project blog

digital diary of diverse diversions
I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education... ~Wilson Mizner

30 November 2007

New b2evolution Skin: Wheelz

Written by Yours Truly ( Contact the author of this post )
Published on November 30th, 2007 @ 05:54:51 pm, using 466 words, 1749 views

b2evo skin: WheelzGot a car modding or auto enthusiast blog? You might like the new template for b2evolution blogs called Wheelz… I was going to use this b2evo layout for my own Acura ITX project journal, but decided it would be more fun to release it to the public instead. Check it out!

[click the thumbnail for a larger view]

The header of this b2evo skin was designed to show what might be the one most commonly customized part of any vehicle… the wheels… rims… dubs… whatever you want to call them, they’re a popular customization amongst vehicle modders.

The Wheelz skin for b2evolution is another release in the ‘Smoothe’ series of templates. Like its predecessors, this skin is 100% compliant with the XHTML Transitional specification and uses valid CSS 2.0 stylesheets. As with previous ‘Smoothe’ releases, this b2evolution skin has been designed with a static layout for 1024x768 monitor resolutions.

This skin contains the following:

  1. This b2evolution skin contains a revised _lastcomments.php file and accompanying CSS styles for smoother display of most recent comments.
  2. The skin contains customized icons for delete, edit, and permalink
  3. It contains pre-built styles for the Search Cloud plugin for b2evolution
  4. It contains a custom icon and styles for blockquotes

b2evo skin Wheelz released for download

This b2evo skin is being released for download under a Creative Commons License 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

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23 November 2007

Tiled Skin Switcher for b2evolution

Written by Yours Truly ( Contact the author of this post )
Published on November 23rd, 2007 @ 06:31:30 pm, using 1322 words, 7521 views

Replacing skin switcher list with tiled thumbnail listI’ve been using b2evolution as my blogging platform for several years now, and have always found the default template switcher located in the sidebar to be, well, boring. It’s a text-based list that shows the various skins available on a b2evo blog from which that blog’s readers can select to customize their reading experience. The operative words here are “text based list". Clever skin names aside, it does little to show the reader what a template actually looks like before being selected, and eye-candy is always welcome, right? With this in mind, I set about putting together a more visually intuitive way of displaying to the user what b2evo skins look like, without that user actually having to switch to that skin in order to see it.

What I came up with is a small piece of PHP code which renders a tiled list to display thumbnails of each b2evo skin, replacing the boring, and uninformative, text list. At the time of this writing, the tiled list can be seen in action in the sidebar of each skin on this blog.

If you’d like to implement a similar list on your own b2evolution blog, you’ll need a few things first… Since I’m providing you with the code here, you’ll need the ability to copy and paste text from one file to another. Simple enough, yeah? Second, you’ll need some kind of graphics editing program, such as Adobe Photoshop or the free GIMP software, which is actually a pretty powerful piece of software. In any case, you’ll need some kind of graphics program in which to create the thumbnails to be displayed in the list…

Alright, on with the show…

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21 November 2007

New b2evolution Template: Underground

Written by Yours Truly ( Contact the author of this post )
Published on November 21st, 2007 @ 03:52:46 pm, using 581 words, 2384 views

EDIT: The ‘Underground’ skin has now (read: finally!) been ported to b2evo 2.x, and is available for download at the following location: Blog Skin ‘Underground’ Released for b2evo 2.x

Custom b2evolution template design called UndergroundLately I’ve been listening to a lot of old ska music in my collection and was inspired to create another custom b2evolution skin design, this time reflecting more of a British theme. Perhaps British bloggers will find it a pleasant template design to use with their own b2evolution blogs. ;)

While searching through my favorite stock photography website I soon located a photograph of a British subway tunnel entrance sign, taken in what appears to be early evening and from an interesting angle. The color-scheme and name for this b2evolution template design became immediately clear and I set about putting it together in Photoshop. I’m calling this b2evo skin “Underground", named after the British subway system, and colored to match the deep burgundy and blue reminiscent of the British flag and the Underground sign itself.

This is another release in the ‘Smoothe’ series of template designs available on this site. This skin is a static width, and is designed for 1024x768 monitor resolutions. The template code is XHTML-Transitional compliant, and the CSS 2.0 is valid as well. This skin displays the sidebar on the right side of the content. The stylesheet contains pre-built styles for blockquotes (a blockquote icon is included with the download), and pre-built styles for the “Search Cloud” plugin available for download from the b2evolution website. Additionally, the download file contains custom icons for ‘Edit’, ‘Delete’, ‘Permalink’, and the contact email envelope icon.

b2evo skin Underground released for download

The version of the Underground skin available for download here is more current than the version available in the skin repository on b2evolution.net. This copy contains a revised _lastcomments.php file and associated stylesheet entries for smoother display of most recent comments.

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07 November 2007

Include Currently Playing Music to b2evolution Posts

Written by Yours Truly ( Contact the author of this post )
Published on November 7th, 2007 @ 10:10:27 pm, using 559 words, 738 views

For those of you who are avid music listeners, you may want to have the ability to easily include a text box beneath your blog posts in which to quickly list the music to which you're currently listening. This can be quickly achieved by adding a small block of CSS to your b2evo skin's stylesheet, and a small piece of javascript to the toolbar code in the b2evo core.

The CSS block shown below is the one used for the "Contemporaneous Auditory Narcotics" DIV which lives under the post body and which can be seen in most posts on this site. Add a similar block to the stylesheet in your b2evo skin and adjust the color and text to suit your b2evo skin:

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project blog

A journal containing the assorted projects and diversions which occupy my interest, including such things as Photoshop graphic design and standards compliant web design, web development, advanced css layouts, photography and photo-manipulation... whatever...


Currently Into

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CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions by Andy Budd, Simon Collison, Cameron Moll
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Transcending CSS: The Fine Art of Web Design (Voices That Matter) by Andy Clarke, Molly E. Holzschlag, Aaron Gustafson, Mark Boulton
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The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

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  • 43 posts written between 15 July, 2004 and 14 April, 2008
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