Author: Tom (Page 295 of 434)

Writing Open Source Code (Or “Here Be Dragons”)

January 20, 2014 / Tom / 0 Comments

Here Be Dragons

I don’t know if this is something that every developer experiences – regardless of what level of the stack you work on – but I know that for those who truly care about getting better at what we do, there’s often this constant feeling of “I think this could be better.”

Or, perhaps another way of saying it, is that one of the challenges in writing open source code is the criticism that can come that infuse a level of self-doubt.

For example, how many times have those of you who have contributed to a larger project, built something of your own from the ground up, or simply tried to write a small add-on to an existing solution, ended up with something that works, but have this sinking feeling that this just isn’t as elegant – or, I dunno, optimal – as it should be.

I mean, surely it’s not just me, right?

My Preferred Web Page Screenshot Tool, Take 2: Awesome Screenshot

January 17, 2014 / Tom

I no longer use this extension. You can read a technical explanation as to why on this page.

As you guys know, I like to keep a list of tools that I use on a day-to-day base to help get work done. And early last year, I shared that I was a fan of Screen Capture by Google.

Unfortunately, as Chrome has updated, the plugin has not and I began to experience more and more issues with it crashing, not saving screenshots, and generally not working. When this happens, I do what everyone else opts to do: look for a new solution.

For the past several weeks, I’ve been using Awesome Screenshot and I’m a big fan of it.

Filtering wp_title and Why This Matters

January 16, 2014 / Tom / 0 Comments

For anyone who has experience in building WordPress themes – or even just one theme – or anyone who has experience in working with child themes, or simply modifying a core theme, then you’re more than likely with <a title="wp_title" href="http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/wp_title" target="_blank">wp_title</a>.

It’s one of the tags in WordPress that’s easy to usd and that’s easy to understand. Straight from the Codex:

Displays or returns the title of the page. A separator string can be defined, and …, that separator can be designated to print before or after the title of the page.

This tag can be used anywhere within a template as long as it’s outside The Loop on the main page, though is typically used in the <title> element for the head of a page.

Not much to it, right?

But it’s also one of the tags that can be abused which can cause problems especially as it relates to plugins.

Test Your Own Work: Officially On Mayer

January 16, 2014 / Tom

dog fooding can sometimes give you the monday feels (as one of my dog demonstrates)

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I firmly believe that developers should be dog fooding their own work.

This isn’t to say that I don’t believe that assembling a team of beta testers is unimportant – on the contrary – but if you’re building something, and the only people who have experience using said product are people other than you, then I think that’s a problem.

So as of today, I’m proud (if not a little bit embarrassed) to be officially test-driving Mayer – my next WordPress theme that I’ve been discussing for sometime.

Developers Need Help Marketing WordPress Themes

January 15, 2014 / Tom / 0 Comments

If you hang around the WordPress Community long enough (that is, those people who are involved in working on WordPress or building something on WordPress in some way), you’ll notice that we all have a tendency to aim to build the best thing possible – whatever that may be.

At least, that’s what we claim to be doing.

And I’m just as guilty of this as the next person.

But let’s face it: developers need help marketing WordPress themes. Perhaps designers do, too. And let’s not forget plugins or other add-ons.

Basically, I think that we get so involved with the community of which we’re a part, we forget about the market and the terms in which they think. We’re busy trying to help one another other, perhaps even impress one another, and even working to try to out-do each other (I mean, come on, that is competition, right?), that we end up marketing our products in the same way every single time.

And you know what I’m talking about.

Writing Open Source Code (Or “Here Be Dragons”)

My Preferred Web Page Screenshot Tool, Take 2: Awesome Screenshot

Filtering wp_title and Why This Matters

Test Your Own Work: Officially On Mayer

Developers Need Help Marketing WordPress Themes

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