FAQ
So, What is this site?
The site is a heavily customized version of WordPress 2.7 with a custom theme provided by pixeled and modified slightly to meet my needs with custom imagery
Wasn’t the whole point of your old site to avoid using CMS, and be creative like artists ‘usually’ are?
True, but on the whole, the update process of the old site was incredibly complicated. It was not as simple as adding a piece of text, it involved editing many pages, and far more if I wanted to change or add an image.
Why WordPress? You Used Joomla Before…
WordPress has slowly been getting bigger and bigger, and at the same time getting more and more powerful. Combined with a set of plugins and custom code, I’ve been able to keep a similar site to what I had before, the layout is not that much different. The primary change you will see is the middle box now has a ‘sidebar’? and the bottom of the page has a proper footer and more functionality.
WordPress also allows me to integrate with my iPhone, whilst I’m on the move, and since so many of you have asked for a blog, It seemed appropriate to code this build of WordPress so that it served as the main site, and allowed me to put a blog.
Is this WordPress multi user?
No! Thats the amazing thing. I tried to get wordpress multiuser to work however it was overly complicated for what I needed (although a great applicaton!). This build however just shows posts from one catagory on the front page.
What about the Gallerys?
Significant changes in terms of user navigation. You no longer have to ‘Click” and ‘Click’ to get to the page. You just click on Galley, and click on the slideshow button of the gallery you choose.
Did you keep PicLens?
Yes, somehow, I’m not quite sure how exactly, seems to be a bug of the gallery component that works to my advantage…
Why?
When I released PicLens on my original site, I got an overwhelming response (a positive one!) about it, people absolutley adored it, especially when they got the full screen plugin. It allowed a basic flash gallery to become so much more advanced.
What about updating? Didn’t you say that was hard?
Yes! Absolutely!? The old galleries were run in a slightly different way and were absolutley horrific to update. Thankfully a little WordPress plugin now makes the process of adding images hugely simple. It’s why I havn’t updated anything for a very long time, because previously I had to rebuild (and in some cases, reupload) the entire gallery system!
Theres’ New Categories and Features.. What are they and why?
Yes! New Features. Thanks to the survey respondents, and personal interests, It seemed everyone wanted a blog on here, a personal one. Hence the main reason for wanting the wordpress system. Plus it has RSS syndication, which allows people to follow the site, without visiting it if needed.
At the top you’ll see four links, Blog, Mobile Pictures, Site Updates & Gallery
The Blog is self explanatory, instead of taking you to another page, it will actually take you to any post in wordpress that’s listed as “Blog” rather than me having to install MultiUser. It’s where I’ll keep all my personal posts to you all.
Mobile Pictures is a new one. All too often I’m found without my camera, and yes whilst I can tweet these, Sometimes it would be nice to post up on here, so that section is dedicated for anything I see when I’m on the move, and it works in the same way as above.
The Site Updates section is actually pending review. It shows everything you see on the front page, but condensed. I am very very tempted to remove it at the moment, but I want to see how it works after things are filled out.
The gallery links to a static page on the site, where the gallery information and links are held, just like it was on the old site, only cleaner and far more up to date.
What about the other features?
There are a few more additions of course.
The latest post box is deliberately prominently placed on the front page, because it will show the latest post in ALL categories. So if you can’t see it, you’ll soon realize it’s in the blog or another section.
Twitter – My social experiment for this year is twitter, so I decided to add my latest status update to the front page of the site to make things easier for integration.
The search feature is a new one, that came with wordpress. Hopefully as the site builds up it will become used, but I’m not 100% certain on weather I should keep it or not.
