Wordpress 2.3.1 is the most recent version of one of the most popular blogging platforms on the web.  Known for its ease of use, Wordpress is designed to be accessible to bloggers of all backgrounds.  Setting it up on a server is designed to be as simple as possible, and maintaining your blog involves little to no knowledge of servers or really any web technology.  It is not just an entry level system, however, as it provides support for plugins that make it a powerful application.  Out of the box, however, it has limited functionality in many ways.  For the purpose of this review I will take into account the core functionality of Wordpress, but if plugins do exist to solve issues, I will make note.

The core of Wordpress is the “Write” pane, where you create your posts and pages, simple permanent pages linked from your site that are edited the same way as posts.  The editor includes 2 modes, a rich text editor and an html editor.  The rich text editor has all the normal formatting options, and includes a spellcheck, but it also has some serious glitches.  I, like many, write and edit my posts on my desktop machine and paste them into my Wordpress blog.  Unfortunately this leads to some confusion, as Wordpress attempts to correctly format the text to match its source.  This process has been greatly improved over the three years I’ve been using the product, but it still occasionally runs into problems.

Issues with the rich editor may lead you to using the HTML editor, but this comes with its own problems.  Wordpress only offers limited html support, and specifically limits an extremely useful tag for formatting text, the forced line break.  While there are ways around this issue, for example line breaking and placing only a space then breaking again, this can be very troublesome when working with page templates that format text poorly.  Still, this is the only major difficulty I uncovered working with the HTML editor, which is overall an enjoyable experience.

By far Wordpress’ greatest strength is the widely customizable options it provides, making them easy to use.  Trackbacks are simple to implement, categories are easily managed and permalinks can be formatted virtually any way the user desires.  While the included templates are boring, there is a massive database online offering near limitless options for customizing your blog.  If you know how to edit templates, this gives you even more power.

There are, unfortunately, a few areas where Wordpress lacks features, but there are numerous plugins that help.  There is no built in system for tracking traffic and keeping statistics on your site.  Customization for search engine optimization is lackluster, but again, numerous plugins can be used to solve this problem.  Both of these would benefit the functionality of Wordpress if implemented into the core system.

One area where Wordpress shines is the inclusion of a “widget manager” directly in the software.  This allows you to not only run small applications on the sidebars of your site, but also organize the location of the applications, making providing extra functionality enjoyable and attractive.  Different options include syndicating and RSS feed or providing videos from youtube, among many others.  Again this requires use of plugins, but this system was previously a plugin unto itself, meaning Wordpress is being updated to function as its users desire.

Overall, Wordpress is the most powerful basic blogging tool I have ever encountered.  It is easily customizable, and so has a large community of developers making content for it.  There is little that you can’t do with it, making it a great application to transition to from simple web based systems like livejournal or blogger.  You will run into problems, especially if you are using a large number of plugins that conflict with each other, but overall it is a stable program.  The success of Wordpress is also a testament to its greatness, and as such I can say I recommend the program to anyone who might be interested in blogging, from the uninitiated to computer whizzes, everyone can get a great deal out of using Wordpress.

Posted by Ian Logsdon.
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I just finished reading Aaron Wall’s SEO Book, and believe me when I say that I couldn’t wait to write up a review of it. It’s the kind of thing you just want to share with everyone you meet.

Here at Omnistar, we take SEO seriously. That’s why after hearing so many good things about Aaron Wall’s SEO Book, I was excited to finally get a chance to read it. Now that I’ve finished all 331 pages of it, I’m even more excited than I was before.

Wall’s SEO Book does an excellent job of covering everything that you could possibly want to know about optimizing your site for search engines. From domain name decisions to logo designs, css tips to meta tags, Wall covers it all. And he doesn’t hold anything back. Reading Wall’s SEO Book is just like hiring him at his $500/hr rate, except you have to actually think, and he gets paid less.

Still, some people might balk at the $79 price tag on his downloadable ebook. But believe me: it’s well worth it. Wall writes in a readable style, and never advises you to go out and buy $900 worth of software on some other site; he gets straight to the point and tells you how to do what the professionals do. When I say that you will make back your $79 investment simply by implementing a couple of his ideas, I mean it.

I should mention here that Wall’s book is for long-term optimization only. He doesn’t distinguish between black and white-hat SEO, he simply talks about what works while avoiding what doesn’t. But although he experiments with some SEO practices that might increase search engine rankings temporarily, his SEO Book is geared only toward those practices that will help your site to build and maintain optimization in the long term.

Please notice that my recommendation of Wall’s SEO Book is not to give an affiliate link so I can make money. I’m recommending it because I really believe it works. Whether you’re a beginner at SEO or an expert who’d like to have a fully organized, readable list of everything there is to know about search engine optimization, you should buy Aaron Wall’s SEO Book. It really is search engine optimization at its finest.

Posted by Eric Herboso.

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Good project management software is hard to find, but thankfully, after you read this, you won’t have to go looking very far. That’s because our group here at Omnistar Etools has already found the ultimate project management software: 37signal’s Basecamp.

Basecamp has everything you could ever want: an ease of functionality that allows even the most computer illiterate to understand and participate, an intuitive interface that allows and even encourages clear communication, and a beautiful design that will get you bonus points every time you use the software with clients.

Using Basecamp makes it very clear how closely good communication is linked to completion of projects on time and as ordered. With Basecamp, everything is so easy to use that poor communication on a project is nearly impossible. And the tools used to track hours spent on a project makes it clear exactly how efficiently work is coming along on each type of task.

Perhaps more impressive is the ability to use Basecamp not just with your employees, but also with clients to keep them abreast of projects as they’re being worked on. Keeping clients ‘in the loop’ has never been so easy: you can upload files for viewing, and they can easily leave comments that can be replied to at will. And since the site design is fully customizable, you can maintain the look and feel of the rest of your site.

But by far the best thing about Basecamp is the main Project Overview page. There, you can see exactly how everything is progressing, with upcoming deadlines, details of who is responsible for what, and reports of how many hours each person has spent on doing their assignments. Plus, it even creates an RSS feed, so you can be informed at your convenience or even on the go via PDA or cell phone!

Basecamp truly does offer everything you’ve ever wanted in project manangement software, and then some. If you haven’t used it before, you will be amazed at how simple a thing as ease of use will streamline your project completion. We use it here at Omnistar Etools every day, and it truly is something that we cannot imagine going without. It truly is the last project management tool you will ever need.

Posted by Eric Herboso

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