Archives
Last 25 Posts
EU 2 Letter Country Codes Cheat Sheet
As web designers, sometimes we need to work with lists of countries. For instance there is a new cookie law coming into action soon that only applies to Europe. In order to fulfil our obligations I needed a list of 2 letter country codes applicable to Europe only. So, I created a list of codes that you can see (and use) below.
For a full list of all the ISO 2 letter country codes check out the
Mimbo Pro Released on WordPress.com
My first theme, Regulus, was released on WordPress.com as one of the first themes there. It's because of Regulus that I started really getting into WordPress themes, so it's great to have another theme of mine on the site.
One of the most common questions we've had since launching Pro Theme Design is if our themes work on WordPress.com. Previously the answer was 'unfortunately not', but now we can say - 'yes, check out Mimbo Pro'
This is something I ...
Draw Something
Draw Something's developer, OMGPop, was recently purchased by Zynga for $crazy money. It's a phenomenon that I don't quite understand but have been dragged in to.
Essentially it's a drawing game, with no objective. Take it in turns to draw pictures and guess what they are. I don't understand why I keep playing, but I do!
Draw Something Hints and TipsBelow are a few things I do to try and make my drawings a bit clearer. Maybe they will help .
Don't use ...iPhone Game in More than a Day
So I continued experimenting with my experimental iPhone game from over a week ago.
In the video below you can see the progress I have made.
I added a very simple graphic for the character you are protecting. I thought this was a good indicator of the art style I will likely go for. I created a level structure, so that you can have different levels with different waves of enemies I create a method for creating different types of enemies. Adding new ...An iPhone Game in One Day?
So - it's Easter Day - and I have nothing planned. I am going to make a video game!
I've had an idea for an iPhone game going round and round in my head for a couple of weeks now, and so I thought I would see if I can make it in one day.
I should clarify that before I started I knew I wouldn't get it in done in a single day - I'm too much of a perfectionist - ...
Building Elemental 2: Simplifying Through Reduction
One of the key things I wanted to do with Elemental was simplify it - and I mean this from a few different viewpoints. I use Elemental on this very website. Over time I have added new features and functionality as and when I have needed it - in fact the functionality I have added has largely been influenced by my own needs.
However, in hindsight, I have spent ...
Building Elemental 2: Getting Started
As I mentioned in February I had a conundrum - I wasn't sure how to make changes to my theme Elemental without breaking peoples sites. Thankfully the people who read my site are super clever and suggested I create a version 2 and so, over the last month or so, that's exactly what I have started doing.
I am currently in the process of ripping Elemental apart - and near enough ...
Have you heard of WordPress $content_width?
The WordPress theme check is a great plugin. For those who haven't seen it it's a way to check that you theme covers all of the functionality required to be added to the WordPress.org theme directory. I have been using this plugin to help me test the themes that I am creating on Pro Theme Design.
It covers a ...
TimThumb Configurations
As a TimThumb user, making changes to the settings has always been a bit of a pain. It's possible, of course, but if you make changes - and then want to update the script - then you have to make all the changes again.
To try and combat this, one of the things we did when creating TimThumb 2.0 is introduce a config file. This is a file that you can add to the same directory as timthumb.php, and use it ...
Mimbo Pro 3: The Classic WordPress Theme Updated
Before Christmas last year Darren asked me if I wanted to work with him to update Mimbo Pro 3. The theme was first released more than 4 years ago - and it's done fantastically well. As one of the first premium magazine themes we led the way - creating innovations like TimThumb, and the post carousel - both now incredibly common features. So we got together and we've now released Mimbo Pro 3 for all to use.
It was actually ...
Game of Thrones Season 2
I'm a really big fan of the Game of Thrones books so loved the first TV series (Winter is Coming!). Initially I was concerned that it would be a bit cheesy, but it was played really straight, like a proper show. My only real complaint is that it felt a bit rushed - the series was half the length of the average US tv series. It's understandable, the clearly spent a lot more on sets and special effects than ...
Complete TimThumb Parameters Guide
It was recently pointed out to me that there's no single place to get a list of all the TimThumb parameters so I thought I would put together a page explaining them, and link to the relevant tutorials/ explanations.
stands for values What it does src source url to image Tells TimThumb which image to resize › tutorial w width the width to resize to Remove the width to scale proportionally (will then need the height) › tutorial h height the height to resize to Remove the height to scale proportionally (will ...Customising WordPress Custom Headers in Child Themes
I am currently working on the next version of Mimbo Pro (due for release really really soon), and am updating the child themes to work with the new update.
Part of the update is that we (Darren and I) wanted to make the best use of the built in WordPress functionality. One of the elements we wanted to take care of was making sure the header is as flexible as possible. Adding the custom WordPress headers is easy. There's documentation on ...
Legend of Zelda: The Lost Oracle
Anyone who knows me knows that I love some Zelda action. So I'm in love with this trailer for a new Zelda game..?
The Lost Oracle is what every fan wants and, unfortunately, not something we're likely to see. The trailer was created by Joel Furtado - 'just for fun'.
The animation has all the Zelda trademarks, including the sound effects and music, and fans of the series will recognise the enemies and environments as ...
WordPress Theme Framework: Less Is More – Or Is It?
I have a conundrum. I want to improve Elemental - my WordPress theme framework. I want to make it lean and fast; but this will involve removing functionality. This in turn means that when people upgrade their themes things may break.
And I don't know what to do?
ExamplesI want to remove options and features and make better use of WordPress built-in functionality. For example:
HTML5: I want to move to HTML 5 for the theme. I'm in the process of making ...YouTube: Best of 2011
YouTube is awesome - I recently read a statistic that said that the average YouTube user is watching over 300 YouTube videos a month.
Part of this must be because of the proliferation of devices that you can watch YouTube on. The recent XBox 360 update (that I mentioned the other day) has a YouTube app that let's you watch YouTube in the comfort of your own living room. It makes a big difference watching the ...
New Xbox 360 – Just For Games?
Not entirely sure how this happened but I was recently invited to be an Xbox 360 ambassador. What does this mean? Well I have been asked to write a couple of blog posts and post some tweets about Xbox.
The reason for becoming an ambassador is to promote the new Xbox 360 dashboard functionality that turns your Xbox from a pure games console, into a full blown media hub.
New DashboardWhen you first load the new dashboard the first thing you ...
A Strange Request and Your Chance to win £200 of Amazon Vouchers
This is a slightly strange request - but I have had a pr company contact me and ask me to get my readers to fill out a survey - and the survey gives you a chance to win £200 worth of Amazon vouchers.
There is a reason for me posting this - and all will become clear in the future - but for the time being you'll have to make do with this cryptic message
Anyway - if you want to ...
Brave – Pixar – Awesome
Pixars new movie, Brave, looks super sweet!
I love that Pixar like to do things that go off in totally different directions. This movie actually reminds me a little of the classic Disney cartoons (Sleeping Beauty, Sword in the Stone, Robin Hood etc) and I guess that makes sense since they have now been consumed by the Mouse House.
The characters look a little 'How to Train Your Dragon'ee, but then I enjoyed that as well. Really ...
Business Lessons from Innocent Drinks
Online there's loads of blog posts and articles about web development, marketing, copywriting, and graphic design. As a web-designer things like technical knowledge and design skills are very important - but there's not so much about building a successful team environment and making the most of your team.
Business, management and marketing are things I am really interested in. In my day job I lead the web team at Miniclip.com so, besides designing web pages and developing new functionality, I ...
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Apr | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |||
