news, tutorials, posts

A Responsive Navigation Proposal (for the Genesis Framework)

As I work on various projects, I keep circling around the idea of how best to implement a responsive navigation menu that just works for everyone.

Flexible Adjacent Entry Navigation for Single Posts in WordPress

Have you ever wanted to include adjacent entry navigation links (links to your previous or next posts) at the end of your current post? I confess,

Add a (Gravity Forms) Shortcode to a Genesis Archive Intro

For a long time, the Genesis Framework has allowed users to set up a custom title and description, or introduction, for archives for custom post types

Remove Additional CSS from the WordPress (4.7) Customizer

WordPress 4.7 is coming soon--as always, bringing some exciting new features, which you can play with already if you're able to download and try out

How to Hide/Remove Archive Headlines in Genesis

I've seen this question several times in the past few months, more often from people who have been using Genesis for a while and change to a new child

Primary Navigation Location: Built in Flexibility

When I'm working with a starter theme or on a project with flexible parameters, I want a lot of flexibility. Some projects need as much room as

Show a Gravity Form with a Click of a Button

On a recent project, I wanted to add a Gravity Form to a post/page, but hide it behind a button so that it would only show if the user clicked on the

Add Custom Styles to Your WordPress Visual Editor

Part of creating a custom WordPress theme for a client involves designing custom styles, not only for the overall site, but also for specific needs or

Swap Out “Read More” for a Call to Action Button

Blogging is hard work. I get that. Building a website is hard. There are a lot of moving parts to consider. And then there's the writing. Writing blog

Scriptless Social Sharing: a Plugin for WordPress

A few months ago, I was part of a conversation about social sharing buttons (or links) on websites. One concern was their general reliance on

Add a Widget Area to Your Featured Image in Genesis

I've been somewhat surprised, but quite pleased, with the positive response and adoption for my featured image plugin, which is available on the

Sorry, No Content Matched Your Criteria

Today's tutorial won't be long, but will hopefully be a nice little tip. Have you ever been browsing around a website and clicked a link or, more

Harness the Power of Genesis Archive Options

About a month ago, I decided to make some minor adjustments to my website, primarily because I wanted to manage my plugins better. Since my last

Genesis Responsive Menu: Accessible Edition

Genesis 2.2 was released a short while ago, and some of its most significant work went into making it accessible for users with disabilities (major

SuperSide Me At Any Size

This summer, I released my first premium plugin, SuperSide Me. It's an app style, or side menu for WordPress, really intended to make websites mobile

Add a Featured Image Column to Your WordPress Admin

If you love featured images in WordPress and wish you could see them at a glance from the list of posts/pages, this is for you. I was up early this

SuperSide Me: a New Mobile Menu Option for WordPress

I don't know about you, but I'm on my cell phone a lot, and I don't mean making calls. I confess to having a bit of phone phobia, which I'm sure

When Not to Do It Yourself (Custom Post Types)

You know I'm a huge fan of creating custom content and post types in WordPress. I think they can extend your site in amazing ways. And a lot of times,

Is Your Back Porch Ready for Visitors?

I'm publishing this post a few minutes before I start speaking at WordCamp Nashville 2015 (woohoo!). The talk itself is a compilation of a few blog

Put Some DIY Into Your CPTs

We've introduced the idea of Custom Post Types. We've talked about some plugins which can build them for us. Now, let's talk about how to make, or

Introduce Us to Your Blog / Posts Page

If you've set up a WordPress site with a blog, or Posts Page (I'll be calling it this throughout the post, as we're using WordPress for so much more

Yes, I Want Custom Post Types. How?

If you've decided that you need custom post types in your life, great! Your next question may be, "How on earth do I get them here with me?" The

Make Simple Social Icons a Little More Awesome

StudioPress has a nice little plugin called Simple Social Icons, which allows you to link to about a dozen different social media networks. It's very

Does This RSS Make Me Look [Like I Missed Something]?

Last week, I had the opportunity to speak to a group of WordPress enthusiasts (if you're in Chattanooga and you like WordPress, join us next time,

Why Do You Need Custom Post Types?

If you are a client, and not a WordPress developer or designer, you may not know what Custom Post Types are, and certainly not why you might need them

Contact the Locals with MailChimp

I've set up a few MailChimp accounts for different clients and uses. At this point, I'd say I could set up an RSS based email campaign without batting

Think Twice Before Using the Jetpack Photon Module

Note: this post is my opinion, which may differ from not only your own, but also many others. Many people feel strongly about Jetpack, Automattic's

A More Flexible Grid Layout for Genesis

Sridhar Katakam has challenged me to do a spontaneous followup post to my last one, A Lazy Coder's Grid Loop for Genesis. I'm building a simple shop

A Lazy Coder’s Grid Loop for Genesis

A few weeks ago, my friend Tim contacted me about doing a wee bit of a refresh on his website, Faith and Doubt. He wanted to change his site so that

Display Featured Image for Genesis: a New Plugin for WordPress

There are great themes being released all the time, which do some pretty wonderful things, especially with images. We can show galleries or super

A (Better) Genesis Featured Page Widget

Early this year, Genesis Super Hero Developer Bill Erickson wrote a post called "Don't use the Genesis Blog Page Template", which made a pretty

Using Featured Images In Your RSS Excerpts

In the past few months, as I've been working on my Send Images to RSS plugin, I've spent a lot of time contemplating raw RSS feeds, which means I've

How to Navigate Tech Support Without Losing Your Mind

I recently had a fairly serious issue with my website which threatened, and at one point, actually did, take my entire site down. Thankfully, my

Create a Static Front Page With Widgets, Too

One area of WordPress which seems to consistently take more explaining to clients than others is the website's front page setup. When you first

Send Images to RSS (plugin)

Update: Send Images to RSS is now available from the official WordPress plugin repository! Download Send Images to RSS. In my last post on RSS

Set Up an RSS Email Campaign Using MailChimp

Last week, I had the privilege of appearing on Genesis Office Hours, hosted by the incomparable Carrie Dils. At some point we started discussing some

Set a Custom Query for Blog/Taxonomy Pages

If you've ventured into the wonderful world of custom post types in WordPress, you've probably run into the issue of how to order the posts you've

Simple Staff for Genesis (plugin)

I recently spoke at WordCamp Nashville about the awesomeness of using Custom Post Types in WordPress. It was fun to share some of the work that I've

Get Down With Custom Post Types

This weekend (May 3), I am at WordCamp Nashville, giving a presentation on Custom Post Types. I am talking/did talk about what they are, why you'd

Simple Listings for Genesis (plugin)

A year ago, the thought of me writing my own plugin was ... unthinkable. Today, it's just mildly hilarious. Actually, I've been creating client

Don’t Be Afraid of Your (website) Data

Everyone else is collecting data, so shouldn't you be, too? It sounds scary, but it shouldn't be. My work is a mixture of building brand new

(snow day)

I went for a quiet walk in the woods yesterday afternoon, just reveling in the snow falling. Today was all about fun, enjoying the nine and a half

Why WordPress?

Periodically, a friend will show me a website or a company with a hot new content management system/software, or ask if I've ever considered using a

Responsive Videos for WordPress

If you have a responsive website, you know the lovely feeling of having full width photos at any screen size. It's delightful, isn't it? And so

Create a page template to show a taxonomy list.

WordPress gives us categories, and we can create custom taxonomies, but this week I discovered that there is nowhere on your average WordPress site

A Masonry Style Custom Front Page Layout

Ever wanted to do a site that looked kind of like Pinterest? You know, where you didn't have to worry about your content blocks being all exactly the

a Custom Archive With a Neat Fade Effect.

A few years ago I had a project for a company with about twenty staff, all of whom needed to be on the site's staff page, each with a photo and bio.

Managing Your Media (Library)

Did you know that when you have a WordPress site, you have a library? It's called your Media Library and it's full of every photo, video, or audio

Entangled (cover art)

Just finished Entangled, my third ebook cover in a series for Rabia Gale. The first two were: Shattered Wired Although I felt conflicted

Styling Smaller Images for Mobile

I recently sorted out an issue that I've noticed before, but ignored, even though it bothered me just a bit. And it could be that it bothered me and

Accommodating IE8 (don’t judge)

I just finished a lovely new site with all kinds of bells and whistles. Lots of features and work went into this clean, extensive, and mobile

summer floral

Seems like every time we go out, there's something beautiful to see. Snagged this one in downtown Chattanooga, in the aquarium's outdoor butterfly

Featured Image Custom Blog Template

I'm learning new things all the time, and like to share. I've encountered some issues with the blog template I created, so I've been sorting them out.

Create a Custom Blog Template

This template works for Genesis 1.9, or 2.0 without HTML5 (it works with HTML5, too, just doesn't take advantage of it). I've posted a new article and

( one year )

Hard to believe it, but we moved to the Chattanooga area just exactly over one year ago. It's been a great year for everyone, I think--the children

Collapsible Navigation Menu

I'm currently working on a website project with a lot of pages. Because of the timing, I've gone ahead and built it with Genesis 2.0 and the fancy

Taylor (a portrait)

My friend Taylor, from Florida, visited me last week while she was in the area visiting colleges. We took a few minutes for some senior portraits in

thirteen.

This week, our firstborn turned thirteen. I'm in a bit of shock over it, maybe a bit of denial. But I look at his face and already feel like it's more

don’t lose me with your email marketing.

I have a bit of a problem. With an app I use. On my phone. To track how much walking I do with the puppy (note: I will never, ever be a runner, but

fairyland hike

I'm so fascinated by watching spring come upon us. Over spring break, we hiked through falling snowflakes. Just weeks later, we are wading in the

sunrises (never get old)

It's so easy to get stuck behind my desk working throughout the day and just not moving. I've been trying to be better about it, which includes

like mother, like (grand)daughter

Today is my daughter's birthday. She is, unbelievably, eleven. She is named for her grandmother, and aptly so, as it turns out. My child is bright and

control your excerpts

Here's another neat trick which I love, but which was hard to find when I first wanted to use it. Have you ever wanted to show some information on

custom post types and archives

This is a follow up to my post about the Genesis blog template, because that template was a serious part of the solution for me. What happened here

spring break

After having one down with the flu for most of last week, we have enjoyed a pretty low key and peaceful spring break here. Ventured out for another

I wish this was part of Genesis.

One of the neato things that I really like about the Genesis Framework from StudioPress (affiliate link) is that it comes with a couple different

Images are Important

...and they need to be handled wisely. I was in a client's website last week and was concerned to discover that a scheduled full site backup had not

suck creek (hiking)

That's seriously what the name is. Last Saturday, we took a nice hike with the kids--this is actually behind the local high school, if you can believe

how to set off your content with headings

(This is the first in a series of client tutorials, which I hope others may find useful as well.) When I hand off a completed website to a client,

daylight saving

Even the city is out of focus the day after the time change.

ash wednesday

Last night was Ash Wednesday, our first one at our new church. I don't remember the last Ash Wednesday service I attended--either due to children, or

let it snow!

It wasn't the first time our children had seen snow, but it was pretty much their first experience with seeing it actually come down from the sky and

Happy Christmas (and New Year)!

Well, this was unexpected. At the beginning of December, we went to downtown Chattanooga to take some pictures of the children (no, I have not mailed

Wired (cover art)

Oh my, I have a list of things I should be sharing with you, and instead of tackling it, I keep working. But I thought I'd take a minute here to go

Unseen (cover art)

My sister-in-law Rabia is at it again: she's published another collection of short stories! I was privileged to participate in the project again by

signal point (personal)

Our family has just completed (well, kind of) our move to Signal Mountain, Tennessee. What it really seems to mean is that we're in our new home,

all that you have in mind

"Do all that you have in mind," his armor-bearer said. "Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul." --1 Samuel 14:7 It's from a kind of obscure story

Lana Picciano, fine artist (web design)

Lana Picciano is a fine artist, an abstract painter. She contacted me last fall, actually asking if I could just make some (significant) changes to

Shattered: Broken Fairy Tales

Resurrection (ferns)

Down here in Florida, a lot of our oak trees are covered with these funny resurrection ferns. I don't know exactly how they work, but when it's been

look! (paula)

Meet Paula. She's pretty awesome. And smart. And talented. And lovely, but you can see that for yourself. Paula's finishing up a fantastic high school

look! (amory)

Here's another downtown Fort Myers family portrait session for you. I have to say, there are some cute little nooks and crannies around downtown! I

sunrise

Back home from camping at Anastasia State Park. Up early on our last morning to watch the sun rise over the Atlantic...once it was up, Andy broke out

sanibel (personal)

Last week, I had an early morning session out on Sanibel Island. I always wish I could just stop at the top of the first bridge out there because the

look! (kathy)

Here's another family Christmas session that I was waiting to post until now. We had a great session, and it was a lot of fun to get to explore one of

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