Ramblings

web development and design techniques to get you runnin' with the big dogs

Add “Favorites” Option in the WordPress Admin


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A few months back, RichardWing, a WordPress member, made the suggestion that the “favorites” feature on WordPress.org should be somehow implemented in the WordPress admin/dashboard itself.  Here is his comment: Please add the option to make a plugin a favorite when we view the details of it from our wordpress admin. There are times I […]

Creating a Lightweight CSS3 Animation with Just One Image


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I’ve gotten a lot of requests lately asking how I managed the animations on my site without any flash.  Easy.  Just a bit of CSS3 and basic HTML markup.  Here’s how I did it, clean and simple. Make yourself a frame-by-frame animation (I actually did this one by filming my dog running around in a […]

Using CSS to Replace Content for JavaScript Disabled Browsers


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If you’re like me, you love embellishing your projects with fancy JavaScript to give them pizzaz. But, chances are, you’ve also had some trouble finding a comfortable solution for replacing that JavaScript content for users who have (for one reason or another) disabled JS in their browser. After playing around with many possible fixes, I’ve […]

One Web Designer’s Thoughts on Flash: Approach With Caution


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These days, the web is full of talk about how to provide the best user experience and functionality in a project. And, inevitably, the question always arises whether or not to utilize Flash in web design. And in all the madness, I couldn’t let another week go by without pitching in my two cents, both […]

IE Cleartype Fix – The Solution for Blurry or Pixelated Text


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We’ve all seen it. BLURRY TEXT. It can steal the beauty from even the best designed sites. Have you ever seen (or made) a dropdown menu using JavaScript and found that the text just doesn’t show up right in IE? How about a slick, fading menu that ends up having blurry, hard to read, pixelated […]

Simple Server-Side Browser Detection with PHP


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Ever wish you could make a webpage behave according to the browser it is being viewed with? In many cases this can be done with some well-placed CSS code. But, how about those situations when CSS can’t help us out? CSS hacks and tricks won’t let you target Firefox, Chrome or mobile devices. So, do […]

Using WordPress as a Simple Client Management Solution


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So, you’re looking to give your clients a secure way to access a client page (or group of pages) on your WordPress powered site. There’s just one problem… there isn’t a simple WordPress plugin that can do it for you with the out-of-the-box functionality we’ve grown accustomed to. But before you give up on client […]

10 Tips for the Beginning Freelance Web Designer


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So, you’re a talented web designer with a few projects under your belt and you’re thinking about setting up a small freelancing business for yourself. That’s great! But, there’s more to succeeding as a freelancer than just knowing how to design a functional web page. Freelancing demands a constant balance between learning new skills and […]

Easy Single Image Rollovers with CSS Image Sprites


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With the advent of Style Sheets came the promotion of standards-based code that functions seamlessly across multiple browsers and displays correctly on most every machine out there. But, I often come across high-end websites that are based on outdated (and somewhat unreliable) CSS methods to produce an effect as simple as the common image rollover. […]

Getting the Most Out of Google Without Spending a Dime


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Its pretty common knowledge nowadays that achieving top SEO rankings can take a long time and become a real hassle. But, how do web designers expect to reach those coveted placements when seemingly everyone is fighting for them? There are certainly some ‘easy fixes’ to be found, but many will result in getting your site […]

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