Code Highlighting and Formatting in WordPress

I tried a couple different code highlighting plugins for WordPress and decided to use the aptly named “CodeHighlighter” by Wongoo Lee which is essentially an implementation of the well established and tested GeSHi – Generic Syntax Highlighter. Installation follows the usual pattern: unzip, upload to your plugins directory, and activate the plugin from your Plugin Management screen in WordPress.

Once installed, adding highlighted code to your blog is as easy as
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Something About Sluggy

A long long time ago on a Flash forum far far away… I was trying to grasp the full implications of the “text editor thingy” inside Flash. Supposedly, you could type magic words into it and Flash would obey your every command. Finally! My computer would do my bidding rather than it forcing me to press CTRL ALT DEL and string consecutive expletives together in new and exciting ways.
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FireBug is Way Handy

I’m not a big-time web developer so I’m often a bit behind the curve when it comes to cool new tools. If you’re like me and you happened to miss the seemingly omnipresent buzz, Firebug is one of the few web development tools worthy of the praise heaped upon it. It has so many features it’s easy to be overwhelmed by them all. I don’t claim to know everything about this Firefox plugin, but one thing I know how to do is use Firebug to edit CSS right inside the browser. Not only that,
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WordPress Plugin Recommendation

Once you’re familiar with the concept of plugins, the next step is to find a few you might like to try out then take them for a test drive.

There’s no single definitive place to go when looking for plugins but WordPress.com recently created a section on their site solely dedicated to WordPress Plugins. Unfortunately not every plugin is currently listed on their site so searching for the term “best wordpress plugins” is a pretty good way to get some lists showing what people like and use most often. I found KylesCove.com’s Best of: WordPress Plugins list to be one of the most helpful as it’s one of the few sorted by categories such as
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Intro to WordPress Plugins

When I first started using WordPress I wasn’t quite sure what plugins were, what they did or why I might want to use one.

What are WordPress plugins? Basically, a WordPress plugin is a chunk of code which allows non-technically inclined users to add extra features to their WordPress blog and easily configure those features via the Administration Panel.

What does a WordPress plugin do? A good plugin adds features to your blog while simplifying your blogging experience. Since the people who comprise the blogging community
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Changing WordPress Themes

The WordPress default theme looks nice but it might not project the right image for your blog. If this is the case, you’ll be happy to know that the folks at WordPress have made changing your blog’s appearance as easy as changing your socks.

It’s a fairly well documented process but here’s a quick rundown:
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Introduction to WordPress

This blog was created with the free blogging tool WordPress and since this is my first time using a content management system of any type, I thought I’d note my first impressions with the hope of encouraging others to follow along.

So far I’m quite impressed with WordPress’s sheer number of options, overall power and most importantly, its ease of use. Installation was a snap since my web host has something called Fantastico Auto-Installs which makes installing applications like WordPress as easy as
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