‘Benny’ swings on WordPress 4.0

My son and I were headed into Ralph's the other day, and the sat radio had Benny Goodman doing an Afro-beat number featuring a long mad solo by Gene Krupa. We sat there in the parking lot, jaws dropped, until it was over. Hoping for a similar gobsmacking from the latest WordPress iteration, 4.0, named Benny in honor of that same bandleader. Enhancements in the text entry process (long needed), the presentation of images in the media library, preview of embeds and plugins, etc. I'm testing … [Read more...]

Welcome WordPress 3.6 — and HTML5

The up-to-the-second version of WordPress hit the Internet today. It's Christmas and Bastille Day all in one. Put on the party hats ... and start brewing coffee. The count brings us to WordPress 3.6, and true to WP upgrades it's named after a jazz master. This time, it's Oscar Peterson, the great Canadian pianist and "maharaja of the keyboard." (Yes, they've already used Monk. Geesh.) New elements include a built-in HTML5 media player accommodating native audio and video embeds. This is … [Read more...]

Image loading in WordPress 3.5

How to use the new WordPress media loader (photos, etc.). To upload an image and insert it into a post/page, begin at the same location as before, atop the post's type-menu bar. "Add Media" replaces "Upload/Insert" (the camera graphic). "Add Media" leads to the main interface for loading. Use the pulldown for filtering if needed: "All Media Items" or "Uploaded to this page," etc. But for initial loading just work with the big stack of thumbnails there, ignoring any images not … [Read more...]

Zen and the art of WordPress

As user-friendly as WordPress is, people often struggle with the basics of creating a post and adding art elements. Then there are those mysterious text fields ... Some clients pay me to handle all that. Some want to post content themselves. Works for me either way. Posting text and images to the web is no different than any other skilled activity (golf, cooking). If you never get the repetition of process, you'll most likely perform poorly. Say a client has a blog for business, but … [Read more...]