WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org

The distinction between WordPress.com and WordPress.org can cause some confusion for some people.

Let’s clear it up. WordPress.com is brought to you by some of the same folks who work on WordPress, the open source blogging software.

WordPress.com utilizes the same WordPress software which you can download at WordPress.org.

With WordPress.com the hosting and managing of the software is taken care of by the team here at Automattic.

With WordPress.org you need to install the software on your own server or with a 3rd party provider.

WordPress.org is a free blogging software. With WordPress.org, you can install themes and plugins, run advertisements, edit the database and even modify the PHP source code. WordPress.org is the home of this software. Anyone can download the software for free but it must be installed on a web server before it will work. (…)

For no charge, WordPress.org provides downloadable blog software, community mailing lists, community support forums, documentation, and free themes and plugins.

WordPress.com is different. You do not have to download software, pay for hosting or manage a web server. When you sign up for a WordPress.com blog, you will get a URL like “andy.wordpress.com” or you can map a domain so your blog is available at “example.com” without the “.wordpress.com” portion.  You do not control the software or the database; FTP and shell access are not included. WordPress.com is based on a multi-user version of the WordPress software which does not permit uploading of PHP themes or plugins (although many popular plugins are built into WordPress.com ).  Popular javascript embeds such as YouTube are supported, but for security reasons some of the lesser known embed codes will be stripped out.  CSS is also restricted by default for security reasons, but you can purchase a paid upgrade to gain the ability for full CSS editing.  (…)

Source: en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

Sometimes you need to insert advertising banners, images, widgets or any sort of “gizmo” between you posts, archives or category listings.

Let’s say you need to add a flash banner between the 1^st and the 2^nd posts, or insert a currency calculator after the 3^rd post of your page. Anything goes as long as it goes inside a widget.

To do so you’ll need your theme to be custom coded. This tutorial is about achieving that.

We are all aware of the old, overused system fonts like Arial, Verdana, Georgia, Times New Roman, Geneva, Courier New, etc. They are considered as the standard for web typography, since they are ubiquitous to every standard web browser.

Now, there are other fonts that aren’t ubiquitous, but still, they are pretty much everywhere and chances are you can use them in your websites and still get away with it.

Chris Spooner from line25.com called them “Semi Web Safe Fonts”, and referred that they can be found in multiple operating systems as standard, but are often bundled with common software applications like Microsoft Office or the Adobe Creative Suite.

This means that there are a few extra common fonts that can be used with some comfort in your CSS.

Semi Web Safe Fonts include Myriad Pro, Garamond, Palatino, Impact, Tahoma, Century Gothic, Gil Sans, Lucida, Futura, Baskerville, Hoefler Text, Cooper, Rockwell, etc.

These are some fonts you can use to spice up your WebDesignes, beaking the routine of the old standard few.

Read all about it and see examples in action at Line 25:  line25.com/articles/semi-web-safe-fonts-to-spice-up-your-web-designs

“On the early 17th century, in the city of La Haye en Touraine,  France, lived a sickly child named René Descartes.

To shore up his health, he was allowed to sleep until 11 o’clock every morning, a habit he maintained throughout his adult life.

During one of these mornings abed,  young Descartes watched a fly flit across the ceiling. He realized he could describe the fly’s movements and its location by measuring its distance from two perpendicular walls.

A formalized version of this fly-tracking technique became the Cartesian coordinate system of perpendicular lines and planes, the ubiquitous (x,y) coordinate system that we all well know.”

(read somewhere, some years ago)

Don’t miss MAC‘s interview on the Portuguese Word Press community blog. (in Portuguese).

The interview initiates my cooperation on the Official Portuguese WP Forum, similar to what has happened in the international WP Website, where I’ve  been helping on the support forums whenever I have the time…

WP Rocks!

MAC