InMotion Hosting
  • Questions? Contact Sales:
  • Sales Chat
  • 888.321.HOST(4678)

The Official InMotion Hosting Blog

spritepad

Web Apps and Online Tools to Make a Designer’s Life Easy

Web design and development entails a huge variety of disciplines; from photo enhancement to code edits and having the tools to handle every possibility can become a  costly investment. However, there are a large number of free web development tools available  free for download or online, from photo editors to assimilated development applications that will help in the creation and design of a website. These are six free online web tools worth checking out, to assist your development suite of software.

Mockingbird

Mockingbird is a free web-based tool for creating and sharing wireframes. It has a simple, user-friendly interface that makes developing mockups of a website quick and easy. Users just drag and drop interface elements, rearrange and resize to create a perfectly balanced page. Add as many pages needed, then link them all together to share with cohorts, clients or friends to demonstrate how users may navigate the site. Once the mockup is complete, a link is generated that allows users to share with others, or an embedded code is created for the user’s website. Mockingbird is a lightweight tool with minimal features (i.e. there are no templates for guidance), but that makes it easy and quick to use.

Kuler

Created by Adobe, Kuler is a free web-hosted application for creating color theme inspiration and experimentation. Users can choose, modify, create, mix and match colors; creating their own color swatches with RGB and HEX codes. Save color swatch creations or download themes from thousands in the Kuler community. In addition, users generate a specific color palette based on an image or illustration selected from Flickr or uploaded. Not only is Kuler an integration of the Adobe Creative Suite but also it is accessible as a separate service in the browser and is available through a free app, Adobe AIR.

Pixlr

Pixlr is a free flash-based web application for mobile and desktop image tools and utilities. Since Pixlr has a Flash foundation, they are able to provide significant advantages over a HTLM5 base. If users have Flash 10 or higher any images used with Pixlr will not be available to the company or by anyone else. Currently users can choose from three applications in the Pixlr suite: Pixlr Editor (advanced), Pixlr Express (efficient) and Pixlr-o-matic (playful).

Gimp

In the world of web development, it is always necessary end up with some image editing. GIMP is an open source graphical editing software, who’s main comparison is Adobe Photoshop. While not technically a web app, it’s development is open source, which means it’s completely free whilst providing some of the advanced characteristics of it’s comparative paid software. Some would argue that Adobe Photoshop is an expensive software that doesn’t have the efficiency that Gimp does for simple graphical editing. By comparison Adobe has a cluttered working environment for advanced users, while Gimp’s User Interface is much stripped down. Gimp also has a super fast program and a lighter footprint than Adobe.

SpritePad

SpritePad is a free web-application that simplifies CSS sprites creations. Working directly in the browsers, users simply drag and drop images to the canvas and begin working to create unique CSS sprites. Each time an image is added, a CSS code snippet is created; users can move images, change options and the CSS style will automatically update. Users can also save time and space with the integrated auto-alignment function, one button automatically aligns all images.

Favicon and Apple Touch icon Generator
Newly Launched! Our own tool by InMotion Hosting, is a favicon generator that also creates the iTouch web icon. Now you can have your website bookmarked on any ipad, itouch, or iphone with it’s own icon!

 

Related articles
Softaculous Navigation

How to Install WordPress Using Softaculous in cPanel

Ever heard of WordPress? Yes, it is the largest publishing platform on the web. In a previous article, I introduced you to what Softaculous was all about: A utility software in your control panel which automates the installation of website applications. Today I’m going to show you how to install WordPress in less than 5 minutes without any technical knowledge.

First thing you need to do is login to your InMotion Hosting cPanel and click on the Softaculous icon located under the “Software Services” section.
cpanel softaculous

Once you click on the Softaculous icon, you will be redirected to the Softaculous dashboard. If you look to the left side of your screen, you will see a list of software categories. Click on the “Blogs” category and then select WordPress.
Softaculous Navigation

When you click on WordPress, you will see a brief overview of the software. Click on the big blue “Install” button to start the process.

softaculous wordpress screen

On the next screen, you will see the software setup form. First thing you need to do is choose the domain name you want to install WordPress on. To install WordPress on your main domain, you need to leave the “In Directory” field blank. Next, you need to pick a database name (no one else will see this name, so you don’t have to be creative). In Database settings, you want to slightly modify the table prefix to enhance your site security. Instead of leaving the default wp_ prefix, you can do something like wp_sit3nam3_.

Enter your site name and description. You probably want to leave the WPMU box unchecked unless you know what you are doing.
softaculous wordpress setup

If you scroll further down, you will see the screen to create your admin account. Please do not use the default “admin” username. Create something original for yourself. Don’t forget to create a strong password. Enter your best email, and select Install.

softaculous wordpress setup 2

That’s it. Softaculous will work it’s magic and within seconds after you click the Install button, your WordPress will be installed. Then all you need to do is go to yoursite.com/wp-admin/ and enter your login information to start writing posts.

Syed Balkhi is the founder of WPBeginner, the largest free WordPress resource site that offers tips, tools, and resources for WordPress users. Check out their free WordPress video tutorials.

Related articles
Red Miso Beef Short Rib

Foodie Friday Continues! Time For Some Lemonade…

Welcome back to another edition of InMotion Hosting’s Foodie Fridays!  It’s finally feeling like winter time here in Los Angeles with today’s rainy and cooler weather.  With that in mind, everyone agreed to have some type of home-style comfort food, but still keep it somewhat healthy. And a perfect place for that kind of food here in LA is Lemonade, “Southern California Comfort Food.”

Don’t let the name throw you off, they actually do serve lemonade…and, in different flavors!  Check out their menu. But they also specialize in excellent marketplace salads, braises, sandwiches, AND delicious desserts!

Check out these pics:

Needless to say, the office gave Lemonade a 4.2 star rating.  We highly recommend the Jamaican Jerk Chicken and Red Miso Beef Short Rib Braises, and definitely try the Jalapeno Bacon Mac ‘N Cheese.  It’s to die for!

And if you’re a vegetarian or just want a large variety of freshly tossed salads, this is the place to go.  Oh, and don’t forget to try their desserts and lemonades!  My fave is their Red Velvet Cupcake, yum!

want free content

Want Free Content To Help Develop Your Website?

We aren’t just a webhosting company. We want your websites to thrive and host valuable information to generate your online business. Are you stuck with ideas on how to flesh out your website and need a quick boost of content to keep your audience reading? Here are three great tips you can put into immediate use to get Google crawling and your visitor traffic sticking around.

1./ Infographics

Infographics are great because they encourage your visitors to engage and scroll around for longer to disseminate the information. There is no ranking penalization for duplicate content, and they are quick and easy space fillers. Great ways to stimulate discussion on your website is to present your own critique of the infograph. Not only is that original, but your insight gives the reader a deeper understanding of your abilities as a contractor. Infographics are also readily pinnable for free publicity via Pinterest.

Some free infographics by InMotion Hosting:

2./ Web Freebies

Templates, icon sets, and anything your readers can download and come to you for recommendations. This saves them a search, and it also gets you bookmarked. Don’t forget to include videos as learning resource materials. Here are a few of our own you can share. I hope this also gives you ideas on what else you can host:

InMotion Hosting recommends these cool tools:

3./ Guest Author content

It’s a well-known fact that getting valuable content contribution to your blog in exchange for a link can benefit both parties and strengthen your business relationships on the web…

Use our “How To Research Infographic” to find people on the internet to build solid online relationships. The exchange may be different for each and every website. As an example, I’ve embedded our upcoming blogroll to show where we look for contribution or exchange. If any of these articles apply to you, then please do reach out and place a comment on this blog. I’ll soon follow up and see what we can do for you!

Click here to add this document to your Google Docs:

You are free to use our content on your websites, critique it, and re-use it for personal or business use, all we require is a link back to our website. Simply copy and paste code below:

how-to-install-prestashop

How To Install Prestashop Using Softaculous In cPanel

In a previous article, I introduced you to what Softaculous was all about: A utility software in your control panel which automates the installation of website applications. Today I’m going to demonstrate how to install Prestashop, an eCommerce Content Management System. Below is a screenshot of the user view of the Prestashop shopping channel installed without any modification. You can see there is plenty of opportunity to optimize the template to your liking, and I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of documentation available through the back-end to help you.

So don’t be afraid! Not only is Prestashop an easy install made especially fast through Softaculous, but I’m glad to see a plethora of supporting documentation and templates to continue optimizing to your heart’s content.

I will guide you through my firsthand experience of installing Prestashop, including some little errors to be aware of and what they mean.

Preparation To Install Prestashop:

Make sure you have enough allocated MySQL databases. Depending on your hosting package, if you already have a CMS website like WordPress installed, you may need to check your available allocation. One install of Prestashop will take up one additional database if you have that in your allowance. You can check this under your cPanel left-hand sidebar for Database allowances.

Add a subdomain if you want to separate your shopping area from your main URL. For example, shop.domain.com. You can do this through cPanel in the Domains Module; select Subdomains, and complete the form prompts in the frame when you click through.

How To Install Prestashop:

In your cPanel, open Softaculous, which you’ll find in the Software/Services module near the bottom.

In Softaculous, select the Prestashop application. Prestashop is one of the more popular applications, so it will likely appear in the homepage of your Softaculous. In case you don’t recognize their logo, it should also be filed from the left-hand sidebar of categories under eCommerce.

Once you click Install, you’ll be prompted with a single page input form. Check each form field. Make sure you check where you want Prestashop installed; it will give you subdomain or folder options. You do not need to create a folder, Softaculous will create one for you if you choose. Make sure you update your Admin Account settings to your correct email.

Now Let The Self-Install Commence:

If you tried and failed once, Softaculous will prompt you with a list of existing files that are duplicated with the following error message:

“Installation cannot proceed because the following files already exist in the target folder :”

Simply scroll to the end of the list of files, and check the box that says “Overwrite Files.”

It is likely that your first attempt to install may have failed if you didn’t have any remaining MySQL database allocation. If this is the case, you will see “The MySQL databases could not be selected” come up as an error message.

Hopefully the installation should go smoothly and all within 4 minutes. Softaculous will display a completion message and send you an email of your installation notes.

How To Administrate Prestashop:

To access your “Back Office,” go to yourdomain.com/admin123 as prompted by your Softaculous installation notes. Upon your first visit to the back-end, Prestashop will prompt you to change folder names for security reasons. To do this, leave the Softaculous application and return to cPanel Home; then go to your File Manager in your cPanel, which is located under the File module.

Once in the File Manager, finding the correct file is easy under the visual folder tree. Renaming a folder is as simple as right-clicking to bring up a drop down menu.

Your new Prestashop install should now give you “Back Office” access with these momentary security precautions in place. Simply go to yourdomain.com/admin123XXX, and upon completing the password prompts you will now have access to the Prestashop admin:

That’s it! You’re done. The back-end access is full of intuitive modules to add and navigate around. Honestly speaking, it probably would have taken you longer to read this article than complete the install itself! I managed to run through this install myself in just about 10 minutes with Softaculous and cPanel running. It’s more likely that you’ll manage a smooth install without bumping into any database errors as long as you follow the checkpoints I made at the beginning.

 

 

what is research

#IMHhangout | How to Research [Infographic]

Click this Image to Circle us and join our hangout! Wednesdays 2pm-3pm PST Western Time. November 14 2012

Live #IMHhangout recording can be watched at the end of this post!

Right Click to view full size
How To Research

Creative Commons License
How to Research Infographic by InMotion Web Hosting is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Copy HTML Code To Share the Research Methods Infographic On Your Website

Our discussion channel for webmasters, is a live Q+A is a broadcast via Google Hangouts supported with a live twitter chat stream via #IMHhangout.

Is it a national and social problem that people don’t know how to research?. Social networks have allowed the majority of us to believe information is readily available. Take a look at Yahoo! Answers; these questions are easily searchable via Google, Bing, or any search engine. Type a question in on Yahoo’s homepage search bar and find a solution. Google’s interactive searchbar even does math and conversions for you. The skill itself of “Research” has become diluted in it’s meaning.

Today I’m exposing a range of web 2.0 research tools you’ve probably never heard of. This world of online data is important for small business, website owners, college students, interviewees, and analysts. The format is going to be a fairly open forum for debate, opinions, and shared experience, here are the guide questions to stimulate your thoughts.

Questions to follow a round of introductions: I’ve prepared a couple of handouts for you to keep track of in this huge subject!

  1. Introduce yourself!  #students #writers #smallbusiness #webpro
  2. What are your favorite Web 2.0 research tools: #analytics #trends #adwords
  3. What in the past helped you learn the importance of research? #college #competition
  4. Are there any research methods missing from our flow chart?


Creative Commons License
Click to open the supporting notes document here! This is provided as a Google Document to allow printing and sharing. Feel free to do so!

How to Research Notes by WordPress Hosting is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

 

How to Find the #IMHhangout

  • Look for our Custum URL [or click here]: google.com / +inmotionhosting
  • Type ‘InMotion Hosting‘ into google plus search to find our brand profile page. On your mobile device you have to do this through ‘people‘ [not circles] profile search to view our page profile.
  • Do a hard refresh [hold down shift + refresh] near broadcast time to make sure our google plus page refreshes and shows you the invitation to ‘join hangout‘

Our Hangouts are LIVE and recorded. As such you will be prompted to give permission to be recorded upon joining the hangout. Since the hangout is recorded, it is not an open public forum. Attendance is by invitation only, which you will receive once adding us on Google plus. We cannot issue invitations to those not already in our circles.

We are aware some of you get messages like this when accessing from your mobile device:

“This hangout is not currently supported on this device” In the mean time the only suggestion I have is to leave the G+ app, and restart it if you see this message come up. Even so, please don’t let this hold you back! We value your input through the TweetChat hashtag, make sure you tag your conversation with #IMHhangout so that everyone in the community can see your voice!

Keep an eye on this blog page as details get added to see who’s joining in! We are looking forward to giving you all a spot here in the live broadcast – so make sure you jump in

Circle us!

@InMotionHosting #IMHhangout will be hosted by @JulianaPayson.

Our team to welcome you and help you in the live chat are:

@AnieA203 – Our in-house Graphic Designer, will be scanning our Tweetchat

@IMH_Affiliate – Our Affiliate Manager, will be keeping a deft eye on G+ and hopefully making sure you can jump in.

@Maria_InMotion – Our SEO and Partner Specialist will be watching out for people on Facebook to make sure you get a mention.

A previous hashtracking report shows that we had over 127,000 impressions on #IMHhangout!

softaculousfeatured

Introduction to Softaculous & cPanel

Our recent offering of the software “Softaculous” has probably left many of you wondering  what it is and how can it help you. Softaculous is a utility application within your cPanel used to help develop your  websites. It’s an auto installer program that comes with over 278 useful scripts and 1000 PHP Classes, any of which can be installed in just one step. In simpler terms, it’s a one-step method of installing useful apps, eCommerce solutions and CMSs to your website.

I’m going to demonstrate just how easy it is to use and how it can be a time saver for any inexperienced user. This newly featured software, which is provided for all of our cPanel hosting customers, makes building a website almost instantaneous.

Look under the “Software/Services” section  that appears towards the bottom of your cPanel. I’ve highlighted it’s icon below:

Opening up Softaculous gives you a beautiful Ajax powered dynamic menu, where options reveal as you rollover. Further ratings and descriptions expand when you hover over them. In addition, dynamic descriptions that reveal without you clicking through help you determine what will fit your preferences without leaving the screen and needlessly reloading a new page to investigate. Needless to say, it doesn’t take long to work out how to navigate Softaculous. It lives up to it’s hype and really offers one-step installs. After selecting one of the applications, you will need to fill out one set of fields for administration, and then the utility software takes care of the rest.

In the next introduction to Softaculous, I’ll be focusing in on specific installs. Why don’t you visit your cPanel login now and take a look around. You might find some website applications that are really worth investigating to add further usability or customer value to your website.

InMotion Pumpkins

InMotion Hosting Pumpkin Carving Contest

Today was quite a festive day at the Los Angeles InMotion Hosting office!  To celebrate Halloween time, we held our first pumpkin carving contest.

It was a nice way to get everyone together and do a little team building activity to change up our daily routines.  Everyone got pretty creative and had a great time doing some arts and crafts. For a couple InMotion team members, this was actually their first time ever to carve a pumpkin!

But since this was a contest, the winner was…

The creepy pumpkin face by Juliana!

Happy Halloween!

Mia Enjoying Her 1st InMotion Foodie Friday

Foodie Friday: InMotion’s LA Marketing Team Welcomes A New Member

This week at InMotion Hosting Los Angeles, we welcomed Mia, SEM Manager, into our Marketing Department. She had the honors of choosing this week’s Foodie Friday destination, in which she opted for Greek food.  This was a great choice because we’ve all been meaning to try out Big Fat Pita, which has been highly recommended by Jeff in our Marketing Department.

Mia Enjoying Her 1st InMotion Foodie Friday

Needless to say, with an average rating of 4.4 stars, everyone was quite satisfied with today’s lunch choice.  One of the highest ratings we’ve given so far!  Who would’ve thought that a Greek “fast food” place at the mall would be this good!

To keep it short and simple, here are the highest rated items from this place:

Mousaka and side of Big Fat Pita Fries

Mousaka & Big Fat Pita Fries

Big Fat Pita w/ Gyro

Big Fat Gyro Pita

The Olympian Plate with Grilled Tofu Kabob

The Olympian w/ Grilled Tofu

Avgolemono Soup

Avgolemono Soup

Greek Salad with Salmon

Salmon Greek Salad

And last, but not least…

Chocolate Baklava!

Chocolate Baklava

As you can see, we were all happy foodies today!

Juliana Enjoying Her Mousaka

makemoneyonline

#IMHhangout | Make Money Online [infographic]

Click this Image to Circle us and join our hangout! Wednesdays 2pm-3pm PST Western Time. October 17 2012

See #IMHhangout recording at end of blog post!

Click to Zoom

Creative Commons License
Make Money Online Infographic by WordPress Hosting is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Copy HTML Code To Share the Make Money Online Infographic On Your Website

 

Our weekly webmasters live Q+A is a broadcast via Google Hangouts supported with a live twitter chat stream #IMHhangout.

Everybody wants to make money online! If you are on the internet, there is a part of you aware of the massive online income potential that everyone else seems to partake in. Whether you are looking to gain freelance gigs, earn through advertising, sell services, do information marketing, or simply learn what affiliate marketing is all about, this hangout could be your starting point! This subject has the broad scope to enable a talk for a long time, so as the host I’ll simply aim to eek out of those that join us what has worked for them in the hope you might glean something useful for yourselves. The format this week is going to be a fairly open forum for debate, opinions, and shared experience, here are the guide questions to stimulate your thoughts.

Questions to follow a round of introductions: I’ve prepared a couple of handouts for you to  keep track of in this huge subject!

  1. List methods of online income: #affiliate #adsense #freelance
  2. What is your niche (if you make money online) #elance, #clickbank #seo
  3. What websites helped you learn about making money online?
  4. Do you agree or disagree with our top online money making resources?

Creative Commons License
Make Money Online Infographic by WordPress Hosting is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Copy HTML Code To Share the Make Money Online Glossary On Your Website

 

 

How to Find the #IMHhangout

  • Look for our Custum URL [or click here]: google.com / +inmotionhosting
  • Type ‘InMotion Hosting‘ into google plus search to find our brand profile page. On your mobile device you have to do this through ‘people‘ [not circles] profile search to view our page profile.
  • Do a hard refresh [hold down shift + refresh] near broadcast time to make sure our google plus page refreshes and shows you the invitation to ‘join hangout‘

We received a comment on one of our hangouts that one viewer couldn’t jump in. Google hangouts do work through iPhones and mobile devices. Unfortunately we cannot explain why some of you get messages like this:

“This hangout is not currently supported on this device” – So we are aware difficulties like this do happen, as this is what I saw on my iPhone. I’m looking forward to suggestions from other mobile people on how they overcome this. In the mean time the only suggestion I have is to leave the G+ app, and restart it if you see this message come up. Even so, please don’t let this hold you back! We value your input through the TweetChat hashtag, make sure you tag your conversation with #IMHhangout so that everyone in the community can see your voice!

Keep an eye on this blog page as details get added to see who’s joining in! We are looking forward to giving you all a spot here in the live broadcast – so make sure you jump in

Circle us!

@InMotionHosting #IMHhangout will be hosted by @JulianaPayson.

Our team to welcome you and help you in the live chat are:

@AnieA203 – Our in-house Graphic Designer, will be scanning our Tweetchat

@IMH_Affiliate – Our Affiliate Manager, will be keeping a deft eye on G+ and hopefully making sure you can jump in.

@Maria_InMotion – Our SEO and Partner Specialist will be watching out for people on Facebook to make sure you get a mention.

Our last hashtracking report shows that we had over 127,000 impressions on #IMHhangout!