Author: Tom (Page 291 of 429)

My Day-To-Day: Lift App, Part 1

January 10, 2014 / Tom / 0 Comments

When it comes to my phone, I’m one of those types of people who usually likes to keep a relatively clean home screen (and I even use folders in order to make sure I only have one home screen so I don’t have to swipe, but that’s fodder for an entirely other post).

Of course, this means that I keep myself relatively limited on the applications that I have installed and that I use. I’m not one for much having anything more than what I need when it comes to my phone.

Sure, I have just a small set of applications that are fun – who doesn’t? – but the majority of the applications on my phone serve a very distinct purpose for helping me get things done.

And one of the latest apps that I’ve been trying out recently is Lift App.

Granted, I’m one of those who’s willing to give each application a fair shake for about a month, so this may-or-may-not still be installed later this year, but so far, I’m really digging it.

WordPress Theme Development: Know Your Customer – The Blogger

January 9, 2014 / Tom / 0 Comments

When it comes to WordPress theme development, one or the areas that developers often find themselves wrestling with is just how verbose they should make their code.

For example, we’re often taught and strive from principles such as DRY and KISS, but it’s hard to maintain both of these when building WordPress themes from the ground up.

For example (and as according to the Codex):

At the very minimum, a WordPress Theme consists of two files:

– style.css

– index.php

And for anyone who has done extensive work in WordPress development knows this to be true; however, if you’re getting into theme development – that is, specifically for bloggers, or digital publishers – then you know there’s a wide variety of templates that are also supposed by the WordPress Template Hierarchy.

To name a few:

style.css
rtl.css
editor-style.css
archives.php
author.php
category.php
comments.php
date.php
index.php
single.php
tag.php
…and so many more

But here’s the deal: it’s nearly impossible to embrace DRY while simultaneously trying to implement each of these templates.

Instead, we’re left with having to repeat a variety of code all the while doing so when much of the code could be produced though template parts and conditional logic.

Though I’m sure we all fall somewhere in between on this issue, he’s where I’ve landed with respect to the various themes that I’ve developed over the last couples of years.

WordPress Settings API Wrapper? No Thanks.

January 8, 2014 / Tom / 0 Comments

From time to time, I end up having conversations with other developers about the state of the WordPress Settings API, whether or not there should be wrappers for it, and/or how the current API can be improved.

Each time the conversation begins, it generally stems from the fact that the Settings API is confusing, can be very intimidating to work with the first time, and it’s not as intuitive as some of the other WordPress APIs.

As with anyone who’s worked with WordPress long enough, I have my own opinions about this – and this is certainly not a “patches welcome” post – because this has been already been discussed at great length on Trac.

Instead, this is nothing more than my general stance on the WordPress Settings API, and how I see wrappers fitting into the scope of overall WordPress Development.

How To Add Google Fonts To The WordPress Editor

January 7, 2014 / Tom / 0 Comments

When it comes to building themes in WordPress, one of the nicest things that you can do for your users is to implement a stylesheet specifically for the editor so that they get a true WYSIWYG experience.

To be more specific, that is you can (and should!) add a stylesheet specifically for the WYSIWYG editor in the WordPress Dashboard. This stylesheet is normally called `editor-style.css`, but can actually be called whatever it is that you’d like permitting that you enqueue it properly.

With the popularity of web fonts rising – such as those from Google – you have to take a slightly different approach when implementing them in the context of the editor rather than the typical way of doing so with server side hooks.

I’m Officially Looking For Beta Testers For ‘Mayer’

January 6, 2014 / Tom

As of today, I’m excited to announce that I am officially looking for a handful of beta testers for Mayer.

In previous blog posts, I’ve shared a bit about the theme:

Mayer is for bloggers who write frequently and/or write long form content, or want to do either of the above.
It offers no options – everything is managed via the Theme Customizer.
This is the theme I will be using in place of Standard
Fully supports WordPress 3.8
…and more

But, as they say, I’m too close to the product, and so I need to get it into the hands of others who are willing to install it, toy around with it, try to break it, and report bugs, and other mistakes, and who are willing to do so for a number of rounds of testing.

If this sounds like something you’re interested in doing, then please read on as I’ve got all the details below.