Monthly Archives: June 2009

How often do you type “www.”?

Posted on with 3 Comments

In a world where simple, clean and compact are becoming more desirable, and we pride ourselves on having short and simple website addresses, how often do you type “www.”?

To briefly explain “www.”, it is what is refered to as a subdomain on the domain you are visiting. It has become the accepted convention for “www.matty.co.za” and “matty.co.za” to point to the same website. In theory, however, “www.matty.co.za”, “matty.co.za” and “musicrocks.matty.co.za” could all point to different websites entirely.

Knowing this, I ask; How often do you type “www.” or “http://” in your web browser?

Continue reading →

A quick word on Father’s Day

Posted on with No Comments

So, today’s Father’s Day. The third Sunday of June. I thought I’d do a Google search and share a little of how this Sunday came to be known as “Father’s Day”.

According to morning-glow.com, Father’s Day originated in 1909 and was started by a woman by the name of Sonora Smart Dodd. The concept was derived from and conceived during a Mother’s Day sermon. Coming from a single-parent family, Sonora’s father, William Jackson Smart, was the parent who made all the parental sacrifices for his daughter and gave of himself in every way he could to support her and give her the best he could. As Mr. Smart’s birthday was in June, Sonora decided to hold the first Father’s Day on the 19th of June 1910.
Continue reading →

A few guidelines for WordPress plugin development

Posted on with 2 Comments

The WordPress plugin API is vast and powerful. It allows developers to essentially hook code into almost any area of the WordPress system without modifying the core files at all. It also allows for the creation of standalone plugins that work within the WordPress system but do not hook into the core modules.

Over the last few weeks, WordPress plugin development has become one of my favourite things to do. I find it exciting to be able to create functionality, incorporate it seemlessly into the WordPress system and see it work smoothly with the other modules. While plugin development for WordPress is incredibly powerful, it also carries with it a few areas where people commonly stumble over and potentially lose interest in their code… which could be the next big thing. Here are a few guidelines I’ve picked up in order to step over the stumbling blocks.
Continue reading →

Coding with the other side of your brain

Posted on with No Comments

This might seem like a weird topic for a blog post. Let me elaborate.

If you’ve ever coded for a system that is build in a convention you’re not used to (for example, coding using a MVC framework, if you’re not used to it), this concept will begin to make sense. It refers to the almost complete paradigm shift required when approaching an unfamiliar coding framework or system. Here are a few things that I’ve found ease the process of coding with the other side of your brain.
Continue reading →

My WordPress plugins toolbox

Posted on with 1 Comment

Hey everyone,
Just thought I’d post a list of my most regularly installed WordPress plugins and why they are installed on virtually every WordPress installation I do. If there are any plugins I haven’t listed that should be, please let me know in the comments. :)

1. Maintenance Mode

This plugin is truly awesome. It allows the developer and end-user to test the WordPress installation thoroughly, on the server where it will eventually be hosted, without displaying it to the world. It also allows the user to, as it says in the title, take the website down for maintenance at any stage and leave a message for users letting them know of the downtime.
Continue reading →

A quick word on inspiration

Posted on with No Comments

This afternoon, while thinking of what I could write about today, I got to thinking about the concept of inspiration. Where does it come from? How do we channel it? What is it, really?

I find inspiration to be an enigma. It can come from anything (a walk in the park, your favourite band, a smell in the air) and can be channeled into anything. For me, I’ve discovered that inspiration usually stems from things where I appreciate the quality of the end result; for example, a really slick looking design, really neat and streamlined code that serves an amazing function or a song that makes every vein in my body jump for joy.
Continue reading →

Content Management that enables developers

Posted on with 3 Comments

Content Management has always been an area of web development designed to make updating a website simple and easy for the end-user. Over time, I believe, the concept of content management systems (CMSes) has developed, in certain aspects, in a point-and-click direction. By point-and-click, I mean where developers sign into a console and click through a series of steps with, effectively, a “create module” button at the end. This then pumps out a module for the client to update when the website is live.

Does this make for a good CMS?
Continue reading →