Archive for tag 'site news'

Jan 15 2012

Sharing buttons and commenting using your Facebook, Twitter or Google account

I have spent this weekend on adding two new features for the site. Here is a short rundown:

Share buttons for pages and posts

Buttons for Google +1, Facebook Like and Tweet this have been added to all pages and all blog posts – as well as to the front page. If you click on one of the buttons (for example the "Facebook like" button) on any page or blog post, you will "like" that specific page or post (rather than the main URL, andreasviklund.com, which was shared on the previous version of the site). The sharing buttons now display the number of +1's, likes and tweets for each page, which is also a new feature.

Comment using your Facebook, Twitter or Google account

Comments can now be posted using your Facebook account, Google account or Twitter account, as well as by manually filling in the name and e-mail address like before. If you post a comment by connecting your Facebook account, your comment will also be posted on your Facebook wall along with a link to the post you are commenting on. I don't know if this will be useful to anyone, but I thought that it could be worth trying it out.

More features will be added during the next couple of weeks, as the site is in constant development now. If there is any specific feature that you would want to see, feel free to post your suggestions and requests here.

By Andreas Viklund • Share • 0 Tags: , , , ,

Jan 1 2012

2012 has arrived…

Today is a Sunday, the first day of the new year. I have spent the day tweaking details on the new site design which just went live. If you are a returning visitor, you can notice that andreasviklund.com has got a new look. You will still be able to recognize the layout and find your way around the site, most things can be found where they were before. But many other things have changed, and I will write more about it in future posts.

This new design was built from a theme by Themify, which I used as a starting point to get access to a number of useful backend features that I don't have enough programming skills to build myself. The basic layout was similar to the previous design of andreasviklund.com, so it was kept – although with a number of modifications. Custom styles for presenting the template gallery and theme pages were added, and a lot of code that was not needed was removed.

I would guess that I will end up changing more things along the way, there are still a number of things to optimize and improve. I will also need to find alternatives for a couple of plugins which I have used in the past, which stopped working with the upgrade to WordPress v3.3.

What is different?

The biggest change in terms of the site structure and content is that the frontpage of this site now shows the blog with the five latest posts, instead of three excerpts and links to the latest posts in the different categories. You can find the "Learn", "Build" and "Share" categories in the navigation menu above, by hovering the "Intro" button. Template screenshots are no longer shown on attachment pages, but in a Lightbox-style slideshow. Social media buttons will be moved to the header, translation links are ready to be included in each post instead of in the sidebar. The layout, which is currently fixed, will be made responsive as soon as I can test the fluid CSS on more mobile devices. Several of these changes require plugin updates, which I will do as soon as this post is published. If you find any errors or have any suggestions for improvements, please let me know. General feedback is of course also welcome.

With this, I wish you all the best for year 2012!

By Andreas Viklund • General • 2 Tags:

Nov 9 2011

Forum and contest updates

The andreasviklund.com forum has been updated to the latest version of the Simple Machines Forum system. Some visitors have had problems with registering, and I have not been able to identify the reason since all tests I have ran have worked well. Hopefully this update will make it work better.

The design contest deadline has passed, and the entries are being reviewed and ranked now. I got fewer entries than I had expected and hoped for, but I am happy to say that several of the entries were very well-written. Results will be published and the winners will be contacted soon!

By Andreas Viklund • General • 1 Tags: , ,

Aug 1 2011

Catching up…

I am back after a couple of weeks of low activity on the site and in the mailbox. For a person like me, who is used to spending most of my days in front of the computer while writing code or learning new and exciting things, it is quite difficult to go offline for any longer time. But the time off (and offline) has given me a boost of inspiration, and during the last week I have been working on several new projects which will be published here soon. New templates, a new WordPress theme and a number of blog posts – including a tutorial which I think will be quite useful.

During the time offline, I spent a lot of time with my family (mostly my fiancée Johanna and my father Kjell), as well as in the garden taking care of the strawberries, raspberries, red- and blackcurrants. While I love working online, it is incredibly relaxing to just sit outdoors by the rose bushes (R. gallica for those of you who are curious) and do nothing. I have also taken a lot of photos, many of which have gone straight into my folder for images that I can use for future design projects. Don't be surprised if you find a rose-themed website template here in the future, or header images showing newly picked strawberries…

The summer in northern Sweden is short, but intensive. There have been numerous thunderstorms, but also some days with amazing weather. We are already seeing the first sings of the fall coming closer, so I have tried to make the most of the summer while it has lasted. But now, heading into August, it is time to get back to working with this site and with new material on it. This fall will bring a lot of news, and I look forward to what is ahead. You will see the first couple of releases during this week, and I will also make sure to reply to all unanswered e-mails I have got during the last couple of weeks.

Raspberries

By Andreas Viklund • General • 1 Tags: , ,

Jul 28 2011

Forum problems

I have got several reports about difficulties with registering on the andreasviklund.com forum. During the last couple of days, I have done testing and reviewed the registrations made during the last two months – and I have not been able to identify the problem. It seems that some visitors can register without any problems, while others will only get an error message. I have tried creating accounts from all computers I have here, and it has worked without any problems. But something is obviously still not right. Even with the spam protection settings set to a minimum,

In order to dive deeper into possible reasons, I'd like to ask those of you who have not been able to register to send me some basic info about operating system, web browser and any error message that you get. I will review all info during the next couple of days, and hopefully find a solution early next week!

By Andreas Viklund • General • 0 Tags: ,

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