tugbucket :: words and works of Alan Jackson

Two column example

Alan — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:01:44 +0000

Paragraph 1. From my code I posted in ‘Two column magazine style posts in Wordpress’, here if finally a working example. Like I mentioned, for it to look correct you need to make sure you have more content in the paragraphs that will end up in the first column. (more…)

Two column magazine style posts in Wordpress

Alan — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 17:12:41 +0000

EDIT: There is now a working example of this.

There are a lot of “magazine” styled themes for Wordpress out there. Some are truly beautiful in their layout execution. Currently I am developing a site that has this sort of 1-2-4-3 grid layout. The front page is mostly static with a few queries running pulling in content and this is easy enough. The issue came own to the interior post pages. Being this is a layout where the main content is divided into two columns I needed a way to dynamically do this so I would not have to edit the filters file to turn off styling and then hardcode all the HTML tags into the post. (more…)

To do list for April

Alan — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 18:25:42 +0000

Photo credit Jacob Krejci

A little list of things I need, should or would like to do in the next 30 days or so. If I write it down I might actually get two or three of them done.

Start a campaign to get a light put in at Goodlet and Southern
Get a haircut
Go to a good show, or at least several not so good ones
Pay off my Visa card
Get new tires on the “little mule”
Launch at least one website
Paint something, anything
Get reinvolved with Illustration Friday
Stop eating out everynight
Find some band that I’ve never heard of, or much of and really try to get into them

Maybe an update to this in 30 days. Maybe not.

tugbucket web icons v1

Alan — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:57:51 +0000

There are a lot of web icons out there. Here are some more with a similar color scheme to my site. Mostly arrows, currency symbols and a few web related icons (help, search, zoom, etc).

There are 19 icons in PNG format. They come in two sizes: 128px X 128px and 50px X 50px. You are more than free to use these for what ever you want. If you do happen to use them it would be nice if you dropped me a line or left a link so I can see them.

Download in ZIP format

Have fun and enjoy.

jQuery fading and sliding image gallery

Alan — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:47:21 +0000

The idea was raised by a collegue how to go about recreating something similar to The New York Times The Little Rock Nine: 50 Years Later flash feature without using flash. In my “infinite wisdom” I said something along the lines of,“no problem, jQuery and CSS can do all that”. Good going Alan. After a few days on and off fiddling with it, I may have come across a decent substitute. (more…)

Wordpress admin login restyling

Alan — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:18:42 +0000

I recently restyled the login page for Wordpress. I like it a lot better actually, plus it has the bonus of matching my site. Odds of me redoing the whole admin panel are slim, very slim, but I learned a couple things doing it so I’ll talk about it. (more…)

Two column lists in Wordpress

Alan — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:17:32 +0000

**This is undergoing a reworking. There were some issues that needed to be handled. Please see the new working example. I am currently working on writing the revision.

The other day I was reading a post on Natalie Jost’s blog, Standards for Life. It actually dealt with the issue of using spans in order to make a multi-column list without breaking it up into two lists. Before I go on let me forewarn you. I know the code does not validate. I know it’s semantically incorrect. That is not the issue at hand. The idea is using spans floated left, to make multiple columns. With styles on, the lists are styled and placed correctly. With styles off, the user is still presented with a complete and functional list. Read Breaking up a list in columns to see the issue.

For instance, what happens when you suddenly need to add 8 more list items. You’d have to change the document structure to make sure an even number of items is in each span. Kind of a pain when you’re dealing with a CMS.

- Steve Strutt

This is what I wanted to figure out how to do, and unless I am way off base, I think I figured it out. (more…)

Wood Tutorial : Photoshop 7

Alan — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:50:55 +0000

The first Photoshop tutorial I’ve written. it was in response to some wood grain I made for a signature contest over on MTG Salvation. The contest topic was “Music” that week and I chose the great little band The Weary Boys. You can see a larger example here.

This tutorial was made using Photoshop 7. You should be able to make it with any version of Photoshop and possibly Gimp and Paint Shop Pro (depending on the filters they have). With that in mind, in about 20 minutes, you should have some fairly nice wood grain made. Every step is a matter of preference, but I’ll show all the settings I used. (more…)

Memphis vs. Georgetown

Alan — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 23:02:31 +0000

“It’s going to be real hard, honestly, we’re not going to play like this every game. But we know every big game, this is what we have to bring, just like this.”Chris Douglas-Roberts

It’s refreshing to see Chris back on his game. The last three games were anything but spectacular from CDR. With his 24 points to lead the #2 Tigers in a great match-up against then undefeated Georgetown, it appears the few days after a less than impressive win over Cincinnati was enough time to get him back in the game.

It was an impressive game for all of Memphis’ starters. Dozier netting a great offensive and defensive game was a pleasure to see. He has had some real hit or miss games so far. Rose was solid as well. 18 points and six assists is not too shabby.

What I was most happy to see was our shooting from the free throw line. As a team we were 22 for 29. For a team that doesn’t shoot the bonus well, you can’t help but like that performance.

Being rated #1 in the polls is highly doubtful until someone manages to knock off UNC but, with this performance, Memphis is truly becoming the team to watch out for.

Image credit Associated Press

Helmet rocks Little Rock

Alan — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 01:30:31 +0000

I’ve seen Helmet three times in my life now. First at the New Daisy in Memphis, second at the Gypsy in Dallas and most recently at Juanita’s in Little Rock. My friends know how much I love them. Traveling some ten hours one way to see them doesn’t surprise them. Paige Hamilton is what rock is about. It doesn’t have to be fancy. It doesn’t have to shake your teeth loose with incomprehensible riffs. It really can be loud, clean and simple to make it work. Thus is Helmet.

I have to admit that when their first album in some eight years came out (”Size Matters”) I was left a little unimpressed. Years of listening to the same albums over and over again, and loosing them and re buying them to boot, beat into me the beauty that is this band. After driving to Dallas from south Alabama to see them play on the “Size Matters” tour, I grabbed the newest album with all mine. (more…)