Photography and Wordpress, CSS, PHP, Photoshop and Dreamweaver Tutorials by Chase Adams

By any other name…(Win a gift card)

chase_adams — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 14:47:08 +0000

It’s been a LONG time since I last posted anything of value (anything at all, for that matter) and the time has come to open the flood gates.

First things first, I’m getting MARRIED this year! Hoorah for me! (and the lucky lady @jerickwald) This year will be a year of new experiences for me…and getting married will be the most impactful of all.

Last month I began the daunting task of creating a webApplication project in my free time, from scratch, to help web developers, designers, photographers & the likes collaborate on similar projects.

I have mulled over SO many names for the application itself…with no success. I’m starting to realize that the scope of my creativity lies just outside of coming up with catchy names.

This is where I need your help. You have the chance to win a $30 iTunes gift card just by coming up with a name. You have 3 ways to win.

Here’s how it works:

GOOGLE your idea first to make sure it won’t create any legal repercussions for me if it’s already taken.
If it isn’t, then comment here to let me know your idea OR e-mail me at chase@chaseadamsphotography.com with the name you come up with.
Include as many ideas as you’d like as long as they comply with #3.
Keep it RELEVANT to what the application does. Nothing having to do with daisies or puppies. This is a serious deal…so you’re welcome to send me silly names, but trust me, they won’t make it to the potential list.
Invite your friends to join in. If they win, there’s a little something in it for you too. Make sure they mention you recommended them so you can get the little something for you.
Invite your friends to VOTE for the BEST idea. Please don’t tell them to vote for your idea just because you liked it.
When you/your friends vote, you’re also entered to win a $15 iTunes gift card.
Comment on this post: “I want to win” or RT this to facebook or twitter, “Help @theeskimofriend come up with a web application name and win a $30 iTunes gift card! Please RT http://tinyurl.com/ydr8hsx

The more of these things you do, the better chance you have at winning ONE of the 3 iTunes gift cards up for grabs!

Simple right? I’m closing the contest to entriesON Feb. 15th, so be sure to get your ideas to me ASAP. I’ll post the potentials back here in a new post, and we’ll get people to vote.

Here are the highlights of what this webApplication does:

Secure log-in to see the list of the clients & projects the user is working on
Click the individual client or project from a list to see the in depth profile you’ve created to keep up with them
Add & remove clients/projects
Clock in/out to track the amount of time spent on each project
Track the amount of money each client is paying you total, per project, per hour
Invite the people you collaborate with to see their objectives in your projects, track the time they spend on their objectives, and give them the ability check off their completed sections.

That’s it! It sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is…really it’s just a simple webApplication with LOTS of functionality.

Thanks for everyone’s support, and good luck! (Who wouldn’t want “free”/legal music?)

My issue with Capitalism: The only way to do things right, is to do things wrong.

chase_adams — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:10:15 +0000

First off, I don’t think capitalism is bad. I think capitalism done right is how countries are made great. (The U.S. has had a LONG run of greatness due to capitalism done by giving the customer great service and products) I believe that every system has problems and that the best possible system is the one with the least amount of problems.

Secondly, this will be my ONLY post on economics (hopefully). If you have anything worthwhile to add, please feel free to comment, but if it’s critical towards ME, contains profanity or useless banter, it will NOT be accepted. That being said, I look forward to hearing other people’s opinions on the issue. So let me continue…

Being a part of a business in a cut-throat industry has opened my eyes to some dangerous truths. I imagine it’s very similar to what happened to the mom & pop’s general stores when Wal-Mart spread like an infectious bacteria, growing at an exponential rate from the small one-store operation in Bentonville, Arkansas, to a gargantuan mega-corporation with it’s stranglehold in more than 14 countries outside of the U.S.

Since I can remember, the industry I am involved in has been one of healthy competition, driven by a mix of customer service, quality of material and, least of all, price (though in Atlanta prices are lower than any other city in the Southeast).

In the past few months there has been a shift from healthy competition to outright dog-eat-dog survival, driven only by prices that are often BELOW the company’s profit margin. Take a moment and take that in. Companies are willing to LOSE money on almost every sell. The companies that are willing to leverage lost profits are, for the most part, backed by internationally traded, mega-corporations who have been willing to throw money at these companies for the past few months, with no APPARENT reason (I give my rational theory later).

What’s worse: The consumer is willing to pay the lowest price possible to save a few dollars, without even realizing the lasting effect this will have on THEIR bottom line.

Think about this: When a distributor (We’ll call it Corp A) is willing to drive it’s prices $1,000 below every other distributor (We’ll call them collectively Corps B-F) and consumers buy at the cheaper price 75% of the time, a majority of Corps B-F will go under, and leave only Corp A to reap (rearrange the letters to get what they’re really going to do to the consumers) profits at a margin far higher than Corps B-F were willing to sell at from the beginning.

So 6 months down the road you’re looking at paying HIGHER prices to Corp A than you were going to pay Corps B-F, and doing so at a loss of quality in material and customer service.  

The true crime: Consumers will complain that Corp A doesn’t do anything right and wish there was someone who could give them the quality materials they need at a price not bloated by greed, with good service, all the while being totally oblivious to the fact that it was their in the first place that those companies weren’t around anymore.

What are your thoughts? Is the only way to do things right in capitalism (to increase SOMEONE’S bottom line, other than the consumer) to do the slightly unethical thing by driving everyone else out of business by compromising your shareholders and driving margins below profitability?

Is customer service worthwhile anymore?

Remove the iDisk shortcut in your Finder Window on your Mac

chase_adams — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:47:05 +0000

Level of Difficulty: Incredibly Easy

There’s nothing more annoying than opening up your finder window, intending to click on Macintosh HD or your External HardDrive and accidentally clicking iDisk, with it telling you you have to setup your preferences.

It’s not a major issue, but for anyone who’s constantly accessing a device in your DEVICES panel, know how incredibly annoying it is. Fortunately, there’s an easy way to fix it.

Open a new finder window and place your mouse of one of the devices and command(the little ⌘ button) + click.

Now you’ll see a list of devices to check/uncheck. Uncheck the iDisk item, and there you have it, no more annoying iDisk icon.

Final Result

Caveat: If you actually USE iDisk, I don’t recommend doing this as it will not show up here, even if you are connected to it. If you don’t use it now but plan on using it in the future, just follow the same steps listed above, checking iDisk, rather than unchecking it.

Puerto Vallarta:The Unnamed Pup

chase_adams — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 11:39:35 +0000

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
There is no telling if the dogs in Puerto Vallarta are free range or if they actually belong to someone. Everywhere you go in the city there are dogs that just…roam.

The Horse from Cofer Ranch

chase_adams — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:46:14 +0000

A horse is a horse, of course, of course, UNLESS it’s from Cofer Ranch. From a Collection of “Cofer Ranch: A Buffalo’s Home” Photographs.

Black Diamond Climbing Rope & Omega Pacific Quickdraws

chase_adams — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:25:12 +0000

For all of my fellow (twitter) climbers: First glance of a “product” shoot I did for my Black Diamond Climbing Rope & Omega Pacific Quickdraws.

Why My Kool-Aid is Apple (inc.) Flavored

chase_adams — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:45:09 +0000

There’s something about a first. Your first kiss. Your first car. Your first true Mexican Burrito. The first sip of the proverbial Kool-Aid.

Maybe it’s the excitement (translate “awkwardness” for some) of actually doing something you’ve always wanted to do…turning the dream into a reality. It’s a moment that because of that ONE thing, your life will be changed forever.

I remember my first swig of the Kool-Aid and I’ll be the first to admit it: I drink the Kool-Aid, and it tastes like Apple.

It was in the late 1980’s. I was still in pull-ups and rocking a Mullet/RatTail. I sat in front of an Apple Macintosh Computer. That’s right. I can still see the distinct monochrome display of a dinosaur “coloring” book on the screen, where “coloring” meant clicking different parts of the dinosaur to fill it in with a pattern.

Fast-forward a little less than 20 years, a few PC’s, an appreciation for Photoshop (thanks to Brian Cole, my favorite teacher of all time), and “light-years” from my first computer: A little hole in the wall Mexican Restaurant in my hometown on February 20th, 2004. It was my birthday. A few friends had travelled with me back from Virginia (One being Taylor Swift, my photography companion) to celebrate my 20th birthday.

There was one box on the table. I don’t remember what it was wrapped in, but I do remember the shape: A cube.

I knew what it was. I had been on a journey to find the perfect music player. Everything I had found was “archaic” in my illustrious vision of what a music player should be like.

Everything, but this: The 1st Gen. iPod.

It surpassed all expectations. It was simple. It was sleek. It had rounded corners and a “Chrome”-plated back plate. It integrated easily with my PC (PC replaced with MacBook soon after).

Anyone who has owned an Apple product knows what happens next. You buy whatever is next. You upgrade from the 4 Gigabit Classic to the 16 Gigabit Classic…then you need the Nano for when you don’t want such a big iPod…then the Shuffle for when you need to have something REALLY small. Since you’ve now become a frequent visitor to the Apple Spiked Kool-Aid bowl, you break down and get an iPod Touch, an iPhone, and a MacBook to be sure you’re keeping with your the advances in awesomeness & brand loyalty.

I even bought Apple Stock. I bought it extremely low compared to today’s price, and Apple has treated me well.

Here are a few reasons I believe Apple is not only here to stay, but it might be a dangerous threat to most any other technology company:

Simple. If you’ve ever used an Apple product, you know it just works. I don’t have to worry about when I turn on my MacBook being barraged with multiple pop-ups telling me that my computer is doing something. If it’s going to do it, it does so without having to tell me.
Sleek. Every Apple product has something about it that just makes you want to look at it for a long time. The rounded corners, the blacks & whites that your eyes are drawn to, the saturation and brightness of the screens. Their sole purpose is working eye candy.
Sophisticated. All of my Apple products integrate well with each other, and play nice with everything else. I have no problem accessing external hard drives, wireless networks, any iPod, or any computers, whether they be Mac or PC. Everything plays nice, and I don’t have to go through the hassle of looking up drivers for my MacBook, because the computer does it for me.
They’re Cool. Like it or not, Apple products are just cool. The only people who will say they aren’t are 1) Getting a kickback from some PC maker, 2) Secretly want an iPod but can’t, for some reason or another, get one or 3) Are afraid of the addiction. All of the aforementioned reasons are enough to dissuade any PC user if they’re given the chance to play with a MacBook for one week.
Beta Tests. I have not once had something quirky like The Service Pack 2 upgrade happen on my MacBook (knocking on wood). That’s not to say that Apple products don’t have their flaws, but 999 times out of 1,000, Apple makes sure what they’re releasing actually works before unleashing it upon unknowing consumers. I have bought the Operating System Updates every time they’re released one in the past 3 years, and none of those times have I had something go terribly wrong. Note: That being said, people…back up your Hard Drives before installing a new OS. Actually, just back up your hard drive. You’ll be glad you did.

So that’s my list. If you aren’t using an Apple product, you will be soon. A very close relative/friend of mine who has sworn off Apple for the longest time finally took his sip of the Kool-Aid today and broke down and bought an iPhone. I know what’s coming next: MacBook, Nano, Shuffle & all.

Use CSS and PHP to replace text dates in Wordpress with Calendar Images

chase_adams — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 21:16:25 +0000

I know what you’re thinking to yourself: “Why would I want my Wordpress posts date to be completely replaced by images.”

Just kidding. I don’t know why you would think that to yourself. Let’s face it, with the advent of CSS, we’ve all resorted to replacing what would be normal text markup (words on the page) with images because as designers and creatures of aesthetics, we like things to look unique…and there’s only so much uniqu-ity you can show with standard HTML.

So I’ve taken the already available features of PHP in Wordpress and used it in conjunction with CSS to make totally replaced (and web-standards compliant) dates.

Seem like a lot? See the note at the bottom or click here!
Here is an example if you haven’t already noticed it on the current post.

Okay, here we go…Dive in with me. The water is warm. Download this folder first. It contains 3 important files:

The PSD File with the calendar “pages” on it
The PHP
The CSS

You’ll also need to get the font “Downcome” if you want to keep the font of the Months & Dates the same.

First things first, you need to make the calendar. I’ve included a support folder with a PSD file called “datecolumns.psd”. You’re welcome to make any adjustments to it that you’d like, use it as is or completely wipe it clean and make your own, just remember that later on you’ll have to figure out your own background-positions.
Second, we need to create an unordered list in the index.php of your site. We’re going to do something like this:
```
">





,
```
That’s it as far as PHP & HTML go. Here’s what we’ve done so far:
1. Created a class called “smallentrydate”. This is a wrapper for our total calendar page.
2. Created a class called “date-fill-in-the-blank”. The big M takes whatever month it is and gives an output of “sep” for September, giving you the class, “dateSep” or for August”DateAug”. Using the shorthand for the month with the big M is going to be vital for when we start on the CSS.
3. We’ve also created a class called “date-fill-in-the-number-date”…So if the post was written on the 5th, it outputs a class=”date05″.
4. In the tag, you’ll see that we also requested the output of a date in the form of ‘M’ ‘d’, ‘Y’, which would give us “Jan 09, 2009″ in text form. If you turn off CSS, you’ll see this shows up in the place of the calendar image. This is important for accessibility reasons and search engines…so don’t leave it out.
Simple so far, right? Let’s move on to the CSS

We’re going to start out with defining some things about the smallentrydate class in our style.css:


.smallentrydate {
	float: right; /* floats it to the right */
	height: 55px; /* Total Height of Calendar Image */
	margin: 0 0 10px 0; /* Keeps a good space from text below */
	padding: 0;
	width: 60px; /* Total Width of Calendar Image */
}
.smallentrydate li {
	background: url(images/datecolumns.png) no-repeat;
	list-style: none;
	margin: 0;
	padding: 0;
	top: 0;
}
.smallentrydate li, .smallentrydate a {
	display: block;
	margin: 0;
	overflow: hidden;
	padding: 0;
	text-indent: -1000em; /* Pushes Text off the page, to keep it from showing up with a stylesheet */
	width: 55px;
}
.smallentrydate .dateJan { background-position: -6px -303px; height: 15px; width: 55px; }

.smallentrydate .date01 { background-position: -6px -318px; height: 45px; width: 55px; }

So to break it all down, this is what we’re looking at:

We defined the characteristics of our smallentrydate.
Defined the characteristics of our smallentrydate li, most importantly the background-image, and no list-style and the width, which is 55px for every replacing image.
We pushed the text off of the page that would appear on top of the smallentrydate without a text-indent. It gives us the aesthetics of image replacement with the accessibility of text.

You’ll also see that I defined .dateJan & .date01 for you. All I did was find the left and top most boundary on Photoshop of January and put background-position: the left (-6px) & the top (-303px) position where I want it to start. (Make sure to use negatives in front of the values), I also defined the height & width.

You’re going to have to set this background-position system up for all 12 months & 31 days, but 43 is a lot nicer than having to do 365 background-positions. You can also use the CSS included in the support folder, which will save you time typing .smallentrydate .date”whatever” everytime.

Hopefully this helps somebody out there. It’s been a great project for me to take on and complete.

Note: This is for a self-hosted Wordpress site. If you have (1) A self-hosted Wordpress but don’t want to deal with the typing, just download this folder, include the appropriate parts in the appropriate sections and play with the PSD or (2) I am currently working on making it a plugin for anyone who’s not interested in the innerworkings as much as just having it. IF you would like for me to make it a plugin, please comment at the bottom and it will help me decide the urgency at which it must be done.

Digital photography is killing me.

chase_adams — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:16:08 +0000

I have a confession: Digital photography is killing me.

I am torn between appreciation for the format and the incredible boom of people who are beginning to make their way into “professional photography”. I can’t say that I remember what it was like to be a professional photographer, because my experience as a professional before digital was confined to photoshop manipulation & level adjustments for Mylinda Knittel, owner/operator of Spring Street Studios.

Before that, however, I was what I would consider a good photographer. As a teenager I used a camera that was completely manual with exception of a light meter and I had a solid grasp on composition. It was hard to take photographs worthy of people’s wall. Now it seems that anyone can take a good photograph by simply pointing the lens in the right direction, and the camera does the rest.

Honestly, when I think hard about it, I really loath the idea that any Joe off the street can go lay down $500 and have the ability to take photographs for profit, when they don’t even know what “shutter speed”, “aperture”, or ISO mean.

Am I the only one who feels this way? Is it right to feel this way?

Apalachicola: The Last Great Bay, My First Photography Project

chase_adams — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 04:09:29 +0000

Remember when you used to have to load a camera with a little circular object called, “film”. I do. This is a small sample of photographs that were taken close to 10 years ago. They were shot on an old Nikon F2 (from the ’70s) 35 mm with iso 400 film. My family has always taken trips to St. George Island for vacation, and everytime we go I find something new to photograph. This is the fruit of my very first photography project from High School. It’s amazing to see how much my style has evolved, as well as how much the camera itself has evolved.

Cliffs of St. George

The “cliffs” in this picture were only about 3 feet high, but being able to take the picture from a low angle, and no people on the beach make it appear much more cliff-like than it actually was.

Shrimp Boat

This shrimp boat was docked in Appalachicola Bay, the last great bay of America.

Castles in the Sand

One of the most enjoyable pass-times of my father’s at the beach is building “unusual” sandcastles. This one was of his greatest works. It almost looks as if it is a real castle built in the bluffs of the Sea.

Rusted Chain

When I first saw this rusted chain I knew it deserved to be photographed. It has so much “character” and tells a much larger story of time & the Sea.

Rusted Chain: Alternate

Another view of the same character rich chain.