Askmepc-Webdesign | Linda Lee

WordPress Expert | Beautiful Websites| Trainer

What is WordPress?

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What is WordPressWordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.

More simply, WordPress is what you use when you want to work with your blogging software, not fight it.

WordPress started in 2003 with a single bit of code to enhance the typography of everyday writing and with fewer users than you can count on your fingers and toes. Since then it has grown to be the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world, used on hundreds of thousands of sites and seen by tens of millions of people every day.

The GPL from the Free Software Foundation is the license that the WordPress software is under.

The WordPress platform is easily adaptable to all types of websites, from blogs to e-commerce storefronts. Here’s what you need to know about the world’s most popular Content Management System (CMS).

If you want to create a successful website, you’ll need to start with the best platform you can find. This is easier said than done — since there are so many options available for building your new site, it can be hard to know what platform to choose.

While there’s no one perfect platform, WordPress comes very close. It’s easily adaptable to all types of sites, from simple blogs to booming e-commerce storefronts. The benefits of using WordPress are numerous, and it’s surprisingly easy to get started with.

While WordPress was originally designed for blogs, it’s now suitable for all kinds of websites. In fact, it powers over 28 percent of all sites on the internet. You can use it to create business sites, online portfolios, e-commerce stores, and much more. For a clearer picture of what WordPress can do, check out some of the biggest and most popular sites made with it.

Before we move on, let’s address one common point of confusion. There is a difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. WordPress.com is a website that allows you to create a site using the WordPress software on their site, and is good to practice and learn with. You can create a site online for free at WordPress.com. WordPress.org supports people who use the software you can download and use to create your site, which will require your own web hosting and domain name. Installing your own copy of WordPress on your own domain name and your own hosting  is a more flexible and powerful platform. You have total control over everything this way.

WordPress.com has some restrictions. As they should. They have to protect their site and their servers so they limit plugin use and other enhanced features you can use on your own hosting.

It is always better to get your own hosting account and buy your own domain name than to go with the free version on WordPress.com

But… I do tell my clients if they want to practice and learn the basics for free before they take that next step, sign up for a free blog/website on WordPress.com

You can always export your content to your new self hosted site later.

If you need help getting started, let me know.

I can help you with your domain name, website hosting and installing and setting up your WP website.

Just fill in my pre-planning form, or send me an email.

Linda Lee Websites, Author Websites, WordPress, Training

Free Images, Copyright Free Images and Resources Online

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How and where do I find free images or copyright free images for my website?

I update these sources as needed and add new ones all the time.

Websites need images. For pop, color, interest, and direction. Images enhance your website and also if you set them up correctly , they are tools for SEO, (Search Engine Optimization).

Resources and Places for FREE images for the web.

Burst Shopify- Burst from Shopify, this amazing site offers free images that can be used without attribution.

My friend Arun Basil Lal, who runs the excellent website, Million Clues, sent me some great places to find free images.  Be sure to visit his website, It is packed with amazing and helpful information about working online.
Free Images, Copyright Free Images and Resources Online.

Free Quality Image Galleries-by Arun Basil Lal

Free image resource
Flickr: This is a store of all kinds of images from heavily photoshoped cool ones to usual pictures from daily life. I use the advanced search of Flickr where we can specify to show just those images licensed under the creative commons. If you are on a look for images from daily life, like trains, or people or signs, turn to Flickr.
But often Flickr users prefer to get attributed for using their images, so you will have to add Image credits with every other post. You need a free Flickr account.

Google Image Search: Google has done a good job in organizing the images on the web. Google image search is awesome place to find images, but there is no guarantee on its quality or copyright, so it’s last on my list. Make sure that you visit the landing page and confirm that the image is free to use before you add it on yours.

Don’t forget to save the images that you find while casual browsing for later use. I have a vast collection of images offline which I have collected over time. Make one yourself.

Always read the terms and conditions before you use images. Some images are free to use, but not free to edit, some need attribution, play it safe. :P

Another excellent article from Arun Basil Lal.

How to deal Content Copiers who copy from your Blog

Find Free Images and Photos to use online

Tell your age from a photo, how old do I look?

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Microsoft has revealed a new website that claims to be able to work out someone’s age just from just a picture. Called  How old do I look, it allows people to analyze any image found on Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, or upload their own.  Tell your age from a photo, and ask yourself, how old do I look?

It even allows users to search for celebrities – and see what Microsoft thinks their real ages are.
It is fun to use, but the ages vary wildly. 

People uploaded photos taken of them on the same day and got a huge variance in the age it said they were.
The developers said,  ‘We wanted to create an experience that was intelligent and fun could capture the attention of people globally, so we looked at the APIs available in the Azure Machine Learning Gallery,’. The system works by analyzing 27 points on the face. Called face landmarks, they are a series of specifically detailed points on a face; typically points of face components like the pupils, canthus or nose. 

‘These attributes are predicted by using statistical algorithms and may not always be 100% precise.  Still it is quite fun to try out. Hint on the photos, if you are using ones from your digital camera and have not re-sized them, they will not work. They have to be smaller than a straight digital file you may of downloaded.
Most people have no idea how huge those digital files really are.

Here is a group photo of some of us from the San Francisco Writer’s Conference volunteer meeting this year. 

Tell your age from a photo, how old do I look?

For some reason it missed one of us, and as for the rest, well let’s just say I think it is not exactly the most accurate tool yet!
Visit here and try it out. “How old do I look.net” 

Another time wasting activity, halting your progress online with your real work.  🙂 

Update: The Daily Mail tried it out on a bunch of staff and wrote about it here.