On Afternoon Coding

The snow continues to fall.

I spent part of the day working on PHP and CSS code for the website. I have the first segment of the design coded and the graphics made. I’ve done a test to make sure the code works, and it does. It looks like I want it to look. I’m content with that.

I’m moving on to the next coding challenge — multiple WordPress loops. The “loop” is what calls the content from the WP database and puts it on the screen. It’s completely invisible to you, the reader. It’s completely invisible to me, the writer and sometimes coder. Fortunately, the WordPress Codex article on the Loop has provided me with sample code to look at.

The next step is to code the CSS to handle the formatting and the PHP to call a specific category. Wait, I should probably figure out what kind of information I wanted outputted first

I’ve also realized that one of my initial thoughts — serve this “front page” as a WordPress page isn’t going to work, as doing so will play havoc with people on mobile devices, like the iPhone or the Droid phone.

Which reminds me.

As near as I can tell, I’ve had my first visitor to my website from a Droid phone.

I have no idea who it is; it may have been a one-shot reader from Paris, who surfed in through a Google search. The user-agent string in amusing; the phone names itself as “Cupcake.” 😆

In any event, I have no set timetable for finishing up the website redesign. It’s not urgent.


In other technogeekery, pointless to anyone but myself, I’ve worked up a print stylesheet.

I’ve always preferred having a print stylesheet, on the off-chance that anyone wished to print something out they read on this website. Fancy sidebars and dropdown menus may look fantastic on the screen, but they’re of no use whatsoever on the page. The important thing is the content, and the print stylesheet strips everything down, and outputs something that’s designed for the screen in a format that’s better suited for the page.

Published by Allyn

A writer, editor, journalist, sometimes coder, occasional historian, and all-around scholar, Allyn Gibson is the writer for Diamond Comic Distributors' monthly PREVIEWS catalog, used by comic book shops and throughout the comics industry, and the editor for its monthly order forms. In his over ten years in the industry, Allyn has interviewed comics creators and pop culture celebrities, covered conventions, analyzed industry revenue trends, and written copy for comics, toys, and other pop culture merchandise. Allyn is also known for his short fiction (including the Star Trek story "Make-Believe,"the Doctor Who short story "The Spindle of Necessity," and the ReDeus story "The Ginger Kid"). Allyn has been blogging regularly with WordPress since 2004.

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