Creating a dynamic WordPress sidebar

I recently finished the redesign of my blog, The Humanaught, and as these things tend to - it came with a few forehead slapping mind scratchers. The key one being that the design utilized the post's footer to store comments. On many posts you wouldn't even know there was a problem, however when I - on occasion - veer from my usual rambling and only write a tiny little blurb, the issue is evident.…
Read on »

How To Make Fast Hover Effects

Causality in Web sites is a must these days. People want action, plain and simple. Not only does it add greater functionality for the user, it gives you a whole other dimension for design. When I visit a site with static buttons and unchanging link styles I get confused (something I'm quite proficient at actually). I've grown so accustom to being shown visually that "this is a place I can do some…
Read on »

Spring Cleaning Computer Clutter

When I was a kid, I loved spring cleaning! In my hometown, spring cleaning meant one thing, and one thing only - free stuff! People would clean out their attics and basements and lay it out on the curb for all to pick through. I would come home with an endless assortment of random goodies - an old kickstand, goalie pads, a broken armchair - that would sit around the house until the following spri…
Read on »

My First WordPress Plugin

I'm happy to announce my first ever WordPress plugin - Censortive. Tired of Internet censorship? Is your site being blocked for having “sensitive” words? Then Censortive is for you. Use this plugin to replace those pesky words with their graphic equivalent, making them invisible to censorship robots. Check out the official Censortive page for all the details on how it works, how to install it, and…
Read on »

Modifying WordPress' Front Page

The origins of the standard blog front page vary. Some say that the post-after-post-after-post style comes from the ancient Greeks, others say it was the Chinese. One thing's for certain, it's old and it's tired. Having been a blogger in one shape or another for going on five years now, I've started to become disenchanted with the main index layout common to near all blogging platforms. You know…
Read on »

How To Make Simple Glassy Buttons in Photoshop

No Web 2.0 Web site is complete without a smattering of glass-like buttons. This simple Photoshop tutorial quickly shows you how to make these little buggers in a jiffy. The process is quite simple, but I've spelled it out with as much detail as possible for any new-comers to Photoshop. Obviously, if you've experience, just scan for gist ;-). The desired result. Step 1: Open a new Photoshop file…
Read on »

Freed Burner – Feedburner Pro Features for Free!

Burning Questions, FeedBurner's official blog, sheds the exciting news that two services that were previously reserved for paying customers only are now absolutely free for all FeedBurner users. FeedBurner Stats PRO This feature lets you closely analyze the number of people who are viewing or clicking individual content times. I'm quite keen on this, as the basic stats only give you a rough idea…
Read on »

Speeding Up WordPress

I decided to try out Ricardo Galli Granada's WordPress Cache (WP-Cache) plugin and see how much speed it actually added to my blogs' load times. As the plugin advertises, WordPress is already pretty trim when it comes to MySQL database calls and PHP pagination, so this plugin is really only useful on high activity sites, or sites with really slow servers. My blogs are in the middle, and so neithe…
Read on »

Free Stock Photography

I love photography, and whenever possible I like to shoot as much of my own imagery to be used in my designs. Sometimes, however, it's just not practical or possible to get out and take the photo you need yourself - enter stock photography. In and of itself, stock photography is nothing new. Designers have always used stock photography as a way to spice up everything from magazine layouts to ide…
Read on »

Detect & Redirect Script For Internet Explorer (IE)

NOTE: For anyone looking for the ability to detect and redirect based on IE version, you should check out this post. It uses conditional comments to detect IE versions and redirect accordingly. I hate Internet Explorer. There, I've said it. Perhaps it will help you to understand why I sat down tonight and decided to ex-out the worst of the bunch, Internet Explorer 5.5 (and below). It pain…
Read on »

Google Adsense Spins Me Right Round Baby

Google Adsense ads have finally started thinking outside the box and have added the option of having rounded borders for their ad units. The Inside Adsense blog has reported that now along with choosing the colours and such, you can also pick between three 'styles' of border - traditional square (ya big L7 you), a little bit round (for the timid), and full-on "I'm almost a circle" round. Of cours…
Read on »

Removing Browser Blindness

Easily the most pain in the arse thing about Web design is the lack of cross-browser compatibility. You spend hours lining up DIVs, getting the CSS just right, applying various styles, fonts, and decorations … only to have it all fall apart as soon as you test it in another browser. The number of inconsistencies between browsers - despite the ambitious W3C set of standards - is nearly as volumino…
Read on »

Revenue Sharing: Web $2.00

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about Web 2.0 and what’s next. Largely this was on my mind because I’ve been trying to come up with a good way to start my run as a writer here at Intelligent Drone. The other day, while elbow deep in PHP setting up a collaborative blog with a revenue sharing model, it hit me… revenue sharing is the next big thing. Of course, it’s nothing new, but neither were for…
Read on »

And so it is…

Well, I guess I should start with a welcome. Welcome to the Dao By Design blog. Now, here at its inception, I must admit that I'm not completely sure what will develop on these pages and posts. Currently my idea for this blog is to allow me an outlet for all the things I love to talk about, but really seem to annoy my friends when we're out drinking. Namely, design, Web development, and all the c…
Read on »