WordPress Themes « Lorelle on WordPress

Category Archives: WordPress Themes

Blog Exercises: Make a List of Everything on Your Site

September 25, 2013 – 4:05 am

Today’s blog exercise will require a little time, magnifier, and a score card. Well, maybe not one of those items. I want you to grab a piece of paper and load up the front page of your site in a browser. Zoom in so you can really see it up close and personal. Start counting. […]

By Lorelle VanFossen | Also posted in Blog Exercises, Blogging, blogging tips, Web Design, WordPress | Comments (1)

Blog Exercises: Site Models

September 23, 2013 – 4:41 am

In “WordPress Site Models” I describe the three main formats for a site layout. They are static, blog, and hybrid. Each site model works for a variety of content and presentation of that content, though some work better for specific types of sites. A static site model, even in WordPress, uses Pages and not posts […]

By Lorelle VanFossen | Also posted in Blog Exercises, Blogging, WordPress, WordPress Tips | Comments (3)

Blog Exercises: When Your Site Design Owns You

August 21, 2013 – 4:46 am

Yesterday a long-time client called me up in tears saying, “I can’t do this any more. My site design owns me, I don’t own it. It’s too confusing. It’s too much work!” Several years ago, she’d chosen a Magazine-style WordPress Theme. The structure was based upon the standard magazine-style, sticky posts for the slider/carousel at […]

By Lorelle VanFossen | Also posted in Blog Exercises, Blogging, blogging tips, Web Design, WordPress, WordPress Tips | Comments (7)

Blog Exercises: Trackbacks Come Again No More

July 4, 2013 – 4:27 am

The power of trackbacks is to track the discussion of articles on your site across the web. They are generated automatically by the post when it is published, sending a trackback response to your site. When the referring site owner moves their site, makes a domain name change, or does a total makeover that causes […]

By Lorelle VanFossen | Also posted in Blog Exercises, Blogging, blogging tips, WordPress | Comments (5)

Blog Exercises: Own Your Site and Protect Yourself

May 1, 2013 – 4:10 am

I hear it every day. A webmaster, developer, or designer does the site owner wrong and the site owner is victimized, helpless, and frustrated with what to do next. I’ve gotten calls in the middle of the night from people around the world trying to get help recovering their WordPress password because their “web guy” […]

By Lorelle VanFossen | Also posted in Blog Exercises, blogging tips, Web Design, WordPress, WordPress Plugins, WordPress Tips | Comments (13)

Blog Exercises: Check Your Site Title Tag

March 14, 2013 – 4:40 am

Do you know what the title of your site is? Not the name of your site or the title of your post, but the HTML <title> tag for your site buried in the source code. In HTML, every website is required to have the <title> tag in the <head> of the source code HTML structure. […]

By Lorelle VanFossen | Also posted in Blog Exercises, Blogging, blogging tips, Web Design, WordPress, WordPress Tips, Writing | Comments (11)

Blog Exercises: Know Your Pageviews

March 13, 2013 – 4:28 am

In this Blog Exercise, it is time to learn some website jargon, specifically, what are all the web pages of your site called. I teach web publishing with WordPress and web design courses at two colleges, and I’m stunned that students don’t know at the lack of proper names for all the parts of a […]

By Lorelle VanFossen | Also posted in Blog Exercises, Blogging, blogging tips, WordPress, WordPress Tips | Comments (13)

WordPress Anniversary: WordPress and Evil

March 11, 2013 – 1:29 pm

As I look back on the ten years of WordPress, there is a dark side to blogging. While many blamed WordPress for the evil, like guns, WordPress doesn’t cause evil, people cause evil. In fact, WordPress, Automattic, and the WordPress Community has fought longer and harder against the evil doers in the world than most […]

By Lorelle VanFossen | Also posted in WordPress, WordPress News, WordPress Plugins, WordPress Tips, WordPressDotCom | Comments (8)

How Many is Too Many WordPress Plugins?

September 27, 2012 – 2:17 pm

In “How Many WordPress Plugins Should You Install on Your Site?” WPBeginner asks a question I bring up in my workshops, training programs, and college courses: How many WordPress Plugins are too many. The article brings up some valid points worth considering when choosing WordPress Plugins. Are WordPress Plugins a security risk? How would you […]

By Lorelle VanFossen | Also posted in WordPress, WordPress News, WordPress Plugins, WordPress Tips | Comments (52)

Jazzing Up Prototypes and Frameworks with Alternative Lorem Ipsum Generators

August 31, 2012 – 5:29 pm

Are you a web designer and fan of the Simpsons? Have you tried Simpson Ipsum? How is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive? I […]

By Lorelle VanFossen | Also posted in Web Design, WordPress | Comments (3)

What You Most Need to Know About WordPress

August 24, 2012 – 6:48 pm

At the recent WordCamp Portland 2012, I was asked by several attendees to cover the basics of WordPress and we came up with What You Most Need to Know About WordPress. Here are the “notes” from that unconference presentation. The Difference Between Categories and Tags I hear this question at WordCamps, from readers, students, and […]

By Lorelle VanFossen | Also posted in blogging tips, WordCamps, WordPress, WordPress Events, WordPress News, WordPress Plugins, WordPress Tips, Writing | Comments (18)

Browser Wars: Internet Explorer Falls, Firefox Tables, and Chrome Soars

June 27, 2012 – 5:06 pm

Preparing to teach the HTML Fundamentals class at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington, this summer, I did a quick bit of research on web browsers to check the current status of the browser marketplace. While not surprised, I was rather taken aback at the downfall of Internet Explorer and fast rise of Chrome. According to […]

By Lorelle VanFossen | Also posted in Blogging News, Web Browsers, Web Design, Web Wise, WordPress | Comments (9)

WordPress Theme Panel at WebVisions 2012

April 30, 2012 – 9:22 am

Webvisions is in Portland, Oregon, May 16-18, 2012, and I’ll be there presenting “Crank WordPress to 11” featuring four top WordPress designers and developers showcasing how they have pushed WordPress beyond traditional limits and taking your questions about how they do it and if WordPress can take it. Friday, May 18, at 1:30PM, I’ll be […]

By Lorelle VanFossen | Also posted in WordPress, WordPress Events, WordPress News | Leave a Comment

How to Set the WordPress Twenty-Eleven Theme Showcase Slider to Auto-Advance

April 23, 2012 – 12:48 pm

Using the fantastic and flexible Twenty-Eleven WordPress Theme and its showcase template front page and slider? Wish the showcase slider would slide automatically? I’ve found the answer. The Twenty-Eleven WordPress Theme features a pseudo-static front page template called “showcase.” When set as the “home” page template with the blog as “blog,” you have the option […]

By Lorelle VanFossen | Also posted in WordPress, WordPress News, WordPress Tips | Comments (15)