WordPress 3.3 has been released with lot’s of improvements

WordPress 3.3 is appropriately code-named Sonny after jazz saxophonist Sonny Stitt. Like its namesake, WordPress 3.3 is the result of hard-working dedication. The improvements are immediately obvious. When I upgraded, the changes to the administrative interface were clear. Hints displayed for various new tools and features. And, some of the plugin developers got on the “hint” wagon as well. There were invitations that appeared for Yoast’s SEO plugin as well as others.

Here is a quick view of some of the new featured introduced with this latest WordPress release:

Easier Uploading

• File Type Detection

  Streamlined:! Instead of needing to click on a specific upload icon based on your file type, now there’s just one. Once your file has uploaded, the right fields are displayed for entering information based on the file type.

• Drag-and-Drop Media Uploader
  

  Adding photos or other files to posts and pages just got easier. Drag files from your desktop and drop them into the uploader. Add one file at a time, or many at once.

• More File Formats
  

  We’ve added the rar and 7z file formats to the list of allowed file types in the uploader.

Dashboard Design

• Flyout Menus Speed up

  Navigating the dashboard and reduce repetitive clicking with our new flyout submenus. As you hover over each main menu item in your dashboard navigation, the submenus will magically appear, providing single-click access to any dashboard screen.

• Header + Admin Bar = Toolbar
  

  To save space and increase efficiency, we’ve joined the admin bar and the old Dashboard header into one persistent toolbar. Hovering over the toolbar items will show submenus when available for quick access.
  

• Responsive Design
  

  Certain dashboard screens have been updated to look better at various sizes, including improved iPad/tablet support.
  

• Help Tabs
  

  The Help tabs in the upper corner of the dashboard screens below your name have gotten a facelift. Help content is broken into smaller sections for easier access, with links to relevant documentation and the support forums always visible.

Feels Like the First Time

• New Feature Pointers
  

  When we add new features, move navigation, or do anything else with the dashboard that might throw you for a loop when you update your WordPress site, we’ll let you know about it with new feature pointers explaining the change.

• Post-update
  

  Changelog This screen! From now on when you update WordPress, you’ll be brought to this screen — also accessible any time from the W logo in the corner of the toolbar — to get an overview of what’s changed.

• Dashboard Welcome
  

  The dashboard home screen will have a Welcome area that displays when a new WordPress installation is accessed for the first time, prompting the site owner to complete various setup tasks. Once dismissed, this welcome can be accessed via the dashboard home screen options tab.

Content Tools

• Better Co-Editing

  

Have you ever gone to edit a post after someone else has finished with it, only to get an alert that tells you the other person is still editing the post? From now on, you’ll only get that alert if another person is still on the editing screen — no more time lag.

• Tumblr Importer
  

  Want to import content from Tumblr to WordPress? No problem! Go to Tools → Import to get the new Tumblr Importer, which maps your Tumblog posts to the matching WordPress post formats. Tip: Choose a theme designed to display post formats to get the greatest benefit from the importer.

• Widget Improvements
  

  Changing themes often requires widget re-configuration based on the number and position of sidebars. Now if you change back to a previous theme, the widgets will automatically go back to how you had them arranged in that theme. Note: if you’ve added new widgets since the switch, you’ll need to rescue them from the Inactive Widgets area.

Under the Hood

• Flexible Permalinks
  

  You have more freedom when choosing a post permalink structure. Skip the date information or add a category slug without a performance penalty.

• Post Slugs: Less Funky
  

  Funky characters in post titles (e.g. curly quotes from a word processor) will no longer result in garbled post slugs.

• jQuery and jQuery UI
  

  WordPress now includes the entire jQuery UI stack and the latest version of jQuery: 1.7.1.

• is_main_query()
  

  This handy method will tell you if a WP_Query object is the main WordPress query or a secondary query.

• WP_Screen API
  

  WordPress has a nice new API for working with admin screens. Create rich screens, add help documentation, adapt to screen contexts, and more.

• Editor API Overhaul
  

  The new editor API automatically pulls in all the JS and CSS goodness for the editor. It even supports multiple editors on the same page.

So, sit back and dig the newly released “Sonny” WordPress 3.3. Thanks to all the developers and contributors who keep WordPress the most popular open source Web application.

Friend requests business card designs with embossed foil and metallic inks.

Decor & Design owner and designer Michelle Lewis is a friend and now a customer. With retirement as an airline flight attendant approaching, she shared the exciting news of  her revived career. With the her new venture she would need stationary designed to show her offerings. It was time to create a few business card designs that would get her attention.

She graduated design school in her younger years though ended up pursuing a career in the “great blue yonder” instead. With big bright smile and mid-western demeanor, it was an easy choice. I would imagine that when she was younger, that the prospect of traveling was very alluring. Like many in the airline industry, meeting new people and visiting far away places is exciting.

She had always offered her interior design talents, though only part-time. So now was the right time to consider the basics of business marketing and branding. Professionally designed promotional materials would be in order.

Cards with a classy understatement

Firstly she would need business cards. Her criteria for the design would be that it have a “classy understatement” using bold colors without being too brash. Being loud and boisterous is just not Michelle’s style. Though I explained, the cards needed to stand-out and call attention to themselves. With the right use of colors and subtle highlights I could create a simple, yet striking design.

As Karma or coincidence would have it, I received a package of samples from a business card printer. Just days after I presented the last designs to Michelle, a printer in California sent me a direct mail promotion which included samples. And the examples were very impressive. Their capabilities were foiling, embossing, metallic inks all on matte coated card stock.

So, next step is to ask for mockups for the business card designs so that Michelle can decide which to print. Yes, you read that right. The business card printer in California offers “mockups” of your designs! I suspected a dye sublimation process though I can’t imagine how they would simulate the feel of card stock/paper used.

Post Formats, recently introduced with WordPress 3.1 offers Tumblr microblogging

The Post Formats feature provides a standardized list of formats that are available to all themes that support the feature.
–WordPress Codex

Simple: the new Post Format function emulates Tumblr style posts. Using post_format template tags with conditional statements, you can exclude or include a post’s contents. It all depends on what you want that particular post format to display.

Tumblr Style Post Formats introduced in WordPress 3.1

Essentially, it’s meta information attached to posts to allow themes to present posts differently than just the standard way. They’re pre-defined and cannot be extended (developers cannot add new ones).

As of WordPress 3.1, you’ll have the option of nine (9) separate post formats. Similar to Tumblr, you’ll be able to share almost anything in an effortless manner:  Aside, Gallery, Link, Image, Quote, Status, Video, Audio or Chat.

So, when you find a quote you want to share on your blog, then post it as a Quote. You just took an image you want everyone to see, then post it as an Image, and so on. Each can have their own unique styling. Users can choose a post format when editing posts.

Some of the main benefits of Post Formats:

• Portable* – changing your theme will not break your website. Especially good for themers.
• Post Quickly – Designed to share posts regardless of size.
• Microblogging – More versatile, allowing posting of short twitter-like blurbs or large articles.
• Less Confusion – your blog readers and contributors will know exactly what type of post they are currently looking at since ideally each format will be uniquely styled.
• Visually More Interesting – you can present each post [format] with a distinct a layout.  Prior to WordPress 3.1 all  posts are  displayed with the same basic layout.

What Post Format is NOT

• NOT enabled by default.
• NOT required to support every format on the list.
• New formats (other than nine predefined formats) cannot be introduced by themes or plugins.
• NOT Custom Post Types**

Here are the nine predefined formats which offer a general guideline to what how post can be displayed.

1. Aside – Similar to Facebook note update. Short notes, usually without a title.
2. Gallery – A gallery of images. Post will likely contain a gallery shortcode and will have image attachments.
3. Link – A link to another site. Themes may wish to use the first <a href=””> tag in the post content as the external link for that post. An alternative approach could be if the post consists only of a URL, then that will be the URL and the title (post_title) will be the name attached to the anchor for it.
4. Image – A single image. The first <img /> tag in the post could be considered the image. Alternatively, if the post consists only of a URL, that will be the image URL and the title of the post (post_title) will be the title attribute for the image.
5. Quote – A quote. Maybe a blockquote holding the quote content. Alternatively, the quote may be just the content, with the source/author being the title.
6. Status – Status update similar to a Twitter status update.
7. Video – A single video. The first <video /> tag or object/embed in the post content could be considered the video. Alternatively, if the post consists only of a URL, that will be the video URL. May also contain the video as an attachment to the post, if video support is enabled on the blog (like via a plugin).
8. Audio – An audio file. Could be used for podcasting.
9. Chat - a chat transcript

To implement these different formatting designations, themes will  need to add support in the theme’s functions.php file:

// Add Post Format Support
add_theme_support( 'post-formats', array( 'aside', 'gallery', 'link', 'image', 'quote', 'status', 'video', 'audio', 'chat' ) );

What can be “Customized” with the new feature?

There are two (2) aspects of a post display that can be customized using Post Format function within your post templates:

1. Content – conditional statements are with each has_post_format to exclude or include content. For example (below), you can include only the_title, the_post_thumbnail and the_content in an Image formatted post. The same applies to all nine formats. Here is an example that I borrowed from Lisa Sabin-Wilson’s well-written article:

<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>
<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<div id="post-<?<span ></div>
		<?php
			if  ( has_post_format( 'image' )) {
				echo '<h3>';
  				echo the_title();
				echo '</h3>';
 				echo the_post_thumbnail('medium');
				echo the_content();
			}

			elseif ( has_post_format( 'quote' )) {
				echo the_content();
			} 
			else {
				echo '<h3>';
  				echo the_title();
				echo '</h3>';
				echo the_content();
			}
		?>
	</div>
<?php endwhile; else: endif; ?>

2. CSS Style – Using body_class() and post_class(), you can now take advantage of the new post format classes that are applied to all posts within the loop. Class names will look like this:

• format-aside
• format-gallery
• format-link
• format-image
• format-quote
• format-status
• format-video
• format-audio
• format-chat

FINAL NOTES:

A great example of Tumblr style WordPress theme: Shelf Theme. By far, the simplest explanation I found of what Post Formats is.
Here are some other articles I borrowed from:

• http://lisasabin-wilson.com/wordpress-3-1-post-formats-reference
• http://markjaquith.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/post-formats-vs-custom-post-types
• http://flashingcursor.com/wordpress/intro-to-post-formats-in-wordpress-3-1-739
• http://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-themes/what-whys-and-how-tos-of-post-formats-in-wordpress-3-1/
• http://ottopress.com/2010/post-types-and-formats-and-taxonomies-oh-my/

** Post Types is poorly named. It should be more like Custom Content Types like attachments, menu items, pages, pets. They are not Posts. They do not show up on the Blog portion of your site. They do not appear in the Posts Feed. However you can create special feeds for Post Types. Also, custom Post Types is a way for plugins to define types of content for themselves.

WordPress 3.1 “Reinhardt” includes smart enhancements for a smoking hot release

Founder Matt Mullenweg personally welcomed me to update (via email announcement)  to the newest release of WordPress 3.1 named “Reinhardt” in honor of gypsy born  jazz guitarist. After a little digging into “What’s New”, I have to say there are a number of much anticipated improvements. Wow, there are some very smart additions the newest release.

WordPress 3.1 Reinhardt is like a smart Django riff

But understandably so, since it has become the world’s most popular open source Web application. Now I understand why the famous guitarist was its  namesake.”Fun” – because like Django’s music,I’m going to a great time taking advantage the improvements. Here is a breakdown of “What’s New” included in the latest release:

• Internal Linking – Interconnect existing content (FAST) through the post editor by selecting the “Link” icon. You’ll notice a new addition of a search form and scrolling list of pages and posts.
• Administration Bar – In the front-end, you’ll see the addition of an admin bar on the top of your site when you’re logged in. This eliminates several steps in repetitive processes, including editing, adding new, comments and appearance changes like widgets and menus.
• Less Intimidating Writing Interface – Now by default, seldom-used panels are hidden to lesson the “overwhelmed” response of users new to WordPress administration interface. You can easily reveal what you want by selecting the “Screen Options” tab on top right of screen.
• Window Dressing for Admin - A minor addition of an Admin Color Scheme radio selector which includes a Blue and Gray version. Gray is my preferred choice. No significant reason enough, to change.
• Post Format - similar to Tumblr Post Formats. This is where I got confused. A Post Type is explained well at WordPress Codex – Post Formats. It essential give you more control of how and where your posts are displayed, i.e. aside, gallery, link, image, quote, status, video, audio or chat. I defer to a quote in Otto’s blog: Post types are NOUNS. Taxonomy terms are ADJECTIVES. Taxonomies themselves are related groups of adjectives. – IMPORTANT: you’ll have to add support for Post Types by adding this into your functions.php file, adding addt’l format types in an array:
   

  add_theme_support( 'post-formats', array( 'aside', 'gallery', 'quote' ) );

  and use new Post Format in template via:

  // in your theme single.php, page.php or custom post type
  if ( has_post_format( 'quote' )) { echo 'this is a quote.'; }

  There’s also a really good article here on Mark on WordPress titled: Post Formats vs. Custom Post Types.

• More Like a CMS – This is what Matt writes, though I think it’s not one specific enhancement that he is referring to, but the overall capabilities of more post control, advanced taxonomies, custom field queries and other existing functions. Which is making WordPress more like a Content Management System with each new release.
• Network Admin – Which benefits MultiSite or Network administrators. It’s only available if you create a network of WordPress sites.
• List-type Admin Screens – “sortable columns for list-style screens and better pagination”.
• Exporter and Importer Overhaul – for those of customers that would like to migrate their existing website to a better, more professional website redesign using WordPress. Would you like to import your Blogger, LiveJournal, Moveable Type, TypePad or WordPress hosted site to a self-hosted WordPress installation? No problem. With the improved Importer and Exporter (under Tools menu)  you can transfer your site’s content more easily.
• Custom Content Type Improvements - adding the already versatile post types, e.g. Post, Page, Attachment, Revisions and Nav Menu types. Using “Best Practices” naming of your custom post type allows a conflict-free schema to your new CMS. Check out what new code refinements have been added here: http://codex.wordpress.org/Post_Types
• Advanced Queries – that can grab multiple taxonomies and custom fields you’ve created for display on your templates.

This just touches the many reasons why you should upgrade to the newest WordPress 3.1 “Reinhardt” Release. If you want to know more about the benefits of transferring your company website to WordPress, just call David at (845) 247-0909 or use the Contact page.

Google Profile is like a Virtual Business Card, Portal to Your Online Presence

You need a Google profile. I’m imagining the look on your face and your reply, “What, another cyberspace diary that shares my inner-most thoughts with the world? No thanks!” I can understand the apprehension, though it’s not. If you are interested in reaching a broader audience for business sake, then you need to take advantage of another powerful Google tool. It’s a convenient [and smart] way to place all your many Web presences into a portal, of sorts. It’s an online business card for when people search for your name.

Interconnecting all your Web tools for a professional virtual business card

Simply put, a Google profile is a public identity (*private information excluded) for all those social networking and business related Web sites that you want the public to know about. If you’re worried about how you are portrayed on the Web and want more control over what folks see when they search for your name, then your profile is your “brand”. Once it is indexed, your profile will appear prominently when someone searches for you in Google.

Buzz, Blogger, Picasa, Flickr, WordPress, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Scribd, LinkedIn and all the many other sites that you are involved in, can all be included into your profile. You can even add an image feed from your online images or portfolio, i.e. add Picasa, Flickr or your own custom feed. The emphasis of a profile is on Buzz, which is a cross between FaceBook and Twitter. However,  you decide what is revealed, so inappropriate or off-topic “Reader” feeds  can be deleted. Remember the ever-spinning rotary Rolodex? When you create a Google profile you are placing your digital calling card in the world’s largest Rolodex.

As far as convenience is concerned, your profile (when logged in to your dashboard – https://www.google.com/dashboard/) seamlessly integrates other Google products so that it becomes an invaluable repository for your gmail accounts, Blogger, Google Talk , Tasks, Voice, Webmaster Tools, Analytics, Feed Burner, Docs, Calendar, Buzz and Alerts, just to name a few. All are available in one convenient location.

If you’re a Web designer and SEO enthusiast like me, then having the full suite of Google products is a no-brainer. Regardless of your programming knowledge, if you have a product or service to offer the public, then it makes good business sense to get your Google profile soon.

For an example of what a my profile looks like: Web designer and graphic design professional

Google profile of New York Web designer David Radovanovic

*You have full control over what others see. Your private information won’t display unless you’ve added it.

Hudson Valley Garlic Festival gets new website redesign

WordPress customized for Garlic Festival’s website redesign

2010 Hudson Valley Garlic Festival was a success and thanks [in part] to the new website redesign launched just weeks before the gates opened to its 22nd year. Kiwanis of Saugerties has been operating the popular Hudson Valley several decades since it became too large to manage for its founder. With over 50,000 visitors, the garlic extravaganza needed more management skills and lots more volunteers. One of the many conveniences offered its attendees and vendors was the website, which had quickly become outdated as new Web technologies were rapidly becoming required standards. Some of the new website’s requested functions was the ability to allow Kiwanis members to edit to its content via a Content Management System allowing better collaboration. In addition members wanted:

• Collaboration via a Content Management System (mentioned previously).
• Easy to use administrative interface (back-end) for authors and contributors to write copy.
• Clean and simple design (front-end) with intuitive navigation with uncluttered layout.
• A more interactive PayPal shopping cart which would allow changing ticket quantities before entering PayPal’s checkout interface.
• Full featured photo gallery to act as an archive for the hundreds of images that existed.
• Blog thread for open discussion on garlic-related topics.
• Search Engine Optimized for increased visibility and Web traffic
• Improved FAQ engine to answer general questions

Label design created for Mental Health Resources for sale at the Learning and The Brain conference in Boston, Massachusetts this November 18-21. With the expressed desire of Brian Donoghue (MHR President) to keep the project local, all aspects of this label design was locally sourced. The pop was locally produced by Lucky Chocolates and the sticker used for packaging created by me;  a Saugerties graphic designer.

Label design for chocolate pop

The concept of the chocolate Brain Pop! was the idea of Donoghue who wanted to offer convention visitors something special to bring home to their children and friends.  Shaped like a human brain, the treat is molded to a paper stick similar to traditional hard candy. However this sweet confection is hand-made using organic, fair trade chocolate and all-natural ingredients. The label design has a whimsical feel combining colorful graphics.

If you happen to be in the MIT, Kendall Square area or at the Boston Marriott Cambridge during convention hours, drop in and say hello to Brian and David. The pop will be for sale at the event’s official bookstore managed by Mental Health Resources, Inc. And by the way, besides the attractive label design, the Brain Pop! inside is a chocolate lovers delight.

Final Poughkeepsie Journal ad design for New York health food store expansion.

Ad designer explores advertising ideas for Hudson Valley Health Food store’s expansion inspired by memories of Bugs Bunny episodes

The directive was sent from on high, “We need an newspaper ad for the Poughkeepsie Journal to promote our stores’ expansions and we need it by 12 noon today.”

Baby-face gangster; inspiration for Poughkeepsie Journal newspaper ad design

First I thought, “yea right”, then I mused a sobering refrain, “or it’s the hoosegow for you.”  It sounded like a typical Monday with four days left.

The newspaper ad design would have to focus on the two store expansions that Mother Earth Storehouse had just completed.  It had to appeal to their demographic, which in this case is overwhelmingly female. I could take the literal approach and show a great expanse of new shopping aisles and products. Though the advertising space reserved was way too small (8 column inches: 2 columns x 4″ height) to adequately translate the enormity of the added space.

An bird's attempt to expand its confines via construction

Ah, how fun is this: a minuscule ad to promote a huge expansion of retail space. And it all has to come to fruition in 2 hours. As an ad designer, the subsequent narrative represents the peculiar creative processes which followed.

My predicament was one that a graphic designer finds himself in frequently. Impossible deadlines, creative blocks and seemingly insurmountably tasks are just part and parcel of the advertising shtick. So the story begins.

Chicken's finger giving the real world the bird.

If you grew up in New York during the sixties and seventies you’d remember “Ant Hill Harry alias Baby-Face Finster”  as the cigar smoking pint-sized bank robber that the “Bugs” teased and tormented in a his usually sadistic way. My mind traveled twenty (well, alright thirty) years prior to retrieve this peculiar image of a frustrated puny thug who squeezed himself into the shape of an ill-fitted “bundle of joy”. Bugs found Baby Finster at his door step and quickly discovered that the toddler was actually a tattooed crook on the lam. Like Finster, I was frustrated by the dilemma I found himself  in on this Monday morning.

He was certain that eventually he would be back on “easy-street”, enjoying the fruits of his labor while smoking a big Cubano.

You may ask yourself, “What in the world does a brutish cartoon character have to do with the expansion of a retail grocer? “. Well I’m not sure. Let’s continue with the self-psychological exploration into creative thought processes.

Retro illustration for advertisement

Without the luxury of several days to work through some rough  ideas, I sought inspiration online. Thanks to Google’s huge image index, researching words to help visualize creative ideas has become much faster.  I began to search for keywords and terms like “baby”, “baby cracked” and “baby egg”.

What I found were some very intriguing images, including illustrations and photos that got my proverbial “creative juices flowing” .

After some time the visuals for the newspaper ad concept materialized. Since the advertising space was small and the focus was large, what better way to equate the two with an egg.

Baby Breaks the Confines of Egg Shell

Cute baby breaks free of egg shell confines.

The small confines of an egg being cracked open by a growing baby inside seemed a perfect fit. What a better way to illustrate the juxtaposing elements of space. And, need I mention that a cute infant is bound to grab my target audience? With risk of sounding too simplistic, babies and puppies always attracts the attention of the more empathetic sex.

An ad designer with a peculiar idea, inspired by an old cartoon, creates an effective  newspaper advertisement.

Next step, make my ad design concept a reality. This is where the rubber meets the road. A great idea is important for a effective ad campaign, though executing those ideas successfully into an appealing ad  is essential. With a bit of Photoshop ingenuity and 20 years experience illustrating for advertisements, the stock image of a cute baby emerging from a cracked egg became a little construction worker breaking free of his restrictive enclosure.

Ad design for Healthy Living section of the Poughkeepsie Journal

Small ad design advertisement in New York newspaper

A small (3″ x 4″) ad design is hard to get attention, especially in a crowded  New York newspaper. Healthy Living is a Sunday section in the Poughkeepsie Journal, a Hudson Valley daily paper whose columns are filled with competing advertisers. With a little bit of copy and strong (albeit little) image of a ground-breaking sprout, the reader’s attention, to this newspaper ad, is sure to be grabbed.

1. Home page code refinement and basic restructuring to follow proper HTML Semantic Structure.
2. Three (3-5) keyword phrase page optimization for the homepage.

SEO software Axandra offers web site promotion software tools for search engine submission, search engine optimization, search engine ranking, link popularity and more.