Author Archive

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Custom Fields Made Easy

1
response
by
on
October 12th, 2008
in
LinkyLoo

Nathan Rice who is a prominent theme author within the WordPress community has published an article that explains an easy way to retrieve the contents of a custom field. Instead of doing things the conventional way, Nathan explains how to simply use a function in order to call the contents of the custom field into a theme. This article should be especially useful to theme authors out there who are looking at providing custom field functionality into their work.

[Continue Reading...]

All In One SEO To Go

21
responses
by
on
October 11th, 2008
in
WordPress Weekly

In this highly optimized episode of WordPress Weekly, I interviewed Michael Torbert who is more commonly known as hallsofmontezuma throughout the WordPress community. He is now the developer of the most popular plugin in the plugin repository, theAll In One SEO pack. We discuss what it’s like to maintain an insanely popular plugin, how difficult it has been to work with the WordPress code, thoughts on SEO in general, and the question of the night went to David Peralty for asking if SEO could be damaged by mis configuring the plugin. You’ll have to listen to the show to get the answer. On top of that, I give my plugin pick of the week, the WordPress job of the week and much more on episode 24 of WordPress weekly. Ad Copy: WordPress Weekly is brought to you by the fine advertisers on WeblogToolsCollection.com. Without their continued support, this show would […]

[Continue Reading...]

Where Is That Settings Page?

37
responses
by
on
October 8th, 2008
in
WordPress Plugins

One of the things I’ve noticed since using WordPress is that after you install a number of plugins, it becomes clear that there is no standard for where to place the plugin configuration link. Sometimes, the configuration link for a plugin shows up in the dashboard while other times, the link appears within the Manage panel. To top things off, many of the plugins provide links to their specific settings in the Settings panel. How much time do you think you have wasted so far by always searching for a particular plugins settings page? Over the weekend, I happened to come across a post written by Andrew Rickmann which showcased an idea to create a configure link next next to the usual Activate/Deactivate Edit links found within the Plugin Management panel. Andrew’s point of view is that, instead of adding top level menu items to the WordPress administration panels, it […]

[Continue Reading...]

Ian Stewart On Child Themes – Part 2

6
responses
by
on
October 5th, 2008
in
WordPress Templates WordPress Skins WordPress Themes

This is the second part of a 2 part interview with Ian Stewart on child themes. Enjoy. 5. Speaking of child themes and theme frameworks, can you explain how one would upgrade a child theme when a theme framework is involved? From the end users perspective there’s really no change in how you use a Child Theme as opposed to a regular theme and there’s really no change in how you upgrade that theme. Even if a theme framework is involved. But the process of upgrading that Child Theme can be improved on. One thing I do in the pre-designed Thematic Child Themes I release commercially is add in a function that looks for a “variant.css” file in the wp-content directory. That function lets you make minor changes like adding background images and changing colors within variant.css without touching the original Child Theme CSS, making it ready to be upgraded […]

[Continue Reading...]

Ian Stewart On Child Themes – Part 1

25
responses
by
on
October 4th, 2008
in
WordPress Templates WordPress Skins WordPress Themes

Child themes are a trend which appears to be gaining traction everywhere you look. Theme authors such as Ian Stewart, Justin Tadlock and Darren Hoyt are just a few of the influential people pushing this concept. In order to try and grasp an understanding of child themes, I interviewed Ian Stewart of Themeshaper.com. His responses were so long, this interview will end up being published in two parts. Here is part 1. 1. First off, could you please explain what Child themes are in the simplest way possible? A Child Theme is a WordPress theme that installs and activates just like any other WordPress theme—with 2 crucial differences. Firstly, it requires no PHP template files of it’s own to work. That’s because it uses the template files of a defined Parent Theme. The Parent Theme must be installed—but not activated—in your blog’s themes directory for the Child Theme to work. […]

[Continue Reading...]

WordPress Weekly Episode 23

4
responses
by
on
October 4th, 2008
in
WordPress Weekly

Episode 23 of WordPress Weekly is now ready for your consumption. In this episode, Keith and I discuss the IntenseDebate acquisition and what that means for both WordPress.com and WordPress.org while also discussing the business aspects of the deal. We also give our thoughts on the developmental version of WordPress 2.7 thus far. We highlight the fact that there has been at least two differen UI surveys available to the public highlighting the increased awareness as well as end user participation into the final product. There is a major difference between the way the UI is being handled in terms of end user feedback between WordPress 2.5 and WordPress 2.7. Last but not least, Keith and I give you our plugin picks up the week. Stories Discussed On The Show: Automattic acquires IntenseDebate WordPress 2.7 – Tentatively Scheduled For Release On November 10th WordPress Usability Surveys: / Navigation Options / […]

[Continue Reading...]

WordPress 2.7 Comment Enhancements

6
responses
by
on
September 30th, 2008
in
LinkyLoo

Otto, who is a well known and respected member of the WordPress community has published a pretty cool article (WordPress 2.7 Comment Enhancements) which explains the various comment enhancements that have made it to the core of WordPress 2.7 thus far. Otto’s reasoning behind the post was to allow theme authors to gain a head start on creating themes which will be compatible with WordPress 2.7. One thing to keep in mind while reading this article is that, this information was compiled from using the latest developmental version of WordPress 2.7. This means things may not be set in stone with further additions or retractions possible before the initial release. Here are some of the enhancements that Otto covers: Creating a 2.7 compatible comments.php file Password protection check The comments loop The power of Ajax Styling Thanks Otto.

[Continue Reading...]

WordPress Weekly Is Back

14
responses
by
on
September 21st, 2008
in
WordPress, WordPress Weekly

Many of you may or may not remember a WordPress podcast that was hosted and produced by yours truly called WordPress Weekly. The show made it through 22 episodes. Some of those included staple interviews with Matt Mullenweg, Lorelle Van Fossen, and Alex King. Because I took on more work, it became increasingly difficult to produce the show on a weekly basis for no pay. Don’t get me wrong, I had a blast doing it but I have to pay the bills. Therefor, I opted to concentrate on the work that would pay me versus doing the show for nothing. After I stopped producing the show, comments, emails and feedback through instant messaging started coming in, letting me know how much you enjoyed the show. Many people who had just discovered the show let me know that they were disappointed there would be no more episodes after 22. I’ve taken […]

[Continue Reading...]

The Road To Automation

47
responses
by
on
September 7th, 2008
in
WordPress

When WordPress 2.3 was released into the wild, one of the new features was an update notification which told you when there was a new version of WordPress or a plugin available for download. This was possible thanks to the API service called api.wordpress.org. Earlier this year, I had the privilege of attending WordCamp Dallas where WordPress 2.5 was unveiled to the world. I’ll personally never forget that day, but when Matt showcased the automatic plugin upgrader, it confirmed my suspicions back when 2.3 was released as to where at least some aspects of WordPress were headed. During some downtime at the event, I pulled Matt aside and asked if him if the team was going to end up heavily using the API to not only upgrade plugins, but upgrade the core and also install themes. I don’t remember exactly what he said, but never the less, that is indeed […]

[Continue Reading...]

« PREVIOUS POSTS
NEWER POSTS »


Obviously Powered by WordPress. © 2003-2013

css.php