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Random Tips
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WordPress 3.0 and Random One Cat Widget Improvements
As you can see I’ve not only updated to WordPress 3.0 but I’ve also changed to the new default theme to see all the new goodies. The upgrade was simple and both the Mad Meg theme and the Random One Cat Widget work fine with the new version, although obviously the theme doesn’t yet include any new features for 3.0 (but don’t worry it will soon enough).
I’ve also made a small change to Random One Cat Widget which improves the functionality of titles. You can now choose to display only the widget title, only the post title, both of the titles together or neither title. A new drop down has replaced the checkbox in the widget configuration and you should revisit each one to choose the option you prefer. This adds flexibility to the widget without bringing much additional complexity. I hope that you like this feature – please take a comment to leave some feedback either way.
Just Wait for It
OK, I admit it, the amazing new theme is still not actually here (nor is it done yet). I’ve been side tracked into other things (none of which are anything to write about here). I’m going to get on it soon, but WP3 is not far off now so I’m going to wait for that and produce a fully compatible theme. Then of course I’m going to use that code to update Mad Meg (and the other themes that are also not here yet).
Yes, these are pitiful excuses for being a “designer” who’s blog has not got its own theme, but hey. I’m not really that guy. I’m under no illusion that having a killer theme will bring work my way. Yes, you’ll come here read the posts, take all the free stuff, and moan that I don’t offer everything to the non-fee-paying public and then you’ll visit another twenty sites to do the same thing. No-one actually will say “wow that theme is fantastic, how would you like a huge bag of money to revive my mediocre corporate site”. No what will happen is that guy will go to his existing design team and tell them to make the site look “more like that one” and give them my link. Then before you can say “here’s an invoice for 3 months work” they’ll rip the things they can copy and rubbish everything else, and the mediocre site will have a new colour palette, a slightly thinner stick-girl carrying a box and a prettier Asian girl-dude being happy whilst in a headset. And all will be well.
Actually I’m fine with all of that. My blog is not my office, nor a shop front. I don’t pretend to be more than a single person and yes I have a joe-job that I don’t like much and in my off hours I sometimes like to code widgets or design themes. But I don’t want to make my money that way. I’d have to work much harder than I do now, I would grow to hate it and I would have little time left in which to do something different. This means Kubrick is here to stay a little longer – it works and you can still download stuff, spam me or leave the odd comment. So what’s your beef?
Kubrick?
I’m supposed to be a WordPress coder and theme designer right? Right. So why do I still have the default WordPress theme on my site. There are several possible reasons for this:
- I’m a useless shit muncher and can’t actually code anything.
- I’m too lazy to care about it much.
- I’m in denial and don’t think this classic theme can be bettered by anyone.
- I’m too busy working for “real” clients to give two hoots about non paying visitors
Actually none of these is totally true. I’m designing a custom theme and don’t follow the “work in progress” approach. It’ll be here once it’s done. Version 1.0 not 0.1. So now you know. Prepare yourselves to digest some fresh typography dipped in chocolate and cream.
Welcome Home Fecûndvs
This is the new home of the developer now known as Fecûndvs.
Whilst the movers empty their van of stuff here it’s going to to be chaotic; boxes of stuff, piles of newspaper wrappings and people coming and going and shuffling stuff about.
The decorators are off on another job and the plumbers are drinking tea and biggin’ it up around a flaming pile of old crates.
The grand opening will be soon, so keep that date free in your dairy and return for the feast.
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Moore Themes
I’ve started to think about designing another free theme, but I can’t really make up my mind on which one to go for. I’ve been mulling over a bunch of ideas and for the next theme it boils down to a choice of three inspirations. These are Henry Moore, Sir Patrick Moore and Mandy Moore.
Henry Moore is a well known sculptor, but he also made a large number of sketches and drawings. These have an interesting style, tend to be in shades of grey sometimes with one or two colours added and that might make for an interesting and unique theme.
Sir Patrick Moore is a bit of a hero of mine. An amateur astronomer and presenter of The Sky at Night. Not only that but author of one of my favourite science fiction books – Peril On Mars (1958). With his rotund figure, monocle and shocking hair his image could make an interesting stylistic element of a theme, perhaps a very dark blue one with star charts and the moon.
Mandy Moore, the actress, singer, movie star and all round good egg. Well, she has that beautiful girl next door look, has lovely eyes and a range of skin and hair tones. This would be a light theme perhaps with a header image of her lounging, maybe even with a few colour combos that visitors can select (to reflect the way her image has changed).
I suppose I’m leaning towards Patrick as this would be more simple than Henry and more interesting to do than Mandy (which might just end up like all the other “girly” themes).
Anyone want to express their preference?
Copyists
Maybe it is something to do with Moveable Type being only a pale imitation of WordPress that therefore attracts a certain type of person to it. People with no real imagination of their own or even the basic ability to replicate another’s work satisfactorily. These people used to be called copyists, and although they aren’t seen in the same light as those able to be original, they at least demonstrated enough skill in their task to produce a facsimile that, whilst not perhaps perfect, was something to be proud of or at the very least did not detract from the original work. Now they are just code-chav’s.
My themes are GPL, so I can’t stop people copying them without asking, nor can I insist that they at least make a reasonable job at it. Nevertheless it still makes me mad when someone takes my work and mashes it into another product in a ham-fisted way without even asking if I mind. Then they sticker it up and link back to the original like they’ve some real association with me. They don’t.
MT is, IHMO, second-rate. I would never make a theme for it and, for the record, I hope that the dull and unimaginative MT themers who steal my themes (take without asking anyway) would do me a big favour and stop. I suppose this will mean that I won’t be able to produce GPL themes in the future, which limits my options for free themes. Anywho I guess that some people will copy anything they want regardless of license or morals. If they fancy it – they take it. I should be thankful that I get a link back even.
Any Movable Type users who do click the link and visit here and like the original work better than the half-arsed copy, well, do yourselves a favour and get the genuine article and run your site on WordPress.
Random Post Widget
You can use Random One Cat Widget to display a random post from a given category.
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