April 18th, 2013
A few weeks ago, I discussed the changes on the Bluelime Media site and talked about genericons.
This week, I discovered another great source of icon fonts distributed by Zurb. The social set is particularly interesting, since they have a few icons which are missing from genericons.
One of the best thing about teaching is learning from my students. I’m glad one of them introduced me to this great resource.
January 20th, 2013
There are over 400 typefaces in the Google web fonts directory. Many of them are awful. But there are also high-quality typefaces that deserve a closer look. Chad Mazzola has created a beautiful website showcasing some of the best fonts available. You can see the various typefaces in action and click on the examples to get the typeface from the Google web fonts directory.
December 20th, 2012
With small adjustments, you can noticeably improve the typography of any website. This interactive guide by Tommi Kaikkonen is superbly done. I would encourage to have a look.
Your readers will thank you.
November 01st, 2012
The first ever WordPress community summit (wpcs) took place last Monday in gorgeous Tybee Island. The weather was a bit chilly thanks to Sandy, but that didn’t keep anyone from enjoying themselves and taking part in amazing discussions. Attendees, each there by invitation, was composed of Automatticians, core contributors, WordPress based companies, hosting companies, plugin developers, designers who have contributed to the community somehow.
The unconference started with everyone wishing to discuss a certain topic giving a 2 minute presentation detailing what they wanted to discuss and who they would like to have at their table. Discussion topics ranged from how to recognize non-code contributors to WordPress, reducing the pain of Plugin and Theme reviews, the future of Multisite and much more. Altogether, there were four time slots for these discussions which lasted 45 minutes. So we all got a chance to participate to 4 sessions and join in on stimulating conversations.
Each session had a note taker and the group needed to come up with one action item. You can view all of these notes on the wpcs website if you wish to read them in more detail.
October 23rd, 2012
Back in June 2009, Ian Stewart wrote a fantastic tutorial called How To Create a WordPress Theme: The Ultimate WordPress Theme Tutorial. This tutorial proved very popular and useful for so many developers. So popular in fact, that a second edition has now just been launched. This tutorial consists on one lesson each day and uses Automattic’s Underscores (_s) as the starter theme.
If you’ve ever wanted to develop themes like an Automattician, now is your chance. Today’s first lesson entitled Develop Theme Sense covers what you need to know about WordPress themes and it’s file structure. It’s easier than you think and with the Automattic team behind you, it’s the perfect tutorial for anyone wanting to learn about theme building.
October 04th, 2012
Time is almost running out, WordCamp Vancouver 2012 is next Saturday, Oct 13th!
We have a jam packed day in store with 16 sessions, spread over 3 tracks. Talks from how to make your WordPress site mobile, to demystifying SEO, to building member sites, to developing properly with jQuery, to caching, to BuddyPress, and so much more! I’ll be giving a presentation about the WordPress community. If you want to learn how to get jobs, make friends and get involved, come check it out.
The whole day will be filled with talks for every level from beginner to advanced. So check out the schedule, and then grab your tickets.
August 07th, 2012
August 07th, 2012
Code Poet has been around for a while and back in May I wrote that the site was now transformed form a directory to a full resources site. Code Poet is a great place to find quizzes, free e-books and interviews. Last week, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Krista Stevens and the interview is now live. This articles focuses on my teaching rather than theme building, but if you’ve ever wanted to know why I love WordPress, check it out.
June 05th, 2012
One of my year’s goal for 2012, was to release a theme in the WordPress theme repository. Releasing a theme is an easy enough thing to do as long as you follow all the guidelines and ensure that your theme meets all of the requirements. But the bar is set quite high. Although I’ve been building/creating themes for years now and average one a week, creating themes for the masses is a whole different ball game.
I unsuccessfully tried in 2010 and then got busy, so just keep “Adding a theme to the repo” on my teuxdeux list. Then a few months ago, Ian Stewart and his team at Automattic announced the release of _s theme.
This theme is the perfect starter theme for anyone wishing to create themes. It’s not meant to be used as a parent theme, but instead, it’s your foundation.
Knowing that Ian is an incredibly smart guy and that the theme had the Automattic stamp of approval, I proceeded to study it, poked around and came up with my very own theme – Stripay. Feel free to download it and check it out to see how it works. I also urge you, if you are a theme developer, to look at _s. It’s FREE for anyone to use and makes theming way easier.
PS: Why such a weird name? There’s a lot of themes in the repo. Stripes, stripey, were all taken, so I just started randomly choosing letters!
June 05th, 2012
Have you ever wanted to learn HTML and CSS basics, but not sure what book to buy, what class to sign up to? One-day workshops are a great way to determine if indeed that $60 book or that one year programme is for you. Following a series of very successful workshops last year in Toronto, the Ladies Learning Code have announced two workshops right here in Vancouver. Sponsored by Simon Fraser University, the workshops will be offered Friday, August 24th & Saturday, August 25th from 10 am to 5 pm.
If you’ve ever wanted to learn, now is your chance. I’m thinking these tickets will sell out fast. Check it out.
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