Smartphones Archives - Design Theory

Make Life Easy WP Plugins

Product Reviews, Social Media, Web Design, Web Development, WordPress

If you’re a web designer or blogger, you know that WordPress (WP) has quickly become one of the fastest growing, most popular content management systems (CMS) around. It’s extremely quick to install as well as easy to navigate and master. And they are consistently evolving across all platforms with simple-to-use themes as well as free updates and plugins that are only a few clicks away via the dashboard Most of us WP users and web designers purchase a theme with majority of the bells & whistles we think we’ll need. But sometimes the theme falls short, you need your website to have certain functionality that you could not have foreseen needing or you need to add functionality at the behest of your client. So this is where plugins plug in-filling in the gap between wishing and less limitations.

In the last year, I’ve begun having more fun in the dashboard and realize that I’ve been missing out on all the cool plugins that make building/editing a site more efficient as well as functional. Some are tried and true while others are indeed new. So here’s my list of my favorite WordPress plugins to date.

All-in-One SEO Pack – All in One SEO Pack Pro v2.1 improves on the most popular WordPress SEO plugin. Not only can you set site-wide defaults in WordPress as well as customize the search engine settings for each individual WordPress post, page and custom post type but now you can manage exactly how search engines crawl each page or post. All in One SEO Pack Pro even gives you complete control over your social meta or OpenGraph meta so you can control what appears on your favorite social media sites.

Custom Link Widget – A Simple, straight-forward plugin that lets you insert links as the widget. Just insert your link, name it and it will convert it to a hyperlink automatically.

Image Widget – A simple image widget that uses the native WordPress media manager to add image widgets to your site. It automatically resizes and aligns your image, allows you to link the image and even allows you to override your theme template!

Post Types Order – You can custom order the posts without making any php file changes or publish date resetting. Simply install plugin, drag & drop.

Widget Logic – This widget gives you extra control field called “Widget logic” that lets you control the pages that the widget will appear on.

Ultimate TinyMCE – A chock full kitchen sink of editorial/functional options.

WP Touch – This plugin reformats your website to a mobile site for easy navigation & shortcuts on Apple iPhone / iPod touch, Google Android, Blackberry Storm and Torch, Palm Pre and other touchscreen smartphones.

Acurax Social Media Widget – This so ridiculously simple plugin lets you define the icon style & add multiple social media linked icons to your Twitter,Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube,RSS Feed,Linkedin, and Google+.

TweetMeme Retweet Button – adds a button which easily lets you retweet your blog posts.

So there you have it – just a few ways to make WordPress work better for you.

I’d love to hear your faves – which are some of your favorite plugins?

The Marriage of Content & Medicine

All Posts, Marketing

A few weeks ago I penned an article “The Marriage of Content & Technology in 2013 & Beyond” discussing the wonders and advancements of technology and content available through mobile devices. While watching Rock Center with Brian Williams the other night, I was amazed at how medical innovation and digital content are becoming espoused. The episode featured Dr. Eric Topol, a leading cardiologist and geneticist, who has made major headlines on the medical frontier and for the future of wireless medicine. Let’s take a closer look at how digital content and innovative medicine are walking down the aisle for your health’s sake.

Dr. Topol, the revered Director of the Scripps Translational Institute is leveraging our content consumption with technology in one of the most innovative ways seen in this decade. The esteemed author of “The Creative Destruction of Medicine: How the Digital Revolution Will Create Better Health Care” believes that we don’t need to go to a physicians office quite as much as we do by integrating important health monitoring through our appendages – our wireless devices! Thanks to Dr. Topol, we now have:

real-time EKG’s with continuous heart rhythm monitoring;
wireless heart failure monitoring;
genetic sequencing, wireless biosensors;
high-resolution mobile ultrasound imaging; as well as
the first continuous non-invasive blood pressure monitoring device (which also captures all vital signs).

While this level of medical technology is intriguing enough, what’s I noticed off the bat is how medical content is both utilized and displayed on these devices. Thanks to the partnership between Dr. Topol and Sotera Wireless, the Visi Mobile device pictured right, has revolutionized modern medicine and with patient-t0-physician communication. A patients real-time health status is translated into digital content and is then conveyed wirelessly to their physician. Visually, this cutting-edge device reflects patients vital signs with great vibrancy of color and in an easy-to-read, large font and column format. As such, you can tell these innovators are clearly targeting exactly who their consuming audience would be:

those with serious health conditions,
probably age 65 & over,
those who live alone, or
may be visually impaired.

Sotera also wanted the device’s interface to allow for easy setup, controlled data management and an uncomplicated user experience. This is reflected in the short, direct commands making the content data easy to comprehend while simple to control and navigate screen-to-screen regardless of age.

Thanks to Dr. Topol, his passion for medicine and undying love of technology, the wireless future of innovative medicine is looking brighter every day. It continues to reflect that content is indeed king, boundless in evolution and utilization. And based on this amazing wireless invention, we can count on continued wedded bliss between content and medicine for years to come.

Great Ways to Market your Restaurant Online Successfully, Part 2-More Tantalizing Tidbits

All Posts, Marketing, Web Design, WordPress

Hungry for more? Right on the heels of last weeks blog are more juicy tidbits for restaurateurs and the importance of having a website. Whether a Mom & Pop or listed at the top of Zagat…tuck in the napkin and get ready for another serving!

* Taking it to Go ~ Because Smartphones have almost become an appendage, it is essential for people to be able to look you up while on the go. When people hear about or pass by a fab restaurant which offers a favored cuisine, the first thing they do is get on the internet and look for more information. Whether that’s the menu or a recent review – if you don’t have a website chances are that those folks might pass you by or pass you up when making their selection. An important point to make here as well is to ensure that your restaurant is easily searchable. You want your entire menu online, dish by dish. Using a PDF may seem like an easy, cost-effective solution as they are easy to download on a computer/laptop. However, in order for someone to find you using a search engine and make proper use of “tags”, you must have an itemized online menu. If possible, you should also try to have a mobile version of your website which will make reading the menus easier if opened on a Smartphone device.

*Cater to the Customer ~ If you are one of the many restaurants that offer catering services in addition to your in-house offerings, people should know this. But guess what, many probably don’t! Aside from your physical menu or waiting for a catering gig call, your website should be used as another promotion tool and done so in a prominent area. The goal is to build greater awareness of the expanded services you offer and generate more business. This way the customer might come to sample some food initially for the catering gig, but might become a faithful fan for other times. And the reverse has happened many times as well – someone comes in and loves a particular dish or your culinary style and wants you to cater an event. It’s all about using each opportunity and tool available to build your customer base – to be in mind for dinner time or party time.

*The Bottomless Cup of Possibilities ~ There are so many layout and design options it’s like a never-ending cup of good Joe. The restaurant web design business has become big business. WordPress designers have capitalized on this and it has become a great website option especially since it’s super easy to manage the content and update regularly. This is “muy importante” for a restaurant with a changing menu and daily/weekly specials. But keep in mind that clean designs are best and adding vibrant, crisp images will make customers eat with their eyes first. An attractive yet informative website with regularly updated content and promotions is a place where customers return time and again – good for their bellies and great for your pockets!