Web and Multimedia Programming
I’m excited the new WordPress conversion is finally ready and the site has been published!
Not only that but Serial Thrillers has a hit single breaking through nation wide!
Listen to the song “So Beautiful” here (and it really is a beautiful track): http://www.iheartradio.com/new2/featured/f/2937?psid=6117
Many site upgrades still on the way for Serial Thrillers, such as a better Photo and Video section, better player for the Music page, etc…
It was easier than I thought to port my code into a WordPress plugin using this nifty plug-in. I can put HTML, php or javascript right into a widget without any hassle. It took about 5 minutes to get my photos plugin working as a WordPress widget.
Highly recommended if you are trying to put PHP code into a WordPress page: My Custom Widgets
Here is an exciting project I am working on for Paul Ortolano of Serial Thrillers (current single “So Beautiful” on the air nationwide). I built the web site using a Dreamweaver template and inserted my own php code to wedge a CMS into the pages. The CMS works by reading a standard wordpress.com blog feed. This makes it easy to edit and there is no database to manage and the site is totally portable.
But there are limitations to this design so now I’m converting the site into a WordPress.org site with its own database and a customized version of the Atahualpa theme so Serial Thrillers can take full advantage of the SEO optimizations and capabilities available to the WordPress CMS. The challenge will be to port all the functionality from the old site into the WordPress site without actually editing the WordPress theme code. If I can do that Paul will still be able to get theme security and functionality updates without losing my custom functions.
Fortunately, Atahualpa lets you put your own code inserts in the settings section (HTML/CSS inserts) <- also supports PHP code. The possibilities seem endless with that kind of flexibility. I did run into a problem inserting images between the menu items since the built in navigation menu is a “List” of links. But if I really wanted I could hide their menu and put my own in its place using some jQuery code in the “Body End” insert section. So far I’ve found a work-around for every limitation I’ve run into.
Next task will be porting some of the multimedia functions, e.g. video playback, audio samples, lyric pop-ups, etc. over to WordPress code. Maybe I’ll try turning some into WordPress plugins.