Website build off?

The website build off is a monthly article which gives 3 designers/developers the chance to submit their interpretation of a brief. The theme for my build off?…wedding sites. The brief didnt go into much more detail than that so I decided to create a fictitious site aimed at getting the bride and groom to the church on time, with all the details in place so they can relax and enjoy their big day.

Its a simple concept and an even simpler design but I think there is an idea there that has the potential to grow into something popular and profitable.

The website design includes all of the usual suspects such as social networking and submissions but also has a few cheeky extras thrown in. For the description and to see the other build offs (which are awesome by the way) you will have to buy the mag. Issue 223 is out now.

WordPress is such an awesome tool that it even strips some HTML, such as iframes, as a security measure. Unfortunately sometimes we need to use iframes so Aye Aye Frame gives you back that freedom with the use of a shortcode [ayeframe]. For more information on WordPress shortcodes click HERE.

Usage

To use Aye Aye Frame simply insert the url or code you would like to appear in your iframe between these shortcode tags

Download the plugin

Download the plugin from the WordPress community – Aye Aye Frame

[ayeframe]YOUR URL HERE[/ayeframe]

The code or url you insert between the shortcode tags is the equivalent of the ‘src’ section of the iframe code.

Customise your Aye Aye Frame

As with normal iframes, extra parameters can be added to customise the size, borders and other elements. Any, all or none of these parametres may be used. A full list of these parameters is available in the Aye Aye Frame menu after plugin installation.

Extra parameters
‘width’ = Takes a number to customise the width of the iframe. Default = 250
‘height’ = Takes a number to customise the height of the iframe. Default = 250
‘frameborder’ = Specifies whether to add a border to the iframe (0 = no, 1 = yes). Default = 0
‘marginheight’ = Specifies the top and bottom margins of an iframe. Default = 0
‘marginwidth’ = Specifies the left and right margins of an iframe. Default = 0
‘name’ = Specifies the name of the iframe. Default = No default
‘scrolling’ = Specifies whether or not to display scrollbars in an iframe (yes, no, auto). Default = auto
‘id’= Specifies the id of your iframe. No default
‘class’ = Specifies the class name of your iframe. Default = No default
‘title’ = Specifies the title of your iframe. No default

Example usage of extra parameters

[ayeframe width=500 height=500 frameborder=1 marginheight=5 marginwidth=5 name=myFrameName scrolling=0 id=myFrameID class=myFrameClass title=myFrameTitle]http://www.myframeurl[/ayeframe]

Any questions?

Aye Aye Frame was created just for fun (thats right, FUN!) by Christian Senior at UTC Web Design but if you have any questions or suggestions you are welcome to get in touch using the contact information on the website.

Green Leaf Trading needed a simple website to give their potentials clients an idea of the type of product they import as well as their ethical trading standards. The site is built in XHTML and CSS and incorporates a little bit of jQuery for the tabbed section of the site, and a cheeky bit of PHP for the contact form.

UTC Web Design did the logo design as well as the web design and build of the site.

What are WordPress custom taxonomies?

In short, ‘taxonomy’ means to categorise or group things together. So everytime you create a post in WordPress and put it into a category, thats taxonomy.

You can read more about WordPress taxonomies on the WordPress Codex site

Custom taxonomies are an extra way of categorising your WordPress posts. So you can add extra grouping for your posts. I have found it handy on e-commerce sites where products needed to ‘grouped’ in sizes and ‘colours’ but everytime I wanted to create this extra categorising of products I had to recall the function in the functions.php file and and then add code into the sidebar etc etc etc.  So I have created a simple WordPress plugin that does it for you.

What does Simple-Custo-Taxo do?

Simple-Custo-taxo (Simple Custom Taxonomy) is a simple (as the name suggests) plugin that adds an extra taxonomy option for your posts and can be added to your site by adding the widget to your sidebar.

Simply create categories in the ‘custom categories’ section that will now appear in your Posts main menu and add posts to that category as you normally would.  The widget then creates an unordered list of your custom taxonomies. Simple.

Hey if your a WordPress user give it a try, and let me know if it was useful.

Full installation instructions and download link are available HERE

Simply create categories in the ‘custom categories’ section that will now appear in your Posts main menu and add posts to that category as you normally would.  The widget then creates an unordered list of your custom taxonomies. Simple.

Download the plugin

First you need to download the plugin from the WordPress plugin repository and extract it from its .zip shell.

Installation

To install the plugin manually:

1. Extract the contents of the archive (zip file)
2. Upload the folder and its contents to your ‘/wp-content/plugins’ folder
3. Activate the plugin through the Plugins section in your WordPress admin panel

Usage

Once activated you will see a new menu option appear in your ‘Posts’ main menu called ‘Custom Categories’. Add custom categories as you normally would.

Go to the ‘widgets’ in the Appearance menu. Add the ‘Simple Custom Taxonomy’ widget to your sidebar. *Please note – your theme must be widget ready to use this plugin.

Enjoy your new plugin

There will be more content to go on here so keep checking back to see more improvements and more pictures and goodys. The ‘photography’ and ‘films’ sections of the site are not up and running yet where I will be showcasing some of my (you guessed it) photography and film making talents. Its just a hobby but Ill let you have a look since you asked nicely.

Some of the more seasoned veterans to UTC Web Design will also have noticed that I am now offering printing services for business cards and flyers and brochures so if you want a quote give me a shout. I will get some printing prices on here for those I promise.

So have a look around the new site and if you like it give the Google +1 button (in the footer of the page) a click to show your appreciation.

Enjoy!

UTC Web Design is based in Cambridge are web designers and website designers for small businesses based in and around Cambridge and all around the country. So for graphic design or website design in Cambridge and everywhere else, give UTC Web Design a call now.

UTC Web Design is based in Cambridge and do web design and website design for small businesses based in and around Cambridge and all around the country. So for graphic design or website design in and around Cambridge and everywhere else, give UTC Web Design a call now.