Backing up Blogger to your OSX Wordpress local installation

Posted by ljmacphee on March 27, 2007 under blogger, how to, osx, useful sites, wordpress | Be the First to Comment

I tried all the back up programs I could find. Maybe they work on Windows machines? I don’t know? I found none that work on OSX.

So for now, until I find a better solution, I set up multiple Wordpress blogs on my home computer. I then downloaded and installed the Wordpress new blogger import tool and I downloaded->imported my blogger blogs to my local Wordpress install.

I’m hoping to find a better solution. Or perhaps I’ll write a tool if time allows. For now this will have to do.

10 Step Install of Wordpress on OSX

New Blogger Import Plugin
Or try here:
New Blogger Import Plugin

To install multiple Wordpress blogs on your OSX machine you need to set up a new MySQL database for each one.

Then create multiple wordpress folders in your /Library/WebServer/Documents/ directory. One folder for each blog and give it name that’ll make it easy to keep each blog straight.

Then follow the same basic install instructions for each blog that Wordpress provides.

Install the New Blogger Import Plugin in each Wordpress installation and activate it.

Follow the instructions for downloading and importing your Blogger Blog.

It sounds painful, but the only painful part of all of this is getting MySQL installed and running properly. All else is easy.

One problem with this method is the import program imports everything every time. So you end up with duplicate entries, comments, etc.

To fix this log into mysql and delete the comments, categories and posts before doing the backup.
mysql> delete from wp_posts where post_author=’2′;
mysql> delete from wp_comments where comment_approved=’1′;
mysql> delete from wp-categories where category_parent=’0′;

How to be a better blog writer,

Posted by ljmacphee on March 26, 2007 under blogging, useful sites | Be the First to Comment

or a better web page writer. Flashy images are all cool, but anyone visiting your blog is looking for information or to be entertained. If they are looking for information and your spelling and grammar are not up to par your visitors will quickly move on to the next site served up by Google.

First consider what are you trying to say to your visitors? Your most important point should be your first sentence. Put the most important information at the beginning of the post, the least important at the end of the post.

Is there an idea or analogy that can make what you are saying clearer to your visitors? If so work it in to your post.

Can you say it with less words? If so, do so. Blog readers will skim your blog. They are not curling up with your blog and a cup of coffee. Keep to the point.

Keep your sentences short.
Keep your words simple.

For more information:
Grammer Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
Copywriting tips for online marketing success from Copyblogger

Useful information about digital photographs

Posted by ljmacphee on March 21, 2007 under flickr, graphics, useful sites | Be the First to Comment

I’ve been hearing lots of stories about people being harassed while taking pictures in public. Bert P Krages, an attorney in Oregon put together a very nice flyer of photographer’s rights.

An excellent sight on digital photography is The Digital Photography School Blog I check it daily and I’m learning lots of good things.

To clean up, adjust color and generally have some fun with your photos, you’ll want to download Gimp. Don’t forget the user manual - GUM.

You can store photos online for use in webpages or just to share using Flickr