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- Review: WordPress Theme DesignYesterday
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I have designed plenty of sites around a content management system like WordPress, but I have never yet put together a theme for distribution or resale. Hot on the heels of the opening of ThemeForest, I thought it would be a good time to delve into the world of WordPress theme design and packaging. For that reason I picked up Tessa Blakely Silver’s book - WordPress Theme Design: A complete guide to creating professional WordPress themes.
Who is the book written for?
The book explains the basic steps of creating a WordPress theme. While you are not going to find detailed descriptions of WordPress features and capabilities, you will find information on the development, creation, and enhancement of WordPress themes. It would be helpful if you have some experience with WordPress even if it’s just a few hours of ‘mucking about’, because the book assumes you somewhat familiar with the program.
What’s inside?
The book covers plenty of material in just over 200 pages. You will find chapters dealing with Getting Started, Coding, Troubleshooting, and Packaging your theme. There are so many topics discussed that you may sometimes feel that the book is trying to be all things to all people, at the expense of giving detailed information on any one topic. For example, the Reference Section is a nice idea
- The Six People You Meet In Freelance Internet Writing HellYesterday
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Writing on the internet is a special kind of experience. Unlike print publications, the second your internet article is posted a crowd of eager onlookers is standing by ready to give you instant feedback on your work. Does it connect with people? Did you miss the mark on some seemingly unimportant fact? Do they hate you and your very existence? Do they know a good place to find generic Cialis at bargain basement prices?
Unfortunately, the answer to that and many many other questions is a resounding yes. And snarky commenters aren’t the only people you’ll meet on your path to internet semi-famousness. These are the six people you meet in freelance internet writing hell.
The Fact Checker
What you are writing about is of no importance, The Fact Checker knows about the subject inside and out and will leap at the first opportunity to correct your blatant inaccuracy. That blog post about your favorite blue shirt? Well, the shirt is actually turquoise. The Fact Checker learned this while working in a Malaysian sweatshop as part of their research for an article they wrote on unfair labor practices at The Gap. There will inevitably be a link to this article that will redirect you to a 404 error page. Don’t bother mentioning that though, their quest to make you look like a hack is done. They’ve moved on.
Direct Descendants: The Typo Police, The List Corrector
The Pioneer
The internet is a vast wasteland of thoughts a
- Uses of Systematization for FreelancersJanuary 6
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Freelancers in every field face a constant challenge to achieve and maintain a high level of productivity and quality in their work. One of the ways that you can improve your results is by development of systems or routines for various aspects of your work. Most likely you do some of the same things day-after-day and week-after-week. Having a proven system for getting these things done can bring several positive benefits. In this post we’ll look at why you would want to develop you own systems and some areas of freelancing life that lend themselves to systematization.
Why Use Systems?
1. Maximum Productivity
The biggest advantage to developing and using systems in your work is the potential for improved efficiency and productivity. We all have limited time available to work, and as freelancers that directly impacts how much money we make. Improved productivity can lead to more income or less working hours, both are good things.
2. Development of Good Habits
We all develop habits of some kind, especially when we’re doing similar tasks over and over again. It’s easy to develop bad habits, especially since freelancers usually have no one to keep them accountable in the same way that an employee has a boss. By consciously developing your own systems or ways of doing things you’ll be able to work on developing good habits instead of bad ones.
3. Better Quality of Work
Not only can systems help to e
- Freelancing Freedom #86January 4
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- Kick Starting a Freelance Business… When You Can’t Afford to FailJanuary 4
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Like so many others before me, I realized long ago that freelancing is the only way to take full advantage of life in a free society. We all want greater control over our own daily schedules and future accomplishments. But while many of us can plainly see the allure of never having to ask a boss if we can go on vacation (or take a nap at 2pm), we often don’t view ourselves as entrepreneurs in the traditional sense… you know, those dynamic people who can make a business hum along profitably whether it’s an ice cream parlor or a rubber band factory?
As a result, we often find ourselves excitedly enlightened about the existence of a better life as freelancers, but without the practical vision to get there. Additionally, we may lack the financial resources that we imagine are a prerequisite to launching a freelance business. As a result, fear of failure paralyzes us.
Years ago, my solution to this dilemma was to work really hard at making myself indispensable to people who actually did have that entrepreneurial aptitude, working alongside them as they launched various ventures on a shoestring budget. Although I eventually realized that this did very little to actually liberate me from the more burdensome constraints of life as a paid employee, it did allow me to witness a basic template for success emerge, one that I would personally put to use… twice.
Before I detail the particulars, I want to emphasize that I am not for a moment suggesting