trickeries! » this site

I’ve made a new theme, help me name it.

atom — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 04:18:49 +0000

I liked my old theme, but I was getting tired of it and wanted to try something new. This theme is very different than my last (and I think pretty different in general), which is one of the things I was going for.

It has a full page flexible layout as opposed to a fixed width centered layout, is brightly colored rather than dark, and the biggest thing is that there is no JavaScript, and my last theme was filthy with the stuff.

There is some fine tuning to be done, once the little things are taken care of the theme will be available for download.

If anyone has a great name for it, please drop it in the comments. Extra points if you can manage the word “thuggin” into it. I can’t come up with a damn thing.

situational Javascript based on body ID

atom — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 07:26:53 +0000

I know that this is not anything revolutionary or anything, but I found it very helpful when making this site, so I thought I would share.

By assigning the body element an ID, you can check it with Javascript, and then execute what you need to based on this condition, like so(wordpress example):

Some php, for the Wordpress template (in header.php):


 
if(is_home()) //if we are at the wordpress "home"
	$location = 'home';
elseif(is_single() || is_page()) // if it is a single post or page
	$location = 'single';
elseif(is_some_strange_situation()) // a user function that test for something strange
	$location = 'strange';
else // otherwise, nothing special
	$location = 'default';
 
?>
 echo $location ?>">

Then some Javascript:

<script type="text/javascript">
	switch(document.body.id){
		case 'home':
			runAtHomeOnly();
			break;
		case 'single':
			runOnSingleOnly();
			break;
		case 'strange':
			runOnStrangeOnly();
		default:
			runOtherwise();
			break;
	}
	runThisAlways();
 
	function runAtHomeOnly(){
		alert('You are home.');
	}
 
	function runOnSingleOnly(){
		alert('You are on a single post or page.');
	}
 
	function runOnStrangeOnly(){
		alert('You are somewhere strange.');
	}
 
	function runOtherwise(){
		alert('You are not home, at a single post or page, and you are not somewhere strange.');
	}
 
	function runThisAlways(){
		alert('I always run.');
	}
script>

The example is a little verbose I know, but wanted to make sure my point was gotten

its time to get tricky.

atom — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:00:08 +0000

Site launched!

Just launched the site with the sexy theme you see here, inspired by lite-brite and the use of cheap effective vector brushes.

The posting here will be mainly focused on the little pieces of code i write during the course of my day. I will release code, themes and plugins here when i get around to finalizing and packaging stuff.

A couple of notes on the creation of this site, in no reasonable order:

Wordpress is annoying sometimes, but it is still the best publishing platform out there.
Wordpress widgets are weak. They do not allow for the level of customization that i usually like to have.
To anyone who has tangled with it, the backend implementation of the tagging / taxonomy system is nightmarish, which is surprising because it is so reasonable in bbPress.
Transparent pngs are awesome.
I hate it when flexibility is sacrificed for convenience. I am using several plugins that required way too much work in order to use the way i wanted to. For example, the “add this” plugin uses filters instead of simply allowing template tags, so it shows up where it wants to, instead of where i want it to. The twitter tools plugin only provides its front end functionality via a widget, rather than providing some means of using it in any other way. :p
IE7 is barely an improvement, it has been an unreal pain in the ass during the creation of this site.
I desire to do everything in excessively flamboyant ways that are completely unreasonable, inaccessible, and totally lacking in subtlety.
CSS3 needs to happen sooner.
so does IE8
i love making websites.