Design by JellyBeen » upgrade

Ground Floor 1.3.1 Live

Edward Caissie — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:17:20 +0000

The free WordPress theme Ground Floor version 1.3.1 is now live at WordPress.org.

Here is the latest changelog:

Changelog as of Mar 8, 2010
= Version 1.3.1 =
  - modified bns_login function to use wp-login.php to match the BNS Login plugin
  - removed promotional link to the BNS Login plugin at WordPress.org

    ******************************
    * Internet Browsers Reviewed *
    * ========================== *
    *                            *
    * Apple Safari v4.0.4 (Mac)  *
    * Apple Safari v4.0.4 (PC)   *
    * Firefox v3.6               *
    * Google Chrome v4.0         *
    * Internet Explorer v8.0     *
    * Opera v10.10               *
    *                            *
    * IE 6 - basic functionality *
    ******************************

= Version 1.3 =
  - added "GPL2" license statement to style.css
  - added YUI reset to CSS
  - general clean-up of CSS file (removed most empty elements)
  - added bns_dynamic_copyright()

Three Plugins to Update

Edward Caissie — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:10:10 +0000

We have finished a review of the current versions of the last three of our plugins and made minor updates to all of them.

BNS Featured Category (version 1.4)
BNS Featured Tag (version 1.4)
BNS Corner Logo (version 1.1)

The modifications added a simple version check against the global $wp_version variable that holds the installed WordPress version number. Currently each plugin will only verify the installed version meets the minimum requirements based on functions being used.

There are future possibilities in creating an incentive for users to upgrade to the most current stable version of WordPress. We will be using this “check” method in all our themes and plugins. This verification process has been added to our BNS Login plugin and will be implemented in all of our existing themes with their next updates.

Sample code snippet for (current as of this writing) version checking:

global $wp_version;
$exit_message='This BuyNowShop theme/plugin recommends the use of WordPress 2.8.4, Please Update!';
if (version_compare($wp_version, "2.8.4", "<"))
	{
		exit ($exit_message);
	}

NB: Current version versus minimum version checks will be added at appropriate times.

New Home

Edward Caissie — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 03:38:36 +0000

We have just moved to a more flexible home. This is a sub-domain of one of our longest standing web sites, BuyNowShop.com.

Our former home at WordPress.com was a great place to start, but the lack of Plugin and widget access provided the impetus to move to a self-hosted WordPress blog.

We finally decided to go with the Desk Mess theme, below are some notes taken directly from the original authors details. We found a few corrections were needed, and will be making further modifications as we grow.

Original Theme Name: Desk Mess
Original Theme URI: http://www.geekwithlaptop.com/desk-mess-wordpress-theme
Original Description: Casual work-desk theme for a different blogging experience. Brought to you Geek with Laptop
Original Version: 1.4
Original Author: Geek With Laptop
Original Author URL: http://www.geekwithlaptop.com
The CSS/XHTML is released under GPL: http://www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php

Some fonts used in this theme that may or may not be installed on the reader’s computer:

Lucida Grande – general text (an Apple font – Windows emulation font package as Googled from this site)
Lucida Sans Unicode – general text
Copperplate Gothic Bold – the header text (one of our computers needed this font)

A final note, buyer beware: This theme was originally downloaded from www.ThemesPreview.com where we found they are adding an encoded “relay.php” file to most every theme they have available to be downloaded for free. This file is included in the “footer.php” file and creates a link to ad sites of one sort or another. I was disappointed.

I searched out the original author’s web site to download a clean and current version. I have no idea what else may be in these relay.php files but please, as a matter of peace of mind, be aware and check each file (line-by-line) in a text editor of any theme you acquire to make sure you are hopefully not getting something you did not want.

No related posts.

WordPress MU 2.7 Out of the Box

Edward Caissie — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:15:51 +0000

Just recently Donncha O Caoimh posted on his blog that WordPress Mu (2.7) was available. We have not had a great deal of time lately to stay on the bleeding edge of its development so this announcement was all we were waiting for to push two MU installations updates.

A quick review and some brief observations:

The combined time to update both WordPress Mu installations was slightly less than 20 minutes. An additional five minutes were needed to “fix” the “home” theme on the first installation. It was not a theme issue in as much as an installer issue. We are embarrassed to say we missed not over writing the theme folders during the update. We have a complete backup of all our active MU themes so the correction was made with a quick upload.

The general layout is very similar to a single user version of WordPress 2.7, with the exception of the newly included Admin bar by Viper007Bond at the top of the Dashboard screen. An unexpectedly nice touch that should be easily put to good use.

A job well done to all the developers and testers to get this to the public, we are looking forward to working more with this version of WordPress MU in the near future.

A curious question: how will you be using the new WordPress MU version 2.7?

WordPress MU Free Themes

WordPress 2.7 Ready

dbjb — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:24:28 +0000

WordPress 2.7 RC1 is now available which means many things to many people.

We expect to recommend upgrading very soon. We are also looking forward to the new features and functions being added with this version.

Shades 1.6 Live