Month: June 2011

WordPress on BlueHost: Themes and Plugins

Post author By Jordan
Post date 10:48 am

This entry is part 2 of 5 in the series Set up WordPress on BlueHost

We’re continuing our series on setting up WordPress on BlueHost. Today we’ll look at choosing a theme—the visual appearance of your site—and adding cool functionality with plugins. This post is based on WordPress 3.1.3.

Finding a New Theme

When you set up a blog, you want to have a design, color scheme and layout that helps to convey your blog’s theme, genre, purpose and features. There are hundreds of free WordPress themes that can help you do that. Additionally, you may want to commission a custom theme, which can vary in price from $25 to $1000 and more. You can learn more about working with a blog designer or going it alone in our blog design series.

Things to keep in mind as you select your theme:

How many columns do you want? Traditionally, most blogs have 2 or 3 columns, with the column displaying your posts much wider and the other one or two narrower columns featuring navigation and other information.
How do you want the columns laid out: posts on the right, left or in between the narrower columns? Some themes let you move around the columns.
What colors are you looking for? Again, some themes come with several color schemes to choose from.
What kind of graphics are you looking for—clean lines, rounded edges, etc.?
Do you want a navigation bar above or below your header (or both)?
Is the theme easy to read, navigate and understand?
Does the theme match your blog’s topic?

WordPress can help you find free themes for your blog in the Appearance menu, under Themes. At the top, select Install Themes.

On the Install Themes page, you have options to search for a theme. Check the box next to each option you want to search for, then click Find Theme, or you can search by keyword if you know the name of a theme you want to use.

The search will return all the themes that meet your criteria. Here, we checked pink, two columns and right sidebar. The search returned two themes:

To see what the themes look like full size, use the Preview link below the theme. This brings up a popup window with an interactive preview of the theme:

(You can close the preview by clicking the x in the upper left.)

If you like the theme or just want to try it out on your blog, click the Install button below the theme. This brings up another popup window. Click the Install Now button.

This automatically transfers the files of the theme to your website. Once the transfer is complete, you can click the Activate link from the transfer page to turn the theme on for your site. (You can also activate themes from the Appearance page.)

In the Appearance menu, you can see all the themes you’ve uploaded and change your theme. Under Available Themes, you should see the theme you just uploaded. Click on that theme to enable it for your blog. Be sure to check your site to make sure the theme is functioning properly.

Frequently Asked Questions on Themes

Should I only use a widget-ready theme? Probably. If you’re planning on using a lot of widgets, a widget-ready theme is a useful tool. It is ready for you to customize your sidebars and post layouts using an easy drag-and-drop style interface. But if you’ve got enough confidence and experience to get into the code yourself, you’ll be fine without one.
What are fixed and fluid width? Fixed width means that no matter what size screen people use to view your website, it will always be the same number of pixels wide. This can be a problem if your blog layout is designed to be wider than most standard screens (the smallest resolution is 800 pixels wide, but not many people use that resolution anymore. The most popular resolution right now is 1024 pixels wide).
Fluid width means that the blog layout is designed “resize” itself to maintain its proportions no matter how wide the viewer’s screen is. If you have a fluid layout and your posts column takes up 50% of the width of the screen, the posts column will take up 400 pixels on an 800×600 resolution screen and 960 pixels on a 1920×1200. Generally, these are considered more user-friendly, but a fixed width theme will work just fine, too.
Can I adjust the colors of my theme? If the background of your theme is an image, you should edit the image on your computer. If the colors are set via CSS, you can edit the CSS file before or after installing your new theme. Many themes now come with options pages that let you use a custom header image and/or colors.

Installing Plugins

Plugins are bits of code designed to customize and enhance your WordPress installation. Plugins can be installed in the same way that themes are, using the WordPress internal installer to find and install plugins.

You’ll find plugins in thee second set of left-hand menus of WordPress, under Plugins (if there’s a red circle with a number in it, that means you have that many plugins to update.) When you find a plugin that you’d like to implement in your blog, you can use the installer to find and automatically install it. The installer is at the bottom of the Plugins menu page, or you can click on “Add New” under the Plugins drop down menu.

From the Install Plugins window, you can search the WordPress plugin directory for your plugins.

Enter a term in the Search box to find a plugin, or navigate using the tags. Here we’re searching for a search plugin. This takes us to the results page, where the results look like this:

Details below the name generates a popup window with more info about the plugin—what it does, how popular it is, whether it’s compatible with your version of WordPress, etc.

Select the plugin you want and click on Install below the name. WordPress automatically installs the plugin.

Once the plugin is installed, if you want to use it right away, click Activate this plugin.

To work with your plugins later, go to the Plugins menu. You will see a list of all your uploaded plugins. The default WordPress install comes with two plugins: Akismet, a plugin to block spam comments, and Hello Dolly, a plugin to display lines from the song “Hello Dolly” in your WordPress admin screens. Once you’ve added your other plugins, these should also appear here. You can click the Activate link to activate each plugin individually, or you can use the checkboxes to activate, deactivate or delete more than one plugin at a time.

Note: WordPress will always deactivate all plugins before updating a WordPress installation.

Many plugins add menus to your WordPress so you can configure the options in them. Different plugins integrate into WordPress in different ways. The most common method seems to be for the plugin to add a submenu under the Tools or Settings menu. A few plugins add submenus to the Plugins or Dashboard menus; fewer still add another box to the left-hand menu bar all to themselves.

Some plugins don’t have menus in this way. Some plugins don’t have configurable options at all. Other plugins require you to edit the text of the plugin itself to configure the options (these are getting more and more rare). Study any documentation (the plugin author’s website or a readme file) to find these. Sometimes an explanation is included in the description of the plugin.

If you need to edit the plugin file itself which you should almost never have to do, you can do so by going to Plugins>Editor. The plugin files you have uploaded (active and inactive) will appear in a list on the right-hand side of the screen. Select the plugin you want to edit and follow its instructions. Be sure to save your changes. WordPress recommends deactivating a plugin before editing it and never editing an active plugin.

Most plugins come “widgetized,” packaged with drag-and-drop widgets to place in your blog layout so you don’t have to mess with the code, but rarely, some plugins will require you to insert a bit of code into your blog template to get them to work. To edit your theme’s files, in WordPress go to Appearance>Editor. There will be a list of files in your theme on the right-hand side of the screen. Select the appropriate file and follow the plugin’s directions carefully.

Note that it can be easy to “break” your blog (or a specific plugin) by editing its code. I recommend setting up a test blog on a subdomain to practice with these plugins to make sure that your blog will still function./p>

Ready to take the plunge? Sign up for hosting with BlueHost and set up your WordPress blog today!

Tags wordpress, bluehost, wordpress setup, bluehost setup, themes, wordpress themes, plugins, wordpress plugins

Kids/Parenting Fulfillment Faith

Fathers Matter, Too!

Post author By Jordan
Post date 10:39 pm

Though usually we talk about mothers and motherhood around here, I was asked to speak in church today. Some of my talk came from some previous Father’s day posts: Making Father’s Day Merry (Fabulous?), Dads are responsible (and important!) and Dads are capable.

And here are my other thoughts from today:

Children in today’s world need all the help they can get. Studies have shown that one family factor is strongly correlated with:

Not getting straight A’s
Repeating a grade
Dropping out of school
Obesity
higher delinquency and aggression test scores
Abuse or neglect, emotional or physical
poverty
Drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco
significantly more illicit drug use
Teen pregnancy

What was the one factor correlated with all of these circumstances? Not having a father in the home. (Statistics http://www.fatherhood.org)

It’s no wonder that Heavenly Father intended families to have two parents—because that’s how they function best. In the Proclamation to the World on the Family, we read:

By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation.

Dads belong in the family. It’s the ideal situation, and even if not all of us can enjoy the ideal, it’s important to recognize and honor fathers, especially today. It’s easy to find fault with fathers—and the media is a big help there. But for all the negative attention that dads get, I know that there are lots of fathers out there stepping up and doing a great job.

How can we honor the fathers in our lives?

We can pray for them.
We can get to know them.
We can honor them, obeying and listening to them.
We can forgive them.
We can love them.

Fathers may not realize their influence. But at least in my house, I can see it every day. This week alone, two of my sisters and I have talked about how things as little as phrases our father uses stay with us. Last week, Rachel heard the door open and she couldn’t see who had come in. “Da!” she shouted “Da! Da!” She does the same when she sees her father on the stand during Sacrament Meeting.

Rebecca’s favorite role to play is Buzz Lightyear. We were assigning roles to the rest of the family, and I asked if Daddy should be Zurg (sorry if I just spoiled the twist in Toy Story 2 for you). No, Rebecca reasoned, Daddy should be Andy because he’s nice.

But my favorite story is from Hayden: you ask him what he wants to be when he grows up, and his first (and often only) answer is “A father.” (And yes, “father,” not “dad or “daddy.”)

In the April 1999 General Conference [of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints], Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave a talk called “The Hands of the Fathers,” where he relayed several stories of real fathers doing their best to fulfill that divine appointment, and the impact that they had in the eyes and lives of their children.

Three such stories:

A young Laurel I met on a conference assignment not long ago wrote to me after our visit and said, “I wish my dad knew how much I need him spiritually and emotionally. I crave any kind comment, any warm personal gesture. I don’t think he knows how much it would mean to me to have him take an active interest in what is going on in my life, to offer to give me a blessing, or just spend some time together. I know he worries that he won’t do the right thing or won’t say the words well. But just to have him try would mean more than he could ever know. I don’t want to sound ungrateful because I know he loves me. He sent me a note once and signed it ‘Love, Dad.’ I treasure that note. I hold it among my dearest possessions.”

“Much in my chaotic childhood was uncertain, but one thing I knew for sure: that my dad loved me. That certainty was the anchor of my young life. I came to know and love the Lord because my father loved him. I have never called anyone a fool or taken the Lord’s name in vain because he told me the Bible said I shouldn’t. I have always paid my tithing because he taught me it was a privilege to do so. I have always tried to take responsibility for my mistakes because my father did. Even though he was estranged from the Church for a [time], at the end of his life he served a mission and worked faithfully in the temple. In his will he said that any money left over from taking care of his [family] should go to the Church. He loved the Church with all of his heart. And because of him, so do I.”

“Often as I watch my son watch me, I am taken back to moments with my own dad, remembering how vividly I wanted to be just like him. I remember having a plastic razor and my own can of foaming cream, and each morning I would shave when he shaved. I remember following his footsteps back and forth across the grass as he mowed the lawn in summer.

“Now I want my son to follow my lead, and yet it terrifies me to know he probably will. Holding this little boy in my arms, I feel a ‘heavenly homesickness,’ a longing to love the way God loves, to comfort the way He comforts, to protect the way He protects. The answer to all the fears of my youth was always ‘What would Dad do?’ Now that I have a child to raise I am counting on a Heavenly Father to tell me exactly that.”

The responsibilities of fatherhood can be heavy. The Proclamation later states: “Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of [our family] obligations.”

Just like mothers, fathers may feel inadequate to these responsibilities at times, but as Elder L. Tom Perry has pointed out, “It is not a matter of whether you are most worthy or best qualified, but it is a matter of [divine] appointment.”

I conclude with one more thought from Elder Holland’s talk:

And, brethren, even when we are not “the best of men,” even in our limitations and inadequacy, we can keep making our way in the right direction because of the encouraging teachings set forth by a Divine Father and demonstrated by a Divine Son. With a Heavenly Father’s help we can leave more of a parental legacy than we suppose.

I testify that when we do all that we can as parents, trusting in and relying on the Lord for guidance and sustenance, Jesus Christ will justify and sanctify our efforts. He can make us more than we are as fathers, mothers and people, and He can make our children and our families whole. Fathers matter. Temple covenants can bind our families together forever. The priesthood is real. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Tags lds, mormon, father's day, fathers, fatherhood, church

Kids/Parenting Fulfillment

Slipping away

Post author By Jordan
Post date 8:18 pm
2 Comments on Slipping away

My sister had a baby one week ago today! This is pretty special for me, too: this is the first time any of my sisters has ever had a baby. My first niece or nephew on my side of the family. The first grandbaby for my parents that wasn’t provided by me. Welcome to the world, Preslee! I wish I could be there to snuggle you up, too!

Hayden was a week old when I first felt the time slipping away. Suddenly we weren’t counting his age in days anymore. He hadn’t changed a whole lot since birth (I suppose he was a little more aware and awake, maybe), and yet somehow that change in words made him infinitely older. It presaged the change to months, then years. It was the first time I was losing my baby.

(I had been very sick all week; maybe I was a little melodramatic 😉 . But, then, maybe I do this for every child. New mommy hormones?)

Time does seem to slip away from us mothers faster than we can even grasp at it. My baby—my third baby—is one. My sister is a mother. Time marches on and life goes with it.

I want to try not to mourn the recent past instead of enjoying the present. If I obsess over what’s passed, I’ll miss what’s going on now. I have a hard time remembering what Hayden was like at Rebecca’s age or Rachel’s age, but luckily we have photos and videos and blog entries to remind us of that time in our life.

In the mean time, let’s enjoy the present while we have it. (Blah blah blah it’sagiftgagme.)

What are you doing to enjoy the present?

Photo by Kat

Tags babies, present, preslee, niece, time, enjoying the present

Kids/Parenting

Rachel’s birthday

Yesterday my baby turned one! It’s hard to believe it’s been a whole year—and only a year—since she joined our family. We love her so much! Here’s my little cutie:

Celebrating with homemade angel food cake and strawberries. (We had angel food and strawberries for Rebecca’s first birthday, too, I believe)

Opening presents

Fun little wheely animals!

She knows the good stuff! And yes, that is a wrapped candy bar bite in her mouth.

Cute outfits! (Note the candy still in her hand.)

My personal favorite: a little car & dashboard. (I wanted a toy like this for my second or third Christmas. Apparently I could find the toy in the catalogue on command and point to it to tell my parents and anyone else who asked what I wanted.) (Oh, and I got it. It was awesome.)

Happy birthday girl! (With cake in her hair)

I keep wondering if she’s crazy small or if I just don’t really remember the other kids at this age. I mean, she can walk across rooms and my other kids couldn’t at this age. So finally I dug out some pictures and stats of the kids on their birthdays—she’s totally normal. (Take THAT, grocery-store-guy who asked if she was two or three months old!)

Tags Pictures, birthday, holiday, rachel

Kids/Parenting Fulfillment

100 101 Things to be Grateful For!

Post author By Jordan
Post date 10:04 pm
6 Comments on ~~100~~ 101 Things to be Grateful For!

Thursday (the second half of the post):
6. At least a little good news for my very pregnant sister, Brooke—even if it’s not her baby yet. (Hurry up, baby!)
7. A sweet sister from church who loaned me her jacket—it was FREEZING for June!!
8. On that note, aside from one hot spell + visitors in April, we haven’t turned on our A/C yet this year.
9. Being brave and calling a stranger (service provider) for an appointment.
10. I’m going to the BEACH! (Just check out my Pinterest: clearly I’m inspired by this, even though it’s quite some time away.)

Friday

New plants in the garden! Yeah, I had to buy them, but, hey—tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers to go along with our peas!
All the materials I need (hopefully) for two crafts now in my possession.
Getting started on one of those crafts—working hard (tune in to Wayward Girls Crafts Monday for the big reveal!)
Blogging with my sisters—it’s so fun to work with them and see what they’re up to!
Having Jaime on our “promotion team.” (Maybe you should switch careers to social media, Jai 😉
Getting stuff done, even when I have two kids with me.
Dinner at a Japanese steakhouse! Fun! I even caught a shrimp in my mouth! (Much luckier than the other lady at the table, who caught it with her glasses.
Reasonably well-behaved kids during said dinner (even though we forgot to bring anything for Rachel to eat!
$20 off said dinner—Ryan’s always scouring City Deals.
Being done with this dang project!
A friend who did it with me!

All right, to be honest, I kind of came to hate doing this. Like my friend Elisa said, it seemed to put on a lot of pressure to post daily, something which neither of us do—it became an obligation. It did take some stretching to think of things I hadn’t mentioned before.

However, it was nice to take a few minutes at the end of the day (or a day or two later) and think about all the good parts of the day—the things that I enjoyed most about the day and the things the adorable things that all my kids had done. Plus it’s helped filling in Rachel’s baby calendar (if I had a grateful list for today this would be on there: I have a list of everything I need to add to Rachel’s last month of her calendar! Now if only I could find one of the two special markers I’ve bought to write in there…)

But once when I’d really had enough during bedtime, I went in my room and tried to think of the gratefuls for the day. I think that’s a pretty good take away, don’t you?

What are you grateful for? Not taking on the challenge?

My 100 101!

Rain—don’t have to water the garden! (Borrowed from my friend Elisa, who’s also participating!)
My garden (okay, my sugar snap peas) is growing.
Ryan just cut both yards and they look very neat.
Hayden’s drawings—today he drew me an awesome cow 😀 .
Getting things done with the rest of the Executive Committee of my writers’ group.
Chopped!
Chatting with my sister, which I missed today.
Contact lenses and glasses.
Already having my pineapple CUPside-down CAKES, done and posted on Wayward Girls’ Crafts for this week!
Sleeping in! (relatively)
Naps, even if in theory only.
Rachel kicking with delight!
Checking things off my to do list (like this post!).
Putting the kids to bed early-ish.
That Rebecca’s hair will grow. (See last picture.)
Potty training! (And being done!)
Finishing off the cookies we made last night—no more temptation.
Left overs and Ryan reheating them.
Tuna salad sandwiches with celery, making me think of my mom.
Hayden including his sisters in playing with his blocks. And his blogs. But more about that next week.
I actually do like Rebecca’s bangs. Love, even!
Rachel getting more and more courageous at walking.
Hayden riding bikes with the neighbor boys. (Can I tell you how cute I think this is?!)
Neighbors we trust (and love).
The DVR (sad but true).
Forgiving myself/not pushing myself (all the way) into burnout.
Hayden’s creative buildings with blocks.
Cool new software available free for my site.
Not having to go grocery shopping.
Getting everyone out of pajamas, away from screens, and spending time together.
A new “smile chart” for encouraging good behaviors, mostly for Hayden
Yoga when I just don’t feel like aerobics.
WEBSITE BACKUPS!!! (Nothing to do with #8 above.)
Tech support at Bluehost.
Rebecca’s favorite movie and her imagination play with Monsters Inc.
Not having to clip Rebecca’s hair back.
Online “chatting” with “old” friends 😉 and jokes about “punctuation” 😉
Writing something totally fun!
An editing job I really feel good about!
Sending something to critique partners.
Aunt Jasmine!
Fun times with friends
Homemade pizza (made by my friend)
Our friend who takes Hayden out for fun
Homemade cookies (made by Hayden and ^ friend)
Rachel’s excitedly tackling her daddy
Rachel’s favorite (only?) word: HeyDAH! (Hayden; Hi, Dad; Hi there; Here it is)
For the first time in 43 months, I am neither pregnant nor nursing!
Ryan doesn’t work on Fridays
My aerobics show
Our freedoms.
Those who have sacrificed (and are now sacrificing) to preserve those freedoms.
A day off!
Rachel going from hands and feet to just feet without support.
Craft store sales.
Ambitious art projects (I’m so NOT that, but I’m ready to try now!)
More exciting (and delicious) projects coming up for Wayward Girls’ Crafts
One (and only one) fun find at garage sales/thrift stores over the weekend.
Lining up the first teacher for the first class for my writer’s group!
Ryan putting Rachel to bed.
Finally, May-worthy weather!
Time at the park (even if we all got a little sunburned)
Takeout for dinner
Lining up more teachers for my writers group
Homemade doughnuts
Going to bed early! Seriously couldn’t keep my eyes open after 10:30 last night.
Rebecca’s imaginary toys at the park (which she told her daddy all about at dinner)
New friends for Hayden at the park.
Rachel said “Hi, Dada” three times this morning!
Man—just a great day!
Ryan taking my frustrations
Rachel’s first ride in a car shopping cart.
A place to run off to
A fairly good grocery shopping trip
A good day at eating
Cleaning up, even if it needs more work done!
A baby who wakes up happy.
Getting up early. (And it’s a rare day when I can say that—either that I’ve done it or that I’m grateful.)
Finishing the smile chart: Hayden did earn the helmet and the bell. Still have to tally up Rebecca’s.
A baby who eats well. Usually.
Growing kids!
Hand-me-downs from cousins.
Finding new clothes I forgot the kids had.
A night out with the ladies from church
Chocolate chips. In moderation.
At least a little good news for my very pregnant sister, Brooke—even if it’s not her baby yet. (Hurry up, baby!)
A sweet sister from church who loaned me her jacket—it was FREEZING for June!!
On that note, aside from one hot spell + visitors in April, we haven’t turned on our A/C yet this year.
Being brave and calling a stranger (service provider) for an appointment.
I’m going to the BEACH! (Just check out my Pinterest: clearly I’m inspired by this, even though it’s quite some time away.)
New plants in the garden! Yeah, I had to buy them, but, hey—tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers to go along with our peas!
All the materials I need (hopefully) for two crafts now in my possession.
Getting started on one of those crafts—working hard (tune in to Wayward Girls Crafts Monday for the big reveal!)
Blogging with my sisters—it’s so fun to work with them and see what they’re up to!
Having Jaime on our “promotion team.” (Maybe you should switch careers to social media, Jai 😉
Getting stuff done, even when I have two kids with me.
Dinner at a Japanese steakhouse! Fun! I even caught a shrimp in my mouth! (Much luckier than the other lady at the table, who caught it with her glasses.
Reasonably well-behaved kids during said dinner (even though we forgot to bring anything for Rachel to eat!
$20 off said dinner—Ryan’s always scouring City Deals.
Being done with this dang project!
A friend who did it with me!

Tags gratitude, 100 things to be grateful for

Kids/Parenting Fulfillment

It will never be enough (+ 20 gratefuls)

Post author By Jordan
Post date 3:22 pm
4 Comments on It will never be enough (+ 20 gratefuls)

Apparently in my head, there’s this imaginary quota for the amount of work, frustration or time I can spend on any activity, especially ones related to motherhood. After that point, I feel like I’m entitled to give up. I’ve done enough, I’ve given enough, and it’s time for a break.

While it’s definitely wise to recognize our limits, sometimes we need to recognize what isn’t really a limit. My “enough-o-meter” is pretty sensitive—and Ryan walking through the door lowers the threshold even more. Just because I don’t have to put up with something or do something, does that mean it’s okay to shunt it off on someone else, or slough off entirely?

This is motherhood. It’s a calling, not an activity or a hobby or even a job. It’s part of who I am. And even then, it’s more than that—it’s having these three little people completely dependent on me. Having given them a lot already today is good, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need me now.

They’re children. They haven’t learned to regulate their wants yet, and I have to set boundaries for this all the time. But most of the time, my arbitrary limit is just that—arbitrary. Set totally by me, independent of important variables like how much patience and time and enthusiasm I could muster if I tried.

I don’t have to love every second of motherhood, and of course I won’t. And of course there will be times when I’m legitimately overwhelmed and can’t—and shouldn’t—push myself any further before I take some time to recharge. But when it comes to my children, how can I possibly say they’ve gotten “enough” of my time, attention and love—enough of me?

Photo by Bake it Pretty

The Gratefuls!

Wednesday:

Ryan taking my frustrations
Rachel’s first ride in a car (see right)
A place to run off to
A fairly good grocery shopping trip
A good day at eating
Cleaning up, even if it needs more work done!
A baby who wakes up happy.
Getting up early. (And it’s a rare day when I can say that—either that I’ve done it or that I’m grateful.)
Finishing the smile chart: Hayden did earn the helmet and the bell. Still have to tally up Rebecca’s.
A baby who eats well. Usually.

Thursday:

Growing kids!
Hand-me-downs from cousins.
Finding new clothes I forgot the kids had.
A night out with the ladies from church
Chocolate chips. In moderation.

The rest to come tomorrow!

Tags patience, gratitude, 100 things to be grateful for, enough, enough-o-meter, effort