slideshow image advance to next picture option on. The reason you see the thumbnails at the bottom of the slideshow is because I am using the free version of Portfolio Slideshow and not the Pro version so I can’t disable them.

Lavender fields

Poppies

yellow flowers

Yosemite, CA

Vinca flower

Water lilies

insert photo gallery

static photo gallery

install plugin Portfolio Slideshow

Portfolio Slideshow plugin

insert photo wordpress

Portfolio Slideshow code

add a plugin wordpress

7. Save your post and you’re done. Preview your post to see how it looks.

How to Add a Static Photo Gallery in your Post:

With Portfolio Slideshow you can also add a static photo gallery to your post. Just follow the section above on how to add your photos and before going back to your post do this”

1. Scroll to the bottom of the page and look for the Gallery Settings section.

2. Change the options are you see fit and click Insert Gallery.

3. You can choose a page someone would go to if they clicked on the photo under the option for each photo. If you don’t pick a page it will either go to the image or a page on your site with the image.

Note: it will insert a Javascript gallery in the spot you were last in on your post. You can drag it wherever you want or click in the spot where you want it to appear first before adding it.

What shows on your post is a static gallery of thumbnails for photos you have uploaded. It will not show the larger photos and it is not like the slideshow where the reader can click and have them move.

This is an example of what the static photo gallery would look like if you chose 3 columns. It is an example only and not clickable. If it were real you would be able to click on each picture.

Portfolio Slideshow is super simple to use, creates a professional-looking photo gallery in your WordPress post, only takes minutes to use, and is completely Free to use. It is the best photo gallery I have found yet. I would suggest that you purchase the Pro version if you want the graphic navigation or the ability to resize your photos.

Visit the designer’s site to see more ways you can use the Portfolio Slideshow or purchase the Pro version for $18 here.