If you have ever tried displaying code within a post then you must know about the various problems it can cause. But not to worry anymore, as we all know that some amazing developers are always their to make our day-to-day task as easy as possible. Developers have made hundreds (If not thousand) of plugins that can solve this problem.

Choosing the best from those hundreds of plugins is quite a tough job. So here we are with a list of 10 best WordPress plugins to highlight code within your blog. Honestly speaking, they all are good, it just depends on your needs that which suits you.

1. SyntaxHighlighter Evolved

SyntaxHighlighter Evolved is a real time syntax highlighter plugin enables users to highlight the code of the post with maintained format without any manual change.

2. Developer Formatter

Developer Formatter supports more then 110 programming languages such as PHP, ASP, Html, JavaScript, CSS, Java, C++, C, and Visual Basic and creates a better display of codes on your post.

3. Crayon Syntax Highlighter

Crayon Syntax Highlighter plugin displays the content of a file in a post. This plugin supports multiple languages and themes.

4. FV Code Highlighter

FV Code Highlighter plugin highlights your post code with Dreamweaver style. Plugin supports five programming languages named as PHP, (x)HTML, JavaScript, CSS and XML. Customization of plugin is quite easy with the basic knowledge of CSS.

5. WP-Syntax

WP-Syntax plugin makes it really easy to include code in your posts. This plugin can highlight sources of any language. WP-Syntax plugin supports highlighting with or without loosing it’s formating or any other change while copying snippets of code from the browser.

6. Preserve Code Formatting

Preserve Code formatting plugin preserve formatting of the code for display by preventing its modification by WordPress and other plugins while retaining original whitespace and characters.

7. CodeColorer

CodeColorer plugin is a syntax highlighter that supports color themes and many languages.

8. Sniplets

Sniplet plugin allows you to insert code snippets into the post. This pluign can be used automatically as well as manually.

This post is shared by PixelCrayons, a reputable web development agency specialized in WordPress and Joomla Development. You can get in touch with PixelCrayons if you are planning to hire WordPress Developers or Joomla Developers

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Prevention is better than cure and this applies not only for our health but also for ensuring the security of our business. Since websites have become an integral part of business today, it is essential that they are kept safe and secured. Many businesses prefer using WordPress blog to start up their online venture. WordPress is known for offering a user-friendly, robust blogging platform for businesses. Though most WordPress blogs are not hacked, it is still important that you keep your blog safe. Hackers are outside threats that can seriously harm sensitive data of your business. It is essential that hackers are kept at bay and the WordPress blog made string enough to fight unwanted intrusion.

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Very few will not agree that WordPress is the best blogging platform currently available on the web. With its multitude of features, you will be spoilt for choice regarding how to optimally use the content management system. One thing that makes WordPress quite infamous is its slow loading time and the tendency to create problem when it has too much data. But if there is a problem, there has to be a solution. For WordPress blogging, the solution is right in front of your eyes. It isn’t difficult or cumbersome if you make it a point to keep servicing the platform regularly. Many bloggers will tell you to compare WordPress blogging with an automobile and remind you to service the blogging platform like you regularly service your car. The comparison is pretty apt considering the fact that servicing increases the longevity of your site.

5 Steps on How to Maintain Your WordPress Blog

1. Regular Backups: There is so much that can happen to your blog if you do not keep regular backups. You will find many bloggers sharing their woes of how they lost a month’s data due to a malware or an external threat to the site all because they didn’t create backups of the blog. Make it a habit to regularly create backups as this is a must. WordPress experts suggest creating a backup at least once a week. You will find appropriate plugins for this purpose too.
2. Update WordPress Versions: The WordPress community keeps on releasing new versions of the blogging platform now and then. It is advisable to make it a point to regularly upgrade into such new versions. You may be thinking that every new version will not have much different to offer that is actually true. But by upgrading you will ensure that the security improves. With an old version, the risk to threats increases that is something you wouldn’t want.
3. Update Plugins and Delete Unwanted Ones: It doesn’t matter how many or which plugin you use. The fact remains that they need to be updated regularly so that they function well. When you start using WordPress, numerous plugins must have impressed you and you may have installed several plugins. But as time goes by, you realize that you don’t really need all of them. If you ever feel that a plugin is unnecessary, immediately delete that plugin. Please note that you have to ‘delete’ it and not ‘deactivate’ it.
4. Delete Spam: Make it a habit to check the spam folder and delete all spam. Do this at least once a week to control unwanted utilization of space. You could also install plugins to help delete spam, such as Akismet and Growmap Anti Spambot Plugin.
5.  Update Themes: If you have bought a premium theme for your blog, make it a point to update it regularly. Always be in touch with the theme developer and see that you update the theme as soon as the developer makes some change in the theme. This will once again ensure that your WordPress blog is free of external threats.

iPhones, Androids and a host of other smartphones are here to stay. It will be misleading to say this, as they are here to change the way people communicate and use the Internet. According to the industry forecasts, by the year 2013 there are going to be 1.7 billion mobile users. If even one third of these people start visiting your website through their mobile, you can only imagine the kind of exposure you will be getting. If you are running a WordPress powered website, it is important that you convert it into a mobile friendly site at the earliest. Any WordPress developer will tell you that making a website mobile friendly isn’t really difficult.

A few plug-ins, a smart navigation plan, clear and concise content and a fluid and good web design is all that is required for getting that perfectly compatible and responsive website. When you plan to make your website mobile compatible, it is important you understand the nuances of the medium. Mobile devices come in various forms, sizes and with many operating systems. The advantage of using WordPress for a mobile website is that you get the flexibility, the robustness that is inherent in the CMS and get the opportunity to install several plug-ins to enhance the functionality of the website. There are several plug-ins that will help in making your WordPress site mobile friendly. Let us take a look at some of them:

• WPTouch: Any WordPress programmer will vouch for this great plug-in that has literally swept the industry. It has been downloaded at least 1 million times on the last count! The plug-in automatically transforms the desktop version of your website into a web application that can be readily viewed on iPhone, iPod, Android or BlackBerry Storm. It has an easy-to-use admin panel and doesn’t require a dev key. The advantage of WPTouch is that you can decide what content to display on the mobile version, how to add custom code that includes CSS and Google AdSense.

• Wapple Architect Mobile Plugin: To access the dev key of this plug-in, ask your WordPress programmer to register you with the Wapple website. This is one of the most customizable WordPress plug-ins that has advanced SEO settings with about 8 in-built themes and style sheets. Moreover, The Wapple plug-in integrates mobile advertising.

• WordPress Mobile Pack: With a mobile switcher, numerous themes, widgets and an easy to use mobile admin panel, WordPress Mobile Pack is a complete toolkit to help in the conversion process. The mobile switcher can automatically make suggestions on the mobile and desktop presentation. For tracking usage on the website, the plug-in has the analytics powered by PercentMobile. The plug-in has been designed such that it adheres to valid XHTML-MP1 markup.

• Verve Mobile: Verve Mobile offers great solutions for detecting the standard and advanced mobile devices and displaying a website for the detected website automatically. The other key features of the plug-in includes seamless integration with the Verve network, advanced traffic tracking system, automatic formatting of content, resizing of images, etc.

Before taking the plunge, remember to use a tracking software such as Google Analytics to get an estimate of the user demographics of who is accessing your website from a mobile. Remember that tables are a thing of the past for website designs and is an absolute ‘no’ for the mobile versions. It is essential that you reduce the number of links and make it more intuitive for better site navigation. Make the website light so that users can view your website even in the slowest of Internet connections. Lastly, your content should be your top priority.

Content Management Systems have eased the process of starting and managing a website. Traditionally developing a website would mean coding it in HTML which required a lot of skills and expertise. But CMS solutions have made it a cup of tea for any computer literate person. Now, with so many content management systems available which one do you choose? WordPress has become another synonym for CMS solutions and holds a grip over half the CMS market with talented WordPress developers offering highly customized website solutions. Businesses prefer WordPress theme development when it comes to developing websites and blogs.

Five Reasons to Choose WordPress CMS

1. It is Free – WordPress is an open source content management system and thus comes absolutely free. You don’t need to incur huge expenses on developing a website or blog in WordPress. When businesses are looking to streamline operating costs, this comes as a huge boon especially for small businesses and startups. You also have access to hundreds of free themes which you can use to start your website. Most businesses however, get their custom website developed by professional WordPress theme developers, thus adding to their brand recognition and value.
2. It is User-Friendly – Not all of us are technology geeks or can afford to spend hours to learn how to manage a website. In this regard, WordPress scores a point as the CMS is very user-friendly. The learning curve for WordPress is smaller than other content management systems available in the market. One can easily manage a website using a web-based interface sitting anywhere in the world. The self-explanatory interface allows one to post text, pictures and multimedia elements in the website with ease.
3. Customization – Your website needs to stand out among competitors and for this you need to have custom features and functionalities that cater to the needs of your customers. WordPress developers can develop your website from scratch and create custom features and functionalities, which address the niche demands of your business. These are aided by the huge number of third-party plugins available with the CMS. These plugins offer high levels of features and functionality to your website and are easy to install. These plugins come for free or fraction of the cost required for developing them from the scratch.
4. SEO Friendly – The success of a website rests on the search engines as they contribute bulk of the traffic to your website. WordPress emerges as a winner in this as the codes generated by WordPress are SEO friendly and attract the search engine crawlers easily. Apart from this, when you hire the services of professional WordPress theme developers, they hand code the website using semantic coding techniques which further boosts the online visibility of the website helping you reach out to more customers.
5. Community Support – WordPress has a huge community of developers who act as a great source of support when need arises. You can post your queries and doubts in such groups and communities and get replies from the expert developers. These groups also review developments happening with the CMS and fix the loopholes that might threaten security of the website. You won’t get such support in other content management systems as they have smaller communities.

With all these advantages, WordPress becomes the ideal content management system in the world fulfilling the needs of small and big businesses alike. By hiring WordPress programmers with a proven track record, you can reap benefits out of this content management system for your business website or blog.

Won’t you like a web publishing platform that allows you to create and host a website within minutes? Well! I believe, if an Open Source Content Management System is as easy as this, it will certainly earn accolades in the industry. However, the ease to create and host as WordPress website is not the only attribute for WordPress’s popularity as there are several other benefits, which make it the first choice for small and large business.

The first thing that makes WordPress Web Development a popular trend is its simplicity. The CMS is extremely easy and any person can not only understand the entire process, but can actually build a website. The CMS promises a lot of scope for running highly efficient personal and commercial websites. Full standards compliance, Cross-blog communication tools, Spam protection, Full user registration, Password Protected Posts, Easy installation and upgrades, XML-RPC interface, Intelligent text formatting, etc are some of the features that attract people towards the CMS. However, the reason, small and large business prefer to build their sites with WordPress is something more interesting and significant…it is the customizability or extendibility this open source content management system ensures. WordPress comes with thousands of free plugins and modules that can be developed with the help of WordPress developers, resulting in increased functionality of the website.

WordPress theme development allows you to customize the theme of your website, this is the most popular practice that has earned accolades for CMS in the industry. WordPress allows you to create a theme of your own choice and integrate it with the site in easy steps. You can design any theme you wish in Photoshop and then convert its elements in HTML and finally integrate the codes with WordPress site. Large and small businesses design their websites to showcase their products and services in the best possible manner by making use of this option.

Through WordPress Web Development, an entrepreneur can instantly create and host a website. Even if you do not want to create a customized theme, you can make your website attractive, as WordPress offer hundreds of free themes and templates, which can be applied in minutes.

Have a look at the following points that will give you a quick idea, why businessperson prefer to build their sites in WordPress:

• Easy and Quick: WordPress Web Development is an easy and quick process. You don’t need to be computer experts to use the CMS. Once you create you WordPress site, you can manage it with a simple dashboard. You can add pages, create sub pages, manage users, protect the content with passwords and do many interesting things.
• Cost effective: WordPress is a free and open source CMS. You don’t need to pay to create a website in WordPress.
• Customizability: It is very easy to customize a WordPress site. You can change the complete layout of the website and manage the content the way you want. The market is abundant with highly qualified WordPress Developers, who can handle your website and guide you too.

Due to the increased popularity of the WordPress, a number of WordPress development companies have come up in India and other parts of the world. These developers offer extremely superb services and help you build a website that meets your requirements.

There is no denying the fact that WordPress is a well renowned and a highly reliable CMS solution. It is a very user friendly solution and helps in developing dynamic and robust websites. In today’s extremely competitive time, it is imperative for a business to have a unique and a feature rich website. The competition is too tough and it takes best of efforts to stay ahead in the competition. A WordPress based website can help you in staying ahead in the competitive domain. In fact, WordPress offers many advantages. Read further to find out about the advantages provided by WordPress web development.

1. Open source and a user friendly technology

First and foremost, WordPress is an open source technology. This means that it is available for free and anyone can download it and install it. It is a very user friendly application and helps in editing, updating and deleting the content in a very simple manner. WordPress is well known for its flexibility. It offers a lot of flexibility in design and enables developers to create a wonderful website. It is easy to upgrade.

2. SEO friendly solution

Another important advantage provided by WordPress is that it is a very search engine friendly solution. It is very important for a website to be search engine friendly. Otherwise it will not be indexed and ranked by search engines and it will have no visibility. WordPress has such design capacity that it attracts the attention of search engines. All the features and functions of WordPress are designed to guide search engines through pages and posts, and also the categories. It helps the search engine spiders to crawl or index a site properly.

3. Interesting themes and plug-ins

WordPress also has a lot of interesting themes and plug-ins to offer. Let us first talk about themes. It has many themes which can be customized as per one’s requirements. WordPress gives users the liberty to edit and customize the theme so that it suits their requirements in the best manner. It also has plethora of plug-ins to offer. Plug-ins are software which are designed to perform specific tasks. WordPress has many useful plug-ins to offer which help in extending the functionality of a website. Moreover, it has a big community of developers who keep making regular updates.

4. RSS feeds

You can integrate RSS feed in your WordPress website. Most of the websites do not automatically create RSS feeds but WordPress has this feature. These days internet users are becoming more and more comfortable with RSS feed usage. This is why developers offering live feeds from their sites can save time and money by eliminating e-mail campaigns and other expensive web marketing tools.

From the above discussion it is evident that WordPress offers a lot of advantages. It ensures that you get a highly interactive and a dynamic website which performs well and stays ahead in the competition. Always hire professional WordPress developers to get the best out of website development.

WordPress is the most used content management system in the world. It is highly robust, user-friendly and scalable open source CMS in the world. It offers solutions for all genres of web development ranging from corporate websites to ecommerce stores. What makes this platform so powerful are the thousands of plugins that are available which allows businesses to have highly customized websites. Although it is difficult task to pick the best plugin let us take a look at the top ten WordPress plugins which in other words can be referred to as killer plugins.

• All In One SEO – Search engine optimization plays a pivotal role in a website’s success and this plugin optimizes your website for the search engine. Among its most notable features are advanced Canonical URLs, Fine tune Page Navigational Links and support for Google Analytics. It optimizes the page title and generates META tags automatically.
• Google XML Sitemaps - This plugin generates a special XML sitemap which helps your website get indexed in search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo and Ask.com. Google XML Sitemaps makes it easier for the search engine spiders to see the complete structure of your site and index it more efficiently.
• Broken Link Checker – Broken links hurt you both on the SEO front and also the brand value of your website. This plugin looks for broken links missing images in your website. It monitors links in your posts, pages, blogroll and custom fields. It can even detect redirected links in your website.
• WordPress Database Backup – This plugin comes in handy when you plan to overhaul your website. You can back up the entire database in your website and return to the existing state in case anything goes wrong with your upgrade process.
• Gravity Forms – When it comes to using forms in your website this is without any doubt the best plugin available in business. It allows you to quickly set up highly customized forms. You can set up multipage forms, schedule time period and limit the number of entries.
• Askimet – This relives you from the world of spamming. It can easily identify spam and saves your previous time and effort filter genuine comments and trackbacks from spam that come your way. Moderators can easily see the number of approved comments for each user.
• Google Analytics – It is very important to know the data on traffic to your website, where your visitors are coming from, what keywords are they using. All this is possible with Google Analytics which is the ultimate analytic tool in the world. You can know about the landing page, bounce rates, outbound links all using this awesome plugin.
• WordPress Automatic Upgrade – If you want to stay in sync with the latest WordPress installation this plugin does it automatically for you. It updates the WordPress installation with respect to the latest available from WordPress.org. Apart from this it also automatically performs backups and provides you with downloadable links.
• Social Media Widget – Social media is very important for a website’s growth and this plugin which comes in the form of a sidebar allows you to input social media website profile URLs and other subscriptions. It supports all popular social media networks including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, MySpace and many others.
• WP-PageNavi – Navigation plays an important role in the success of any website and this plugin adds more advanced navigation to your WordPress site. Here you will be able to install custom buttons in your website which allows users to go wherever they want adding to your website’s popularity.