Today, I will teach you how to give these nifty little rounded edges to your menu. Given below is the CSS code. This goes into the head section of your HTML file. :-

CSS


<style>
ul {
    width:180px;
    list-style-type:none;
    margin:0 auto;
    padding:0;
}
 
li a {
    display:block;
    position:relative;
    border-width:1px 0;
    border-color:#ccc;
    border-style:solid;
    color:#555;
    text-decoration:none;
    margin:4px 1px;
}
 
li a span {
    display:block;
    position:relative;
    margin:0 -1px;
    border-width:0 1px;
    border-color:#ccc;
    border-style:solid;
    background-color:#eee;
    padding:2px 6px;
}
 
li a:hover {
    border-color:#aaa;
    color:#333;
}
 
li a:hover span {
    border-color:#aaa;
    background-color:#ddd;
}
</style>


Here is the HTML needed. This goes in the body of your HTML file. :-

HTML


<ul>
    <li>
        <a href="#"><span>Home</span></a>
        <a href="#"><span>About</span></a>
        <a href="#"><span>Products</span></a>
        <a href="#"><span>Services</span></a>
        <a href="#"><span>Contact</span></a>
    </li>
</ul>


Once you have copied the above pieces of code into your HTML file and when you run it, you should see something like this :-

So, you can see that these rounded corners can be created without using any kind of images. You can download the source file here :- Download

Please let me know if you have any problems or just leave comments if you like it.

I have been a PC gamer for the past fifteen years. I play a lot of games on my PC in my free time, not only to unwind, but also to satiate the hardcore gamer inside me. Off lately, I have been following many gaming forums and websites which are talking about the downfall of the PC gaming scene because of the increasing piracy of the games. This fact is really disturbing for me as I have been an avid gamer and do not want to lose one of my most passionate hobbies.

The downfall is evident from the fact that most of the popular game titles are being released for the consoles even before they make their appearance on the PC, or even a declaration is made that they will be available for the PC. Popular games like GTA (Grand Theft Auto) which were exclusive for the PC in the past years, are now being launched for the consoles first (take the example of the latest GTA IV which has been already released for PS3 and XBOX360) rather than the PC. The foremost reason would be the falling sales figures of the PC titles and the rapid increase in the piracy of games. And because of this reason, major game publishers are switching to the consoles arena where the piracy element is much less. Although some companies are adopting new methods for game distribution like Valve which sells their titles through their online distributor (Steam) which allows you to download all the game content after you have purchased it online. Some game publishers also use strict copy-protection techniques, but then again, these methods install extra software into your computers and totally kill the experience for the gamers.

So, why do you think people pirate games? Is it because they cannot buy them? I really don’t agree with that because if you can buy fuel for your car every time you want to drive, or buy food when you are hungry, so is the case for buying anything that entertains you. The main reason for piracy is that the PC games are easily available for download from the Internet, P2P networks, Torrents etc. Just think how many times have you downloaded a game and then only played it for a short while before deleting it from your hard drive. I am sure this has happened many times. Would you have done the same if you had bought that game? No, I don’t think so. If you ever decided to buy a popular game title, you would have first made sure that you read all the available reviews on the Internet about that particular game, asked your gamer friends about their experiences, and finally based on those opinions, you would have gone out and purchased the game.

Some people also stick to the rule that if they like a game after pirating it, they go out and buy it from the market to support the publishers. What if you like most part of it and for the small part that you don’t like, you decide not to buy it? How many times have you done that? What i mean to imply here is the fact that such opinions cannot be always unbiased and true. If you want to support the gaming companies only after testing their products for 100% results, you are not playing fair. There are always game demos which you can play and try out these games to your heart’s content.

There is one more reason for the decreased number of people indulging in PC gaming. For playing all the new graphically intensive games on your PC, you need expensive hardware (graphics cards, processors, memory) which you have to upgrade regularly to match the latest games’ requirements, and it doesn’t stop there, you also need to be technically sound to patch your games, upgrade hardware etc. On the other hand, consoles are pretty simple. You buy a console system, pop in the DVD and start playing. That’s all there is to consoles. Personally, I do not prefer playing on a console as nothing beats the total control that I get using a keyboard and a mouse.

I think people who like PC gaming should really stand up and support the game publishers because this is the right time to do so. Or else, you can just keep waiting for quality game titles to be released for the PC and gradually watch the PC gaming industry die.

So, what is your take on this topic? Do let me know through the comments.

Following on those lines, I am releasing the 3rd version of the Bob theme called BobV3, but this one does not come for free like the previous versions. This will be a Premium WordPress theme priced at $89.99. I know that a lot of people like BobV2.0 and will not really mind spending some money to upgrade their themes and take their blogs to the next level.

Test Run BobV3 | Buy BobV3

Design & Layout

BobV3 has a very unique layout which cannot be found anywhere on the Internet. The front page of the blog (which usually is set to display ten entries at a time) has been divided into different sections which will let you display all your posts without having the user to scroll down the page. This has been accomplished by using excerpts and the accordion feature of the Mootools JavaScript library. So if you have your blog’s front page set to show ten blog entries, you will see the first entry in full, next two entries in excerpts and the last seven entries in the form of an accordion. This accordion has also been integrated with the first entry so you have only one full post open at a time. This will allow your readers to browse your lengthy entries without any hassles by expanding and collapsing the entry titles.

The archives and the search page have also been styled for maximum ease to find information on your blog.

SEO Benefits

The theme has been designed keeping the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) benefits in mind. All the page titles are Search Engine friendly and the theme uses proper formatting with the header tags (H1,H2,H3) keeping the content well-structured and targeted for maximum exposure. A Breadcrumbs plugin has also been integrated for easy navigation of pages.

Best of my Posts

This is a new feature that I have applied in this premium theme. It retrieves the titles of the most popular entries in descending order (based on the number of comments) and fades them in one-by-one through a fading transition effect on the right sidebar. This is an eye-grabbing effect which will surely make your popular posts more popular

The fading transition is automatic but it pauses when the reader hovers the cursor on a post title.

Advertisements

The theme allows you to run 125×125 banner ads on the sidebar and you can increase them according to your requirements. The images for the ads can be placed in separate folder to distinguish them from other images of your theme.

Tabbed Content

BobV3 also allows you to have your classified content under different tabbed sections in the right sidebar. This uses JavaScript and preloads your content for quick access.

Quick Categories

Your blog readers can now have quick access to your categories from the top right section of your theme. Browsing through your categories will be just at a click’s distance for your readers.

WP2.5 Gallery

Most of the premium themes available in the market lack the styling of the new gallery feature that has been introduced through WordPress 2.5 version. BobV3 has properly defined styles for this new gallery feature and all your images will be properly aligned in your pages or posts.

Most themes available cannot show the following navigational thumbnails while viewing the pictures :-

Gravatar-Ready

This theme is ready for the WordPress 2.5 inbuilt Gravatar functionality with a beautifully styled comments section. It is also backward compatible so you can use the theme with previous versions of WordPress (I will not recommend it though).
BobV3 has been tested with Firefox and Internet Explorer (6.0 upwards) and has not shown any discrepancies so far.

Apart from the above features, BobV3 also comes with the following advantages :-

- Valid CSS and XHTML code
- Widget Ready Sidebars
- Subscribe by E-mail Feedburner Box
- Tags Ready
- Custom 404 Error Page
- Full Post-Sales Support

So, what are you waiting for ? Go ahead and buy this most amazing next-gen theme called “BobV3″ ! It’s only $89.99!

You are using a neat WordPress theme with an image header but want to have multiple images that you can randomize on your blog? Here is how to go about it…

STEP 1 - Editing Images

Make all your header images that you want to randomize of the same size (dimensions) and format. For example, if you have GIF images then all should be of the same extension. I hope you get the point.

STEP 2 - Naming Images

All the names of your header images should follow a similar pattern. Here is an example we will use :-

blogtop-1.gif
blogtop-2.gif
blogtop-3.gif
blogtop-4.gif

We do this because when writing the code, we will try to randomize the number part (logically, randomization is done by numbers in any programming language) and keep the text part similar for all.

STEP 3 - Moving the Image Files

Move all your header image files to the “images” folder in your theme folder. Most probably, if you are using a theme that uses images, then it should have an “images” sub-folder. If not, make one and put all your header images in there.

STEP 4 - Randomizing the Images

Open your header.php file from the theme folder in a text editor. Put this code just below the tag.


<?php
$header_image = rand(1,4);
?>


The rand() function actually picks up a random number from the number of items you have specified. We are going to use this function to randomize and pick 1 item from the 4 header images in the “images” folder. So, if you have more than four images, just change 4 to your number.

STEP 5 - Using the Randomization in the Actual Header

This part can be a bit tricky as it will require you to find the code where your theme calls the actual header image (the one being used in the default theme). Usually, most of the professional theme designers define the header image through the CSS background property of the header DIV. So, you will have to get rid of that technique and use the old school HTML technique to call the image in the header DIV or the place where you want your header image to be located.

Ideally, the following piece of code will pull your header images in your theme :-


<img src="<? bloginfo('template_directory'); ?>/images/blogtop-<? echo $header_image; ?>.gif" alt="header" />


So, basically this code will insert the value of the variable $header_image after “blogtop-” and this will pull out the image from the “images” folder. All you have to do is figure out where exactly to place this img code in your theme header.

This concludes the random header tutorial and if you have questions, just ask here in the comments.

I am thankful to Google because it has made the Internet a better place for all of us by releasing a number of very useful utilities in the past few years. Almost all of us use Google.com for their every day search on the Internet, and also other Google services like Gmail, Gtalk, Orkut etc. But there are some Google products that you might have forgotten about or might not be aware of. Here is a list of those not-so-popular tools that can definitely make your life easier :-

- Google Hot Trends (May 2007)

I highly recommend this tool if you are a webmaster and looking for hot topics and keywords that people are searching for in their daily lives. This can even help you as a blogger to choose the most current topic in your niche to write on. The tool lists all the hot trends by date and its very easy to switch between dates as per the calendar. This Google product is still in the Labs (experimental phase), but I have been using it for a long time now.

- Google SketchUp (January 2007)

Google SketchUp is a 3D (3-dimensional) modeling program designed for professionals to use in their every day projects. SketchUp may also be used to design buildings to be displayed on Google Earth (another application from Google that allows you to view satellite maps of the earth). SketchUp has been developed to be more intuitive, flexible, and easier to use than other 3D modeling programs like 3D Studio Max, MAYA etc. which are often difficult to learn for an average user. Several features allow designers to play with their designs, unlike other 3D CAD programs.

- Google Web Accelerator (May 2005)

Google Web Accelerator is a utility introduced by Google which uses client software installed on the user’s computer, as well as data caching on Google’s servers, to speed up average page load times by means of data compression, prefetching of content, and sharing cached data between users. The tool supports various operating systems like Windows 2000 (SP3+), Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista.

- Google Docs (February 2007)

I am sure many of you must have already heard about this Google product. This is an initiative taken up by Google to allow the public to maintain their office files (Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations) in an online as well as offline version. Google Docs lets you edit and modify your files online and also lets you share them with your team or friends. It supports all the popular file formats like Word, OpenOffice, RTF, PDF, HTML, Zip, XLS, CSV, TXT, ODS, PPT and PPS.

- Google Suggest

Google Suggest offers keyword suggestions in real time as you type your search query. This can be helpful if you are looking for information but can’t think of accurate and exact search terms. A product still in testing mode but you can use it anyway.

- Google Sets

Google Sets is again a product being developed in Google Labs that can suggest you different sets of keywords related to the words you input into the system. So, if you are running out of synonyms or are generally looking for ideas matching your words, this is the place to look for.

- Google Alerts

Google Alerts is a handy utility if you want to remain updated with the latest news about your selected topic/s. This service alerts you in the form of an email notification to let you know if new articles are available for you. Google Alerts also allow its users to determine the frequency in which checks are made for new results. The alerts are available in both HTML and plain text format.

- Google Book Search

If you are a books lover, this service is for you. Google Book Search is a tool from Google that searches the full text of books that Google scans and stores in its digitized database. The service was formerly known as Google Print when it was introduced at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2004. When you click a result from the Google Book Search, it opens an interface in which you may view pages from the searched book as well as content-related advertisements and links to the publisher’s website and booksellers. Google limits the number of viewable pages and attempts to prevent page printing and text copying of material under copyright.

For more updates on tools from Google, you can visit this page -> Google Products

By the way, if you want to have some fun, go to Google.com and type this search phrase “Google Chuck Norris” and hit “I’m Feeling Lucky” button instead of the standard “Google Search” button.

This is a widgetized, gravatar ready, 2-column theme with inbuilt WordPress 2.5 gallery optimization. I am sure that people looking to benefit from Google’s Adsense publisher program will find this WordPress theme useful for the purpose. I have also included the logo.psd file for modifying the logo image in the theme folder.

The adsense codes are included as images for the theme demo, but you can modify the adsense files and include your own adsense code to show your advertisements.

AdsPress is compatible with WordPress 2.5 and has been tested with Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Test Run | Download

Please give your comments to make this effort worthwhile for me

Every blogger has got two basic choices when building his own blog— Either he can sign up for a hosted solution, or he can install a serve-it-yourself solution and take care of it on your own. Signing up for a hosted solution is generally easier (especially if you don’t already have your own website and you’re not terribly interested in jumping through a hoop or two to get one), while installing a serve-it-yourself solution can be more powerful.

Popular hosted blogging CMS (Content Management Systems) include Blogger.com, Typepad.com, Vox.com, Squarespace.com, and others. With these services, you simply access the site, go through a registration process and, in some cases, enter your payment information to cover the monthly fee. (Some are free, some require payment.) These are hosted services - somebody else worries about the Internet server, setting up the Web addresses and all that sort of stuff. You’re given a URL for your site (mostly a sub-domain), some online tools for editing your blog (and, perhaps, for editing the template and making some minor changes to the functionality), and you’re ready to go. With a serve-it-yourself CMS (like WordPress) you’ll need to do a little legwork. First, you’ll need some sort of web hosting account from an Internet Service Provider. You might already have something along those lines from the Internet Service Provider that you use for Internet access, or you may need to shop for a web hosting account that will support the specifications of your blogging software.

In fact, there are a few things to look out for when you’ve chosen a CMS and you’re looking for an ISP to host it:

- Does it support the CMS’ scripting language? Most of the blogging CMSs we’ll discuss are written in a scripting language called PHP, so your web hosting account will need to offer support for PHP in order for them to run. You should read the fine print as well, because different web hosts support different versions of PHP (such as PHP 4 or PHP 5), and that can be important when you’re installing your CMS.

- Does your host offer database support? Again, many of the solutions we’ll discuss use MySQL databases for storing your blog entries, information about your users, and so on. If that’s true with the CMS that you choose, you’ll need to have a web hosting account that supports MySQL. In addition, you may want to check on how many databases you’re allowed to have, how large they can be, and so on. If you later decided to implement a wiki, a forum, or some other database-driven application your website, you may find that having support for just one or a few individual databases isn’t enough.

- Does the web hosting account offer enough storage space? Web hosting accounts will generally come with a fixed, assigned amount of storage space for your website’s files - anywhere from a few megabytes to tens or hundreds of gigabytes. Just like the hard disk in your computer, this storage space is necessary to store the documents, templates and images that you’ll use to display on your blog. So, it’s interesting to know not only how much space you have, but also whether or not that space is shared with other features offered by the web host, such as e-mail accounts, databases, and log files. You may find that a very inexpensive host gives you what sounds like an impressive amount of storage - say, 50 MB(megabytes) - but that you quickly fill it up if your website files, database, and e-mail accounts must all share that space.

- What is the allowed throughput? If your blog gets popular - or if you load it down with bells and whistles such as video and images that you serve up from your web hosting account - then it’s possible you’ll be sending a lot of data from your ISP to your visitors. If that’s the case, you’ll want to know what the limit it.

- Many web hosts offer features that will install popular blogging tools such as WordPress from within their control panels. This isn’t always advised, as the installations aren’t always the latest versions or can occasionally be a bit more difficult to customize. But, if you feel that you’re strongly allergic to the installation processes discussed for server side solutions (or if you want to try a number of different blogging tools that are offered by your host), that “one-click” install can be a convenient option.

As you’re blog shopping, you should consider other options such as the reputation of the hosting company, whether or not the hosting company offers the support options that you need, whether the host offers your favorite blogging package already installed or included, or whether the hosting company is actually specifically set up to host a particular blogging package (there generally are a few that specialize in a particular CMS). But just as you should plan to choose your CMS tool with an eye toward growth, it’s not a bad idea to do the same with your hosting company, just in case your blog really does take off in popularity!

I will recommend Hostgator as I have been hosting Blog Oh! Blog with them for a long time now and I have been satisfied

Its contest time guys! Woo Hoo!

I have not yet moved from a PlayStation 2 to a PlayStation 3 myself, but I am offering a golden chance to all my blog readers to win a brand new Sony PlayStation 3 plus a free PS3 video game of your choice. For a long time, I had been thinking of running this contest on Blog Oh! Blog but didn’t get a chance to make the post. I would also like to mention that this contest is not being sponsored by anyone..This is directly from me to all of you So here it is, finally!

The Playstation 3 console worth $399.99 ships with the following features as per Amazon.com :-

* Internal 40GB HDD for storing your games, music, and photos
* Built-in Blu-ray player
* Cell Broadband Engine advanced microprocessor
* SIXAXIS wireless controller (very cool!)
* Screen sizes supported : 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
* Memory : 256MB XDR Main RAM, 256MB GDDR3 VRAM

Apart from the PS3 console, I will also give the winner an opportunity to choose any PS3 video game (already launched or order a pre-release) which should easily be worth $60 (most new titles that ship out are priced at $59.99). So, you will have something to play on your new console as soon as you win it!

This is a lucky draw contest which will run for one full month and the winner will be declared on May 21, 2008. Given below are the instructions and rules to enter the contest (Read carefully & abide) :-

- Post a review of Blog Oh! Blog on your website or blog including a link to this contest.
- The review should be a minimum of 200 words.
- Make a comment on this contest and mention the link to your post.
- Subscribe to our RSS Feed if you haven’t done so already. (To track this contest)
- A single blogger is allowed only one entry to the contest.
- Finally, you should NOT be an owner of a PS3 already (just kidding ). Everyone is free to join the contest!

On May 21, 2008, I will draw the name of the lucky blogger who gets to win the console + game and inform him/her by e-mail. After that, I will also arrange for the shipping of the prize to the winner’s doorstep.

So, what are you waiting for ? Get blogging already and become the proud owner of a shiny PS3 console!

If you are new to WordPress and looking for reasons to use WordPress as a CMS (content management system) in your new website, let me give you some.

Open Source Software

WordPress is an Open Source software which allows it to be used free of cost. You can use it on any kind of personal or commercial website without have to pay a single dime for it. It is built on PHP/MySQL (which is again Open Source) and licensed under GPL.

User Friendly

You don’t really have to be experienced to use WordPress on your website. Nowadays most of the hosting companies provide the ability to install WordPress on your site at a single click of the mouse. The administration section is easy to navigate and its even easy to add articles/content to your website.

Themes Support

You will never run short of templates when using WordPress. If you don’t like the themes that come with the default installation of WordPress, you can hunt on the Internet and you will find thousands of free themes that you can download and use for your website. There are themes which can even make your website look like a regular site instead of a blog.

Plugins Extend Functionality

WordPress plugins allow you to do just about anything that you want and can be installed in a jiffy. For example, you want to paginate your blog posts, just look on Google and you can easily find the relevant plugin that will easily do the job for you.

Standards Compliant

WordPress is one software that follows all the Web Standards and keeps your blog or website compliant to all the rules that have to be followed when running a website.

SEO Friendly

Search Engines have to be definitely kept in mind when building a website. WordPress uses different functions which allow it to be search engine friendly. For example sending pings to other sites, making categories, tagging your posts, use of h1/h2 tags etc.

Large community Support

As per recent statistics, WordPress is used on more than 1% of the websites on the Internet in the world. There is a large user community backing the development of this software. So, whenever you face any problems, you can go through all the available WordPress forums and communities and find answers for all your questions.

So, you see the benefits of using WordPress now? And, you can add to this list by providing your feedback in the comments.