So am I. I make changes a lot live on the server (using the Web Dev Toolbar), and I have to hard-refresh every time I make a change. Doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it cuts down on valuable time that could be done… well, not refreshing a page. There is a way; versioning your CSS file. The upside: it makes changes go…
Using images on a design is pretty well necessary in today’s visually stunning web. However, while images look great, there’s no substitute for text when it comes to Search Engine Optimization. But is there a way to get the visual effect of an image while still having the SEO benefits of text? With CSS, there absolutely is. (more…)
Whoops - it would be nice to actually have an article here, huh? I just finished Jeremiah Owyang's new blog design, and I have an article on his blog detailing the process and why I did some of the things that I did. You can check it out here!
If you do like I do and schedule posts ahead of time (especially on the podcast), there's a way inside of WordPress to show your readers what posts are coming up next: <?php $my_query = new WP_Query('post_status=future&order=DESC&showposts=5'); if ($my_query->have_posts()) { while ($my_query->have_posts()) : $my_query->the_post(); ?> <?php the_date(); ?> - <?php the_title(); ?> <?php endwhile; } ?> This will display up to…
So, you’ve got a personal blog and want to integrate your iTunes playlist into WordPress, but don’t just want to say that you’re listening to a CD – you want to display the album art too? WordPress has a few solutions that work great. The easiest way to do that is by utilizing the “scrobbler” built into last.fm – on which an API can…
This post is part of the "Creating a WordPress Theme from a .PSD" series for designers to use for theme development. The other posts can be found here: Part 1 - Background / Introduction Part 2 - From .PSD to .HTML Part 3 - WordPress Structure Part 4 - The Header (header.php) Part 5 - The Footer (footer.php) We've taken a look at one…
Starting with the design concept, we took our WordPress theme from a .psd file to an .html file. Then we started laying the groundwork by commenting and slicing apart the .html file we created into the various .php files. So, what do those various .php files really do? And what should go in each one? That’s where will shift our focus as we take…
In our quest to take a WordPress theme from start to finish (Photoshop to Functional Theme), we have reached what most people would call the end of their journey. We’ve taken our Photoshop file, made the necessary slices and converted it to an .html file. If we wanted this page to remain a static web document, we’d stop here, head into the base camp,…
This is the 2nd part in a series on turning a design done in Photoshop into a WordPress theme. I’m documenting taking a client’s theme from concept to functional site, showing a brief overview of the steps that I take. When last we met, I had just put the final touches on the WordPress design for “Pray With Africa”. With the design completed, it…
A lot of people ask me what process I use to design themes for WordPress, and my answer to that question is the same answer I give to people who ask my design process “in general”: I start with a Photoshop mockup and take it into HTML via Dreamweaver. The only difference is that I (quite literally) drop WordPress code in at the last…