Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I started using Firefox since way back in 2006. I enjoyed using the browser very much. Except for the memory leaks, I believe Firefox was (and still is) more than a solid competition against Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Well for much of a run it seems Firefox has given the stage to its cousin, the Google Chrome.

Aside from the ‘kick-ass’ name, Chrome offers a more memory-efficient solution than FireRAM, err, Firefox. But what grabbed my attention today was the fact that the “add-on” or “extensions” feature is starting to get integrated with the Chrome 3.0x class. A year or two ago I’ve heard plenty of rumors flying around the web that they have already started “plotting” about this feature. I’m glad that they have finally cooked up this excellent new recipe for us all.

https://chrome.google.com/extensions/

Test the Beta and holler back!

I have been playing with several themes as of late, to optimize the interface of my little Wordpress MU project site. I tried a couple of themes that might fit into a Wordpress MU-BuddyPress child blog that can supplement an increased security (e.g. Disabled the Posts, Pages and Dashboard options.)

Here are some excellent themes I’ve come across, and some notable features I found out about them.

3rd Place:

VisitingCard Theme from Templatic.

Looks very elegant. It doesn’t have the normal posts and pages setup but it packs a good punch with the smooth interface and really awesome social networking integration. The only problem with this theme is that the Wordpress Mu Admin bar plugin can’t find a section to correctly show up on, and so it just skittles off the left corner of the page — which makes it really annoying.

There’s a plugin to remove the Admin Bar though. But believe me also when I say that it’s not worth activating it.

2nd Place:

LiveTwit Theme from Templatic

If you are a heavy twitter user like me then this theme plays the safe side of any Wordpress MU security setup, while leaving the science out the door. Really an excellent theme for for the “normal”user. Some roles are restricted from adding posts or new pages. Only the twitter ladder is allowed on the front page. You can probably setup a Twitter Tools interface from the sidebar, to handle regular posts from your visitors/users.

The only downside with this theme is that the Widgets section can still be seen by a lot of users, and is open to link dropping or link baiting. Can be a big headache if left untreated.

1st Place:

P2 Theme

Excellent theme with excellent features. The twitter-like interface on the front page of the theme removes the need to access the dashboard (which can be disabled via plugin). Administrators can just leave the “Settings>General and Users” menu open as they will no longer need to worry about having security loopholes from those areas.

Although the theme is now open to link baiting and link dropping, it’s  still very easy to filter out and spam-tick those sploggers doing that. Plus the no-follow settings should leave them out the door. But if it’s a consolation, you can block access to the Sub Domains from the Robots.txt and make those spammers itch their heads a bit more just for fun.

Wordpress MU is a cool piece of software. I’ve learned a lot from this simple experience of working on the MU themes.

More to come as I dig deeper the Wordpress MU mystery.

Here’s another wonderful new plugin I’ve been playing with for the past few days. It’s really nice. Activating and disabling plugins (20+) can be really time consuming. Although there’s an option to do the task by batch, the processing sometimes is a pain, especially if your connection runs at snail pace (1MB). Try this plugin out and see what I mean. Cheers!

It is really fun joining webinars and listening to experts discuss about Search Engine Optimization and how Google seems to always cause a lot of tectonic activity on the internet. Algorithms change every now and then, and search companies and organizations are encouraged never to be errant from it. Well it’s not easy to change strategies every now and then. But if you want to rank faster on the Search Engines, you will have to “go with the flow”, as what most people would chime in.

What’s great about webinars is that they offer two crucial strategies that can help boost a person’s exposure to the world of Search Competition. Learning, is the first key to beating the system, they say and you can certainly learn a lot from these webinars. A second perception is that these webinars can be a key to meeting people. Not just your average search competitor, but gurus in their own respective search engine niche.

So if you’re looking for a place to start “learning” and “advertising”, join a webinar today!

And by the way, I’m late for one.

So I’ve started a new MU project. It’s not really hard considering I’ve practiced the installation a couple of times the past few weeks. Setting up the multi site and domain mapping feature has been easy as well. Although I noticed a lot of “expert” sites keep the more “tasty” details about the plugin “under the hood”. The best place to really get some startup data on how to setup Mu is from the forums. i spent a solid 2 hours researching on how to setup Mu via my xampp server, and simulating the installation on a shared GoDaddy account. it’s not easy, but doable.

I’ll try to add more information on my next post about some 2nd round “eureka’s” I might come across while working on this 2nd Mu test of mine.

Over and out…