Terminal seems like a function that can really make a web developers life easier. I would actually like to learn more about it as it seems to cut down on the number of sites and folders one has to logon to complete a function. As I went through the GitHub Terminal tutorial, I started feeling more comfortable with the functions and was very impressed by what it can do. The one gap that still remains in my mind is:

How do I start using it to submit updates to files for my application? To create branches?

Does one logon to GitHub, or does the terminal recognize a command and automatically update the file based on the command entered?

Exciting News

My site is starting to look like a site, but I must admit all the changes made thus far have not required changes to code, that is next. Using the admin site to make updates has once again motivated me. Now, I just need to take my motivation to the next level and start updating code, specially moving the menu on the right side to the bottom of the page. Well not all fields only some.

My goals for this week are to update the following on my site:

– Include a Flash plugin, find someone and/or figure out how to complete an animation which I can post to my site, upload images, create a custom post.

– As far as custom posts, I will be looking into Custom Posts tonight while on my flight back to D.C and deciding if I want to use them on my site. As of right now, I think custom posts will be useful, but I need to look into them prior to making a decision.

Overall, I am so glad for the WordPress Local Site admin menu. Thank you admin menu for helping me regain some motivation.

I have been spending so much time on my local site that I had forgotten it wasn’t my real site! I wanted to make sure I understood what this website project entailed, every step of the way, so I decided to export what I had accomplished thus far onto my live site. Sounds easy enough right? I opened up CyberDuck and dropped the files in the correct folder. Next I went to Tools and then Export on my local site. All seemed to be working correctly. I signed into my live site (by some miracle I remembered my username and password) and again went to Tools and then Import. And here the problems began.

First of all, none of my media files had transferred. This meant my header and background were back to being the plain, gray, twenty twelve theme. This was slightly irritating but easily fixed. Next I noticed that the words on the main navigation bar were back to not being centered. This was the most frustrating part of the export/import process because I had spent so long last week, as well as last class, figuring out how to make them centered! Some of my other css style edits came through but not the centered words. The menu also refuses to display what I want it to even though everything is set up exactly as it is on the local site and everything on the local site works. Needless to say I’m glad I figured this out now and not in two weeks!

Having found little success with going live, I decided trying out custom post types might be a more successful venture. Unfortunately, every time I tried to make a plugin or change the functions.php file, the WordPress admin page stopped working. While it was not quite Susan’s white page of death with an error message, I found it irritating enough that I also deleted my attempts in order to restore a working WordPress page.

The readings were good this week in that I felt they helped me build up my understanding of what I was trying to do, especially the Smashing Magazine article. Hopefully next week I will have more luck executing this understanding!

This weekend I was determined to create a custom post type (CPT) for my wine website. My initial plan was to create the CPT as a plugin, since that’s what Greg recommended. It turns out that’s a little more complicated than I thought it was when we went over the concept at 9:15 p.m. last Tuesday. I browsed the Codex for a refresher and did many Google searches, but unfortunately I couldn’t figure it out. So I moved on to plan B and placed the CPT code into my functions.php file. Once that step was complete, I connected to my local server and checked my WordPress admin panel. It was a miracle…my new “Wine” CPT button was added right below the comments button.

This was a great accomplishment, but having the CPT only display on my local admin won’t do me any good in the future when I want to add content. So I decided to commit/sync and drag my updated functions.php file into Cyberduck in an effort to get my CPT to show up on my web admin panel – piece of cake, right?

Wrong. After Cyberduck was finished downloading, I refreshed my website… and screamed because the screen turned white with a fatal error message. This was the first time I received an error message of this magnitude, so I was freaking out. But instead of throwing my laptop across the room, I deleted the functions.php file from Cyberduck, and that apparently fixed the problem. But, I’m still without the CPT on my web admin menu.

Sidenote: I found this handy “Common WordPress Error” resource page in the Codex, which I will now be bookmarking.

I want to revisit plan A – creating the CPT as a plugin – but I plan on doing some additional research before experimenting again on my site. For now, I will continue making style changes in the css and gathering content that I plan on incorporating.

Command Line
I have to admit, I was a little skeptical about learning command line. Isn’t clicking easier than typing? But after actually going through the motions in class and browsing the readings, I understand why command line could be very useful in some situations. In my job, I often have to convert image files to different formats. Sure, clicking a button or two to convert one image is definitely faster. But, what about 1,500 images… in a short period of time? Typing a command that’s a few lines long would be much more efficient.

APIs were a bit of a taboo for me up until this point. The guide we were given in between these weeks have been really insightful. It was a little dense with information but I found great use out of it. When I was job searching earlier this year, I would steer clear from positions that asked for an understanding or listed required skills in programming, CSS, PHP, and understanding of APIs. I came to the realization that I have been using APIs for a pretty long time through the use of Twitter’s API, Facebook’s API, and lastly Instagram APIs to pull tweets, Facebook friends, and photos I’ve shared and post them on my personal website and those of my clients. I quickly realized this when it discussed authorization keys and how I’ve struggled in the past in finding them through my accounts by going through the website’s developer section. APIs are not the easiest thing to understand, but well documented sites like the ones listed above do make it easier.

I plan on using APIs for my website by the way of an Instagram or Flickr API to make it easier for my family to generate photo content while she is out in the field. APIs will help facilitate substantial portions of my project website in the form of portfolio items. I’ve made substantial progress on the website locally through the admin menu. I have a pretty good outline for the website and I’m looking to limit the website to about five pages. Home, Services, Testimonials, Portfolio, Contact Us. Should I be able to condense certain pages like Services and Testimonials in a way that makes sense, I will. My current struggle is getting images, colors, and etc. agreed upon by my family and I. My mother specifically enjoys bright colors and so finding colors that will be good for user experience has slowed down progress just a tad. I sometimes encounter these same issues with some clients, primarily ones that don’t have an established brand identity. Once I get over this small hurdle the Twitter and Instagram APIs should help build out the rest of the site rather quickly.