Category Archives: News

WPFolio Workshop in Pittsburgh

By Lara | Published: November 10, 2012

Are you or do you know any artists in the Pittsburgh area looking for a website? I’ll be hosting a small workshop December 17, 7-10pm. The cost will be $40 and you will leave with a fully functioning website! During the workshop we will:

  • Purchase your domain name and hosting service
  • Install WordPress and WPFolio Two on your sever
  • Tour the theme’s features
  • Learn how to add content using the WordPress interface

I’d like this to be webiste-less artists only – it’ll be best if you have no prior WordPress experience. If you are WordPress savvy however, I’m sure I could use a hand at the event.

Shoot me an email for details if you are in the Pittsburgh area and interested in attending.

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WPFolio Two Update: v0.9.49b & User Showcase

By Lara | Published: July 19, 2012

Update, finally! v0.9.49b

BIG thanks to John Eckman for contributing this version’s updates which include:

  • Better handling of Google Fonts: You’ll see a checkbox at the top of the Styling section in the WPF2 Options panel. It will be checked by default and, as before, is the default Lobster font, but this will not override your current webfont. Uncheck it and leave the field blank for no webfont.
  • Internet Explorer opactiy bug fix: Oh, how we all love Internet Explorer. Again, big thanks to John for taking care of this.

Download v0.9.49b on Github

User Showcase

Also check out the WPFolio Two demo site for a showcase of artist sites using WPFolio Two. Beautiful work and use of the theme by all. If you’d like to have your site on the page, post a URL in the comments here or there and I’ll be sure to add it.

Posted in News | Tagged | 7 Responses

Adding images to a gallery from the Media Library

By Lara | Published: January 31, 2012

What’s the difference between WordPress’s Media Library and the images I uploaded to posts and pages? Why can’t I add images from the Media Library to galleries in my posts and pages? WP expert Otto explains it like this:

The “gallery” feature is tied to a specific Post. All the images uploaded through the post editor become that specific Post’s gallery. If you upload them through the media section, then they cannot be in a gallery.

Don’t think of a gallery as some separate entity, because it’s not. A “gallery” is simply a bunch of images that are attached to some specific Post. It’s not some thing that you can move images in and out of, it’s not like a photo album or something.

WordPress really has no support for image groupings, albums, or anything similar. The gallery feature merely shows all images that are attached to a specific Post.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to upload all of my images to the Media Library then associate them with whatever post or page as needed, rather than re-upload the same images again and again to each post/page? I’ve had a few clients with this problem exactly, and it’s hard to explain why this doesn’t work. But there is a workaround for adding images to galleries using the gallery shortcode. Once you have uploaded your image to the Media Library, view the image and get it’s id from the URL:

Then go to the HTML view of your post/page editor. Add this, replacing the numbers with the ids of you chosen images:

The gallery shortcode can manipulate any aspect of the gallery, including it’s size, number of columns, position on the page, and the order of the images. Take a look at these other features in the Codex.

Big thanks to Amelie who posted this tip in the comments here at the WPFolio Wiki!

Posted in News | 6 Responses

WPFolio Two 0.9.45 and other stuff

By Lara | Published: January 21, 2012

Hello all!

There is a new version of WPFolio Two now on GitHub, or get it right here. New in this version is a working comments option, a few style tweaks and code consolidation, and the removal of the non-functioning search widget (a complicated bug I’m working on).

So what’s coming up for WPFolio now that it’s back in business? A few things:

1. A collective weekend debugging session

Date TBA, probably sometime in February. Anyone with skills in CSS and/or PHP needed! We’ll be working through the issues log on GitHub, crossing off everything we can. Even better, fork the project and start now!

2. Testers wanted

Anyone who can use WordPress is eligible. Many times I miss problems in the theme because I’m the only one testing it – it would be super helpful for someone else to make sure everything works before an update goes out. Shoot me an email if you’re interested!

3. Free workshop in Pittsburgh

I’ll walk you through installing WordPress, setting up WPFolio Two, and adding some basic customization. The session will be limited to 5 or 10. Place and time TBA, but will likely be held in coordination with the newly founded Pittsburgh WordPress Meetup and/or Assemble.

4. Release on the WordPress Theme Repository

Lots to do before this can happen, but it’s a priority.

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WPFolio Two Update

By Lara | Published: October 22, 2011

Among some bug fixes, I’ve added a couple new things to make your lives better and easier:

1. Option to Disable Comments

According to questions on the WordPress support forums, it was obvious that many WPFolio users were confused by WordPress’s obscure, not-so-intuitive way to disable comments. Well, WPFolio Two now does it for you! Easy peasy. Here’s what the option looks like:

2. Navigation back to posts

Users of WPFolio Two may have noticed the navigation missing from the bottom of your posts. This was bad news – when you went to an attachment page, there was no link back to the post! And you were stuck in the gallery vortex. This is no longer the case, the post bottom navigation is back.

Now download it!

Choose the most recent version and let me know what you think in the comments, here or on the demo site.

More features and fixes are in the works (hopefully a big one next weekend), so hang tight. Thanks to everyone for their questions/feedback on the demo site and keep them coming!

Posted in News | Tagged , , , | 15 Responses

Help us test WPFolio Two beta

By Steve Lambert | Published: September 26, 2011

Over the past six months Lara Schenck has rewritten WPFolio on the Thematic theme framework. This is huge. You can see how it looks and works on her WPFolio Demo Site. Besides all the invisible things that will make your site look and work better and faster, here’s some features you can look forward to:

  • all kinds of fancy webfonts available for your site title
  • much larger thumbnails
  • simpler, better organized options panel
  • you can name your blog category anything you want
  • special homepage template with fancy jQuery fade-in
  • Artwork Info form with fields for Title, Medium, Dimensions, Collaborators, and additional info to insure universal formatting
  • paste your custom CSS in the theme options panel

Check out more on the features.

Porting WPFolio to Thematic has been on my list of improvements for about 3 years or more, so this is a big step forward.

Help us test!

Try it out. Send feedback to Lara. If it’s great, let her know. If there are issues, report them on github.

Isn’t Lara smart?

Lara took this on in her last year while working with me the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. She just graduated and is living and working in Pittsburgh. She’s smart as a whip and available for hire!

Posted in News | Tagged , , , | 2 Responses

WPFolio setup = reward on Kickstarter

By Steve Lambert | Published: July 12, 2011

I’m raising funds on Kickstarter for my latest project and one of the rewards for your support is setting up WPFolio!

This means you supply me with 5 works, your contact info, resume, and other content and I will personally install WordPress, WPFolio, plugins, and get your first posts and pages online. I’ll also spend 45 minutes in a one-on-one session (over Skype or in person) getting you up to speed so you can get the rest of your portfolio online and understand how everything works.

Of course, you absolutely can do all this yourself but this way you get your artwork online using the best open source tools and my help! And I get your support with my latest project.

About the project

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WPFolio 1.75 on its way & PHP version checking

By Steve Lambert | Published: June 15, 2011

This version has some small changes:

  • changed the version of php we were checking for to 5.2.4 so that it is consistent with the php version required for WP3.2
  • added a search form to the search results for better user experience
  • some small changes in the style sheet primarily to make headers display more consistently (Thanks to Jason Varone to pointing this out)

As some have already noticed, WPFolio now checks for your PHP version. If your version of PHP is out of date, WPFolio will tell you in the dashboard. Starting with WordPress 3.2, the PHP version required is 5.2.4 or greater. WPFolio also uses some features included in PHP 5.2.4, so the warning prevents an error that could crash your site (a good thing, a warning is better than crashing).

What should you do if you see the warning? At the time of this writing, WordPress is at version 3.1.3 so you don’t have to panic. It’s just a warning. You can check with your particular host on how to update PHP. Your host may be planning on doing it automatically before the release of WordPress 3.2 – and they might not, so you may want to ask.

Posted in News | Tagged , | 6 Responses

WPFolio 1.74 is live – small changes

By Steve Lambert | Published: June 10, 2011

WPFolio 1.74 solves a few rare bugs and makes some minor improvements. You can update though the Updates interface in WordPress Admin (recommended), or download it from wordpress.org or github.

Changes in WPFolio 1.74:

Thanks to Lara Schenck for her work on this. She’s also been answering questions on the wordpress forums so be sure to thank her for that!

Posted in News | Tagged , | 3 Responses

WPFolio 1.73 – don’t update yet, use 1.74

By Steve Lambert | Published: June 8, 2011

WPFolio 1.73 is was live, but I just noticed a problem with the WordPress updater. It’s updating without  files in the the subfolders of the theme and will then crash the site. Will talk to the WordPress team and see what needs to be fixed. In the meantime, hold off unless you’re updating through FTP.

Update:

It turns out somehow the 1.73 theme was submitted without some files (my mistake) and released by the theme review theme without those files (their mistake). I’ve submitted a new, complete, version 1.74 which is being reviewed now.

Apologies to anyone this caused any trouble for. If you upgraded to 1.73 and your site crashed, you can solve the issue immediately by removing that version of the theme and replacing it with the latest releases from github or on wordpress.org.

Of course, you wont be able to do this using the automatic updater if you can’t access your site. You’ll need to do it via FTP. If you’re unfamiliar, it’s covered on the wordpress codex and by searching online, or if you rather you can hire someone on wpquestions.com to help you for a small amount.

Another Update!

It’s all fixed and WPFolio 1.74 is up. Update away!

Posted in News | Tagged | 5 Responses

WordPress Audio Player plugin

By Steve Lambert | Published: May 9, 2011

The WordPress Audio Player plugin is a small, simple audio player for playing back mp3 files within your post. You can check it out on the wpaudioplayer site which includes complete instructions on how to upload audio and get it all configured.

Posted in News | Tagged , , , | 2 Responses

WPFolio workshop in NYC on 5/17

By Steve Lambert | Published: May 2, 2011

Create Your Own Artist Website With WPFolio & WordPress

Led by Michael Mandiberg, artist, designer & educator

This workshop will provide artists with the basic skills to create, update & maintain a personal website with WPFolio, a free and open source website theme on WordPress. Step-by-step instructions will be provided to install and configure a portfolio website while participants follow along on their personal laptops. At the end of this two-hour workshop, participants will be able to leave with a basic working portfolio site, ready to be updated with future contents.

WPFolio is built by media artist Steve Lambert and a team of open source developers and designed for artists like you.

Registration & Selection

Two workshops will be offered, each accommodating 30 artists, selected by lottery. Registration for the lottery is required. Click here to register.

Deadline for registration is Wednesday, May 17, 2011, 11PM

Workshop is free, but participants should be prepared to incur costs for web hosting and domain name registration in order to build a site.

Dates & Times:

Workshop 1: Wednesday, May 25, 6:30-8:30PM
Workshop 2: Thursday, May 26, 6:30-8:30PM

Workshop 1 and Workshop 2 are NOT SEQUENTIAL. The same workshop is being offered twice to allow for more artists to participate.

Location:

Lower Manhattan Cultural Council
125 Maiden Lane, 2nd Floor

Read More »

Posted in News | Tagged , | 2 Responses

Handy “Postie” Plugin allows you to post by email

By Steve Lambert | Published: April 27, 2011

Postie, which allows you to send images as a post to your WordPress installation via email. You can choose categories and add tags as well.This could make it much faster to post your work than clicking and creating multiple posts.

It takes some set up but could save a lot of time in the long run.

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WPFolio 1.72 on WordPress.org

By Steve Lambert | Published: April 19, 2011

As of today, you can upgrade WPFolio through the WordPress upgrades area. There’s a lot of great new features. Check out some of them in this post and read on for more.

Posted in News | 7 Responses

What’s new in WPFolio 1.7

By Lara | Published: March 11, 2011

In the latest release of WPFolio, we’ve added the following cool stuff:

  • A [margin] shortcode for wider margins to help with readability on your site:
    It’s automatic on pages, but overridden on your home page and posts to allow for full, 900px wide images.
  • A new option for image navigation:
    If you’d rather not use a lightbox or slideshow plugin, we’ve added a way to browse your gallery via attachment pages.
  • WPFolio News feed on your Dashboard:
    Keep up to date with the lastest WPFolio releases and check for occasional WordPress tips.

This video gives an overview of these new features and demonstrates how to change the default margin settings to your liking:

If you’re upgrading from WPFolio 1.5.x Be sure to check out these posts tagged 1.6 and especially the Upgrading to 1.6 post.

Posted in News | Tagged , , , , | 5 Responses

Why the Blog Protector Plugin is horrible for artists

By Steve Lambert | Published: March 9, 2011

The Blog Protector Plugin “Protects your valuable blog content (Pages & Posts) from getting copied” by disabling right click and text selection. So if I want to download an image or copy text, I receive a warning notice.

Hopefully not many artists are using this. I believe this whole approach is a terrible for artists.

If I am a curator, and I visit an artist’s site, I want to be able to copy an image and save it so I can email it to my colleagues, file it away on my hard drive, etc.

If I am a potential buyer of the work, I want to email it to my partner and see what they think about the piece before I contact the artist.

If I am an art blogger, I may want to post your image on the very popular art blog I write for that is seen by thousands.

If I am just a fan, I may want to download the image and share with my friends or make it into my desktop wallpaper.

Having a big warning pop up when I try to do that is a bad interaction for these potential supporters. Even an extensive or intimidating copyright notice can discourage behavior you actually want.

Plus, what are you really protecting? Who is the thief and what will they do with this image? Where is the market for stolen 500px wide images?

These tiny images are not your work, they are (relatively) small online representations. What is the value of “protecting” them and, more importantly, what is the value lost by not enabling them to be shared? Think of the images as a traditional postcard about the artist. You want that postcard to be everywhere. Especially since this “postcard” costs next to nothing to reproduce and distribute. Your website should work the same way. You have more to gain by sharing.

So maybe you’re not using blog protector, but how do you encourage sharing on your site?

Creative Commons licenses are a great way to encourage sharing while taking control of how your work is shared.

Read more:

Posted in News | Tagged , | 3 Responses

When to use Posts vs Pages

By Steve Lambert | Published: March 7, 2011

I’ve seen a few WPFolio sites that use WordPress Pages in ways they weren’t meant to. I want to clear up when to use Posts and to use Pages.

Simply: Use Posts to show art works and news. Use pages for your statement, resume, cv, and contact page.

Posts show up in your RSS feed, you can assign categories and tags to them so you can organize your work by media and keywords., and they automatically use the full 900px width of the design.

Pages don’t take advantage of your RSS feed. They don’t have categories and tags. Pages in WPFolio have larger margins because they are meant for your contact page, artist statement and/or resume where reading text at 900px wide would be annoying.

This also is how WordPress and WPFolio are designed to be used. You can read about it on the codex.

I highly recommend against creating a page and uploading all your paintings to it, and calling it “paintings”. Rather, create a category or tag called paintings, and create and unique post for each painting.

If you’re skeptical, I wrote briefly about this here. There’s a video (recorded a while ago) by someone here (key thing to know about this video is that posts show up reverse chronological generally, but this can be changed around and WPFolio tweaks that a little). And here’s another article about it. And it’s in the codex.

All of them basically agree with me. :-)

Posted in News | Tagged , , | 5 Responses

Use WordPress Filter Hooks to modify theme files

By Lara | Published: March 6, 2011

We recently received a question about changing a site’s title in the browser bar. There are a few ways to do this.

One option is to go into header.php and find and edit what’s within the title HTML tag. Although this will work, you risk losing all of your changes when it’s time for the next WPFolio update.

Another way is to create your own copy of the header.php file and place it your child theme. From there you can make whatever changes you like and they wont be lost when you update. However, when WPFolio is updated you’ll have to sort through your existing header.php file and the updated header.php and make sure you’re not missing any new good stuff.

But in certain situations, there is an even easier way.

The best way to make changes in theme files is by using WordPress Filter and Action Hooks in your child theme’s functions.php. Here’s an example:

They key element is accessing the function wp_title(), WordPress searches for the title tag and replaces whatever is there with what you specify within the function – without modifying any of the theme’s core files. WordPress has many many filters, all of which are documented in the Codex.

So, when a function is available, you can simply add a filter or action hook into your functions.php file and make the change. This is the easiest way. If there is no function available to hook into, you can fall back on the options mentioned above.

Check out this article at ThemeShaper for more info.

Posted in News | Tagged , , | 2 Responses

WPFolio 1.7 submitted to WordPress

By Steve Lambert | Published: February 27, 2011

Now we wait and see if it will be approved.

But if you don’t want to wait, you can download it from github. To learn how to install it, watch this video. (Full screen makes it easier to watch)

Posted in News | Tagged , | 2 Responses

Prefer a Slideshow to Lightbox? Try Smooth Gallery Replacement

By Steve Lambert | Published: February 2, 2011

I just found this plugin, Smooth Gallery Replacement which replaces the gallery shortcode with a jQuery slides how. I used on the home page of the artisticactivism.org page so you can see it in action. I think you’d have to choose between this and the Lightbox Plugin for Native Galleries (otherwise there would be a conflict), but it seems like a nice alternative.

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