These are older articles. Please bear in mind the further back you go, the more dated the material may be — in some cases.
Mike Cherim’s Blogging Past
Suggestions for Setting Up WordPress
When I install a brand new copy of WordPress I typically have a ritual of sorts as I fire it up. The default configuration is okay, but I do make changes to better suit my needs and tastes. I feel this is a very important step and worthy of due consideration. I’m not saying this what you should do, nor am I working on their latest version so there’s no doubt that if you’re using version 2.2, some of these practices may be slightly different.
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An Offset Content Penalty?
I want to do the right thing regarding accessibility and usability, but I don’t want to be viewed as some unethical search whore in the process.
Google handles search abuse reports on sites by compiling the submitted and discovered data, then adjusting their search algorithms to counter the identified abuse method next time around. This is an effective method of dealing with abuse and violations it seems — the most practical method, anyway. As an example, abuse such as using the style sheet display property “none” to hide a slew of links was reported to or discovered by Google, and now their algorithms can identify this type of index-inducing violation and respond accordingly.
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The Reality of Dealing with a Mule
I’ve discussed the poor quality of free code and applications before. Since very few people had helped me spread the word as I had hoped for, I’m at it again. I realize it isn’t going to be easy to get the core of the development community to change, but I’m no quitter.
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Avoiding Extreme Accessibility
Over-thinking, over-engineering, or going to extremes is rarely a good thing when acted upon.
I’ve seen it before, I’ll see it again, and I’ve been guilty of it myself. What is it? Extreme Accessibility, of course. But what is it really? What is Extreme Accessibility? And why should one want to avoid it? It sounds like a good thing after all. But it’s really the abuse of features, faulty or overboard implementations, and good intentions gone bad. Sometime in your life, did someone ever tell you that moderation is the key? This logic applies to web accessibility as well.
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Japanese Style Smoky Grilled Beef
This is an off-the-wall post for me — a recipe of all things — but I do want to share this with my readers since I’m a graduate of the University of Diversity and a gastronomic guru. Long before “fusion cuisine” was a buzzword in culinary circles, I had written and published a recipe that married the influence of a special Japanese recipe and American backyard grilling. You see, I learned a lot about Japanese cooking having lived there: three years in Tokyo, and one year in Wakkanai.
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The Power of Zero
Different elements are given different initial or default layout values as ascribed by various browser rendering engines. One element may have a natural padding value of 10px in one browser, for example, while another browser may give it 15px. And in these cases, the padding may cause different renderings of the same element. What this boils down to is that the default styling of an unstyled page will look one way in one browser, yet, while close, it may be different in another browser.
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Just a Fly on the Wall
I told the fiction department they’d be on the street looking for work if they didn’t produce a story soon. It’s been a while — too long, in fact. This is what they came up with. They hope you like it, but I gotta warn you, it’s kinda on and off the wall.
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Using HTML Lists Properly
If you’re a person who spins around fast when someone shouts “hey, you, web developer,” you probably use HyperText Markup Language (HTML) lists often — or you should anyway. But do you use them correctly and effectively? Let’s take a closer look at the three list types available, figure out what they’re best used for, and how to do so properly. Also, let’s see about putting them to use creatively, with imagination and a little bit of style.
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Making a WordPress Pull Quote
A pull quote is a selected blockquoted passage from the post it accompanies used to reveal or emphasize a portion of the post.
On most of my posts you’ll typically see some sort of decorative image. I do this to jazz things up a bit and give my posts a sprinkling of good old fashioned artistic love. I think it compliments the posts. I started thinking, though, that a pull quote would also be cool. I’m sure you’ve seen them elsewhere. Now you can learn a decent way to make them a built-in WordPress feature. This may be especially useful to theme makers, but anyone can do this.
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