I’m particularly excited about parent-child theming. Functionally, it means I won’t have to build functionality for each job, each time. For example, superfish navigation. It’s not difficult to implement but it seems like each nav structure is just different enough that I end up spending more time than necessary getting everything to work. No more! With the 3.0 builds of WP, I can take advantage of awesome parent-theme frameworks so I can concentrate on my favorite part: designing the UI and plunging my hands deep inside the CSS. I didn’t mean that to sound dirty. Think more of the tactile pleasure of your bare hands in a big barrel of penney candy.

I also got to show off my Archos 101. That was fun, casually using it out amongst a sea of of iPads. I really need to find a screen protector, though. I spilled coffee that day on the screens. It didn’t seep in any crevices but I was worried. Fearing something like this would happen, I attempted a Skinomi cover. It didn’t work out at all. I’m not saying the product is bad but I could not get it to install properly. It’s supposed to cure for 4-5 hours, with the worst bubble and imperfections disappearing within 2 days. Two days? I need to use it way sooner. Unfortunately the protector is so thick that if it doesn’t cure you can’t push any buttons. On a touch-screen device this is the kiss of death. So I painstakingly peeled it off. If I try such a thing again, it will be done by a professional in a dust-free environment. In the meantime, I’m in the market for an adhesive protector that is install and go. Like on my Treo, Blackberry, iPhone and Android.

It’s funny because even a year ago when I felt like I was really grooving with WordPress as a CMS, going to Word Camp was really eye-opening.  Sure, there a bunches of developers out there who are real developers. They could probably write their own blogging platforms in PHP in their spare time. Me, I’m a practitioner. I’m really a GUI designer who needed to find a CMS platform that I could manhandle on my own. That’s exactly what I feel I can do now: manhandle WordPress to my will.

I’m looking forward to whatever WordCamp 2011 brings in terms of new levels of use for me. Maybe I’ll finally tackle WordPress Hooks…

I wasn’t blogging but I was busy installing WordPress as a CMS on every job I’ve done over the past nine months. I continue to refine my technique. The most fun has been creative use of CSS to make the site look like anything I want while still using the WordPress structure.

One thing I’ve started to do on every job is sign the client up for a WordPress.com account so that I can use the API. I had thought to use my API but changed my mind. I’d like to keep that separate. I’d be interested to know how others handle comment spam if not with Akismet (for which an API is required).