empowerment through learning

Training in web design, web development, graphic design, desktop publishing and Linux.

Hedgeschool Training is an IT training / ICT training business based in Leitrim, Ireland, that specialises in providing training in web design, web development, graphic design, desktop publishing and Linux.

How to create a Facebook fan page

Creating a Facebook fan page can be a great way to promote your website or business although it is not very obvious how to create one. The following video illustrates how to do so and once you where to go to create your fan page, it's actually quite easy.

Some Google Analytics tutorials

This first video provides a brief overview of how to use the Google Analytics interface. If you are new to Google Analytics or you'd like to pick up a few tips on how to use some of the different features, this video is a good place to start.

If you've just started to use Google Analytics and aren't sure which reports to look at, this video provides a helpful 1st-time analysis walkthrough. You'll learn how to interpret what you see in these key reports and what actions you should take as a result.

Have fun and reap the benefits of Google Analytics to know more about your audience's wants and needs...

How to add images in a WordPress post or page

How to add photos, video and audio...

and a more detailed video on adding images...

For more videos on how to do stuff in Wordpress, check out WordPress TV...

To post an entry or create a page in WordPress - what's the difference?

You can add new content to your WordPress blog in two different ways: by creating or writing a new page; or by creating or writing a new post. So what's the difference and does it matter?

1. Posts will appear in RSS feeds whereas pages will not. People using the site can subscribe to RSS feeds via email and using News Readers like Google Reader so that they can easily view updates to the website. Also content published in RSS format can easily be syndicated by other releveant websites thereby generating potentially valuable links from other sites to your website.

2. WordPress manages posts better than it manages pages as they are added over time. For example, posts will appear in the archives section and recent posts section whereas pages will not. Posts can also be easily tagged as well as categorized and so on. Pages are really only intended for information that does not change over time so much and is not added to so much over time, for example, an About Us Page or Contact Us page. Furthermore, if you have a navigation menu on your website for pages, it will start to become cluttered with automatically generated links for every new page that you add...

Conclusion: It is much better to add news items and updates to you blog as new posts rather than new pages

To write a post in WordPress versions older than 2.7, when you login in click on "Write" in the Dashboard and then click on "Post".

Write a new post - WordPress 2.6 or olderWrite a new post - WordPress 2.6 or older

To add a new post in WordPress versions 2.7 or newer, when you login in click on "Posts" in the Dashboard and then click on "Add New".

Add a new post - WordPress 2.7 or newerAdd a new post - WordPress 2.7 or newer

Here are a couple of videos on how to write a post and a page in WordPress 2.7:

How to add a new post...

How to add a new page...

The one piece of HTML that everyone should know

When adding a comment to a blog or forum or indeed adding your website address to your signature in a forum that you have joined, you will often need to create a link using HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), the language used to create web pages. The following example should help in most cases:

To create a link in HTML, type the following in your comment or signature:


<a href="http://www.mysite.com/">My Site Title</a>

substituting in your own web address in the href="..." part as well as your own site title instead of "My Site Title". It is important to use proper keywords for the title rather than just "My Website" as links with relevant keywords are far more useful for both the reader and search engines.

So, if I was to create a link for Hedgeschool Training, I'd do something like this:


<a href="http://www.hedgeschool.ie/">Hedgeschool IT Training, Leitrim, Ireland</a>

The link would then appear in my comment or forum signature like so:

Hedgeschool IT Training, Leitrim, Ireland

This link contains the keywords, (IT, Training, Leitrim, and Ireland) for which I would like my website to appear on search engines results pages (SERPs, to use the techie acronym).

One little proviso though is that if after submitting your comment or signature, all you see is the HTML code, then the site to which you submitted your comment is filtering HTML, i.e. they are not allowing users to submit HTML in comments etc. If this is the case, then the best you can do is just to add your web address e.g. http://www.hedgeschool.ie/. In some cases, (as is the case on this website) the website to which you are submitting your comment might make your web address into a proper link or at the very least it will display your webaddress which users can copy and paste into their web browser's (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari etc.) address bar and then visit your website - a little more cumbersome for them but better than no web address.

Alternatively, some forums might not allow HTML but they do allow bbCode which is slightly different in format, but will generate the same link as above:

[url=http://www.hedgeschool.ie/]Hedgeschool IT Training, Leitrim, Ireland[/url]

Wordpress 2.7 launched

WordPress 2.7 (Coltrane) has just been released. There are some major changes to previous releases including:

  • several improvements to the administration interface
  • threaded and paged comments
  • single click upgrade facility in the administration interface

Here's a video from the WordPress people outlining the benefits of the new release.

This next video describes in detail the process of creating a new post in WordPress 2.7...

And finally this video describes some of the new ways of using the administration interface.

Social Networking for Beginners

You've probably heard of social networks like MySpace, Facebook and Bebo. They are great for staying in touch with friends and connecting with old friends. Some might argue that the're great for wasting time aswell but they certainly have their utility and can be very useful for promoting a business, a product or good cause.

There are also many lesser known social networks out there that have more productive uses. LinkedIn is one such example and is a profeesional network useful for finding work, developing business partnerships, getting expertise and so on. Here's an introductory video on LinkedIn from the folks at CommonCraft

LinkedIn

Another example is Delicious, a website that allows you to store your bookmarks. It allows you to access your bookmarks from any computer connected to the internet, organise your bookmarks using tags and connect with other users or friends who have similar interests. CommonCraft oblige again with another entertaining and informative video...

Social Bookmarking In Plain English

If you'd like to connect with me on either of these networks, visit the contact page for more details... :)

Really Simple RSS

Ever wonder what this icon news feed icon is all about? It provides a link to a news feed or RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed which is a summary of new articles or blog posts on a website.

Used in combination with a news reader (sometimes called news aggregators) such as Google Reader, it allows you to monitor new items on various websites in which you are interested. So rather than visiting a web site without knowing if there is a new blog post or not, with a news reader, you can visit the website only when there are new posts that interest you.

Here are a couple of videos from Commoncraft which explain how it all works in plain English.

RSS in Plain English

and Google Reader in Plain English

There are many alternatives to Google Reader. For a comprehensive list, see NewsOnFeeds.com's List of Aggregators. Another example of aggregated news feeds is the news section on this website where we list new blog posts from other related webistes.

To grab the latest blog posts from this website, click on the following news feed icon news feed icon, copy the the URL (web address) from the address bar in your web browser (or just copy it here if you like: http://www.hedgeschool.ie/rss.xml ) and add the feed in your preferred news reader. Really simple!!

Getting Things Done

"If only there we're more hours in the day" is a common refrain for most people these days. Even with the prospect of being more time rich and cash poor due to economic conditions, I still find myself with an ever expanding list of things to do and a sense of being swamped by it all.

Over the years, I've come accross various time management gurus, adopted their techniques to some degree but have usually fallen back to some of my not so useful habits over time. David Allen's approach in his book "Getting Things Done - The Art of Stress Free Productivity" deals with both the bigger picture and the nitty-gritty and has insights into the benefits of self-management that are fresh, unique and enlightening. I've just started reading the book, inspired by the video below. The prospect of becoming a master of the "martial art of life and work" seems much more achievable now. Well worth 45 minutes of your time - enjoy!