Links Mentioned
UBillboard WordPress Plugin
Multiple Columns in WordPress Plugin
Lightbox for WordPress Galleries Plugin
The Future is Now Plugin(publish posts dated in future
HTML5 WordPress Site
Skitter (very flexible jquery image slideshow with tuns of different transitions)
Infinite Carousel Slider (jquery carousel that displays x items)

Links I forgot to Mention
Two new HTML5 and CSS3 frameworks:
52 Framework(similar to 960 but upgraded to the new standards)
Fluid columns in fixed width

It’s Been a while since I posted to the blog so thought I’d share some of what I’ve been up to!

First, WordPress site one and WordPress site two that were designed by others and I provided the custom WordPress theme.

Then, I’ve been doing a lot more Shopify work! I’m growing to love it more and more. It’s just such an awesome eCommerce solution that so easy to use! I provided both design and shopify theme for both this baby site and this furniture store.

I have two more Shopify websites in the works that should go live in the next week so stay tuned!

I was approached by Next Marketing and Design to provide the design and WordPress theme for the Bibo restaurant that followed their strategic marketing initiatives and brand.

Read more about this project…

See the live site here

Today I just made live the newly redesigned website for Vancouver’s own Expsoure Travel! All built using WordPress!

Jason Yoshi provided the awesome design and I developed the custom WordPress theme from the psd. This WordPress site uses a bunch of cool custom templates for different page styles and allows them to update everything on the site through the backend!

See it live – they have a bunch of cool trips too!

Homepage Redesign

Before

After

Landing Page Redesign

Before

After

See TOEFL iBT live!

With some customization work, you can have an impressive looking website up and running in no time at all. Here are a few impressive Wordrpess themes that I’ve been personally inspired by.

1. Big Picture Theme – $32

2. Veninar Business or Portfolio Theme – $32

3. Studio 960 Theme – $37

4. Elegant Estate WordPress Real Estate Theme – $39

5. Stylize Blog & Portfolio – $37

6. Bee Crafty – $79.95

7. Boldy WordPress Theme – FREE!

8. Blue Rooster Theme – FREE!

9. Dangdoot eCommerce Theme – FREE! ($10 donation)

10. Flaslike Photographer Theme – $27

If you see something in the list that you like, then feel free to contact me – I’d love to customize one of these bad boys!

As an eCommerce solution, I tend to choose Shopify because I have total control over the look & feel and, for the client, it’s very easy to use and extremely robust with options for shipping, taxes and integration with a number of payment gateways.

Check out the details

Some of the WordPress features used include:

1. WordPress Custom Post Types

New in WordPress 3.0, users have the ability to create a “custom post type” where additional fields are available making WordPress act more like a content management system instead of a traditionally blogging tool. For the McKellar & Martin website, I created custom post types for Books and Authors.

2. Custom WordPress Options Menu

I created an options menu to go along with the custom WordPress theme to allow for complete control over the homepage display.

For instance, the 3 books featured on the bookshelf are selected from drop-down menu. Once selected, WordPress grabs the appropriate image associated to that book and links to the book’s page.

The options menu also allows the user to pick their latest release from a drop-down menu, edit headlines for each section and customize the “drawer links”.

Visit the live site here

We’ve been going up to the Shushwap for several years now but wasn’t probably until 2 years ago that I opened up about my failed attempt at a “paddle boat business”. Of course, now, whenever I’m present, this tale is a popular reference for any stories involving paddle boats and… just business, in general. I’m accepting of this.

At any rate, this weekend I just finished sorting through boxes of childhood possession my parents dumped on me. The contents consisted mostly of photos and elementary school work, which slowed down the process as I looked for signs of early childhood brilliance. There was decidedly none. However, I did find an admirable dedication to time management as most of my stories seemed to have the main character taking breaks from important discoveries in order to make meal times.

Among the wreckage, I was happy to find some artifacts from the ever popular paddle boat business!

The business: charge people for paddle boat rides.

Pictured to the left is my friend Julia and I on my paddle boat (I’m on the right). I think she was the other “coordinator” to the business? The details and logistics are a little fuzzy….

I do remember that it was a short-lived venture of about a full day actually in business and maybe 2 days of prep work. Prep work included branding, signage, price and sorting legalities and liabilities (as you’ll see in the contract below those last two topics took considerable thought).

This is a pic of the lake where people from all over were to flock for a paddle boat adventure tour…

Here is a laminate copy of the map (the 8 acres is the allowable ‘paddle area’)

This is a copy of the paper my customers would have to sign. This example shows it signed by “Fabio Fishy” who was the company mascot. He was featured on the signs posted all around the neighborhood.

It reads….

Rules of Fabio’s World
1. All children 12 and under must be accompanied by an adult
2. Every customer must wear a life jacket
3. All customers must stay seated until one of our coordinators advises otherwise
4. One of our coordinators must be in the boat at all times
5. The paddle boat cannot be taken out of the lake
6. One of our coordinators must steer the outside the marked circle or within the circle when advises otherwise
7. Our cellular phone is only used by our coordinators
8. We are not responsible for accidents, injuries, lost or/and damaged objects
9. For every 25 minutes we give you an extra 5 minutes free so for 30 minutes the fee is 2 dollars.
After 30 minutes an additional fee of 40 cents will be charged every 5 minutes you would like another 40 minutes the fee is still 2 dollars
10. If you wish to buy a glass of Kool-Aid, the fee is fifty cents. After you had our complementary glass with every 30 minute ride
11. Every customer must sign the bottom and print their name.
This signature means he or she approves these rules and will follow them.

Hope you enjoy the ride!

The cell phone is a bit of a mystery because I swear we didn’t own one… the pricing scheme is a bit of a mystery too.

Other than that, everything seems reasonable

And so, on a hot summer day, I headed to the foot of the park. I put up all my signs. I docked at the side of the lake and waited…. I waited… waited… then waited some more. I remember it being excruciatingly hard to just “wait”. Not a soul came. I was crushed. I couldn’t believe no one wanted a paddle boat ride!

Still, I’m glad I tried … or… perhaps I’ll end this post like one of favourite my writings did (circa in grade 3): “Right now I hear my Dad… So Bye”