Additionally, this was for a custom theme so I couldn’t use get_page_by_title() because I wouldn’t know what the title of the page was going to be.

Instead I dug around and found this WordPress option that isn’t even documented in the Option Reference Table.

get_option(‘page_for_posts’)

I’m testing out various theme selling marketplaces. Once the template gets approved, I’ll post a link.

Update: This theme had been accepted into the Themeforest marketplace. Check out my Law/Legal Business Template

Is it possible to create a list with CSS that has the text aligned to the right side, but on the left side has an image taking up the width of the remaining space?

That didn’t seem right to me, so I came up with a solution that used HTML/CSS and overlaying images. (Final Solution)

1. Using CSS, I applied a repeating image of the line to each list item (<li>) (step 1)
2. I wrapped the text of each list-item in a <div> and gave that div tag a white background: so that the line doesn’t cross through it. (step 2)
3. I put an empty <span> tag at the beginning of the <div> and applied my gradient to that span. (step 3)
4. Using Absolute positioning I moved the <span> 100px to the left (the width of the gradient image.) (step 4)

There you go, tested in Firefox 3, Safari, IE6, and IE7

HTML

<ul>

<li>
<div><span></span>List Item Number One</div>
</li>

<li>
<div><span></span>Long, Multi Line List Item Long, Multi Line List Item Long, Multi Line List Item Long, Multi Line List Item</div>
</li>

<li>
<div><span></span>List Item Number Three</div>
</li>

</ul>

CSS

ul{
list-style:none;
width:60%;
}

li{
position:relative;
float:right;
width:100%;
text-align:right;
background:url(line.jpg) repeat-x;
background-position:0px 13px;
margin: 0 0 8px 0;
}

li span{
position:absolute;
height:100%;
width:100px;
top:0px;
left:-100px;
background:url(line-grad.jpg) no-repeat;
background-position:0px 13px;
}

li div{
font-weight:normal;
background:#fff;
margin-left:200px;
position:relative;
float:right;
}

Images

(Basic Line)

(Line Gradient)

I love how they integrated Google’s trip planner, I’ve been using that for a couple weeks now and found it much easier to use than the original CTA trip planner. I like the quicklink icons on the right side and think that the images are well thought out. The only icon that’s a little weird is the icon for “Fare Info”

I think my only issue with the redesign is the use of drop-down menus for the main navigation. For some reason there is this idea that EVERY page of the website has to be available no matter where you are. Anyways, that’s a minor concern and my opinions on drop-down menus can be saved for another post.

http://www.transitchicago.com/

New Homepage

Old CTA Site

Anyways, I just googled them and saw that they have a website up! I remember them talking about a website when I was first working on their logo and its great to see that they’ve got something up.

Its not the fanciest site, but hey its a web presence.

Caribou Technologies

I’m also glad that they rank higher than I do in the google SERPs. I would feel pretty bad having my blog rank higher than their company site.

Speaking of clients coming along, I’m currently working on the design and development for a new blog that I’m hoping will be successful. The woman that will be running it is a newbie to the blogging world but she seems really driven, and I can’t wait to see where she takes her blog.

Her blog/site should be up early next week and ready to go.

Here are the designs as they were intended for a design/internet services company, with this in mind.

The overall feel of the site should be comfortable rather than hip. I want it to be fresh but not intimidating since a wide range of clients would be viewing this site.

Additionally, I had the following sites to use for inspiration.

• http://www.clearfunction.com/
• http://www.webstruments.com/
• http://www.mikeprecious.com/
• http://www.thrusites.com/

Within a couple weeks I should have these designs revised and ready for free download.

Design 1 (larger version: page 1, page 2)

Design 2 (larger version: page 1, page 2)

To balance out a client’s fears I do the following:

• In my initial communications with a potential client, I explain the entire design process and payment stages.
• I give them my cell number.
• After the work has started I try to be as responsive as possible and make sure to hit my deadlines.
• Provide References

Beyond those bullet points, I think its important to develop a relationship with the client. Keeping everything professional 24-7 is boring, and by taking that relationship just a tiny step further you can increase trust.

My roommate is the client for a marketing company in downtown Chicago. Members of that company have made it a point to get to know him personally, even to the point of meeting him for non-work-related dinner and drinks. After dinner and drinks, their relationship has become more comfortable and trustworthy in a professional setting.

Client Accountability

The need for accountability and reliability goes both ways. How can a designer be sure that his client is going to provide content on time, make payments, etc?

Money is the greatest motivator here, by taking a percentage of the payment up front, and at specific stages of the project you are ensuring that you don’t get screwed and they payment stages present nice milestones for the project.

Getting Paid for Distance Design Work

In general it takes a long time to get paid. If you’re freelancing don’t expect to be getting checks bi-weekly or even on a monthly basis. Two methods that I’ve used to get paid

• Checks

  You have to wait for checks to get mailed and then you have to wait for them to clear. This can be a problem if you’re getting paid in stages and can delay the project while you wait to receive the check and then for it to clear.

• Paypal

  In college I used paypal once a month to receive money from my parents and had no problems. Paypal took out a small percentage of the payment, but I was willing to pay that in order for the convenience. However, recently my accounts have been hacked and I lost some money, basically ending my relationship with paypal for good.

  This is a fantastic article about one designers paypal experiences

  This is a fantastic article about one designers paypal experiences

Working long distance isn’t all that difficult as long as you’re prepared to deal with the special issue and needs it requires.

In case you missed it, Click here for part 1

Designing for friends and family

Friends and family can be tricky. Sometimes its acceptable to quote your full rates, sometimes a partial rate, and sometimes you’re working for free.

My good friend, Greta, is an illustrator/painter/designer. She needs a proffesional portfolio o show potential employers. I think it is practically impossible for her to get a design related interview without an online portfolio, so I wanted to help her out. She designed her site and I coded her design and set her up so that she can regularly add new portfolio pieces.

Also, she cooks an awesome meal for me once a week, so I owe her for that.

www.GretaDohse.com (Work in Progress)

On the other hand, I’ve been working for my aunt and uncle designing a website and some items for their baseball team. I’ve been working for them at a “family-discount” rate. I feel comfortable charging them money for two reasons.

• They were already paying someone else to get this design work done, so they understand that there is value in my work.
• I’ll be doing regular design work for them.

I am still working for family, so I’m working for less than I would normally charge a client.

Designing for charities and other good causes

For my senior project at Purdue, I worked with 2 other guys, Max and Andrew, to create a promotional campaign for a young boy named Roberto. Roberto has a disease called CIPA, which prevents him from feeling pain or perspiring. He’s a very happy and fun little boy, but he just did not know the damage he was doing to his body.

Admittedly this was a school project so I had to do it for free, but even now, this is the type of work that I’d consider doing again.

I recently found out that the charity was able to raise enough money to get Roberto the help he needs, and its a great feeling to know that my web experience and abilities were required to get the charity running.

Designing for publicity

Designers hear these phrases and other similar requests very frequently…

I have this great website idea that I know will be really popular! But I don’t have a web design budget. I’ll let you put a link to your website!

I need a new, creative logo. I don’t have any money to pay you but I bet it will look fantastic in your portfolio!

Normally, I turn down these requests, but occasionally an opportunity comes through that will actually produce great publicity and generate some solid word-of-mouth referrals.

I’m currently designing several custom WordPress themes to be used by my fraternity at chapters around the country. Its actually a pretty big deal, most fraternity’s have pitiful websites, so this will be a great way to help my fraternity stand out!

Sure, its great that I’m helping out my national fraternity, but the main reasons for my involvement are the following.

• Publicity

  These templates will be used nationwide and implemented on over 20 websites. It also lets every brother know that I’m a web designer.

• WordPress Experience

  I’m looking to use WordPress as a CMS for most of my future clients and this is a great way to get some experience and portfolio pieces.

If you have some free work that doesn’t fall into one of those 3 categories don’t bother with me! I’ve got bills to pay and drinks to buy! However, if you’ve got work that does fall into one of these categories feel free to contact me.

HTTP, IMHO, CSS, W3C, L337, HTML, ROFL, XML, PHP, WYSIWYG, RSS, etc.

RSS is Really. Simple. Syndication.

RSS, is a really simple way to keep track of all of your favorite websites. RSS takes all the recent updates from all websites you care about and aggregates them into one, easy to use interface.

Before RSS, I had to visit between 10 and 30 websites everyday to see if they’ve been updateed with new content. It was a huge waste of time! Now I just visit one website that grabs information from all of those pages.

In the following screenshot of my RSS reader, I can see that Katie Holmes might be pregnant again, that there is a new web comic from Penny Arcade, and that there is a potential job that I’m interested in.

How to use RSS

Get an RSS Reader

The RSS reader is the website that aggregates all of your sites. I use Google Reader. If you’re not addicated to Google like I am try Bloglines or My Yahoo.

Subscribing to a Websites RSS

If you’re using Firefox (which you should be), then any site that has an RSS feed with have an address bar with the orange RSS icon. Just click the icon and Firefox will take care of the rest.

Also, many websites will have a link on their website, that link can take many forms. The Micek Design RSS is in the upper left area of this website. Image from Smashing Magazine

All you need to do to subsribe is click on the RSS link, or copy the link address into your RSS reader.

So thats it! Try it out and see if you like it!