New Website Help

[dumitru]

Personally I've been using mostly HostGator and always recommend it to my customers. At least I've never heard customers complain about them, so there's that.
As for domains, for the last 2 years I've been with name.com.
If you decide to go with a premium WordPress theme, then there are a lot of digest-type websites that collect information about all the latest releases.
Probably the most popular one is PremiumWP.com, it has screen-shots, prices, links, etc.
As Arkansawyer mentioned, make sure that you review all the available options in Dashboard > Settings. Probably the most important thing to do is set a good structure (options are available) in Settings > Permalinks.

After that, I recommend installing and setting up these plugins:
1. WordPress SEO by Yoast
2. Jetpack by WordPress.com
3. WP Super Cache

These are probably the 3 must-have for any website..

Personally I've been using mostly HostGator and always recommend it to my customers. At least I've never heard customers complain about them, so there's that.
As for domains, for the last 2 years I've been with name.com.
If you decide to go with a premium WordPress theme, then there are a lot of digest-type websites that collect information about all the latest releases.
Probably the most popular one is PremiumWP.com, it has screen-shots, prices, links, etc.
As Arkansawyer mentioned, make sure that you review all the available options in Dashboard > Settings. Probably the most important thing to do is set a good structure (options are available) in Settings > Permalinks.

After that, I recommend installing and setting up these plugins:
1. WordPress SEO by Yoast
2. Jetpack by WordPress.com
3. WP Super Cache

These are probably the 3 must-have for any website.

dumitru,
I really appreciate your help and suggestions here, but I didn't appreciate the offline contact solicitation from you. The best thing you can do is to continue posting your thoughts and help so we get to know you and your work. It's a 2 way street on this forum, we help each other, but if you contact members whenever we're talking about a new project, I'm afraid it won't go well for you.
.

Wait... what offline contact? I have never contacted anyone from this forum about anything.
I believe you confused me with someone else.
Why would you think I contacted anyone about anything? Please provide more details.

 

[dumitru]

Personally I've been using mostly HostGator and always recommend it to my customers. At least I've never heard customers complain about them, so there's that.
As for domains, for the last 2 years I've been with name.com.
If you decide to go with a premium WordPress theme, then there are a lot of digest-type websites that collect information about all the latest releases.
Probably the most popular one is PremiumWP.com, it has screen-shots, prices, links, etc.
As Arkansawyer mentioned, make sure that you review all the available options in Dashboard > Settings. Probably the most important thing to do is set a good structure (options are available) in Settings > Permalinks.

After that, I recommend installing and setting up these plugins:
1. WordPress SEO by Yoast
2. Jetpack by WordPress.com
3. WP Super Cache

These are probably the 3 must-have for any website..

Do not use any cache program until you have completed your site or you will run into issues as you work on your site. I have never heard a good thing about JetPack. Never use it. See no point. I always delete it from Go Daddy accounts. Maybe some are successful with it..but many problems with incompatibility with some themes.
YES YES..on Wordpress SEO
.

JetPack is a collection of "modules" that can be enabled/disabled at will. A couple of them are rather important, such as:
1. WordPress.com Stats - it quickly displays some traffic stats about your website, such as popular pages, referrals, etc. Doesn't replace Google Analytics, but helps you quicker see your live stats for the day.
2. Widget Visibility (introduced recently) - it allows you to control each widget on a per-page basis. So you can have a certain widget appearing only on certain pages. Incredibly useful for many people.
3. Monitor (introduced a few days ago) - it monitors and alerts you if the website is down for some reason.
So I don't see a reason for "hating" JetPack, as it is merely a collection of tools, which you can use or not. Instead of having 10 plugins by different authors, you can have just one, developed and supported by WordPress itself.

 

[dumitru]

And there you go: the world of computers. I love JetPack. Would not live without it. No compatibility issues. It does SO many things for me, and does them well..

Glad to hear that I know GO Dad dy includes with it's wordpress. Maybe I will investigate further but have not needed it in the past.
Here's what a guru friend of mine had to say about it. Just an FYI.
"It has some useful utilities, but every feature in it can also be found in other free plugins. Jetpack more or less aggregates all the functions you noted into one macro plugin.
The issue has been in the past that Jetpack often has interfered with premium theme functions as its coding assumed that it would be the only function in the theme employing any advanced js or css classes. Really, like most other wp.com products, it was designed to create obstacles such that users, after pulling their hair out for a while in frustration, decided to head over to wordpress.com to buy their services.
We have many threads on the forum about Jetpack usage with our theme. I think the current assessment is that most of the basic features work with it, but possibly one or two of its components are problematic.
Our recommendation is that if one installs it, one should do so only after all the other components of a site are completed (if possible, which is not always the case). Then activate the desired Jetpack components one by one, checking all your site pages for full functionality between each activation."
.

Glad to hear that I know GO Dad dy includes with it's wordpress. Maybe I will investigate further but have not needed it in the past.
Here's what a guru friend of mine had to say about it. Just an FYI.
Our recommendation is that if one installs it, one should do so only after all the other components of a site are completed (if possible, which is not always the case). Then activate the desired Jetpack components one by one, checking all your site pages for full functionality between each activation."

That's good advice. You just activate the components you want and can do them one-by-one to check compatibility, same as you'd do if you got all the utilities one by one from other sources.
It's just really convenient to have them all in one package controlled from one control center and all kept updated by just updating Jetpack, rather than having to deal with a bunch of separate utilities to keep updated.
Here are some of the components I use the most:

• Great display of all my WordPress stats, stuff I'd otherwise have to go to Google Analytics to check. Analytics gives a lot more info, but for quick daily looks, JetPack tells me where people came from to get to my site, what search terms they used, what pages they looked at, and what links they clicked from my site.
• Lets me easily insert shortcode for columns, dividers like lines and lines with link back to top of page, dropcaps, and other stuff I couldn't do with the WP editor alone.
• Adds the FB Like and Share buttons and Twitter buttons to the bottom of each blog post, as well as other posts.
• Good spell checker and grammar suggester.
• Provides a good contact form for my Contact Us page.

And a lot more
.

See..the theme I use most of the time, has tons of built in shortcodes so I have no need for it, it also has all the social icons and a great contact forms built into it as well as Google Maps and a zillion other things....So other than stats which I use GA for...I have no need for it.
.

The problem of built-in shortcodes has been heavily debated in the WordPress community for the past 1-1.5 years.
Here's the problem: built-in shortcodes are theme-dependent. Which means that the moment you decide to switch themes, you won't have those shortcodes anymore, especially if you switch to a different theme developer.
Which means that you will either have to customize your new theme, and move the shortcodes from the old one, or you will have to edit all of your existing pages and change the old shortcodes to the new ones.
For this reason, in 2013, (good) theme developers no longer bundle extensive functionality into their themes, as themes should be used for design, not features such as shortcodes.
Of course from a developer's point of view it is a good business decision to lock your customer into some dependency. So they bundle a ton of theme-dependent stuff, and once you want to switch, you realize how much trouble that will be. So you keep the theme for a few more months/years, continuing your membership with the developer.
So as a long-term rule of thumb: it is preferable to use great plugins with a good looking theme, than to find a do-it-all bloated theme.
I'll stop now, as I can write about this for hours

 

[Arks]

And there you go: the world of computers. I love JetPack. Would not live without it. No compatibility issues. It does SO many things for me, and does them well..

Glad to hear that I know GO Dad dy includes with it's wordpress. Maybe I will investigate further but have not needed it in the past.
Here's what a guru friend of mine had to say about it. Just an FYI.
"It has some useful utilities, but every feature in it can also be found in other free plugins. Jetpack more or less aggregates all the functions you noted into one macro plugin.
The issue has been in the past that Jetpack often has interfered with premium theme functions as its coding assumed that it would be the only function in the theme employing any advanced js or css classes. Really, like most other wp.com products, it was designed to create obstacles such that users, after pulling their hair out for a while in frustration, decided to head over to wordpress.com to buy their services.
We have many threads on the forum about Jetpack usage with our theme. I think the current assessment is that most of the basic features work with it, but possibly one or two of its components are problematic.
Our recommendation is that if one installs it, one should do so only after all the other components of a site are completed (if possible, which is not always the case). Then activate the desired Jetpack components one by one, checking all your site pages for full functionality between each activation."
.

Glad to hear that I know GO Dad dy includes with it's wordpress. Maybe I will investigate further but have not needed it in the past.
Here's what a guru friend of mine had to say about it. Just an FYI.
Our recommendation is that if one installs it, one should do so only after all the other components of a site are completed (if possible, which is not always the case). Then activate the desired Jetpack components one by one, checking all your site pages for full functionality between each activation."

That's good advice. You just activate the components you want and can do them one-by-one to check compatibility, same as you'd do if you got all the utilities one by one from other sources.
It's just really convenient to have them all in one package controlled from one control center and all kept updated by just updating Jetpack, rather than having to deal with a bunch of separate utilities to keep updated.
Here are some of the components I use the most:

• Great display of all my WordPress stats, stuff I'd otherwise have to go to Google Analytics to check. Analytics gives a lot more info, but for quick daily looks, JetPack tells me where people came from to get to my site, what search terms they used, what pages they looked at, and what links they clicked from my site.
• Lets me easily insert shortcode for columns, dividers like lines and lines with link back to top of page, dropcaps, and other stuff I couldn't do with the WP editor alone.
• Adds the FB Like and Share buttons and Twitter buttons to the bottom of each blog post, as well as other posts.
• Good spell checker and grammar suggester.
• Provides a good contact form for my Contact Us page.

And a lot more
.

See..the theme I use most of the time, has tons of built in shortcodes so I have no need for it, it also has all the social icons and a great contact forms built into it as well as Google Maps and a zillion other things....So other than stats which I use GA for...I have no need for it.
.

The problem of built-in shortcodes has been heavily debated in the WordPress community for the past 1-1.5 years.
Here's the problem: built-in shortcodes are theme-dependent. Which means that the moment you decide to switch themes, you won't have those shortcodes anymore, especially if you switch to a different theme developer.
Which means that you will either have to customize your new theme, and move the shortcodes from the old one, or you will have to edit all of your existing pages and change the old shortcodes to the new ones.
For this reason, in 2013, (good) theme developers no longer bundle extensive functionality into their themes, as themes should be used for design, not features such as shortcodes.
Of course from a developer's point of view it is a good business decision to lock your customer into some dependency. So they bundle a ton of theme-dependent stuff, and once you want to switch, you realize how much trouble that will be. So you keep the theme for a few more months/years, continuing your membership with the developer.
So as a long-term rule of thumb: it is preferable to use great plugins with a good looking theme, than to find a do-it-all bloated theme.
I'll stop now, as I can write about this for hours
.

Here's the problem: built-in shortcodes are theme-dependent. Which means that the moment you decide to switch themes, you won't have those shortcodes anymore, especially if you switch to a different theme developer.

Good point. While we don't switch themes often, after a few years older themes cannot keep up with nice features included in newer themes, so I would think most of us would like to switch to a new theme after a few years. And as we all now know, "a few years" will pass faster than you would think!
Assuming JetPack continues to keep up with the times, a theme switch could be easier than if you are dependent on inclusions in an older theme that do not exist in the newer theme you'd like to switch to.
Of course, "assuming" is the key word.

 

[EmptyNest]

And there you go: the world of computers. I love JetPack. Would not live without it. No compatibility issues. It does SO many things for me, and does them well..

Glad to hear that I know GO Dad dy includes with it's wordpress. Maybe I will investigate further but have not needed it in the past.
Here's what a guru friend of mine had to say about it. Just an FYI.
"It has some useful utilities, but every feature in it can also be found in other free plugins. Jetpack more or less aggregates all the functions you noted into one macro plugin.
The issue has been in the past that Jetpack often has interfered with premium theme functions as its coding assumed that it would be the only function in the theme employing any advanced js or css classes. Really, like most other wp.com products, it was designed to create obstacles such that users, after pulling their hair out for a while in frustration, decided to head over to wordpress.com to buy their services.
We have many threads on the forum about Jetpack usage with our theme. I think the current assessment is that most of the basic features work with it, but possibly one or two of its components are problematic.
Our recommendation is that if one installs it, one should do so only after all the other components of a site are completed (if possible, which is not always the case). Then activate the desired Jetpack components one by one, checking all your site pages for full functionality between each activation."
.

Glad to hear that I know GO Dad dy includes with it's wordpress. Maybe I will investigate further but have not needed it in the past.
Here's what a guru friend of mine had to say about it. Just an FYI.
Our recommendation is that if one installs it, one should do so only after all the other components of a site are completed (if possible, which is not always the case). Then activate the desired Jetpack components one by one, checking all your site pages for full functionality between each activation."

That's good advice. You just activate the components you want and can do them one-by-one to check compatibility, same as you'd do if you got all the utilities one by one from other sources.
It's just really convenient to have them all in one package controlled from one control center and all kept updated by just updating Jetpack, rather than having to deal with a bunch of separate utilities to keep updated.
Here are some of the components I use the most:

• Great display of all my WordPress stats, stuff I'd otherwise have to go to Google Analytics to check. Analytics gives a lot more info, but for quick daily looks, JetPack tells me where people came from to get to my site, what search terms they used, what pages they looked at, and what links they clicked from my site.
• Lets me easily insert shortcode for columns, dividers like lines and lines with link back to top of page, dropcaps, and other stuff I couldn't do with the WP editor alone.
• Adds the FB Like and Share buttons and Twitter buttons to the bottom of each blog post, as well as other posts.
• Good spell checker and grammar suggester.
• Provides a good contact form for my Contact Us page.

And a lot more
.

See..the theme I use most of the time, has tons of built in shortcodes so I have no need for it, it also has all the social icons and a great contact forms built into it as well as Google Maps and a zillion other things....So other than stats which I use GA for...I have no need for it.
.

The problem of built-in shortcodes has been heavily debated in the WordPress community for the past 1-1.5 years.
Here's the problem: built-in shortcodes are theme-dependent. Which means that the moment you decide to switch themes, you won't have those shortcodes anymore, especially if you switch to a different theme developer.
Which means that you will either have to customize your new theme, and move the shortcodes from the old one, or you will have to edit all of your existing pages and change the old shortcodes to the new ones.
For this reason, in 2013, (good) theme developers no longer bundle extensive functionality into their themes, as themes should be used for design, not features such as shortcodes.
Of course from a developer's point of view it is a good business decision to lock your customer into some dependency. So they bundle a ton of theme-dependent stuff, and once you want to switch, you realize how much trouble that will be. So you keep the theme for a few more months/years, continuing your membership with the developer.
So as a long-term rule of thumb: it is preferable to use great plugins with a good looking theme, than to find a do-it-all bloated theme.
I'll stop now, as I can write about this for hours
.

Here's the problem: built-in shortcodes are theme-dependent. Which means that the moment you decide to switch themes, you won't have those shortcodes anymore, especially if you switch to a different theme developer.

Good point. While we don't switch themes often, after a few years older themes cannot keep up with nice features included in newer themes, so I would think most of us would like to switch to a new theme after a few years. And as we all now know, "a few years" will pass faster than you would think!
Assuming JetPack continues to keep up with the times, a theme switch could be easier than if you are dependent on inclusions in an older theme that do not exist in the newer theme you'd like to switch to.
Of course, "assuming" is the key word.
.

"ASSUMING"...yep...you got that right. Many of the most popular themes have been pretty good about updating them. But often times you don't know it has been updated. I have mine set to email me if and when there are updates. And I have to tell you, and I probably said it already but ...the SUPPORT GUYS from Striking theme are ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIC. They go way beyond what anyone else does and they are on it as quick as possible.
I disagree with themes not using shortcodes...practically all the ones I have looked at recently do and they "tout" that they do so that you don't need to add in a ton of plugins which can cause conflicts. Everyone to their own opinion

 

[Breakfast Diva]

Personally I've been using mostly HostGator and always recommend it to my customers. At least I've never heard customers complain about them, so there's that.
As for domains, for the last 2 years I've been with name.com.
If you decide to go with a premium WordPress theme, then there are a lot of digest-type websites that collect information about all the latest releases.
Probably the most popular one is PremiumWP.com, it has screen-shots, prices, links, etc.
As Arkansawyer mentioned, make sure that you review all the available options in Dashboard > Settings. Probably the most important thing to do is set a good structure (options are available) in Settings > Permalinks.

After that, I recommend installing and setting up these plugins:
1. WordPress SEO by Yoast
2. Jetpack by WordPress.com
3. WP Super Cache

These are probably the 3 must-have for any website..

Personally I've been using mostly HostGator and always recommend it to my customers. At least I've never heard customers complain about them, so there's that.
As for domains, for the last 2 years I've been with name.com.
If you decide to go with a premium WordPress theme, then there are a lot of digest-type websites that collect information about all the latest releases.
Probably the most popular one is PremiumWP.com, it has screen-shots, prices, links, etc.
As Arkansawyer mentioned, make sure that you review all the available options in Dashboard > Settings. Probably the most important thing to do is set a good structure (options are available) in Settings > Permalinks.

After that, I recommend installing and setting up these plugins:
1. WordPress SEO by Yoast
2. Jetpack by WordPress.com
3. WP Super Cache

These are probably the 3 must-have for any website.

dumitru,
I really appreciate your help and suggestions here, but I didn't appreciate the offline contact solicitation from you. The best thing you can do is to continue posting your thoughts and help so we get to know you and your work. It's a 2 way street on this forum, we help each other, but if you contact members whenever we're talking about a new project, I'm afraid it won't go well for you.
.

Wait... what offline contact? I have never contacted anyone from this forum about anything.
I believe you confused me with someone else.
Why would you think I contacted anyone about anything? Please provide more details.
.

Wait... what offline contact? I have never contacted anyone from this forum about anything.
I believe you confused me with someone else.
Why would you think I contacted anyone about anything? Please provide more details.

[h2]
dumitru, I owe you a HUGE apology!! It wasn't you![/h2]
I was confused because the e-mail came in the middle of this discussion.
It was favershamdesigns!!

 

[JBloggs]

Personally I've been using mostly HostGator and always recommend it to my customers. At least I've never heard customers complain about them, so there's that.
As for domains, for the last 2 years I've been with name.com.
If you decide to go with a premium WordPress theme, then there are a lot of digest-type websites that collect information about all the latest releases.
Probably the most popular one is PremiumWP.com, it has screen-shots, prices, links, etc.
As Arkansawyer mentioned, make sure that you review all the available options in Dashboard > Settings. Probably the most important thing to do is set a good structure (options are available) in Settings > Permalinks.

After that, I recommend installing and setting up these plugins:
1. WordPress SEO by Yoast
2. Jetpack by WordPress.com
3. WP Super Cache

These are probably the 3 must-have for any website..

Personally I've been using mostly HostGator and always recommend it to my customers. At least I've never heard customers complain about them, so there's that.
As for domains, for the last 2 years I've been with name.com.
If you decide to go with a premium WordPress theme, then there are a lot of digest-type websites that collect information about all the latest releases.
Probably the most popular one is PremiumWP.com, it has screen-shots, prices, links, etc.
As Arkansawyer mentioned, make sure that you review all the available options in Dashboard > Settings. Probably the most important thing to do is set a good structure (options are available) in Settings > Permalinks.

After that, I recommend installing and setting up these plugins:
1. WordPress SEO by Yoast
2. Jetpack by WordPress.com
3. WP Super Cache

These are probably the 3 must-have for any website.

dumitru,
I really appreciate your help and suggestions here, but I didn't appreciate the offline contact solicitation from you. The best thing you can do is to continue posting your thoughts and help so we get to know you and your work. It's a 2 way street on this forum, we help each other, but if you contact members whenever we're talking about a new project, I'm afraid it won't go well for you.
.

Wait... what offline contact? I have never contacted anyone from this forum about anything.
I believe you confused me with someone else.
Why would you think I contacted anyone about anything? Please provide more details.
.

Wait... what offline contact? I have never contacted anyone from this forum about anything.
I believe you confused me with someone else.
Why would you think I contacted anyone about anything? Please provide more details.

[h2]
dumitru, I owe you a HUGE apology!! It wasn't you![/h2]
I was confused because the e-mail came in the middle of this discussion.
It was favershamdesigns!!
.

Wait... what offline contact? I have never contacted anyone from this forum about anything.
I believe you confused me with someone else.
Why would you think I contacted anyone about anything? Please provide more details.

[h2]
dumitru, I owe you a HUGE apology!! It wasn't you![/h2]
I was confused because the e-mail came in the middle of this discussion.
It was favershamdesigns!!

Thank you for clearing that up. Dumitru now you see WHY we are so the way we are! "favershamdesigns" came to the forum and on day one began sending emails to people from the forum. I hope you can appreciate this, we mentioned this and you got offended and thankfully YOU are not like this! Stick around.

 

[dumitru]

And there you go: the world of computers. I love JetPack. Would not live without it. No compatibility issues. It does SO many things for me, and does them well..

Glad to hear that I know GO Dad dy includes with it's wordpress. Maybe I will investigate further but have not needed it in the past.
Here's what a guru friend of mine had to say about it. Just an FYI.
"It has some useful utilities, but every feature in it can also be found in other free plugins. Jetpack more or less aggregates all the functions you noted into one macro plugin.
The issue has been in the past that Jetpack often has interfered with premium theme functions as its coding assumed that it would be the only function in the theme employing any advanced js or css classes. Really, like most other wp.com products, it was designed to create obstacles such that users, after pulling their hair out for a while in frustration, decided to head over to wordpress.com to buy their services.
We have many threads on the forum about Jetpack usage with our theme. I think the current assessment is that most of the basic features work with it, but possibly one or two of its components are problematic.
Our recommendation is that if one installs it, one should do so only after all the other components of a site are completed (if possible, which is not always the case). Then activate the desired Jetpack components one by one, checking all your site pages for full functionality between each activation."
.

Glad to hear that I know GO Dad dy includes with it's wordpress. Maybe I will investigate further but have not needed it in the past.
Here's what a guru friend of mine had to say about it. Just an FYI.
Our recommendation is that if one installs it, one should do so only after all the other components of a site are completed (if possible, which is not always the case). Then activate the desired Jetpack components one by one, checking all your site pages for full functionality between each activation."

That's good advice. You just activate the components you want and can do them one-by-one to check compatibility, same as you'd do if you got all the utilities one by one from other sources.
It's just really convenient to have them all in one package controlled from one control center and all kept updated by just updating Jetpack, rather than having to deal with a bunch of separate utilities to keep updated.
Here are some of the components I use the most:

• Great display of all my WordPress stats, stuff I'd otherwise have to go to Google Analytics to check. Analytics gives a lot more info, but for quick daily looks, JetPack tells me where people came from to get to my site, what search terms they used, what pages they looked at, and what links they clicked from my site.
• Lets me easily insert shortcode for columns, dividers like lines and lines with link back to top of page, dropcaps, and other stuff I couldn't do with the WP editor alone.
• Adds the FB Like and Share buttons and Twitter buttons to the bottom of each blog post, as well as other posts.
• Good spell checker and grammar suggester.
• Provides a good contact form for my Contact Us page.

And a lot more
.

See..the theme I use most of the time, has tons of built in shortcodes so I have no need for it, it also has all the social icons and a great contact forms built into it as well as Google Maps and a zillion other things....So other than stats which I use GA for...I have no need for it.
.

The problem of built-in shortcodes has been heavily debated in the WordPress community for the past 1-1.5 years.
Here's the problem: built-in shortcodes are theme-dependent. Which means that the moment you decide to switch themes, you won't have those shortcodes anymore, especially if you switch to a different theme developer.
Which means that you will either have to customize your new theme, and move the shortcodes from the old one, or you will have to edit all of your existing pages and change the old shortcodes to the new ones.
For this reason, in 2013, (good) theme developers no longer bundle extensive functionality into their themes, as themes should be used for design, not features such as shortcodes.
Of course from a developer's point of view it is a good business decision to lock your customer into some dependency. So they bundle a ton of theme-dependent stuff, and once you want to switch, you realize how much trouble that will be. So you keep the theme for a few more months/years, continuing your membership with the developer.
So as a long-term rule of thumb: it is preferable to use great plugins with a good looking theme, than to find a do-it-all bloated theme.
I'll stop now, as I can write about this for hours
.

Here's the problem: built-in shortcodes are theme-dependent. Which means that the moment you decide to switch themes, you won't have those shortcodes anymore, especially if you switch to a different theme developer.

Good point. While we don't switch themes often, after a few years older themes cannot keep up with nice features included in newer themes, so I would think most of us would like to switch to a new theme after a few years. And as we all now know, "a few years" will pass faster than you would think!
Assuming JetPack continues to keep up with the times, a theme switch could be easier than if you are dependent on inclusions in an older theme that do not exist in the newer theme you'd like to switch to.
Of course, "assuming" is the key word.
.

"ASSUMING"...yep...you got that right. Many of the most popular themes have been pretty good about updating them. But often times you don't know it has been updated. I have mine set to email me if and when there are updates. And I have to tell you, and I probably said it already but ...the SUPPORT GUYS from Striking theme are ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIC. They go way beyond what anyone else does and they are on it as quick as possible.
I disagree with themes not using shortcodes...practically all the ones I have looked at recently do and they "tout" that they do so that you don't need to add in a ton of plugins which can cause conflicts. Everyone to their own opinion
.

Usually you will find thousands of shortcodes in themes from ThemeForest The quality requirements are almost non-existing there, so it is very easy to get started with sales there.
Lately the requirements have been increased a bit, but it can still get pretty wild down there.
But, as always, it is up to the customer: if it works great for you, everything else is irrelevant

 

[dumitru]

Personally I've been using mostly HostGator and always recommend it to my customers. At least I've never heard customers complain about them, so there's that.
As for domains, for the last 2 years I've been with name.com.
If you decide to go with a premium WordPress theme, then there are a lot of digest-type websites that collect information about all the latest releases.
Probably the most popular one is PremiumWP.com, it has screen-shots, prices, links, etc.
As Arkansawyer mentioned, make sure that you review all the available options in Dashboard > Settings. Probably the most important thing to do is set a good structure (options are available) in Settings > Permalinks.

After that, I recommend installing and setting up these plugins:
1. WordPress SEO by Yoast
2. Jetpack by WordPress.com
3. WP Super Cache

These are probably the 3 must-have for any website..

Personally I've been using mostly HostGator and always recommend it to my customers. At least I've never heard customers complain about them, so there's that.
As for domains, for the last 2 years I've been with name.com.
If you decide to go with a premium WordPress theme, then there are a lot of digest-type websites that collect information about all the latest releases.
Probably the most popular one is PremiumWP.com, it has screen-shots, prices, links, etc.
As Arkansawyer mentioned, make sure that you review all the available options in Dashboard > Settings. Probably the most important thing to do is set a good structure (options are available) in Settings > Permalinks.

After that, I recommend installing and setting up these plugins:
1. WordPress SEO by Yoast
2. Jetpack by WordPress.com
3. WP Super Cache

These are probably the 3 must-have for any website.

dumitru,
I really appreciate your help and suggestions here, but I didn't appreciate the offline contact solicitation from you. The best thing you can do is to continue posting your thoughts and help so we get to know you and your work. It's a 2 way street on this forum, we help each other, but if you contact members whenever we're talking about a new project, I'm afraid it won't go well for you.
.

Wait... what offline contact? I have never contacted anyone from this forum about anything.
I believe you confused me with someone else.
Why would you think I contacted anyone about anything? Please provide more details.
.

Wait... what offline contact? I have never contacted anyone from this forum about anything.
I believe you confused me with someone else.
Why would you think I contacted anyone about anything? Please provide more details.

[h2]
dumitru, I owe you a HUGE apology!! It wasn't you![/h2]
I was confused because the e-mail came in the middle of this discussion.
It was favershamdesigns!!
.

What a relief... I was about to start questioning my sanity

 

[dumitru]

Personally I've been using mostly HostGator and always recommend it to my customers. At least I've never heard customers complain about them, so there's that.
As for domains, for the last 2 years I've been with name.com.
If you decide to go with a premium WordPress theme, then there are a lot of digest-type websites that collect information about all the latest releases.
Probably the most popular one is PremiumWP.com, it has screen-shots, prices, links, etc.
As Arkansawyer mentioned, make sure that you review all the available options in Dashboard > Settings. Probably the most important thing to do is set a good structure (options are available) in Settings > Permalinks.

After that, I recommend installing and setting up these plugins:
1. WordPress SEO by Yoast
2. Jetpack by WordPress.com
3. WP Super Cache

These are probably the 3 must-have for any website..

Personally I've been using mostly HostGator and always recommend it to my customers. At least I've never heard customers complain about them, so there's that.
As for domains, for the last 2 years I've been with name.com.
If you decide to go with a premium WordPress theme, then there are a lot of digest-type websites that collect information about all the latest releases.
Probably the most popular one is PremiumWP.com, it has screen-shots, prices, links, etc.
As Arkansawyer mentioned, make sure that you review all the available options in Dashboard > Settings. Probably the most important thing to do is set a good structure (options are available) in Settings > Permalinks.

After that, I recommend installing and setting up these plugins:
1. WordPress SEO by Yoast
2. Jetpack by WordPress.com
3. WP Super Cache

These are probably the 3 must-have for any website.

dumitru,
I really appreciate your help and suggestions here, but I didn't appreciate the offline contact solicitation from you. The best thing you can do is to continue posting your thoughts and help so we get to know you and your work. It's a 2 way street on this forum, we help each other, but if you contact members whenever we're talking about a new project, I'm afraid it won't go well for you.
.

Wait... what offline contact? I have never contacted anyone from this forum about anything.
I believe you confused me with someone else.
Why would you think I contacted anyone about anything? Please provide more details.
.

Wait... what offline contact? I have never contacted anyone from this forum about anything.
I believe you confused me with someone else.
Why would you think I contacted anyone about anything? Please provide more details.

[h2]
dumitru, I owe you a HUGE apology!! It wasn't you![/h2]
I was confused because the e-mail came in the middle of this discussion.
It was favershamdesigns!!
.

Wait... what offline contact? I have never contacted anyone from this forum about anything.
I believe you confused me with someone else.
Why would you think I contacted anyone about anything? Please provide more details.

[h2]
dumitru, I owe you a HUGE apology!! It wasn't you![/h2]
I was confused because the e-mail came in the middle of this discussion.
It was favershamdesigns!!

Thank you for clearing that up. Dumitru now you see WHY we are so the way we are! "favershamdesigns" came to the forum and on day one began sending emails to people from the forum. I hope you can appreciate this, we mentioned this and you got offended and thankfully YOU are not like this! Stick around.

.

Thank you for clearing that up. Dumitru now you see WHY we are so the way we are! "favershamdesigns" came to the forum and on day one began sending emails to people from the forum. I hope you can appreciate this, we mentioned this and you got offended and thankfully YOU are not like this! Stick around.

We're cool

 

[JBloggs]

Personally I've been using mostly HostGator and always recommend it to my customers. At least I've never heard customers complain about them, so there's that.
As for domains, for the last 2 years I've been with name.com.
If you decide to go with a premium WordPress theme, then there are a lot of digest-type websites that collect information about all the latest releases.
Probably the most popular one is PremiumWP.com, it has screen-shots, prices, links, etc.
As Arkansawyer mentioned, make sure that you review all the available options in Dashboard > Settings. Probably the most important thing to do is set a good structure (options are available) in Settings > Permalinks.

After that, I recommend installing and setting up these plugins:
1. WordPress SEO by Yoast
2. Jetpack by WordPress.com
3. WP Super Cache

These are probably the 3 must-have for any website..

Personally I've been using mostly HostGator and always recommend it to my customers. At least I've never heard customers complain about them, so there's that.
As for domains, for the last 2 years I've been with name.com.
If you decide to go with a premium WordPress theme, then there are a lot of digest-type websites that collect information about all the latest releases.
Probably the most popular one is PremiumWP.com, it has screen-shots, prices, links, etc.
As Arkansawyer mentioned, make sure that you review all the available options in Dashboard > Settings. Probably the most important thing to do is set a good structure (options are available) in Settings > Permalinks.

After that, I recommend installing and setting up these plugins:
1. WordPress SEO by Yoast
2. Jetpack by WordPress.com
3. WP Super Cache

These are probably the 3 must-have for any website.

dumitru,
I really appreciate your help and suggestions here, but I didn't appreciate the offline contact solicitation from you. The best thing you can do is to continue posting your thoughts and help so we get to know you and your work. It's a 2 way street on this forum, we help each other, but if you contact members whenever we're talking about a new project, I'm afraid it won't go well for you.
.

Wait... what offline contact? I have never contacted anyone from this forum about anything.
I believe you confused me with someone else.
Why would you think I contacted anyone about anything? Please provide more details.
.

Wait... what offline contact? I have never contacted anyone from this forum about anything.
I believe you confused me with someone else.
Why would you think I contacted anyone about anything? Please provide more details.

[h2]
dumitru, I owe you a HUGE apology!! It wasn't you![/h2]
I was confused because the e-mail came in the middle of this discussion.
It was favershamdesigns!!
.

Wait... what offline contact? I have never contacted anyone from this forum about anything.
I believe you confused me with someone else.
Why would you think I contacted anyone about anything? Please provide more details.

[h2]
dumitru, I owe you a HUGE apology!! It wasn't you![/h2]
I was confused because the e-mail came in the middle of this discussion.
It was favershamdesigns!!

Thank you for clearing that up. Dumitru now you see WHY we are so the way we are! "favershamdesigns" came to the forum and on day one began sending emails to people from the forum. I hope you can appreciate this, we mentioned this and you got offended and thankfully YOU are not like this! Stick around.

.

Thank you for clearing that up. Dumitru now you see WHY we are so the way we are! "favershamdesigns" came to the forum and on day one began sending emails to people from the forum. I hope you can appreciate this, we mentioned this and you got offended and thankfully YOU are not like this! Stick around.

We're cool
.

Thank you for clearing that up. Dumitru now you see WHY we are so the way we are! "favershamdesigns" came to the forum and on day one began sending emails to people from the forum. I hope you can appreciate this, we mentioned this and you got offended and thankfully YOU are not like this! Stick around.

We're cool

What sort of camera do you shoot? I see it is your avatar. I just got my upgrade to a Nikon D7000. It has traveled around the world, a friend upgrades and I wait eagerly to buy his old one. It has been in the dust storms of Africa and more, but it is dust and moisture proof, so I am super happy with it. (Just got it last night)

 

[Breakfast Diva]

Personally I've been using mostly HostGator and always recommend it to my customers. At least I've never heard customers complain about them, so there's that.
As for domains, for the last 2 years I've been with name.com.
If you decide to go with a premium WordPress theme, then there are a lot of digest-type websites that collect information about all the latest releases.
Probably the most popular one is PremiumWP.com, it has screen-shots, prices, links, etc.
As Arkansawyer mentioned, make sure that you review all the available options in Dashboard > Settings. Probably the most important thing to do is set a good structure (options are available) in Settings > Permalinks.

After that, I recommend installing and setting up these plugins:
1. WordPress SEO by Yoast
2. Jetpack by WordPress.com
3. WP Super Cache

These are probably the 3 must-have for any website..

Personally I've been using mostly HostGator and always recommend it to my customers. At least I've never heard customers complain about them, so there's that.
As for domains, for the last 2 years I've been with name.com.
If you decide to go with a premium WordPress theme, then there are a lot of digest-type websites that collect information about all the latest releases.
Probably the most popular one is PremiumWP.com, it has screen-shots, prices, links, etc.
As Arkansawyer mentioned, make sure that you review all the available options in Dashboard > Settings. Probably the most important thing to do is set a good structure (options are available) in Settings > Permalinks.

After that, I recommend installing and setting up these plugins:
1. WordPress SEO by Yoast
2. Jetpack by WordPress.com
3. WP Super Cache

These are probably the 3 must-have for any website.

dumitru,
I really appreciate your help and suggestions here, but I didn't appreciate the offline contact solicitation from you. The best thing you can do is to continue posting your thoughts and help so we get to know you and your work. It's a 2 way street on this forum, we help each other, but if you contact members whenever we're talking about a new project, I'm afraid it won't go well for you.
.

Wait... what offline contact? I have never contacted anyone from this forum about anything.
I believe you confused me with someone else.
Why would you think I contacted anyone about anything? Please provide more details.
.

Wait... what offline contact? I have never contacted anyone from this forum about anything.
I believe you confused me with someone else.
Why would you think I contacted anyone about anything? Please provide more details.

[h2]
dumitru, I owe you a HUGE apology!! It wasn't you![/h2]
I was confused because the e-mail came in the middle of this discussion.
It was favershamdesigns!!
.

What a relief... I was about to start questioning my sanity
.

What a relief... I was about to start questioning my sanity
[/quote ]
I'm the one that went crazy yesterday! I'm much better now...it's only my normal sanity problems

 

[dumitru]

Personally I've been using mostly HostGator and always recommend it to my customers. At least I've never heard customers complain about them, so there's that.
As for domains, for the last 2 years I've been with name.com.
If you decide to go with a premium WordPress theme, then there are a lot of digest-type websites that collect information about all the latest releases.
Probably the most popular one is PremiumWP.com, it has screen-shots, prices, links, etc.
As Arkansawyer mentioned, make sure that you review all the available options in Dashboard > Settings. Probably the most important thing to do is set a good structure (options are available) in Settings > Permalinks.

After that, I recommend installing and setting up these plugins:
1. WordPress SEO by Yoast
2. Jetpack by WordPress.com
3. WP Super Cache

These are probably the 3 must-have for any website..

Personally I've been using mostly HostGator and always recommend it to my customers. At least I've never heard customers complain about them, so there's that.
As for domains, for the last 2 years I've been with name.com.
If you decide to go with a premium WordPress theme, then there are a lot of digest-type websites that collect information about all the latest releases.
Probably the most popular one is PremiumWP.com, it has screen-shots, prices, links, etc.
As Arkansawyer mentioned, make sure that you review all the available options in Dashboard > Settings. Probably the most important thing to do is set a good structure (options are available) in Settings > Permalinks.

After that, I recommend installing and setting up these plugins:
1. WordPress SEO by Yoast
2. Jetpack by WordPress.com
3. WP Super Cache

These are probably the 3 must-have for any website.

dumitru,
I really appreciate your help and suggestions here, but I didn't appreciate the offline contact solicitation from you. The best thing you can do is to continue posting your thoughts and help so we get to know you and your work. It's a 2 way street on this forum, we help each other, but if you contact members whenever we're talking about a new project, I'm afraid it won't go well for you.
.

Wait... what offline contact? I have never contacted anyone from this forum about anything.
I believe you confused me with someone else.
Why would you think I contacted anyone about anything? Please provide more details.
.

Wait... what offline contact? I have never contacted anyone from this forum about anything.
I believe you confused me with someone else.
Why would you think I contacted anyone about anything? Please provide more details.

[h2]
dumitru, I owe you a HUGE apology!! It wasn't you![/h2]
I was confused because the e-mail came in the middle of this discussion.
It was favershamdesigns!!
.

Wait... what offline contact? I have never contacted anyone from this forum about anything.
I believe you confused me with someone else.
Why would you think I contacted anyone about anything? Please provide more details.

[h2]
dumitru, I owe you a HUGE apology!! It wasn't you![/h2]
I was confused because the e-mail came in the middle of this discussion.
It was favershamdesigns!!

Thank you for clearing that up. Dumitru now you see WHY we are so the way we are! "favershamdesigns" came to the forum and on day one began sending emails to people from the forum. I hope you can appreciate this, we mentioned this and you got offended and thankfully YOU are not like this! Stick around.

.

Thank you for clearing that up. Dumitru now you see WHY we are so the way we are! "favershamdesigns" came to the forum and on day one began sending emails to people from the forum. I hope you can appreciate this, we mentioned this and you got offended and thankfully YOU are not like this! Stick around.

We're cool
.

Thank you for clearing that up. Dumitru now you see WHY we are so the way we are! "favershamdesigns" came to the forum and on day one began sending emails to people from the forum. I hope you can appreciate this, we mentioned this and you got offended and thankfully YOU are not like this! Stick around.

We're cool

What sort of camera do you shoot? I see it is your avatar. I just got my upgrade to a Nikon D7000. It has traveled around the world, a friend upgrades and I wait eagerly to buy his old one. It has been in the dust storms of Africa and more, but it is dust and moisture proof, so I am super happy with it. (Just got it last night)
.

Last year I switched from an amateur's Nikon D5000 to a Canon Mark II. Not because I was unhappy about the Nikon, but because I wanted a full-frame camera.
Currently I'm mostly shooting HDR wide shots, so I needed a proper wide lens.
I got the Mark II with a Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM ultra-wide lens... I love it Most of the stuff on my blog was shot with it, with the occasional 50mm 1.4 Nikon.

 

[JBloggs]

Personally I've been using mostly HostGator and always recommend it to my customers. At least I've never heard customers complain about them, so there's that.
As for domains, for the last 2 years I've been with name.com.
If you decide to go with a premium WordPress theme, then there are a lot of digest-type websites that collect information about all the latest releases.
Probably the most popular one is PremiumWP.com, it has screen-shots, prices, links, etc.
As Arkansawyer mentioned, make sure that you review all the available options in Dashboard > Settings. Probably the most important thing to do is set a good structure (options are available) in Settings > Permalinks.

After that, I recommend installing and setting up these plugins:
1. WordPress SEO by Yoast
2. Jetpack by WordPress.com
3. WP Super Cache

These are probably the 3 must-have for any website..

Personally I've been using mostly HostGator and always recommend it to my customers. At least I've never heard customers complain about them, so there's that.
As for domains, for the last 2 years I've been with name.com.
If you decide to go with a premium WordPress theme, then there are a lot of digest-type websites that collect information about all the latest releases.
Probably the most popular one is PremiumWP.com, it has screen-shots, prices, links, etc.
As Arkansawyer mentioned, make sure that you review all the available options in Dashboard > Settings. Probably the most important thing to do is set a good structure (options are available) in Settings > Permalinks.

After that, I recommend installing and setting up these plugins:
1. WordPress SEO by Yoast
2. Jetpack by WordPress.com
3. WP Super Cache

These are probably the 3 must-have for any website.

dumitru,
I really appreciate your help and suggestions here, but I didn't appreciate the offline contact solicitation from you. The best thing you can do is to continue posting your thoughts and help so we get to know you and your work. It's a 2 way street on this forum, we help each other, but if you contact members whenever we're talking about a new project, I'm afraid it won't go well for you.
.

Wait... what offline contact? I have never contacted anyone from this forum about anything.
I believe you confused me with someone else.
Why would you think I contacted anyone about anything? Please provide more details.
.

Wait... what offline contact? I have never contacted anyone from this forum about anything.
I believe you confused me with someone else.
Why would you think I contacted anyone about anything? Please provide more details.

[h2]
dumitru, I owe you a HUGE apology!! It wasn't you![/h2]
I was confused because the e-mail came in the middle of this discussion.
It was favershamdesigns!!
.

Wait... what offline contact? I have never contacted anyone from this forum about anything.
I believe you confused me with someone else.
Why would you think I contacted anyone about anything? Please provide more details.

[h2]
dumitru, I owe you a HUGE apology!! It wasn't you![/h2]
I was confused because the e-mail came in the middle of this discussion.
It was favershamdesigns!!

Thank you for clearing that up. Dumitru now you see WHY we are so the way we are! "favershamdesigns" came to the forum and on day one began sending emails to people from the forum. I hope you can appreciate this, we mentioned this and you got offended and thankfully YOU are not like this! Stick around.

.

Thank you for clearing that up. Dumitru now you see WHY we are so the way we are! "favershamdesigns" came to the forum and on day one began sending emails to people from the forum. I hope you can appreciate this, we mentioned this and you got offended and thankfully YOU are not like this! Stick around.

We're cool
.

Thank you for clearing that up. Dumitru now you see WHY we are so the way we are! "favershamdesigns" came to the forum and on day one began sending emails to people from the forum. I hope you can appreciate this, we mentioned this and you got offended and thankfully YOU are not like this! Stick around.

We're cool

What sort of camera do you shoot? I see it is your avatar. I just got my upgrade to a Nikon D7000. It has traveled around the world, a friend upgrades and I wait eagerly to buy his old one. It has been in the dust storms of Africa and more, but it is dust and moisture proof, so I am super happy with it. (Just got it last night)
.

Last year I switched from an amateur's Nikon D5000 to a Canon Mark II. Not because I was unhappy about the Nikon, but because I wanted a full-frame camera.
Currently I'm mostly shooting HDR wide shots, so I needed a proper wide lens.
I got the Mark II with a Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM ultra-wide lens... I love it Most of the stuff on my blog was shot with it, with the occasional 50mm 1.4 Nikon.
.

Last year I switched from an amateur's Nikon D5000 to a Canon Mark II. Not because I was unhappy about the Nikon, but because I wanted a full-frame camera.
Currently I'm mostly shooting HDR wide shots, so I needed a proper wide lens.
I got the Mark II with a Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM ultra-wide lens... I love it Most of the stuff on my blog was shot with it, with the occasional 50mm 1.4 Nikon.

That is what this is as well, full frame HDR. Two SD card slots (one for backup, redundancy or even copies of the same pix), or video. It is much heavier, as DH said a ball banger vs the girlie D40X I have before (still have).
My favorite lens I bought last year (as a bday present) which is ultra wide, it has become my standard go to lens for the most part. I will have a look at the blog. This new lens is 18-200mm. So my middle range zoom may become obsolete now (55-200mm).

 

[CafeMae]

Last night I ordered my new domain and hosting on 1 and 1. This morning, I have an e-mail saying that they need this information:
- Accounts ordered under Personal name/information:
One of the following Photo ID's issued by a government agency:
Driver's License
Passport
National ID
Immigration Visa
Military ID
- Accounts ordered under a Business name/information:
One of the above Personal Photo ID's for the listed administrative contact in your order, and one of the following:
Business Registration Documents
Articles of Incorporation
Tax Documents
Other forms of ID will be reviewed and accepted at our discretion.
Does this seem right to you? I ordered it under our corporation name. There's NO WAY I'm going to give them tax documents!!! Why do they need all this? I've never had to do this with any other domain I've bought..

I think that's WIERD!!! I've never had to do anything like that. It's for the domain name registration? Of course, I've had the domain name registered to me personally, so maybe that's it?

 

[swirt]

Last night I ordered my new domain and hosting on 1 and 1. This morning, I have an e-mail saying that they need this information:
- Accounts ordered under Personal name/information:
One of the following Photo ID's issued by a government agency:
Driver's License
Passport
National ID
Immigration Visa
Military ID
- Accounts ordered under a Business name/information:
One of the above Personal Photo ID's for the listed administrative contact in your order, and one of the following:
Business Registration Documents
Articles of Incorporation
Tax Documents
Other forms of ID will be reviewed and accepted at our discretion.
Does this seem right to you? I ordered it under our corporation name. There's NO WAY I'm going to give them tax documents!!! Why do they need all this? I've never had to do this with any other domain I've bought..

No this does not seem right. Are you sure you are on 1and1.com ? (as opposed to some other country like 1and1.de Just using it as an example because Germany has very strict requirements for websites.)
I have never had to give any information like that to 1and1.com I still host all my sites with them.

 

[Skamokawa]

[h2]
EMPTYNEST ROCKS!!!![/h2]

.

Yes indeedy!

 

[Breakfast Diva]

Last night I ordered my new domain and hosting on 1 and 1. This morning, I have an e-mail saying that they need this information:
- Accounts ordered under Personal name/information:
One of the following Photo ID's issued by a government agency:
Driver's License
Passport
National ID
Immigration Visa
Military ID
- Accounts ordered under a Business name/information:
One of the above Personal Photo ID's for the listed administrative contact in your order, and one of the following:
Business Registration Documents
Articles of Incorporation
Tax Documents
Other forms of ID will be reviewed and accepted at our discretion.
Does this seem right to you? I ordered it under our corporation name. There's NO WAY I'm going to give them tax documents!!! Why do they need all this? I've never had to do this with any other domain I've bought..

No this does not seem right. Are you sure you are on 1and1.com ? (as opposed to some other country like 1and1.de Just using it as an example because Germany has very strict requirements for websites.)
I have never had to give any information like that to 1and1.com I still host all my sites with them.
.

No this does not seem right. Are you sure you are on 1and1.com ? (as opposed to some other country like 1and1.de Just using it as an example because Germany has very strict requirements for websites.)
I have never had to give any information like that to 1and1.com I still host all my sites with them.

yes, it's 1and1.com
It's all set up now, but sure seems strange.