I’ll be honest, I don’t have time to do my school work and run HiddenCSS as a blog. So, in order to overcome this problem I have a plan, and the plan will take some time to swing fully into action, but it will mean that HiddenCSS will regain it’s purpose.
I plan to work through every major HTML element, as a start. When doing this I will write a simple tutorial on how CSS techniques can and could be applied to the element in question. Over time this will build up to demonstrate a large variety in the use of CSS and how it can be applied to various element in and HTML page. Along side each of these I plan to show a Video tutorial that shows that technique and how it is done.
Now, this will only last so long. After this I plan to start on a second mini project. The second project shall be identical to the first, accept working through the CSS elements and showing how and individual element could be used along side others. Again, this project will include a video tutorial to go with it.
I hope this will unveil a new and long future for HiddenCSS. I would be interesting to here people thoughts and ideas for these plans, I would be grateful of anyone who posts with there comments.
I know that I am not the only person who designs on multiple computers. In fact, I bet most people use at least two computers, for example when at home I prefer to design on my more powerful desktop, and when on the move my only option is obvisley my laptop, as taking a desktop around school just isn’t an option. This is all great, but what is the best way to sync all these files between computers?
I have tried the approach of working off a memory stick all of the time. I have tried using shared file over the network, but both ways can be difficult to work with, especially when running apache and a MySQL server come into play.
So, what is the solution that I have found? It’s called Dropbox. Dropbox is an online file sharing application, which seamlessly integrates with your Windows, Mac, or Linux based computer. It is perfect, it can synchronise all of your files between computers at your will, from any folder anywhere on your Hard Drive.
On top of this, depending on how much you want to synchronise, it doesn’t cost a penny. Dropbox will provide you with 2GB of free storage, or up to 100GB on a premium plan. This means you can work with all of your files, on all of your computers. All at the same time, if you wish. On top of all of this, you don’t even have to be connected to the internet to work with your files, just make sure that you synchronise you files before you go offline.
Dropbox is definitely onto something here. Excellent work is all I can say.
Believe it or not, I don’t like the design of HiddenCSS. In fact I hate it. I wish I had put more time, more effort into it. It is badly designed and that is what I plan to look at today. It takes a lot of time to make a truly high-quality website design, which is one thing that I believe that I succeeded in on my personal portfolio - The Works Of.
There are two things which I truly believe are required to make high-quality design. The first is attention to detail, and the second is simplicity. These put together will make a good-looking modern website.
So, what is it that makes HiddenCSS fail so badly here? The colours? No. The content? I don’t think so. The cause is simply a lack of space. I have a habit of redesigned all website s that I make 5 or 6 times a year. When I launched HiddenCSS I made myself promise that I wouldn’t change the design for at least a year, and now I am about the break that promise.
It needs redesigning. Now.
I am now starting the process of re-designing every page of HiddenCSS and to start with I was finding it hard to decide what I should keep and what should go, but now I am realising that the whole lot should go, the entire design. What HiddenCSS needs (already) is a complete ground-up rework. Not just a few tweaks here and there, but everything must be re-done.
Doing this along-side my school work could take some time, so you may all have to bear with me on this one, as I do have a lot of A-Level work to get done at the moment. But it will happen. The design won’t be the only thing to change on HiddenCSS, either. I plan to introduce a separate page for the screencasts, another for download and free give-a-ways and a proper contact page (rather than the iframe overlay in the footer.
This time I will get it right. This time I will get the look HiddenCSS should have had from the start.
Todays HiddenCSS screencast focuses on exactly how to download plugins and themes from the wordpress.org extensions area and then how to upload and install them on your server for your wordpress Blog.
As Promised – the first ever HiddenCSS screencast is here!
Firstly, I would like to apologise for the shabby sound quality. I know its not the best, but I’m working on it and I will ensure it is better for the next one (hopefully sometime in the next week). This first screencast is about installing wordpress on a server, from downloading it to running the install. I hope it’s helpful.
Just a quick note to let people know that, yes, I am still alive. I know thier hasn’t been much in the way of updates happening recently – but I am just a little busy with exams.
Normal posting should resume properly some time next week.
I decided that today I would join in with what seems like a massive movement in the web designers’ world. With the release of so many new browsers why don’t people move foreword out of the Dark Ages?
This week there seems to be a massive movement of people asking people who are still running IE6 to stand down.
You see, the problem with it is too many people use it, but not enough to make it worth supporting the piece of junk.
The browser has really bad security, so it’s easier for people to get hold of your details, is slow, so it takes for-ever for this post to load. And more to the point it makes every thing loom weird, putting things in funny places and Jazz.
The other problem with the browser is how long it has been since support stopped, almost two years ago now. This means that there is a problem for you IE6 users. Because why would Microsoft suddenly decide to update it if a security problem is found.
I soon plan to begin introducing ScreenCasts to HiddenCSS, in order to get a large range of content that will suit more people. To start with they will only be viewable on the HideenCSS website, but I may introduce them to the iStore in the near future as a free download.
I have a few starting ideas for ScreenCasts, but please do feel free to make suggestions if you have any ideas. Heres a few I came up with:
Today, I’m going to walk you through something that I have been asked a lot in the past, just how do you upgrade Wordpress? I can tell you now that there is a set of upgrade instructions that comes with Wordpress, these don’t exactly make upgrading Wordpress either fast or easy. The method I’m about to show you is the fastest way that I have ever found (and do correct me if there is a faster way).
In order to complete this tutorial you will need an FTP connection to your websites server, so if you don’t have that find out what it is before continuing.
The first thing that you need to do is to download the Wordpress Automatic Upgrade Plug-in upload this using you FTP client to ‘wordpress/wp-content/plugins/’ where wordpress is the directory that your wordpress installation is in.
Now that is all that you will require your FTP Client for.You can now to plug-ins and activate the ‘Wordpress Automatic Upgrade’ that should now be in your list of Inactive Plugins.When their a wordpress update available you will now be able to click a click at the top of your wordpress windows that says something like ‘Upgrade wordpress now with Automatic Upgrader. Once you have clicked the link it will take your through step-by-step and upgrade wordpress for you. Simply follow all on-screen instructions.
That’s got to be the quickest and easiest way to upgrade your wordpress installation.Happy Blogging!
Many website are not optimised correctly for today’s high standards in the world of web development. They are often slow, with nothing but text for the eye to see. On top of this the Meta is badly done and so the wrong people find your website. Sound Familiar?
Whilst looking for extra Web Optimisation tips that I was yet to come across on the internet I came across a tool. After trying it out I found that it was a truly amazing online application that tells you how well optimised your website is.
