Wow, it has been too long since I added anything here! It's been a busy year with building and growing Photography BlogSites. I was honored to be one of the speakers this last weekend at WordCamp LA where I presented a behind the scenes look at Photography BlogSites. Here are the slides from the talk. There was a lot of information spoken as the slides were shown, so if you have any interest in hearing what got left out here in the slides, let me know.

Posted In: WordPress, WordPress Tutorials, Workshops.
Tags: presentations, wordcamp, WordPress

In the midst of keeping up with client work and a mad scramble to finish the major launch of a website, it was nice to get a break from it all and be a part of my first WordCamp. WordCamp is a conference that focuses on everything WordPress. There are many held around the world and this year’s WordCampLA was the second one held in Los Angeles. I was lucky enough to be contacted by the organizer, Austin Passy of Frosty Web Designs and asked to be part of a panel of WordPress designers. One of the great things about WordPress, the main reason why it is now used in 100% of the websites I build, is the community. WordPress is a free, open-source piece of software with thousands of dedicated programmers and designers around the world who build plugins, design themes and even contribute to the

Posted In: Blog, WordPress.

Most of the websites I have worked on over the last couple years have been built using WordPress, one of the best Content Management Systems available. It is extremely flexible and powerful, with great tools for Search Engine Optimization already built in. For a new user, however, it can be a little overwhelming once they log in for the first time. The WordPress backend is a little bit heavy and offers so many tools that it can be confusing for those new to the system. At first I was spending a lot of time on the phone talking clients through the same basic issues over and over. How do I add a new post? How do I create a new category? While these were new issues for them, I had to repeat myself over and over. So I put together a document that provides basic instructions for using WordPress and I have

Posted In: Articles, Blog, Downloads, Resources, WordPress, WordPress Tutorials.
Tags: custom web design, how to, Resources, web design resources, web design tips, WordPress

WPJumpStart is a collection of tools and instructions that will drastically speed up your WordPress theme development or blog design. WPJumpStart is: A system of tools that will improve theme design workflow. Built especially for designers and developers with experience building themes for WordPress. A helping hand for those with intermediate knowledge of WordPress themes. WPJumpStart is not: Meant for those new to HTML or completely new to WordPress. A complete guide or manual to the inner workings of WordPress. What Exactly is it? WPJumpStart is a compilation of resources that will improve your workflow and allow you to create cleaner designs, build themes faster and optimize WordPress itself. Bring your WordPress projects to a more professional level and decrease the time you spend on projects. BlogStarter - An emptied out blog theme, ready to be quickly styled into a custom theme. BlogStarter is now actually two themes - a Two-Column simple blog layout, and a wide One-Column layout complete with

Posted In: Downloads, WordPress, WordPress Resources.
Tags: Downloads, products, web design resources, web design tips, WordPress, WPJumpStart

This is a list of WordPress Plugins that I use and recommend for almost every WordPress site I work on. I will try to keep it up to date with the best that I can find in each category. There are plenty of great plugins out there, but I find myself using these ones over and over again. If anyone knows of better options or can add ones that I missed, please leave a comment below and I will try to add them in. Best Plugins for Spam: Askimet - One of the default plugins. It has been all I have needed for spam so far. Activate this right away. Best  Plugins for SEO: All in one SEO Pack - Lets you control metadata on everypage and post. Google XML Sitemaps - Automically generates a sitemap and submits it to Google, MSN, and Ask.com. KB Robots.txt - Easily control your robots.txt file and help search engines

Posted In: Articles, WordPress, WordPress Resources.
Tags: plugins, web design resources, web design tips, WordPress, WPJumpStart

WordPress has become one of the most powerful and most-used blogging and Content Management Systems in the world in part due to its incredible flexibility and ability to be customized. So it is surprising to learn that the default installation is lacking in a few ways. But because of the great flexibility of WordPress, this is easy to fix in just a few minutes. After any WordPress installation, there is a series of steps that I take in order to optimize the site, before I even think about what it will look like. Remove or edit the Placeholder Content There is a placeholder post titled 'Hello World'. DELETE that, or edit it to be your actual first post. There is a placeholder page called 'About'. DELETE it or edit it to say what you want it to say. Delete the user 'admin' If you used a one-click installation or had someone do it for you, you

Posted In: Articles, SEO, WordPress, WordPress Tutorials.
Tags: SEO, web design resources, website starters, WordPress, WPJumpStart

WARNING: If you're not a CSS or WordPress geek, this post could be a little boring and tech-heavy to you. You can read the quick and easy version here. Or... VIEW LIVE DEMO DOWNLOAD (.zip) Why yet another Free WordPress Theme? As I have developed more and more sites, I have found myself repeating a lot of steps just to get started. I tried a few themes that other designers have made available with the promise of being a good starting point but was never happy with any of them. The Problem with other starting point themes The inspiration for this theme came because I saw others attempting to offer emptied out, basic themes as a starting point, or complex theme frameworks. Some were out of date and needed updating to be compatible with the latest versions of WordPress. Some were packed with options and settings within the admin area. These are great for someone with out

Posted In: Articles, WordPress, WordPress Themes.
Tags: blogstarter, free downloads, Free WordPress Themes, photoshop templates, web design, WordPress, WordPress Themes, WPJumpStart

With this post I am announcing my very first WordPress theme. It is called 'BlogStarter' and is made specifically for WordPress developers (like myself) who are looking for a quick and easy way to get a new blog theme going. It is actually two seperate themes, a two-column verion with a widget-ready sidebar and a one column verison, complete with working dropdown menu at the top. VIEW LIVE DEMO - BlogStarter Two Column Version VIEW LIVE DEMO - BlogStarter One Column Version DOWNLOAD Both Themes (.zip) If you are interested in reading about why and how I created the theme you can go here: BlogStarter - Behind the Scenes. The Basic Features: Two Column Version has a Basic Two-Column blog layout One Column Version is ideal for quickly making photography blogs, with lots of space for photos. 960px wide (easily adjusted) no background colors or images (so you can quickly add your own) Highlights: WordPress 2.7.1 compatible (including threaded comments) Includes wp_head()

Posted In: Downloads, WordPress, WordPress Themes.
Tags: Free WordPress Themes, web design resources, WordPress, WordPress Themes, WPJumpStart