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November 18th, 2008
I have just switched my main feeds to feedburner, but not the comments feed. If you subscribe via RSS, please update your feed.
November 17th, 2008
art criticism
This is a short post, with the anatomy of good art criticism (also works for design) from my professor Franc Guerrero. I’m sick of reading reviews by critics that spend entire articles spewing their personal opinions, and don’t include contextual research.
Start with an empirical observation about the art or exhibit.
This exhibit reminds me of a bad dream I had last night.
Then determine whether or not it is successful in that context.
The artist was successful in making this dreamlike.
The final step is to determine where this work or exhibit fits in the lineage of art. Art exists in a certain context, and it is important to find out how and why a certain work is the way it is. This step requires much research and/or a broad knowledge of art history.
As a designer, I found this part rather painful. Wordpress.org does a pretty good job of walking you through step by step, but I found that there were many terms I had not heard before, and some things were just confusing. I’ll start with defining some terms, and you can refer back to this as you go through installation.
MySQL: My Structured Query Language, a Database Management System which is available for both Linux and Windows, known for being open source. This is why wordpress is so popular, because it makes managing a database and web content easy, with a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor. You will need MySQL from your hosting company in order to use wordpress.
FTP: File Transfer Protocol, the way to get files from your computer to a server where people can access it using the internet
SFTP: Secure File Transfer Protocol
SSH: Secure shell. A program that allows a user to log into another computer remotely across the Internet, while maintaining complete security.
Step 1: Download the latest version of wordpress from wordpress.org (easy right?) Unzip the folder, save it somewhere where you will remember.
Step 2: Create a database for wordpress on your web server. WHAT??? If you know how to do this, do it and move on, if not, don’t fret, I will walk you through it.
If you are using 1and1 follow these steps: Login to the 1and1 Control Panel. Under We
b Space & Access click MySQL Administration. Click the New Database button. Choose a description (maybe name it the same as your blog or just ‘blog’ so you can remember). Then choose MySQL 5.0. Click Setup. Easy! Remember this is where you can find your username and password for access.
These instructions remain about the same for most host sites, the navigation may be a little different, but there you have it, your database it set up!
Step 3: Rename the wp-config-sample.php file to wp-config.php.
I hope you can do this… this file is in the wordpress folder you downloaded, you don’t have to open anything, just rename the file. Whew… one more step done.
Step 4: Open wp-config.php in a text editor (TextMate, TextEdit whichever you already have) and fill in your database details. There are instructions inside of this file to help, but I needed clarification, so I will provide it here.
Change DB_NAME to the name you decided in step 2 (you can find this in your control panel, remember the place I told you to remember?) Make sure you just type ‘in between the quote marks’ and that it matches the name you created exactly.
DB_PASSWORD same deal, look it up if you forgot and type between the quotes.
DB_HOST for this one, go back to your control panel and look what it says for Host Name, if you are using 1and1 it will probably be something.perfora.net
SECRET_KEY between the quotes ‘put your unique phrase here’ make up a random phrase, you don’t need to remember it, it is used to generate random sequences later.
Don’t change anything else, save it (make sure you are saving the one you renamed). Another step complete.
Step 4: Upload the files. They make this sound so easy (and it is, if you have done it before). Before you start you need to decide if this is going to be the root directory of your website or in a subdirectory. If your blog is going to be at: bekkaiscool.com, then that means you will be uploading to the root directory. If your blog is going to be at: bekkaiscool.com/blog, then that means you will be uploading to a subdirectory.
To Upload: You will need some kind of FTP or SFTP (recommended) client. Some examples (links to store or download site):
Ok, so you have downloaded and installed your FTP client. Now you need to connect to the server in order to upload your wordpress directory (for our purposes the word directory = folder). Open your new software. In the Connect to field type your domain name (you don’t need the http://). Then for username, you need to go back to your control panel and make sure you have SSH available then get your username and password from there. Type in your username and when prompted your password.
Now on one side of the window should be ‘your computer’ and on the other is your ‘remote server.’ You need to open the wordpress folder on your side (local). If you are going to make your blog on your root directory, then select all of the files from the wordpress folder and drag (but don’t just drag the whole folder) into / (blank) on your remote server. The dropdown should look like this: 
If you are going to make your blog in a subdirectory do the same thing, but drag the files (not the whole folder though) into /blog (or whatever it is going to be).
You just finished step 4 (this could take a few minutes depending on your internet connection speed).
Step 5: The easy part. Go to (insert your site where i put bekkaiscool.com):
Follow the prompts here, like adding the title of your blog, etc. YOU ARE FINISHED (with the installation at least)!
November 15th, 2008
design . research . wordpress theme
In order to have a blog that suits your needs, you need to first figure out what your needs are.
Take a look at the links below to other blogs, and see what kinds of things you think would work for you:
To see more examples of wordpress blogs go to the Wordpress Showcase. There are literally thousands of ways to design your blog, but you first need to figure out what is important to you. Once you know what you want, you can move into the guts of the project: designing your wordpress theme.
Wordpress provides many widgets and plugins for added features. You can add calendars, tag clouds, links, recent posts, etc. Explore these as you develop your design, make sure you know what is available to you, but don’t go over the top with widgets in your sidebar. Too many ‘bells and whistles’ make a site unappealing.
First thing’s first. In order to use a custom wordpress theme you need to have a domain. Wordpress.org has a list of hosting companies that support wordpress, there are more out there. I use 1and1, which I have been very happy with.
Your choice of a domain name is also important, if you know you want to write a blog about fitness, then try to think of something that incorporates words associated with fitness. If it’s a personal blog, think about using your name. You also don’t want it to be too long or complicated, because you want people to be able to remember it easily.
Sometimes it takes as long as 24 hours to register a new domain, but in the meantime, you can start researching blogs, and blog design. My next post will help you determine what kind of design is appropriate for your blog.
I’ve been wanting to start a blog for a while now. I have my personal blog at bekka5280.wordpress.com, but that is more of a record of my days than a useful blog that will attract readers. I consider myself a print designer, and it has been a real struggle to learn about web design on my own. Bekka5280.com is essentially going to be a record of my struggles as a designer, although I would prefer to call them adventures. The first thing I want to address is creating a wordpress theme.
One week ago, I had no idea how to make a wordpress theme, but I don’t think the outcome is half bad sitting here looking at it today. There are some things I want to change, but for the most part it turned out alright. I wish I had blogged about this every day that I went through it, because I am sure I will miss some things along the way, but that is going to be the first adventure on this blog.
Below, you can see a mind map with my general thoughts for this blog for now. I am always open to suggestion, criticism, and comment. Welcome to Bekka5280.
mind map of the vision/direction of my blog
November 12th, 2008
veterans
I am a graphic designer living in San Diego, CA. Learning from my many many mistakes.
You can follow me on Twitter.
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