Earlier this year, or perhaps it was even last year, I had promised to write a tutorial on how to design a custom WordPress theme. I did start writing this tutorial, but there was a problem — it was incredibly long and complicated. I was half way through and I decided not to publish it because I just didn’t think it was helpful. The truth is you can’t just read a tutorial on how to create a WordPress theme and run off to make a mind-blowing theme. The same goes for web design in general — no tutorial is going to show you how to do it. You learn through experimenting, trial and error, and educating yourself.
So instead of writing a long tutorial, I’ve decided to explain how I learned.
As a heads up, you need to be fairly proficient in coding HTML, CSS, and PHP. You’ll be creating and modifying code, so knowing how to make a bare website and bold a line of text simply won’t lead to a WordPress theme. If this is your case, I suggest becoming proficient in standard coding and returning to this project another time.
This is how I learned to create my own WordPress theme. It’s not the right way. It’s not the only way. Hopefully it will lead you in the right direction!
I never thought I’d write a post with “recipe” in the title, but here you have it. While I’m not the best of cooks, this recipe requires no cooking at all and will take about five minutes to make!
When I’m craving something sweet, I’ve found that this fruit salad is the perfect thing to make. It’s essentially all of my favorite fruits mixed together.
A quick word of forewarning if you do attempt this recipe: Do not wear something you don’t want dirtied. Guaranteed, you will get at least one drop of red on you.
This will yield one yummy bowl.
Ingredients:
A handful of blackberries
5-6 strawberries
Half a lemon
Half a pomegranate
A teaspoon of sugar
Directions:
Rinse the blackberries and pour them into a medium sized bowl.
Rinse the strawberries and prepare them by slicing them however you like. I use this tool because it’s cute. Put them into the bowl.
Prepare the pomegranate. You can either do this the proper way or do it my way — cut it in half and squeeze the hell out of it until the seeds and juice are all in the bowl. I just pick out any white pieces. Be careful! This is the part that will likely leave your kitchen looking like a crime scene.
Take the lemon and squeeze the juice over the fruits in the bowl. I like pulp, but you can strain it if you’d like.
Dust a teaspoon of sugar over the fruit salad. I use Truvia as a natural alternative to sugar. This cuts down on the sourness of the salad and sweetens it up to the perfect taste.
Toss the mixture with your hands or a spoon. Be gentle, or else you’ll squash the fruit!
You’ll have a bowl of yummy fruits drenched in juice. Yum! Eat and enjoy. Fresh, sweet, a hint of sour. It satisfies my sweet tooth every time. What are your favorite fruits to put into a fruit salad?
This blog entry was posted in Do It Yourself on Jun 23 2011.
I’ll start off by saying I’m a huge procrastinator. In my defense, I do try really hard to get things done on time, no matter when I happen to start! In fact, I work better on a shorter deadline. So I figured I would write a short and sweet tutorial on how to manage your time wisely and get whatever is on your to-do list done — no matter what time you begin and when your deadline is. I use these steps for managing course assignments, online business, and even regular old hobbies like blogging!
Visualize
I’m a frantic mess when I know I need to start working on something. That’s why it helps me to visualize everything I need to accomplish. You can do this in many ways, here are a few ideas:
Post-it notes: Put everything you need to do onto a separate post-it note. If you just need to do one thing, break it down into steps and put them each on a post-it note. Rearrange and add to your notes as you stick them on your desk and get an idea of what it is you need to do.
Illustrate it: Sometimes I’ll just take a blank page and start sketching a big web of things I need to get done, along with notes at the bottom so I don’t forget details.
Make a list: I use this for my course assignments. Make a big list sorted by month and days, having all of your to-dos in a chronological list that you can refer to and cross off as you accomplish them.
Use technology: Evernote is a life saver for fellow Mac users. I screencap everything I need to remember — from pictures, to conversations, to files — and then save them under the same folder in Evernote. When I’m ready to begin, it’s as easy as opening the application and finding the folder! The best part is you can store information to remember from your phone, iPad, and computer all into the same place.
Organize
This part is important. Within every project, there are steps that are unnecessary. If you’re shooting for a deadline, you need to know what you can turn in as acceptable for the time you’re working with and what has to wait until later.
Be upfront. Make a timeline of what you’re going to do first. Use your visualizing tools!
Delete steps! Quickly spot those time wasters. make a note to get rid of them, cross them off, erase them, put them in a pile for later. Things like color coding, highlighting, fixing a very detailed error only you will notice, or adding abundant information can be saved for when you have time to do so. You can always make something pretty or re-arrange it later.
Just start it! Write an outline, draw, or dive right into the first thing written on your visualized list. You can go back and edit as needed, but it’s important to start right away to avoid putting it off or brainstorming too much.
Stay On Track
You need to keep track of time while you’re working. In the past I would look at the clock and tell myself what time I needed to be done. This is a disaster waiting to happen! Instead, try these tips I find to be much more helpful:
Work in 15 minute increments. Every 15 minutes take a break for up to five minutes.This will keep you focused, because you’re “starting over” frequently with the same determination!
Log your progress. Keep a notebook and write down everything you are getting done. You can even use your visualization tool and check things off on there. This way you’re visually seeing what you’re getting done, or how little you’re getting done. If you’re working on one big project, remember to write down your little achievements and not just the big picture.
Use a timer. This works best for me! Mac users can download an application appropriately named Timer. Give yourself a time limit and hit the start button. It’s amazing how fast you’ll be working just to beat the clock!
This blog entry was posted in Do It Yourself on Oct 04 2010.
