Author: Tom (Page 235 of 428)

What Are You Doing Outside of WordPress?

December 31, 2014 / Tom / 0 Comments

The end of the year usually breeds one of two types of posts (or, in some cases, both!):

A look back over the year summarizing everything that you accomplished (or discussing what you didn’t get accomplished),
Your plans for what you hope to get done in the New Year

And I’m no exception.

Granted, I’m not one that’s big on resolutions – I tend to think that the best time to start something new is whenever you decide to start something new, but I know that bringing in a new year brings with it that feeling of starting over or a clean slate and with that comes ideas for what you hope to get done.

Using WordPress as a Backend

December 30, 2014 / Tom / 0 Comments

These days, it’s hip to say that you’re either working with a framework or you’re working with a content management system.

And, for one reason or another, Team Frameworks frowns upon using a CMS for building a site because it doesn’t require writing code, and Team CMS laughs at the idea of writing so much code to do the same thing they’re able to do without said code.

This is why, in previous posts and in other discussions, I’ve often referred to WordPress as a foundation off of which to build web applications. By that, I mean that WordPress is a content management system and that it is not a framework like Rails, Laravel, or .NET. Instead, its API gives us the ability to extend the application far beyond what it’s able to do out-of-the-box.

And I know, I know. This is all stuff that someone else has said before, but the point that I want to make in bringing this up is how those who are curious about using WordPress as a solution for their data may be writing it off simply because of its branding.

Questioning WordPress Theme Design

December 29, 2014 / Tom / 0 Comments

When talking about the difference in themes and plugins, it’s common for those involved in building projects for WordPress to know that functionality is usually left to plugins and that presentation is left to themes.

This doesn’t mean there isn’t some cross-pollination (or perhaps cross-contamination? :) where plugins introduce visual effects and themes offer more functionality than they probably should, but as a rule of thumb, I think it serves us well.

Sometimes, though, I wonder if we don’t think hard enough about what the presentation of content actually means when it comes to designing themes. Continue reading

My Suite of Apps: Boom2

December 26, 2014 / Tom / 0 Comments

One of the things that those us who grew up on Winamp had the luxury using every time we launched the application was the equalizer.

This was quickly one of those things that was easy to take for granted because as soon as you launched another audio player, you’d either find something that was subpar or you’d find nothing at all.

These days, as much as I love working on a Mac, it’s still hard to believe that one of the largest pieces of audio software on the planet – iTunes – doesn’t ship with an equalizer.

I don’t know why this is – perhaps it’s because it’s built into “everything just works” ethos, but for those who care about squeezing every bit of sound quality out of their speakers knows, the sound works but it’s not as nice as it could be.

Enter Boom2.
Continue reading

Merry Christmas!

December 25, 2014 / Tom / 0 Comments

As is the case with many, Christmas is my favorite time of year. I know that thing in the world don’t stop turning, and things in the world don’t stop happening, but for those who are fortunate to have family and friends close by, it’s a great experience to be able to spend the day with them.