It’s been over a month since WordPress has made the update to version 3.0. As soon as I got my hands on WordPress’s latest release I wasted no time in diving in, learning and exploring all the new features of my favorite CMS platform.

Below are a couple of WordPress features that have sped up my Web Development time…

Custom Menus

No longer do we need to search for Category and Page ID numbers to help us control the order of our menu items. NOW, with the custom menus feature (available under the Appearance panel) we can order and rearrange our menus with the simplicity of drag and drop. Check out WPBeginner.com’s article on how to Add Custom Menus.

Custom Post Types

No more of the “one size fits all” approach. With the easy implementation of Custom Post Types (declared inside the functions.php file) we now have the flexibility to create custom post types separate from WordPress’s default “Posts” and “Pages” options. Being a Web Designer and Graphic Illustrator, the first thought that came to mind is to create a “Gallery” post type. Some additional custom post types to consider are “testimonials” and “products”. Net tuts has a great article on Custom Post Types and how to implement them.

More reason’s to love WordPress to come.

Story goes :
Shannon (the secretary) has lost her cat and has asked David (the graphic designer) to help with a lost poster. This is their email correspondence…

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Today, on my Birthday I have decided to treat myself with a little gift that keeps on giving. I have made the decision to officially STOP supporting Internet Explorer 6 in my website development! I’ve spent way too many hours creating work-arounds and hacks just to accommodate the outdated browser which is the bane of every web designers existence. So without further ado…Happy Birthday to me!

No two projects are ever alike. This makes being a designer exciting as well as challenging. There are times when I’ll have free reign on a design and layout of a website, while other times I won’t. Recently for example, I had this client who had a clear vision of what his website should look like. Now, this client was very specific on what he wanted his site to convey. So as you could imagine, this left very little room for changes. While this client was happy to hear my ideas about his design, in the end he kept loyal to his. My task then? To convert his concept into a dynamic and fully functional WordPress theme.

It was a bit unexpected at first when realizing I’d have very little influence on the aesthetics of his project. But somehow as I worked through the process and kept in mind what the client wanted, I became inspired. Through all the challenges, somehow just meeting my client’s needs became rewarding. Maybe it’s maturity, but back in the day I used to butt heads with clients regarding what they wanted. It was a constant battle as I pushed for what I thought was best for their project. (I think my ego back then was bigger than my head!) These days, it’s more about meeting the clients’ needs than anything else. It’s about listening to what clients want, working through their goals, and hoping in the end they leave happy.

Well, after reaching this project’s end, I helped turn my client’s vision into reality. Ultimately, he was happy. And at the end of the day, a happy client is all this freelance designer can hope for.

I’ll post a link to this project once its ready for launch!

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks but the Korn Slam-Zombie Tour Poster Graphic is finally complete! It was all worth the pressure and stress because the guys from Korn are stoked!! Seriously, I can’t ask for more than that. As an added bonus, the band has decided to use the Korn Franken-Zombie graphic I did for them too, (this was actually my first attempt on their Tour Poster). They’ll probably end up using both graphics for band merchandise, so be on the lookout!

I’m currently working on their tour poster– which I should be finishing up this week. Once it’s complete I promise to share it with you…

Having worked on and designed several WordPress based websites for clients, I decided that it was about time for me to Practice What I Preach and convert my own website into 100% WordPress. I’ve been holding off for a while because I knew it would be a huge undertaking…and also being a designer we all know that working on personal projects always takes longer than it should…