If you're a WordPress developer, migrating a finished development project can be one of the trickiest parts. There's moving parts in many places that have to be taken into consideration, and migration is (unfortunately) where WordPress actually could use some improvement. However, it's a necessary evil - one that I've done almost daily for a few years now. I've developed a nice system to…
We've all been there: We're editing the WordPress theme file, setting a new function and *BAM*: We view the site and it's nothing but a sea of white pixels. There's no messages, no errors, nothing to indicate what you've done wrong. And it's frustrating: sure, removing the change would fix the problem, but I (as I'm sure you agree) would rather know why it's not…
I wrote a post a while back stating that the iOS app for WordPress was... lackluster, at best. That was nearly a year-and-a-half ago, and it's nice to see that the app has come a long way. I downloaded it to test it recently, and I was happily surprised with what I found: [gallery link="file"] Taking a page from the Facebook App's playbook has…
This series is meant to be an in-depth look at Responsive Design. It covers the history, the how-to, and best practices on responsive design, taken from the view of someone who hates fluid layouts and has found a (seemingly) better solution. This session will be expounded upon in detail at BlogWorldExpo later this year. Yesterday we mentioned the who and what behind responsive design - how…
This is a bit different than my usual post, since I'm looking more for feedback than I am trying to teach something. My typical workflow for doing a WordPress theme is as follows: Design PSD Mockups Develop HTML/CSS from PSD Weave WordPress boilerplate theme into HTML/CSS Take it server-side Finish up with functions and loops not already inserted I know that somewhere in there…
Sometimes, when you're taking WordPress beyond a typical blog setup, the need arises to leverage the accounts system in WordPress (to purchase items, to access information, etc). Earlier on I told you how to check to see if a user is logged in, but when your only login box is in the back-end, that makes it hard. The first time a client told me…
Conditional Tags are one of my all-time favorite tools to use when developing a WordPress theme. It's an intelligent use of programming logic that allows even non-coders to grasp the basics and, in turn, create complex and functional WordPress themes. With the advent of custom post types, a method was needed to check for the presence of a certain post type, and display the…
A client needed a simple way to preserve real estate on the sidebar, but still have the ability to display their policies at a quick glance. I found a plugin on the repository that uses the TipTip jquery script and condenses it down into a simple-to-use shortcode (complete with button on the editing screen). The plugin is called "WordPress Tooltip", and can be downloaded…
If you're like me, you use custom post types a LOT when you're doing projects (or on your own site, if I've done it for you!). There's a lot of value in having a type of content that's unrestrained and flexible. Sometimes, however, you want to be able to search a particular post type, and leave out all of the other results (pages, blog…
Today's a quick post, but it's worthwhile if you're using WordPress as a Content Management System. A lot of times people utilize the built in account system (user logins) to showcase membership data, ecommerce data, and a whole lot more. I found a need at one point to show different data to people depending on whether or not they were logged in. Turns out,…