Tips and Tricks About Computers, Web Development, Linux, the Internet and the Like
Uncategorized
Creating Named Widgets in WordPress Made Simple
May 16th
Creating your own widgets in WordPress might seem like a complicated or confusing task but the truth is, it’s easier than you think!
In your the root of your theme directory (ex: wp-content/themes/default), you’ll find a file called “functions.php”, if you do not, create it.
Inside add:
if ( function_exists('register_sidebar') ) { register_sidebar(array("id" => "facts_and_stats", "name" =>"Facts and Stats" )); }
(all attributes can be found here: http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/register_sidebar)
In the backend, under “appearance > widgets”, you’ll find all available widgets and all available sidebars. You can drag a widget into the sidebar and customize it.
Then in a template file in your theme, say your “index.php” file, you can call the content of this widget with the following block of code:
< ?php if ( function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') && dynamic_sidebar("facts_and_stats") ) { } ?>
Widgets are wrapped in <li></li> by default, you can custom a group of them with a trick such as the following, where I remove all wrappers for multiple widgets by creating an array setting the before_ and afters_’s to nothing and merge it with the id and name info in another array I create inline.
$widget_args=array( 'before_widget' => '', 'after_widget' => '', 'before_title' => '', 'after_title' => '', ); if ( function_exists('register_sidebar') ) { register_sidebar(array_merge($widget_args,array("id" => "facts_and_stats", "name" =>"Facts and Stats"))); register_sidebar(array_merge($widget_args,array("id" => "report_card", "name" =>"Report Card"))); }
Another trick I I like to do is add a quick link on the frontend for to the edit page if the user is logged in an has rights to edit widgets:
< ?php if (current_user_can('manage_options')) { echo '<a href="'.get_bloginfo('url').'/wp-admin/widgets.php" title="edit this widget">edit this widget'; } ?>
[SOLVED] konversation has no window decorations in GNOME and forces fullscreen
May 9th
This was a very annoying bug for me to deal with and it almost caused me to switch to kde 4 earlier than planned. Luckily I was able to pull up a fix which is simple to replicate but was a pain in the arse to solve.
To fix this, go into CompizConfig Settings Manager >> Workarounds >> uncheck “Legacy Fullscreen Support” as the red circle in the screenshot below indicates.
Random cow(ish) animals preaching quotes on Ubuntu 9.10
Feb 3rd
Looking for something interesting when I login to one of my servers, I decided to whip up the following script I appended to my ~/.bashrc file.
# fortune and cowsay are needed for the snippet to work, I had to install these first sudo apt-get install fortune cowsay
COWDIR=/usr/share/cowsay/cows/; COWNUM=$(($RANDOM%$(ls $COWDIR | wc -l))); COWFILE=$(ls $COWDIR | sed -n ''$COWNUM'p'); fortune | cowsay -f $COWFILE
UPDATE:
Suggested by MrBougo, a shorter but perhaps more process intensive method:
fortune | cowsay -f $(ls /usr/share/cowsay/cows/ | shuf | head -n1)
random cowsay fortune
Breaking down the script, the first 3 parts create variables and the last command executes the cowsay and quote.
# defines the directory of the cow files COWDIR=/usr/share/cowsay/cows/; # Get a random number limited to the number of files in the directory, making clever use of % (mod) and adding 1 to make sure it doesn't return 0 COWNUM=$(($RANDOM%$(ls $COWDIR | wc -l))+1); # list the contents of the cow dir again, pipe to sed and use the number as a random line to get the name of a file COWFILE=$(ls $COWDIR | sed -n ''$COWNUM'p'); # use fortune to get a quote, pipe to cowsay and use the file as defined above fortune | cowsay -f $COWFILE;
Resources for Learning About jQuery Functions and a Note About Callbacks
Sep 7th
Though it’s still using 1.2.6 (with current jQuery at 1.3.2), visualjquery.com has always been a favorite of mine for it’s simple and elegant layout. Some of the functions leave some documentation to be desired but after working with jQuery for a while, you begin to develop a taste for what is needed. Unfortunately, next to this issue and despite it’s strong layout, there is one other thing this application that takes this application down from strongest candidate. It cannot look into the future and as such, some functions are outright missing.
The jquery API is a somewhat familiar interface, featuring the latest version, the freshest functions and some decent documentation. Another in-depth (but outdated) resource is the old api-browser. Of course, there exists the Main Wiki Documentation, which also provides Alternative Resources. I think I’ll find myself using http://api.jquery.com/ most often despite it lacking the multi-panel style selection. It integrates it’s documentation with jsbin.com for testing / playing with code which is a nice touch.
Now a note about callbacks while we’re on the subject of jQuery. I find myself using them quite often, with ajax specifically. Understanding how to nest functions in jQuery allows you to do more things in terms of user or application response. When using ajax, you’ll often want to fade out content, do some processing, report the data back and have it fade back in nicely rather than a quick blink that can cause discomfort for a user. If you aren’t familiar with a callback, it’s a function that’s executed when the current function finishes.
Below I will break down this common scenario.
You have your HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3.2/jquery.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="my_ajax.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<style>
#ajax_loader {
display:block;
height:90px;
width:90px;
background:url('http://imgur.com/KW8ZD.gif') no-repeat 0 0;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div id="ajax_loader"></div>
<div id="ajax_content"></div>
<a href="#" id="my_link">click me</a>
</body>
</html>your php (or whatever language returning the data file) (my_page.php)
<? echo "hi, I was loaded with ajax!"; ?>
and your javascript (my_ajax.js) that glues them together
// $(function() is shorthand for $(document).ready(function () { $(function() { $("#ajax_loader").hide(); $("#my_link").click(function() { $("#ajax_loader").fadeIn(); $("#ajax_content").fadeOut(); $("#content").load("my_page.php",function() { $("#ajax_loader").fadeOut(); $("#ajax_content").fadeIn(); }); }); });
Here we can clearly see how all functions are nested into one root, the document ready function. We go two more deep here, using the click event and then the load callback. Many functions allow for callbacks, search the documentation for the best way you think you should be nesting them. I hope this helps to clarify some of the basics in AJAX using jQuery, good luck.
Sup Party People? Ya like Nexuiz and Geany? Ballin’ like a ninja?
Nov 16th
I’ve been quite involved in the open-source project Nexuiz recently. Most of my free time between work and school is focused on it. School’s been an interesting challenge. I’m taking two Psychology courses and a Physics class. They are both helping me get a deeper understanding of the game, the code and the community I run based around it. Nexuiz is an appealing game to people of all skills, the code base has gotten pretty strong and the effects are looking really nice. The recent addition of client-side quakec has spawned new features that simply were not possible prior to this change.
Like this new scoreboard
developed by blub, roughly based on a mockup I created
whose later HUD is being attempted by victim
I also began to theorize object relationships to be future projects I’d like to develop
I started working on my mapping skills (made this baby for my Technical Theatre class)
later releasing a classic Halo favorite remade and remixed collaborating with Michael “Tenshihan” Quinn and Florian “tapas” Schmidt
started building some tools to run Nexuiz game servers
which are being provided by
whom have been very kind in helping us setup, upgrade and change locations. Big thanks to mkzelda who’s helped keep us on our feet in this respect.
gave a little love to the Nexuiz Tournament website, further extending that theme back into the game:
and now the ninjaz at our 1 year anniversary
that we are celebrating with a mapping contest.
I’m still using and loving
with a text editor I’m loving more each day, geany
I hope to have more tips and tricks for you all soon. I’ve been learning a lot on linux recently. I’ve been pretty focused as you can see but I’d be more than happy to answer any questions you may have. Feel free to contact me.
I’ve Got Good Life Hacks On The Way
Jul 16th
I’ve been swapped with work and projects recently but I wanted to let you all know I’ll be back with some good life hacks… and maybe a few computer tricks. Stay tuned.
