Comments on: GeeksRUs

By: Mark Coffey

Mark Coffey — Sun, 19 Jun 2005 03:03:16 +0000

Wow, La Shawn, this is very timely for me, as I’m in the process of doing a Decision ’08 redesign, and I’ve decided on WordPress. Many, many good tips here – thanks so much…

By: Bill Wallo

Bill Wallo — Sun, 19 Jun 2005 01:30:56 +0000

You realize that just like blogging is frequently a refuge from “other” writing, tinkering with one’s blog is virtually guaranteed to be a successful (and addictive) time-waster? Enjoy.

By: Andy

Andy — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 02:39:33 +0000

Helen, I’d say 80% of what I learned about coding came from seeing something I liked and getting under the hood to see what made it go, aka reverse engineer.

My tools of choice are 1st Page 2000 – a freeware WYSIWYG editor that includes HTML Tidy & W3C reference guide (good for dummies, as it’s full of examples) and Firefox’s WebDeveloper extension.

The cool thing about 1st2K is that you can make a change and immediately see the effect when in split-view mode. You can also create/edit CSS, javascript and other text files. But since most file types aren’t “recognized” by default, you just have to tell it to do so.

The application is so customizeable, I regularly back up the template, ini & config files so that if I move to a new machine or whatever, I don’t have to go thru the whole rigamole of recustomizing. And yes, even when standards change, you can stay in step by changing the validation standard, ie XHTML.

As you might guess, it is several years old and the creators have gone on to bigger and better things. The proof in how good it is is that many still use it as their editor of choice. You can google around to see what others say about it. All I can say it’s great for ramping up your geek factor.

Download 1stPage at
http://download.yohost.com/1stpage.htm

Now if you want to get into JavaScript and/or Dynamic HTML for making eyecandy, counters, polls etc, try
http://www.htmlgoodies.com/
http://www.dhtmlcentral.com
http://www.webreference.com
http://www.dynamicdrive.com/

By: Solomon Mason

Solomon Mason — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 01:32:38 +0000

I’ve been reading you alot, LaShawn. Just thinking about your writings in silence. That’s not a bad thing.

Yes, I want to get rid of all the tables on my blog. All CSS is the way to go. I’m approaching this like I’m getting a degree in it.

By: James M. Barber

James M. Barber — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 20:46:08 +0000

LaShawn,
If you have influence on anyone in school through college, tell them you need to be a geek. The number of people in the Pentagon with secretaries is very small. It has turned around 95% in the last forty years. IBM Selectric typewriters are in museums or on the floor in this computer room.
James M. Barber

By: M. Woodward

M. Woodward — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 20:36:13 +0000

Louie: After you fill out your email information in the admin section and send an email for posting, make sure you run the “process emails” php page (can’t think of the exact name offhand, but is in in the main directory) from your browser. It is the mechanism that actually connects to the email server, downloads the message and posts it.

LaShawn: A musician has to learn how to play the instrument before making music with it…you are just learning your publishing “instrument”.

I have not yet officially published a blog but, I have played with various blogging software (including WordPress). I have actually become a fan of Content Management Systems (CMS) like PostNuke, PHPNuke, Mambo, and my favorite Drupal.

By: Helen

Helen — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 19:53:52 +0000

I tried using pMachine Free a few months ago and got so caught up in the coding I wasn’t doing much writing. However, coding is very addicting and I don’t regret learning-or trying to learn!-CSS. I have yet to find a tutorial that makes it easy–maybe someone should write a CSS for Dummies book!

Being Geeky is cool!

By: La Shawn

La Shawn — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 19:46:16 +0000

It’s been a long time, Jim! Thanks for stopping by. I still use a PC, and I’ve heard about the Mac’s geekery.

By: Jim Stegman

Jim Stegman — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 19:41:19 +0000

Sorry, the address did not show up for some reason. It is:

http://mundy.org/blog/index.php?p=40

By: Jim Stegman

Jim Stegman — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 19:36:52 +0000

La Shawn, if I remember right you use a PC, but you might consider getting a Mac mini and reading this article on how to set it up to get in touch with your geekiness side.

By: Terry Dillard

Terry Dillard — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 19:22:58 +0000

I’ve always maintained that “real men code in HTML” rather than the WYSIWYG editors DreamWeaver and FrontPage. You’re a tinkerer, too? Cool!

I recently bought “More Eric Meyer on CSS”, but have yet to find the time to delve into it. Guess I’d better find the time, since I recently started my own WordPress blog, The Right Track (www.righttrack.us, input appreciated). I want to customize it a little, but am afraid to at the moment. I’m competent in HTML, a little less competent in CSS, and totally clueless in XHTML and the like.

By: aaron's cc:

aaron's cc: — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 19:18:35 +0000

WordPress versus Movable Type

Open debate. Why do you love or hate either?

Please limit discussion to versions available as of today, June 9, 2005.

Is there a compelling reason to switch from one to the other?

If you’ve got blogmaster buddies who are passionate abo…

By: Nathan Lanier

Nathan Lanier — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 19:09:37 +0000

I’m running wordpress on my blog http://www.projectnothing.com

I actually managed to get the spell checker working, and I had a load of trouble with it. Let me know if I can help.

By: Jeffrey King

Jeffrey King — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 16:49:13 +0000

Just implemented the “overflow: hidden;” code in both my sidebars and main column. That’s a great catchall. Thanks for the tip.

By: La Shawn

La Shawn — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 16:46:51 +0000

My designer re-coded the whole template so that the footer sits outside the page wrap and below the sidebars, no matter how long they get. Apparently it was inside the wrap and stuck in an absolute position before.