Free public DNS servers to use
If you happened to be using TMNet(Malaysia’s leading(?!) ISP) DNS servers you probably know how much do they suck. Well here’s a small tip from me for those in need: a small list of publicly available DNS servers to make a switch.
1. OpenDNS - http://www.opendns.org - pretty much solid dns servers, highly recommended by many people.
2. ScrubIt - http://scrubit.com - Haven’t used myself, found in the net.
3. gtei.net - nosite - One of the advantages of these servers –> IP numbers easy to remember!
a) 4.2.2.1
b) 4.2.2.2
c) 4.2.2.3
d) 4.2.2.4
e) 4.2.2.5
f) 4.2.2.6
Cool, ah? 
Others you can get at http://www.dnsserverlist.org/
WordPress theme layout structures
In our first part on how to create WordPress(WP) theme we’ve covered basic installation of WP and also got to know where are the theme files located.
Before we proceed any further let’s take a look into different WP layouts.
This one will be most common layout used among bloggers. It’s very basic layout, designing and customizing this kind of theme is much easier than the most.
This is what we call two column WP layout. Because you have two columns - Main and Sidebar.
It has a header, where we usually put our logo, blog name and tag lines. Also it’s a common practice to put navigation bar there as well.
Then a sidebar, its where we have blog categories, blogroll, may be some ads and things like that.
The main part is where we have our blog posts shown, it will contain posts with details like date published, author and if there are comments to the posts.
Lastly we have footer, usually people want to put some Copyright/Copyleft, site credits.
Also we have another popular layout with three columns. This one can be in two variations, it differs from each other on the sidebars positions.
In the first layout, we can see that sidebars are kept at both sides, so that the main part(the part where you have your blog posts) is kept in the center.
And the second layout is where we like to have our sidebars on the right or the left side of the blog.
So these are more or less standard WP theme layouts you will see in the blogosphere. These types of layouts are common ones but of course there are other types.
So, I have covered basic WP layout types. My next blog post will be about WP theme files and their functions.
Please make sure you have the following:
- Working WordPress blog installed. It can be on your workstation(local webserver) or hosted in the internet.
- Basic HTML and CSS knowledge.
- Your favorite text editor. You can use Macromedia Dreamweaver or any kind of IDE tool at that point. As long as you are comfortable and can manipulate text.
- Graphical FTP client or knowledge of command line FTP.
- Covered my previous posts
If you have any other tips or suggestions please drop your comments, I really appreciate your feedback!
Reminder: This post is a 2nd post in a How to create WordPress Theme series. If you want to get updated make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed at http://www.jusupov.com/feed/
How to create WordPress theme - Part 1
I’ve decided to create and publish my own custom WordPress theme. I haven’t come up with the name or anything but all I can say is that it’s going to be free.
At the same time I will be taking notes, step by step and publish a series of posts on designing your own custom WordPress(WP) theme.
Enough said, let’s get right to it.
Folks at WP did a fairly awesome job at simplifying installation process. However, let’s take a brief look into installing WP.
- First you need to download the latest version of WP, another good point from developers that they always keep the latest version available to download at http://www.wordpress.org/latest.zipUnlike many other open source softwares/scripts where you need to go through versions pick mirrors etc, WP is made simple to download.
- Unzipping latest.zip(it can also get wordpress-version-number.zip name), you find folder wordpress created. Inside this folder you will find wp-config-sample.php, rename this to wp-config.php file name.
- Edit this wp-config.php file. Enter your MySQL details here.
- Now upload everything that is under wordpress directory to your web server. Make sure you upload into a directory that is accessible from outside, it is something like htdocs, public_html or www directories.
- Fire up your favorite browser and point it to your domain where you uploaded the files.
- Once you will see WP setup screen, it will ask you to enter the blog title and admin E-Mail address. Once you have done so, it will generate you random admin password. In case you forget to change the random password, WP will email password details to the E-Mail address you provided during the installation.
Now that we know how to setup WP , let’s take a look into WP themes locations. Themes are located in wp-content/themes directory and they are under named folders. To edit or modify WP themes, you look into those folders.
You can see from the left image the basic WP theme structure.
So, in this post we learned how to install WP, and we know where to look and what too look for in WP themes.
This is the first part in a WordPress theme series. Please subscribe to my RSS feed to get updated.
Thank you RapidVPS!
This is a review of RapidVPS - a company that provides virtual private servers for an affordable price. They provide VPS in three packages: RapidOne($9.95), RapidTwo($29.95) and RapidThree($49.95).
I have used RapidOne package for like 8 months now, 5GB space, 100GB bandwidth, 2 IPs, 128RAM(burstable) and CPU of 100Mhz out of 8Ghz(also burstable I suppose). When I was looking for a VPS, main criteria was that it has to be cheap.
Looking through the forums and blogs I found RapidVPS, I tested it for a month, played around with it, installed different kinds of distros and what not… After a month of testing I moved my blog and other domains. The move was done quite ok, by that time I was already using EveryDNS outsourced DNS services. This means there will be little or close to no down time at all.
I have to admit that I don’t usually have funds in my paypal account, when I don’t have funds I email RapidVPS explaining the situation and they have no problem at all giving me some time to get funds in. So this is quite good.
Also I liked Rick, I think he is the main guy over there. He put his efforts and personal touch into RapidVPS which is really awesome!
Ok, so what exactly is nice about RapidVPS?
- It’s cheap! With $9.95 you can get an OK VPS to start off with.
- You get an awesome useful control panel. You can reboot, shut down, reinstall OS(multiple choices), view your invoices and bills and other cool stuff.
- If you prove yourself serious and continuous in their VPS services you can negotiate late payments.
- Great affiliate program! Introduce your friend to RapidVPS and get a free month for yourself!
- Great support via E-Mail/Wiki/Forum. I’m not so sure about phone support.
- As with any VPS, you can customize your applications to meet your exact needs.
- Wide range of Linux distro choices.
- Good uptime, they never go under 99,5%. Which is quite OK.
I’m sure you can add more to it when you find yourself hosted with RapidVPS.
So after over 8 months good journey with RapidVPS I am moving on to a dedicated server. I have already moved my blog and most of other critical websites. If you are looking for a quality/price combination VPS - then look no more, RapidVPS is for you.
Thank you RapidVPS and thank you Rick!
Shout out for beginning bloggers
If you are starting or thinking of starting a blog or have a blog at one of the free platform, take a look at Ades Free Domain with Free Hosting contest going on. Together with Ades, we belive that if you want to be successful one of the key points is to have your own branded domain and your hosting.
But most starting bloggers think that they should try to make money online with free platforms such as Wordpress.com or Blogger and if they are successful they eventually move to a seperate domain. Ades has blogged of the common mistakes of a new blogger and I must say that I totally agree.
So, if you are a starting a blog, moving from free blogging platforms leave your name and your email address and you will be counted in the contest.
The prize is domain name of your choice( Sponsored by Ades ) for two years and a free webhosting ( sponsored by me ) for two years as well.
About
Welcome to Arstan's personal blog. This blog includes tips on Linux, Apache, MySQL, Shell Scripts. Hardware/software and internet technologies reviews and updates.
