Last month when I heard that the LBM ‘08 is going to be held, I wished it would be great if there will also be a bloggers meet-up in Karachi too. Soon my wish fulfilled when I saw a Facebook group named Karachi Bloggers Meet-up ‘08 inviting everybody whether he/she is a blogger, student, professional etc. for a get together in a local club. I registered via the link given in the event board in Facebook.

By keeping in mind that the venue was unseen to me and also somewhat far, I left home for the meet-up at noon, to reach the Royal Rodale Club in time. At 2 PM sharp, I was entering the club. But when I reached the meet-up room, there were no more than a dozen people inside. After waiting for a hour or so, the event finally started.

Rabia Garib (Editor In-Chief, CIO Pakistan) held the mic and told the people without laptop to move to other table and meet with their new neighbor so as to enable the participants socialize with each other. After that, Dr. Awab Alvi of Teeth Maestro and Sabeen Mehmood of T2F were asked to come to stage and answer the question raised by the audience about ethics and methods all related to blogging.

Then came Badar Khushnood (Google Pakistan’s Country Consultant) to the stage. He emphasized on the importance of blogging and shed light on it from different angles.

After that, two notable tech bloggers Haris Nadeem and Saad Hamid were invited to the stage to share their blogging experience and the hurdles they faced in their blogging journey. I am sure the audience would had learnt much from them.

Then came a panel of seven people namely Haris Nadeem, Saad Hamid, Dr.Awab Alvi (these three came for the second time), Ammar Yasir, Khalid Omer, Ramla Akhter, Shazia Hassan (a blind but motivated blogger), to share their blogging and social media experiences.

Then there was a contest held, questions were asked about blogging terms and social media etc. I also answered one of the questions and won a goodie bag which includes a coffee mug, a ball point pen and a CIO Pakistan December Issue.

At last, the meet-up ended with snacks and drinks. The third and the last meet-up named the IBM ‘08 will be held in Islamabad. Date and venue of Islamabad Bloggers Meet-up is TBA. I should say that these type of meet-ups should occur at-least once in a year. What do you say?

PS: I have made some good friends like Imran Hussain, Umair Jadoon, Abdullah Ibrahim in the meet-up and also met first time with my online friends. Those who didn’t come to the event have surely missed a great deal.

Comments

• December 7, 2008, Imran Hussain writes: good review man. summed up the events pretty nicely. although no mention of me in it so i'll keep that in mind :P
• December 8, 2008, The bloggers meet ! | Tea Break writes: [...] KBM ‘08: An Offline Get Together Of Pak Bloggers [...]
• December 9, 2008, Ammar Ibn-e-Zia writes: good review~! it was really a good meeting.
• December 11, 2008, Kashif writes: How could I miss such an event. Such a shame from my part.
• December 15, 2008, The bloggers meet ! writes: [...] KBM ‘08: An Offline Get Together Of Pak Bloggers [...]
• January 1, 2009, nasirjumani writes: Hi notifications-v2997am3ad,
  
  I set up a Facebook profile where I can post my pictures, videos and events and I want to add you as a friend so you can see it. First, you need to join Facebook! Once you join, you can also create your own profile.
  
  Thanks,
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  To sign up for Facebook, follow the link below:
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• February 5, 2009, nasirjumani writes: Hi,
  
  On 1/22/2009 1:08:14 PM, you were invited to join Nasir Jumani's UNYK address book so he/she would always have access to your contact info and you to his/hers.
  
  To accept his/her request, Click here.
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• February 6, 2009, nasirjumani writes: <html>
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  ---

  
  
  <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1">This note was sent via Flixster by Nasir Jumani to If you prefer not to receive emails like this, tell us here.</font>
  
  
  <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1">Or you can notify us in writing to this address: Flixster, PO Box 40577, San Francisco, CA 94110</font>
  
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• February 16, 2009, nasirjumani writes: <html>
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  Just a reminder - click here to read your message from Nasir J:
  
  
  
  
  http://www.flixster.com/user/nasirjumani/connect
  
  
  
  Nasir J
  </font>
  
  
  
  
  
  <img src="http://www.flixster.com/servlet/pixel?em.id=83526117" width="1" height="1" />
  

  ---

  
  
  <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1">This note was sent via Flixster by Nasir Jumani to If you prefer not to receive emails like this, tell us here.</font>
  
  
  <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1">Or you can notify us in writing to this address: Flixster, PO Box 40577, San Francisco, CA 94110</font>
  
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• February 19, 2009, nasirjumani writes: Hi,
  
  You still haven't responded to the invitation from Nasir Jumani, sent on 1/22/2009 1:08:14 PM!
  
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Suppose I logged in to my Wordpress admin account for some tasks include theme editing, changing password of my profile and managing pages. For these three tasks, lets see how many clicks I have to do. Initially, I am on dashboard:

1-For editing theme I will go to Design>>Theme Editor

2-For Page Management I will go to Manage>>Pages

3-For Password changing I will go to Users>>Profile

Isn’t there any way with which one can directly go to any pages he wants. There is!

A Plugin named Ozh’s Admin Drop Down Menu does the job by changing the admin menu with the more efficient and simpler one. And with a single click rather than multiple clicks I can go to main pages as well as sub pages of my admin menu. You should also try this, as there is nothing wrong to be a bit productive .

Current Version: 2.3.4.1

Requires Wordpress 2.5+

Download Link

Official Site

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In past, I used to be showing all of my content in the front page, which irritated new users and readers who had low bandwidth. As a blogger, I want to reach more and more people and by keeping this in mind, I have to keep my FrontPage from slowing down with all the images I use in my posts. At first, I started using the_excerpt instead of the_content but that nonsense [...] thing panic me. Then I began searching for a better alternative and came across the traditional <!–more–> tag. No doubt, It is a popular way to customize excerpt and most of the bloggers and content writers use it but again, as I have found out myself a bit lazy , I don’t want to enter that <!–more–> tag in all of my posts manually and want to get excerpts of all posts in one go {as what they say..dynamically }. After searching a lot, I came around a far better alternative to the <!–more–> tag which is a Plugin named the_excerpt_reloaded. This Plugin is made just for a lazy person like me…and can make all your posts into excerpts in a snap.

Here is how to use the Plugin:

Download the Plugin, extract, then upload to yourblog.com/wp-content/plugins/ folder. Activate it and get ready to configure the Plugin according to your needs.

Here is the Plugin format:

<?php the_excerpt_reloaded(excerpt_length, ‘allowedtags’, ‘filter_type’, use_more_link, ‘more_link_text’, force_more_link, fakeit, fix_tags); ?>

First, go to your index.php file and replace <?php the_content(); ?> with <?php the_excerpt_reloaded(); ?> in such a way that it must be in The Loop. Then use the parameter from anyone of the above. Don’t hesitate with all the code jargon as I am going to explain all the parameters one by one.

1-excerpt_length

Set the number of words {you want to see in an excerpt} here. Default is 120.

2-allowedtags

Include the tags you want to see in an excerpt. For example, if you want to see links and images in an excerpt use <?php the_excerpt_reloaded(’<a><img>’); ?>.

3-filter_type

Tell WordPress how to format content. You can specify ‘content’, ‘content_rss’, ‘excerpt’, ‘excerpt_rss’. Set to ‘none’ to format raw content. Default is ‘excerpt’ .

4-use_more_link

Tell the Plugin if it should display [...] or (more…) link. Default is TRUE which will display (more…) link. Set it to FALSE to display [...]. Remember the link will display only if output is more than excerpt_length you provided in step 1.

5-more_link_text

If use_more_link is enabled, then specify which text to show. Default is ‘(more…)’.

6-force_more_link

As I wrote in step no. 4, If the output is less than excerpt_length, more link will not display. But you can force it to display by putting force_more_link to TRUE. Default is FALSE.

7-fakeit

Set it to 1 to display Excerpt even if you have not provided Excerpt under Advanced Options in WordPress Text Editor or set to 0 to display only the excerpts you have provided in text editor options. Or set to 2 to display content as excerpts always.

8-fix_tags

If any HTML tag breaks by setting the excerpt_length. Set fix_tags to TRUE to fix it. Or set to FALSE if you want the HTML tags as it is.

Look at this:

<?php the_excerpt_reloaded(80, ‘<a><img>’, ‘excerpt’, TRUE, ‘Click here to read more’, FALSE, 2, TRUE); ?>

Output:

a-Displays 80 words in an excerpt

b-Includes links and images if they come under the excerpt

c-Format the content as excerpt

d-Displays the (more…) link

e-Displays (more…) link as Click here to read more

f-Do not display more link if excerpt is less then the given length

g-Displays content as excerpt always

h-Repair HTML tags if broken due to excerpt_length

You can even do the custom CSS styling to the more link. Simply wrap <?php the_excerpt_reloaded(); ?> under div tag and do the styling as you want!

With so many flexibility, options and dynamic features of this Plugin, I am not going to use the <!–more–> tag anymore. Are you?

Comments

• September 5, 2008, Google Chrome: First Look And Full Review | AddictiveTips writes: [...] Google Chrome Here(Supports only WinXP SP2 and Windows [...]
• September 5, 2008, erichansa writes: why we use only a "more" tag. Actually I never saw this only.
• September 5, 2008, Abhinav Sonkar writes: Hi! The plugin you have suggested is good and I was using it until I found this plugin: http://www.dailyblogtips.com/homepage-excerpts-wordpress-plugin/ The advantage of this plugin is that it gives us a choice to keep N posts completely full on the home page where N can be any number. Try it out!
• September 6, 2008, pligg.com writes: Never Use The Tag Again!... In past, I used to be showing all of my content in the front page, which irritated new users and readers who had low bandwidth. As a blogger, I want to reach more and more people and by keeping this in mind, I have to keep my FrontPage from slowing dow...
• September 7, 2008, Fahad writes: lol. I never knew you were such a lazy person nasir! You know that you can easily add the more tag, through one of the buttons at the top of the wordpress editor(with both html and normal editors)? I use it often for my blog. Although it cuts off the post at that point for feeds as well, but I use a plugin for that as well, so that my feed readers are happy! :)

As a blogger, I have used to see the ups and downs of web services which first come with hype buzzing around all over the net, then after sometime…most of the people start getting away..for the sake of running to another one. Entrecard was also one of the very hyped advert programs which is now losing its fame day by day…but still some of my friends and readers are using Entrecard for alternate traffic purpose. So, if you are one of them, you surely would be in need of Entrecard Currency {which is measured in credits} to buy an ad space. The good news is that, I have more than 4000 Entrecard credits {here comes the dealing part } and if you want to grab them, all you have to do is to reserve your entry slots and enter the competition (In simple, the more entry slots you will have, the more chances you will have of getting share from 4000+ credits). You can enter the contest by choosing any one of the following methods:

1-Review about my Blog with a backlink to my blog in it [5 slots]

2-Subscribe to my feed via email {you will have to tell your email address in the comments, so I could then be able to distinguish contestants from regular subscribers} [3 slots]

3-Simply comment below by answering the simple question “What you will do if Internet will be banned globally?” [2 slots]

I will choose 8 slots randomly, 1000 EC credits for first three lucky draw winners, and 200 each for 5 runner ups. The more favor you do, the more chances you will have of getting 4000+ credits. So in an ideal condition, comment and subscribe now, then head on to write a review for me!

Last date of submitting entries is 10 Sep 2008. Whatever option you choose, inform me in comments so I could then include your slots when selecting random winners. Happy blogging!

Update: The prize goes half/half to both contestants i.e. 2000 EC credits to each!

Comments

• September 1, 2008, Entrecard: 4000+ Credits Giveaway! | Tea Break writes: [...] This cup of tea was served by: NazJam Tech Blog [...]
• September 1, 2008, IntoXicator writes: Hey Great contest you are having here. Count me in. I have subscribed to your feed, aswell. Can't wait to be the lucky winner. Fingers crossed! :D
• September 5, 2008, Madhur Kapoor writes: If Internet was banned, guess i will have more time for outdoor sports. I have subscribed to your feed address . madhur.whoismadhur[at]gmail.com

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This is my first post in the month of July. Although my exams are over, but still I am not able to take time to blog because of some urgent to-do’s. But I am trying to continue my blogging journey as I did in the beginning of this year. I am also busy in redesigning this blog and building the theme of my own. Yeah you read it right! Finally I am going to design my personal theme and for this, I am very very thankful to small potato of WpDesigner.com. With his down-to-earth tutorials about making WordPress themes, anyone with some common sense can make his/her own WP themes and who doesn’t know that theme is the golden key in gaining Technorati authority. Nowadays, I am experimenting with different blogging tools and till now have tried some good desktop blog editors and finally, I have chosen windows live writer as my default blog editor. My second choice is ScribeFire blog editor which runs inside FireFox but I disabled it because every time I wanted to write a post in ScribeFire, my FireFox crashed and I had to restore the session again and again. But it doesn’t mean that ScribeFire is not worth checking. If it runs fine on your side, and you are looking for an extra blog editor from ages then ScribeFire either will not disappoint you or just like me you can also choose Live Writer your companion….Happy blogging!

Comments

• August 3, 2008, GaumeAlbutbepe writes: I agreed with you

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As some of you may have already known, On 5th of june, I have done with my exams and from then, vacations have been started. But after that, I was busy in some personal work and also on organizing a plan to enjoy the vacation to its fullest. At now, I am feeling much lighter as I have come out of mentally tough times…..and for the blogging….as soon as I will finish some of my remaining work…I will resume to do it regularly.

Comments

• June 10, 2008, Nicholas Francis writes: hi nasir, glad that you came, i missed you & your blog a lot.... hope you will rock again from now on... my best wishes for you buddy!
• June 13, 2008, Rohit writes: Glad that you are back....... Hope to see that great content oozing out of your mind!!!!.

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Not a Wordpress user? Check out this link to find a module for your blog.
Official Website Link

Comments

• April 3, 2008, Haris writes: I really got surprised that you haven't activated Akismet yet. Even Akismet doesn't block all the spam. Sometimes, it leaves out some of them.
• April 9, 2008, immy00100 writes: :O what you just activated akismet? it is activated on my blog since first day you should've done that a long time ago, anyhow now its safe happy bloggin, as* off spammers @haris yeh akismet sometimes leaves false pingbacks free =/

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1.RSS: 

2.Twitter:

3.Social Networking:

4.Blogs:

5.Social Bookmarking:

P.S. Although this post is especially for novice bloggers, if you are a not so novice blogger or not a blogger at all, it will also benefit you to some extent in either case.

Comments

• March 18, 2008, Nicholas Francis writes: very good tips, thnx for posting such beutifull videos nasir
• March 18, 2008, admin writes: u r welcome! :)
• March 19, 2008, Jarred writes: really helpful, thanks
• August 10, 2008, YouTube Vidoes! writes: Thanks for the informative post.. and thanks for adding our comment to the blog. I am subscribing to your feed so I don\'t miss the next post!
• September 5, 2008, Create Beautiful Twitter Status Images With TwitStamp! | Tea Break writes: [...] 5 Informative Videos For Novice Bloggers In Plain English [...]
• September 6, 2008, Never Use The <!–More–> Tag Again! | Tea Break writes: [...] 5 Informative Videos For Novice Bloggers In Plain English [...]
• March 30, 2009, YouTube’s Love For Students | Tea Break writes: [...] 5 Informative Videos For Novice Bloggers In Plain English [...]

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If you are a wordpress blogger, then chances are that you may have also been tired of seeing that old light and dark bluish dashboard everytime you login to your wordpress account. Yes? Then why not change it with the new fluency theme designed by DeanJRobinson, a web developer at University Of Newcastle, Australia. With the Grayscale Color Scheme, this theme gives me some decent feel and change and I hope you will also like this as it is a unique approach, just take a test drive!It installs just like any other plugin i.e. download, then unzip it, a folder will appear where you unzipped the plugin, paste this folder in the /wp-content/plugins folder in your FTP Account, and finally activate it from the plugins list under wp-admin.

Read more about fluency.

I am uploading two screenshots for you to take a sneak peek. You can see more here.

Comments

• March 15, 2008, Azeem writes: Hey its design is cool.
• March 15, 2008, alifaan writes: nice 1 dude, i like it
• March 16, 2008, Nicholas Francis writes: i did'nt try yet.. but it looks to be good.. i think its worth trying

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What is “Windows Essentials Codec Pack”?

It is basically the bunch of audio and video codecs and with the help of this codec pack, you can play almost 99% of your audio/video files with no fuss! and it is spyware,adware and blah blah ware free and also free of cost because it is open source!

So what are you waiting for Go download it!

Official website.