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.

Here are the pluses and minuses as I see it, so far.

1. Some reviews and forum posts have complained the Archos 101 looks cheap and feels flimsy. I don’t see it that way. The screen is fabulous, with great viewing angles.
2. The accelerometer sucks, flat out. At first, it speedily changed orientation every time I moved the device. Then it started getting stuck in the exact orientation I didn’t want. For instance. The device comes with a nifty kickstand. So naturally the orientation would lock up-side-down making the kickstand useless. Sometimes the orientation caught up after 15 seconds or more, sometimes not at all before the screen shuts off. Some users fixed this by calibrating the accelerometer until it finally resolved. I did this about three times with no noticeable affect. Maddeningly, each recalibration also resets the device, leaving all files but changing the settings back to out-of-box default. This is not for me. I finally turned off the auto-rotate screen. It remains locked in the landscape orientation to match the direction of the kickstand. I use it that way the most so this is no hardship. But it still irks that the accelerometer is so faulty.
3. There is no access to the Apps Market. It comes with the sub-standard AppsLib. Well, mine didn’t but my research indicates it was supposed to. Thanks to ArchosFans.com‘s forum I found the APK for download. Naturally it force quits each time  and is useless. As is the Apps Market APK which I found on the Google site, stuck in an endless loop of force quits and restarts until I quickly cancelled and uninstalled. This causes me problems because the main purpose of this device is to read Kindle, eBooks and PDFs. Most websites don’t make their APK available for download, instead tell you to go to the Apps Market. I will keep looking until I bust out of this loop.
4. No Flash or PDF Reader. WTF? I read in several places that Adobe has not signed Archos’ version so the device shipped without. Lame. Again, thanks to ArchosFans.com I found an APK for the Flash which actually worked. I did this first, good thing  because some of this other stuff is discouraging. I found a tolerable PDF reader but I hope for a better one in the future.
5.  The device is the most recent (Froyo) iteration of the Android OS, good.
6. Archos is known for its media devices so the video and music quality is tip-top. The speakers, on the back of the device, work really well.

For now, that’s my stopping point. I’ve got to get the reader issues fixed and I will. From previous posts we know I’m in love with the Android OS and that love is not diminished by my new tablet’s disheartening implementation of it.

UPDATE 01/25/2011

Something really irritating is happening with my device. Three times now, I’ve been unable to revive my dead soldier, with no idea how it got so dead since the last time I turned it on there was at least 50% juice. Last night I was using it, all’s well. I shut it off with 70% battery life. I innocently turned it back on an hour later. Nothing. No amount of plugging in will revive it. The forum on Archos Fans rescued me once again.

Inexplicably, this device absolutely WILL NOT charge if it (the device) is cold. What a prima donna. Now, you may note that I live in Phoenix, AZ. We are not exactly known for our lack of warm weather. But it is what passes for winter for us. Meaning, it drops below 60 degrees at night. I haven’t got the heat on at the moment and this morning it was 61F in the house. This, apparently, is too cold for the Archos.

To get it to charge, I left it in the bathroom with the door closed and a space heater on, not pointed right at it but in the general direction. Don’t want to melt its royal highness . Once it was toasty, I plugged it in and am charging successfully.

Now I learn, again thanks to the real Genius Bar, that is, Archos Fans forum, that running Market with the wi-fi location enabled may be the underlying reason it’s discharging its battery so quickly and completely. I side-loaded Market since, as earlier stated, it doesn’t come on the device.  I finally found an APK that wouldn’t cause endless force.quit loops. That way I was able to get the real PDF Reader, Kindle, and a couple other apps I use on my Android phone.

I’ve got to get this figured out soon as I was planning to take my Archos 101 to WordCamp this weekend.

If I were in charge, here is what I’d do:

1. Stop the battery drain. I’m not whining; I know and revel in the fact that I’m holding in my hot little hands a device powerful enough to land the space shuttle (if I knew how to land a space shuttle). I’d just like it to lose less power when idle. I had an app that did a good job of keeping my device operating at normal usage (a few short calls, check email, Facebook, calendar, play Trivial Pursuit) without needing a charge. Right now, it seems to lose about 30% every 4 hours even when it’s off (because I am asleep). The app I had that did such a good job is no longer supported. The free version stopped working and I don’t cotton to the idea of paying for the full version of an unsupported app. So I’m back on the hunt for better battery management.
2. Notification on top. One thing I miss about my Treo was that if I missed a call, text or reminder, it popped up large as soon as I turned on the phone. I have gotten used to looking at the tee-tiny little area at the top-left of the screen of my Droid to see if I’ve missed anything. However, in a perfect world I would prefer to get that first, even before the security pattern. Sort of like a busy assistant giving my my messages and reminding me where I need to be as I make my self-important way to wherever that might be. My Blackberry did a better job of this, too. Some people may want to include email notification in there but in my idealized version, I would be able to select what apps could notify. I get way too many emails across four accounts to be notified of each one. I shudder.
3. A different password protector. I’ve used SplashID with all four OSes. I used to love it for Treo but it has sucked a bit more with each OS until now I hate it. It takes FOREVER to load the password challenge, then forever to get to the Force.Quit notice which it never actually does before it (usually) opens. Sometimes it really does force quit but I haven’t detected a pattern. Then I have to type in what I’m looking for to search which isn’t quick. For an real-world-use example, the library where I work has a password for the staff elevator. I can’t usually remember it when it changes so I put it in SplashID. Sometimes it takes so long to pull it up someone has come by and taken pity on me. This was never a problem with my Treo or BlackBerry. I only had my iPhone for about six months but I remember being disgusted with SplashID on that, too. In my idealized version, the security challenge wouldn’t automatically start with the Caps turned on. My password doesn’t start that way and the app shouldn’t assume it does. Once inside, there would be a drag select option like there is in the Contacts, where a large letter appears and it’s quick and easy to get to the entries beginning with that letter. And it would be an absolute deal breaker if this phantom app didn’t have a desktop version. I maintain hundreds of websites with hundreds of random passwords; I cut and paste A LOT and doing so from the desktop version is the way it should be.
4. Easier word selection. I am at times moved to violence when trying to select a word on my Droid. Word selection on my iPhone was even worse. It was a dream on my Palm and Blackberry. I do miss the stylus from my Treo. I even find myself making my letters the way I did in Graffiti. But I digress. First of all, it took me time and a trip to the user manual to figure out how to copy a word. Then I’m asked if I want to select some or all. Then I try to drag-select and it usually takes f4-5 tries before I’m successful. This, my friends, is horse crap.
5. Better music player options. One reason I got an iPhone (besides that I just really wanted one) to replace my BlackBerry is so I could carry one device instead of two. I had a 2G iPod that I’d had forever. It still works; I gave it to my mother and she’s still using it. I checked during my last visit. Anyway, the best thing I can say about an iPhone is that it does have a really nice music player. I miss using the little dongle I bought that I used to turn it on and off, quickly pressing twice to instead forward to the next song. This dongle does not work with my Droid. I tried DoubleTwist’s player and found it to be unacceptable. I paid for bTunes which is just OK. I don’t like how it takes forever to load the 10GB of songs I have loaded. When I get in the car, my primary listening spot, I’m usually running late. I miss being able to plug in my tunes, press play and rely on my dongle if I didn’t like what came up first. And, speaking of shuffle, bTunes does a terrible job with “random” shuffling. It always starts with bands starting with an A or B. It is making me not love A3 and the Black Crows.
6. Better apps. I know this is coming. I read on CNN’s Tech page that Amazon is preparing to launch an Android App store. And the apps available now are not bad. But this is an idealized world I’m living in. I don’t like that some of the apps I have don’t work as well as visiting the actual site on the browser. Kind of defeats the purpose. For example, I can start a Yelp review through the app but I need to finish and post on a browser. That’s lame.
7. Native notes that synch somewhere. I didn’t realize how extensively I used Outlook Notes until I can’t use it anymore. It worked great on my Treo and Blackberry, not so much on the iPhone and not at all on the Droid, for obvious Gmail reasons. Evernote is pretty good as a note taker except the longer the note the more it irritatingly scrolls to the top even though you’re working at the bottom. Its app only lets you append notes rather than direct edit. I’mstill using and liking it but this is not ideal.
8. Where are my contacts? I can never find my contacts when on Google Calendars. I’d prefer to update my contacts on a desktop as I’m still ham-handed when it comes to using the keyboard on my device. I make a lot of mistakes and find it easier to update via a desktop. Also, I spend a lot of time on a desktop (really a laptop but the idea is the same). 

I was shooting for 10 improvements but this is all I have. I really do love my Droid and have high hopes for whatever tablet I buy.

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…

Anyway, the more I read and the older my iPhone got, I began to get frustrated with the way Apple does business. Then I happened to catch sight of the Samsung Galaxy on Engadget, my favorite tech blog. Its design is very iPhone-like but it runs Android OS and the best part, T-Mobile had a flavor of it right when I needed a new phone.

I cut the cord with iPhone and purchased the Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant. I got it for a good price after an instant rebate and about $50 I will get at some point on a Visa card. I like getting the card in the mail even though it would be better if it were simply an instant rebate.

So far I love it. And best of all, I don’t have to worry about hacking my phone. That’s one thing I liked when I had my Blackberry. That was the first time in a long time I’d had a phone that I didn’t purchase on eBay and hack somehow. I’m up for a good adventure most of the time but more and more, I felt I was risking bricking my phone whenever I did anything to it. I even fell for the old 3.1.2 upgrade debacle with my iPhone. In retrospect that’s when I think I really decided to get something else when I needed a new phone.  So here I am, back in the fold, able to call T-Mobile when something goes wrong.

If there is “an app for that” with iPhone I have not noticed a lack of apps for that with my Droid. I did have to repurchase SplashID for Droid. I’ve now officially had that app with Treo, BlackBerry, iPhone and now Android. Still it’s a great app and worth the fee. One little thing that annoys me is that the password screen automatically defauls to upper case first so that’s an extra keystroke. It’s minor but something I had to get used to.

Way more vexing is the lack of straight across Outlook synching. Fortunately I already had a Gmail account so it has been OK, just going to take some getting used to.

I discoverd from my second favorite techsource, my brother the network engineer, that Android does not have the ability to pop up reminders on top of the lock screen. This is going to take more getting used to. I missed that on the iPhone and I was fully expecting Android to be able to do it. Alas. Another thing I’ll have to get used to is checking the notification screen or remembering to look at the tee-tiny icons at the top of the home screen that indicate meetings, appointments and texts. I immediately shut down the email notification. Jeez, that would never be off. I check three accounts, four if you count Gmail which I don’t. It would be better to have an icon that shows when I don’t have email.

The next hurdle is finding some sort of iTunes replacement. When I got the iPhone, beside really wanting one, I also wanted to carry only one device rather than two. I gave my old iPhone 2G to my mom so I can’t go back there. She’s pretty attached to it. So now my device also needs to play music. I’ve been disappointed so far but hope springs eternal. One thing I do miss is the ability to shake the device to advance the song. I also miss the ability to double click the button-dongle I purchased for the car. The hangup button on my headphones also worked. I have an older Passat that still has the cassette so I play my device that way. That I do miss.

About 10 years ago, I had a friend email me wanting to know what it takes to build a website. I fired off about 15 questions and went about my way because nothing came of that project. But a kernal of an idea was there so I fished that email out of my Sent items. This was the beginning of a questionnaire I could use. I’ve been using and refining it since then.

I can tell from the permalinks that this article appeared last year on Smashing Magazine but it was highlighted recently. It got me thinking about my little questionnaire and how it stacks up against others. Actually, I wouldn’t call it little. It’s four pages.

I found this article endlessly helpful in my quest to write things down. Especially because, as crazy as it seems, given my propensity to write everything down, I DO NOT HAVE A GO-LIVE list. This is crazy when you think about how long I’ve been doing this.

My new Go-Live list will be different than it would have been had I started it earlier. Today it will include a whole section on how to move a WordPress site from a test folder to the live folder. It’s actually pretty easy and well documented in the WP Codex:

1. Backing Up Your Database
2. Moving WordPress

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).