Tuesday

True or False wordpress widget / Plugin

Ok so yes I have a freebie for you.
I have worked on this plugin for a few days now, so its far from perfect, but so far I could not find any bugs.

Basically what it does is add a true or false widget to your wordpress site.

Its alot of fun and sometimes addictive so beware..

FEATURES:
* Customize the colors
* Customize the Size
* Add new questions
* List all questions
* delete questions
* Opens in New window, so people can continue
* Questions are currently selected by Random.

Installation:

Simple, login to your wordpress admin, click plugins, click add new, click upload, select the zip or rar file and click ok.. Once done, it will say its been added successfully, then click activate and bobs your uncle.. well no, not really.

The head your pretty little self over to the TORF settings page, fill out all the settings, in particular the two site path questions.

Then go to your widgets page, and add the TORF widget to your side bar or footer.

FUTURE UPDATES:


* Pre written styles, so you can select various styles instead of filling in the details.
* Add to blog post short code or quick add button
* Edit Questions (currently, only add and delete.)
* Sorting options )so not just picking from random.
* Ip address recognition, so it will not show the same question twice, it will log questions this ip has answered.
* allow user to wipe log if they want to start all over again.
* True or False categories.

Click here to download

Demo at Scudoo on the side bar

Monday

Zen Cart oh Zen Cart, why are you so useful & a complete A$$ at the same time - Doing the configs

For those of you who have never used the Zen Cart software, please be warned. It is not a well layed out or well templated software.

But luckily for us, we have the awesome users of zencart community forum who are willing to answer questions, even the very stupid ones like " WTF? where do i put my zencart template???"

yes well, for anyone guessing, that was me that asked and apparently its a question that gets asked a great deal.

I do like some of the zencart functionality, particularly the ability to sell digital goods. Unfortunately, we have so many amazing web cart php software out there, but there is a minute few that have the ability to sell digital goods. And the ones that do, cost an arm and a leg and possibly a kidney.

So I just thought I would write some of my experiences here so you can all avoid my mistakes.

I may have to split this post up in a few because there is so much to cover. (check that, I will have to split this, so if you have already installed your zen cart and done your config, then skip the rest of this article)

1. Once you have installed your zencart, proceed to the admin section and for those that are not sure, unlike most software zencart decided to add their initials to the admin url. so go to www/yoursite.com/zcadmin (see the initials - thats branding dude lol )

The first thing you will see is that the layout is rather old skool.. not like the amazing wordpress admin we are all used to, but it does the job and that is what we want.

So head yourself over to the configuration tab (should be the first tab from your left) and you will see it drops down to a hundred and one other settings links.

I did tell you that nothing in zen cart is very easy.. Just giving you the heads up.

First things first, head over to the My store link in the configuration tab drop down and click on it.

You will see a bunch of options and more, if unsure, leave it alone, if sure edit and change and save.

To edit any of these values, you will need to highlight the one you want to change and then click the edit button on your right. YEAH!!! your telling yourself, why cant i do all the changes in one page on one form, right?? Yeah, not in Zen cart my dear friend. One by One is how we roll..

Once you have done that then you will finally have a store name and the config done.

The Next two on the configuration tabs drop down, is minimum value and Maximum value. Basically all this is, is the max characters your buyers can input in the form when they sign up. eg: password should be atleast 6 char max 44 or email should be a minimum of 5 chars and max of 120 or whatever. So that is what those options do.

The one after those is Images - All this is the width and height of images, such as product images, product thumbnails, Now on this page, this where i began to get a little aggravated at the one by one change system they have on Zen cart, cause as you edit this page (if you even decide to bother editing this page) you are feeling yourself fall into a deep trance at all the repetitive integers i was inputting. Not happy.

After images we have customer details - So this is rather self explanatory, all it is doing is asking you what customers details you want to select. So if a customer registers and buys an item or just simply buys an item, it will ask this customer, for date of birth, address, etc Now for me all that information is useless, since i sell digital goods, unless I am a ruthless person who sells peoples details. In my shop i am only selling digital goods, so there is no need for addresses, phone numbers etc. But If I were actually selling material goods, then yes the address, phone etc would be necessary, other wise the buyer will be waiting till kingdom come for their purchase.

After Customers you have Packaging and shipping.
Now personally this page sucked my very life force, it was like a dementor that just wouldnt let up. and even now when i go to this page, I still get the pathetic, stupid, irritating message at the very top page saying store code zip not defined. (and yes i have defined it over a million times and it is just out to get me.) But other than that it is rather easy to edit, basically you enter your country and post code of WHERE YOU WILL BE SHIPPING FROM . so if you are selling from Canada, but your shipping from some random warehouse in China, then China and the Zip code from china should be inputted. then you can enter the max weight you will ship. Again, if you are shipping everything yourself, then you need to find out the rates from your local post office and check what restrictions there are, especially for over seas buyers. Generally speaking anything more than 5 or 6 kilos or 10 to 12 pounds will be very difficult to post. You might need special courier services to send items like that. Now from what i understand the weight can be anything you want, in the end it is what you set it out to be, that counts, so it will calculate it by your standards.

Product Listings.
Well this one again, pretty self explanatory, all it is asking you is for the settings on how you want the products to be listed. Do you want an image, manufacturers name, title, etc. 1 is yes, and 0 is no. You really cant go too wrong here, but you wont be able to see the effects of this page, till you add a product.

Stock.
Stock again another easy one, do you have it, do you want it to check for stock, do you want it to minus from total etc etc. Again very easy aside from the one by one editing which is a nightmare, but handy for the future, when you need to quickly edit one variable.

Ok there is so much in this tab I will break it into two posts.

I am going to try and break down each tab option in every article so you can find the info you need quickly rather than reading a million articles just to find one line of info that you need.

I have to go in depth and i should probably lay out the article and info better, so its easier for you to learn from..

Want to know more about the other options now, go to the Zen Cart Community site http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/

I will also attempt to do a video tutorial on zen cart so you can actually see the settings I am changing.

hugs, kisses and zen cart dreams.. I will leave it there.. Sorry this was meant to be an article of me bitching about zen cart and it turned into a 100 step to zen cart bliss article..



Zen Cart Templates

Come have a coffee with me - Alexi Murdoch - At your Door

i was having a major headache, part of it recovering from my night out with Pitbull and Enrique Iglesias, the other part was banging my head against the wall trying to fix this "headers already sent" issue with my latest plugin.

So I thought I would go for a walk and go grab a much needed large Mocha from my local Gloria Jeans, they all know me by name there and as soon as I walk in, they have already started my Mocha.. Aint they just the best!!

Enjoy the vid!!

Intro and outro song by MORS ONTOLOGICA - Vampires in my Neighbourhood
find out more about them on their myspace or facebook page
http://www.myspace.com/morsontologica
http://www.facebook.com/pages/MORS-ONTOLOGICA/147576393634

Song in video is Alexi Murdoch - At your door
Find out more about Alexi at this website or facebook http://www.aleximurdoch.com/index_towards.php
http://www.myspace.com/aleximurdoch



So, Yes Just made a new one and since its in beta, for a limited time I am giving it all to you as a freebie, till i finish everything and try fixing up some of the php coding. So far there are no Bugs in it.

Will write all about it in the next post, as soon as I upload a demo. The Plugin is called TORF - Sounds powerful huh??? ye, well not really, it just stands for True or False, it basically allows you to add a bunch of true or false questions and you can stick it to your sidebar or footer and let your visitors test their Knowledge.

Pretty simple relaxed plugin. Has some nice admin features, such as styling your widget, sizing, adding questions, deleting and even has an option to open in new window.

Well will explain in depth in next post.

loves ya all u nutty ppl .. muahhz

Enjoy

carolines updates

Yes I have opted for vlogging.. sometimes trying to type all the random thoughts in my mind seems to hard for a lazy person like myself.. so here is what i have been up too and I will keep adding articles, tutorials and video logs here.. so dont stress my pet..

Sunday

made to measure special

My designing firm, has just put up an awesome offer for you peeps.

Check them out, http://www.madetomeasuredesigns.com

$450
you get a static website
flash animated intro
custom contact form
custom template and styling
can work with existing style or template
you can easily upgrade the site to add bonus features
Can be used for revamp sites
Can upgrade package, by adding $80 you will get custom business cards, compliment slips, and letter head design work. (printing separate)

50% deposit and start today.

Check their website and give them a call today. you never know you might have me doing your site. :)
http://www.madetomeasuredesigns.com