This plugin creates a user-friendly slide management interface in the WordPress backend as well as provides template tags that can be used in any theme to load the slides’ information into a jQuery slider of your choice.

This plugin is ideal for theme developers who need to provide their clients an easy-to-use interface for managing slider content.

IMPORTANT: This plugin is not intended to be plug and play and is intended for theme developers with at least some basic WordPress and JavaScript/jQuery experience.

Installing the plugin

1. Download the plugin via your WordPress admin interface or from the WordPress.org plugin directory here
2. Upload “slider_admin.php” to the “/wp-content/plugins/” directory
3. Activate the plugin through the “Plugins” menu in WordPress
4. Configure the plugin in the “Settings” menu.
5. Setup your slider by editting the page specified in in the plugin settings.
6. Implement the template tags. See example below.

Adding a slider to your theme

<?php

$the_slides = fourty_slider_get_slides(); //returns an array of arrays filled with each slide's info.

$slide_n=0;

//loop through each slide and echo it's info
foreach($the_slides as $cur_slide){

	//get the slide's image
	echo '<img src="' . $cur_slide['image'] . '" />';

	//get the slide's title
	echo $cur_slide['title'];

	//get the slide's caption
	echo $cur_slide['caption'];

	//get the slide's link
	echo $cur_slide['link'];

	//this echoes the indicators onto each slide with a class for the current slide's indicator
	for($n=0; $n<count($the_slides); $n++){

		if($n==$slide_n){
			echo '<div class="indicator-on"></div>';
		} else {
			echo '<div class="indicator-off"></div>';
		}

	}

	$slide_n++;

}
?>

Where did Lobot come from?

We are admitted Star Wars fans. Lobot appeared in Episode V — Check him out.

“Lobot’s not the chatty type, but he sure is loyal. And great with computers!” ―Lando Calrissian

What is it?

WordPress was born as a blogging platform where people could easily create and publish their own blog. Through the help of an open-source community it has evolved and expanded to a full-fledged content management system (CMS). WordPress.com still exists as an easy-to-use platform for DIYers wanting to set up and publish their own blog. There is also the open-source branch of WordPress (WordPress.org) where you can install and run the WordPress platform on your own server — that’s the sandbox we play in.

Why We’re WordPress Junkies

There are four primary reasons why we use WordPress as our CMS platform.

1. Flexibility
2. Extensibility
3. Reliability
4. Usability

Flexibility

Before the acronym CMS was derived, websites were either hand-coded page-by-page or web teams built their own home-grown database systems to help manage content and other aspects of a site. With WordPress, all the heavy-lifting is baked in to the platform through features and functions that can easily be incorporated into a new site with just a little bit of PHP experience. We can not only build sites faster, they are more functional and usable by our clients and their customers. This allows us to focus more of a client’s budget on design and user experience than programming and debugging.

Extensibility

<strong>ex-ten-si-ble</strong> <em>[ik-sten-suh-buhl]</em> (adjective)
Capable of being extended.

The WordPress framework is not only lightweight and fast, but is built in a way that allows us, and the giant WordPress community, to tie directly into its functionality through the use of plugins, pre-built themes, and anything else we can think up. So things that were complicated or time-consuming to build in the past such as integrating RSS feeds, managing forms, or dynamically creating sitemaps for search engines can all be built once and used across any WordPress site. In this regard, WordPress is far ahead of similar platform options.

Reliability

When the coolness of a new website wears off the not-so-sexy considerations become real… How secure is my site? Will this over-sized picture of my cat dressed as Darth Vader crash the site? A good portion of this burden resides with the server and host you are using (a future post), but code does matter. WordPress frequently updates their platform with new versions aimed at new features, bug squashing, and security patches. And it’s as simple as clicking “Auto-Update”. Of course, we still do nightly backups, but its easier to sleep at night knowing there are millions of WordPress sites out there ferreting out any potential issues.

Usability

Finally, all that previous stuff is cool, but if at the end of the day if a CMS is difficult to use by our clients then we are taking a step backwards. The back-office control panel of WordPress is super-simple, intuitive and quite elegant. Even in this space, we can make customizations that further enhance and simplify the experience for clients based on their unique needs. We can show a client how to maintain their own site in an hour or less, empowering them to focus on content and less on learning HTML or a maze of menus any mysterious terms.

By default your fan page address will look something like this one for our friends at Signature Home Comfort:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Signature-Home-Comfort-Plumbing-Heating-and-Air-Conditioning/321453010069

Nice, huh? No worries, though… just like for your own personal FB profile, you can create a short name for your page. The only requirement is that you have at least 25 fans.

To create a Facebook Fan Page Short URL

1. Go to http://facebook.com/username
2. Select the page you are wanting to apply the short name
3. Enter the name and click Check Availability

If all goes well, that should be it. Now your Facebook link will look nice in your emails and business cards.

Tomorrow, October 16, is National Boss’s Day. We thought we’d make a little token that you can print, email or fax your boss to thank him. Or just staple it to his TPS Report for making you work late on a Friday.

Enjoy!

Download

Client: 417 Pet Sitting
Description: Brochure site for 417 Pet Sitting which includes a blog, social networking integration, event calendar, Flickr photo feed, various forms, and scheduling.
Services: Site design, XHTML/CSS, php, jquery, WordPress
View this Project: www.417petsitting.com

Client: SRC Power Systems
Description: Brochure site for SRC Power Systems which includes a blog, social networking integration, and product and services information.
Services: Site design, XHTML/CSS, php, jquery, WordPress
View this Project: www.srcpowersystems.com

Client: SRC Electrical
Description: Corporate site for SRC Electrical which includes a blog, social networking integration, product and services information, and job postings.
Services: Site design, XHTML/CSS, php, jquery, WordPress
View this Project: www.srcelectrical.com

Client: The Great Game of Business
Description: Community driven website for The Great Game of Business.  Includes forums, calendar, CRM integration, shopping cart, event and webinar registration and a blog.
Services: Site design, XHTML/CSS, php, jquery, WordPress, BBPress, WP E-Commerce
View this Project: www.greatgame.com

Client: Farmer’s Gastropub
Description: Brochure site for the Farmer’s Gastropub which includes a blog, social networking integration, photo gallery, and online reservations.
Services: Site design, XHTML/CSS, php, jquery, WordPress
View this Project: www.farmersgastropub.com

We finally ended up choosing Pizza Gallery & Grill to receive this kick-arse free web package. We had the absolute hardest time picking the right one. It took a few rounds of evaluation and consideration. Pizza Gallery & Grill’s site was ready for some sprucing up, but what pushed them across the finish line was how obvious it was that their web presence mattered to them. A big congratulations to Pizza Gallery & Grill.

Stay tuned to the blog as we progress through their project. We are using this as an opportunity to share our process and thinking that goes into building a new website for a client.