This November, Parramatta was transformed by the Indian festival, Parramasala. It is the first Australian Festival of South Asian Arts officially launched by Premier Kristina Keneally early August in Parramatta.

This is my story.

Day 1

The event officially kicked off on Thursday, 4 November. This is day 1 for me.

It coincided with the regular Farmer’s Market in Parramatta held every Thursday and Saturday. So, aside from the usual stalls, there were heaps more even along Church St. Not to mention the big stall (different sellers) in the Bicentennial Square and a few surprises.

Yes! Even Lebara Mobile has a stall. The staff were so generous to give me (actually, my son) all the different kinds of freebies they have. Thank you!

Erth, the cute baby elephant puppet, started roving around accompanied by the Aussie duo, Dva, and their South Indian music. My son followed Erth whereever he (or she?) went. Whilst the little elephant and the duo were resting, my son and I roamed around and looked at the stores. After some time, he heard music and insisted we check it out.  The duo performed at the Chai stage for half an hour . My son and I really enjoyed their performance. He was clapping with the crowd.

After lunch, we enjoyed another round of performances but this time on the main stage.

My wife joined us after work. We tried Kothu, Tandoori Chicken Wrap and Chai tea. Yum! (Images below).

Day 2

Went out a bit late to catch the street lighting and concert at the Parra Park. Check out how the Town Hall was transformed by light effects.

Stayed a bit to enjoy the performance on the main stage plus a few more shots. Then went to the Parramatta Park for the concert.

Despite the rain, the show went on at the park. The front was really good and I enjoyed their music (even if I didn’t understood the lyrics). I only took a few shots of the concert as I realized that I was there for the music.

I couldn’t wait for the main act as it started raining hard and I had to work on the weekend.

Day 3 and 4?

Unfortunately, as mentioned, I’m working this weekend (I had Thursday and Friday off) so this is the end of the line for me.

Congratulations and thank you to the organizers of Parramasala! The same goes to the Parramatta City Council.  My family and I had fun.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Jai Ho! I would say. Looking forward to next year.

(It’s not yet over. Check out the schedule for the weekend events).

Photography: intelligines.com/photo

What is a Theme Framework?

A framework can be used as is but it’s also a blank canvass for developers or designers. It can be extended with child themes and hooks. We can use a framework as a starting point in our design.

A WordPress Theme framework is a Theme designed to be a flexible foundation for quicker WordPress development, usually serving as a robust Parent Theme for Child Themes. Some Theme frameworks can also make theme development more accessible, removing the need for programming or design knowledge with options pages.

What is Thematic?

Thematic is an open-source WordPress theme framework. It was developed by Ian Stewart–a professional designer and WordPress enthusiast. Taken from the ThemeShaper website, here are the features:

• Perfect to use as-is or as a blank WordPress theme for development
• Fully Search-Engine Optimized
• Extra widget-ready areas (13 in total) and more possible in your Child Theme
• Free and commercially supported Child Themes are available for upgrading the theme
• Includes a sample WordPress Child Theme for rapid development
• A wiki-editable guide to Thematic Customization
• Ready for WordPress plugins like Subscribe to Comments, WP-PageNavi, and Comment-license
• Fully compatible with All-In-One SEO and Platinum SEO plugins
• Multiple, easy to implement, bulletproof layout options for 2, or 3 column designs
• Modular CSS with pre-packaged resets and basic typography
• Dynamic post and body classes make it a hyper-canvas for CSS artists
• Editable footer text—remove the theme credit without harming the theme
• Options for multi-author blogs

Installation

Download the Thematic Framework (direct from WordPress). Follow the instructions from Theme Labs or the video below:

Topographic View

(Click for a full view)

I created this one using the FireFox plugin, Web Developer. I’ve also added the measurements for most elements to give you an idea on the space you’re working on.

If you need more details (i.e. name or order of an element), I suggest you install the said plugin (or Pendule for Chrome users).

You can save it for your reference.

Widgets Placeholder

Out of the box, Thematic has 13 placeholders for your widgets.

1. Primary Aside – The primary widget area, most often used as a sidebar.
2. Secondary Aside - The secondary widget area, most often used as a sidebar.
3. 1st Sudsidiary Aside - The 1st widget area in the footer.
4. 2nd Sudsidiary Aside - The 2nd widget area in the footer.
5. 3rd Sudsidiary Aside - The 3rd widget area in the footer.
6. Index Top - The top widget area displayed on the index page.
7. Index Insert - The widget area inserted after x posts on the index page.
8. Index Bottom - The bottom widget area displayed on the index page.
9. Single Top – The top widget area displayed on a single post.
10. Single Insert - The widget area inserted between the post and the comments on a single post.
11. Single Bottom - The bottom widget area displayed on a single post.
12. Page Top - The top widget area displayed on a page.
13. Page Bottom – The bottom widget area displayed on a page.

Sample Usage

You can separate the items in your sidebar by using the Primary and Secondary Aside. You can then style them differently.

The Index Top or Insert can be used for announcements. Same with Single Top or Insert inside the post.

Single Bottom can be used for Author Bio or even social media icons for sharing.

All Tops, Inserts and Bottoms can utilized for promoting products/services or advertisements.

More Cheat Sheets

• Guide to Customize Thematic – ThemeShaper’s official guide.
• Thematic Structure – visual aid of the framework’s main elements. Kudos to Blue Mandala.

To learn how you can customize your own WordPress theme, start here.

According to a study performed by the Radicati Group, you receive around 61 legitimate emails each day. This includes meeting reminders,  events and important messages. Very few of those messages need to be kept more than a few days, yet many hold onto their email like desperate pack rats. Here are nine techniques which will keep you organized.

1. Do It and Delete It

Your main inbox is a temporary holding area. It is neither a to-do list nor a calendar. For a meeting reminder, place it directly into your calendar. For a to-do list task, write yourself an item. In both cases, erase the original message after you have scheduled the actionable items. By taking action immediately, those tasks will not be buried under the mountain.

2. Color Code Emails

Most email clients offer the color coding feature. You can color your most important messages so that you will see them immediately when you open your client. Those colors will also help you differentiate between mail that is read and unread.

3. Elimination

Take a few minutes at the end of the day to look at your email. Do you need all of those jokes or old newsletters? Do you need to know about the company meetings or birthdays? Ask yourself if you will need the email the following day. If you will, keep it for another day. If you do not, erase it.

4. Use Rules and Filters

Rules are the single best way to create a manageable inbox. You can create an environment where you are only made aware of the most important messages. You can signify spam addresses, look for important subject titles and filter email from specific users. Rules will also allow you to immediately erase messages that you are sure you don’t wish to see. With a rule in place, you can send certain messages directly to folders.

5. Categorize With Folders

Folders are universal for email clients. With the coordination of your rules and folders, you can make sure that your email is well organized. When you receive a message, you can immediately categorize it and assign it to a folder. You can save time when you want to retrieve the message by searching through the folders rather than each individual email.

6. Archive Your Email

Email pack rats need to have a place where all of the messages are kept. If you hate throwing the message away, take the time to archive it. That way it will still be readily available, but not taking up valuable space in your inbox. At least once a quarter, go through the archives and erase anything which may be unnecessary.

7. Download Attachments

Download your attachments and erase them from the email messages. Take the email that the document to which the file was attached and either erase it or place it into a folder. This will save space on your server as reduce the number of messages that you have to see upon opening your email client.

8. Look at the Subjects

Look at the subject lines of the messages within your inbox. Email from unrecognized addresses is sometimes spam. If the subject line advertises a get rich quick scheme or limitless gold coins, the message is probably a message that made it through the spam filter. To differentiate yourself from the spammers, use clear and concise headlines for your messages. When the message returns with a Re:Your subject, you will be thankful.

9. Unsubscribe From Unwanted Lists and Newsletters

Everyone has had a guilty pleasure emailed newsletter or mailing list subscription. Ask yourself whether keeping that subscription is worth getting four or five daily emails. Do you still need the Little League new now that your son has graduated from high school? Free up some inbox space by unsubscribing from those irrelevant newsletters and mailing lists. Email is meant to be read and released. With that newly streamlined inbox, you can devote your time to more pressing projects.

This guest blog post is from James Adams, an in-house blogger working at a leading ink cartridges store. Most of his time is spent reviewing newly released products like the HP 350XL, but he also manages to post about design on their blog. Follow @cartridgesave on Twitter.

What is Twitter?

#5 article on Blog Engage

In Wikipedia.org:

Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service, owned and operated by Twitter Inc., that enables its users to send and read other user’s messages called tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author’s profile page. Tweets are publicly visible by default, however senders can restrict message delivery to their friends list.

According to Twitter:

Twitter is without a doubt the best way to share and discover what is happening right now  (as their site description).

Twitter is a real-time information network powered by people all around the world that lets you share and discover what’s happening now (in their About page).

Hundreds join everyday

One of them is Kat, a former student of mine. She created 2 accounts–presumably 1 for personal and the other for her business.

I found out about those accounts so I followed both. Whilst I know she’s a Facebook expert, this question was asked: “What’s the use of this (Twitter)? I’m quite confused.”

Through an email, this was my reply to her (edited due to privacy reasons):

Kat,

Kamusta? [How are you?] Here’s my promise.

Personal

If you’re using Twitter for personal reasons, just like in Facebook, I guess there’s nothing much to talk about. Just remember, unlike Facebook’s controversial Privacy Settings, Tweets are broadcast and can be seen by millions of Tweeps. Unless, of course, you protect your tweets (Settings > Protect my tweets).

Tools

There’s heaps of free tools. I personally use Hootsuite.com and TweetDeck.com for iPhone/iPod. You can have multiple columns so you can watch Tweets go by. My columns are based on my lists so I can just monitor what I want and don’t get overwhelmed by the amount of information. You can also manage multiple accounts including Facebook.

Some of the things I like about Hootsuite is the ability to schedule your Tweets and have more than 1 member on just 1 account. So, if you want others to manage your Tweets (maybe while your away or even permanently), just add a member.

For your business

Maybe focus on ‘following’ the following:

• Clients/Customers
• Suppliers
• Prospective Clients

One way of finding out who to follow is to “search” for them. You can use http://search.twitter.com/ and type in your keywords such as bracelets, for example. If you’re going to use any of the tools mentioned or something similar, you can add a column for it using your queries.

Another thing you can use are hashtags. One of the most powerful is #FF or #FollowFriday (or #FridayFollow). You basically suggest a person (or more) for Tweeps to follow. Example Tweet: “This lady @keenachi is awesome! #followfriday.” Click here if you want to more about that trend. The downside is it’s international.

If you’re really interested, I can tell you a few tips on how you can boost up your followers. One of them is #followback. If you put that in your Tweets, be sure to follow back whoever follows.

Make money on Twitter?

I’m not that active yet but there’s a lot out there. I use these 2:

• Sponsored Tweets – Your account should at least 60 days old, minimum of 50 followers and 100 Tweets.
• Ad.ly – I can’t remember the requirements. It’s on the website anyway.

What’s your take?

What’s the purpose of Twitter for you? How do you use it?

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Ever wondered if you can run WordPress on your computer locally?

Yes, you can!

A beginner in web development or WordPress theme development, testing purposes or simply curious. Whatever your reason is, I’ll teach you how to install the necessary software (including WordPress), create a database and run/host your WordPress site locally.

What is AMP?

AMP is short for Apache, MySQL and PHP. Where, simply put:

• Apache – HTTP server
• MySQL – handles database
• PHP – scripting language

All 3 are free software that you can install and run on multiple computers. Each can also be installed individually. However, to save us from the tedious ways, AMP packages were born.

There’s one for each platform — WAMP for Windows, MAMP for Macintosh and LAMP for Linux. XAMPP is cross-platform which has interpreters for scripts written in PHP and Perl (hence, PP). X simply means cross-platform.

What You’ll Need

1. WAMP - Windows, Apache, MySQL and PHP. Direct download here (~15MB).
2. WordPress - Download the latest installation files here (~3MB).
3. WinRar* – To uncompress WP files. Direct download here (~1.3MB).

*Any Zip utility will do. Maybe you prefer WinZip (~13.8MB),  Windows’ own utility or MacZip for Macintosh.

If you’re a bit more advance, then XAMPP could be the right package for you. If you’re a Mac user, this article from Tony of Lone Placebo is a good resource.

From here onwards, we’ll focus on a local computer running Windows.

Installing WAMP Server

If you haven’t download the installers, please do it now. Let me know when it’s done

OK, let’s get started. Go to the folder where you downloaded it (WAMP) and, assuming you have administrator rights, simply double-click the installer.

By default, website files are stored in c:\wamp\www. Change the path if you wish.

If you have FireFox, the installer will detect it. Select Yes if you want FF to be the default browser of your server.

Time to launch your WAMP server. Click on Finish.

Leave the parameters as is. Put in your email address if you desire.

You may bump into a security alert if you’re running a firewall. Make sure you unblock Apache HTTP Server.

The WAMP server icon sits on your Task Manager. Click on it to reveal the menu.

Voila! You now have a local server and the ability to host websites locally.

Type http://localhost on your browser to test if it’s working. You should see something like the image above.

Creating Your Database

If you still have your http://localhost main page open, click on phpmyadmin under Tools or Your Aliases (refer to image above).

In the Create new database field, type in your preferred DB name (say, wordpress). Click on Create.

There you go. You just created the database for your WordPress project.

Installing WordPress

Go to the folder where you downloaded WordPress.

Right-click on the file and select Extract Here.

Cut (or copy) the extracted folder in to c:\wamp\www. (Of course you can also extract it directly to that folder).

If you refresh your http://localhost, you will now see wordpress (which is the folder name) under Your Projects. Click on that wordpress link.

At this point, WordPress will look for the wp-config.php file. Don’t worry. This is can now be easily done on the web interface. Just click on Create a Configuration File.

You’re now ready to install WordPress. (Take note of the text highlighted in blue in case the automatic file creation failed). Take note of the following:

1. Database name: wordpress (or your database name)
2. Database username: root
3. Database password: (none/blank at this point)
4. Database host: localhost
5. Table prefix: (not needed unless you want to run more than one WordPress in a single database)

Now click on Let’s go!

Once you’ve typed in the details, click on Submit.

The image above says it all, Sparky! Click on Run the install.

Put in all the information per your preference. Since this is just a test project and run locally, I suggest you uncheck “Allow my site to appear in search engines like Google and Technorati.” This is especially true if you’re going to import the actual content of your blog to avoid being penalized.

Now click on Install WordPress.

And there you have it. WordPress running on your computer locally.

You can access it directly by typing http://localhost/wordpress on your browser. Where wordpress is the folder name. Or, alternatively, just type in localhost to view your WAMP server home page then click on the link under Your Projects.

As usual, the direct path for logging in WordPress is something like http://localhost/wordpress/wp-admin.php

Have fun!