Earlier today, a good friend of mine was struggling to get high quality ads placed inside posts (not on the sidebar) of Wordpress. While it’s easy enough to incorporate photos and the like, and get your text to wrap around said items, two highly used sources (videos and ads) continue to drive people crazy when it comes to wrapping their words around them.

YouTube videos and ads from Pulse360 are just two examples. Often one is forced to leave blank space and start the next paragraph underneath. No amount of playing around with obvious methods seems to satisfy your requirements. However, thanks to remarkableblogger the solution is super easy. (It just takes persistence using the search engines, yes your answer is out there.)

Here’s a screen shot of the highlighted code you would enter around say a YouTube video (you can visit the remarkableblogger above to actually see its placement):

Note that it may be necessary for you to make physical adjustments to the ad and/or video. While YouTube offers options on sizes, there really isn’t a “one size fits all” category. Each blog has just so much space assigned to its posts section – some larger, some smaller – than their selection allows.

Continuing with the YouTube example, they offer the following sizes:

o 320 width by 265 height
o 425 width by 344 height
o 480 width by 385 height
o 640 width by 505 height

But, what if you want to use a width of say 250 and wrap your text around it?

This calls for THE one formula I use routinely – and goes back to my Algebra days (don’t ask). To adjust images and/or videos and/or ads, use this (I’ll demonstrate with the standard 425×344 example):

425 =  250
344        x

Cross multiply:  425x = 344 x 250

425x = 86,000

Divide both sides by 425

x = 202.35 (use 202)

So now you’ve created your image in proportion with a width of 250 and a height of 202. You can even pull in the original and just modify the width and height setting by hand from the HTML view in Wordpress (or on your website for that matter).

So there’s the key to getting a different look and feel for your web or blog pages.

Also do note in the image example above (and on remarkable’s blog) the padding put in – the margin portions in the pink highlighted area. This will keep your pictures from cramming up against your text.

Okay off to do some article writing! Enjoy your day

I’d like to call your attention to a news website (the banner has been in my sidebar for a few months now) that anyone who fancies him or herself to be a TRUE news fanatic should explore. The WorldNewsVine is strong and growing even more so minute by minute.

The WNV is (for now) actively seeking bloggers who are:

o  Already familiar with Wordpress in an MU setting
o  Competent writers who will properly classify and tag their reporting, and
o  Ready and able to actively participate on an already-recognized, yet young-enough-to-grow-with, news website.

Obviously they are seeking individuals who “report the news as they see it.” Regionally, locally, throughout the globe. Above all, professional. Now by professional, I mean:

o  You need to know the difference between fact and fiction
o  Be willing to research what you write, and
o  If you’re so inclined, receive true Press Credentials – an honest to goodness press kit.

With full press access, you’ll be able to report on local meetings, State or Province happenings, get interviews, etc.

So if your thing is, or has always been, to be a REAL reporter, check into joining the team at  WorldNewsVine.

Update Time! You might want to glance at the post below to know what I mean

I’ve spent the past week plus getting a cram course from my brother who (thank god!) understands coding, hosting, windows (which I’m not using), and Plesk and Linux (though he hates the latter).

I (using the term losely) am moving the entire Whole Hog Blogs network of massive wordpress blogs to new servers – bigger, faster, just all in all great to make the move AND save some cash in the process. Of course in the beginning, it was me doing the data gathering and him sewing it all back together.

But the learning curve has been brutual with 16-20 hour days for what seems like my life. I’m sure my brother is thinking the same thing.

I actually interrupted him while he puts together a HUGE website/blog (that I will write all about in the very near future since he’s looking of course for not only readers but WRITERS).

I am pleased to say that with only short/quick phone calls now (and not every single time LOL), I believe I have come close to mastering the art of moving small, medium, and large (well organized) wordpress blogs. There was an instance, or two, where he patiently put back together anywhere from 30,000 to 90,000 lines of code! Thank you Bob!

So the move is almost accomplished! I loved where I was hosting everyone at Rackforce, it’s just that it was impossible to pass up the bargain of a brand new server built from the ground up with over six times the storage and 10 times the backbone (for much less).

I’ve been a cpanel person all my online life, but you know even when you want to give up and run back to what’s “safe” it’s worth it to stick to your guns and learn something new! Now I’m comfortable with another way to do business using Plesk! TaDa!

A reoccurring theme on this site is money – specifically of the “how to” variety. So today’s post provides you with another resource to check into – a how to get paid to blog. This can be (and is) lucrative for many. However, that said, you should be aware that Sponsored Blogging (Is) Not As Easy As It Seems.

A quick check of Wikipedia reveals numerous facts you should be aware of: (more…)

After making our post for January 3, it was off to my favorite forums. That’s where I found six tools mentioned by Owen that he loved using in 2008.

The one that caught my eye is Zemanta, an add-on to your Firefox browser that automatically recognizes your wordpress and/or blogger blogs. It’s a tool that’s going to help suggest photos, videos, articles, etc., related to what you’re writing about – all done from inside your admin area.

Here’s an example:

Related articles by Zemanta

• Twitter Is Stealing Your Password

What the example above shows is something Zemanta considered “related to” the rest of the information in this post (see below about Twitter).  There are many items to choose from, but I just picked this one – all from inside the admin area of this blog.

After installing (and it’s quick and painless and yes I did read the terms of service first), you’ll end up on the welcome page where you’ll get instructions on “how to get started right away” using this super cool tool!

A big thanks to Owen for sharing this and five other tools (one of which he created himself).

Excellent!

And, for those of you wondering why your Wordpress Twitter Updater plugin no longer works, well we don’t currently have the answer to that… However, TwitterBar 1.1 may be your easiest solution.

It’s been available since November 1, 2008, tried and tested. Just be sure you know what you’ve got typed in your address bar before you Twitter it. It can be words, the link of the page you’re on, whatever. So double check first

(The Firefox logo was also pulled in using Zemanta.)

A second alternative to get your feeds posted directly to your Twitter account (though the toolbar above is very cool), is TwitterFeed

TwitterFeed requires you to create an OpenSource id. Just be prepared to validate your signup via email AND be adept at picture recognition – the  process is a tad long while you “guess the picture” during the account creation process.

What TwitterFeed will do is, depending on your setting choices, take a peek at your blog feed and post the last “x” amount you designate at the time interval you ask it to check. While that may sound confusing, it’s not – it’s just a fill in the blanks AFTER you get past the picture recognition thing (it’s very hard to explain but worth the trouble).

So there you have it… multiple ways to get your current posts automatically onto Twitter, plus add some graphic interest to your posts painlessly.  Enjoy!

Now it’s your turn to tell us what you think about this post. So please DO comment!