* i really should know these by now… but what are ya gonna do?

linking to the homepage

<a href="<?php echo get_option('home'); ?>">...</a>

image references

<img src="<?php bloginfo('stylesheet_directory'); ?>/images/FILE_NAME.jpg"
alt="<?php bloginfo('name'); ?>" title="<?php bloginfo('name'); ?>" />

dynamic widgets

<?php if ( !function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') || !dynamic_sidebar('WIDGET_NAME') ) : ?>
<?php endif; ?>

then, in functions.php, add this:

register_sidebar(array('name'=>'WIDGET_NAME',
'before_widget' => '',
'after_widget' => '',
'before_title' => '<h3>',
'after_title' => '</h3>',
));

custom fields – mentioned before on my site, but just to have ‘em all together

<?php $VARIABLE_NAME=get_post_meta($post->ID, "CUSTOM_FIELD_NAME", true);
if (get_post_meta($post->ID, "CUSTOM_FIELD_NAME", true)) {
echo ("<img src=\"FULL_PATH_TO/$VARIABLE_NAME\" />");
} ?>

copyright

&copy; <?php echo date('Y'); ?> - <?php bloginfo('name'); ?>

required

• all in one seo pack
• google analyticator
• google xml sitemaps
• db cache reloaded fix
• hyper cache

dependent on project

• anyvar
• custom post limits
• shadowbox js
• wordpress related posts
• contact form 7 (+really simple CAPTCHA)
• audio player
• my page order
• widget entries

i need to also put frequently-used code… nice segue, joe…

this really ticked me off because i would have to do plugin updates manually (upload via ftp) and the newest wordpress 3.x didn’t want to upgrade at all (i’d get server errors)

so i finally consulted google and was able to find a solution — apparently it has bothered other people!

If you are a 1and1.com user and are having problems getting the auto upgrade to work (for both the core and plugins), here’s the fix.

Add the following line to your .htaccess file (in the root directory of your WP install):

AddType x-mapp-php5 .php

as soon as i updated the .htaccess file, i was able to upgrade plugins and even wordpress itself!

i was even able to install the WPtouch plugin through my phone! that’s sick.

happy.

i’m really happy with the way it turned out — it’s simple and modern <toot toot>

i’m kinda glad i didn’t go with my initial mockup:

wise decision...

so, along with a nifty fade in/fade out script, i created this in the header.php file:

<?php
  if ( is_front_page() ) {
  echo "
    <div class=\"hpmovie\">
      <div id=\"xlide\">
        <img src=\"wp-content/themes/[THEMENAME]/images/5.jpg\"
          alt=\"\" />
        <img src=\"wp-content/themes/[THEMENAME]/images/11.jpg\"
          alt=\"\" />
        ...
      </div>
    </div>
  ";
  }
?>

so basically, if it’s the home page, it’ll write stuff to the page… boom

i’m sure i forgot something so if you see any errors… lemme know (my qc guy is in town, but i’m excited to roll out with this)

not like you care, but this is hugely different than the previous theme i had (white with the red line at the top)… this one has a bit more color in it and a few more elements that i’ve picked up recently

to start, the main logo is a transparent png with a rollover AND it degrades nicely if you’re using a shitty browser like ie6…

tranny ping (not some gay dood in china)

so it’s one image, and the css switches the image when you roll over it… this method is pretty cool and super easy to pull off. the end result is clean and it loads quick!

then there’s the overall color scheme… i wish i was better at color theory, but i’m not. so i gotta do research on colourlovers for inspiration. i knew i wanted a “web 2.0″ (ugh) color scheme and i think i did it…

another thing that’s cool is the footer — i knew i wanted to do a design with a 3 column footer… i’ve seen kids these days doing it so i wanted to join that crew… i moved the archive list down here, put a short little bio (that’s a first for me), put the social networking sites, and re-added my signature in the copyright

i really like logos… especially when they’re sharp… thanks to the interwebs, i was able to find a set of illustrator vectors of the social networking site logos. so i was able to resize them down without losing quality… i used the rollover styling here as well

tranny gif this time...

and to celebrate, i’ll throw in a song… it’s actually a song i just learned on guitar — it’s SUPER simple even andy could prolly play it

it’s jason mraz’s “anything you want” off his live cd – “beautiful mess: live on earth” (hulu)

I don’t know if I’ll use it a bunch or anything but it’s pretty cool that the wp folks are looking out for non-iPhoners

So this is just a small test to see what it’s like…

If you want the app and you have a bberry, go here: http://blackberry.wordpress.org/

lemme know what you think — and more importantly, if anything’s broken…

FIRST, you’ll need the tools — download virtual pc (especially if you run windows vista) and then grab an image here — i would suggest getting the IE6 image, since that version of IE is the “worst” of them all

great — now you can run virtual pc (check out my settings below, i give it 1GB of memory)

my settings for an IE6 image

now you can download your favorite text editor, firefox and all the necessary plugins (like firebug)… and then download xampp (xampp is like setting up IIS on your machine so you can view server-based code locally (like asp and .net — wordpress is php)

after installing xampp, run it and it’ll look like this:

xampp up and running

you can make sure you set it up correctly by going to http://localhost/xampp/ — it’ll look like below:

w00t... it's set up!

noooowwww… grab a copy of wordpress and unzip it to C:\xampp\htdocs — if you intend on having multiple projects, unzip the files into a unique folder, like so

magi, skimonkey, wordpress, and snuggib are four different projects

from here, it’s just like setting up wordpress (without having to ftp the files, of course), but with some minor changes

database setup

go to http://localhost/xampp/ and click the phpMyAdmin link in the left column

set up the database

in the “create new database” field, type in the name of the database and click the “create” button

name your database

update wp-config.php file

jump over to C:\xampp\htdocs\folder_name and rename the wp-config-sample.php file to wp-config.php. update the code block below:

// ** MySQL settings - You can get this info from your web host ** //
/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define('DB_NAME', 'putyourdbnamehere');

/** MySQL database username */
define('DB_USER', 'usernamehere');

/** MySQL database password */
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'yourpasswordhere');

1 – define(‘DB_NAME’, ‘putyourdbnamehere’); - rename ‘putyourdbnamehere’ with whatever your database name is

2 – define(‘DB_USER’, ‘usernamehere’); – rename ‘usernamehere’ with ‘root’

3 – define(‘DB_PASSWORD’, ‘yourpasswordhere’); – replace ‘yourpasswordhere’ with ” (2 single quotes)

install wordpress

save the file and then head over to http://localhost/folder_name/wp-admin/install.php, where you’ll be greeted with the wordpress setup screen

after typing in your blog name and email address, MAKE NOTE of the username and password it provides for you — otherwise, you’ll have to reset that information in the database (ooh another tutorial idea)

ta-da! that should do it, you’ll be able to get into the admin through http://localhost/folder_name/wp-admin/ and view the site through http://localhost/folder_name/

questions or comments?

• after you modify the “default” folder in the “wp-content\themes” directory, make a copy of it and rename it to something… anything…
  • i found this out the hard way. wordpress just recently did a string of updates (currently 2.8.2) and every time i’d do an update, my site would revert back to the default layout
  • luckily i had all my files locally so i was able to re-upload to the default folder
  • it only took me 3 upgrades to figure out that i had to rename the folder so that wordpress wouldn’t overwrite my work

in doing so, a couple changes need to be made:

update the “style.css” header info — by default, it reads this:

/*
Theme Name: WordPress Default
Theme URI: http://wordpress.org/
Description: The default WordPress theme based on the famous
<a href="http://binarybonsai.com/kubrick/">Kubrick</a>.
Version: 1.6
Author: Michael Heilemann
Author URI: http://binarybonsai.com/
Tags: blue, custom header, fixed width, two columns, widgets

 Kubrick v1.5

http://binarybonsai.com/kubrick/

 This theme was designed and built by Michael Heilemann,
 whose blog you will find at http://binarybonsai.com/

 The CSS, XHTML and design is released under GPL:

http://www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php

*/

i updated my site’s header to this:

/*
Theme Name: gorirraJoe
Description: The theme for www.gorirrajoe.com.
Author: Joey Hernandez
*/

OPTIONAL: if you want, you can create a new “screenshot.png” file, sized 300 x 225 (px) — it could be a screenshot, a logo, or a goatse photo (if you’re into that)

*upload these files to the server, then go to “Appearance > Themes”

you’ll see your new screenshot along with the text that you added to the “style.css” file

new theme activated!

it’s a nice little touch, especially if you created the theme for a client.