Dream Weaver Creations

While working on a client web site recently I ran into a disturbing problem. The site I was working on I had to make several page templates, as I normally do. I mean, let’s face it the power of WordPress page templates is an awesome thing in theme design and customization, but I digress…that would be another article altogether and one that perhaps I should venture into in the near future. So back to the point at hand, while I made my page template and it worked and looked exactly the way I wanted it to I got my favorite FTP client, Filezilla, fired up. I promptly uploaded my page and went to set it up in WordPress, only I had a serious problem when I got the page started. I was unable to set the page to use my new page template I had just made. The reason? There was no dropdown to even choose a page template from. It was as if it had just disappeared or was suddenly removed from WordPress completely.

Well, I knew they could not have removed such a powerful and beneficial feature from WordPress. So I did my usual yelling at the computer God whomever that may be, then pulled what little hair I have left out, and finally I went to the one savior of information I had…Google. Behold I found my answer, and then felt stupid for looking and wished I had discovered it as well. Want to know the big fix? Ok, without further delay here it is, the answer to fix the WordPress crushing bug!

1. Switch your current them to any other theme
2. Switch it back to the theme you wish to use and voila! The page templates are back! =)

Yeah, I know…I felt really stupid after finding this out but hey at least it is a really easy fix for now. If anyone finds out this does not work for them please let us know here so we can look into it. Share your information.

Call today for a quote 407-374-6652 – Custom graphic design & web development from a professional with over 20 years experience in the field.

I wanted to speak out about iPhones just a tad. I own an iPhone and I absolutely love it so don’t get me wrong here. However, if you are an iPhone user you most likely feel a bit like i do about it…a love/hate relationship. I mean here Apple gives us a technology that has great potential to be a very powerful tool and entertainment device and they cripple it to death! Yes, that’s right, I said it out loud. Well, at least in type I said it but same effect. Alright, I want to explain my thinking here so that you non-iPhone users and those iPhone users not yet enlightened so let’s try a list.

Great things the iPhone has to offer…

• GPS tracking, locationing, and mapping
• Built-in camera
• Built-in video
• I can play video games that are amazing for a handheld device
• The size of the screen for viewing video is perfect, not too big (which would make a cell phone much too large) and not too small that I would have to squint to watch.
• Viewing text is easy, just pinch and spread with fingers to zoom for the perfect size for me to read
• The sound quality is awesome, very impressive for a handheld device
• Applications, how can I say enough about applications. They are so many to choose from and the prices are very acceptable in most cases. Everything from handy utilities to gaming and even health is available at a touch of a screen.

Things I feel ripped off about…

• Ok, so we have to wait how long to upgrade? Don’t you want us to buy a new phone? I mean the whole idea is to make money when you sell a product right?
• Wait a minute, I pay for unlimited bandwidth, texting, GPS mapping, and who knows what else but I can’t use my iPhone to tether to my laptop for brief Internet access?
• Ok, the camera is nice but the resolution could be a bit higher guys I mean come on.
• Alright, I’m ok with someone making a buck sure…but why are you raping me Apple? I mean all these price levels for different amounts of space to store my apps, music, and movies? Ever hear of a memory card for cell phones? What do you mean you would lose money? It would only get even more people interested in buying a new iPhone in my opinion, increasing it’s marketability is always good right?
• Now I understand why Apple went under contract with AT&T in the begining with the whole 3G network thing and all, but AT&T is not the only game in town anymore when it comes to broadband for cell phones and handheld devices. How about opening up the market already! Do you realize how many more would buy your product if they could use any service they wanted? I mean it seems lately everybody in town finally gets it and has gone to lower, flat rate pricing but not the “Blue Guy”. Oh no, the “Blue Guy” would rather take advantage of us with their contract to the soul of the iPhone.
• Water…alright so water and electronics don’t mix, I understand, makes sense. Hey, you know what else makes sense? The fact that we actually DO have the technology to make things like this waterproof or at the very least water resistant in this current day. Apple puts in a water sensor instead to detect if the device had water damage…Gee, thanks. In fact, what good is the water detection device if nobody wants to insure my expensive iPhone to begin with? I mean, what’s the point? Give us protection against water…
• How to manage all these apps, music, and movies? I really think the iTunes software could be improved for interaction and management of all these things. If I buy a song, app, movie, ebook, or whatever I want it to be easier to manage them and keep track of what I paid hard earned money for. If I lose it shouldn’t I be able to redownload it? I mean I legally have a right to own a copy…
• Ringtones, so I can use virtually anything for a ringtone which is awesome! Wait a minute…what do you mean I only have a handful of provided tones to use for text alerts? What do you mean I can’t asign custom sounds to other alerts? I mean I am using the awesome Apple product and yet windows handhelds can do this and iPhones can’t?

My Conclusion…

I think the iPhone is a wonderful product and I still love my iPhone but I really want to see a lot of changes going on with the product. It really can be such a powerful technology it is such a shame to see it crippled so very much. If they opened up more things my guess is there would be no need to jailbreak or get possibly dangerous apps from places other than the Apple iStore.

Call today for a quote 407-374-6652 – Custom graphic design & web development from a professional with over 20 years experience in the field.

Most of us now days have some way to carry around music whether it be an iPod, iRiver, or one of the numerous other mp3 music players. In fact today most cell phones are also mp3 players so we can carry our music everywhere we go. This is something I enjoy very much, music has always been a very large part of my life and it always will. Think about it for a minute, anytime you hear an old song you most likely have a memory triggered that your mind associates with that song, that time period, that era.

I now own an iPhone which although it was rather pricey I must admit I have definitely got my money’s worth out of it already. I bought my wife and I an iPhone sometime last year, a 3G model. I purchased the 8gig models due to the price factor but I figured 8 gigs is more than plenty of room. Well, obviously this was before I was introduced to the iPhone app and all the wonderful things these apps can bring. So over time I realized it wouldn’t be hard to use up the space in a 64gig model when you add movies, music, photos, and lets not forget room for all the apps and games you can get.

Now I realize most of you who do not own an iPod or iPhone are probably thinking “Yeah but I would never watch movies on that tiny thing”. I realize this because I was one of those people…before…I got an iPhone. One of the things I quickly realized was how handy it is to have a movie in the palm of my hand anywhere. I hate, and I mean HATE, sitting in a waiting room whether it is at a doctors office, or car dealership, doesn’t matter I hate waiting rooms. Now when I have to sit in a waiting room I simply fire up a movie I have been wanting to see stored on my iPhone. When I have to stop it that’s no problem either because the built-in iPod that plays my movies will remember exactly where I stopped watching my movie so later I can pickup where i left off.

So with all this in mind now I find myself having to decide what I can fit on my iPhone and what gets left out, changing music all the time and who has time for all that right? Well, I found an answer to this problem that I am absolutely thrilled with! SO much so that I just had to take the time to share what I found here with everyone. Now if I begin to sound like a commercial advertisement for this app/product then that should tell you how much I like it. I found a program called Simplify Media for my iPhone that allows me to keep not just some, but all of my music and photos with me no matter where I go all the time. How is this possible?

Simplify Media is a mini server for your Mac, Windows, or LINUX computer that serves up music and photo directories of your choice. This won points with me right from the start offering versions for LINUX and the mainstream operating systems since I am a LINUX user. The data is streamed right to your iPhone or iPod touch directly from your home computer. You can invite up to 30 people to have access to your mini server and choose what they can and can’t have access to creating your own little media net with friends and family. I have tested this and I have noticed no lag or stutter at all no matter where I am. I no longer have to spend so much time deciding what music makes the cut, now I carry all my music with me all the time. It works in harmony with Winamp, iTunes, Windows Media Player and more so it imports all your playlists too. As for the photos, now I carry all those with me all the time too, so when I go to show a friend a photo I know I have access to it. I can even download it to my iPod or iPhone if I want a copy on my handheld system.

I now use this on my Windows computer and my LINUX system in my home and it works awesome. So here is the URL to their web site so you can try this out for yourself…

http://www.simplifymedia.com/

Call today for a quote 407-374-6652 – Custom graphic design & web development from a professional with over 20 years experience in the field.

Ok, so today I am going to speak off topic about something that just irritates the living crap out of me, this has nothing at all to do with development or theme builds for WordPress…but hey, what’s the good of having your own web voice if you don’t use it to voice concerns once in awhile too right? So I work freelance, which anyone who has ever worked freelance knows this means you normally work a regular day job also. With the economy being so poor lately it makes it harder to find freelance jobs and much harder to find a regular day gig. So with that having been said, most of us go to places like Career Builder or Monster Jobs to hunt for a regular day gig and search the freelance boards in the evenings.

So this morning, being the weekend and all, I start looking through jobs as I usually do since being laid off at the beginning of the economic crisis. I find this job that looks promising, I click the link, and suddenly I am transported on a site outside of career builder. Now I read on, everything looks even better but wait…I have to sign-up at their site to even apply for this job? Ok, so I give in a sign up and once I am inside I find out I have to recopy my entire resume over again to get it into their database (which they will most likely only keep on file for a month or until that position is filled). Alright, so I give in and copy my entire resume over to their database and fill out their questionnaire, and fill in whatever other stuff they need. Wow, guess what…that took me about 30 minutes of my time to just APPLY for this job. No promises, no guarantees, nothing but the hopes that they will choose my resume!

To The Perspective Employers

So here’s something perhaps you did not even think about if you are an employer…did you ever stop to think that when it comes to applying for jobs now days it is all about the numbers? We are a nation of people that have been thrust out of our comfortable jobs, our houses forclosed, our banking accounts in the red and you expect us to take 30 minutes per job application?!!! The WHOLE reason anyone even bothers to register at a site like Career Builder or Monster is so we can apply for as many jobs as possible in very little time! Do not waste our time making us fill out registration on yet another site. The fact is if you just conform to the system that places like Career Builder and Monster have put into place you will get more applicants.

I know what many of you are thinking, you are thinking “Well, anyone who goes to the trouble to fill out the extra stuff is the kind of person they will look for” right? Wrong! Let me tell you I am perfectly qualified to every position I apply to, I am a hard worker, responsible, dedicated, and dependable but I also have bills to pay NOW not 3 months from now. So, with this in mind you must realize me and the hundreds of others like me are not going to spend 30 minutes on one application when we can apply to 50 others in the same amount of time it took me to fill out your “extra stuff”. I mean think about it, what gives me a much better chance of landing a job more quickly?

Back to the Lecture at Hand

I am much more confident that I will land a job filling out more applications than I will spending 30 minutes on one application. Now days I think most of us out of work are more concerned about a dependable paying job rather than a job we specifically love like the old days. In todays work force there are so many looking for work we simply cannot afford to be picky about our employment anymore. Unfortunately this works against us since most employers know this…especially in a right to work state like Florida where I live but that is another discussion entirely.

So let’s hope that companies hiring get a clue and stop the stupidity of pulling people away from their job site to apply for a job. Such a waste of time and resources, not to mention you are missing out on many good applicants, I am one of them because as badly as I need a day gig…it makes no sense for me to spend so much time on one single application in the hopes of being the “Chosen One”…

Call today for a quote 407-374-6652 – Custom graphic design & web development from a professional with over 20 years experience in the field.

Ok, so recently I posted about an article on how to setup a GOD mode icon on your desktop to access most anything administrative you can think of in Windows 7. Well, I am here to tell you now that I tried it on a friends computer and it worked beautifully. This is basically like an alternative control panel only with tons, and I do mean TONS, of features to access and administrate most anything within your new Windows 7 environment. It is reported this only works with Windows 7 but another has reported it worked fine on his Vista install. I have to give kudos to Online Tech Tips for this nice little techy tip.

Call today for a quote 407-374-6652 – Custom graphic design & web development from a professional with over 20 years experience in the field.

Many of you use your web site to sell products, tangible products that each have their own special packaging. There are also many of us that sell our own products and packaging is something you have to deal with, right? Wrong! I know the packaging seems like an expensive pain in the butt and something you “have to deal with” but this may very well decide how many sales you actually get on your products so think positively about it. So the bottom line is “YES” people do judge a book by it’s cover when it comes to their shopping habits and decisions. How appealing the product appears is a major deciding factor, it works on their brain as they shop. The packaging should be briefly informative with colors that empower your main goal. However, colors you chose are a much larger and different discussion altogether so we will perhaps save that one for another time.

Packaging is a primary marketing tool and never think different. Your ultimate goal will be to find a packaging that works for you that is well within your financial comfort zone. Once you have done this, you will be setting yourself up for success, but as I and anyone else in the sales arena would tell you, this is only one tool. It is, in fact, a powerful tool that many of us dred spending money on or spending time working on. Things like “I’m no artist”, “I no nothing about marketing, what do I do”, or “How will I be able to afford this…” cross your mind. Well packaging can be more affordable than you think. Now if you hire a company or firm to handle everything for you then yes it will cost you plenty. But, if you do more of the footwork yourself and hire just the talent you need then you will come out much better. What happens if you do that is this becomes an investment in your business and not an unwanted expense that you may or may not be able to afford.

So think of your product packaging as a very important part of your sales, it will serve you well in the long run as a valuable tool in your sales arsenal!

Call today for a quote 407-374-6652 – Custom graphic design & web development from a professional with over 20 years experience in the field.

So here we are with a brand new Windows operating system again with tons of promises like we get with each version. I won’t speak about the OS itself, as I have not used it enough to give a fair assessment. I will, however, address a common issue that I hope will help many of my readers. One of the most common complaints I always receive working in technical support is that with every new version they have moved everything around and now they can’t find anything. This is a huge mistake on Microsoft’s part in my opinion. Everyone loves an upgrade with new features but nobody, especially in the work place, has time to completely relearn their operating system.

The most important thing in operating any operating system is the ability to adjust, change, and tweak settings for various parts of the system to make it work the way you require it to. This becomes increasingly difficult if they keep moving things around on us. A very good friend of mine is aware of my feelings on this, I tend to complain about it a lot since I am an avid LINUX user and prefer things to just plain work. This good friend also works in IT and he discovered something that can make life much easier for users of Windows 7. He sent me a link to a site that explains how to centralize all of Windows 7’s main settings for the OS. The procedure is so simple a child can do it by following their very easy instructions and it at no time does it put you in danger of toasting your OS. You simply make a shortcut of a new folder on your desktop and rename it the way the instructions tell you and viola! You will then have an icon link to a central control for your OS.

I haven’t tried this yet so I would welcome some feedback from those of you who do try this little trick out. If you try this out and it works well for you then please let us know with a comment. Or, if it does not work or gives you problems please comment about that too.

And here is your link: http://www.online-tech-tips.com/windows-7/add-the-god-mode-control-panel-to-windows-7/

Follow-up Article – Access Here

Call today for a quote 407-374-6652 – Custom graphic design & web development from a professional with over 20 years experience in the field.

It’s a new year and time to throw out the old and bring in the new. The same is true with your blogs, business sites, personal sites, and others. This is especially true for the business site owners out there however. People are looking for a new beginning away from the stresses and obstacles of yesteryear. As someone owning a business or as a designer of web applications and web sites you will need to think crisp, clean, brand new, shiny, fresh! Emotionally, this is what people want for their new beginning, and who can blame them? I mean, isn’t this what you want too? I know it’s definitely what I want.

That’s not all we want though is it? No, we also want success to come with our renewal in the new year. We want to see a year that promises a future of prosperity and success. Marketing your site in the correct manner is a large part of that. The most simple of choices can also be your most crucial mostly because peoples emotions play a large role in their decision making when it comes to a purchase. If you are a site owner you will look at the colors to decide how they feel when you look at your site. If color plays a big part of your logo and company image, as it well should, then the color scheme is even more important. You can still go with most any color you wish for your site theme but you must consider what tones and/or shades of your company colors will work well and still convey your color mood.

The way things are arranged within the site and how they are displayed all plays a big part. In our previous year many of us will recall times of hard decisions, loss, difficult and complicated matters. Of course someone would want to shed these feelings and memories and convey a feeling of renewal, a fresh start, a new start that promises prosperity and success and is uncomplicated and easy to understand. We will want to convey this in our designs, our web sites, our applications. This is a marketing no-brainer if you really think about it.

So don’t be afraid to use large, bold type with fonts you normally would consider a little too relaxed. Use bright, vibrant colors that reflect a shiny, new day! The bottom line is if we all start spending money again in the big picture prices and the economy will begin to relax and heal. Jobs will come back and things will get a little easier and we can all go back to complaining about the little things that bug us in day to day life. For now, if you own your own business and want to rebuild or build your first on-line presence then you must think of all these things. Hopefully you are going with a nice, stable CMS like WordPress. I highly recommend WordPress for use in business ad other types of web works when you need something that is easy and stable to use. There are many others that are very stable and have some nice features such as Drupal or Joomla but WordPress still stands out for the wide variety of free and pay plugins available and it’s very user-friendly interface, design, and layout.

So build those bold big buttons, bright colors, nice large and fun type web sites. Keep information easy to navigate to, only the facts ma’am attitude, easy to use and you will be on track for the new year!

Call today for a quote 407-374-6652 – Custom graphic design & web development from a professional with over 20 years experience in the field.

So while listening to the radio this morning as I always do I heard some commentary that I found very disturbing, especially considering our current world economic client. The radio personalities were doing their usual banter, during which they offered the tip that “If you are unemployed be sure to keep your credit in check as many companies now check an applicant’s credit report before even considering them for a position”.

Now in the past this was common place for certain places of business that operated in the financial sector of business, which in a very small way (my opinion) this was only slightly acceptable. However, they were commenting that more companies are now doing this, regardless of the type of business it is.

It is my opinion that this practice should be deemed illegal! Why do I feel this way and feel so strongly about it you ask? Well, allow me to give you some perfectly innocent reasons a person could get their credit screwed up. How many of us know a friend or family member that went through a messy divorce and/or custody battle only to end up having their credit completely ruined? Or perhaps you wish to increase your financial worth, as we all do to make life more enjoyable, and you just happen to make a poor investment decision. I could go on with examples but that isn’t my main point here. My main point here I will make also by example….

Something to Think About

1. If I work at a gun factory making guns, does that make me a killer?
2. If I am a chemist, does that make me a drug dealer?

Of course the obvious answer to both questions is “NO!” of course not! Not only is the answer no, but to think that way is narrow minded and ignorant beyond belief. So, I ask you now…considering the unemployment rate is so horrible right now, and knowing yourself that you must pick priorities when paying bills if unemployed…such as food, shelter, gas to get to work, etc…
I ask you this…if my credit gets screwed up due to my unemployment during these hard times, should I be considered a criminal and thief? (and do I really need to put the obvious answer to that question in this post for you?)

I think we should all write our congressmen about this subject. We have enough crap to deal with from current and prospective employers now days without having to put up with prejudices of this type, especially in this age! Yes, this is a prejudice just like racism, or gay bashing, or any other type. We, as a society, do NOT tolerate any other types of prejudice in the work place in today’s politically correct world so why in the hell should we put up with this? I mean hell, I can’t even be a gentleman and pay a female co-worker an innocent and polite compliment now days without the threat of being accused of sexual harassment, yet it is alright to consider someone a possible criminal due to their credit rating? I guess that means any priest is a possible child molester too right? The minute we start to think that way we become less than educated people, we become superstitious, prejudice barbarians.

I posted my opinion on this subject here to do two things:

1. provoke others to start thinking seriously about this problem.
2. to get some opinions on this subject from others.

Your Humble Host,
RJ Levesque, Jr.

Call today for a quote 407-374-6652 – Custom graphic design & web development from a professional with over 20 years experience in the field.

The new themes I have been promising have now been released finally after fixing a few last minute bugs here and there. I am rather pleased with the results of my efforts so far, not to say I won’t end up offering an upgraded release later. These themes each have one featured I have always wanted in most premium themes, the ability to choose what custom categories go where and how many show on your homepage.

When it comes to customization I would say I went light on customization and heavy on style. I wanted to leave an open ability for the end user to customize these themes to suit their specific needs easily. This includes being able to use some of the many wonderful plugins and utilities available today. I wanted these themes to be very flexible, functional, easy to configure,  and use. I think that I achieved that with these themes but I am always looking to improve things so who knows what the future holds.

Next I will be working on…

• Performer Series – This series will highlight themes for musicians, singers, song writers, and bands since I hardly ever see any themes specifically oriented toward these areas.
• Hollywood Series – This series will highlight themes for videographers, photographers, Film Makers, Producers, Actors, Actress’s, and Movie Lovers.
• Royal Reality Series – This series will be an elegeant selection of themes targeting the real estate market, agents, buyers, and sellers.

So that’s what I have planned for the future development. Inbetween I hope to slip in a few upgrades for previously created premium themes and hopefully build a couple of free themes to offer for download.

Free screensavers coming soon also!

Call today for a quote 407-374-6652 – Custom graphic design & web development from a professional with over 20 years experience in the field.