Posterous iPhone App Will Make You Finally Get A Posterous

At least it did me. Touted by co-founder Sachin Agarwal as a one stop shop for all your sharing needs, the Posterous app (now available in the App store) is extremely intuitive to use, and you don’t even need a Posterous to use it to start uploading photos, video and text, which, if you’ve enabled the Posterous “Autopost” feature will also post to your Facebook, Twitter as well as 26 other social sites including Flickr, YouTube, WordPress, Vimeo and Tumblr.

While you might be experiencing iPhone share fatigue (Instagram, Twitter, Tumblrette, WordPress and many others allow you to upload content directly from your phone) Posterous has always modeled itself on providing its pretty fanatical userbase with ease of use, the original idea of the service being that you could send an email to post@posterous.com and get a blog back, to which you the could send any other subsequent posts to post@sitename.posterous.com.

The Posterous mobile app takes off on this basic “no need to log in” philosophy, but supports geolocational tags, category tags and various levels of editing and privacy. And despite being buggy at points (one of my test posts posted twice, which was confusing), it’s pretty impressive how much you can actually do from the app (for example I set up my whole Posterous account) as opposed to WordPress, which has the effect of making you feel immobilized when blogging on the go because it does not allow you to upload media other than photos and lacks social sharing functions.

Winning “Keep It Simple Stupid” product strategy aside, it’s really hard not to root for the YC-backed Posterous; Their recent skuffle with Twitpic solidified them as champions of user portability which is always a crowd pleaser. Their user traffic has also risen accordingly boasting a 40% increase since June.

Currently funded at $5.14 million, Posterous’ future plans for the iPhone app include building the ability to directly edit posts from the app, landscape post viewing, multiple photo selection and showing attachments as actual thumbnails.

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Add Your Own Domain to Your Tumblr Blog

Would you like to personalize your Tumblr blog with your own domain name?  Here’s how you can redirect a domain to Tumblr and register it with your blog.

When you signup for a new Tumblr Blog, by default your blog’s address will be your_blog_name.tumblr.com.  One of the best reasons to use your own domain name is that you could always move the domain to another blog service if you decide to switch and quit blogging at Tumblr.  With your own domain, your blog’s identity is secure, and best of all, once you own a domain it’s free to add it to your Tumblr.  Here’s how to do it.

Redirect Your Domain to Tumblr

First, you need to own a domain name.  There are many popular domain registrars, and you can usually signup for a new domain name for around $10.  If you don’t already have one, find a domain hosting service you feel good with and signup for a new domain name.

Once you’ve got a domain name, you need to direct your domain name to point to Tumblr’s servers.  Or, if you want to keep your domain name at a current site, you could redirect a subdomain to Tumblr.  Our domain was hosted with 1&1, so here’s how to do it there; the process is generally the same on other registrars, though the wording may be slightly different.  Login to your domain administration page, and if your hosting company offers multiple services, select to Manage your Domain.

Now select your domain name, click the DNS button, and select Edit DNS Settings.  Again, this may appear different depending on your domain registrar, but should in general work the same.

Now, on the IP Address settings, select Other IP address, and then enter Tumblr’s IP address:

72.32.231.8

Click Ok when you’re finished making the changes.  Now your domain name should be ready to add to your Tumblr blog, though note that it can take up to 72 hours for the changes to go through.

Add Your Domain to Tumblr

Once you’ve changed your DNS settings, head over to Tumblr’s Check Domain page (link below) to make sure everything is setup correctly.  Enter your domain name, and click Check domain.

If everything’s setup correctly, you’ll see a confirmation like the one below.

Alternately, if your domain is not pointing to Tumblr, you’ll see a message informing you that it isn’t pointed to Tumblr.  If you see this, make sure you entered your domain correctly, and then go back and check your domain settings at your domain registrar.

If everything is directing to Tumblr correctly, you should now see a page similar to the following screenshot when you visit your domain.  Now you’re ready to add it to your Tumblr account.

Browse to tumblr.com/customize (link below), and click the Info tab at the top.

Now check the box near the bottom that says Use a custom domain name, and enter your domain name in the field.

Click Save + Close on the top right corner, and now you should see your Tumblr blog when you browse to your new domain.  If you don’t see it, press Shift+F5 to force your browser to fully refresh.

Conclusion

No matter how you plan to use your blog, you can make it much more personalized with a custom domain.  Now you can run your business’ blog on Tumblr and keep your branding, or run a personal site that’s easily movable to a different service.  Don’t forget; if you don’t have a Tumblr blog, check out our tutorial on how to Create a Beautiful & Easy to Update Blog With Tumblr.

Links

Check and See if Your Domain is Pointing to Tumblr

Customize Your Tumblr Blog

via howtogeek.com

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Create Your Own Twitter-style Group Blog With P2

Would you like a great way to post stuff quickly online and communicate with your readers?  Here’s how you can use the P2 theme to transform WordPress into a great collaboration and communications platform.

What is P2?

WordPress is one of the most popular blogging platforms, and we have looked at many ways you can use WordPress to publish content online.  But WordPress can also be a great platform for microblogging, similar to Twitter or group discussion boards.  Most default themes are designed around regular blogs, but P2 is a special blog theme designed to transform your site into a communications platform.  It’s easy to setup and use, so let’s look at how your group can use P2 to stay in touch.

Get a Blog for P2

First, you’ll need a WordPress blog to run P2.  If you’ve already got a free WordPress.com blog, you can use it, or you can signup for a free one.  Check out our article for more info on Setting up a Free WordPress.com Blog.

P2 works much different than standard WordPress themes, so you’ll likely not want to use it for your main site but instead will want to use it for a separate project.  If you already have a WordPress.com blog but would rather keep it the way it is, go to the My Blogs tab on WordPress.com and click Register another blog.  This will give you a brand new blog you can use with P2 for free.

Enter a name and title for your new blog, and click Create Blog.

Alternately, if you have your own server or hosting account, you can run P2 on WordPress from your own server.  Check out our articles on how to Quickly Install WordPress With Softaculous or Install WordPress Manually via FTP.
Once again, make sure you use it on a blog that you want to devote to P2, so if you want to use this for a side project, you might want to install WordPress on a subdomain on your server, like p2.yourdomain.com.

Setup P2 On Your Blog

Once you’ve got a blog to use, it’s time to setup P2.  As mentioned before, P2 is simply a theme that runs on WordPress, so here’s how to add it to your WordPress.com or self-hosted site:

- WordPress.com

Once you’ve got a WordPress.com blog to use with P2, login to your dashboard and open the Themes page from the link under Appearance on the left-hand sidebar.

Enter P2 in the search box, and click Search to find the theme on WordPress.com.

Click Activate under the P2 header to immediately start using P2 on your blog.  That’s all there is to it; it’s extremely easy to start using P2 on WordPress.com blogs.

Self-hosted WordPress

Installing P2 on a self-hosted WordPress blog is a bit more difficult.  To install P2, login to your site’s WordPress Dashboard, and select Themes under Appearance on the left-hand sidebar.

Select the Install Themes tab on the Themes page.

The easiest way to install P2 is to simply search for it in the search box.  When the results load, click Install under the P2 preview image to install it directly on your blog.

Click Install Now in the popup box to confirm you want to install P2.

Once its installed, click Activate under the installation info to begin using P2.

Using P2

P2 is very easy to use, and once you’ve activated the theme, it’s fully ready to use.  Just open your blog, and post anything directly from the page itself; no more messing with the WordPress dashboard to get a post out.

There are separate post options for status updates, blog posts, quotes, and links.  You can also upload and insert pictures, videos, and more directly into P2 posts.  This makes it very quick to post almost anything to your blog, though again, P2 is best for short-form notes and updates.

Here’s how some of the different post styles look.  Not your typical WordPress blog, eh?

Posts and comments will automatically appear on the page, and you’ll receive a notification when something new is received.  This makes it easy to stay on top of an ongoing conversation.

You can reply to comments and posts inline without refreshing the page.

If you love keyboard shortcuts, P2 is great for you.  It includes shortcuts to browse through the posts, reply, hide comments, and more.  These will be easy to use if you’re used to keyboard shortcuts on Google Reader and similar sites.

P2 is a great way to post your own stuff quickly, but it is really useful when multiple people are posting.  This way, you can use it like a group chat or discussion board, and everyone in your team, class, business, or more can post stuff for everyone else to see.

To enable this, select the Theme Options under the Appearance menu.

If your blog is running on WordPress.com, you’ll see the option to allow any WordPress.com member to post.  Note that anyone can register for a WordPress.com account, so this would let nearly anyone post to your site.  Alternately, you can add multiple authors to your site, but still leave the public posting option turned off.  This will let everyone in your group post updates, pictures, and more, while allowing other visitors to read and comment on posts.

On Self-hosted sites, P2 lets you allow any registered member to post.  This is a great option if you’re using P2 for a support forum or similar site, or if you want to make your blog private as described below.

Make Your WordPress P2 Blog Private

If you’re using P2 for private group or business discussions, you’ll likely not want the whole world reading what you post.  So, you might want to consider making your site private.  This works differently depending on your setup, so follow the directions below for your blog:

- On WordPress.com

It’s easy to make your P2 blog private on WordPress.com.  Open the Privacy page from the Settings menu on the left.

Now, select the last bullet to make your blog private, and click Save Changes.

Visitors will now be required to login with their WordPress.com account before they can view and add to your P2.

Once your site visibility is set, you can enter user’s WordPress.com usernames to allow them to view and add to your P2 blog.  Note that a free WordPress.com blog may only have up to 35 users; for unlimited private blog users, you’ll need to upgrade for $29.97/year.

- On Self-Hosted WordPress

If you’re running WordPress on your own server or hosting account, you won’t be able to set your blog as private by default.  There are several plugins you can use to make your site private, however, so let’s look at adding the Absolute Privacy plugin to make our P2 private.

Head over to the Plugins section on the left menu, and select Add New.

Enter Absolute Privacy in the search box, and then click Install Now on the Absolute Privacy plugin description.

Confirm that you wish to install this plugin.

Finally, click Activate Plugin after it has installed.

Now, when someone visits your site, they’ll be redirected to the WordPress login page.  You can create new accounts for your users manually, or if you want to let people register and access your P2, open the WordPress Settings page in your Dashboard and check the Anyone can register box.

Conclusion

No matter what size of community or group you’re communicating with, P2 makes it easy to keep all of your discussions on the page.  It’s especially easy to use on a free WordPress.com blog, so we think this is a great option even for users who may already have their own hosting service.  P2 shows that WordPress can be used for a wide variety of sites beyond traditional blogs, and we’re excited to see the great ways you can put this to work today.

Links

Get More Information About P2

Signup for a Free WordPress.com Blog

via howtogeek.com

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Install WordPress on Your Own Server With Softaculous

Install WordPress on Your Own Server With Softaculous: "
Would you like to install WordPress on your own server the easy way? Here’s how you can get WordPress up and running in only a few clicks on most webhosts.

We’ve recently been covering ways you can use a free WordPress.com blog, but the great thing about WordPress is that you can either get a free hosted blog or you can download the software and run it on your own server for free. Many webhosts today offer scripts that make installing WordPress as easy as possible, so here we’re going to look at how you can install WordPress in only a few steps in cPanel with Softaculous.

Note: Not all webhosts use cPanel, and even some cPanel hosts don’t offer Softaculous. Softaculous also works with other popular website control panels, so check with your hosting provider if you cannot find it. Otherwise, you can install WordPress manually via FTP. We’ll cover how to do that in an upcoming article.

Getting Started

Login to your website’s admin panel to get started installing WordPress on your site. This is often located at yourdomain.com/cpanel, though this may vary depending on your hosting provider.



Scroll down to the Software/Services section, and click the Softaculous link.

Note: If your host doesn’t offer Softaculous, it may offer another installer in this section, though it may work differently.



Softaculous offers many different web apps you can install on your site, including blogging engines, wikis, image galleries, webmail clients, and more. We’re going to install WordPress, but if you want to install a different web app the process will be similar.

To install WordPress, click the WordPress link on the left-hand sidebar in Softaculous.



This page will give you some information about WordPress, including ratings and reviews from other users. Click the Install link above the header to start the installation.



Now you’ll need to enter some information about your site. Softaculous will automatically fill in default settings, but you may want to customize them.

On the top of the page, choose the domain you want to use for WordPress. We already had WordPress installed on the site techinch.com, so we wanted to install this test copy on a subdomain. Then select what directory to install WordPress on. By default, it will install to yourdomain.com/wp, but if you want yourdomain.com to go directly to WordPress, then leave this field blank.



Now enter a name and description for your site, as well as an administrative username, password, and email. If you’d like a more secure password, click the key logo and a random generated password will be entered in the field.

If you’d like a record of your site’s settings, enter your email in the bottom field under the Install button. Finally, when you’re finished, click Install.



After a few moments, you’ll see a page announcing that WordPress is now installed on your site.



Click the link to go to the WordPress admin page, or simply browse to yourdomain.com/wp-login.php. Login with the username and password you chose before.



The first time you login, WordPress may prompt you to change your password. Since you just chose the password for your site, this step is unnecessary. Click No Thanks, Do not remind me again to chose this notification.



Now you can add posts and pictures, change the theme, and customize the settings of your WordPress site directly from the WordPress Dashboard.



Here’s our new WordPress site after installing with Softaculous and submitting our first post.



Backup or Delete WordPress with Softaculous

Softaculous is also useful for maintaining web apps you’ve installed with it. If you’d like to backup your WordPress site, or even delete it entirely, you can easily from your Softaculous control panel.

Login to your cPanel and open Softaculous as above. Select the box icon from the top right to see all the web apps you’ve installed.



Here you can see the web app installation time and version number, as well as a link to it. Click the folder icon to backup your site, or the (x) to delete it.

Please note: Do not click the X button unless you are certain you want to fully delete your WordPress site!



If you choose to backup the site, Softaculous will ask if you want to backup the entire directory and database. Generally it is good to select both, as you would be able to fully restore you’re entire site with both of these. Click Backup Installation to confirm you want to do this.



Click Ok at the prompt, and make sure to leave the webpage opening while it is backing up your site.



After a few moments, Softaculous will let you know that the backup is complete. Click the Backups link to access your backup file.



Click the blue arrow to download the zip file containing a full backup of your site. Once you’ve saved it, you can click the red X to delete the file from the server.



Conclusion

WordPress is one of the best CMS and blog engines available today, and you can used it to power anything from your personal site, to a major website with millions of hits per day. Installing WordPress manually isn’t too hard, but with Softaculous, it’s so easy anyone could do it. If you ever want to try out any other web apps on your site, you can always install them quickly with Softaculous too.

If you’d like to try out installing WordPress with Softaculous, you can give it a test drive on their demo site (link below). This is a great way to make sure you’re confident about installing it before you actually install it on your own website.

Link

Testdrive a Demo of Softaculous

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