Adding TimThumb To Your WordPress Theme

8 Comments » June 27th, 2008

TimThumb PHP Script is a custom image-sizing script, that allows you to produce a cropped and sized version of an image. These are great to use along with a Wordpress Magazine Theme. TimThumb has recently been released as open source, and here I will walk you through adding TimThumb to your Wordpress theme. Read the rest of this entry »

Measure Page Elements The Easy Way

1 Comment » June 25th, 2008

Perhaps you’re the guy who still has to hit the “Print Screen” button, paste into Photoshop, and use the marquee tool to measure the pixel width of an element in a website you’re working on.

If so, here are a couple alternatives.

01. XRAY Bookmarklet

My first choice, is to make use of XRAY. It is just a javascript that allows you to click any block element on a page, and it gives you a list of details for that element.

Try it. Just click the XRAY button, then click anywhere on this page. It’ll highlight the block, and give you details like the element id, width, height, position, margin, padding and more.

XRAY

For best use, right click the XRAY button, Select “Bookmark this link” and save it to your link toolbar. Or just drag the button to your toolbar. That way it’ll always be a handy button up top, for any page you’re viewing.

02. MeasureIt Addon

The MeasureIt Firefox Addon is handy as it allows you to click and drag to manually measure a block element.

03. Web Developer Toolbar

If you aren’t using this Firefox Addon, then you really need to be. On the WebDev toolbar, click Information » Display Element Information.

Much like XRAY, this allows you to click an element and get a list of info for it. Keyboard shortcut is Control + Shift + F.

Anyone else have any suggestions for measuring page elements?

WordPress Custom Login

No Comments » June 24th, 2008

Just made use of the BM Custom Login plugin. If you’re looking to brand your Wordpress login page, for customers, your company, or for fun, then you’ll want to add this one to your list of default plugins.

And for security reasons, you should also implement the Login Lockdown Plugin.

(flickr) (my login page)
c.hadcoleman.com custom login

4 Free Grunge Brushes from DeviantArt

1 Comment » June 22nd, 2008

Grunge Brushes by KeReN-R
Grunge Brushes

Abstract by JavierZhX
Abstract

Obselete Brushes by obselete-angel
Obsolete

Spazz Splatter Brushes by Spazz24
Spazz Splatter Brushes

Adding Shadowbox to Magento Ecommerce

42 Comments » June 20th, 2008

Here is a tutorial on how to add the Shadowbox modal box to your Magento powered online store. For those unfamiliar with Magento, it is the latest and greatest in open-source eCommerce software. Varian has done the online communi-tay a great service by building a shopcart the right way, from the ground up. Thanks Varian! Granted, Magento has a strong learning curve, so those unfamiliar with basic HTML, CSS, or hacking at code… beware. Read the rest of this entry »