Latest Tips from MakeUseOf.com |  |
- Cool Websites and Tools [December 9th]
- How To Integrate Twitter with PowerPoint: Tweet Presentation Notes & See Instant Feedback
- Create Professional Looking Photo Slideshows With Photo Story 3
- Boxwish: Creative Holiday Shopping For The Film Fanatics
- 10 Simple Tips To Record Great-Looking Home Videos
- Inspect Your Apps For Snow Leopard Compatibility With SnowChecker [Mac]
- Deal Of The Day: 65% Off SwissGear Computer Backpacks
- Two Minimalist Linux Text Editors That Make Writing Easy
- 3 Wordpress Plug-Ins To Automate & Improve Your Blog SEO
| Cool Websites and Tools [December 9th] Posted: 09 Dec 2009 05:01 PM PST
(1) Docshaker -The world of web working is expanding rapidly and, as such, the need for a quick and easy way to sign documents and contracts increases. DocShaker offers a fast and easy way to create, receive and sign such documents online. Read more:DocShaker: Easily Send, Receive & Sign Documents Online
(2) DoTemplate – Handy website that generates free customized web templates. With this tool, you can easily create several designs that you can personalize online before downloading. Read more: DoTemplate: Free Custom Theme Generator For Your Website (3) FileTac – Three in one web app for easily zipping, storing and transferring files over the internet without downloading any software or registering. Read more: FileTac: Tool For Zipping, Storing & Transferring Files Over The Internet (4) Pixuffle – Simple yet crafty tool that creates shuffled pixel compositions from an image. To use this, just upload any picture then drag the image using the designated arrows. You can drag as you wish to scramble your pictures and create your own cool abstract image. Read more: Pixuffle: Create Shuffled Pixel Compositions & Abstract Art (5) FreePrintableCards – Website which enables you to generate your own custom printable greeting cards online for free. You can create cards for almost any event including Christmas, birthday, new year, friendship, etc. Read more: FreePrintableCards: Provides Custom Printable Greeting Cards
These are just half of the websites that we discovered in the last couple of days. If you want us to send you daily round-ups of all cool websites we come across, leave your email here. Or follow us via RSS feed. Related posts
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| How To Integrate Twitter with PowerPoint: Tweet Presentation Notes & See Instant Feedback Posted: 09 Dec 2009 05:00 PM PST
Timo Elliott of SAP Web 2.0 has developed several free Powerpoint Twitter tools. Download the tools for MS Office from the download page for your version of MS Office and unzip the archive. You need PowerPoint 2003 or 2007 and Adobe Flash to use them. Note that these Powerpoint Twitter tools are free prototypes with limited support. Auto Tweet Notes From PowerPoint PresentationsAutoTweet is a PowerPoint Add-in that automatically tweets Notes from your presentation. First, you need to install the Add-in to PowerPoint. Go to the Office Button, and click PowerPoint Options > Add-Ins.
From the Manage drop-down, select PowerPoint Add-ins, and click Go…. In the Add-Ins dialog, click Add New, and select the AutoTweet.ppam PowerPoint Addin file that you unzipped from the downloaded archive. After you see the AutoTweet add-in installed with a checkbox, close the dialog.
Next, open the presentation in PowerPoint, and go to the Add-Ins tab on the ribbon. In the Menu Commands on the left, you will see AutoTweet. Click this to bring up a dialog where you can enable or disable AutoTweet and enter your Twitter username and password. You can optionally add a hashtag to your tweets and choose to get a successful tweet confirmation while presenting. This tool auto tweets the Notes from each slide in your presentation. However, you might have some additional content in your Notes not meant to be tweeted. For this purpose, the tool only tweets text that is enclosed in brackets: [twitter] this text will be tweeted [/twitter]. For example, here is how I made my note to be automatically tweeted during my presentation.
Here is how the tweet appeared on Twitter with the #hashtag specified in the dialog automatically added by the tool:
Remember that each time you run a slideshow of this presentation, the tool will send out tweets on your Twitter account! If you wish to practice delivering your presentation, turn AutoTweet Off in the settings dialog before running your practice slideshow. Also, in order to use the next feature we are going to discuss, it would be a good idea to tweet an instruction in the beginning to the Twitter audience to use a specific hashtag while tweeting about your presentation. We will see how you can use this to gather feedback in the next section. Show Feedback From Twitter in PowerPointAnother useful tool in this pack is a slide that allows you to automatically display a tweet cloud in your presentation with search terms you can specify. Most Blog Camps and Conferences today use a specific hashtag for tweets about it, for example #140conf or #leweb. If you are presenting at a Blog Camp or Conference, you can use the hashtag as your search term to get real-time feedback from Twitter to show within your PowerPoint presentation. You can use this as a way to discuss the feedback with the audience, or simply as an engaging display in between different sessions. To use this feature, follow these steps:
Now, when you run the slideshow of your presentation and navigate to the Feedback Slide, you will see a blank feedback slide with instructions in the center. Enter the search term in the box on the bottom left and press Enter. Tweets from Twitter containing the search term will automatically be shown in the slide. For example, here is how the chatter on Twitter about the #LeWeb conference looks like:
You can click on the Twitter avatar or the tweet cloud to open a browser window that displays the Twitter profile or tweet. To move forward in your presentation, you need to click the title or side area outside the content area you pasted. The slide refreshes by itself after 30 seconds and you can view history using the page navigation arrows. Also check out Slide 5 from the downloaded presentation which displays tweets in a grid layout. Now, the next time you present with the help of AutoTweet, you will no longer be clueless about what people are tweeting about your presentation! Also, your tweets themselves will be a part of all the tweets on Twitter making you an active participant. Will you use these Powerpoint Twitter tools for your next presentation? Do you think this will make your presentation cool? Tell us in the comments! Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! Become a MakeUseOf fan on Facebook? – Our photos, MakeUseOf specials and more. Related posts
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| Create Professional Looking Photo Slideshows With Photo Story 3 Posted: 09 Dec 2009 03:01 PM PST
One of those nice pieces of software is something called Photo Story 3 for Windows, an app which allows you to make professional looking photo slideshows complete with music, your own narration and photo subtitles. It claims you need Windows XP to run it but it is is working perfectly fine on my Windows 7 machine. You can find out here all the other system requirements needed to make this app work. So in true MakeUseOf fashion, let’s do a walkthrough of the app so you can see how it all works.
Since this is our first time, we would choose “Begin a new story“. At this point, you need to have all your photos ready for importing into the app. Don’t worry too much about the order of the pictures, you can move them around later in Photo Story. But at this point, get all the photos together in one folder for easy importing. On the next screen, you’ll see a button called “Import Pictures“. Click on that, navigate to the pictures on your PC and choose the ones you want in your presentation. Photo Story will then begin to pull them all in. I decided to make a small presentation with my pictures from Cologne Zoo.
Once the photos are all imported, you’ll see them sitting in a bar at the bottom of the app.
Now it’s time to rearrange the photos into the order you want them. See the arrow and the X at the end of the bar there? If you want to move a photo, highlight it with your mouse then use the arrow keys to move the photo left and right. Imported a photo but you suddenly want rid of it? Highlight it with the mouse then hit the X button. Bam, it’s gone. Once you have the photos in the desired order, the next stage is the most labor-intensive stage of the process. You can (but don’t have to) go through each photo and do several things to it. The first possibility is adding a sub-title to any part of the screen, like so :
You can change the font as well as determining where on the screen the text will go. I obviously didn’t want the text splattered all over the donkey so I moved it down below.
The next step is to make sure that the photos are just the way you want them. If you take a look at the giraffe picture above, you’ll see some options. These include altering the colour of the picture, removing red eye, cropping and rotating the picture (if you fancy your giraffes upside down). You can also change your pictures into the following styles :
Now when you have the pictures just the way you like them, you now have an option to record your voice and narrate something for each picture.
So for my cold and bored donkey picture, I could put on my deep Orson Welles voice and say “this donkey is cold and bored“. Visualise the audience enthralled with the cold and bored donkey coming to life with my voiceover (or more likely, they’ll be wondering where the door is). Or you could re-tell an amusing story about what happened between you and the donkey when you fell into his enclosure (if it’s legal and there’s no underage kids around). Just when you think your photo slideshow can’t get any better, the last feature to add, the pièce d’résistance, is the background music!
Now you can either select a music file from your computer or you can “create” music using the app. If it’s a private family & friends gathering then I would just go the easy route and put on a bit of Britney. But if you intend to make this a “public performance”, such as for work colleagues or if you intend posting your slideshow online, then I would create some music. I don’t know the legal ins and outs of broadcasting copyrighted music in a public venue. When you hit “create music“, you are presented with quite a few options :
You can choose different styles, genres, instruments and even moods. Slow down the tempo for sad moments, speed it up for sexy party moments (Family Guy fans will get that joke). Set the right intensity and soon you’ll have your audience eating out of your hand. All that remains to be done now is choose how your file will be presented – will it be emailed? Will you be playing it back on a mobile phone? Or will it just be played back on your computer? Choose your option then let the app create your movie. Along with Movie Maker, Microsoft has given us some good tools for making home movies and slideshows. But maybe you know of something better, something that beats the pants off Microsoft? If so, spill the beans in the comments and let us see it. Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too. Related posts
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| Boxwish: Creative Holiday Shopping For The Film Fanatics Posted: 09 Dec 2009 02:01 PM PST
Maybe you were a big fan of the beanie Will Smith wore in Hancock, or the sunglasses Angelina Jolie's character “Fox” wore in Wanted, or you covet the slide-out Nokia cell phone Keanu Reeves's character “Neo” used in The Matrix. You certainly have the option to do a lot of online research, pour through brands and styles from countless designers, and hunt for these elusive objects of desire – but there is a better way. Enter Boxwish, a social shopping experience website for film fanatics, centered entirely on these types of movie memorabilia that you've just got to have. Let’s take a look and see how finding these scarce cinematic gifts might be made into a simple and enjoyable experience.
Boxwish makes finding paraphernalia from your favorite films a snap. The site offers several ways to seek out what you're looking for; including searching by the movie you saw something in, searching by the actor wearing or using what you saw, or even searching by characters from the films. It's an ingenious way to showcase the many product placements you may subconsciously see while you're enjoying the latest blockbusters. In addition to some of the real-life items presented, Boxwish also offers plenty of related novelties from all of the films as well that film fanatics will love.
To give you an idea of the breadth of items Boxwish has to offer, let's take a look at Twilight as an example. Boxwish lets Twilight fans search for items as obscure as Carlisle's ring, Alice's choker, Edward's wrist cuff, or even the dreamcatcher that Jacob gives to Bella for her birthday. These are in addition to the scores of t-shirts, trading cards, bookmarks, key rings, pens, socks, dolls, games, and countless other stocking stuffer candidates for any family member enthralled with Twlight. They're also currently featuring a significantly thorough “Christmas Shopping Guide” with ways to shop, broken down by gifts for the family, by price, by most popular films, by activities, for Christmas parties, and by gender – all directly related to the movies.
Another aspect of Boxwish that sets it apart as an online shopping destination is its many social features. Creating an account is simple using its Facebook Connect feature to log in directly through Facebook. You can rate products, make comments on any item on the site, and you can also share items you really like out to social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, or to social bookmarking sites like Digg, Delicious, Reddit, and StumbleUpon.
While it's not particularly difficult to find themed gifts for popular films, seeking out those hard-to-find items that eagle-eyed moviegoers spot can take up way too much of your holiday shopping time. With Boxwish, you can quickly find some of the coolest gear and fashion from recent popular films, sign up to keep track and share stuff from the cinema you've discovered with your friends, read their magazine-like blog, give feedback on their UserVoice-powered community support, follow them on Twitter, and become a fan of the site on Facebook. If you’re on the lookout for more creative shopping options this holiday season, check out these related articles:
Does Boxwish sound like a helpful way to find the perfect gift for your film fanatic friends and family members? Write a comment below and let us know! Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too. Related posts
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| 10 Simple Tips To Record Great-Looking Home Videos Posted: 09 Dec 2009 01:00 PM PST
No matter which video camera you have, these 10 simple tips on how to record home videos will improve the look and feel of your movies. Here goes. #1: Plan Your ProductionNo matter what event you videotape, have a plan. Write down or make a mental list of shots you will want to include. For example, if you're videotaping a birthday party, your list might include:
If there's an agenda for the event, you can use it to prepare you shot list. The more you know about what is going to occur in the event, the easier it will be shoot your production. #2: Use a TripodWhenever possible, make use of a tripod. I realize it's a hassle to set up a tripod, but using one makes a big difference in your video production. If you're not going to be moving around, hand-holding your camcorder, using a tripod will help you keep your shots steady and clean. There's nothing more distracting than to view videos in which the camcorder is constantly shaking and moving in and out of focus. Using a tripod, you can easily pan your shots for smoother recording. Opening Establishing ShotNearly all movies and scenes in them begin with what is called an establishing shot. It's a shot of the location where the action is going to take place. In the case of the party, it might be a panning shot of the party setup, or an outdoor shot of where the house or place where the birthday party is being held. Shoot CloseJust as with photography, you should typically shoot close on your subjects. Fill the LCD monitor of your camcorder with the main subject being shot. The more background distractions you have in your shots, the less appealing it will be. Typically, there are four types of shots used in videography: wide, medium, close-up and extreme close-up. You can recognize these type of shots in well done movies you watch.
Shoot Cutaway ShotsAll good videos and movies use what is called cutaway shots. A cutaway shot is usually a related shot to the main action. For example, when shooting a birthday party, you will have a shot of the birthday girl blowing out her candles and cutting her cake. But you will also want to include cutaway shots of the guest singing the birthday song or clapping after the candles are blown out. Another example: when the birthday girl is opening her presents, you might cutaway to a shot of the person from whom a presents was given. Here’s a good how-to video that explains cutaways.
Shoot Wide then CloseSimilar to cutaway shots, you will want get in the habit of shooting medium to close range shots. For example, you start with a medium shot of the birthday girl opening her presents. Then you shoot in close on her hands as she opens the present, adding to the dramatic effect. Change angles and positionsGet in the habit of shooting from different angles and positions. If you shoot every shot from the same position or angle, your viewers will easily get bored. You don't need to change your position with every shot, but you also don't want to be stuck in the same place for the entire recording. Shoot to EditWhether or not you edit your movie after it is recorded, try to do what is called in-camera editing. For example, your camcorder may have a built-in fade-in and fade-out feature which means that each time you start and stop a recording, the shot will automatically fade in and fade out. That can help make for cleaner and more appealing shots. If you don't plan to do post-editing, you will want to keep in mind the timing of your shots. Before the event, determine how long you will want your video production to be. If you're shooting a birthday party, your production might only be 15 to 30 minutes long, even though the party itself might be a couple of hours. Remember, Hollywood movies are typically no more than 90 minutes. Viewers will not want to watch a two-hour video of a birthday party. So plan your shots and make them purposeful. When capturing guest arrival shots, for example, each of your shots might be about 10 seconds long for recording each guest. Your camcorder should include a timer that you can monitor for the length of time of each shot. Check Sound and RecordingShooting video is not like shooting with a still camera. It's quite easy to have your camcorder on and see action in the LCD screen, but that doesn't mean you're making a recording. Learn to recognize when your camcorder is actually recording and when it's not. Also check the sound level. If your camera has a way to manually monitor and adjust the level of audio coming into the camera, be sure to constantly check that audio level to make sure it's not too high or low. If possible, use a set of closed-headphones to monitor the audio levels coming into your camera.
Edit Your ProductionEditing your video shots using what is called a nonlinear editor, such as Apple's iMovie, Windows Movie Maker, or Adobe Premiere Elements, is simply the best way to make better video productions. The process is not as difficult as you think, but it does require extra time. With a movie editor, you can get rid of poor shots, tighten the editing; add smooth transitions, background music, and titles to make your production worth watching. There's also a website called Jaycut.com that allows you to edit movies online. I have not used Jacycut yet, so I can't vouch for how good it is, but it is a free option you might give a try, especially for say five-minute videos. You could also take a look at other video editors MakeUseOf has covered in the past.
I will be sharing some more tips on video productions in future articles. If you have questions about this topic, be sure ask them in the comment section. Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! Become a MakeUseOf fan on Facebook? – Our photos, MakeUseOf specials and more. Related posts
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| Inspect Your Apps For Snow Leopard Compatibility With SnowChecker [Mac] Posted: 09 Dec 2009 11:01 AM PST
Now on to the feature of this article. Snow Leopard has been around for a couple of months and for the first time in the history of operating systems, it’s now actually incredibly affordable to upgrade to the latest and greatest from Apple. If you’re considering whether to upgrade, be sure to read my post on How to Upgrade to Snow Leopard & What You Should Know. Perhaps you’ve already upgraded, then I’m sure that you’ve noticed that some of your applications no longer work. That’s because Snow Leopard is 64-bit. A couple of my favourite applications broke upon upgrade. Notably, iStat Menus was one of them. Since then, most app developers started working their geeky brains and refreshed their software to operate properly in Snow Leopard. However, a couple of notorious apps are still facing some issues. If you’re planning to upgrade and because the upgrade to Snow Leopard is by default an Archive and Install procedure, you should know which apps will continue to work and which ones won’t. SnowChecker is a very simple application that will help you to figure out which apps will smoothly get past the upgrade process.
You’ll notice that there are two Firefox entries. That’s because the SnowChecker doesn’t retrieve the version number of the apps you have installed. My guess is that it only grabs the applications’ names and then collects the reports from its wiki. It isn’t the perfect system because you may have the latest version of Opera but SnowChecker will still show you that the previous version doesn’t work. That’s a little redundant, in my opinion. If you don’t want to download the SnowChecker or if you’d just like to check out if a particular app works on Snow Leopard, say Skitch, you can still utilise its user-submitted compatibility database. Head over to this website and scroll down until you reach the table of applications.
Not all applications are listed but those which are will have a version number and a corresponding note to inform you whether it works properly on Snow Leopard. A tick means everything’s A-OK, a cross signifies that the app doesn’t work, an exclamation mark tells you that it works but it has some problems (maybe it requires Rosetta to be installed) and finally a question mark states that the app is untested.
Both the website and SnowChecker are pretty useful for those who are currently thinking of upgrading to Snow Leopard. Even if you are currently using Snow Leopard, you can still check your applications to see if there are any user-reported bugs or problems. You could also contribute to the wiki if you know of a particular unlisted app which doesn’t run on Snow Leopard. Have you upgraded to Snow Leopard? If not, what are you waiting for? Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! Become a MakeUseOf fan on Facebook? – Our photos, MakeUseOf specials and more. Related posts
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| Deal Of The Day: 65% Off SwissGear Computer Backpacks Posted: 09 Dec 2009 10:01 AM PST Here is a quality backpack for very little money, only 34$. This backpack features front organizer pockets for business accessories, a laptop sleeve that fits most 15-inch laptops, a water bottle pocket with elastic mesh, an airflow back system, comfortable padded shoulder straps, file sleeves to organize files, binders, magazines, and more.
Check out SwissGear Computer Backpacks (incl. more pictures). Scored 4.5 / 5 on Amazon (Very good!) Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! Become a MakeUseOf fan on Facebook? – Our photos, MakeUseOf specials and more. Related posts
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| Two Minimalist Linux Text Editors That Make Writing Easy Posted: 09 Dec 2009 08:30 AM PST
Everything I write, however, is either published online – in which case I use the given website’s tools to format text and add pictures – or published in a newspaper – in which case the design aspects of the story are handled by programs like InDesign. So I never use my word processor for anything other than writing, and as such rarely notice the numerous features it has. When I do notice the advanced features of a word processor it’s because the program is annoying me in some way: auto-numbering my lists against my will, auto-correcting words I’d intended to spell a certain way (it’s iTunes, not Itunes, thank you very much) or asking me if I’d like help writing a letter through the medium of a disturbingly chipper anthropomorphised paper clip. And so I started to wonder: why should I be doing my writing with software designed to make it easy to arrange text for being printed out on letter-sized pieces of paper? Why can’t I find software that just lets me write?
Minimalist Linux Text EditorsAs it turns out I’m not the only MakeUseOf writer to ponder this question. For years now a sort of program called the minimalist editor has sought to tackle this question by offering simple, full-screen editors that allow writers to focus on writing and nothing else. Modeled after a Mac program called WriteRoom, such programs focus on simplicity instead of formatting or presentation. Gone are the many menus, options and stats which distract you from the only thing you’re trying to do: write. A minimalist text editor hides everything on the screen but your work. Dave wrote about a variety of free minimalist text editors for Windows back in 2008, but of all the excellent minimalist editors he mentioned only the Java-based jDarkRoom is Linux compatible. I’m a writer by profession, but I’m also a Linux user. So I set out to discover any elegant, easy-to-use minimalist Linux text editors. I wasn’t disappointed: I found two very good ones. PyRoom
Sorry if the simplistic screenshot doesn’t wow the eyes, but what you see is what you get: PyRoom is a fullscreen Linux text editor that stays out of your way and lets you focus on the task at hand. Load up a text document in PyRoom and you’ll see nothing but the text you’re working on. As the program’s name implies, PyRoom is based on Python. Gnome users will be happy to know the program relies on GTK binaries, making a lightweight program even lighter for users of that desktop. First-time users may be little confused starting the program for the first time. Are there really no options at all? Well, while the program tries to be as simple as possible there are a few things you can configure – the menu is just hidden and comes up only when “Ctl” and “P” are pressed. But the options presented are sparse: change the display font, turn on and off the border around your text and configure the autosave feature. Additionally, you can configure the “theme,” which means selecting the color of the backdrop and the text. The PyRoom development blog states that a plugin branch is in the works, but don’t be expecting support for pictures or Twitter widgets anytime soon–this is a project that’s going to stay simple. TextRoom
If you like the idea of a lightweight editor, but want some formatting options such as bold and underlined text, TextRoom’s a good project to check out. TextRoom’s main interface is largely the same as PyRoom’s – a full screen of only text. The notable difference is a bar at the bottom of the screen with two key pieces of information: the time and the current word count for the document. These are the two things you’d most likely want to know while writing, so I think it’s a great addition over PyRoom’s completely vacant interface. TextRoom is based on the QT toolset, so it’s native to the KDE desktop. This alone is enough for me to keep TextRoom off my Gnome-based netbook, on which space is precious. But if you’re a KDE user, or a Gnome user willing to overlook toolkit purity, TextRoom has a few things to offer that PyRoom doesn’t. The most notable is a calendar in the preferences dialogue that allows you to set per-day wordcount goals—for example, writing 300 words on Monday. This program can also be run outside of fullscreen mode, which people with multiple monitors might appreciate. Outside of this, however, you’ll find a similar set of options to PyRoom’s. Seeing as both editors are designed with simplicity as a central goal this is a very good thing. ConclusionFor my day to day writing needs I use PyRoom. This isn’t to say I’m not impressed with WriteRoom’s feature set – it’s just that PyRoom is GTK based and I’m a Gnome user. The fact that there’s a solid option for both major desktops is great, though–that sort of choice is no small part of why I’m a Linux user in the first place. I would absolutely love to see more features from TextRoom make their way into PyRoom. A clock and a word count on the bottom of the screen would be a great start. Happily the upcoming plugin branch will deliver some of these features. PyRoom and Textroom can both be downloaded from their respective websites. Ubuntu users can even find PyRoom in the official repositories – just install the “pyroom” package. Linux users don’t get to have all the fun, either; both these programs can run in Windows, as can the programs in Dave’s post. Which minimalist lightweight editor do you prefer and why? Let us know your opinions in the comments. Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! Become a MakeUseOf fan on Facebook? – Our photos, MakeUseOf specials and more. Related posts
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| 3 Wordpress Plug-Ins To Automate & Improve Your Blog SEO Posted: 09 Dec 2009 07:01 AM PST
Most people hear the tasks they need to do to optimize their site and they get scared off. I am here to tell you that any ordinary person can perform Search Engine Optimization like the big boys. All you need to do is grab a few plug-ins. I currently use 3 plug-ins to help me with my websites. I will run through them with you and show you how they can help you automate your blog SEO. First up is SEO Friendly Images – as you can imagine, it helps you automatically optimize your images so search engines can see them. Search engines are not real people and they cannot see images. To index images they rely on Alt Image Tags which in plain English means Alternate Image Tags. You tag them and the search engines read them. Now if you have a blog with thousands of posts already what do you do? You install SEO Friendly Images as a plug-in, activate it and rock and roll! Let's check it out.
Wordpress uses the file's name as the alternate text. This is good if you use crazy descriptive names – but it's bad if you are lazy like me. So my alternate text is mini1. That doesn't mean much! Now download and install the plug in. Activate it and watch the magic.
After activating it, refresh your page and right click and check out the image's properties again. Now it is using the title of the post! Sweet! This will bring in boatloads of traffic.
All in One SEO Pack – All in One SEO is a blog owner’s dream. It tries to cover most of the big issues users see with SEO. It allows you to, easily and in a SEO friendly manner, rewrite the Home title of your Blog as well as your meta description, keywords, post titles, category titles and so much much more. Just by activating it and filling in a few fields you are on your way to SEO heaven!
If you do not know what one of the fields means or will do, simply click on its heading like so:
Google XML Sitemaps – and last up in my SEO plug-in arsenal is a sitemap tool. A sitemap is very important because it shows the search engines how your site is set up. The title eludes to the fact that it will only work with Google but as far as I know the site map generated worked for the other search engines including Bing and Yahoo. Go ahead and download and install the plug in. And then activate it. You will have a new control panel under settings that says XML Sitemap and the control panel looks like this:
By default it will notify the search engines when you update your blog. It will rebuild your sitemap and it will add the sitemaps' URL to your robots.txt file automatically. If you don't know what this is, don't worry, the plug-in has you covered. Do you have another must-have SEO plug in for your blog? Please share it with us in the comments! automate blog seo Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! Become a MakeUseOf fan on Facebook? – Our photos, MakeUseOf specials and more. Related posts
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Speakers and presenters at conferences are increasingly finding their audience live tweeting during their presentation. In most cases, the presenter has no clue about what the audience is saying on 
Whenever one thinks of Microsoft, they tend to think of expensive crap and bloatware that hogs up their PC. But every now and then, the Windows Wonders come out with a really nice free piece of software, and suddenly you feel a bit guilty for that Bill Gates voodoo doll you made the previous evening when your PC took hours to download the latest security patches.
Have you ever thought to yourself, while watching a movie, how awesome it would be to actually own some of the clothes, gadgets, and accessories you see your favorite actors wearing and using on the big screen?
In the era of 
For those who missed out on my last post, I’m continuing the habit of writing my work in OmmWriter. For more information about it, check out: 
It took decades of writing, but I’ve come to a realisation: word processors do way more than what I need. Programs like Microsoft Office and Open Office are intended for laying out content visually to be printed on sheets of paper. You can use them to format text in your desired font, to add tables and even graphics.
Most bloggers know the value of SEO or Search Engine Optimization. By performing some tasks, tricks and jumping through some hoops you can make your website or blog appear more impressive to the bigger search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. Optimizing certain parts of your website, including article titles, image alternate text tags and having a 
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