As my time here at Bloggers Market slowly draws to a close, I’m left with thoughts of my new direction. Beyond a “Gone Fishin Blogin’ sign on the front door there won’t be a lot left behind here. I’ll slowly remove the content to the Archives and will only post here about once a month. Hey, I’ve got a Pagerank of 3, I’m not about to let that go! I’m kinda crazy at times, but I’m not exactly a slow coach.

Having Fun With WordPress

I’ve been working on a new WordPress template as part of my offerings over at my new site and have come to appreciate all of the work that such undertakings require. It certainly is not my first project, however I’m tending to push the envelope a bit. Only problem with such activities is that while pushing the envelope may be cool to the ego, it doesn’t really provide much in the way of income. What’s worse, with no back-up of any sort, I’ve expended a ton of time while sorting through all of the different variables.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

I’d like to think that once I reach the end of the template rainbow I will find the hordes rushing in to make their purchases. The reality of course is that I’m seeing more and more websites that are offering dozens of templates for free …….. and man, are they killer looking. Sometimes I have to stare in wonder at the beauty of such designs. While I’m strong on the code end of things, I’m a touch weak in the imagination end of things. I’m sure of course that this will develop with more experience. Only problem is that I just don’t have the time or resources to pursue such things. I’m just not naturally gifted to make a go of it ……. what a shame.

Where To Bank

There are so many, doing so much, it’s hard for me to see where I might fit in. I’ve seen tons of themes with tons of plug-ins with tons of software to take you anywhere you may want to go ………. and all for free. Man, it’s kinda hard to figure where or exactly what to bank one’s future on.

What It Takes To Get The Job Done

My new sites will have a number of products and services that are sure to do well ……. but I don’t think I’m going to be “Blogging To The Bank” anytime soon. I’m playing it safe of course and those who profit the most take the greatest risks.

I’ve said it before; I’m still of the mind that to stand out among the millions of others out there, you’ll have to sell yourself. If you intend on earning an income Online; Running Ads, Offering Affiliate Products and playing it safe just won’t be enough to get the job done these days.

The structure of my 2012 launch is coming together now and as the building continues I’m having to make decisions on exactly the material that I want to bank my future on and the direction that I wish to take for the next several years. I think I’m O.K. ? Up until the editors weigh-in of course.

I’m looking at the challenge of putting together my themes end of the business and I’m kinda struggling. The themes that I finally am able to offer are a motley crew for sure ……… plug-ins are not too far behind in that description.

Intensity’s In Ten Cities

When looking at advancing the art of WordPress at least as it pertains to themes and plug-ins, the work looks pretty intense …….. and now ….. well now I’m noting a trend with myself as well as others who want to control the look and feel of the software program itself ( Note the latest fall-out with the font change in WordPress 3.2.1).

I Don’t Think This Is What Homer Was Thinking About

One of the beautiful things about WordPress is its ease of use ………. it is also its Achilles heel. There is a ton of useless code out there; useless in that it is badly written and sure to cause plenty of problems not only now but into the future. Code written by “shade-tree mechanics coders” are no bargain. Wading through the endless options of the coolest themes and plug-ins in the world is true torture when you finally come to realize that what you are looking at just won’t get it.

I Drowning In Derelicts

At first I thought I would place these poorly written nuances aside for a rainy-day to play with …….. kinda like a “test-bed” or “sandbox” ………. something to trash without getting into too much trouble. As time marched on, I was beginning to struggle for air …………….. and if I didn’t surface for air I was going to drown ……….. drown in the derelicts of the Internet. One day I found myself looking at a ton of derelict material in themes and plug-ins that looked like a Wookies nightmare while trying to put together R2-D2 ……….. “Yoda Of WordPress” indeed !!!

Sanford and Son Salvage

I find it hard to imagine exactly what has happened to all the people who were working on all of these abandoned themes and plug-ins. Most of course are junk however, there is a portion that is just so cool it’s hard to figure what happened. There is just so much, I can’t walk away …….. no way.

Chief Derelict Developer

So most everything that you will see offered from me this coming year will already have been built or “designed” by someone else. I now find myself in the derelict theme and plug-in business ………. call it a flea market for WordPress themes and plug-ins. I’m the C.D.D of the company ……… that’s Chief Derelict Developer!  

As you probably know I’m in the process of a “MAJOR LAUNCH” ….. note the word “product” is not in the phrase. It’s the first of August as I write this and my launch is slated for the first of the year. As I make plans for that move, I’m trying to add content and value with unique products. Mainly Themes and Plug-ins.

I’m in the middle of putting together one such theme for the launch, I wish I were artistic however, my personal power lies in putting all of the programing parts together to ensure functionality.

Parents And Children

The theme I’m working on is a products or services theme for those interested in Blogging. This has taken a little bit more of my time than I had originally budgeted. One of the problems is that I’m caught between the “Parent” and the “Child”. Not really having a fixed need for a “Framework”. Rather, wanting to go-with-the-flow and freestyle …… come what may.

Pieces of the Puzzle

I understand that there are always those variables that repeat themselves while working with WordPress themes and Plug-ins. After all, scooters and skateboards have wheels. But I really like the process of starting over and putting all the necessary parts together to form a unique product. I’ve seen one-to-many themes packages that offer 1000 or so themes for free download (now there’s an opt-in for you) only to find that there are just three or four different theme versions (usually pretty poor one page wonders) with a ton of different colors or font styles or what-have-you.

The Challenge Of Theme Theory

In trying to make a difference with my work; I’ve had to dig deep to understand present-day application, not only of WordPress, but of programming languages as they evolve and how I might best exploit them.

I’ve reached a point in this theme that I presently working on that has me dealing with a particularly mean sidebar problem. As is usually the case with me …….. it’s a long story, that I choose not to put you through.

I Really Need An Owners Manual

As I was searching for solutions from Father Google, I noticed while in the sandbox that there is a ton (would you believe over 60 million results returned in 0.16 seconds …… and you wonder why Google is so obsessed with your Blogs speed) of material to not only choose from but sort through. As I started down that Rabbitt Hole, I was stunned at the quality of information that I was seeing. Now, we all know that every search returns a load of garbage (Father Google is a work in progress) however, the content that I was able to find was, well ……. intense to say the least.

As I started compiling my resources and researched my problem, I was simply amazed at not only the amount of information but, the depth and quality of information as well as the incredible volume. For this issue, I’m up to 3000 pages of very high quality information (kinda leaves you wondering exactly what you could possibly add to the issue as a writer or Blogger).

The One Word On The Tip Of My Tongue

This got me to thinking ……. I wish I had known which direction to travel when I first started my Blog, not from the tech side of things, rather the writing side. I really struggled to find and research my posts for the first year. It really took up almost all of my working efforts. Had I known that all I would ever need to start a killer Blog was wrapped-up in one word, I would have been much farther along than I am now.

That word ………. WordPress!

No way in hell Albert Einstein or Matt Mullenweg could have ever dreamed, envisioned, or schemed to such a Universal level of thought.

I understand that even Matt Mullenweg write’s of other things ……… however WordPress is just what the doctor ordered for “Bloggers Block“.

I know a little code …….. actually a lot of code ………. well just enough to be dangerous. OK, we’ll call it half-baked; jeff-of-all-trades, master of none! Ahhh, leave me alone, I’ve had a bad week.

Everyone keeps asking about “Down The Rabbitt Hole.com“, and it’s coming but I’m struggling with a Facebook Fan-page. I understand that I could slap one up on the fly, but that’s just not my style. I wanted a pretty cool Twitter and Facebook page to mirror the Blog, which is way cool. I’ve even seen Bulletin Boards that provide Facebook Fan-page coders and designers. Whatever, I guess everyone needs something to do.

When “Down The Rabbit Hole” is finally released, it’s going to be pretty awesome that’s for sure, but it’s just a theme, it’s a great resource, but it’s like really boring …… it’s all about computer stuff. Ya know, WordPress Themes, Plug-ins, Linux Operating Systems, and Apps for Linux and well, ya know ……… boring stuff.

It’s got a supports forum, that’s pretty rad!

After I’m finished with this project, I’ve got plenty more to occupy my day. I’ve a project that will remain nameless that I have been working on; off and on, for the past 18 months. The code is about to kill me. I’m probably looking at about 25,000 lines and yes I’m dealing with each and every line ……. surely there must be a better way.

I program in five different languages now, HTML being one of them. However, if you really press me against the wall, you can get me in trouble. Reason, I’m not trained in HTML. There are pros that do nothing but spend their days coding in HTML. I’m trying to let my knowledge build slowly but surely with real everyday experience, kinda like picking-up a musical instrument and just banging away on the keys; you’re sure to have a big time, but I doubt if you’ll ever give Beethoven a run for his money.

I’m going to pick-up a sixth programming language in the next couple of months, but I thought I would let you vote on which one you think I should take on. Please click this link and make your choice and place that choice in the comments section below. Now I understand, all things given to reason most everyone is going to recommend “ZZT-oop“. I’d still like to see your recommended choice in the comments section below. And I would like to thank you in advance for the 9 hours it will take you to come to an informed selection.

Now if you’re wondering what in the world is up with this rant; I can’t really tell ya! I just started writing, to divert my attention from the dragon that is my daily grind. I’m hiding from the coding gremlins …………. I should have been a Blogger, or at least a professional Baseball Player ……….. maybe a Fireman!

For the past couple of days I have talked some about the evolution of WordPress Themes. Parent this and Child that. But for the Newbie Blogger, I’m sure all they want is a theme that will work. Really that’s all you need ………. have fun finding it.

When I started Blogging I looked at a lot of trash and wondered how in the world these Bloggers made a following of it. Then I would see the Pros who had killer looking Blogs. Man, smooth as Tennessee Whiskey. Now it’s the norm, I see these little old ladies who have some great recipes and smoking hot themes. It’s stunning really. I mean I like barbecue recipes as much as the next guy, but I lose interest real fast when I see a theme that looks as good as the food. I start searching for who in the world designed that theme. We all do this.

I’m afraid that’s the mindset that we are up against and the theme developers are counting on us to look them up. The only problem, these themes often come with killer learning curves. And to keep pace, they add more and more. Kinda like a high-end sports cars with all the bells and whistles!

I was trying to think of the perfect theme to use for the Newbie and I do have one in mind, but man, is it a nightmare to configure. It’s cool mind you, but a nightmare none the less. As I thought on the subject I came to the conclusion that almost all themes these days are hard to configure. I guess that’s just part of being a Blogger. The good news is that once you learn what you are doing the quicker you can get on with the Blogging thing. The bad news is that once you learn what you are doing the developer changes nearly everything about the theme. You don’t have to upgrade of course, but in a couple of years the theme will start showing cracks with code, plug-ins and widgets.

For you Newbies ………. good luck; it could be worse, it could be me that is just starting out!

Following up on where I was yesterday, it seems that everyone is starting to get into the WordPress theme business. There really is no better way to advertise your Blog than through a good-looking WordPress theme. However unless you are a coding freak, this is easier said than done ………… until now!

The evolution of the WordPress theme is taking some interesting turns in development. I’m not going to get into the tech side of things here so that I can keep things simple. But developers now are dividing WordPress themes is half. One half is called the “Frame”, more commonly known as the “Parent Theme” and, the other half is called the “Child Theme”.

You can now build a dozen or so themes on one frame. This changes everything. If you can put together a few simple files you can have yourself a theme. It works something like this; you place the frame inside of your “themes” folder that lies within your “wp-content” folder. At the same time you upload your theme to the same folder. When you go to activate your theme, you activate your theme not your frame. But both frame and theme must reside inside the same folder for the theme to work.

WordPress Frames are not new of course, but they have been gaining traction since the first of this year, as it makes the development of the theme that you see and the editing of that theme much easier. Once you have your frame in place you can build a theme is just a few short hours and that is a pretty cost affective way to promote your Blog.

If you wish to explore WordPress Theme Frameworks in greater detail you can click on the link to get you started down that road. That first one illustrated is titled: Atahualpa. I have experience with this one as I built my “Europa Files” Blog with Atahualpa. I’ve seen some smokin’ hot themes before, but this one takes the cake. It comes with 268 extremely well thought out options.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the Blogosphere, Themes are making the waters murky again. For the beginner; which this site is really dedicated to, you don’t really need to be too concerned about the theme thing …….. yet.

It is really a good idea for the Newbie to grab one of the free WordPress templates available to Bloggers today. You will have to do a little research into what you are looking for, but with some patience you should be able to find what you are looking for.

I will be building a theme library in the near future here at Bloggers Market for those who are new to Blogging or just want to keep things simple. However, as time goes by you will want to build your Blog on what is defined as a “Premium WordPress Theme”. These are themes that cost about a hundred dollars and usually come with much-needed support as you continue to show off your technical prowess. There are Premium WordPress Theme Clubs that cost anywhere from $250.00 to $500.00 for a collection of themes if managing or building Blogs is your thing.

As you advance into the world of Pro-Blogging you will eventually have to have your own theme ………. not for you, but for others. There really is no better way to advertise your online business or Blog then to build and provide the Newbies with a great looking WordPress theme. Yeah right !

OK, so you’re thinking that its easier to tangle with Google Adwords or PPC Bully then to build your own theme or worse a collection of themes. To tell you the truth I’ve been hiding from the issue myself for the past several months. But not anymore. Tomorrow I will tell you why.

Now, you need to find your WordPress install on your server file system and go to and find the folder named “wp-content” and then open this up;  find the folder named themes and open this up.  Now go through the process you went through when you uploaded and extracted WordPress to your server file system and do the same thing with your theme.  Remember to upload the theme “zip” version. Don’t forget to activate your theme, by going into your “wp-admin” area.  Look under the “Dashboard” area on the left hand side of the screen and look under “Appearance” and click “Themes”  DO NOT CLICK ON “Add New Themes”  this is the wrong area.  Now just find your chosen theme and click on “Activate”.

Now you are going to repeat the above, except this time you are looking for the folder within the “wp-content” folder named “plugins“.  Open this folder up and start the upload of your chosen plug-ins.  Don’t forget to activate your plug-ins,  by going into your “wp-admin area.  Look under the “Dashboard” area on the left hand side of the screen and look under “Plugins” and click on “Installed”.  Under “Manage Plugins” locate your chosen plug-in and click on “Activate”.  You may have to play around with the plug-in to get in right, but most are straight forward.  And yes you can drown in tech troubles with the plug-in,  just don’t let it get to you.  Just click on “Deactivate” and deal with it later,  when you have read up on it and you understand it better.