odds-and-ends Archives - Page 2 of 7

RocketGeek.com Rebuild on Genesis 2.0 Framework

With the launch of Genesis 2.0, I have been getting my hands dirty with the Genesis Framework. I’ve always liked the framework, and I’ve owned it for quite some time; but I never really got in there and made full use of it.

After giving butlerblog.com a makeover with Genesis 2.0, I moved on to rocketgeek.com where all of the support goes on for WP-Members.

RocketGeek.com had launched in 2012 for supporting WP-Members and was built around Twitter Bootstrap. At the time, I liked what I could do with Bootstrap, and since part of the site’s function is to show how flexible the WP-Members framework is, that gave me the opportunity to do some pretty cool things with the plugin framework. To make these reproduceable for users of the plugin, these were all written up as example code on the site in the “How I Did It” category.

But there is always room for improvement. With Genesis 2.0, I decided to get in there are give that site a makeover. It is not fully complete, but the Phase 1 build is launched. Go over to rocketgeek.com and take a look. The site is running on Genesis 2.0 and WP-Members.

Here are some of the cool custom features that I did (and I’ll be adding these as new tutorials in the “How I Did It” category):

Unique login page makes use of the Genesis full width template so we don’t show two login forms (body and sidebar widget). Also, this page uniquely styles the login form and adds some text for non-members inviting them to learn more about joining.
Now running the WP-Members with the Genesis Stylesheet Pack Add-on. There will be additional stylesheet add-ons in the future, but I am still trying to get through plug-and-play stylesheets for the plugin to integrate with the various StudioPress child themes. And as Brian Gardner continues to roll out new versions of the various child themes for the 2.0 Framework, that will likely keep things pretty busy over here.
Site continues to run with the WP-Members PayPal Subscription Add-on, which will be getting a major update after we roll out and test it on the site.
More to come!

There is still a lot to do for Phase 2, but I am excited about the project. For those of you that liked the Bootstrap Tabs that I had done as an example on the old site, I’ll be doing another tabbed customization of the login/registration form combination as part of Phase 2. The Bootstrap version was pretty tricky to implement. I hope that this new one turns out to be an easier customization for general users to implement.

Hard disk forensics and data recovery

By Chad Butler Leave a Comment

So your hard disk crashed and you’ve lost all your data – important files, photos of the kids, your contact list and save emails. You are frustrated because you know you should have been performing backups on a regular basis, but you didn’t and now the data is gone for ever. Or is it?

It’s not gone completely and you can get it back. What is the magic bullet? Hard disk forensics.

Hard disk forensics is based on the fact that when a file is deleted from the file system, it actually still resides on the hard disk. It has merely been removed from the file system’s memory. Think in terms of a filing cabinet with labeled folders. Deleting a folder just pulls the label off the folder but it is still there. Only if you actually pull that folder out and shred it are the contents irretrievable. [Read more…]

New Video Site Released

By Chad Butler Leave a Comment

I always thought the Invasion Cinema site was pretty cool. They had some cool retro sci-fi movies and a blog with additional information. I even had the site in my delicious bookmarks and linked from here.

Awhile back, that site seems to have disappeared, so as an offshoot of a video testing project I had done, I decided to create a video site of my own. I tracked down the retro sci-fi movies that had been on Invasion Cinema’s site. This includes the following:

These movies are free and you can watch them on demand. I will also be adding content to include plot synopsis, cast information, and other information about the films.

While I am at it, I decided to add the classic Superman animated shorts from the 1940s. This series of animated shorts was done by Max Fleischer and I’ve always wanted to have a site with a “Superman Film Festival” flavor to it. The first film is up at http://video.butlerblog.com/2009/11/12/superman/ and I’ll be adding more later, until we have the entire series. You can view the entire “Superman Film Festival” here.