willie jackson

Blog

  • Customizing WordPress

    The casual WordPress user customizes their theme by selecting a theme, installing their choice of plugins, and perhaps hiring a designer to create a custom header image. This works for many people and there’s something to be said for tasteful minimalism.

    With that being said, there are a number of ways that we can begin tapping into the power of WordPress on the path to mastery. Among these are the creation of child themes, the utilization of theme frameworks, and custom plugin development.
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  • The WordPress Loop

    Most people probably haven’t checked out the WordPress Codex pages on The Loop and The Loop in Action. This is a shame, because there’s no more important concept in WordPress. Let’s get it.

    The Loop is used by WordPress to display each of your posts. Using The Loop, WordPress processes each of the posts to be displayed on the current page and formats them according to how they match specified criteria within The Loop tags. Any HTML or PHP code placed in the Loop will be repeated on each post. When WordPress documentation states “This tag must be within The Loop”, such as for specific Template Tag or plugins, the tag will be repeated for each post.

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  • Why WordPress?

    For web professionals looking to build a business that’s both challenging and rewarding, WordPress represents an ideal development platform. It’s completely free, open-source, well-supported, and requires very little time to get up and running. Most web hosts can run WordPress (it requires PHP 4.3 or greater, MySQL 4.1.2 or greater, and the mod_rewrite Apache module) and many hosts have automated installers to make setup a breeze.

    Additionally, WordPress is everywhere. News organizations, bloggers, web professionals, designers, and marketers all use WordPress every day to run their businesses. Regardless of your industry, there’s a good chance that someone has done what you’re trying to do. Central to WordPress is the concept of theming, which is a collection of files that determined the look and feel of your site. WordPress requires a theme to display output for your visitors, and there are countless free and premium themes to choose from.
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  • T-Mobile Rant

    I‘ve recently gone through three replacement phones: all MyTouch 3Gs. They exhibit the same symptoms: freezing, restarting, and general failure with respect to functioning as a phone. Through a bit of experimentation, I’ve come to determine that this is a memory issue.

    MyTouch 3Gs (along with most of T-Mobile’s Android-based phones) have 512MB of internal memory. Apparently, my Gmail account (what you use to authenticate against the device) is too large for the phone to sync with. I know this because signing into the phone with my Google Apps account (willie at williejackson) allows the phone to behave normally…for a while.
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  • My People

    I’m a consultant. I’m typically hired to perform a task or service based on a deep subject-matter expertise that I bring to the table. Increasingly however, I’ve been working with other consultants who have clients of their own and need my services. This represents a completely different dynamic because there a whole new set of factors:

    • Is the consultant in a jam and needs some assistance ASAP?
    • Will the client know about me or do I need to be invisible?
    • Is there budget to bring me in or will the consultant be paying out of pocket?

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  • Thoughtful feedback

    Many of my projects now include a component where I walk through WordPress or a server setup with a client via Skype screen-share. Today was no exception, and I spent some time walking a new client through some configurations on the site I had just migrated for him. After it was complete, something he did caught me completely unprepared: he praised my work for several minutes.
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  • WordPress 3.0 is out

    Kind of a big deal.

  • I’m an artist

    When I started getting serious about my studies in college, I felt like I needed to make up for lost time with each day that passed (which was true). I was involved with a summer internship program called INROADS, and I met dozens of other young professionals determined to make their mark on the world. This internship program had a strong professional development component, and there were frequent day-long training sessions.

    One Saturday, we participated in the True Colors personality test. I was unsurprised to find out that I’m a Blue (warm, kind, compassionate) but many of my friends in the program were a bit shocked to see that my main color wasn’t Gold (organized, punctual, dependable) or a Green (knowledgeable problem-solver).
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  • Speaking Tour with Pam Slim

    This Fall, I’ll be joining forces with Pam Slim (of Escape From Cubicle Nation fame) as we embark on a speaking tour at college universities across the nation. For the eleven of you who don’t know who Pam is, let me summarize who she is to me:

    Pam is a catalyst of more meaningful existences. Before I even knew her on a personal level, her message resonated with me in a powerful way.

    In addition to assisting corporate employees as they escape their unfulfilling job, Pam is an extraoardinarily gentle soul with the capacity to motivate objectively and with grace, regardless of the situation.

    If you want to be technical (smile), Pam is also the author of a popular blog and bestselling book. So yeah, a speaking tour with Pam is pretty much the killerest gig ever.
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  • Introductions, connections, and serendipity

    I’m a huge proponent of making introductions. If you’re familiar with Malcolm Gladwell’s work, you’ll know what I mean when I say that I’m a connector. Often I’m able to make an introduction that leads to someone getting a job, doing business, or generally reaching a goal.

    The latest product of this habit apparently assisted with the logistics behind bringing LessConf 3010 to Atlanta: My friend Allan Branch wrote a post today on what he learned from planning LessConf.

    It’s a great feeling to help great people do awesome things by doing what comes natural.