Feed: lorainexy - AggScore: 19.1

New Theme: Ideation & Intent

It’s almost June and warm weather is spreading across many parts of the world like wildfire! What better time to get out of the house and explore new places? Before you leave, though, it would be a great idea to take your camera along to document the experience.

When you return and get the urge to share you photos with the world, there’s no better place to do it than right here on WordPress.com. We’ve put together a brand-new theme that will showcase your photographs in style!

Ideation & Intent, designed by Kevin Conboy, is our latest free theme and features beautiful typography, bright colors and clean lines. Your photos will get the royal treatment in the featured post area and custom image sidebar.

Read more about its features in the Theme Showcase or dive right into previewing it on your blog by navigating to Appearance → Themes.

A Little Boost to Your Photos and Galleries

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a digital photo is worth even more. All digital cameras embed extra information in each photo — things like camera make and model, date and time the photo was taken, focal length of the lens, shutter speed, etc.

We’re happy to announce two new features on WordPress.com for digital photos that will take advantage of your digital photo’s EXIF information!

Automatic Rotation

From now on JPEG images will be rotated automatically after uploading according to the camera’s original orientation. No more manually rotating all those portrait photos! What’s more, the rotation is “lossless” and preserves all embedded information in the image file (the JPEG image format is “lossy”, meaning that each time the image is edited, some of the fine color nuances may be lost). In short: your photos’ orientation/rotation is automatic and their image quality is preserved 100%!

Gallery Sorting

There are two new sorting options for galleries: Image Date/Time and Upload Order. These additional sort options are also available for previously-published galleries, offering you more fine control on how you display your images on your WordPress.com site. Have you ever inserted a Gallery in a post or page? Get started with Galleries.

The Gallery Settings dialog

Both of these new features depend on the EXIF data saved in the JPEG image files, so if you edit your photos before uploading, make sure the software you use preserves that data.

So, upload few photos, create a gallery or edit an existing gallery and let us know what you think in the comments. Need photography inspiration? Check out the Photography topic in the WordPress.com Reader!

Get Push Notifications on Your iPhone and iPad

Following the recent notifications refresh, we’re super excited to announce that you can now get comment Push Notifications on your iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. Stay connected to your blog and moderate incoming comments wherever you happen to be at the time.

Push Notifications
WordPress.com contributes to many Open Source WordPress apps, and we recently enabled notifications for the WordPress for iOS app. As soon as you get a new comment on posts you’ve published, a notification is sent to your phone. You will see the name of the commenter as well as a short excerpt of the comment, as much as we can fit. Swipe over the notification to view the comment.

We’ve also added a new “Swipe-to-moderate” feature in the comments list. This enables you to quickly Approve/Unapprove, Trash, Spam, and reply to new comments – it’s all just a swipe away. Of course you can still tap Edit to bulk moderate comments and tap the comment to view it in all its glory. In the detailed view you’ll see the post they commented on, their Name, Email, and URL, as well as an array of buttons for simple moderation.

Read Blogs on the Go
Did you also know that you can read your friends’ blogs with the app? When you open WordPress for iOS, tap “Read” to launch the mobile version of the Reader. You can read up on blogs you follow, see posts you’ve Liked, browse Freshly Pressed, and peruse popular Topics to find new sources of inspiration. When you find something interesting, you can Like or Reblog it to your own blog. You can even comment on posts you find right on your phone. And here’s the best part: it’s all synced back to your regular Reader.

Of course it’s also a great way to share quick photos when you’re out and about, write a post or two, update your About page, and check your daily Stats. It’s like having a mini-version of your blog in your pocket.

Get the Update
Already have WordPress for iOS installed on your phone? All you need to do to get Push Notifications is to update to the latest version and allow the app to send you notifications when asked.

New to WordPress for iOS? No problem, you can learn more about the app on its website, or click here to download WordPress for iOS directly! WordPress for iOS is available in most common languages and works on all newer iOS devices.

What’s Next?
This is the first time we’ve enabled Push Notifications in the iOS app, and we’ll continue to add more notification options so you’ll be able to have a full WordPress.com experience from your device. We’ll also make sure you get the notifications you want, when you want them. You’ll be able to toggle what Push Notifications you want to receive and which ones you’d rather not get notified about.

Learn more about the app and what’s next on the WordPress for iOS Blog, and make sure to follow @WordPressiOS on Twitter to get the latest news first.

So, hurry up and update your WordPress for iOS app to the latest version, and start using those notifications. Then come back here and let us know what you’d like to see enabled next!

Photo Blogging 101, Part 3

Beyond developing your photo blog and cultivating devoted followers, how can you take your phlog to the next level? Here’s a few extra resources that can help you along the way.

Stay Organized

Using categories to divide your photographs by type is a great way to make it easier for visitors to navigate your site, especially as your portfolio of images continues to grow. For example, as you categorize photos as “Travel” or “Black and White,” you can then add those category pages to your site’s navigation bar. If you’re using your photo blog to generate business as a photographer, this means that someone who’s looking for some black and white images can easily take a look at your gallery of black and white photos. This guide explains how to add categories to your post, and you can follow these steps to add those category pages to your site’s menu.

When displaying a series of photos, you’ll see that there are a handful of options for inserting them into your post: slideshow, gallery, and individual images. If you’re adding a large amount of photos to a single post, you may want to consider using the gallery option. Too many photos on the front page can cause a slow load time for visitors. By loading your posts as thumbnails first, visitors get the full effect of the breadth and variety of your photographs at a single glance. If you’re looking for feedback, visitors can comment directly on your photo by clicking on the “Permalink” button in the gallery carousel.

When uploading multiple photos to your post, don’t forget to use our Drag and Drop uploader so that you can upload multiple files at the same time. This will even allow you to drag a group of photos from your computer directly into the upload area.

Become a Curator

When working on a series, curate your content so that you can focus on the quality of your photos, not quantity. This means hand selecting the best photos in your series, rather than posting all of them at once to get as much out there as possible. When choosing images to include in your photo gallery, consider the following:

An example of the Rule of Thirds (photo by Bryan Villarin).

• The rule of thirds: When cropping your photos, try using the “rule of thirds” for more visually interesting photos. The rule of thirds is a compositional guideline that proposes photographs should be able to be divided into nine equal parts by two horizontal and two vertical lines. The main elements of the picture should fall along or at the intersections of these lines. In the photo to the right, the primary focus of the picture—the two red chairs—are positioned at the lower-right intersection of the grid and the horizon falls along the top vertical line.
• Stay sharp: When choosing a photo to include in your post, you’ll want to prioritize images that are vibrant and clear. A photo that is blurry or faded isn’t as captivating as a sharp, bold image.
• Don’t be afraid to edit: Cropping your photos to maximize the focus or remove conflicting elements from the subject, playing with filters, and tweaking the colors (including white balance) on your photo can help to polish the edges on your favorite shot.
• Be aware of repetition: While you may have a ton of great photos in your series, do try to highlight images that are unique and distinct from each other. Four strong, individual photographs are more visually interesting than 10 slightly different stills.

Resources

There are a lot of great options out there for image editing tools. Since we’re big fans of all things open source at WordPress.com and Automattic, you may be interested in GIMP and Seashore, two open source image editing programs. Our very own Sara Rosso has a great tutorial on getting started with GIMP and Bryan Villarin has some excellent tips on creating better photos without expensive equipment.

Don’t forget to check out these other links for more information on photo blogging, licensing, and tools for your work:

• Creative Commons: Licensing information to protect your work.
• WordPress Mobile Apps: Phlog on the go with WordPress apps for your smart phone and tablet.
• WordPress.com Photography page: Find fellow photo bloggers via the WordPress.com Photography topic page.
• Daily Post Photo Challenge: Take the Friday Photo Challenge at The Daily Post.
• Flickr on WordPress.com: Learn how to integrate your Flickr photos into your WordPress.com site.

Now get to snapping!

Missed our previous posts? Take a gander at Part 1 and Part 2 here.

Notifications, Refreshed

Stuff happens all the time on WordPress.com. You’re blogging, commenting, liking, and following like never before. Every hour a record is broken and someone’s day is made. We’ve always known about your love affair with stats. We like watching numbers grow, too. And we also like to see the events that the numbers represent. We think of Notifications as a magnifier for Stats: you can zoom in to see exactly who did what and then connect with them.

The original Notifications menu first appeared in the WordPress.com toolbar as a small orange button and a stream of activities related to your blogs and comments. It was a good start but we’ve had bigger plans all along. Today we deployed a new toolbar button and, more significantly, a new tab on the WordPress.com home page.

The New Button

The first thing you’ll notice is that there is no number. We axed it out of compassion. It all boils down to how people feel about inboxes. In giving you a notifications stream, the last thing we wanted to do was cause more stress! So we dropped the unread count and now the orange color simply means there are new notes since you last looked. An icon shows the type of your latest notification.  The icon now also refreshes while you’re on a page, no need to reload a page to see new notifications.

You might also notice that unread notes are still white until you open them, which turns them gray. We didn’t entirely remove the concept of read/unread; we just stopped counting them. Feel free to turn them all gray if that’s your thing, or let some notes stay unread. Either way, we won’t pester you with a number.

The New Panel

In case you like to browse back through older notifications, we built a page that lets you do that. Just go to the WordPress.com Notifications panel and scroll to your heart’s content. Are you proud of a certain achievement from last month? Relive old glories as often as you like.

Other than letting you scroll to older notes, the new panel isn’t much different than the one in the toolbar. That will change soon! We have a list of features to add, as well as new notifications to send, that will make the new panel one of your favorite places on WordPress.com.

Today we’re sending one thousand notes every minute (ten million per week) but we want to send more. We have lots of ideas for new notifications. What kind of things would you like to be notified about?

Small Print

These changes are not compatible with Internet Explorer versions earlier than 9. We will devote some time to maintaining backwards compatability as long as it doesn’t delay the development of new features for modern browsers, but we encourage you to upgrade. Meanwhile, the old version of the toolbar will be displayed for older IE browsers.

7 Food Blogs to Follow This Summer

With the official first day of summer right around the corner, now is a great time to start collecting recipes for your favorite warm-weather treats.

You’ll find endless inspiration by browsing through topics like recipe, grilling, and summer in the WordPress.com Reader, and discover tons of great ideas by exploring our collection of recommended food blogs.

Here are seven mouthwatering recipes from a handful of fantastic blogs that are sure to delight all summer long:

The Patterned Plate

Mango and Coconut Ice Cream

We Call Him Yes! Chef!

Grilled Skirt Steak and Artichokes

The Faux Martha

Strawberry Shortcake

In Pursuit of More

Kale Veggie Slaw with Sesame Miso Dressing

Just Homemade

Raspberry Meyer Lemonade

Love + Cupcakes

Mandarin Orange Creamsicles

The Craving Chronicles

Salty Sweet Strawberry Crisp with Lazy Basil Ice Cream

Do you have an all-time favorite summer recipe? What new recipes do you hope to try out this season?

Photo Blogging 101, Part 2

Now that you’ve been snapping away, you’ll want to build your photographic following. WordPress.com has an excellent photo blogging community, which you can tap into by following these tips and tricks.

Tags, topics, and phloggers, oh my!

Tags work to connect your blog to the larger WordPress.com community, so you can see others who are writing, or photographing, the same subjects as you. By tagging your post as “Photography” or “Black and White,” your posts will be included in the respective Topic page so that other viewers can find your site. If you haven’t added tags to your posts before, you can learn how to do so here.

However, tags can be used for more than just bringing traffic to your site, but as a networking tool as well. As your photo blog grows, taking some time to look at other photo blogging sites can both help you to find inspiration, tips and tricks, and new ideas, as well as put you in contact with your fellow photo blogging compatriots.

You can start following new topics in your WordPress.com reader by going to the WordPress.com Reader and inserting “Photography” or any related tag into the “Add a Topic” text box.

The Photography topic page from the WordPress.com Reader

Building Connections

One of the best ways to boost readership and build a following is to do the same in return. This means that when you see a photo blogger that you like, comment on their post! Comments and pingbacks help to create connections between bloggers and their readers.

Blogging is about community and sharing, and this sets the tone. Just recently, I wrote a blog post inspired by a post on 1000AwesomeThings.com. I linked back, and hopefully turned a bunch of new readers onto the site. Because there was a decent amount of traffic sent to his blog, or maybe because he received a pingback, Neil Pasricha then came and commented on my blog! This is the author of two #1 International Bestselling books! I was so thrilled. I emailed Neil to thank him, and that began a back and forth, where I was able to ask him his blogging tips.

From Bestselling Author Shares 3 Tips for Building Your Blog Audience

In browsing other photo blogs, you may see that many photographers add information about their camera and set up to each post. Generally, photo bloggers will include the camera they used to shoot the image, the aperture and f-stop information, and the lens. This is a great way to explain both the tools you’re using as a photographer and another method of contributing to the photo blogging community by sharing your experiences.

The Duotone theme automatically pulls your digital photo information and displays it in the left sidebar.

Protecting Your Work

Through consistent posting, commenting on other blogs, and tagging your posts, you can continue to build your photo blogging readership. As you get your work out there, it’s also important to make sure that it’s protected. For photo bloggers on WordPress.com, we recommend that you watermark your photos. This means adding a copy right, such as “© Erica’s Photography,” directly to your image with a photo editing program. Watermarking your photos helps to prevent others from taking your images and pretending they’re their own.

If you’re interested in licensing your work as well, the Creative Commons license is an excellent way to both protect your work, while still contributing to the photographic community as a whole. Creative Commons licenses establish you as the owner of your product, but still allow for others to use your work. For example, among the various Creative Commons licenses, you can state that anyone is allowed to use your work as long as it’s attributed to you and they’re not using it for commercial purposes. Better yet, they can follow all of the above rules, and may also build on your work, similar to sampling when it comes to music beats.

Now that your photo blog is well on it’s way, don’t forget to stay tuned for more tips and tricks with our final post on Photo Blogging 101. (Missed the first post? You can check it out here.)

Look Before You Leap

Trying out new themes is fun, isn’t it? I think so! The thing about changing my blog’s theme that has traditionally bugged me, though, is the 10-15 minutes right after you click “Activate” when you have to rush through uploading a new custom header, maybe resetting the background, fiddling with a new sidebar configuration, and other transition adjustments so that people won’t see your site in a half-switched state. Maybe I’m overly sensitive to that — I don’t like to leave things half-painted either — but luckily for me we’ve just finished a new feature to improve this very thing. It is my great pleasure to introduce you to our new theme customization tool* and say good-bye to half-painted websites.

The customizer provides a live preview as you play with Appearance settings, and can be used to customize a live preview of a new theme before you activate it, or to make changes to your existing theme. It allows you to edit the site title and tagline, custom headers and backgrounds, navigation placement, front page selection, and other options that vary by theme. It works with both free themes and premium themes. Shall we take a test drive?

Imagine you want to change themes. As you are browsing on the Themes screen, notice the new “Live Preview” link and click it.

You’re taken to the customizer. As you make changes, the preview in the right-hand part of the screen updates live so you can get things just right.

When things look the way you want them, click the Save & Activate button in the lower left (or Save & Purchase if it is a premium theme) and boom, your new theme and custom settings are live!

You can also use the live preview feature to customize your existing theme. On the themes screen in your dashboard, you’ll now see a “Customize” button that launches the previewer.

And don’t worry, you still have access to the regular screens for adjusting these and other features. Just use the navigation for the Appearance section like you always have.

So, please try it out, and let us know what you think in the comments! I hope you like  it as much as we do. If you hit any snags, let us know in the forums so that we can help.

But wait, there’s more!

Yes, more! Here are a couple of smaller additions also aimed at making it easier to customize your site and make it look just the way you want it.

• When choosing a custom header image, you can now choose from your Media Library. I looove this, because I have uploaded the same header image at least a dozen times to re-use it when I changed themes.
• For themes that support it, custom headers now have a recommended size rather than a fixed required size, so you can be flexible with the height and width of your header images. I love this too, because sometimes I really like a theme but the header image I want to use is taller or shorter than the theme design allows. Now, the power is in your hands to decide! The goal is for as many themes as possible on WordPress.com to support this feature, but you can see if we’ve added it to yours yet by checking the list of supported themes.

And one last thing…
If you know HTML, you can now add links and a little bit of formatting to your image captions. This is great for people who want to link a photo credit to the photographer’s blog or to a Creative Commons license, or want to make some text bold or italicized. At some point in the future we may add a WYSIWYG option, but for now you’ll just need to learn some basic HTML tags if you want to use this one. Just type the HTML right into the caption field in the image uploader, and your links will appear like magic. So this:

becomes this:

You can adopt adorable kittens at your local Humane Society.
Make a new friend and save a life today!
Photo by Jane Wells, saver of kittens

I’ve been wanting this feature for four years now, so I’m really excited.

Have fun with these new features!

*Fun Fact: While this feature was in development, it was originally conceived as a wizard, or guided walkthrough. We codenamed it Gandalf.

New Theme: A Simpler Time

There’s something about this time of year that always makes me wistful for the good old days—the simpler times, if you will—when all that mattered were family, friends, and a whole lotta blogging about everything under the sun. I miss those days, don’t you?

Fear not, my fellow blogging friends. We’ve got you all covered today with a theme that will make you want to stop time and write about everything in your lives until you can’t write anymore.

A Simpler Time, designed by Denise Chandler, is a theme that’s beautiful, bold, and memorable—pretty much exactly like the types of stories you’ll be writing alongside it on your WordPress.com blog:

A Simpler Time: Single Post

It’s a traditional blog theme in the sense that it offers everything you’ve come to expect from a WordPress theme—widgets, custom menus, and custom headers, and more—and it also looks incredible. If you’d also like to mix it up with different colors and fonts, try the Custom Design upgrade. You can do all of that and more.

A Simpler Time is a premium upgrade for your blog; read more about its features on the Theme Showcase or dive right into previewing it on your blog from Appearance → Themes.

Stay In The Conversation

Update (May 17): Since this feature went live we’ve had a bunch of feedback and it looks like following comments by default is not a good fit for a lot of bloggers (and their readers) after all. We looked at a few different options, but for now we’ve just changed things back to how they were before. To follow a conversation, make sure you check the box when you post a comment.

It’s now much easier for you and your commenters to keep track of the conversations you’re involved in across WordPress.com. Some recent tests have shown that by subscribing commenters to new comments by default, they are more likely to stay engaged and come back and comment more on your blog. With that knowledge, we’ve changed the default comment following behavior to help you get more conversations going on your blog.

We made the initial changes last week and after great feedback from you we just launched an update. Here’s how it works:

• By default, posting a comment will now subscribe you to receive follow-up comments via email for that specific post, keeping you updated on the conversation. This is indicated by the checked box in the comment form.
• If you have a WordPress.com account, you now have a global setting to change this so that by default you will not be subscribed. If you don’t have an account, then you can create one over here.
  
• If you don’t want email notifications for a thread, just uncheck the box when you post your comment. If you’ve disabled the feature, you can also subscribe to a specific thread by checking the box in the comment form.
  
• There is also a link at the bottom of every notification email that will allow you to change your subscription options.
  

If you’d like to find out all of the details about how this works, we’ve also updated our support documentation about following comments.