March 9, 2010
I’m always eager to dive into a project that presents a new, or otherwise unique, challenge. In this case, Mark Reeves at Reeves Design House created a visual design based on a grid of ten rectangular boxes — consistent across the whole site. This might seem fairly simple, but from a coding standpoint it can be tricky. It’s a balancing act between absolutely positioning multiple content boxes and ensuring that the content can grow vertically without disrupting the grid system. One more tricky requirement from the client: Can it be built in such a way that “non-techies” can maintain the content? Sure, why not! So, this site is another fine example of using WordPress as a CMS. I’m continually amazed how far we can stretch a simple blogging system to the limit in order to provide a client-friendly solution to a common problem in an extremely short amount of time. Take a look at the Linde Lee, Inc. site and have a look around. The site includes some great photos of their showroom at the historic Dallas Market Center just north of downtown Dallas.
Categories: Accessibility, News, Web Standards, WordPress
September 29, 2009
Over the past several months I’ve been working with Glide Design — an Austin-based web site design firm — on a number of interesting projects. We’ve been building the sites with WordPress which is a great solution for a lightweight CMS. I’ve had a lot of fun working on these projects and learning as much as I can about how to extend WordPress into more than just a simple blogging system. They’re not only easy to build but clients also appreciate the simplicity of the admin interface which allows them to maintain their own site content. The following three sites are a sample of the projects I’ve been working on recently. Each one had its own fun challenges and rewarding learning opportunities. Check out Triton Custom Homes, Urban Moto Shop, and Water to Thrive.
Categories: Accessibility, Ajax/Scripting, News, Web Standards, WordPress
July 27, 2009
I’ve been working on a site that requires both English and Spanish content. The user interface elements, such as the primary navigation, copyright statement, and form labels, need to be bilingual as well. The client needs the ability to update all of the content (and write new blog entries) themselves, so early on I decided to use WordPress. I’d read that WordPress can handle multilingual sites, but I wasn’t clear on how that worked exactly. Also, I don’t speak Spanish – which means I can’t provide my own translations – so I needed a solution for that as well. I considered using something like Google’s Language Tools for little things like labels, but I’ve always been suspicious about whether I’m using the preferred form of translated bits of text like “Search” and “Older Entries” and many others.
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Categories: Accessibility, Multilingual, Resources, Web Standards, WordPress
July 23, 2009
Once in a while a project comes along that makes you stop and think about how you’ve been doing things for a while. This project is like that. There’s nothing really revolutionary about it – a typical webzine created with WordPress and a few plugins – but it did provide some interesting opportunities to dive deeper into the inner workings of using WordPress as a CMS. The fantastic (and incredibly flexible) visual design was created by Mark at Reeves Design House. This was a truly collaborative effort where we both explored that fun question “what if we did it like this” from start to finish. I should also give thanks for a receptive client who was willing to let us explore a bit while we tried to figure things out as we went along. Such a rare and exciting environment for any designer/developer.
Here are a few of the WordPress plugins we’re using: Ad-minister, Advanced Search, Category Icons, and cforms II.
Take a look at the Life Content site. It’s in its infancy, as far as content goes, so be sure to check back often to see how it grows in the next few months. Subscribe to the RSS feed to track its progress in your favorite feed reader.
Categories: Accessibility, News, Web Standards, WordPress
July 4, 2009
I’ve been using WordPress for a little over a year now. Like most people, I’ve always thought of it as a simple blogging system… and that’s about it. It works really great for blogs (like this one), but a few months ago I used it to build a job listings site for one of my clients. Ever since that time I looked for additional creative uses for WordPress. Recently, I’ve been exploring the idea of using WordPress as a general purpose content management system (CMS). I’ve done a bunch of research, reading, and experimenting over the past few months. In this post I’d like to document some of my findings: sites of interest, handy documentation bookmarks, useful plugins, etc.
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Categories: Multilingual, Resources, WordPress
May 1, 2008
I’ve been working the last few nights migrating this blog from Nucleus CMS to WordPress. It’s not that I’m necessarily unhappy with the way things were going, it’s just that I’m so impressed with the recent work done on WordPress. Also, this site is mainly a sandbox where I can try out new technologies, so it was a fun exercise.
The RSS feed location has changed, so please update your bookmarks and feed reader subscriptions when you get a chance. I’ll look into creating some kind of redirect when I have more time. Sorry for the trouble.
New RSS Feed: http://www.mpgilbert.com/?feed=rss2
Categories: News, WordPress
April 19, 2008
Over the past few months I’ve been working on a site for a recruiting and HR consulting agency called Baatz Consulting, owned by a good friend (and my much trusted former HR Director) named Anotei Baatz. The project started out really small (just a couple pages) and quickly turned into a fully functional site complete with an online resume submission tool and job listings system (powered by a blogging software called WordPress). I’m really excited about how it’s turning out as it organically grows along with the consulting company it represents. Take a look at the Baatz Consulting site. And if you’re looking for a job in the interactive space, be sure to check out the Baatz Consulting Job Listings.
Categories: Accessibility, News, Web Standards, WordPress
