Replace blog title with a linked image

One of my top 10 pet peeves is sites where you can’t click the logo to get to the home page but have to click the “Home” button. This code block can be inserted in the header.php file and it will insert an image (logo) that links back to the home page and also has the alternate text and link title set to the name of the site.

<div id="blog-title">
	<a href="<?php echo get_bloginfo('url') ?>/" title="<?php bloginfo('name') ?>" rel="home">
		<img alt="<?php bloginfo('name') ?>" src="<?php echo get_bloginfo('template_url') ?>/imageFolder/imageFile.type" />
	</a>
</div>

Add WP 3.0 menus to non-WP 3.0 themes

To add WP 3.0 menus to themes that were built before the new version of WordPress or don’t have them built in you need to activate the menu function in functions.php and then add a call to the menu in your template file.

Add to functions.php:

register_nav_menus(
	array(
		'menuName' =>__('Menu Name'),
		'2ndMenu' =>__('2nd Menu'),
	)
);

Add to template file:

<?php 
	wp_nav_menu(array(
		 'theme_location' => 'primary'
	)); 
?>

Note that the theme_location call points to the name of the menu as set in functions.php. To target the menu name set inside WordPress use this code instead:

<?php 
	wp_nav_menu(array(
		'name' => 'Menu Name'
	)); 
?>

Highlight current page or category in menu

I’ve already written an extensive article on this subject that can be found here. The core of the CSS code is this style:

.current-menu-item,
.current-page-ancestor,
.current-post-ancestor {
	... style info goes here ...
}

Custom page template in 5 lines of code

To create a custom page template simply insert the following 5 lines of code at the top of your template file and give it a name other than “whatever”. Once saved (as something other than page.php) it will appear as one of your template options inside WordPress.

<?php 
 
/* Template Name: Whatever */ 
 
?>

Add Featured Image (thumbnail) functionality to your theme

To activate the Featured Image panel in WordPress admin an enable the function you need to add a small piece of code to the functions.php file. Once this is done and Featured Images have been defined you can call them from within any template file using one of the calls below.

In functions.php:

add_theme_support( 'post-thumbnails' );

In theme file:

<?php the_post_thumbnail(); ?>

The above call will produce the thumbnail in the size defined inside WordPress admin under Settings -> Media. To call a different size use one of the following:

the_post_thumbnail('thumbnail');
the_post_thumbnail('medium');
the_post_thumbnail('large');
the_post_thumbnail(array(nnn,nnn));

For the last one replace ‘nnn’ with any pixel width and height.

Related posts:

1. Using WordPress in Alternate Configurations – My WordCamp Whistler 09 Presentation
2. Highlight current page in WordPress menus
3. Speaking about WordPress as CMS at WordCamp Whistler – What do you want me to cover?

With guitarpick dogtags, military paraphranalia and a notebook with the cover text “Why the f@&#* is Microsoft doing this?” Make Web Not War set a new standard for conferences.

The first words out of my mouth as I stepped off the plane in Montreal Wednesday afternoon were “What the Fuck!” (yes, I’m a real class act). Crossing the threshold from plane interior to airport gangway was like walking into a furnace. It was, at least to me, unbearably hot and I was in a rush to get out of the plane and to a washroom to blow my nose. Five hours earlier I found myself on a WestJet flight crossing the great Canadian landscape on my way to the almost mythical French portion of Canada. In my bag, my camera, my laptop and the bare necessities. As I made my way through Trudeau International Airport on the hunt for a cab all I could think was “I hope this cold doesn’t claim my voice as its victim” interspersed with “I’m late, I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date”. The plane had taken a good 1 hour extra on its leisurely trip across the prairies, rush-hour was fast approaching and I knew that somewhere inside this Francophone metropol Angie Lim and her crack team of Microsoft event planners were waiting for my arrival.

And now for something completely different

Make Web Not War has been pushed as a conference that falls well outside the norm from the start. And with good reason. Entering the in itself fascinating location of Espace Reunion in the Outremont district I was met with military paraphranalia interspersed with glossy tech. There were gas masks, Dell laptops, ammunition cases, cammo clad couches, Beatles Rock Band and a huge green screen. I’ve been to quite a few conferences and I can tell you this is not common fare. But it set the right tone right off the bat.

This was Wednesday afternoon and the place was alight with frenzied activity. Microphones were being tested, screens hung, gear placed, names checked, I felt like I had walked right into a finely tuned machine room. The Master of Events Angie popped up to greet me but was soon pulled away to deal with a technical issue and before I knew it I was wisked away to a delightful dinner with the crew and the other speakers. Never mind the tech test – there was networking to be done.

Guitar picks and code languages

First impressions are vitally important, especially for public events like this. And the registration process often sets the tone for the entire conference. Make Web Not War was no exception, and that’s a good thing: When you are handed a dog tag chain full of colourful guitarpicks and a notebook with the cover text “Why the f@&#* is Microsoft doing this?” you know instantly this isn’t going to be yet another one of those boring conferences. Each attendee was handed a set of 5 guitarpicks, some of them doubles, and told that to get into the after party they needed to trade picks with the other attendees to get a complete set of 5 picks, each representing an open source code languages Microsoft supports.

Microsoft = Interop

The guitar picks were more than just nifty party tricks to force some interaction between the attendees: The whole point of the conference was to tell people that Microsoft is now 100% committed to interoperability. In other words you can now run open source languages, apps and software on Microsoft platforms without any problems. The web is platform agnostic and Microsoft has heard that message loud and clear. Now they want you to know they are in full support of it. Which is why they had Joël Perras, a dev for CakePHP and Lithium, as the keynote speaker, why the FTW (For The Web) contest was featured around Open Data and why they had me presenting my talk on developing WordPress sites using Microsoft applications. Like Joël said, “Interoperability is not a feature, it’s a requirement”. And we all got it.

Open communities

As usual I spent more time talking to people and soaking in the atmosphere than I did actually attending sessions at Make Web Not War. What I walked away with was a realization that the Montreal dev community is an astonishingly open one. In general I find people who work in the online realm to be cliquy to the point of isolationist, but not so in Montreal. Maybe it’s the Francophone culture, maybe it was just the overall air of the event itself, but I found more people open to frank discussions and inclusion than what I’m used to. Which was awesome. On top of that Microsoft had sent out a score of great people to further interaction. In all the sense of openness was everywhere and I was left with a feeling of inclusion, of being part of a greater community.

“Nice to finally meet you IRL”

Having put on a couple of events myself, most notably the 12×12 Vancouver Photo Marathon, I can tell you it’s no small feat. Which makes the hitch-free Make Web Not War all the more impressive. And for that mad props go out to the whole Microsoft team and in particular the aforementioned Angie Lim. I’ve dealt with her on several occasions in the past, but only by email so to me it was an added bonus to finally meet her in person. Or as Angie so geekfully put it “Nice to finally meet you IRL”. (Seriously, she is the only person who can say stuff like that without coming off like the biggest nerd ever).

Make Web Not War was filled with interaction, technology, knowledge and a sense of positive development. I left feeling like I was part of something bigger, that working with the web means I’m working with some of the brightest and most original people on the planet. And for that I am honoured.

FTW contest – going beyond the obvious

The FTW (For The Web) contest was a subset of the conference and it deserves special mention. The mandate was simple if not vague: Make an application using Open Data. It’s the kind of mandate that drives me insane, but other more focussed people were able to make some truly amazing stuff out of it. The finalists, TaxiCity – a student project from the Centre for Digital Media in Vancouver created by Mohamed El Eryan, Dashan Yue, Seth Marinello, Jordan Braun, Sagar Datta, Dhruv Adhia, and Ryleigh Kostash, Find-a-Home created by Timothy Dalby, and Project Tholus created by Francois Mazerolle showed that Open Data can be used to create surprising and original applications that go way beyond the standard data feeding and map overlays we are used to seeing. The winner, Find-A-Home, was especially impressive and I can see almost endless applications for this novel yet original idea down the road. I only wish I had come up with it first.

Further reading

Make Web Not War (official site)
Dan Menard’s recap
Cory Fowler’s recap
Brendan Sera-Shriar linkfest

@WebNotWar on Twitter

My Web Not War photoset on Flickr
The official WebNotWar Flickr Pool

Related posts:

1. The Unholy Quatern at Web Not War 2010 in Montreal

UPDATE: The Unholy Quatern session I did at Web Not War 2010 was loosely based on an article I wrote for the Microsoft Expression Newsletter last year. To get a more in-depth walk-through of my work process and some more code examples etc take a look at the original article found here.

After 8 years in Canada I finally find myself in the mythical French portion of the country, more specifically the Beaumont district in Montreal, Quebec. Why? To talk WordPress and Expression Web to the attendees at the Web Not War conference. I’ll be posting more on this later but for now here are the vital links for my talk. The slides will be here shortly. Check back for updates.

Links

WordPress template tools for Expression web

WordPress itself

The WordPress Codex

WordPress on your computer: Web Platform Installer or BitNami

Sync your files: Live Mesh

Related posts:

1. Make Web Not War 2010 – a recap
2. Vancouver WordPress Meetup Talk: Simple Yet Powerful WordPress Hacks
3. MIX10 Proposal: I Reject Your Stylesheet and Substitute My Own

I’m doing a 1 hour live webcast with Microsoft Canada demonstrating advanced WordPress customization with Expression Web 3 on April 6th, and you are welcome to join. It will be an extended version of my MIX10 session with more demos and more time for questions. All you have to do to participate is register. Full writeup below:

REGISTER
Invitation Code: 0781DA
Tuesday, April 6^th, 2010
Start Time: 11:00AM PST (02:00 PM EST)
Webcast Duration: 60 min
Questions about these events?
Call us at 1-888-789-7770

A follow up to Paul Laberge’s “101” webcast, Expression Web MVP and WordPress hacker Morten Rand-Hendriksen takes you through an intimate and enlightening look into his day-to-day work process. He specializes in building solid standards-based websites on the WordPress platform using Microsoft web technologies and Expression Web. The session takes you through real-life examples of customer projects and pulls back the curtain on a work process that employs what Morten jokingly refers to as the “Unholy Quatern” – Microsoft’s Expression Web 3, Web Platform Installer and Mesh combined with the open-source publishing platform WordPress. Combining these four technologies Morten has developed a process in which rapid site debugging, prototyping and implementation becomes a reality.

Learn the inner workings of WordPress and how to use its theme engine to build pretty much any website you can think of using Expression Web 3 and see how using simple web technologies like WPI and Mesh can make your life as a CMS dev/igner much easier.

Register Today!

Related posts:

1. Expression Web 2 Webcast June 5th – What do you want to know?
2. Speaking at Interactive Panel Discussion: The Right Presentation Layer for Your Solution
3. Get Microsoft Expression Products 50% off for the Holidays!

Above is my MIX10 session A Case Study: Rapid WordPress Design and Prototyping with Expression Web 3 in its entirety in Silverlight video format. It can be blown up to full screen and I highly recommend it as there are code examples.

In the session I referenced a bunch of different technologies and applications I use on a day-to-day basis. For those in attendance and those watching on the web here is the exhaustive list of links and tools for you to play around with. I will post a link to the video version of my session when it becomes available approximately 24 hours after the session itself.

The Unholy Quatern

The Unholy Quatern consists of 4 basic elements;

1. WordPress
2. Microsoft Expression Web 3
3. Microsoft Web Platform Installer
4. Live Mesh

If you are only installing WordPress on your local computer there is no need to get WordPress from the original source – the Web Platform Installer will handle the installation for you. The same applies if you are using a different CMS under the WPI.

NOTE: If you are working in Windows 7 it will be necessary to run Expression Web 3 as Administrator if you want to set up the WPI version of WordPress as a site. Otherwise Expression Web 3 will not have permission to write to the folder and you’ll be banging your head against a wall for hours trying to figure out why it’s not working.

WordPress Code Snippets for Expression Web

I have created a downloadable version of the WordPress code snippets used in the session. They are availalbe – and frequently updated – at the Expression Gallery. The snippets work with any version of Expression Web and are quite literally plug-and-play. The current version of the WordPress Template Tools comes with a special snippet that lets you create new snippets. Snippets in the current version are:

• Custom Page Template tag
• Custom Field tag
• PHP parsing Custom Field
• Conditional Custom Field
• Image as Header
• Get blog/site URL
• Get current theme URL
• Get blog/site name
• Get blog description
• PHP include

Most of these are plug-and-play and those that are not are fairly easy to understand. They are all 100% standards-based and use current and up-to-date WordPress template tags.

I update the WordPress Template Tools on a random basis whenever I feel there is a new tag that will be useful for other people. If you have an idea for a template tag not currently in the list feel free to contact me with the suggestion.

Related posts:

1. Code snippets from my WordCamp presentation
2. BCIT Class Materials
3. The Unholy Quatern at Web Not War 2010 in Montreal

Ever since I was invited to attend Microsoft’s web design and development conference MIX in 2008 I’ve been itching to submit my own session proposal and get on the podium to share with other developers and designers my experiences working with Expression Web and WordPress. The plan was to submit a proposal for MIX09 but life and work intervened and made it impossible for me to even attend (truth be told I was going to a wedding in Hawaii the same week so I really shouldn’t complain). But this year March is wide open and I’ve jumped in head first and submitted a talk with the modest title “I Reject Your Stylesheet And Substitute My Own – Rapid site design and prototyping with Expression Web 3 and WordPress” to the OpenCall portion of MIX10. And now I need your help to get my proposal accepted so I can get in and do my thing.

OpenCall is literally a popularity contest: The ten most voted on proposals get a slot at the conference and the rest are left by the wayside. As far as I can tell my proposal is the only one focusing on Expression Web (at least it’s the only one that shows up on a search) and also the only one talking about WordPress so my hope is that both those interested in the web authoring application and those interested in WordPress specifically or open-source or CMS design in general will find it compelling and want to vote for it. Only time will tell.

To vote for I Reject Your Stylesheet and Substitute My Own visit the OpenCall ballot page found here and click the Add session to ballot button. You can vote for a total of 5 sessions with one ballot. The rest of the sessions can be found here. Once you’re done voting, spread the word and get all your friends to vote for me as well. Voting ends on the 15th of January so there’s little time but I am certain with your help my name will appear on the roster alongside the many other fantastic speakers at MIX10.

Oh, and if you’re interested the extremely limited edition I Reject Your Stylesheet and Substitute My Own T-shirts are available in green, blue, tan and black sizes S, M and L (Fruit of the Loom, heavy cotton) for $20. Contact me with your name and mailing address and I’ll wrap one up and send it to you.

Related posts:

1. 2008 Weblog Awards Finalist
2. MIX10 Session and Supporting Documents
3. Why a CSS Reset should be at the core of your stylesheet

Interactive Panel Discussion: The Right Presentation Layer for Your Solution

By the end of this webcast, you will be able to:

• Use some of the presentation layer tips and tricks provided by the panel
• Gain some knowledge of what presentation layer technologies Microsoft provides that you can use in your solutions
• And most importantly, have your questions answered!

The Presentation Layer of an application can be pivotal to the adoption of your solution by users. The right technology for the presentation layer should be the one that makes an emotional connection with the user and helps make the user more productive.

Join us for an interactive panel discussion from some of the foremost experts in user experience, effective presentation layer design and development. This is intended to be a discussion between you and the panel of experts, so come prepared to ask your questions about picking the presentation layer for solution!
This event is focused on Custom Developers, ISVs and Interactive Designers.

This webcast is appropriate for both technical and business decision makers.

W E B C A S T

Thursday February 26, 2009

Time: 2:00PM to 3:00PM EST

Event ID: 1032385445

Register Now

Related posts:

1. Webcast: An Intimate and Enlightening View into Microsoft Expression Web 3
2. Speaking at Vancouver Microsoft Innovation Briefing
3. Using WordPress in Alternate Configurations – My WordCamp Whistler 09 Presentation

In my original pitch I asked for a one hour session. But unbeknownst to me Tris Hussey (who is looking for your input on favourite plug-ins etc), another WordPress as CMS expert, had pitched almost the exact same topic to the event. Rather than pick sides and give one of us the full hour, it was decided that we would each get a 30 minute session so we both get our foot in and the attendees can get two different perspectives. Which is a great idea: This is by no means an exact science and while I’m sure Tris and my approaches compliment each other they will be vastly different. And that “double perspective” will give the listeners a far broader understanding of the subject matter than if one of us were to do the session by ourselves.

So what should I talk about?

With the reduced time comes the inevitable question: What should I talk about? Those who know me know that I will take up whatever time I am given and I’ll always have plenty more to say. In the case of WordPress as CMS I could probably hold a week long seminar and still only cover the basics of what you can do. In my original pitch I outlined a series of topics that form the foundation of this technique. These include basic WordPress anatomy, theme and CSS hacks, taxonomy, custom templates, custom themes and a discussion of why WordPress is the ideal platform for “regular” web sites.

I could talk at length on all of these topics but I think the attendees would be better served with a broader approach that covers the basics of several of them for further study later on.

What do you want to learn?

Rather than set my talk in stone right now, I’d like to hear from the people who are actually going to the event and let them shape the session. So what do you want me to talk about? What do you think you would have the most use of? WordPress anatomy? Custom fields as layout tools? Theme hacks? Taxonomy? The choice is yours. Here is a preliminary break down of the session and then I’ll let you, the listener, decide the final result:

Working Title: WordPress as CMS – Building the Non-Blog WordPress Site of the Future

Suggested topics covered:

WordPress Anatomy

What does WordPress really do? How does the stuff you create in the back-end end up on the pages and posts? What is the difference between posts, pages, indexes and all the other options? And how are these things connected?

The Basic Hack: Custom Templates

Want more control of the appearance of your pages? Custom templates give you complete control with minimum effort. Learn some basic theme hacks and understand the template structure.

Custom Fields Can Be Used for Anything!

One of the most powerfull and underused functions in WordPress is the Custom Fields. By understanding how they work you can use them as a layout tool to create menus, boxes and other elements that will make your site stand out.

Make the WordPress Taxonomy Work for You

The WordPress taxonomy (hierarchial structure, i.e. categories, sub categories etc) was built for blogging. But if you reframe your thinking of what blogging really is you’ll see that the same taxonomy combined with page parenting gives you a solid base for non-blog taxonomy and dynamic page creation.

That’s what I have. Now it’s up to you! Drop your thoughts in the comments below and together we’ll create a session customized to the people who are there to learn.

Related posts:

1. WordCamp Whistler Pitch: Moving Beyond the Blog – Building Web Sites with WordPress as the CMS
2. Using WordPress in Alternate Configurations – My WordCamp Whistler 09 Presentation
3. Code snippets from my WordCamp presentation

Session title: Moving Beyond the Blog – Building Web Sites with WordPress as the CMS

Alternate title: This is not a blog! Harnessing the Power of WordPress for Non-blog Websites

Alternate alternate title: Letting the Genie Out of the Bottle: WordPress is More than Reverse Chronological Posts

Session length: 30 minutes to 1 hour (1 hour preferred)

The Pitch:

It is well established that WordPress is a great blogging platform. But the capabilities of the application go way beyond merely outputting posts or articles in a reversed chronological order: WordPress is in fact a full fledged Content Management System (CMS) that beyond blogging can serve as the basis for pretty much any type of web site imaginable.

By understanding the anatomy of WordPress and how the different pieces go together and interact with each other you can create some truely spectacular sites that look nothing like the classic two-column blogs but still retain all the functionality, ease of use and SEO power that makes the application so popular.

The session will start off with a crash course in WordPress anatomy and how to quickly move beyond the standard templates through some simple theme hacks and CSS. Using the WordPress based sites for Sablok & Sablok and Bellevue Gallery (work in progress) as examples I will demonstrate how to use pages, posts and categories to create strong and functional taxonomies that make for easy navigation as well as management. The session will go on to cover how to use custom templates, conditional custom fields and template tags to create pretty much any layout you can imagine. And to wrap it all up; a brief discussion of why using WordPress as a CMS for “regular” web sites gives the site owner and end user a huge advantage over regular sites and how businesses can increase their web presence and findability by adding a news page or blog to their site and share some of their know-how with the public – for free.

So who is this Morten dude anyway?

I’ve been designing web sites for close to 10 years now but over the last two years WordPress has become the most imporatnt tool in my web design arsenal. In fact it is now the foundation upon which 80% of my business is built. I’ve learnt most of what I know about the application by reading and listening to the thoughts of others and experimenting with the code and now it’s time I give some of that aquired knowledge back. My blog Design is Philosophy features a series of tutorials and articles on how to customize WordPress to make it do what you want and I’m in the process of developing a free “God Theme” for WordPress that will give the user access to pretty  much everything they need to create web sites using WordPress as the CMS.

Related posts:

1. Speaking about WordPress as CMS at WordCamp Whistler – What do you want me to cover?
2. Using WordPress in Alternate Configurations – My WordCamp Whistler 09 Presentation
3. WordPress as CMS – The Project

Related posts:

1. A big event