TDH: Portfolio » WordPress

Notes Blog Core 1.0 Now Available

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 10:09:19 +0000

My WordPress theme Notes Blog Core is now available. More here, including links and everything.

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Notes Blog Core Theme Postponed

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 13:26:52 +0000

Sad news, WordPress theme lovers. Details here.

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Now Running WordPress 2.7

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:21:47 +0000

Actually, I did before as well, tdhedengren.com all along, with the beta and the RCs. More on 2.7 here, courtesy of the Blog Herald.

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WordPress 2.7 RC1 Live Here Right Now

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:21:25 +0000

This blog has been updated to WordPress 2.7 Release Candidate 1. That means we’re close to the full version. The team didn’t make it out in November as was the plan, but early December is good enough for me.

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Asides Are Addictive

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:34:37 +0000

Wow. This is the first time I have an asides like functionality on any of my blogs, and I find it totally addictive, as you can see below. Five posts, five asides post, and then a regular one (like the one you’re reading now), followed by a somewhat more sane use of asides.

I find it very easy to share something funny with you all, dear readers, using asides. A bit too easy really, since it means that I risk to pump out a bunch of posts each day, but none are really original content. Links are great, but I know you’re dying to hear what I have to say, even if you’re reading it. Sometimes I think that having to go through a bit more hassle is a good way to make sure you’re taking the time needed, although I won’t go so far as to blabber about Slow Blogging…

Anyway, if you’re as addicted to asides – mine or the pure notion of having them on your blog – you should read my post on the matter over at Devlounge. The upcoming WordPress 2.7 certainly does a lot of things right, that’s for sure.

And I promise I’ll write more posts. I’ve been busy, that’s all I can say.

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My Previous Theme

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 20:07:16 +0000

Some of you have emailed me wondering if I’m planning to release my previous WordPress theme to the public. Right now, I’m afraid the answer is no. I’m still mulling over that one, but rest assured I’ll let you know when I come to a decision!

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Performancing Releases My TDAge Theme

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:26:45 +0000

Performancing have launched my WordPress theme TDAge, originally used for tdh.se and the now defunct rethord.com. It is a free theme, so be sure to grab it. Speaking of themes, expect a version of my Notes Blog based addon theme TDHish to roll out here on tdhedengren.com shortly, along with more frequent updates. Yes, that means more blog posts. Stay tuned.

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Notes Blog Theme in Private Beta

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:57:47 +0000

The tdh.se At a glance box from the WordPress 2.7 Dashboard

My upcoming free WordPress theme, titled Notes Blog, is in private beta right now. That means that I’m running it, and that I’ve got a few friends running it locally and/or in public. In fact, I decided to roll it out on my Swedish blog, sporting a dedicated add-on theme thanks to the new template functionality in WordPress 2.7. You can see it in action, not finished by any means (localization isn’t done yet, among other things) over at tdh.se. Swedish readers might be interested in the launch post as well.

What you’re seeing on tdh.se is the TDHish add-on theme, which won’t be available for download in case you were wondering. It runs on Notes Blog Core, the them I’ll offer for free later this month, after WordPress 2.7 is officially out (check out the beta if you’re curious). That means that what you see on my Swedish blog right now, isn’t what you’ll get when you install Notes Blog Core.

That being said, I think it is cool that it finally is up and running in public. Stay tuned for more in these coming weeks.

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Announcing the Notes Blog Theme for WordPress 2.7

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 13:49:58 +0000

You might think this is a little premature, since WordPress 2.7 isn’t due out until in November this year, but I just couldn’t wait any longer. I’ve mentioned my Notes Blog WordPress theme previously, and I’ve promised to make it available for free.

And you know what, I intend to keep that promise!

My goal is to have the Notes Blog theme available for download by the time WordPress 2.7 is launched, with a possible beta version before that. Again, we’re talking November here, no sooner. And no, there won’t be support for previous versions of WordPress, although the theme might very well work in them anyway. Most likely, actually, but don’t come whining to me if it doesn’t.

So what’s the fuzz about, why WordPress 2.7 and why not now?

Child Theming in WordPress 2.7

It is simple. From 2.7, there’s better support for child themes, which is the concept on which the Notes Blog theme is built upon. You can have child themes today as well, but they’ll only let you alter (as in: overwrite parts of) the style.css file, and do magical things with functions.php. My problem is, I don’t like the excessive use of functions.php, it gets unnecessary hard for me as a developer to work with, especially when I’m used to do most stuff in the template files in the first place. You see, if I want to truly change something in my theme, and not just switching sides of the sidebar, swap colors, or even change logos, I’m forced to call functions.php. And let’s say I want to make a core theme and add child themes to that one, for further control. Well, that would mean I’d have to run a great many things through the functions.php file to make it truly versatile and flexible, at least to the extent that I’d want it to be.

Child themes will be able to overwrite template files as well

But that is all changing in WordPress 2.7! Child themes will be able to overwrite template files as well, which means that if I want a totally different style, I can always add template files for this. Maybe I need a truly custom archive solution, or a portal-like front page? Just add archives.php and home.php to the child theme, and do it right!

This is great news for theme developers, something others have talked about during the last few months, and I’ve been following it closely myself. You can do a great many things with child themes already, just look at Ian Stewart’s Thematic, but this truly makes them useful to me. And honestly, to a lot of theme hackers out there as well, it’ll be easier for everybody to customize themes to fit your needs, and that can only be a good thing.

The Notes Blog Concept

The Notes Blog concept is built on the premises of one, easily customizable core theme, which I’ll offer for free, no charge, hack away and make it look the way you want, for both personal and commercial use. It’ll be a clean theme, fully functional on its own.

On top of this, I’ll offer child themes that adds functionality, changes the design, and gives it bling. I’m doing this because I want something solid to stand on when I’m building websites myself, no matter if they are client gigs or my own projects. By maintaining a core theme, the actual Notes Blog theme, I won’t have to update in so many places, and that’ll save time.

Expect more on this as we’re closing in on the WordPress 2.7 launch, and also, I’ll show you how it is shaping up. I’m revising the code base now, and playing around with it to find something that fits for a first alpha version, and I’m also considering various default styles to make the theme attractive on its own, without bloating it.

If you want to make sure you don’t miss anything in this project, be sure to subscribe to my updates.

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Movable Type or WordPress?

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 08:41:46 +0000

I just published this week’s interview on BloggerTalks, talking to the new Blog Herald blogger, Arvind Satyanarayan about Movable Type. It includes comparing it to WordPress, talk about Six Apart Services, and more.

The interview article is titled Movable Type or WordPress – Arvind Knows What He Prefers and Why and I think you should read it.