WordPress as Project Management Tool

WordPress is an open source CMS with great flexibility and tons of user-friendly options. Using WordPress as Project management tool and task tracking software is an out of box idea that can be perfectly executed. The possible ways to do that are by using a Theme or Plugin. In this article I tried to cover both the ways by considering one of the best themes and plugins available.

Project Management Plugins for WordPress

Plugins are one of the main reasons behind WordPress popularity and there are many free plugins available for almost every purpose. When it comes to project management, I prefer to use WP Project manager plugin, which functions similar to BaseCamp (An online project management tool).

WP Project Manager

WP Project Manager is free WordPress project management plugin with options like Messages, To-Do List, File Management etc. Here is a step-by-step guide (along with screenshots) on how to install and use Wp Project Manager on your WordPress blog. I considered an example project of creating Custom Child Theme based on Genesis Framework. Well, due to the flexibility in Genesis, we can add as many as widget sections using hooks. Lets move on…

Step 1: Install and activate WP Project Manger plugin. You can also check How to Install WordPress plugin for detailed info.

Step 2: Once activated you can see “Project Manager” menu link in the dashboard. Clink on it, Create a new Project and now starts the activity!

Step 3: A total of 5 tabs are available and each of them are dedicated to Activity, Messages, To-Do List, Milestones, Files etc

Features in WP Project Manager Plugin

Activity: Every single activity of the project with timestamps will be logged in this tab. Very easy to get the complete info in a glance.

Messages: Send messages to team members and in turn they can add replies using comment system. The best part is, there is an option to attach files also.

To-Do List: Create simple To-Do list, add due date to each task and assign them to team members. Whenever a task is accomplished, it can be marked as done.

Milestones: Specify a list of Milestones or say Operations you need to perform on a project. Based on the date, they will be automatically categorized as Late, Upcoming or Completed milestones.

Files: All the attached media files in the project will be displayed here. For security reasons, one cannot upload PHP file directly, instead they can ZIP it before uploading.

Notification Settings: Finally, settings page is simple and you can specify Subject, Body of the emails that will be automatically sent to team members whenever something is assigned to them.

WP Project Manager Frontend

Here is the premium version with an option to manage projects from the frontend of your WordPress website. This is an extension to WP Project Manager Plugin, that allows users to access projects from the front-end. Projects can be displayed on a page or post using the shortcode and only assigned users can see the projects.

More Details

Project Management Themes for WordPress

When it comes to themes, there are many application based themes like JobRoller, Clipper, ClassiPress etc. Similarly, it would be great if some themes are available for Project Management also. While searching for the same, I came across “ProjectPress” WordPress theme on ThemeForest.

ProjectPress – Responsive Project Management App for WordPress

Projectpress is a basic project management app for WordPress with responsive design. This theme will turn your WordPress installation into a project management app that looks and works like BaseCamp. You can add unlimited projects and can assign tasks to users. Many options to manage your project using WordPress are available in this theme.

Features in ProjectPress

• Add new projects from dashboard and assign tasks to users.
• Email notifications for project and task assignment.
• Set deadlines, goals and budget for your projects.
• Calendar is available to view all upcoming projects.
• Front-end option to add and edit user profiles directly.
• Fully responsive design for better view on tablets and mobiles.
• Client login with custom login page is also available.
• Blog area and many other small features.

I consider this theme as an experiment to create project management app for WordPress. ProjectPress theme developer is quite active in updating bugs and addressing user issues. In future release he may include other features like time tracking, group chat etc also.

Finally, this theme will be useful to some extent and helps to save you hundreds on bills you are paying for premium project management services. You can also check the live demo, before actually buying this theme.

Live Demo | Download

Conclusion

Finally, this is how we can use WordPress as a project management tool. Based on your convenience and requirement, you can go for the plugin or theme that are mentioned above. If you know any other possible way, please do share it with our readers by posting your valuable comment.

The post How to Use WordPress as Project Management Tool appeared first on WPSquare.

Before proceeding further, please not that this comparison is between Blogger and WordPress.org. I don’t think its good to compare these two as both of them are completely different. To some extent it would be good if we talk about Blogger vs WordPress.com. Well the only reason to compare Blogger vs WordPress.org is due to the huge user base they got.

Img via wptidbits.com

Blogger – Easy to Use and Google Powered

Blogger is a free blogging platform from Google with easy-to-use interface. Over the years many new features are added to improve its usability. Some of the attractive features that comes with each free blogspot blog includes: Customizing look and feel by using a template, use of custom domain name for better branding and tons of widgets to add content easily.

Apart from these, in the very recent update some SEO related features like options to add robots.txt file, custom permalinks etc are introduced. Dynamic blog layouts and mobile templates are also available in latest version of Blogger. Soon or later most of the features available in WordPress can be seen on Blogger too.

WordPress – Plugins, Themes and Much More

WordPress is an open source CMS tool that is widely used by Bloggers, Web Masters and Companies. It is free to use and comes with an extensive documentation. With the availability of thousands of free themes and plugins that are contributed by community members, WordPress is one of the best open source projects ever.

WordPress gives you complete flexibility to customize the look and feel of your blog. At the same time you can easily optimize your blog for search engines by using free SEO plugins. WordPress can also be used to create complex web applications like Job Forums, Coupon Sites etc. Finally only thing that bothers is, we need to pay hosting bills.

Blogger vs WordPress – Which is good for SEO?

Whatever is the blogging platform you are using, content should be unique. So in this comparison lets consider external factors like Permalink structure, Page Loading Speed, SEO Plugins etc.

Permalink Structure

WordPress is popular for its flexibility to define custom permalinks. Well, by using custom permalinks its very easy to include all the targeted keywords in the slug of the link. Later Blogger also implemented the same but with very limited options only. So WordPress is ahead of Blogger in terms of permalink structure.

Page Loading Speed

Considering a Blogger blog with a plain template and WordPress blog with the default theme, I noticed Blogger is loading quite faster when compared to WordPress. As Google considers Page Loading Speed as one of the major SEO ranking factors, we need to keep an eye on it. Of course by using some cache plugin we can speedup WordPress.

Img via quicksprout.com

SEO Plugins

Many free and premium SEO plugins are available in WordPress. On the other hand blogger doesn’t have any other options for SEO except using inbuilt features. Google rich snippets and authorship etc can be easily implemented using WordPress. So if you want to have better control over SEO, its good to go with WordPress atleast for now.

Free vs Paid

Blogger is absolutely free to use whereas WordPress is a package which is to be installed on a hosting space. Considering free hosting providers as not reliable, you need to buy some space from a decent hosting provider. If you are a serious blogger or webmaster then you can easily earn back what you are spending for hosting bills.

MattCutts on Blogger vs WordPress for SEO

Matt Cutts, the head of Google SPAM team shares his thoughts on which platform to use for better SEO. Checkout this video…

Conclusion

Finally, 9 out of 10 times I prefer to use self-hosted WordPress and that way we can have complete control over our blog or website. I never say Blogger is not good but I feel like there is a lot more room to improve features and flexibility in it. Hope Google will implement new features in near future and please share your views on this ever debating topic – Blogger vs WordPress.

The post Blogger vs WordPress – Which is better in terms of SEO? appeared first on WPSquare.

Tons of free social media plugins are available at official WordPress plugin repository. After checking many free plugins I found “Tipsy Social Icons” to be the one with all necessary options.

Tipsy Social Icons

Tipsy is the most popular jQuery plugin that helps to add Facebook style tooltips to links. By using Tipsy social icons widget, tooltips will be displayed above or below each social icon. 30 social icons and some inbuilt options are available in this widget.

Features in Tipsy Social Icons Plugin

Here are some note worthy features in this plugin.

• Simple and easy to use Widget.
• Add custom URL for each social icon.
• Define the placement of tooltips above or below icons.
• Icons are available in 2 different sizes (small and large).
• Enable or disable hover fade effect on icons.
• Fully localized for translation.
• Links will be opened in new tab automatically.

Add Social Icons with Tooltips in WordPress

In just 3 simple steps social icons will be live on your WordPress blog. Icons that are provided with links will only be displayed, so just add profile links to those icons which you want to show.

Step 1: Install and activate “Tipsy Social Icons” plugin. You can also refer How to install WordPress Plugin for step-by-step process.

Step 2: After activating the plugin, go to Widgets page, drag and drop “Tipsy Social Icons” to any available widget section.

Step 3: Add your social profile links in all respective fields and configure the settings. Save the widget and you are done.

Thats it! You have successfully added social icons with tooltips in your WordPress. Using some custom CSS you can modify the look and feel of these social icons.

If you need any help in installing Tipsy Social Icons Plugin or if you know any other alternative plugins then please post your valuable comment here. We will consider your suggestions on high note and will update this article accordingly.

The post How to Add Social Icons with Tooltips in WordPress appeared first on WPSquare.

A slider can be added to WordPress in 2 ways: By hard-coding it directly (using jQuery plugins) or by making use of available plugins. I prefer using a plugin as it can activated or deactivated in one click.

Responsive image Slider Plugins for WordPress

There are many free image slider WordPress plugins available to download from official repository, but not all of them are easy to use. After reading user reviews and after using it for a while, I found Soliloquy Lite to be the best in this category.

Soliloquy Lite

Soliloquy Lite is a free Responsive Images Slider Plugin for WordPress that helps to create unlimited number of image sliders in a fly. It is so far the best image slider plugin available for WordPress.

Features in Soliloquy

Here is a list of some note worthy features in Soliloquy Lite WordPress plugin.

• It uses Custom Post Types and hence very easy to use.
• Drag-and-drop sorting is available, so you can order images instantly.
• Easily insert image sliders into your posts/pages from the WYSIWYG editor.
• JS and CSS files will be loaded only on pages where there is a slider.
• SEO optimized, You can specify alt and title tags for all images in the slider.
• Handy Shortcodes and template tags to insert image slider easily.
• Support for responsive design along with touch enabled swiping.
• Ability to add HTML captions to all images by editing Meta Data.
• Each and every slide can be customized by using custom CSS.
• Upgrade to future releases directly from your WordPress dashboard.

Step-by-step guide to Setup Responsive Image Slider Plugin in WordPress

Install Soliloquy Lite »

Step 1: Install and activate Soliloquy Lite plugin. Here is step-by-step guide on How to install a WordPress Plugin. After activating Soliloquy Lite plugin, a new menu link will be created on the dashboard.

Step 2: You can add Unlimited number of sliders using Soliloquy Plugin. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to create a new slider. Just click on “Add New” link from the Soliloquy Menu.

Step 3: Give the slider a specific name and upload images using the new Media Uploader. The order of the images can be changed by using the drag and drop functionality.

Step 4: You can update Metadata of each image you have uploaded in the slider. Just click on the “Edit” icon and a pop-up with all required fields will be displayed.

Step 5: After done with editing part, you can customize settings for each slider. A set of options are available and if you want to take more control over settings, then you need to upgrade to Soliloquy Full version. Click on publish button and you slider will be created.

Step 6: Insert image slider into post or page using the “Add Slider” button. A shortcode will be inserted into the post editor and you can display as many as sliders you want.

Also, you can place any slider into your WordPress theme by using the function like shown in the image. This means that Soliloquy gives you complete flexibility to create and manage your image sliders effectively.

Output: Finally, this is how the slider looks like. It will be automatically resized based on the view-port of the device, thus integrates well into your responsive WordPress theme.

This is how we have to install and Setup Responsive Image Slider Plugin in WordPress. If you are looking for rock-solid image slider plugin with tons of options, then here is full version of Soliloquy slider plugin.

Soliloquy Full Version

The Lite version of Soliloquy itself is enough for creating image sliders on your self-hosted WordPress. So what else is available in Full Version? Well, here are some awesome features that are available exclusively in full or pro version of Soliloquy.

Add-ons for Soliloquy Slider Plugin

With Soliloquy developer license you can enjoy a set of Add-Ons that helps to add lot more additional features to your Image Sliders. Here is the list of all available add-ons for Soliloquy.

The only way to experience Soliloquy at its full potential is by upgrading to full version. Apart from tons of features you will get rock-solid support from the developer. Soliloquy Full version comes with a price tag of $19 for single site and $99 for multiple-site with support for life.

Conclusion

I personally got a developer license of Soliloquy Slider Plugin and its worth every penny we spend. I used this awesome slider plugin on some of my client projects and they too liked it. With everything unlimited, Soloiloquy Pro comes with a decent price tag. You can also try hands-on demo before actually buying the license.

Get Soliloquy Full Version »

If you want to know more about Soliloquy Slider Plugin, then feel free to drop a comment here. We will get back to you with all available information.

The post How to Setup Responsive Image Slider Plugin in WordPress appeared first on WPSquare.

It is not always possible to use premium tools or services for everything and in such cases relying on free alternatives is a good option. When it comes to page loading speed, a lot of research to be made before tweaking your WordPress installation. As you know, WordPress is a community driven CMS and some plugin authors are kind enough to provide free solutions to improve page loading speed in all possible ways.

After making an extensive research and using many plugins, I compiled an ultimate list of WordPress Plugins that helps to speedup WordPress in different ways.

WordPress Plugins to Improve Page Loading Speed

List of WordPress Plugins that helps to boost page loading speed instantly. Best thing about this list is, all these are free WordPress plugins that comes with free support from official WordPress plugin repository.

If you want to install all these plugins in one go, then know how to bulk install multiple Plugins in WordPress. You can also clarify your doubts on How many WordPress Plugins We Should Use Actually ?

Lets start with…

W3 Total Cache

W3 Total Cache is one of the best WordPress plugins that helps to improve page loading speed to great extent. Tons of options are available in W3 Total Cache and know how to improve page loading speed using W3 Total Cache Plugin. An option to minify CSS, JS files and to integrate CDN are readily available, making W3 Total Cache a complete caching solution for WordPress.

Install W3 Total Cache

WP Super Cache

WP Super Cache is yet another WordPress plugin that caches all the live pages and serve them as HTML files. In case if you don’t like W3 Total Cache plugin or using a shared hosting, then you can give a shot to WP Super Cache plugin. It got a powerful engine and everything can be controlled from the admin console. CDN can also be directly integrated.

Install WP Super Cache

WP Minify

WP Minify is a powerful WordPress plugin that helps to combine and minify all CSS files into one. It also works well for Javascripts minification. Advanced options are available to exclude or include any file or script manually. After all, the total number of HTTP requests can be reduced in one go, which means more Google Page Speed Score and better YSlow Grade.

Install WP Minify

JS & CSS Script Optimizer

This plugin helps to combine several javascripts and CSS files into one and thus minimizes the number of HTTP requests. JS & CSS Script Optimizer plugin uses the standard “wp_enqueue_script” and “wp_enqueue_style” functions to add combined files to your WordPress blog. If any file is not compatible, it can be excluded from the list.

Install JS & CSS Script Optimizer

Lazy Load

Lazy Load plugin helps to improve page loading speed to a great extent. It uses jQuery.sonar plugin and loads images that are visible in the view port only. So images will be loaded only when scrolled over them and this helps to save bandwidth. Pretty simple plugin that just works and it doesnt have any additional options or admin console.

Install Lazy Load

jQuery Image Lazy Load WP

Yet another free WordPress plugin that helps to lazy load images. In case if the above mentioned plugin doesn’t work, you can use this one. On WPSquare, there is a simple tutorial on how to Lazy Load images in WordPress without plugin and its based on this plugin only.

Install jQuery Image Lazy Load

WP Database Optimizer

WP-Optimize is the most popular free WordPress plugin that helps to optimize the database of your WordPress blog without the need of phpMyAdmin. Its very simple to use and gives an option to delete post revisions, remove SPAM & Unapproved comments and optimize database, all in a one go. WP Optimize helps to save some space by optimizing database tables.

Install WP Optimize

P3 Profiler

Plugin Performance Profiler (p3) is a free WordPress Plugin that helps to scan all installed plugins and detect the ones that are slowing down your WordPress website. Just install P3 plugin, run a scan and get reports instantly. I used this plugin to quickly check poorly coded plugin that are eating-up server resources. Give it a try and you surely will like it.

Install P3 Profiler

jsDelivr

jsDeliver is a free public CDN plugin by jsDelivr.com. It helps to load jQuery Plugins and javascript libraries directly from the jsDeliver CDN. This is the best plugin to automatically integrate CDN into your WordPress website, without touching the code. Just install the plugin, scan for available JS files and load them from CDN.

Install jsDeliver

FV Gravatar Cache

FV Gravatar Cache is an useful WordPress plugin for blogs with more number of comments. If you are displaying gravatars with comments, then it surely will effect the page loading speed as many images are to be loaded from Gravatar.com. FV Gravatar Cache plugin helps to store all the gravatars on your website by caching gravatars on comment submission.

Install FV Gravatar Cache

rtSocial

rtSocial is a sleek and powerful social sharing plugin for WordPress. Instead of using iframes to load share buttons, rtSocial uses non-blocking JavaScript thus helping to improve page loading speed to great extent. A smart admin panel to configure share buttons is also available in rtSocial plugin.

Install rtSocial

Apart from the plugins, you need to use a quality hosting service for better loading speeds. If you want to compare results before and after using these plugins, you can use Pingdom Tools or GTMetrix.

Popular WordPress Plugin Resources:

• 10 Popular WordPress Theme Options Plugins and Frameworks
• 10 Useful WordPress Admin Plugins to Boost Productivity
• 15 Best Syntax Highlighter WordPress Plugins

Missed any other WordPress plugin that actually speeds up WordPress? Well, please share it here by dropping your valuable comment. Also, if you like this plugin collection, please consider sharing this article with others.

img via earthtimes.org

The post 10 Handy WordPress Plugins to Improve Page Loading Speed appeared first on WPSquare.

It is not always easy to install multiple WordPress plugins, especially when you are working for clients. Also, it will be a boring task to install same set of plugins again and again on different WordPress installations. I found a way to get my job done easily with very few clicks.

If you are new to WordPress then you should check how to install a WordPress Plugin. Also there is a misconception on how many WordPress plugins we should use actually, dont bother about the count and you can use as many as plugin you like. Only thing you need to ensure is, all those plugins should be coded according to standards.

Bulk Install Multiple WordPress Plugins

Coming back to our topic, here is a Step-by-step guide on how to setup “Bulk Plugin Installation” to install multiple WordPress plugins at once.

Step 1: Go to Plugins > Add New and Search for “Bulk Plugin Installation”.

Step 2: Install and activate “Bulk Plugin Installation” WordPress plugin. You can also download a copy from official WordPress Plugin Repository and can upload it directly.

Step 3: Got to Plugins > Add New page again and you can see text area like this.

Step 4: Just paste the links of all plugins you want to install (one link per line). You can get links from Plugin repository by using the search feature available there.

You can also type the plugin names or can also include links directly to the zip files. Click on Install Button and all those plugins will be installed.

Step 5: One last step you need to do is, activate all the installed plugins. Again it will be a hectic task to active each plugin, so just got to Plugins page, select all plugins and activate them in one click.

Thats it! You have successfully installed multiple WordPress plugins at once. You can also give a try to “Multiple Plugin Installer” WordPress plugin, that comes with a bit more advanced options.

You can also Find Which WordPress Plugins Are Slowing Down your Blog and can replace them with any other alternative plugins.

It would be great if this option is directly available in the WordPress itself. Hope to see this useful feature in the upcoming version of WordPress. Till then you can use any of the above mentioned free WordPress Plugins.

If you are interested in Ultimate WordPress Plugin collections, you can check:

• 10 Responsive jQuery Slider Plugins for WordPress
• 10 Useful WordPress Admin Plugins to Boost Productivity
• Top 15 Best Social Sharing Plugins for WordPress

If you need any help in installing multiple plugins on your WordPress blog, then feel free to drop your valuable comment. We are always glad to help you. If you find this article useful, consider sharing it with your friends.

The post How to Bulk Install Multiple WordPress Plugins at Once appeared first on WPSquare.

WordPress Theme I use on WPSquare

From the day 1 WPSquare is powered by Genesis Framework. And here are some 5 Reasons Why we prefer Genesis Over Thesis. Till date I redesigned WPSquare many times and here are some reasons Why I frequently change my WordPress theme.

1. I like Experiments

I like WordPress very much and I always try to do some random experiments on how stuff works. During this process, I end up tweaking many parts of the theme which sometimes results in a whole new look. The best way to get refreshing look to your WordPress theme is by using background patterns. A combination of both dark and light patterns is quite enough to change the look of your WordPress theme instantly.

2. Someone Copies my Design

Usually, I spend hours and hours in tweaking and optimizing my WordPress theme. One day or other someone copies my design, either by stealing style.css file or by copying certain parts of the theme. As I use a combination of Genesis Framework and Custom Child theme, the style.css file can be readily used on any of the Genesis Child Themes. I always try to make WPSquare theme as unique as possible.

3. To get more Interest

Sometimes Blogging is such a boring task and self-motivation is necessary to keep on going. To make blogging more fun and to get back the lost interest we need to seek some inspiration. I usually get that by changing the look and feel of my blog. Whenever I’m not writing I simply tweak the design to make it more simple and easy to use. There are other ways too, but this works well for me.

4. Something New is Available

StudioPress is such an awesome WordPress theme company, that releases atleast 2 new themes a month. I like their Mobile Responsive WordPress Themes that are designed to fit across all devices. New themes released by StudioPress always tempt me and I end-up making a quick switch. Premium Genesis Child Themes can be readily used to get a refreshing look instantly, customizing them brings more uniqueness.

5. Conversions Matter

Well, the only way I get some revenue from WPSquare is via affiliate marketing. So its always important to keep track of clicks and conversions. At WPSquare, I use and recommend only a few quality digital products like Genesis, Soliloquy etc. From my past experience I can say, Design plays a crucial role in getting targeted clicks. Hence, if any particular theme doesn’t works I’ll change it. But this happens very rarely.

Thats all from my end and please note that all the above mentioned reasons are purely my personal views. So share your opinions on “How Frequently you change your WordPress Theme” by dropping a comment here. Lets exchange some knowledge.

Img via: http://infinityconcepts.net

The post 5 Reasons Why I Frequently Change my WordPress Theme appeared first on WPSquare.

What is Ratings and Review System?

It is a very common practice to rate any product after writing a detailed review. Any star ratings plugin or other methods can be used for doing that. But with ratings and review system, one will get a chance to rate a product based on custom criteria. Here is a quick example: Consider a mobile phone review – Instead of posting overall ratings, you can split the ratings based on factors like Display, Battery, Camera, Weight etc factors and its possible with ratings and review system.

Well there are many free and premium WordPress plugins that helps to integrate a review system into your theme. But if you prefer to use a WordPress theme with built-in review system then there are very few themes available out. Of all those themes, we hand-picked a very few high-quality ones that are worth your money.

WordPress Themes with Ratings & Review System

An ultimate collection of High-Quality Magazine WordPress themes with Ratings & Review System. If you are planning to start a Game Reviews, Movie Reviews or Gadget Reviews related web projects based on WordPress, then you surely need a WordPress theme with Ratings & Review system. It is not always possible to get a custom WordPress theme and here are some high quality themes that can be useful for you.

Avenue

Avenue is the most popular magazine WordPress theme that comes with inbuit review system. With unlimited skins and custom rating criteria, Avenue gives you a complete edge to publish review articles. It also comes with an unbranded theme options panel.

Avenue – Full Details & Demo

Gonzo

Gonzo is a flexible magazine WordPress theme with responsive design. A ratings and review system is available in it, making it a perfect theme for gadget or product reviews. Also, 2 different blog page layouts are available with flexible modules.

Gonzo – Full Details & Demo

Goodnews

Goodnews is a news/magazine WordPress theme with responsive design. Page Builder is available and it helps to create unlimited layouts in notime. An advanced rating and review system with Percent, Stars and Points is available in Goodnews.

Goodnews – Full Details & Demo

Boulevard

Boulevard is yet another beautiful magazine WordPress theme with custom review system. Ratings can be given based on 5 custom criteria. With unlimited color schemes and unbranded options panel, Boulevard is a recommended magazine theme.

Boulevard – Full Details & Demo

Sahifa

Sahifa is a fully responsive WordPress theme with custom drag and drop homepage bulder. Sahifa is powered by the most beautiful TiePanel and comes with a custom review system. It also got support for Schema SEO Rich Snippet Review Microdata.

Sahifa – Full Details & Demo

Backstreet

Backstreet is a magazine portfolio WordPress theme that can be used for blogs also. Review system with 5 ratings crireria is integrated in it and support for 3 Post formats is available. With minimalistic Black and White colors, Backstreet is an unique theme.

Backstreet – Full Details & Demo

ExtraNews

ExtraNews is a uniquely designed magazine style WordPress theme with easy review system. This theme is responsive and is well suitable for news and gossip related blogs. Scheme microdata makes the search results display better with ratings.

ExtraNews – Full Details & Demo

Brennuis

Brennuis is a magazine WordPress theme with inbuilt page builder and custom ratings system. Post formats are available in this theme making it easy to pick the desired type easily. Instead of using predefined review criteria, define custom ones based on requirement.

Brennuis – Full Details & Demo

Crumble

Crumble is responsive WordPress theme with custom widgets and built-in review system. This wide layout theme is well suitable for news and magazine blogs. With unlimited colors, its easy to switch between different color schemes.

Crumble – Full Details & Demo

Unicorn

Unicorn is a modern magazine responsive WordPress theme with built-in custom ratings criteria. Both boxed and stretched layouts are available in Unicorn theme. With custom widgets and shortcodes, Unicorn is a power packed WordPress theme.

Unicorn – Full Details & Demo

The Gossip

The Gossip is a magazine WordPress theme with modern design and ultra responsive layout. In-built review system with multiple custom criteria and posts can also be sorted based on ratings. Create custom layouts using shortcodes and install demo content with one click.

The Gossip – Full Details & Demo

CNEWS

CNEWS is a responsive WordPress theme with magazine layout. It comes with review system, custom widgets and jQuery contact form. CNEWS is yet another blog, magazine style WordPress theme with tons of options to post reviews easily.

CNEWS – Full Details & Demo

Marisa

With custom widgets and shortcode, Marisa is a premium responsive WordPress theme that is well suitable for magazine and news blogs. Custom theme options panel helps to change the theme colors easily. Light & dark skin are also available in Marisa.

Marisa – Full Details & Demo

MagazinePress

MagazinePress is a responsive magazine WordPress theme with drag and drop homepage. Unlike many other review WordPress themes, MagazinePress comes with unlimited criteria. Custom Page templates, social share buttons and custom widgets are also available.

MagazinePress – Full Details & Demo

LightBlog

As the name suggests, LightBlog is a light-weight responsive WordPress theme with clean design. It got an unique layout with cutom page templates, shortcodes and built-in widgets. Localized support is included for translations.

LightBlog – Full Details & Demo

Atlantic News

Atlantic News is a fully widgetized WordPress theme with 30 custom in-built widgets. Its responsive layout scales from 320px to 1260px and looks beautiful on any screen size. Reviews custom post types is included in this WordPress theme.

Atlantic News – Full Details & Demo

Mag Man

Mag Man is a fully mobile responsive WordPress theme with support for Live Theme Customizer. Review System with 7 custom Criteria is available as an in-built feature in this theme. Mag Man also comes with Multisite support.

Mag Man – Full Details & Demo

HotNews

HotNews is a clean WordPress theme that has review system with Unlimited criteria. With both boxed and stretched layouts, HotNews is a fully responsive WordPress theme. Many other builtin features are available in it.

HotNews – Full Details & Demo

Minimosity

Minimosity is a retina display ready WordPress theme with responsive layout. It comes with a simple and poweful options panel that helps customize Minimosity to great extent. Inbuilt review system is also available in this theme.

Minimosity – Full Details & Demo

MegaMag

MegaMag is a responsive WordPress theme with powerful ratings system. Pre-defined skins are available in this theme and you can pick any of them to suit your requirement. Many other features along with localization support are available.

MegaMag – Full Details & Demo

Bonus

Here is another cool WordPress theme with inbuilt Review System. Splash is a HTML5 WordPress Theme that comes with everything unlimited. With many features like review system, custom widgets, advanced options panel, Splash is a perfect choice.  Just check the demo and you surely will like it.

Splash – Full Details & Demo

Hope you like these awesome WordPress themes and share your views on this article. If you wish to see any other theme collection on WPSquare, please feel free to post your valuable advice via comments.

The post 20 Magazine WordPress Themes with Ratings & Review System appeared first on WPSquare.

jQuery Image Lazy Load WP Plugin

jQuery Lazy Load WP is a free WordPress plugin that helps to add lazy loading to all images in any page of your blog. It is simple and handy plugin that works like a charm. Options page is not available, but still its a good plugin.

jQuery Lazy Load Images without Plugin

Here is an alternative if you dont want to use the above mentioned plugin. But 100 out of 100 times, I recommend to go for a plugin and this “Without Plugin” stuff sucks in the long run. Like if you change your theme this code will go away and you need to add it again. Using a plugin you can activate or remove it any time.

Anyhow this tutorial is for those who like to experiment or for those who dont want to Install a WordPress Plugin.

Step 1: Download jQuery Lazyload Plugin from GitHub and look for jquery.lazyload.min.js file in that package.

Step 2: Upload jquery.lazyload.min.js file (Minified Version) to your theme folder and grey.gif image to theme/images folder.

Step 3: Adding scripts to WordPress using wp_enqueue_script().

Note: These code snippets are directly taken from the jQuery Lazy Load WP plugin and complete credit goes to its author.

Add this code to functions.php file in your WordPress theme and save it. It is recommended to Backup your WordPress theme before proceeding further.

/** Add jQuery & Lazyload Plugin to WordPress Theme*/
add_action('wp_enqueue_scripts', 'wps_scripts', 5);
function wps_scripts() {
wp_deregister_script('jquery');
wp_register_script( 'jquery', 'http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.6.1/jquery.min.js', '1.6.1', true);
wp_enqueue_script( 'jquery' );
wp_register_script('jquerylazyload', get_bloginfo('template_directory').'/jquery.lazyload.mini.js', 'jquery', '1.5.0', true);
wp_enqueue_script( 'jquerylazyload');
}

Step 4: Initialize jQuery Lazy Loading of Images.

After adding scripts, we need to initialize the lazy loading script and here is a snippet for that. Add below code to functions.php file and save it.

/** Add Lazy Load functions in Footer */
add_action('wp_footer', 'jquery_lazy_load', 12);
function jquery_lazy_load() {
$placeholdergif = get_bloginfo('template_directory').'/images/grey.gif';
echo <<<EOF
<script type="text/javascript">
jQuery(document).ready(function($){
if (navigator.platform == "iPad") return;
jQuery("img").not(".cycle img").lazyload({
effect:"fadeIn",
placeholder: "$placeholdergif"
});
});
</script>
EOF;
}

Voila, you have successfully added “jQuery Lazy Load” to your WordPress theme and now its time to test it.

For Child Themes:

In case if you are using a Child Theme, then replace template_directory in the above code snippets with stylesheet_directory and it will work for sure.

If you dont notice any lazy loading effect for images on your WordPress blog, then there might be some conflicts with scripts. Try disabling JS Minification if you are using W3 Total Cache Plugin and also check if issue is caused by WP Minify Plugin.

Image via: nationalgeographic.com

The post jQuery Lazy Load Images in WordPress without Plugin appeared first on WPSquare.

Add Social Share Buttons to WordPress Theme

Add HTML of the share buttons into your WordPress theme. Here I have created a function and added them in footer using wp_footer hook. In case if you want to add them directly in footer, just Include the HTMl in footer.php file.

Add this code to functions.php file in your WordPress theme and social share buttons will be loaded in the footer.

/* Start of Social Float Buttons in Single Posts */
function wps_social_float() {
if (is_single()) { ?>
<div id="social-float">
<ul>
<li class="twitter"><a href="http://twitter.com/share" data-url="<?php the_permalink() ?>" data-via="wpsquare" data-text="<?php the_title(); ?>" data-related="_mandava" data-count="vertical" data-hashtags="WordPress"></a> </li>
<li class="gplus"><g:plusone size="tall" href="<?php echo $url; ?>"></g:plusone></li>
<li class="facebook"><div id="fb" href="<?php echo get_permalink(); ?>" data-send="false" data-layout="box_count" data-width="60" data-show-faces="false"></div></iframe></li>
</ul>
</div>
<?php }}
add_action('wp_footer', 'wps_social_float');
/* End of Social Float Buttons in Single Posts */

Note: Replace data-via and data-related field values of Twitter button in the above code with your own values.

I have considered just 3 share buttons – Twitter, Facebook & Google Plus. You can add other share buttons also, but do remember one thing “Less is More”.

Add CDN Version of jQuery to WordPress

jQuery is required for these floating share buttons to check the display resolution. If the resolution is less than 1030px wide, then share buttons will be hidden. This way they wont mess up with other elements when viewed on low resolution devices.

/** Add CDN version of jQuery to WordPress */
function wps_js_scripts() {
wp_deregister_script( 'jquery' );
wp_register_script( 'jquery', 'http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.5/jquery.min.js');
wp_enqueue_script( 'jquery' );
}
add_action('wp_enqueue_scripts', 'wps_js_scripts');

Add the above code in functions.php file and save it. Google CDN version of jQuery will be included in your WordPress blog. If you have already integrated jQuery in your WordPress theme, then no need to add it again.

Load Scripts Asynchronously

Add asynchronous version of social share button scripts in footer. The main reason behind loading scripts asynchronously is improve page loading speed and to optimize WordPress for Google Page speed score.

Add this code to functions.php file in your WordPress theme and the scripts will be loaded only on single post page (as conditional tag is used). It is always recommended to load JS files in footer of WordPress and hence wp_footer hook is used.

function wps_footer_scripts() {
if(is_single()) { ?>
<div id="fb-root"></div>
<script>
window.fbAsyncInit = function() {
FB.init({
status     : true,
cookie     : true,
xfbml      : true
});
};
(function(d){
var js, id = 'facebook-jssdk', ref = d.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;}
js = d.createElement('script'); js.id = id; js.async = true;
js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js";
ref.parentNode.insertBefore(js, ref);
}(document));
</script>

<script type="text/javascript">
var sUrl = window.location;
document.getElementById('fb').setAttribute('href', sUrl);
</script>

<script type="text/javascript">
(function() {
var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true;
po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s);
})();
</script>

<script type="text/javascript">// <![CDATA[
(function() {
var twitterScriptTag = document.createElement('script');
twitterScriptTag.type = 'text/javascript';
twitterScriptTag.async = true;
twitterScriptTag.src = 'http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(twitterScriptTag, s);
})();
// ]]></script>

<script type="text/javascript">
jQuery(document).ready(function($) {
if( $(window).width() >= 1030 )
$('#social-float').show();
$(window).resize(function() {
if( $(window).width() < 1030 ) {
$('#social-float').hide();
} else {
$('#social-float').show();
}
});
});
</script>
<?php
} }
add_action('wp_footer', 'wps_footer_scripts');

JS code to check the window width is also included in the above code. If you want to add any other share button, include source code in the above function.

CSS for Floating Social Share Buttons

Add some style to Floating share buttons by including this CSS in style.css file. Note that you need to tweak margins based on your WordPress theme.

/* Start of CSS for Floating Share Buttons */
#social-float {
background-color: #FFFFFF;
border: 1px solid #bbb;
bottom: 15px;
box-shadow: 0 0 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);
display: none;
opacity: 0.8;
padding: 5px;
position: fixed;
text-align: center;
width: 60px;
top:200px;
bottom:auto;
float:left;
margin:0 0 0 60px;
}
#social-float:hover {opacity: 1;}
#social-float ul {list-style: none;}
#social-float ul li.twitter {padding: 0;}
#social-float ul li.facebook { padding: 5px 0 0;}
#social-float ul li.gplus {padding: 5px 0 0;}
/* End of CSS for Floating Share Buttons */

Also add your own CSS styles to match the color scheme of your WordPress theme.

If you need any help regarding these floating social share buttons, then drop a comment here and we will get back to you.

The post Add Floating Social Share Buttons in WordPress without Plugin appeared first on WPSquare.