Customizing WordPress: Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

March 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The greatest single feature of WordPress is how easily it can be customized.  As a matter of fact, you’ve probably been on websites that you did not even realize were powered by WordPress.

WP is much more than a blogging platform.  It can be a full-blown CMS.  All it takes is some elbow grease.

With that in mind, the other great thing about WordPress is open-source coding.

I’ll go out on a limb and say that 90% of the functions, designs, and layouts you want for your WordPress site already exist somewhere else.  If you want it, chances are that someone has already made it happen.

When creating your template, do not reinvent the wheel.

My advice is to find a prebuilt template that accomplishes the majority of what you want on your site.  It does not have to be exactly what you want, just somewhat in the neighborhood.

Get that template in your hands (either paid or free), and use it as your “launch pad.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: How to..., Layout, Wordpress

How to Make Your Own WordPress [Shortcode]

March 5, 2010 By 6 Comments

Making your own custom WordPress shortcode is actually very easy to do.  All you need to do is add a little bit of code to your site to generate a new WordPress shortcode.

Everyone loves the convenience of shortcodes such as the built in WordPress gallery shortcode.  All you do is put [shortcodehere] into your post, and the gallery shows up

You may have used some plugins that implement their own custom shortcodes as well.  For example, if you want a poll in your post, your plugin may just tell you to throw something like this in your post:

[poll id=43]

That tells your blog to go get poll number 43 and place it into the post with all the proper formatting. [Read more...]

Filed Under: How to..., Layout

Got Speed? The Problem with Slow Loading Blogs

January 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Does your blog load slowly?  C’mon.  Be honest…we’re all friends here.

If you are not the tech savvy type, I’d be willing to bet your site loads slower than it should.  Most amateur bloggers (and some professional ones) are not very good developers.  Here’s where I would normally make the case for hiring a firm like BlogCraving to handle these things for you, but this time I will spare you.

Let’s just jump right to the point and find out if your site is a load hog.

The speed test

Head on over to tools.pingdom.com.  This site will tell you definitively how fast your site loads.  All you have to do is put in your website’s URL and run the test.  It will show you the load time for every single element on your site.

Pingdom Tools 480x142 Got Speed? The Problem with Slow Loading Blogs

Then, just scroll down to the very bottom of the report to see the total load time for your site.  [Read more...]

Filed Under: How to..., Layout, Strategy, Technology, Wordpress Tagged With: ,

How To Convert PSD to WordPress Template

July 19, 2009 By 4 Comments

screenshot convert psd to wordpress theme How To Convert PSD to Wordpress Template

Have you ever tried to look for step by step instructions or a quick tutorial on how to convert a PSD file into a fully functioning WordPress theme or template?

Our BlogCraving eBook will provide you with an illustrated guide in full color on how to create your very own WordPress theme.  Whether you already have a PSD design or plan to make one in the future, this eBook will show you how to get it converted into a WordPress theme quickly and easily.

Update

This eBook is now completely free!  Visit our new instructions page on how to convert a PSD file into a WordPress Theme Template with illustrations.

Now you can convert your own template designs into WordPress templates for free. Just follow these simple instructions.  This popular eBook used to be $1.99 and is now completely free.  Check it out for yourself today.  No sign up, no charges, just completely free.

Filed Under: How to..., Layout Tagged With: , , , , ,

Keep it Simple

May 12, 2008 By 1 Comment

Keep your blog layout as simple as possible.  Make it easy for your users to do exactly what they want to do with as few clicks as possible.

0 Keep it Simple
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Test Your Site with Other Internet Browsers

May 5, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Once you really get into customizing your blog template, look, design, and functions, you may run into some cross browser compatibility issues.  What does that mean?

Basically, your site may not look the same in Internet Explorer as it does in Mozilla.  Your site may not look the same on a PC as it does on a Mac.  This can be very frustrating because new designs are often a labor of love.

There’s nothing more frustrating than finding out your design/coding only works correctly on Firefox or only on IE.

So without having to buy a Mac and a PC, and without having to install every operating system known to man.  Well, there’s an easy solution, and it is FREE!

Visit browsershots.org.  Enter your URL or page you want to test.  Then check off the browsers you’d like to use.  Click submit.

Refresh the page in a few minutes and the system will have uploaded screenshots of your site in all the browsers you selected.  Then, you can verify for yourself that your page is in fact displaying correctly.  If not, you’ll see that too.

Give it a try, and let us know how it went.

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