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Create Resume, Friend Chart And Slide Shows With Social Doc Template

Puneet Sahalot — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 19:33:43 +0000

Social Doc Template, you must be wondering what it is. SDT was launched few days back by Docs.com. Docs.com is a Microsoft FUSE Labs service that lets Facebook users to create and share Microsoft Office Documents.

The Social Doc Template is available in three formats: Friends Chart, Resume and Slideshow. All these templates need access to your Facebook data to create the final document. With the help of SDT and Docs you can instantly create a formatted and editable resume, friends chart and animated slideshows.

How it works?

It works with a few clicks..!! SDT needs access to your Facebook data. It pulls the relevant content depending upon the template you choose and Docs.com does the remaining part of creating a wonderful document which can be posted right away on your Facebook wall.

How to make it work [aarggh…How to use]?

If you can’t sign in to Docs.com using your Facebook account. Drop in a comment, add me as a friend [http://facebook.com/puneetsahalot] and I can invite you to Docs.

Select the template for the type of document you want to create.

Friends Chart

For example, to create a Friends Chart so the steps are as follows:

Select “Friends Chart” template.
Set appropriate sharing settings. The default settings are perfect.
Click “Create”.
Click “Allow”.
Wait for a few moments while the document is processed.
And here comes the final result. The friends chart contains an analysis of your friends based on gender, location and age group.
You can edit it just like any other Microsoft Excel Document by clicking “edit this document” link.
When you are done, click “finish editing”.
Finally, add a comment, post it to your wall and share it with all your friends. Let them wonder how you did it…!!
10. This is an extra step just to make it count till 10.

[How To] Prevent Wrapping Up Of Text Around Thumbnails In Thesis

Puneet Sahalot — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 03:46:30 +0000

A few days back while I was customizing Thesis, I realized that I don’t want text wrapped up around the thumbnails. It doesn’t look good and symmetrical when text gets wrapped up around thumbnails.

I started looking for the solution, search through forums, asked the support team. But, everyone suggested to build a custom function for Thesis Teasers, displayed on the home page, using two separate “div” tags, one for the thumbnail and other for the text.

I have no expertise in php and indeed I was too lazy to write a custom function or look for a custom function code. So I left the things as they were.

I remember the famous saying “If you want a get a work done the simplest way, give it to a lazy person.” So was the case with me and I am happy to say that I found out a quick css trick to overcome those mind boggling [for a person like me] custom function codes.

All you need to do is add this piece of code to custom.css file:

.custom .format_teaser p {display:table;}

Here you can have a look at how the change appears in your Teasers Display:

Before Adding Code

After Adding Code

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Add Your Linkedin Profile To Your Blog

Puneet Sahalot — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:52:12 +0000

Linkedin is the best platform to create a professional network along with a perfect professional profile. Adding this profile to your blog is a good idea especially when you provide some paid services. This can be done with Linkedin’s Profile Widget. The widget displays only your public profile. So you need to customize your public profile to display the information which is useful and quickly readable.

To add a Linkedin Profile to your blog’s sidebar follow these steps:

Go to http://developer.linkedin.com/community/widgets
Click on “Get the code” under Profile section.
Now, you can choose from a Pop-Up or Inline Interface.

Pop-up interface is displayed only when a user clicks on the “Linkedin” icon which appears next to your name at the place where code is added. Whereas an inline interface automatically displays the profile with the page load.

Copy the javascript code and add it to the section of your wordpress theme.
Next, copy the code for the interface which you wish to put on your blog.
Finally paste this code into a “Text” widget for your sidebar. Don’t forget to change URL in the code to your Linkedin profile address.

Inline profile is a better option because once put in the sidebar, it will appear on every page of the blog.

How To Remove Application Tabs And Boxes From Facebook Profile

Puneet Sahalot — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 17:01:42 +0000

Facebook is a great way to connect with your friends and family. Also, you can have fun using different super cool applications and playing popular games like Farmville, Mafia Wars and many others [To be honest, I know only these two names ]. But, you might have seen that some applications add a tab or an application box to your profile. That’s something you might not like to have as a part of your profile.

To remove this boxes and tabs all you need to do is follow these simple and quick steps.

In the top Navigation Menu click “Account” and in the drop down menu click “Application Settings”.
Application Settings page will open up displaying your recently used apps.
Next, in “Show” dropdown menu select: “Added to Profile”. This will display all the applications which are added to your profile either as tabs or boxes in the left sidebar.
Look for the application you wish to remove from your profile page. Click “Edit Settings” link.
Click “Remove” link, next to the “Box” or “Tab” text. And click “OK”.

Some applications add both box and tab to your profile. If you think this app is required as a part of your profile you must avoid repetition by selecting either a “Box” or a “Tab” to be displayed. I personally feel that “Box” is a better way because it displays the content as well. In case of “Notes” and “Links” it’s always good to displays “Box”.

Add A Cool Slide-Show To Thesis Using Custom Functions

Puneet Sahalot — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:48:02 +0000

A featured post slideshow is many times a good way to show your latest posts or posts from your favorite category. I always wished to add a featured slideshow to Thesis theme and searched for a number of tutorials. But most of them used bulky gallery plugins which was not my choice.

I wanted to add a custom slider which was fast and light. Since, I am not a php expert it took me some time to figure out a code for slider. And finally I was successful in doing that. Here’s the piece of code which I added to custom_functions.php and custom.css

How to setup the featured slideshow:

1. Add the following code to custom_functions.php

This code will add featured-slideshow box before the content using thesis_hook_before_content hook. And add a javascript after the footer using thesis_hook_after_html hook.

Source code

/* slide show */
 
function flockpost_slideshow() {
		$fp = new WP_Query(array('orderby'=>'date','order'=>'DESC','showposts'=>'5'));
		if ($fp->have_posts()) :
		?>
		
		
			 
				 _e('Prev', 'flockpost') ?>
				 _e('Next', 'flockpost') ?>
			
			
				 $count = 0; global $post; //variable declaration ?>
			
			if (function_exists('dsq_loop_end')) remove_action('loop_end', 'dsq_loop_end'); // remove DISQUS action hook ?>
				 while ($fp->have_posts()) : $fp->the_post();$do_not_duplicate = $post->ID;$image = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'thesis_post_image', $single = true); ?>
				 if ($count != 0) echo 'style="display: none"'; ?>>
 
					 the_permalink(); ?>" rel="bookmark">
					
					 echo '.$image.'&w=615&h=250&zc=1&q=100">'; ?>
					
						 the_title(); ?>
						 the_excerpt(); ?>
						
					
					
				
				 $count++; endwhile; ?>
			 if (function_exists('dsq_loop_end')) add_action('loop_end', 'dsq_loop_end'); // add it back for other queries to use ?>
			div>
		div>
		 endif; ?>
	
 
}
 
add_action('thesis_hook_before_content', 'flockpost_slideshow'); 
 
function flockpost_slideshow_js() {
?>

 }
add_action('thesis_hook_after_html', 'flockpost_slideshow_js'); //insert javascript at the bottom to reduce loading time of page.
/* end slide show */

2. Add the following code to custom.css

Source code

/* featured slideshow */
.featured				{ margin: 0 10px 20px 0; overflow: hidden; }
#controls				{ position: relative; float: left; z-index: 100; top: 90px; }
 
#controls .next, #controls .prev	{ text-indent: -9000px; width: 30px; height: 30px; display: block; z-index: 1000; opacity: 0.7; }
#controls .prev			{ background: url(../custom/images/prev.png) no-repeat; float: left; position: absolute; left: 10px; }
#controls .next			{ background: url(../custom/images/next.png) no-repeat; float: right; position: absolute; left: 580px; }
#controls .next:hover, #controls .prev:hover { opacity: 1; }
#controls a:focus		{ outline: none; }
 
#featured-slideshow		{ position: relative; z-index: 0 !important; border: 5px solid #CCC; width:615px; height:250px; }			
 
.featured-article		{ display: block; width: 615px; height: 250px; text-decoration: none !important; background-position: center !important; }
.featured-article img	{ width: 615px; height: 250px; }
.featured-entry			{ position: relative; top: -85px; overflow: hidden; background: #000; height: 85px; color: #a7a7a7; padding: 0; display: block; opacity: 0.8; filter: alpha(opacity = 80); }
.featured-entry .entry-title	{ color: #FFF; padding: 10px 15px 5px; display: block; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 700; }
.featured-entry .entry-excerpt	{ padding: 0 15px; margin: 0; display: block; }

3. Add this javascript to “Home Page Options” in Thesis “Page Options”

Source code

<script type="text/javascript">
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4. Include jQuery library for the home page.

After doing this you need to make a few changes to the code, for the proper functioning, which are described below.

Things to be taken care of:

1. Make sure that you change the image source to your site’s thesis theme folder.

http://flockpost.com/wp-content/themes/aromatry must be changed to
http://yoursite.com/wp-comtent/themes/your_thesis_theme

In case you are using Thesis 1.7 it will be

http://yoursite.com/wp-content/themes/thesis_17

2. Size of Post Image

Since this slider uses the post image as slideshow image. You must have a large post image. A post image with a width greater than 550px and height more than 200px would be fine. The size used in slideshow is, width: 615px and height: 240px.

Additional Changes

Display posts from a particular category:

To display a post from a particular category of your choice you need to add:

‘category_name’=> ‘your-category-name’

Changing number of posts in slideshow:

If you want to change the number of posts in the slideshow, you only need to change the value of:

‘showposts’=> ‘5’ replace 5 with the custom value.

Changing the Slideshow FX:

I have used a fading effect for the slideshow. You can change it by changing the value of fx to a valid javascript fx. If you want a horizontal slider effect, change ‘fade’ to ‘scrollHorz’.

I hope that’s really quick and easy way to add a slideshow instead of using bulky plugins. If you have any queries or issues while using this code please drop in a comment. I will try to get back as soon as possible.

[How To] Block Users On Your Facebook Page

Puneet Sahalot — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:52:24 +0000

If you are an owner of a Facebook Page you might have come across a number of people who put irrelevant links/comments on your updates. That becomes a big problem when you have a large number of fans and it’s beyond control to monitor everyone. The best thing to do is to “block/ban” such users.

It’s a matter of few clicks and can be done by following either of these methods:

Method I:

1. Click the “Flag” link exactly below the comment of the user whom you want to block.

2. Click “Report” link.

3. Select appropriate Reason: Spam/Advertisement/Attacks

4. Next, select the “Banning” checkbox.

5. “Submit”.

Method II:

1. Click on “See All” link in “x people like this” box.

2. Look for the user’s name.

3. Click the “cross” mark to the right of his name.

4. Select the “Ban Permanently” check box.

5. Click “Remove”.

The user will be permanently removed from your page and will not be able to re-join the page. So you can relax and keep your page neat and clean. It’s really easy to block a user but I didn’t find an option to unblock a user, in case I need to that. If you know how to unblock a user, drop in a comment.

Join us on Facebook and Twitter for more updates.

“Free” Is Increasing Spamming And Scamming

Puneet Sahalot — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:20:54 +0000

Spamming and scamming are increasing day by day; on an average, my mailbox welcomes about five mails a day claiming a lottery win, lucky ATM card, email winner and everything that can lure a common internet user.

image courtsey: samcoan // flickr.com

Internet is something which promotes “What’s Free Is Yours”. The system of “free” has boosted spamming and scamming on the web. “Free” mind people use the “free” stuff to cheat people and make money. Everything they need to build their empire is available for free on the web:

1. Free Hosting Services:

Web space is the basic requirement of a website and availability of web space for free is a boon for spammers.

Since, reputed hosting providers may block hosting of such sites it would cause a financial loss to the owner. Therefore, in most of the cases, free hosting is used to host sites meant for forgery and spamming.

2. Free / Cheap Domains:

Buying a domain is not a big deal; you can find a number of discount offers every day. Availability of free domains helps people minimize the expenses. Such sites generally use a domain similar to a reputed site.

3. Free Scripts

A large number of spamming/scamming sites require scripts to build dynamic content. Not everyone is a good developer and designer. But, as usual, one can find clone/site scripts for free. A number of forums and sites are dedicated to promote such kind of “free” stuff.

Mailing / bombing scripts are a good way to flood the victim’s inbox..!!

4. Free Content

Everyone knows content on web can’t be protected and this helps spammers spice up their sites. Almost all sites meant for forgery use content which is copied from the original sites.

5. Free Registration

Yes, it’s one of the reasons. No one needs to pay a fee to get registered on most of the sites. Spammers use these sites and forums extensively. They post links in their comments and signatures on forums, blogs, social networking sites, community pages, groups and every possible place which gives them an opportunity to write.

This was all that I could figure out. Was I charged for it? Was I paid? No..!! This is yet another “free” stuff. If you have something to add to the list, drop in a comment.

Why Facebook Became Successful in India- The Freedom Factor

zazo — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 07:11:40 +0000

Historically, Facebook.com has touched the life of 500 millionth individual, knocking down any other social sites of the world. Six years back when facebook was started exclusively for Harvard students, nobody had predicted that this University specific social network will spin the world’s major social and political situations so efficiently. Apparently, no other virtual platform has ever become so successful and so addictable.

India, the second most populous and the largest democratic country has also come under the wave of Facebook’s uprising, how it affected India and Indians? just an opinion of mine, if it really matters for you.

India just after a month is going to celebrate its 64^th Independence Day. A country which has witnessed 200 years of colonial rule, bloodshed, fighting for its freedom and finally setting up the largest democracy which also has strong social authority in its vastly spread land of 1 billion people, thousands of regional languages and millions of castes.

Lamentably, since its independence India is struggling enormously with various socio-political issues, commercial set back and many other serious social subjects. But there was no way a common Indian citizen can come forward, speak openly or convey their message except assigning this job to political leaders or join politics themselves to make the desirable changes into action. Still, this is not an effective idea, corruption is so deeply rooted in Indian politics that the voice of common mass is always squashed. The only option left is local media, but not every voice reach media or it can connect citizens together for a specific purpose.

Practically nor every Indian loves to be a politician neither everyone can be a journalist.

There came an era of Internet and Technology which fetched the new approach of people connecting by emails and chat. Next came social networking which was more effective than the former options of linking a common citizen to other hundred and thousands of civilians, this is known as Social Media Revolution. Blogs, online communities and social network backed the most needed way of transporting views, ideas and thoughts of a common man to the world.

In India, social network was used for fun, flirt and forgery because nobody was fully aware of its potential. But, now after 6 years, development of social network can be seen clearly, Indians changed the way they used to behave online, they started using social network for a cause whether personal, professional or social reasons. Social Network turned into a social media platform to share something important to uncountable number of people.

Orkut.com was the first successful social network in India which connected millions of Indians together for the first time. Although it was something very new for Indians, because the site and its users were both undeveloped and not inured to each other but gradually, they reached a point when orkut became more than just a source to “connect with school friends”. Orkut’s user created online communities gave a blow to the thought of an individual to other likeminded people in a group.

Alas, Orkut could not keep its charm till long because of many personal, security and technical reasons. Indians started looking for a better alternative because after using orkut for 4 years they needed something more powerful, more secure and wider.

Here comes Facebook which was also started in the same year Google introduced Orkut. But, facebook was limited to specific people. When it was made open to all it was a start of an unending online success story.

In India, when facebook came into limelight it was taken as “complicated” and “boring” for orkut users but facebook played well with their marketing strategies (using local media and celebrities to join it) and it worked well, slowly it became a favorite social site for most of the internet savvy Indians.

Now facebook has became a global stage for Indians to speak against anything unacceptable without any restrictions or fear, facebook gave opportunity to be a leader of self created virtual tribe, virtual followers, listeners and readers.

In reality Indians were never so Independent even after the Independence. Today, Facebook has created history in changing the way people used to think about connecting with each other virtually which is directly affecting in real life.

Facebook is now a lifestyle, a language, a powerful community and a global society of 500 million people and more than 9 million Indians who can transform societies with their refurbish and broader outlook.

Congratulations Facebook and Happy Independence Day India…!!

Facebook’s new feature measures popularity of a link

Puneet Sahalot — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:16:32 +0000

Facebook has been rolling out some tiny new features for past few days. First, “like” comments, “unlike” comments, then thumbnails in “notifications” and now there’s something I would call “Re-Share”.

What is it?

I would call it something similar to “Re-Tweet”. But not exactly like that, when you re-tweet someone’s tweet, you are mentioned. Similarly this new feature tracks the comments and shares of a link and mentions them below all the shares.

I know, I will not able to explain it very well technically. But looking at the image below will help you understand what I am trying to say.

In the image you can see two thumbnails; these are the profile/page who shared the same link with a text update. The remaining people who shared the same link are simply a part of “5 other friends”. Their profile image is not displayed below the update as they didn’t have any update associated with the link. They simply shared the link.

This new feature will help measure the popularity of a link. Also, you can get into a discussion without going elsewhere. You can view all the comments, likes and add to it as well by clicking the “comment” / “like” links.

Isn’t that interesting?

Five Tips To Make A Blog Post Interesting

Puneet Sahalot — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 07:42:32 +0000

Writing is an art. Not everyone is a born writer. Some develop their skills as they grow up whereas some learn to excel this art in every possible manner. A blog post reflects your thoughts, your art, and your way of getting involved with readers.

It is a must to make your posts interesting, easy to read and understand keeping in mind that web is a place for all. It’s possible sometimes that a non-English person might be reading your post. If he/she enjoys reading it and understands what you are trying to describe, you become the real champ.

Image Courtesy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/r1c3y

For instance let’s consider a common man enjoying a beautiful painting by a renowned artist. Yes, it’s true that the common man might not have knowledge of the art yet there is something which pleases everyone i.e. colors. Hence, even the common man becomes an admirer of the art. So is the case with your post. Using easy to understand words and sentences can you help you win admiration.

In my opinion following tips can help you write an interesting blog post. Yes, it’s “in my opinion”. Opinions vary from person to person. Everyone has a different perspective of thinking but you enjoy it when you interact with such people.

1. Giving your article a good start

Image Courtesy: www.flickr.com/photos/misterjyesj

The first and the foremost thing to do is to have a unique, catchy and relevant title. Select a title such that it also summarizes your article. Next thing which comes up is to start your article beautifully with something new and different.

Avoid beginning your article with sentences like:

“As I mentioned in my previous post…”
“Yesterday I informed you about…”
“In my last post you read about…”
“We have discussed a lot… ”

This kills the interest of reader. This is not a problem for your regular readers and subscribers. But, a person visiting your blog for the first time and reading your post will definitely get confused. Either start with something new or be to the point about what you are going to write.

If you feel that mentioning previous/older post(s) is important then you can mention them later on using proper headings/titles. Make sure that they appear separately and not in the middle of a sentence or paragraph.

2. Using images:

Image Courtesy: www.flickr.com/photos/laughingsquid

If you think images are not so important then let me tell you, you are wrong. Pictures speak more than your words and put a great impact on the readers. Using images relevant to your article is a good practice. You can also use images to bring out sarcasm.

If you are using images from someone’s personal gallery or flickr streams then always pay credit to the owner by giving the link back or ask for their permission if required.

In case, you can’t find proper images then avoid the use of images. Or if you are good at drawing / Photoshop you can draw and put your own. Adding a beautiful and relevant quote as an image can also add to the charm of your post.

Use as much of images/snapshots as you can while writing Tutorial/How To articles. This makes it easier for the reader to grab your statements.

3. Encouraging Discussion

Image Courtesy: www.flickr.com/photos/lushpup

Use commonly known words and short sentences. Avoid using unnecessary words, formation of long sentences and paragraphs.

Incorporating a few questions in your article can help you engage your readers. Ending up with a question can be used to encourage discussion and getting in touch with your readers. This would help you understand what your readers like and dislike about your posts. In future, you can use their views and opinions to improve your way of writing

Using questions in Tutorials is a very good idea. This makes your readers understand your article in a better way as they come to know what you are going to talk about in the next section.

4. Proper division of long articles

Image Courtesy: www.flickr.com/photos/fnkymnky

If your article is lengthy then you must divide it properly into as much paragraphs as you can, keep it well structured. Even short articles can be divided into a number of paragraphs.

This division gives your readers a freedom to skip the part they don’t find interesting or useful. Also, it adds to the convenience of readers as they can have a quick look at your article and get to know what you are talking about.

Giving proper sub-headings to the paragraphs while writing reviews/opinions and a tutorial is a good practice.

5. Concluding your article and giving it a final touch

Image Courtesy: www.flickr.com/photos/zaghami

Ending the article is as important as the beginning. If you were not able to give it a good start then try your best to conclude it in a better way.

Read your article twice or thrice before publishing. Check the formation of sentences, look for spellings and grammatical errors. Cut it short as much as possible. Avoid repetition and use of unnecessary information. Highlight important words/phrases/sentences by using different text formatting styles.

Always keep in mind the famous saying “Content is the king and Marketing is the queen”. Never copy paste content from other sites. Writing an erroneous article is better than copying. A man always learns from his mistakes. Your mistakes will always encourage you to write better and will eventually improve your writing.

Image Courtesy: www.flickr.com/photos/cobra_11

I know there are a lot more things one can discuss about. Writing reflects your creativity and creativity has no limitations. If you think I missed out something important or want to add your opinions, feel free to drop in a comment. I will be glad to hear from you. Your bouquets and brickbats are always welcome.

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