Author: Evan Mullins

Semantic Chart for HTML5

Posted on by Evan Mullins

I'm not going to get into the discussion on whether or not semantics are important, but want to share this flowchart for those who are interested in making a sensible web. It will help determine what HTML5 element is best for elements. Thanks fo the HTML5 doc!

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Let’s Talk about Semantics | HTML5 Doctor
It's time we had “the talk”. I could get you a book or recommend some sites from Dr Mike's special bookmarks folder, but the best way to make sure you get the right idea is to do it myself. I&…

C64 Game recreated as HTML5 Game

Posted on by Evan Mullins

Here's a great interview with the hungarian developer, Kriz, who recreated this old game as closely as he could from scratch. I found it interesting he didn't even try to crack into it and look at the source code. He just watched closely and recreated what he saw. This is the 4th such game he is behind and I hope he keeps going!

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Wizard of Wor
There seems to be a trend of re-creating classic 8-bit games in JavaScript at the moment, including the recent and excellent Survivor. B

WordPress Slider Plugin that's Responsive

Posted on by Evan Mullins

It seems that every site lately has some sort of slider in it. I'm interested in this plugin that will get the redundant work and even be responsive from the guy(s) at DevPress. I hope to be trying this out on my next project.

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Plugin Release: Responsive Slider | Professional WordPress Themes | DevPress
There is a new DevPress product, and this time it's not a theme. It's a plugin! We just released Responsive Slider. Responsive Slider plugin. Many of you have asked for a theme with slider, an…

Mobile Specific Sites Hurt

Posted on by Evan Mullins

I've said it before I don't want a different experience on mobile vs desktop. I always am scrolling around a mobile version of a site to find the link to get to the full site because whoever designed it deemed that I as a mobile user wouldn't appreciate the functionality the site brought. I still agree with the responses to Jakob Nielson's recent publication that we should have mobile versions of our sites. I agree whole-heartedly with the responses from smashing magazine here and Josh Clark and many others. It's encouraging to see the flood of people coming out to contradict the uncharacteristically unwise council from this UX giant. Here Bruce Lawsen gives a great recap of the whole story and the points argued by both sides.

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Why We Shouldn't Make Separate Mobile Websites | Smashing Magazine
There has been a long-running war going on over the mobile Web: it can be summarized with the following question: “Is there a mobile Web?” That is, is the mobile device so fundamentally…

Open Sourced Flash Tower Game

Posted on by Evan Mullins

Ben Lowry has released all his code for his game InkTd. It is a standard tower style game with a bit of a twist. It gives options for 2 game modes: path mode and another called maze mode with the path being dynamically adjusted to reach the base. Sounds like it deserves porting to html5!

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InkTd Flash game source code released – Emanuele Feronato
Did you ever wonder how a complete tower defense source code looks like? This is your lucky day. A couple of years ago Ben Lowry, also known for being the founder of Playtomic, made a tower defense ga…

Some Useful Page Load Time Charts

Posted on by Evan Mullins

Google analytics shares some data between mobile and desktop speed and segmented by region and industry . I see that (obviously) desktop is a few seconds faster overall.

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Global Site Speed Overview: How Fast Are Websites Around The World? – Analytics Blog
The first step in optimizing any process is to establish and obtain an accurate set of measurement data. In the context of optimizing the user experience on the web, it means that we need to measure t…

Some great CSS3 Effects on scrolling from Hakim

Posted on by Evan Mullins

Some really cool examples here. I really like the helix effect personally. Check them out: http://lab.hakim.se/scroll-effects ! And the code on github: https://github.com/hakimel/scroll-effects

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Hakim / CSS3 Scroll Effects
Decided it was time for some CSS tinkering again and ended up creating this set of CSS3 scrolling styles. Not intended for any practical use but the visuals are surprisingly impactful.

Why Decouple WordPress Functionality from your Theme in a Plugin?

Posted on by Evan Mullins

So this is all about writing CPTs into a plugin and not in your theme. Is there a time to not do that and include it into the theme? I'm thinking specifically when you are making the custom theme for the client rather than for stock. The client won't really be changing themes willy nilly, since they paid me to do it. I think separating the code sometimes can make it more complicated. It's not like if they change themes and notice some content is gone they can't change back, since the content isn't actually lost, but no longer supported by other themes. If they are my client and I do maintenance on the site or update the theme, I'd be sure to keep the CPT code in any new theme that is developed. And I'd expect that if someone else was doing the same they'd know where to look and how to continue support for the CPTs. I guess it comes down to the expectation that clients don't really need to be changing the theme. If they knew what they were doing changing themes, then I think they should understand that some functionality may be tied to the theme. Or maybe that's the point. Functionality traditionally has been in themes, and we should be moving away from that?

Personally I think it's easier to tell a client to come to me or at least ask if they want to change the theme (not that I'm locking into being my customer) that it would be for them to figure out some message saying the site requires a theme and a plugin in tandem, while it will still kinda work with one and not the other, it will be incomplete either way. Are we expecting them to be able to change themes, and update to new one to display the CPTs properly?

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Theme-ready Custom Post Types in WordPress – Jumping Duck Media
Good advice on decoupling WordPress Custom Post Type implementation from your themes. How to notify a user that some functionality of the theme might depend on a plugin that defines the CPTs. How to override theme template selection from a plugin.
Theme-ready Custom Post Types in WordPress – Jumping Duck Media
Original Article: Theme-ready Custom Post Types in WordPress – Jumping Duck Media
Dougal Campbell's geek ramblings – WordPress, web development, and world domination.