ok Open Source Development – K2B SOLUTIONS – Web Design & Mobile Apps Developement http://2020.k2bindia.com/wp K2B Solutions is a leading web design and mobile apps development company in india. They offers web and mobile apps development, digital marketing services at very affordable cost. Wed, 01 Aug 2018 12:17:46 +0000 en-US hourly 1 How to Customize Your WordPress Admin Panel? http://2020.k2bindia.com/wp/how-to-customize-your-wordpress-admin-panel/ Thu, 07 Dec 2017 11:18:45 +0000 http://2020.k2bindia.com/wp/?p=15676 Introduction:

If you are using a WordPress website then this post could help you with managing your website stuff in a better way. Being a WordPress user you might have come across a very common problem. It is “How do you get the insight of all your website content at one glance?”
Untitled design
There is no possible way of getting your entire content about your pages, Articles and user comments. This makes checking all associated fields complicated. You might find it more difficult if you are going to check this for a specific page.
In this post let us discuss on customizing solutions and about a plugin that is all set to overpower this problem.

The modern WordPress website is good at the content than just holding titles or chunks of texts. The plugins have functionalities that WooCommerce introduced. It performs well in storing contents like prices, subtitles, additional images and henceforth. But how do you track information when you are able to view only the title, date and author, in your admin panel?

It is obvious that you cannot overview any other information, yet you could get rid of these problems. If you lack coding knowledge then I can explain to you, “how to configure using admin column plugin”. The post also explains you the following,

  • Adding columns to post overviews,
  • Create filter forms to find content,
  • Sort post using columns,
  • Edit content inline using admin columns

Inspiring use case:
Let’s start with an example, say you are given a task to manage a website which deals with real-estate agency portfolio. On your website, you display locations, images, addresses and many other attributes. Whereas, on the admin screen, you can manage a portfolio and even control existing real estates.

The columns on WordPress appears by default and are barely relevant to your real-estate website. Find the following image which is the current strategy of a WordPress Blog. On the admin panel, you could find the portfolios with no information in it.

Image 1

The same happens in case of car dealerships, creative portfolios, web shops and so on. So let us work on the real-estate portfolio which has an overview like the one in the below image.

image 2

When you go through this image you find a lot of insight in the portfolio. It is much easier to find, validate and even edit as you see them. I would provide you instructions on adding custom columns on WordPress that you might sort them and add custom filters. I would also guide you on how to make use of the plugin to handle with Admin Panel.

How to handle columns with code?:
Adding columns and editing them according to your content is required. To perform this, WordPress offers a column application. Yet, you could perform these tasks using certain WordPress Hooks.

To alter or add columns make use of manage_[post_type]_posts_columns and manage_[post_type]_posts_custom_column.
At [post type], enter the post type that you wish to point. For example, for pages, you could make use of manage_page_posts_columns and manage_page_posts_custom_column.

You need to use this hook manage_posts_columns as a filter that handles an array of columns. The standard array of filter you need to use is as follows,

[
  [cb]          => <input type="checkbox" />
  [title]       => Title
  [author]      => Author
  [categories]  => Categories
  [tags]        => Tags
  [comments]    => [..] Comments [..]
  [date]        => Date
]

You can remove a few columns in order to add a few. To do so you need to add a call back to the manage_posts_columns filter and add custom columns to columns array. You are about to use the manage_realestate_posts_columns hook. Here the post type is represented as “real estate”, which is passed as the first argument to register_post_type function for registering custom post types. We use it in place of post type in manage_[post_type]_posts_columns filter.

add_filter( 'manage_realestate_posts_columns', 'smashing_filter_posts_columns' );
function smashing_filter_posts_columns( $columns ) {
  $columns['image'] = __( 'Image' );
  $columns['price'] = __( 'Price', 'smashing' );
  $columns['area'] = __( 'Area', 'smashing' );
  return $columns;
}

The first line includes a function smashing_filter_posts_columns which is the callback filter that handles columns displayed. The next line defines the callback function. Lines 2 to 4 add custom columns to the list of columns. At last, line 6 returns to resulting column. The ultimate purpose of adding columns is to display image, price, area, and array with the new columns that have returned.

There are two more things to be reviewed:

  1. You need to remove the irrelevant columns.
  2. Rearrange the columns that the image appears first.

We are not definite about removing the above-mentioned columns rather construct an entirely new array of columns precisely as needed.

add_filter( 'manage_realestate_posts_columns', 'smashing_realestate_columns' );
function smashing_realestate_columns( $columns ) {
  
  
    $columns = array(
      'cb' => $columns['cb'],
      'image' => __( 'Image' ),
      'title' => __( 'Title' ),
      'price' => __( 'Price', 'smashing' ),
      'area' => __( 'Area', 'smashing' ),
    );
  
  
  return $columns;
}

Finally, the overview screen looks the way it is shown below. Unnecessary columns are removed and the new ones are added to the exact position where it has to be.

image 3

 

Populating columns:
The next step is to populate columns. WordPress can also help you with it using a Hook, which is the manage_[post_type]_posts_column action. As stated above this is not a filter and this can help you add content and does not allow you to change it. Thus, we are going to echo column content that we wish to display. Let’s get started with the column content.

add_action( 'manage_realestate_posts_custom_column', 'smashing_realestate_column', 10, 2);
function smashing_realestate_column( $column, $post_id ) {
  // Image column
  if ( 'image' === $column ) {
    echo get_the_post_thumbnail( $post_id, array(80, 80) );
  }
}

I have added a callback function smashing_realestate_column to ‘manage_realestate_posts_custom_column’ fetching two parameters which are the column name and the post ID. It is indicated in the fourth parameter add action. This indicates the number of arguments expected for a callback function.

The third parameter which is the priority hook determines the order of callback functions registered to the hook, must be accomplished. The callback function populates the “Image” Column.

image 4

 

The other two columns “Price” and “Area” are stored as the function fields with price_per_month and area. The implementation process is quite similar to both columns.

add_action( 'manage_realestate_posts_custom_column', 'smashing_realestate_column', 10, 2);
function smashing_realestate_column( $column, $post_id ) {
  // Image column
  if ( $column == 'image' ) {
    echo get_the_post_thumbnail( $post_id, array( 80, 80 ) );
  }

  
  
  // Monthly price column
  if ( 'price' === $column ) {
    $price = get_post_meta( $post_id, 'price_per_month', true );

    if ( ! $price ) {
      _e( 'n/a' );  
    } else {
      echo '$ ' . number_format( $price, 0, '.', ',' ) . ' p/m';
    }
  }
}

The same is done for the ‘Area’ column except for the unit. Otherwise, the code is the same for ‘Area’ column.

add_action( 'manage_realestate_posts_custom_column', 'smashing_realestate_column', 10, 2 );
function smashing_realestate_column( $column, $post_id ) {
  [...]

  
  
  // Surface area column
  if ( 'area' === $column ) {
    $area = get_post_meta( $post_id, 'area', true );

    if ( ! $area ) {
      _e( 'n/a' );
    } else {
      echo number_format( $area, 0, '.', ',' ) . ' m2';
    }
  }
 
}

Finally, the overview of real estate page looks good with the relevant information that you wish to display.
Image 5

Managing using admin column plugins:
Now let us have a look at how to manage columns using Admin Columns plugin. In this plugin, there is no requirement for codes and just use drags and clicks to manage columns. There are optional fields that help you to customize for naming a column and its behavior.
Let us dive in deeper to know how the plugin works. Before getting started install admin columns as you install the plugin and get it activated.

Adding, altering and removing columns:
Remove the unwanted columns that appear in the overview.

image 6-min

 

Isn’t that easy? Let us proceed by adding a column. To add a column click on the “Add Column” button and choose the “Featured Image” column type from the dropdown and fill the appropriate settings.

image 7-min

 

If you have followed me very closely, you would have noticed that we have missed adding the “City” column while using codes. That is a hectic task with coding but that really turns to be simple when done with a plugin. Select the “Taxonomy” column and choose the “City” Taxonomy.

The result is done. Isn’t that simple either?

image 8

 

Editing using admin columns:
In order to edit your content, you need to visit the edit page. Look out for the fields that you wish to change, update them using the update option and view them on the overview screen. You could get the entire process done in just three simple steps. Make use of Admin Columns Pro.

image 9-min

 

The above image helps you to better understand how it works. On the admin panel, you can switch inline editing from columns setting screen. The panel automatically detects the content and adds editability. The example involves the advanced custom fields add-on for admin columns. It detects the ACF files and adds the possible columns. The columns are sorted, filtered and edited automatically.

image 10-min

 

The final result looks really neat as you can make the process really simple with the admin columns pro. I have enabled editing for all custom columns and am going to make use of the functionality to edit all content. You can also perform the same and the changes are saved instantly.
Direct edit is upheld for all segments. With the Advanced Custom Fields and WooCommerce add-ons, Admin Columns gives you a local altering background as if you were altering from the points of the details page.

Final verdict:
Admin Columns on WordPress could do much better than any other plugins. There are few more WordPress plugins that you need to have a look at. Why not try them either? Hope this post about Admin column would assist you much better. Now make aligning an easier task on Admin panel.
If I have missed any of the valuable points do let me know. If you have really liked the post then come back to tell me about your success stories.

]]> #7 WordPress Plugins That Are Really Effective http://2020.k2bindia.com/wp/7-wordpress-plugins-that-are-really-effective/ Thu, 10 Aug 2017 09:32:11 +0000 http://2020.k2bindia.com/wp/?p=14115 Developing your new WordPress websites? Or are you an existing WordPress user? Then you should definitely know all these plugins to generate better traffic.

The following plugins are the popular plugins we use and we recommend you to use. Am sure you could find better results with these plugins.

Let’s GO!!!

1. Yoast Seo

Yoast-Plugin

I notice people generating awesome content conveying the rich information to their audience.

But they fail to remember the readability factor. Readability is one of the most important factor that every content marketer need to know. And it is the important function of the WordPress platform that many are not likely aware of.

And when they fail to maintain readability the entire content turns to be a nightmare.

Understanding the constraint of the writers, WordPress has introduced the Yoast SEO plugin. The plugin measures the readability of the content.

You could find a list of bulletins that marks the value of your content.

It evaluates your content on measuring the voices, mistakes and other factors.

2. Google XML Site Map

XML-Sitemap

Is your website lagging behind? Haven’t your site indexed on Google or any of the search engines?

Then you should know whether your site has a proper site map.

These sitemaps help the crawlers to view the entire structure of your site. It is obvious that these site maps are helpful in retrieving the website.

You could make use of the plugin to perform the action. The plugin can help you with WordPress generated sites and even on custom sites.

It can also help you whenever you wish to generate a post. i.e., the plugin updates the search engine on every post that you update.

It is definite that there would be a regular generation of sitemaps. This could help search engine recognize your website quickly. And it is sure that your website will not break down, slow or frustrate you.

3. Smush Image Compression And Optimization

Smush-Plugin

Visuals are definitely the major part of the websites. And when it is a website that depends on photography or food and beverage. Then, images play a vital role.

But, there are sites with too many visuals that takes much time to load.

Hence, there is a need to avoid such discrepancy. At such case, you need to compress and optimize your website.

You need to make your website compatible enough for your readers to handle them. Smush image compression and optimization plugin help to compress images and optimize websites.

Optimizing a website with fast loading images helps better interaction of website. This improves your visitors and makes them visit often for your fast loading website.

4. Contact Form 7

Contact-Plugin

In my previous blogs, I have always insisted my readers to end up with a call to action. The CTA could be in any format.

You could ask your readers to comment, share or even drop a feedback to your email.

In recent days many websites have started to generate forms. These forms could help you with maintaining a clear record of your readers.

Contact form 7 plugin is one good plugin to help you with generating any number of forms you need.

I would recommend you to generate forms that help you contact your audience and keep in touch.

Sometimes, there are chances of answering the questions that your audience ask you.

5. Aweber Web Form Widget

Aweber-Plugin

I know now you would be looking out for an effective widget that generates form. I could make that simple for you. Aweber web form widget is a plugin that could help to create instant forms.

In case, if you wish to create a form for your page, then you could place the widget on the free space of your page. Now, your form populates by itself.

Are you looking out to generate a form for your pages at the instant? Then this is the right widget that never lets you down.

There is no need for any design constraints, you could create super easy forms at super fast speed.

6. Performance Profiler

performance-plugin

People on using too many plugins on their website ends up with slow database queries. Almost 3/4th of the crowd come under this category.

When you try to get things faster and automated it is obvious that you need to check with their performance.

But, many users fail to test their backend performances, which ends up the other way.

Are you suffering the same crisis? Then you should be aware of Performance profiler.

This plugin helps you identify plugins that cause slow database queries. At the same time, you need not worry that another plugin gets piled up to the mess.

It is a lightweight plugin. Works on WordPress with the almost minimal setup. Efficient in managing and monitoring the performance of plugins.

7. Revive Old Posts

Revive-Old-post

Are you struggling to get your post live? Finding it difficult to keep your old posts alive? Then this tool could help you in a better way.

The Revive old posts keep your old posts alive and share them to drive traffic.

You can even switch to the pro version of revive old posts. The pro version unchains functionalities such as images on tweets, LinkedIn Support.

There are few more notable features,

  • Post With Images
  • Custom Schedule
  • Custom Post Types Support
  • Custom Share Images
  • Complex Images

You would find the plugin interesting with its later versions which has many updates.

If you are finding it difficult to often share posts on social media network, Which is a time-consuming task so far. Then this plugin can do better with social networks. Now you could get them done at instance using this plugin.

Conclusion

Have you come across all these plugins before? No? Then try them all.

Never hesitate now or you would regret later. These plugins are must to have ones.

People who dare to use them have now treasured greater benefits.

Why not you try them immediately?

Do let me know if you have something interesting to tell me about the plugins that I have missed in the list.

]]> Magic of PHPixie is making the developers fly. http://2020.k2bindia.com/wp/magic-of-phpixie-is-making-the-developers-fly/ Tue, 18 Oct 2016 09:18:09 +0000 http://www.k2bindia.com/?p=11876 Since early 1995, the complexity level of the project started growing and made up a stage where starting to code from scratch is of no value. PHP was launched, and from then it is the valuable player in the web market and said to be the most popular server-side scripting language. It offered a perfect way for structured development. In recent time, PHPixie is considered to be the best component-based PHP framework, and by reading this article, you will get an idea about

  • What is PHPixie?
  • Why PHPixie?
  • Features of PHPixie
  • PHPixie is best for…

What is PHPixie?

PHPixie is an open-source PHP framework that offers flexibility while being easy to use. Built using individual components, this framework has perfect quality metrics and is 100% unit tested which means the framework is entirely useful from all corners. The highlighted advancements of this fairy framework are it enables schema migration, allows you use the HAML markup language, and comes with sophisticated routing system. The primary function of PHPixie is that it allows organizing the projects into bundles as a result of which reusing code is made easy. Some of the common pitfalls like singletons, global scope, the reliance of static methods, and other antipatterns are avoided by this modern component-based PHP framework. This ensures the code is clean and easy to read, test and extend.

PHPixie

Why PHPixie?

Following points claim the answer to choose PHPixie for your next web application development

  • PHPixie is relatively a new framework with continuous support.
  • It is one of the best frameworks to get started with.
  • With clear documentation, PHPixie comes with code samples for easy understandings.
  • It has an impressive routing system for smooth implementation.
  • PHPixie is HMVC pattern oriented.
  • It can compile fast for easy deployment.
  • PHPixie offers 100% test coverage and is executed with a vigorous and robust architecture.

Features of PHPixie:

With a simple architecture and complete test coverage, PHPixie is rated to be the best among the available modern PHP frameworks. Some of the key feature listed below makes PHPixie be the ideal framework for your next web apps development.

  • Package system – Reuse or even share the code through composer by bundling them.
  • Direct/linear code flow – PHPixie has a linear code flow as it never uses or supports events.
  • MongoDB support – PHPixie supports MongoDB, a non-relational database management system.
  • Clean architecture – It is designed by considering SOLID principles and industry standards.
  • Advanced security – It uses cryptographically secure hashes, secure cookie handling and random tokens for advanced security.
  • Priority support – PHPixie creators offer on time and helpful support.

PHPixie is best for…

Besides the availability of lots of framework in the market, PHPixie has scored a perfect spot in the list of best PHP framework for developing creative web apps. If you are going to choose PHPixie as the development framework, then consider the following reasons for what PHPixie is good for.

  • It is more adaptable as everything is expandable and overridable.
  • Straightforward execution of the request-response protocol will be the best bet to choose PHPixie.
  • It does not insist on name convention as it might lead to improper readability.
  • PHPixie concentrates more on the web app or website speed and page loading time.
  • PHPixie is useful for developing simple and mostly enterprise application.
  • Since it is flexible, it can be used for creating secure web applications.
]]> Stop Wasting Time And Start Migrating to Magento 2 http://2020.k2bindia.com/wp/stop-wasting-time-and-start-migrating-to-magento-2/ Wed, 23 Dec 2015 10:36:19 +0000 http://www.k2bindia.com/?p=9032 eCommerce industry in one of the most upcoming and developing industry in this fast-moving tech world. But, having one of the best eCommerce store is never easy as the technology and the mindset of buyers always changes. Choosing a perfect content management system (CMS) to make the online store complete is difficult and here comes one great giant to save. It is none other than Magento. What is Magento? It is an open-source content management system (CMS) used for developing eCommerce websites with advanced features.

Magento 1 to 2 Migration

Magento is constantly improving its features to support the most advanced and useful variants of eCommerce. Recently, They released a beta version called Magento 2 that has incredible features that need to be looked after. It is an open source eCommerce R&D project that is used to improve the functionalities of the core products of Magento. Magento 2.0 is expected to outrace Magento 1 by 20%.

What does the release of Magento 2.0 means?

Don’t panic. It doesn’t mean that Magento is going to discontinued. The support will continue for the next three years i.e. till 2018. The release of new Magento means that there will be no new features addition to the old lad of the Magento family and the version 1 will go into maintenance.

Is it easy to migrate?

If you think it is as easy as eating an apple pie to migrate to Magento 2, then you are completely wrong. The task is not that easy to migrate, and also, it is not that difficult. Confused? Fear not! The process is complicated but not so difficult to do the migration. The power of Magento depends on its community and already the extension and plugins developers have started developing stuff for the new baby, Magento 2. Not only the community developers but also many eCommerce website development companies have started training their developers to learn the art of developing an extension for Magento 2.

Why migration is a bit complicated?

Migrating the core data like products, orders, customers, promotions, etc. is quite easy while the themes need to be restructured as the entire layout of Magento 2 is different from Magento 1. Even the extensions and plugins need to be updated to match the base of Magento 2 configuration. The Vice President (VP) of architecture at Magento Commerce, Alan Kent said, “Magento 2 is worth waiting for”.

What are the changes in Magento 2 compared with Magento 1?

Magento 2 is sure to be a stable shot as it is already promising good results. For many users, data migration is tedious, and troublesome process as Magento 2 has many new things in its package. Here are few changes in the Magento 2 beta’s structure when compared with that of Magento 1.

Magento 1 Magento 2

System Attribute: 131

Database Tables: 333

System Attribute: 129

Database Tables: 296
  • Some tables names have been changed (ex: CORE_STORE to STORE, CORE_WEBSITE to STORE_WEBSITE, etc.)
  • Attributes like ATTRIBUTE_CODE is changed

How to migrate to Magento 2? As said earlier, Magento 2 migration is little tedious and will take a huge time to implement complement. Stay tuned to our blogs to learn more about migration. We will hit another post shortly with the steps to follow to migrate your website from Magento 1 to Magento 2.

]]> Magento Migration – The advantages and steps involved http://2020.k2bindia.com/wp/magento-migration-the-advantages-and-steps-involved/ Thu, 07 May 2015 11:48:45 +0000 http://www.k2bindia.com/?p=7814 It is obvious that eCommerce is taking up its head and changing the face of commerce world. The modern world is moving towards on-the-go shopping and many vendors and manufactures are trying to cope up with the same. The most important thing to consider before going online is “Data Security” and customer satisfactions.

Magento

The common backbone of every online business is the tool which they use in their backend. There are many eCommerce tools available which takes hold of everything you do with the online sales. Tools like OSCommerce, Volusion, PrestaSHOP, OpenCart, WooCommerce (WordPress Extension) and lot more are available in the market to take on your business online.

Magento leads the way as it is been used by thousands and thousands of online retailers. Over a period of time, Magento have gained the trust of many retailers and also have taken the responsibility of the retailers and customer data security. There have been many data security breach in recent times (Target’s data loss on last festive season was the major security breach) because of which many retailers are afraid of using tools with less security. The main reason people started migrating to Magento is that the advantage of Magento’s security.

The History:

Magento is an open source Content Management System (CMS) that especially operates for an eCommerce website. Varien Inc company form Culver City, California claims to be the original developers of Magento. In 2008, Magento was initially called as Bento and later they sold a substantial share to eBay.

Magento Logo

2011 was the year when eBay announced that it has bought a share of about 49% from Varien and later on June 6, 2011, Magento was completely owned by eBay (100% ownership). Roy Rubin and Yoav Kutner were the leaders of Magento and Roy Rubin, Magento CEO wrote, “Magento will continue to operate out of Los Angeles, with Yoav Kutner and me as its leaders”. Later in April 2012, Yoav Kutner left Magento.

The Platforms:

Magento is not a single platform rather it comprises two major platforms namely Magento Community Edition and Magento Enterprise Edition. It also had two other services called Magento Professional Edition and Magento Go which was later turned down from service (in this Magento Go was recent shutdown say on February 1, 2015).

Magento Community Edition has the core principles as stated that in the core Magento i.e. it is an open source CMS in which anyone can alter the core system allowing developers to move with freedom. On Nov 24, 2014, the latest version (1.9.1.0) was released. Magento Enterprise Edition was completely derived from the core principles of Magento Community Edition. The community edition is free of cost but the enterprise edition is not for free. But it has many professional features and functionalities that were useful for large businesses that require technical support.

The Migration:

Migrating to Magento is not an easy task. It involves many processes to avoid data loss and even the investment loss. But migrating to Magento is one fair and decent decision that most of the retailers and manufacturers do nowadays.

Why migrate to Magento?

Magento is considered as one of the top platforms which provides complete solutions and support to an eCommerce store. It has some incredible functions like the full technical support that helps businesses achieve their desired target. The main factors why many featured companies choose Magento are as follows

  • The main reason behind Magento migration is that it offers major functionalities which have not been supplied by other eCommerce platforms.
  • Magento increase your core sales. It has special features like up-sell, cross-sells and product reviews that drive sales.
  • Magento does not take any transactions fess while many other major platforms charge a minimal percentage for every transaction.
  • Using Magento, one can manage more than a store in the same account. This help saves money and time.

Here are some of the steps one need to follow before migrating your website from another eCommerce tool to Magento

  • Inform about the migration to all your employees, stake person, regular website visitor and even your customers to get away from any unwanted hassles
  • Migrate your website only when you have the lowest number of visitors (say, weekend). It is surveyed and recorded that high sales occur only during the mid-days of the week.
  • Set deadlines in order to avoid unwanted drags and time delays and stop any further updates and additions to your website
  • Backup the entire data (from the sales record to customer details, images to the product details) either in DVDs or external backup devices or even in a secured cloud server.
]]> 2015 Predictions Says Everything about WordPress In Terms Of a Complete CMS Website http://2020.k2bindia.com/wp/2015-predictions-says-everything-about-wordpress-in-terms-of-a-complete-cms-website/ Tue, 05 May 2015 12:16:13 +0000 http://www.k2bindia.com/?p=7796 Long back, many would have known WordPress just as blogging site. But, in recent time WordPress is more of a Content Management System (CMS) than that of just a blogging platform. Around 27% of the sites all over the web are designed with WordPress background which is actually a promising number. Will WordPress be the future? What is the scope of WordPress in 2015? How your business or personal blog website will complement you? For all these questions, the answer is “Rely on WordPress and it will take your business to new heights”.

wordpress-development

WordPress Definition and History:

Established in 2003, WordPress is an open source project which helps create websites and blogs in a matter of no time. Open source means it is developed by the community and for the community i.e. thousands of people all over the world work on it to help people get the desired requirements. WordPress was initially a blogging platform which helped develop blog page for bloggers around the world. Later it turned in to a website Content Management System (CMS) which has thousands of themes, widgets and plugins.

The ancestor of WordPress is called as b2 or cafelog. As on may 2003, it was reported that cafelog was used on nearly 2000 blogs. Michel Valdrighi, a contributing developer of WordPress, wrote b2 in PHP to be used with MySQL, Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little joint effort led to the successful launch of WordPress in 2003 and later in 2009, WordPress gained its responsibility as a open source CMS.

What is a CMS web design/website?

CMS stands for Content Management System. It is an application which allows editing, modifying and publishing content on a website or a web system. CMS is generally used in website which deals with blogs, news and even shopping. As a part of CMS, one can manage and store files and offer version-controlled access.

WordPress in INFO:

As said earlier, WordPress is the most commonly used platform to develop websites and it offers many themes and plugins which can be used to customize one’s website. It is reportedly said that there are millions of website worldwide which runs on WordPress platform. Following are some of the stats which say how WordPress has evolved from ZERO to HERO.

  • 32% of the new published websites are from WordPress wherein 19% is of existing website
  • In recent survey, it is said that 17.2% of the world’s top 1,000,000 websites
  • According to Technorati’s top 100 online blogs, around 58% use WordPress as a dedicated CMS. To your surprise, Mashable is one among them.
  • When it comes to Content Management System (CMS), WordPress leads the path with 57.1% while Joomla and Drupal follows the path with minimum users.
  • 29% of the WordPress developers work for some company while the rest 71% are freelancers
  • 8% of developers use WordPress just as a blog while 61% use it as a core Content Management System (CMS). The remaining 31% use it for both.

Predictions of 2015:

Whenever someone thinks of taking up a blog, the one word which flashes in their mind is “Wordpress”. But now-a-days WordPress is more of a CMS and many people choose WordPress for developing their website. From this, we know that WordPress is going to new heights and there will be many new plugins, themes and widgets in near future.

You might remember, we wrote a couple of articles (Best Popular WordPress Plugins We Use & Why and WordPress App for Android Gets Stylized! Are You Ready for It?) on WordPress improvement. The things to follow are some of our predictions on ‘Future of WordPress’ that too in 2015.

  • Responsiveness will take control:

Mobile friendliness is something that Google also insists. Recently, Google launched its new mobile-friendly algorithm which focuses more on responsive and mobile friendly website for Search Engine Page Rank (SERP). As the usage of mobile devices like laptops, Smartphone, tablets and more of various screen sizes has increased, the website needs to be responsive i.e. the web orientation should adjust automatically to fit in the display which the user uses. WordPress already has many responsive and easy to use themes that can be adopted by any medium.

  • Animated Background will catch attention:

2015 is going to be the year for websites with animated background i.e. pages with big, moving background and even video. Flash is almost on the leap to die, it’s time for every website running flash to jump to animated images and videos. Website running on WordPress can make the changes easily with the help of some innovative plugins like Simple full-screen Background Image, mb.YTPlayer for Background Videos and WP-Backgrounds Lite.

    • Flat Design will be everyone’s choice:

If you surf through the web sea, you are sure to encounter at least 7 out of 10 websites with custom flat design. The period of realistic design has come to an end because of the rise of flat design. Not only for its robust color but also flat design makes a strong appealing design to the user. That’s why we said flat design will be everyone’s choice in 2015. Google’s Material design also gained its concept from the flat design.

]]> Few good Tricks To Improve Your WordPress Theme http://2020.k2bindia.com/wp/few-good-tricks-to-improve-your-wordpress-theme/ Thu, 20 Nov 2014 07:36:49 +0000 http://www.k2bindia.com/?p=6638 Improve your WordPress Themes

In WordPress, the “Themes” play a vital part in making one’s site look unique and impressive. To that fact, there are thousands of themes available for the users to choose from and download, these are either offered for free or for a premium. However, did you know all these themes can be further tweaked in order to get better optimization, features or customization?

Well, let’s have a look at few simple yet effective tweaks that can be done to your WordPress themes, to offer better and safer experience to your website visitors.

Theme Images

Images are the primary part of most themes; they are on the logos, the backgrounds, icons and so on. However, WordPress theme developers sometimes fail to realize that their high resolution/high quality images are actually doing more bad to the theme users than good.

How? A high resolution image may make the theme look very pretty and luring, but, what they are also doing is, drastically increasing the load time of these images. When we factor that there are multiple images within a webpage; we can assume how greatly they would affect the total load time or bandwidth consumption – resulting in a very slow website altogether, which we don’t want.

Wordpress Theme

Hence, by optimizing these images

we can ensure for a better web experience for our website users. To do that we need to use photo editing tools (for example “Photoshop”), and reduce the image’s resolution through quality settings. Lowering the resolution up to the point just before where the image starts to have a hit on its color or quality would be your sweet spot. Also, some tools offer you options to reduce image file size without making much change to the image’s quality.

This should effectively speedup the theme.

PHP Flush

Like the above step, the purpose of this function is to make your WordPress blog load faster too. A PHP flush should be added immediately after the header, this forces the server to send the header content before rest of the website.

<?php flush(); ?>

What this does is give the browser enough time to load stylesheets in the header reference when it’s waiting for other contents of the webpages to load.

Favicon

Favicon makes your website look professional. But, what is a favicon? It is the icon that you see on the browser’s address bars. Some themes do not come with it by default, in-order to add one you can do the following.

<link rel=”icon” href=”favicon.ico” type=”image/x-icon” />

The “href” refers to the favicon file. Adding this code within the header.php found inside the theme’s directory should get your icon up on the bar.

Theme Security

Hackers and other such malicious users can take advantage of various weaknesses within a specific version of the WordPress to attack your website. What makes it ironic is that, your WordPress version is displayed right on the header.
So, what do you do? There’re few steps you can take to get your website protected – that is by removing the displayed version number altogether. The generator code is placed within the <head> tags of the theme.

Step 1

  • Check if the following line is present in the header.php <meta name=”generator” content=”WordPress <?php bloginfo(’version’); ?>” />
  • If yes, then remove it, as it prints the version number as the <meta> tag.

Step 2

  • Now, under functions.php (you can create one if it does not exist, using “source code editor”) past the following: <?php remove_action(‘wp_head’, ‘wp_generator’); ?>
  • This ensures that the version number won’t be available through wp_head()

Login Errors

Hiding your login errors is another way of protecting your themes too. The reason being that when a person types in a wrong password or a wrong username this error code reveals the exact type of error to the users.
That is; when one type’s in a wrong username the message states its so, giving the potential hacker a confirmed feedback. And when the password alone is wrong, it states that too, ensuring to them that a username is valid, which only requires from them to hack for the password.

So, to remove this – add the following line under functions.php.

add_filter(‘login_errors’, create_function(‘$a’, “return null;”));

Making these minor changes to your WordPress theme, will ensure that it better optimized for safer and faster browsing experience.

]]> Why to choose ruby on rails to develop a website? http://2020.k2bindia.com/wp/why-to-choose-ruby-on-rails-to-develop-a-website/ Tue, 04 Nov 2014 09:34:26 +0000 http://www.k2bindia.com/?p=6530 Ruby on Rails

Ruby on Rails is a hot open source web app framework that’s written using the Ruby language – a general purpose programming language that was developed to keep the object-oriented part of coding intact. Through recent years the number of dedicated followers of Ruby on Rails has increased by large. It’s being enthusiastically used by web app developers who appreciate the clean and elegant coding structure when programming.

ROR development company

This framework allows for us to run web applications and provides us with a platform to build new web pages on. With that you can gather information from the server, query the database or manage templates under a secure interface using the ruby on rails CMS (Content Management System).

Also, the Rails framework gives a simplified and easier approach towards developing a website or an app, by coming up with abstracts for common and repetitive tasks. This enables Ruby on Rails developers to deliver speedier projects, thus making it a serious contender to the position held by PHP. Rightly so you can find numerous arguments over which one is better for the development of their next website. Now, let’s have a look at what makes Ruby on Rails the right choice.

Facts of Ruby on Rails

Here are few statements that you hear often when the conversation is about RoR.

  1. The Framework of RoR is mature” – this is true as the Ruby is built on a much advanced foundation, thus granting us a much easier approach towards developing a high-end product faster and more efficiently. Also, being built on top of solid foundation allows for it to offer a stable maintenance solution. In comparison a PHP website is very weak to tweaks and changes, as the coding most often do not follow a fixed structuring making it very hard for future modifications or additions.Ruby offers lots of open source contents that are extremely helpful in cutting down on initial development costs, which proves to be game-changer in multiple occasions, for many developers.
  2. “It’s difficult to write bad codes in RoR” this may seem fictional, however that’s very close to reality. Again taking PHP as an example – one of the major advantages of PHP was that it was very easy to pick up and start working with, this enabled lot of developers to flush in with many PHP products under least amount of time. But, trouble brew when bugs where discovered or when contents where needed to be amended, that’s when the easy its structuring proved to also be its major down point.Now with Ruby on Rails, the rules are strict and structure and flow of coding is mature. This allows for easy changes and bug fixing, which means lower maintenance cost. RoR can be said as – “hard work to begin, but easy work to sustain”. This brings to the next fact.
  3.   “RoR has a very steep learning curve” Yes, that’s true too, like mentioned above this fact about Ruby on Rails, actually proves to be its advantage. You don’t have to worry as-much about the quality of projects coming out of a RoR developer, as with other easy to learn development tools. One cannot get away with bad coding here, thus, this toughness filters all the posers from the skilled developers.

Note: Use of agile development is recommended by the Ruby community, for apps with ever-changing requirements.

Features of Ruby on Rails

Here’s a list of features that make RoR a very potent tool for programmers.

  •   The open source nature of ruby on rails provides the programmers with a vast library of codes, which allows for fasters and more efficient programming.
  •   The programming structure of RoR is consistent throughout, that allow rails developers to move between different projects.
  •   The framework of Rails makes it easy for a Ruby developer to make changes to the application as and when needed, without much trouble.
  •   Ruby programming uses a very readable coding style, such that they themselves serve as documents for other developers or future references.
  •   Rails being open source requires no licensing, thus leaving you to focus your cost on rails hosting services and kind.

However, there are certain down sides to Ruby on Rails as well, which includes that fact that not all website hosts support Rails at the moment. This is because Rails is resource intensive when in comparison to the other popular programming tool – the PHP. Then, unlike Java or PHP, Rails is not as popular either, it is gaining in popularity but, has a long way to go. Finally Rails isn’t as fast as related programming tools – Java or C.

Conclusion

Despite these minor setbacks Ruby on Rails has in offer a very elegant and powerful development tool that is apt for today’s modern website and mobile application needs; hence, as a reputed developer we provide you with just that.

]]> Custom Website Blog Vs Open Source Website Blog, Which one would be better? http://2020.k2bindia.com/wp/custom-website-blog-vs-open-source-website-blog-which-one-would-be-better/ Fri, 17 Oct 2014 05:48:48 +0000 http://www.k2bindia.com/?p=6499 In the current scenario, it is only natural that we expect every business to have an online presence. And if you are someone owning a business and are catching up with this trend now, you might be in for a shock when you personally experience its potential.

So, when you are ready to get your business online and have decided to develop a website, one of the first choices you will be making is deciding on what type of platform you will be building your website on – an open source or a custom one. Before we go ahead and choose one, let’s understand their differences and what they have on offer.

But first, we need to know what a “CMS” is.

CMS – Content Management System

A CMS is a system upon which your website is built and is the platform which is used for creating, publishing, managing and deleting contents on your website. This includes text, media, coding, etc; however, knowledge on coding is not mandatory as CMS is very simple to operate – almost as simple as editing one’s document. Now, let us go back to the two different types.

CMS Blog

Open Source Websites Blog: An open source website blog uses the codes that are already available for the public. One can use these codes for editing as well as redistribution. These types of systems are constantly under improvement and development by the community comprising of thousands of people; all contributing newer and more efficient solutions to the pool.

  • The main advantage in using open source websites is that you get a website for the least budget. Having a web designer work on a website would defiantly cost you most that what you would be spending for getting a website up and running using an open source.
  • The usability of these websites are very flexible and anybody can take it upon themselves to edit and modify their websites. Adding new pages, removing continents cannot be easier.
  • The overall time it takes to get your website to the public is a lot shorter than in comparison with custom websites. You do not need for the developers to provide individual codes for your website, most are immediately available and the rest requires easy edits to customize to your needs.
  • No matter how many pages or how different your pages you require, all are done using the templates, which offers you with a consistent output.
  • With just addition of few plug-ins you can make your website as functional and unique as you want, however not to the precision of a custom website blog, but enough for most.
  • Adding and editing media is so much easier with open source websites, as they were practically designed to offer you with such opportunities and features.
  • Developing your website is more fun through this method, as most to all options can be edited and molded by you to your personal liking. Thus, enjoy the DIY feel without having to know anything about coding or programming. It’s easy to learn interface and user-friendly interaction allow for you to enjoy your website development.

Custom Websites Blog: The custom platforms use privately held codes that are distributed and maintained by individual owners. These types of systems are thus developed and improved upon, as per these owners’ personal judgments.

  • The main aspect of using a custom website is that they can be designed exactly to one’s desire. The templates can be designed to function and look as unique as possible, to an extent beyond what is possible through open source websites, hence you can be sure that no other website is going to look like yours. Also, there are options for you to purchase these individual templates such that no one else will be able to imitate or copy your website design.
  • Being able to customize the website beyond the concepts of templates allows for you to direct your customers the way you want. Thus, the ability to control and steer your customers will play an important role in improving business through your website.
  • Using the custom codes are the most effective and efficient way to get a website done, as no unnecessary aspects to the website are added. They are more personable and are most apt for working towards improving your web-traffic with search engine optimization (SEO).
  • Having a custom website blog allows for you to structure your website to fulfill your individual needs instead of working around and finding a compromise.

These are few brief understanding of the differences between the Custom Website Blog and Open Source Website Blog. Which is better?..depends upon your personal needs. When you are looking for a website that is easy to build, fun to develop and fast to modify the open source website blog would be your best choice. However, if you want a very personalized website that is most unique, more secure and ultimately you do not mind the extra cost than you better opt for custom website blogs. Whichever your choice is, we offer you both these services.

]]> Teach and Learn through Moodle based e-learning platform http://2020.k2bindia.com/wp/teach-and-learn-through-moodle-based-e-learning-platform/ Mon, 13 Oct 2014 06:38:39 +0000 http://www.k2bindia.com/?p=6472 Moodle is an e-Learning platform that was released to the public in August of 2002 as a free software that’s available to anyone for download. Moodle the abbreviation for “Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment” is a learning platform that was designed to offer the best interactive learning experience for the users. Both the trainers and the learners benefit from its simple yet feature rich environment, which are customizable and effective at the same time. All these traits are essential and make for a good e-learning platform. Due to which, the number of customized versions of this software available to the public has increased to tens of thousands over the years.

Moodle being a very interactive tool allows for the trainers as well as the learners to work in co-ordination with each other, creating unique online course structures that are customized exactly to their specific wants. The flexibility of this continually evolving platform which is molded constantly to attain fineness and credibility is what has brought 70+ million dedicated users to it.

Meeodle development

Teaching and Learning with moodle

The reasons behind why moodle is the most preferred e-learning platform for great many users, are numerous; let’s have a look at some of the important ones and how it influences teaching or learning.

Reliability: This tool has been around for over a decade now, and during these years has undergone numerous changes, to become what is now very reliable and proven resource. From Institutions to Universities, both small and big have chosen to use moodle as their teaching platform; this shows us how trusted this e-learning tool is.

Free License: This being an open-source software, anyone can downloaded it for both commercial or non-commercial usage without any licensing fee. As, the tool can be modified and extended to the user’s specific needs, its cost-effectiveness is its major benefit for trainers and institutes.

Mobility: This is a web-based platform and thus accessible from anywhere and on any device, making its contents reachable by anyone with an internet connection. It’s cross browser compatible and is also available in responsive themes for better usability making moodle a perfect learning tool for students on the move.

Security: One of the major concerns of critics was its security and privacy capabilities. However, through constant updates and regular checks, the moodle platform has proven to be very strong against unauthorized usage, data loss and similar misuses. This e-learning platform is thus ideal for trainers and the learners looking for a safe medium.

Multilingual: Moodle is available in multiple languages, thus apt for students of different culture and various parts of the world. The community is responsible for taking moodle beyond the limitations of its base language. Now the e-learners can opt for available 120+ languages.

Community: And then the most important aspect of all “the community” this is the driving force behind moodle’s success as a prominent Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). The dedicated international community provides continual support and intense bug fixes, guarantying a resource that’s fit for training institutes and organizations for small and large scale.

A Complete Package: Moodle has undergone years of development on various fronts to make it a complete tool-set for all types of online courses. Users can configure the very core of this tool and enable or disable its various features to make it the package they would want to support. The package guarantees resource for the following features:

  • Save a lot on course materials
  • Interactive homework/assignments
  • Little to no paperwork
  • Evaluation of skills are fully customizable
  • Wide range of learning activities
  • YouTube video embedding
  • Feedback’s and details are stored meticulously
  • Automated grade-books

With these collective attributes, moodle LMS (Learning Management System) serves its users with the best of online learning and training environment.

]]> Promote your business using open source website development http://2020.k2bindia.com/wp/promote-your-business-using-open-source-website-development/ Wed, 02 Jul 2014 05:31:51 +0000 http://www.k2bindia.com/?p=5631 Technology growth is visible with the evolving new technology-based gadgets and web solutions in the market. This makes a clear statement that internet has become a new platform to boost up the business. This attracts millions of users towards this great technology, and the number of web users has escalated. As a result, the development of websites and web applications has also been increased.

Open Source platforms are the gifted boon to the burgeoning eCommerce industry. When compared to the usual commercial products, these platforms present noteworthy benefits. This is one of the amazing platforms to craft and develop strong and scalable web applications and websites.

Let us have a quick study of how open source website development endorse and amplify the E-business…

Open Source

The word ‘open source’ implies that it is open to all. This is also known as ‘Free Source Software’. This model gives you the universal access without any license. Using this amazing software, websites creations are done at ease. The persons with minimal technical knowledge can craft and design a site without any technical help.

Open Source Software

The software developed publicly in a mutual manner is called ‘open source software’. They are available to the public without paying any accessing fees or copyright restrictions. Anyone using web can view the code, download them, update them share them for free. The programs of this software can be improved to a higher extent by sharing them with the friends.

Open Source software Development

Developing the open source software publicly is called as open source software development. The source code of those software products are available to the public to modify or change them to advance their design.

Advantages of Open Source for Website Development

Open Source always provides high-quality, secured and commercial web solutions thereby resulting in the growth of a website to an elevated position. Given below are the advantages of open source for website development:

  • Stability

For operations continuity, it provides stability.  Users can/cannot take upgrades. It changes as per the requirements of the business.  File format/version compatibility issues are less.

  • Cost-effective

Free software, perhaps zero purchase price, upgrade fees, management costs, etc.  Cost less when compared to other technologies. Starting from product purchase till the upgrades, it never cracks down your budget. The business can be promoted within low budget.

  • Audit ability

Claims that are made by the developers can be checked by anyone. Security threats and backdoor accounts can be verified by any user using the open source.

  • Quality

The numbers of developers are unrestricted. So any number of developers can work in the development process. The end-users get what they want, as they can be personalized as per their creativity. The quality of the product depends on the number of users/developers.

  • Secure

No need to check for data loss and virus as there are less flaws, bugs and viruses. As they’re open to all, the bugs are tested frequently with the number of people viewing the code. They reduce the load of the system admin. They’re least liable to hack attacks and security breaches.

  • Freedom

As per your business, you can customize the websites as there’s no vendor-lock constraint.

  1. Add desired functionality
  2. No compatibility issues
  3. Free internal data exchange
  4. Effective management of vendors
  5. Modifying the site as per your company needs
  • Support

Users or supporters from all over the world can give effective solutions to the problems, if raised. It doesn’t costs you much.

These advantages of Open Source Software make them a most preferred choice for all websites and web applications as it is an effective solution in promoting the business to the pinnacle!

]]> Why X Cart is preferred over Magento for ecommerce solutions? http://2020.k2bindia.com/wp/why-x-cart-is-preferred-over-magento-for-ecommerce-solutions/ Mon, 16 Jun 2014 09:21:52 +0000 http://www.k2bindia.com/?p=5542 Got drained with your unprofitable business in some other field? Come out from that and kick-start your eCommerce online business.

Develop a site using X-Cart. The visualization of these site gives the paramount viewing experience to all their valuable clients by presenting a number of product catalogs in their devices wherever they’re. This helps you to deal with thousands of customers, picking many preferred products of their choice by simply adding them to the shopping cart. Placing orders at ease using this method earned a good retorts from the users of these eCommerce sites.

After selecting the web layout for your eCommerce website, next choice should be of shopping cart as they hold a vital role in them. Let us see in detail how X-Cart is effective and widely used more than Magento in most of the eCommerce websites.

Magento and X Cart

Magento – Magento Inc is the developer of this open source eCommerce web application which uses EAV model for the data storage.

X Cart – open source software developed using PHP as a base

Why X Cart not Magento for Ecommerce?

Organization Features

X Cart is a robust open source app, and it can multiply the prospective of shopping carts persistently through consistent resources and services.

  • This app always comes with substantiate user manuals and technical support.
  • Step-by-step runs the system instantaneously once the installation gets completed
  • Easy to modify and competitively priced, hence it goes well with any kind of business despite of its size
  • More insightful and user-friendly solution when compared with Magento
  • Cost-effective solution to meet up the budget
  • Online Store Manager can keep track of the inventory to know the remaining stock at any time.
  • To facilitate the sales, it gives the detailed reports, statistics, catalog manager and much more.
  • Administrator can limit the access of a user to certain goods or products.

End user benefits

  • It is a search engine friendly app.
  • Before buying a product, the customers are open to the options like ‘compare’ and ‘review’. This assists the buyers in getting the best from a number of choices.
  • Customers can rate a particular product. This in turn results in knowing the additional features of that product and results in high productivity.
  • Integrates with the famous social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, etc
  • Once the product is added to the shopping cart before checkout, it leads to the payment gateways that are more secure. The most famous payment gateways that act as a mediator between the banks and the online stores are also integrated with this app.
  • Responsive interfaces provide mobile compatibility despite of the sizes of the devices. (Either desktop or mobile)
  • Customers are given 24/7 assistance via Live Chat or through phone calls.

System-based features

  • It can be easily set up at shared server, because of its less resource consumption
  • As PHP Smarty Template System is used by it, programmers love to design the layout of the website.
  • Huge amount of data can be stored in MYSQL database. The database can be extended or customized as the complete source code and SQL are given.
  • To make use of the static HTML and dynamic content, it has incorporated HTML Catalog functionality.
  • Increases performance and customizes uniquely to gratify the needs of the diverse online stores
  • Highly reliable and rapidly fast without any extra optimization
  • A robust online store management system to store thousands of products
  • Being an open source app, it can be downloaded for free of cost. At the same time, the products at the online store can be added, edited and deleted as per the convenience of the vendor of the online store.
  • Provides maximum flexibility, hence it is preferred by most of the developers.

App’s added features

  • Inventory is controlled directly and informs the purchasing sector regarding the time of restocking goods.
  • Provides hosted and self-hosted services
  • Being a search-engine friendly app with rating features, the company websites are rated in the renowned search engines.
  • The online stores can be customized to be more attractive as per the choice of the online store manager to present a gorgeous site to grab the attention of more visitors or buyers.

Have the best feasible shopping experiences with X-cart!!!

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