If you ever have a technical questions regarding Wordpress, Nice 2 All should be your first stop. First off, reading a post on Nice 2 All is like having a conversation with an expert, who happens to be a friend. That’s one of the biggest draws—it’s refreshing to be talked to, not talked at. Even her “About” paragraph is open and friendly:

Hi, my name is Lyndi. Here we talk about all things related to WordPress. You are more than welcome to join in the discussion.

Lyndi’s not just saying that, either. She means it. I take my comment cues from her. She replies to almost every comment she receives on her blog, and she receives a lot of comments! But she’s not just friendly. Her articles are informative and helpful. Don’t take my word for it, however. Check out her Archives for the ‘Tips’ Category. If you’re a WordPress user and don’t find something here to make your blog better, you shouldn’t be blogging. Here is a list of the five posts I’ve found most helpful:

1. How to get more blog subscribers
2. Sprucing up that blogroll
3. Dare to be different
4. Threaded comments
5. Woopra Statistics

I don’t like that she’s started doing reviews. I had that market cornered and I fear that in a competition she’ll beat me hands down. After all, her blog title uses the word ‘nice’ and my blog title uses the word ‘hate’.

By now it should be no secret that I’m an Entrecard member. While I’ve come across a lot of crap on Entrecard, I’ve also come across some really good blogs. (This makes the crap bearable.)

One of the blogs I’ve discovered is an excellent “bloggers blog” that I have become quite taken with. Not only is the design wonderful, but the content is valid and substantial. Blog Design Blog understands not only the importance of credible and interesting content, but the importance of presenting that content:

A blog that looks like it was put together by someone’s nephew in their basement or uses a free template will give off the impression of being unprofessional, lack of credibility, and sketchy. You could have created the world’s most comprehensive blog on a subject, but your blog design can prevent people from even giving you a chance. And without readers, how are you suppose to make a successful blog?

I agree completely with this statement. I would even take this a step further and include websites as well. It doesn’t matter what you are selling—if your presentation is lacking or sloppy, no one is going to buy. (Ok, Craig’s List is an exception to this rule, but you’re getting stuff dirt cheap!)

Blog Design Blog has started a series: “How to Disassemble a Free WordPress Theme.” Part 1 was posted on September 30 and covered the header, sidebar, footer, and index PHP files. A lofty post (each one could have easily been a post by itself), but one that I would consider a required read for anyone who wants to take their WordPress blog to the next level (and if you’re a serious blogger, you do).

BDB is taking an existing WP theme and using it as the guinnea pig for this series. They are combining WordPress-PHP file background information and sample code to try and de-mystify the process of making a free theme your own. I admit that I’m a WP hack, and am seriously looking forward to Part 2!

But for now, you’ll have to settle for part 1 (trust me, it’s long enough).

How to Disassemble a Free WordPress Theme Part 1

(This article has been added to the Resources page, as a permanent resource.)

Wicked WordPress Archives in One Easy Step!

From Pearsonified:

So, how do we change our boring archives into beautiful, unique pages with images that just beg to be scanned? The answer lies with…

…the WordPress optional excerpt feature. How beautifully simple. All you have to do is insert your own formatted teaser information and instead of the first 55 words of your post’s content (with no pretty layout), you’ll get something that’s actually presentable. For 10 things I have gone back through the posts (all six of them) and just copied and pasted my content up to the more tag. Now my archives are fancied up (as my 5-year old would say).

Read all about this feature:

Wicked WordPress Archives in One Easy Step!

When you’re finished, you’ll be itching to optional excerpt your posts, old and new.

This week’s resource is a cool little Dreamweaver plug-in that quickly and easily lets you create the newest web craze: the accordion effect. I came across this plug-in while pulling my hair out trying to modify open source AJAX code for this clever effect. This new design style is being tested on my old workhorse, Web-Betty.com. A note of caution…this redesign is still underway and buggy in IE 6. NOT the accordion effect, but the refusal of IE 6 to play nicely with .png transparency! (Visit Web-Betty on IE 6 at your own risk.)

From Trio Solutions:

This is a handy tool if you don’t want all sections of your webpage to be visible at the same time, for example, if you have a long page. Gives your page a professional, elaborated look.

• No programming skills required
• No server side requeriments
• Compatible with most browsers, both PC and Mac.

Ok, if they were going to offer this page up to 10 things, already there would be two items on the list. Spelling and punctuation. This does not, however, keep the plug-in from being incredibly handy. If you were too afraid to check out Web-Betty.com, just click on the demo links they offer to get a down-and-dirty example. (I’ve prettied mine up a bit.)

One last note on this plug-in—I’ve found the support from Trio for this plug-in to be excellent. They respond in a timely manner and are very helpful. Of course, they haven’t figured out how to make their CSS work with my .png transparency fix, but I won’t hold that against them!

Trio Solutions: Accordion Effect Dreamweaver Plug-in

FYI: This link has also been added to the Resources page.

From TechRepublic:

“Many novice Web developers use CSS positioning and layout directives without a sound understanding of how they really work. A brief introduction to the box model explains what it is and how you can use it to make better decisions about positioning your HTML elements on a Web page.“

This article provides very detailed information on the CSS box model, with accompanying diagrams (which I find particularly helpful ). I often struggle with the box model (surprise, surprise)—to say I hate trying to figure out padding and margins would be an understatement. This article, along with other CSS references, has been a site saver. I hope you Enjoy!

Make better Web pages by understanding the CSS box model

FYI: This article has also been added to the Resources pages.

Box model diagram from http://geek.focalcurve.com/crashcourse-part2/