All Posts

Using Column Classes

Here's how I make multiple columns of content.

Reusing Template Files

I walk you through building your own template hierarchy, to specify which template to use under certain conditions.

Custom Metaboxes 0.7

Use this code library to easily create metaboxes with all different types of fields. I review some of the newest features to CMB 0.7

Changes to my site

Gallery Metabox

I've built a simple plugin that shows all the attached images when editing a post.

Core Functionality Plugin

A WordPress theme should only contain that which relates to the look and feel of the site. Any core functionality belongs in a plugin.

Adding fields to the Media Gallery

Here's two ways to customize the media uploader: adding a "Photo credit" section, and adding an "Include in Rotator" selection.

Customizing the WordPress Query with pre_get_posts

One of the most powerful features of WordPress is the WP Query. Here's how to control it with the pre_get_posts hook.

Driskill Theme

I’m excited to release my first publicly sold theme, the Driskill. It is a responsive, mobile-friendly child theme of Genesis, and is available from the StudioPress marketplace.

Building a Genesis Child Theme

A question I hear all the time is "how do I build a child theme?" This is a tutorial that walks through my process, using an actual client site as an example.

Image Override Plugin

When you upload an image, WordPress will automatically scale and crop it to many different sizes. If you're not happy with the auto-crops, use this plugin to upload an alternative image.

Genesis Subpages as Secondary Menu

Replace the manually managed Secondary Menu with one that automatically lists the current section's subpages.

Previous and Next Post in Same Taxonomy

This plugin let's you use my WordPress patch for displaying previous/next posts in the same taxonomy.

Genesis CRM for WordPress

Genesis CRM allows you to manage all your prospective clients, active projects, and completed projects using the WordPress interface.

Customizing WordPress Menus

I'll show you how to limit visibility of certain menu items to logged in users, and how to modify the menu itself using filters.

Connecting your Contact Form to CRM

Here's how to set up a contact form that will auto-populate your CRM, powered by TwentyTen CRM.

Adding Theme Options in Genesis

I'll walk you through creating your own theme options, accessible from the Genesis Theme Settings page.

Tips for maintaining your freelance business while traveling

Planning a vacation? Here's some tips for maintaining your business so you're ready to work when you get back.

My Genesis Starter Theme

Adding "Blog" to Genesis Breadcrumbs

Here's how to modify the Genesis Breadcrumb to include a "Blog" link, changing Home > Category > Post Title to Home > Blog > Category > Post Title

Limit Search to Post Type

Here's how to customize search forms to return results for specific post types. By using a filter you can choose exactly which search boxes are affected.

Display Posts Shortcode

This shortcode will let you easily list posts based on tag and/or category, limit the number of posts displayed, and sort the results. If you've ever wanted to list posts on your site without editing theme files, this is the tool for you.

Customizing the Genesis Grid Loop Content

Here's some lessons I learned on customizing the Genesis Grid Loop from my recent site redesign.

Introduction to Custom Metaboxes

Custom Meta Boxes allow you to build clean, understandable interfaces for entering metadata. I use them on almost every project.

Custom Layout Options in Genesis

Take advantage of the great Layout Options feature of Genesis by creating your own layouts.

My SXSW Birthday Bash

If you're in Austin for SXSW, come to my birthday party Monday night. We're cooking an entire pig!

Default image for post thumbnails

Here's a great way to display a default image if no post thumbnail is provided.

TwentyTen CRM

TwentyTen CRM is a theme specifically designed to manage your customers, from initial contact to project completion. It's highly customizable and free.

Custom Avatars in WordPress

This tutorial extends WordPress' get_avatar() function. It let's users upload a custom avatar in case they don't want to use a Gravatar.

Multiple Authors for a Post

If you have a magazine-like website, you might need to specify multiple authors for a single post.

Breadcrumbs for Taxonomy Pages

I'm working on a project right now that uses hierarchical taxonomies, and here's the solution I used for taxonomy breadcrumbs.

Post Type Linking

This technique will let you link posts in one content type with another. For example, if you have an Events post type and a Musicians post type, you can link a musician with a certain event.

Creating a WordPress Widget

I'll walk you through building a widget, using a Subpages widget as an example.

WordCamp Austin – WordPress Beyond Blogging

Here's the summary of my talk for WordCamp Austin today. If you're at WordCamp, use this to follow along.

Thesis Quick Tips

There’s a lot of small code snippets I use often but don’t warrant their own post. This is where I’ll collect them.

Shortcodes in Sidebar Widgets

Switch Genesis Sidebars

Here's how you change which sidebar shows up in which sidebar area. This is useful when using different page layouts.

Genesis Quick Tips

There's a lot of small code snippets I use often but don't warrant their own post. This is where I'll collect them.

Export WordPress Content to Excel

Here's a way to get your WordPress content into a table that can easily be moved to a spreadsheet. This is best if you're using WordPress to collect data and want to analyze it in Excel. I use it for keeping track of incoming client inquiries.

Using Taxonomies

Taxonomies allow you to organize content in different ways. I'll walk you through creating and implementing custom taxonomies, as well as show you how I used taxonomies for my personal portfolio.

Using Shortcodes

Shortcodes are a great tool if you need to stick code or reusable pieces of content inside your posts or pages.

Replacing Thesis Post Image with WordPress Post Thumbnail

WordPress has a "Featured Image" option which is much easier to use than Thesis' Post Image tool. I'll walk you through setting it up on your Thesis website.

Make Menu visible over Youtube Video

Adding Facebook Like

Want to add the "like" button to your website, but you're using Thesis or Genesis? Here's the functions you should write to get it up and running.

Regular Backups of your WordPress Site

Keep your website backed up using these steps.

Adding Content to Genesis Navigation

Want more control over what shows up before or after your navigation? This shows you how to extend Genesis' Primary Navigation Extras using filters.

Using Custom Post Types

Custom post types let you create logical divisions of content and context-specific meta information boxes. If your site features content other than posts and pages, use this to manage it.

Adding “nofollow” to Category Links

If you have a lot of categories, here's how to add a "nofollow" to them to prevent diluting your Google PageRank.

WordPress Beyond Blogging – Presentation

My presentation from WordCamp Houston. I outline 5 useful tools for extending WordPress beyond blogs: Frameworks, Custom Post Types, Custom Taxonomies, Additional Sidebars, and Multiple Content Areas.

WordPress Post Thumbnails with Captions

Full Width Navigation in Thesis

Create eye-catching, full-width menus for your Thesis site.

How to Move your WordPress Website

Here's how you quickly move a WordPress website from one server to another, without losing any content or settings. This is what I do when I've built a client's site on my development server and it's time to launch.

Adding Content Between Posts in Thesis

This shows you how to stick code between certain posts, but not all of them. It's very useful for including ads or other content you don't want repeated.

WordPress Updates as Email or RSS Reminder

WordPress does a great job of telling you to upgrade when you log in. But if you don't log in often, you might miss an important security update. This will notify you via email or RSS.

Custom WordPress Queries

Here's how to create a list of posts that doesn't interfere with The Loop (what generates the content on your WordPress site).

Redirect Pages in Thesis

If you change a page's name and URL, you'll want to use this technique to make sure visitors to the old URL are redirected to the new one.

Custom Author Pages

Here's an overview on how to build an extremely custom Author Page for Thesis.

Increase WordPress Upload Limit on BlueHost

If you've ever tried moving a large blog or uploading large images, you've run into the Upload Filesize Limit. This walks you through increasing it for BlueHost (and can be applied to other hosts).

Integrating Google Maps with WordPress

Use the Google Maps API to dynamically create maps in your blog posts or pages.

Add Related Posts Before Comments Link in Thesis

Here's a quick tip on how to add Related Posts (or anything else) at the end of a post but before the comments link.

Using Gravatars in WordPress

I'll show you how to display an author's gravatar next to post titles, and customize the default Gravatar for commenters who don't have one already.

Adding Custom Headers to Category Pages in Thesis

This is how you can add custom introductory text or images to the top of category pages.

BBC Interview about BIL Conference

I was interviewed on BBC Radio 5 about the upcoming BIL Conferences - BIL2010 in February and BIL:UK in July.

Clickable Logo in Header in Thesis

This is a simple but common mistake. When you replace the site title in the header with a custom logo, use this code to make it click through to your homepage.

Change Next and Previous Post Text in Thesis

At the bottom of your posts is a link to the previous and next post. This quick tip will show you how to change that.

Filter Categories from Homepage

Only want the posts from certain categories to show up on your homepage? This quick tip will show you how.

Custom Options Page

Do you wish you could add a few more options to the Thesis Options menu? I'll show you how to create an additional options page and how to pull the data from it into your Thesis website.

Why Developers Love the Thesis WordPress Theme

Import and Export Your Design in Thesis

One of Thesis' greatest features is the extensive design options. But these changes aren't stored in the theme files. This tutorial will help if you're planning to move your site or would like to backup your design changes.

Print Stylesheets

By adding a print stylesheet to your website, you ensure your site will look great on both the web and paper.

Adding Classes to Body

You'll often want to write styles specifically for the home page, category pages, or some other type of page not covered by the default thesis classes. This quick tip will help you add classes to the body tag.

WordPress for Clunkers

For Christmas, I'll be redesigning a website for free! I'm calling it "WordPress for Clunkers"

Featured Content Rotator in Thesis

I’ll walk you through the steps of adding a Featured Content slideshow to the top of your homepage (using the Featured Content Gallery plugin), and modifying the plugin to work with the default Thesis custom fields.

Adding External Content (via RSS) to WordPress

There are many plugins that let you pull in posts from an RSS feed. But if you want to show them WITHOUT filling up your database, this is your solution.

Multiple Content Areas

This is a very elegant solution to the problem of having multiple content areas on a single page. It uses headlines to identify the different blocks of content.

Additional Sidebars

Additional sidebars allow you to easily manage content that doesn't fit in a post or page. I'll outline how to implement them using Thesis, but you could also do this with any Wordpress theme.

Custom Images and Category Pages in Thesis

As I’ve been working with Thesis a lot lately, I thought it would be a good idea to start posting some tips for customizing it. This post covers customizing post image/thumbnails and displaying category posts on pages.

Search Engine Optimization for Wordpress

These are notes from a presentation by Matt Cutts (from Google) on optimizing your Wordpress site. While Wordpress already takes care of most SEO issues, there are a few things you can do to improve it. But remember the 80/20 rule: 80% of SEO is writing compelling content for your readers. The other 20% is simple optimizations of that content.

Quickly find books at library

Here's a script you can use in Firefox to see if a book is at your local library.

Easy Contact Forms using Google Forms

This is a more technical post than usual. I outline how to quickly build a Contact Form for Wordpress (or any other site).

Scaling Emergence

Unconferences are amazing experiences, but can they scale? This is a problem we've been wrestling with while planning BIL 2009.

Learn from Startups, Tips for Surviving a Recession

We're experiencing one of the worst economic downturns in history. It's time to get your finances in order so you can survive it. Follow some of the tips startups are taking to weather the storm.

My Oxford Experience

This summer I was lucky enough to study philosophy at Oxford. I had some amazing discussions, spent time with a very diverse and interesting group of people, and enjoyed some of the best food I've ever eaten.

Looking Back on Coursevote, A Year Later

In May of 2007 I started Coursevote, a service to help students choose courses with the help of friends. I ultimately gave up on this project, but I learned a lot from this experience.

Announcing BIL