Author: Mahesh Palamuttath

A passionate technophile with post-graduation in Library and Information Science, primarily uses Debian GNU/Linux and FOSS. besides, love to cook and travel

All the WordPress plugins that I use!

WordPress Plugins are PHP scripts that extend the functionality of WordPress. They enhance the features of WordPress or add entirely new features to your site. Plugins are often developed by volunteers and are usually free to the public. Plugins are available via the WordPress Plugin Directory. All you want is just go to WordPress dashboard –> Plugins –> Add New –> search plugins from “Search Plugins” Searchbar click install then Activate the plugin

Here  are the WP plugins that I use

Akismet Anti-Spam

Akismet is quite possibly the best way in the world to protect your blog from spam

Classic Editor and Classic Widgets

This plugin disables Gutenberg editor totally everywhere and enables Classic Editor & Classic Widgets. Once activated, this plugin hides all functionality available in the new Gutenberg block editor. Also, you will be able to use old-style Classic Widgets under Appearance > Widgets and Appearance > Customize > Widgets. There is no need to set up any configuration.

Click to Chat

This plugin makes your Web page visitors contact you through WhatsApp with a single click/tap

Easy Table of Contents

Adds a user-friendly and fully automatic way to create and display a table of contents generated from the page content.

Image and video gallery from Google Drive

A WordPress gallery using Google Drive as file storage

Jetpack

WordPress security, performance, marketing, and design tools — Jetpack is made by WordPress experts to make WP sites safer and faster, and help you grow your traffic.

Yoast SEO

Yoast’s mission is SEO for Everyone. Our plugin’s users range from the bakery around the corner to some of the most popular sites on the planet. Yoast SEO Free contains everything that you need to manage your SEO

UpdraftPlus

A most wanted plugin, (I have already set up an auto backup of my WP files and database using a script) UpdraftPlus simplifies backups and restoration. Backup into the cloud directly to Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3

Ninja Forms

Ninja Forms is a web form builder with unparalleled ease of use and features.

SlideShare

A plugin for WordPress to easily display slideshare.net presentations.

TablePress

Embed beautiful and feature-rich tables into your posts and pages, without having to write code.

WP Mail SMTP

For making email deliverability easy for WordPress

WP Popups Lite

Beginner-friendly WordPress popup builder plugin.

Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking

Secure Copy Content Protection is a plugin aimed at protecting web content from being plagiarized.

NB: Plugins can only be installed and used if you either self-host your WordPress or use a WordPress.com Business Plan

Reference: https://wordpress.org/support/article/managing-plugins/

Warning to the Vintage Koha Users

It is being found that Koha software installed via Live CD (vintage versions 3. x) appears to be in error. I do receive a lot of queries on how to recover the crashed koha. Some of the libraries don’t even have the backup file.

Keep the following in mind

  • The live CD is created for learning purposes only, which is not intended to use in a production environment
  • You may lose your entire data (bibliographic, patron, circulation ) unless you take this warning seriously
  • Properly back up your koha (you can automate backup and sync the backup file to the Google Drive cloud storage of library or regularly take and keep the backup in a USB or somewhere else.
  • Koha ILS should be upgraded to the stable version within a period of two years at least to have new features

I do strongly recommend the libraries that are still using a live cd based environment to the stable version and maintain your data.

For proper up-gradation and support, you can hire me as well.

Mahesh Palamuttath
Freelance Information Professional | SaaS | Library Technologist
Mob/WhatsApp: 9567664972
Email: mail@maheshpalamuttath.info
Website: https://maheshpalamuttath.info
Portfolio: https://www.refrens.com/maheshpalamuttath

Welcome Yuvakshetra Institute of Management Studies to the Cloud Hosted Koha Service

Happy to welcome Bhodi Library, Yuvakshetra Institute of Management Studies (YIMS), Ezhakkad, Yuvakhetra Rd, Mundur-II, Palakkad, Kerala 678631 to the cloud-hosted koha service.

About YIMS https://www.yuvakshetra.org/about-us/

Bodhi Library Blog: http://yimsbodhilibrary.blogspot.com/

Library OPAC: http://yims-opac.yuvakshetra.org/

 

Welcome Sahya Arts & Science College to the Cloud Hosted Koha Service

It is my pleasure to be the Koha support provider for Sahya Arts and Science College, Wandoor, Malappuram

About Sahya Arts and Science College

Sahya Arts and Science College, Wandoor, Malappuram district, in Kerala state established in the year 2013 is under the aegis of Sahya tourism and Pravasi co-operative society limited. The College has got administrative sanctions and no objection from the Government of Kerala and on the basis of that, the University of Calicut has granted affiliation for starting five undergraduate courses for the year 2013-14. The college has adequate infrastructure and sufficient funds and is keen on growing into an institute of higher learning and standard.

From https://www.sahyacollege.com/about_us.php

About SASC Library

Sahya Arts & Science College Library – Palamadam, Karad P.O, Wandoor, Malappuram Dist, 679 339, Kerala State, offers students an excellent selection of books, journals, and magazines on all subjects and Internet facilities. Hardbound volumes of the back issues of the leading journals and magazines are also available. The Library has a collection of over 5491 volumes. The Library subscribes to 19 journals and periodicals both national and international. The Library is fully computerized with circulation, information retrieval, and Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC).

The OPAC is available at https://sasc-opac.opensio.co.in/

Secure your PC with a cloud backup solution

Recently, It is being seen people lose their laptops/PC, data and worry about that. One thing we need to keep in our mind is that a computer is just hardware that can be crashed or even theft at any time. So backing up your important data is necessary. You can make use of any popular cloud storage for the purpose like OneDrive which is an inbuilt cloud storage service of Microsoft. or Dropbox, Google Drive, and MEGA each give free storage for personal usage. Choose the appropriate one and create an account on it.

Cloud backup – Google vs Dropbox vs OneDrive vs MEGA
  • Microsoft OneDrive: 5GB (free)
  • Google Drive: 15GB (free)
  • MEGA: 20GB (free)
  • Dropbox: 2GB (free)
Back up any file—anywhere, anytime

You can store all important files safely in your cloud storage account. With access to your Cloud storage files from any device, operating system, or platform, you can work and collaborate on any documents with ease. with or without having an internet connection you can work on files while offline, from your desktop computer, Android, iPhone. Once you get back online, your files and folders will automatically sync with any edits you made when you weren’t connected.

Get extra assurance

Losing precious data, family photos or unintentionally deleting work files–like when your computer/phone goes missing or your external drive stops working–can be stressful. Explore the advantages of file backup with a cloud:

  • Accidents happen, but cloud backup services help make recovering your lost files easier. It’s simple and straightforward to do
  • When you move or delete a file in your cloud storage folder or on the web, they’ll confirm it’s the action you want to take. This ensures fewer opportunities for accidental data loss.
  • Set up key folders like Desktop, Documents, and Downloads to backup and sync automatically. Relax knowing that all your important files are safe in cloud storage and backed up multiple times.
Recover your files

If your files are accidentally deleted, lost, or updated too early, there’s no need to worry. All cloud storage providers give you file recovery and version history, you can restore your deleted files or previous versions of work without missing a beat.
By default, Dropbox/Google Drive/MEGAsync backs up all of your individual files, including early versions of files, for a full 30 days

Dropbox is the platform I have been using for a long time, the personal subscription is 2GB only and that is enough for me to sync all my documents including my research data across my three devices (Debian OS, Windows 10, and Android phone).

Download the client application
Video Tutorials on How to Install and Use

EBSCO interview experience

Today (13 Nov 2021), had an interview with Mr. Rui Francisco, The Director, Software Services, EBSCO Information Services, (Europe, Israel, Latin America, and Central Asia). The interview was for the post of Library Service Engineer (LSE) at EBSCO Services.

Of course, It was an awesome experience with Mr. Rui Francisco. the interview was scheduled from Portugal over Microsoft’s video conferencing platform Teams at 17:00 Indian time. Moreover, It was my first ever foreign interview and I hope, I did my level best. He mainly asked about my skills, programming knowledge as well as on EBSCO services.

The most exciting thing was that they connected me by seeing my profile on LinkedIn.

Thanks to the people who have immensely helped me throughout my professional life.

Let’s hope for the best.

–Mahesh Palamuttath

Received Certificate of National Virtual Workshop on Koha

It was my pleasure to be the co-resource person in the ten-day national virtual workshop on the Koha integrated library system conducted by unity services, Kottayam, Kerala.

It was a nice experience with the seventy-five participants from various parts of India. We discussed all modules on koha, the basics of Linux, and the configuration of Koha in the cloud environment.

I am grateful to Dr. Vimal Kumar sir and Mr. Subeesh Gopinathan for choosing me as one of the tutors for the workshop.

Thank you all.

Received the certificate of appreciation

It was my pleasure to be the resource person in the four days workshop on Koha conducted by Sunniyya Arabic College Chennamangallur, Mukkam Calicut, Kerala, India.

The following were the highlights of the workshop

  • Selection and management of Open Source software in the library
  • Basic Linux training
  • Learning of Koha installation on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
  • Hands-on training of Koha modules
  • Tips for system maintenance and administration
  • How to utilize Koha community support

Thank you, Mrs. Shadiya Muhammed, the librarian, and the college for the awesome days.

Koha Free Software – Malayalam Translation Project

Dear friends,

We know Koha is mostly used by academic libraries and most of them are using the English interface. Currently, only eight Indian languages are available on the Koha interface. That includes Malayalam too. Hindi and Telugu translations have been already completed. The translation of other languages including Malayalam is not completed. Off-course, this is a proud step, and we cordially invite everyone to take part in this project by translating the Koha software interface into Malayalam. You can follow the accompanying instructions prepared by Dr. Vimal Kumar V. to know how to do Malayalam translation. It is hoped that the Malayalam translation will pave the way for using Koha more in public libraries of Kerala. Participation in the Koha translation project does not require any technical expertise. See the instructions

English instruction: http://kohageek.blogspot.com/2021/10/translate-koha-into-indian-languages.html

Malayalam instruction: 

Koha-translation-Malayalam

Koha Workshop at Sunniyya Arabic College, Chennamangallur

I am grateful to the central library, Sunniyya Arabic College, Chennamangallur, Calicut for choosing me as the resource person for the four-day training program on the Koha Open-Source library management system organized on 26-30 October 2021. Library professionals from various institutions participated in the training program. The main aim of the program was to give Koha training and enhance confidence levels among LIS professionals.

This is yet another most important scene of my professional career, once again I thank Mrs. Shadiya Muhammed, the librarian, for choosing me as the resource person.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WORKSHOP

1. Selection and management of Open-Source software in the library
2. Basic Linux training
3. Learning of Koha installation on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
4. Hands-on training of Koha modules
5. Tips for system maintenance and administration
6. How to utilize Koha community support

VENUE AND DATE

Venue: Sunniyya Arabic College
Date: 26-30 October 2021

 

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