jQuery-UI Checkboxes or Not?

Apr 17th

Posted by Dark-Ape in Web Development

2 comments

As I mentioned before, I am re-working my CMS administration layout and styles. In the process I decided that I disliked having simple checkbox inputs, so I tried jQuery-UI’s .button() method, and while it wasn’t bad, I didn’t get the main feature I wanted1: a graphical check that should (dis)appear.

Well, I’ve made my own jQuery checkboxes before using uniquely laid out HTML divs and a beastly jQuery function I wrote; the script was only 17 lines, but it made too many calls for my tastes.

“Frag that” I said figuring I could make it simpler, and so I did.
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In The Works, #2: Q2 2012

Apr 9th

Posted by Dark-Ape in In The Works

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Hail and well met!

Last week I mentioned some common features missing from paid WordPress templates, and this led to a lot of research into the WP Template Hierarchy. To prove to myself I wasn’t just complaining, my goal for the year – since it is just a self-challenge – is to try to make my own WP theme for either book reviews or a website portfolio; while I am sure these already exist, it is more about challenge myself to something I’d at least find interesting or worth the effort in the end. ;)

For the last month I have been updating my custom CMS layout and a project I hope to finish by the 16th of the month. This client provided a purchased HTML template that was originally designed for WP, so it was interesting to recreate the functionality while also updating some of the features that were limited by WP version of the template – I know because a friend purchased the WP template after seeing a demo of the HTML template I was working on. As for the CMS, I’ve also been going back over my database connection and frequent functions to improve them. From these improvements have come a MySQL connection class, with all of my typical methods and possible error reporting, and some others that I am still tweaking as I consider all the possibilities for them.

Finally, the need finally arose for using the extra fields option for iContact users, which figures since I took it out of the original API, so I’ll be adding the feature to add optional content to user record’s fields. With iContact’s e-mail announcement, on February 29th, about changing the hourly and daily API call throttling limits, I’ve also added in an optional method for tracking the daily call count. Since this feature is non-essential and purely for the curious, you either hardcode it for use everywhere or leave adjust it on a per-case basis through the non-initialization functions.

Just a little, huh? Look forward to it!

Off Armageddon Reef

Monthly Book Review – March

Apr 5th

Posted by Dark-Ape in Fiction

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Took some time off from the books in March so I could enjoy some games and get some freelance work done, but I still read 17 books. I figure that is a good stopping point at it brings my 3-month total to 98, nearly two-third of my annual goal, so the books will be going on hiatus and I hope to have some more web development posts in here. :)

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WordPress Template Requirements

Apr 3rd

Posted by Dark-Ape in Web Development

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After dealing with more than a couple incomplete/buggy WordPress templates clients have purchased, I am tired of dealing with common issues that should have been resolved by the author prior to selling their templates…

Here are my 5 major issues with WordPress themes:

  1. Make sure that tags/categories with non-alphanumeric labels work in all fields and feeds.
  2. Add in an update notification, if not an automatic update link, so we know when fixes are out.
  3. The homepage and front page are different, so an option for one should also be option for the other.
  4. Make sure that pagination works for all template files. If you are using something other than the default field, use/test it!
  5. Finally, add a link to a live documentation/support site… Just linking to the theme’s help won’t help fix most bugs that appear.

In closing: "Never cheat a Klingon … unless you're sure you can get away with it."

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Love Conquers All

Monthly Book Review – February

Mar 1st

Posted by Dark-Ape in Fiction

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hhibuckeyes.com

Two Freelance Projects I’ll Admit To

Feb 20th

Posted by Dark-Ape in Randomness

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aggiewomen.org

AggieWomen.org

Earlier this month I completed a freelance project and launched a new website, AggieWomen.org. I’ll confess right now that this was one of my hardest projects to date. Why? Because I was not consulted in the initial development and had to pick it up after another developer quit in the middle of the promised work. Normally that might not be an issue, since I could just start from scratch or use modules I trust, but there were three problems from the client: 1) they was already expecting it ready soon, 2) they had already seen the WordPress back-end & liked of it, and 2) my client had been told that it could be made to do all their client wanted. No, I haven’t hunt the developer down yet, but they’re on my list…

Starting from where the other developer left off, I took 49 plugins down to 14 and 148 database tables down to 43. Why they felt the need to have four e-commerce plugins installed, I will never know nor feel the need to ask.

hhibuckeyes.com

HHIBuckeyes.com

Although not a new release, I finished this mid-2011, I launched HHIBuckeyes.com for the Ohio State Buckeyes fans of Hilton Head Island, SC. The client did not want a graphic designer to do the template, so I presented several pre-made themes and had them pick one, then customized it to their taste and need. The homepage is content is completely controlled by the custom CMS, except for the bottom left graphic, with the image slider and all three text areas being editable. The newest feature for me, and my most liked feature, was the Schedule that shows the teams, kick-off times and scores for the season. For this I had to collect all of the logos and assign the teams to their divisions, but it was a custom module for the admin.

Yes, the headline is a joke! :P

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Cinder

Monthly Book Review – January

Feb 1st

Posted by Dark-Ape in Fiction

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Last April I joined the Goodreads website as a way to get suggestions based off authors and series I like and have enjoyed previously. Since then I have added approx. 400 books to my “read” collection, added another 130 that I still want to read, and actually read 140 books. This year I set my reading goal at 150 books for the year, but it looks like I’ll go way over it as I read 38 books last monthly alone, with the really nice part being that nearly all of those books were recommendations from Goodreads!

Why am I mentioning Goodreads so much? Well, since I am reading all of these books, I want to share some of the better books and series that I’ve found, and since I rarely can explain the benefits of a book well, I’ll leave that responsibility up to Goodreads’ descriptions, covers, user reviews, and related books! I won’t be reviewing the books myself, though I may make the occasional connection to another series or author, but instead I’ll post some specific books or series each month that I really enjoyed from the previous month.

Enjoy! :)

 

Book of the Month: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl…

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.


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Geekend 2011 Notes

Nov 17th

Posted by Dark-Ape in Randomness

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Last Thursday night I received a call from my father telling me he was at this conference called Geekend, something I had never heard of before and had to get him to spell out for me. After about five minutes, of him talking while I was checking out the website, I was sold on it, told my bosses I’d be gone the next day and drove straight to Savannah to arrive around midnight. It was worth it.

Download: Geekend 2011 Session Notes; last updated 2011-11-17.
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Hello Ferengi, a WordPress Plugin

Nov 10th

Posted by Dark-Ape in Fiction

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In the time honored tradition of reusing other people’s hard work, I have combined the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition with ever-fun concept from Hello Dolly to create a new quote plugin…

For fans of Star Trek, or any Ferengi out there, I present Hello Ferengi, a Ferengi’s slave to teaching non-Ferengi the proper rules of business and profit! Hello Ferengi is a small, fun plugin which will display a random Rule of Acquisition on the top-right of every administration page… but is that all?

Of course not, because I know the two-hundred and forty-second Rule of Acquisition…

“More is good … all is better.”

Shortcode and Rules

[ferengi num="7" tag="0"] ## "Keep your ears open."
  • num: defaults to 0; accepts 81 values (see below) that will return a Rule
    • 0: a random Rule from the 80 known Rules of Acquisition
    • 6R: the Sixth Rule according to Enterprise canon
    • … and 79 misc., non-sequential numbers ranging from 1-286
  • tag: defaults to -1; defines if you want the ROA Number tag returned or not
    • 1: always show the tag
    • 0: never show the tag
    • -1: only show the tag if getting a random Rule

For the avid Star Trek fans…

But there are only 285 Official Rules of Acquisition!
Rule #286 may only be an unoffical Rule of Deep Space 9‘s Quark, but it is a very good rule.

What is the difference between 6 and 6R?
The series Enterprise said the Sixth Rule was something different from a previous declartion, so I labeled it as 6 Revised, or simply 6R, and left Deep Space 9‘s version of the Sixth Rule as 6.

–=Download Hello Ferengi Now!=–

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Oracle Day & Comic Books

Oct 10th

Posted by Dark-Ape in In The Works

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October 18, 2011

Back in 2007 I attended the first SQLSaturday event in Orlando, FL, so it seems fitting to me that on the 18th, just next week, I will be attending the first Oracle Day & Product Fair in Charlotte!

Join us for the inaugural Oracle Day and Product Fair 2011 to discover how the power of simplicity can change your IT from a supporting function to a force that drives business innovation.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to hear multiple keynotes, attend technical breakout sessions and meet one-on-one with product/solution experts of Oracle’s Technology, Application, and Hardware pillars to discuss how you can transform your datacenter and power your cloud with hardware and software, engineered to work together.

October 29, 2011

After all that hard work and learning, I deserve some personal time, so I will be attending the Heroes Pop Swap event on the 29th! The event is sponsered by Charlotte’s favorite comic shop, Heroes Aren’t Hard To Find, and I will be there as browser, buyer and seller – I’ll have a 4′ table space with comics purchased in lots, typically poor condition, and personal purchases in mint condition. If it is on the table, I’ll probably let it go for anywhere from free to the price of the comic itself; I don’t want to know if the comic is worth $500 unless you’re going to offer me more than the price I paid for it! =P

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