BlogmyQuery – BMQ

Desktop wallpapers can serve as an excellent source of inspiration. However, if you use some specific wallpaper for a long period of time, it becomes harder to draw inspiration out of it. That’s why we have decided to supply you with smashing wallpapers over 12 months. And to make them a little bit more distinctive from the usual crowd, we’ve decided to embed calendars for the upcoming month. So if you need to look up some date, isn’t it better to show off a nice wallpaper with a nice calendar instead of launching some default time application?

This post features 50 free desktop wallpapers, created by designers across the globe. Both versions with a calendar and without a calendar can be downloaded for free.

Please notice:

• all images can be clicked and lead to the preview of the wallpaper;
• you can feature your work in our magazine by taking part in our desktop wallpaper calendar series. We are regularly looking for creative designers and artists to be featured on Smashing Magazine. Are you one of them?

So what wallpapers have we received for August 2010?

[Offtopic: by the way, have you already visited Smashing Magazine's Facebook fan page? Join the community for a stream of useful resources, updates and giveaways!]

Superstar

"Has “the man” got you down? Feel like nobody sees what a superstar you are? Well keep on shining all day long with this retro-tastic wallpaper!" Designed by Brennan Gilbert from USA.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Viktoria

"A little wallpaper for all the Germany supporters during the World Cup." Designed by Ricky Linn from USA.

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• with calendar: 320×480, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 320×480, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Aves Lacuna

Designed by Kyle Wheaton from Buffalo, NY, USA.

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• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Symbian World

"Scene from Symbian World." Designed by Anna Alfut from UK.

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• with calendar: 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2048×1152
• without calendar: 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2048×1152

Piranha fishing

"Gone fishing in my little row boat." Designed by Natalia Shishina from Russia.

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• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Simple Beauty

Designed by Dovydas Vystartas from Lithuania.

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• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Photography

"Hello from Singapore! This photograph was taken when I was walking along The Orchard Street, where you can find lots and lots of luxury goods. Hope you guys like this colorful wallpaper – Enjoy!" Designed by Juanita Ooi from London, UK (Originally Malaysia).

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1600
• without calendar: 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1600

Strawberry

"I love this work!" Designed by Agnieszka Pluskota from Poland.

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• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

August Sentense

"Just motivating sentence for August :)" Designed by Temeshi from Poland.

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• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

A Square Meal

"It’s August and we love picnics — it’s a great way to get your friends together and enjoy the weather! Being an integrated marketing agency, we know that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts… in marketing AND in sandwiches! These orange creatures are here to remind you to never forget the finishing touches and that no sandwich is too big-you can always use a ladder!" Designed by thunder::tech from USA.

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• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050

Girls Just Want To Have Fun

"Inspired by Cindy Lauper’s famous song." Designed by Irene from Spain.

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• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1920×1200

Summers Freedom

"A photograph to express sheer freedom a lot of people experience at the height of summer — “Summers Freedom” — in this case, the two enjoying a summers evening are Sasha Bell and Rosanna Bell" Designed by Olivia Bell from England, UK.

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• with calendar: 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 2560×1600
• without calendar: 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 2560×1600

Relax, It’s Summer

Designed by Sasha Bell from England, UK.

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• with calendar: 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 2560×1600
• without calendar: 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 2560×1600

Photography

"This photograph was taken in the beginning of 2010, when I was enjoying my winter holiday in London. I believe all of you knew that the winter temperature dropped a lot this year — freezing and raining all day long! I was lucky enough to sense a short few hours of sunny day in the winter." Designed by Juanita Ooi from London, UK (Originally Malaysia).

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1600
• without calendar: 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1600

The Salt March

"August 15th is India’s Independence Day. Depicted here is the Salt March of 1930 which triggered the Freedom Movement in India. The Salt Satyagraha campaign was based upon Gandhi’s principles of nonviolent protest called satyagraha, which he loosely translated as “truth-force.” Jai Hind!" Designed by Pixel Pundits from India.

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• with calendar: 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1600
• without calendar: 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1600

México 1963

"Harmonious life in México City in the 60’s." Designed by Aki from México.

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• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Hot Balloons

"August is one of the hottest months of the year. August is melting." Designed by Kari Andresen from USA.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1920×1200

I Hate Mondays

"Mondays are a freelancer’s nightmare. I’ve always wanted to cry out in all despair “I Hate Mondays!” Anger! Despair! Rivers of fire! Damnation! Let them all out for all the world to hear and see!" Designed by Bogdan Lazar from Romania.

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• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Come Sail Away

"Fillmore-style illustration featuring the lyrics to Styx’s song “Come Sail Away”" Designed by Allison Doty from USA.

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• with calendar: 320×480, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 320×480, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Love knows no bounds

"The message of this wallpaper is Love knows no bounds. Race, age, sex, (level in the food chain :)) it all doesn’t matter as long as you love each other. My boyfriend is 16 years older then me and some people just think we’re not supposed to be together because of the age difference. Next week we’ll have our 9 year anniversary… So for the cat and the mouse: as long as the heart is bigger then the hunger, they’ll be fine. " Designed by Nicole Bauer from Germany.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 960×640, 480×320
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 960×640, 480×320

SinGiNg SuNFloWeR

Designed by Pietje Precies from The Netherlands.

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• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Cherry

"I love this work!" Designed by Agnieszka Pluskota from Poland.

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• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Cows

"Hopefully this August you’ll have some time to take a drive/bike ride through the countryside. If not, here’s a typical highway view from my part of the world. Maybe it will inspire you to get outside and enjoy the August weather, or at least do some cow tipping." Designed by Dan Sweet from USA.

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• with calendar: 1024×640, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1440×900, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1600
• without calendar: 1024×640, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1440×900, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1600

Chocolate Dream

Designed by Sasha Bell from England, UK.

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• with calendar: 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050
• without calendar: 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050

Summer Cat

Designed by Marina Nozyer from Russia.

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• with calendar: 1152×864, 1280×960, 1400×1050, 1600×1200, 1920×1440
• without calendar: 1152×864, 1280×960, 1400×1050, 1600×1200, 1920×1440

Happy Independence Day

"15th August is the only important day in August for us to celebrate (Indians), so I decided to create a desktop wallpaper on the same theme. I hope you all will enjoy it. “HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY” 2 all the Indians." Designed by Meghna Sharma from India.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Focus Footprints

"Maybe some abstract sort of meadows? Maybe some abstract sort of meadows?" Designed by Philipp Lehmann from Switzerland.

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• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Glowing Dark August

Designed by Vincius Ervilha from Brazil.

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• with calendar: 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 2560×1600
• without calendar: 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 2560×1600

Climate Change

Adopted from Marek Denko’s work by Luciana Passaro from Italy.

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• with calendar: 480×320, 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 2560×1600
• without calendar: 480×320, 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 2560×1600

Sleep. Surf.

"Peak of the summer gives you endless opportunities do sleep late, miss all the cooked meals featuring healthy vegetables, go offline and just hit the water. Peak of the summer is the reason of calendar absence. Ignore the clock and be good at it. Longboard models courtesy of Nunosk8." Designed by Antonio Hadrovic from Croatia.

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• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Nature’s Dream

"Nature’s Dream wallpapers created with Scribbler Tool and Photoshop." Designed by Silvia Bukovac Gasevic.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×640, 1024×768, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×640, 1024×768, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200

Leaves in The Rain

"A fresh green leave to keep you going without getting unorganized! Good morning." Designed by Melle Wynia from The Netherlands.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 2560×1600
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 2560×1600

One Mad Cookie

"August has always seemed like a month of strange & creative thoughts for me, so whenI recently read that August 4th was National Chocolate Chip day I couldn’t help my mindfrom pandering thoughts of cookies with personalities. I thought if I was a cookie Iwould probably be pretty upset if someone took a big bite out of me, so I decided toexpress this in my design." Designed by Jennie Waterous from USA.

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• with calendar: 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Splash

Designed by Emily Shirley from USA.

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• with calendar: 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Watch out for sharks

"Inspired while playing with Photoshop vectors, for all of you who like minimalism and blue. Oh, and don’t get eaten by a shark while you are enjoying your vacation." Designed by Lucijan Blagoni from Croatia.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 1280×800, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1600
• without calendar: 320×480, 1280×800, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1600

Into the Hole

Designed by Manish Jinwal from India.

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• with calendar: 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Color Emotions

Designed by Gints Stikans from Latvia.

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• with calendar: 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Do we need to say more?

"August, as the summer is at its high most in the northern hemisphere, most people go out for vacation (at least in the US). So, do we need to say more?" Designed by Phidev Inc. from USA.

• preview
• with calendar: 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1920×1200, 1920×1440
• without calendar: 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1920×1200, 1920×1440

Geometric Summer

"This is how I see my summer. Simple, geometrical, layered, yet full of color: beach = sand + sea + sun. Cheers from Spain and have a great summer ;-)" Designed by Antonio Bustamante Mirayo from Spain.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200

Freedom

"August 15th marks a wonderful day in the history. India, the largest democratic country in the world got freedom from British invasion. It was 1947 when our great freedom fighters got us the ever lasting success and made our lives flourish forever. Since that day, August 15th of every year is celebrated as Independence Day in India." Designed by Neelam Asrani from India.

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• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050

This too shall pass (Persian Calligraphy)

"”In niz bogzarad” means This too shall pass , life is like that…" Designed by Soodabeh Amirakbari from Iran.

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• with calendar: 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Smashing Team

"A simple tribute to Smashing Magazine’s team." Designed by Kalyne Nobrega from Brasil.

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• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050

The King Of Pop

"Michael Jackson inspired a lot of people, especially all of us here at Bright Oak? Creative Studio. His birthday falls on the 29th and so we dedicate this Smashing Magazine wallpaper to him and all of his fans around the world. Happy Birthday Michael!" Designed by Bright Oak from USA & Switzerland.

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• with calendar: 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1600
• without calendar: 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1600

Beach Time

Designed by Sasha Bell from England, UK.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050
• without calendar: 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050

Independence Day

"15th august is the independence day of India so I am showing few heroes who sacrificed their lives for their motherland. There are endless number of men and women other than I have shown in the wallpaper. The wallpaper I have designed is a Tribute to all our freedom fighters." Designed by Aditya L from India.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Over the Bridge

"Sometimes we are so close to fulfill our dreams that it only takesa few more steps to finally reach them." Designed by Jany from Italy.

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• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Sunscreen Novice

"Avoid black in summer.”Avoid black in summer.”" Designed by Kate Jones from UK.

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• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050

Freedom

"Freedom is the will to be responsible to ourselves." Designed by Pooja Taneja from India.

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• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

The Traveller

Designed by Surreal Illusions from England, UK.

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• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200

Watching Universe Twirl

Designed by Andrei Verner from Russia.

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• with calendar: 1024×640, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1400×1050, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1600
• without calendar: 1024×640, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1400×1050, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1600

Sand Between My Toes

"It’s still pretty hot in the UK, but after reading comments in July’s wallpaper feature, I picked up that in Australia, it’s “winter” – so I thought why not try to do a beach shot which can be interrupted and doesn’t scream “summer”! I hope you like this simple beach shot – hopefully a nice change! Ps. the legs in this shot belong to Rosanna Bell ;) Happy August!" Designed by Olivia Bell from England, UK.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×640, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Join in next month!

Please notice that we respect the ideas and motivation behind artists’ work which is why we’ve given artists full freedom to explore their creativity and express emotions and experience through their works. And this is also why the themes of the wallpapers weren’t anyhow influenced by us, but designed from scratch by the artists themselves.

Thanks to all designers for participation. Join in next month!

What’s your favorite?

What’s your favourite theme or wallpaper for this month? Please let us know in the comments! And have a smashing August, folks!

© Smashing Editorial for Smashing Magazine, 2010. | Permalink | Post a comment | Add to del.icio.us | Digg this | Stumble on StumbleUpon! | Tweet it! | Submit to Reddit | Forum Smashing Magazine
Post tags: Wallpapers

Recently I released a WordPress plugin for Google Analytics that adds a tracking code and dozens of various pieces of meta data to blogs. Since the release of version 4, I’ve updated it 6 times, to the point where it’s now at version 4.0.6. In this article I would like to share with you my experiences in maintaining this and other WordPress plug-ins and common good practices that I’ve distilled from that work.

The updates that I released had a couple of purposes, ranging from bug fixes to new features and fixes in documentation. While all of these are nice to talk about, the bug fixes are the ones you’ll learn the most from, so let’s start by going through these.

Website and Account Configuration

Almost as soon as I released the plug-in, people who updated were telling me that it worked wonderfully, and others were telling me that it didn’t work for them. Turns out I hadn’t tested the plug-in with a Google Analytics account that has only one website registered; I expected the websites to be an array. Fixing this bug was easy, but determining that this was the problem took a while.

Being able to log into a few hosts of people who gave me access to their back end and FTP so that I could test my fix proved invaluable. This enabled me to release 4.0.1 within an hour of the 4.0 release.

Another mistake I made was forcing everyone to reconfigure the plug-in. I assumed it wouldn’t be too much work for people, and it wanted to be sure the settings were clean, but it turns out quite a few people didn’t want to reconfigure. With 4.0.2, I came up with a way to inherit some of the settings and clean up the mess I made, and in 4.0.4 I made a change that I will add to all of my plug-ins:

Large view

Good practice #1: Don’t assume anything about people’s websites and external accounts.

Versioning Option Arrays

As a seasoned WordPress developer, I store all of the options for my plug-in in one option in the database, which is basically a big array. Why I hadn’t ever added a version number to these options is a mystery to me. Doing so makes it possible to do some very cool things: I can now add new features and set a default for these new features as soon as a user upgrades; I can show the user different messages based on the version they had before they upgraded; and more.

Good practice #2: Add a version number to your option arrays.

I’m still not using the WordPress option API stuff (check out this post by Ozh to learn all about it), which I probably should, but for now I find it easier to handle the saving and validation of options myself.

Don’t Release Too Soon

If you’ve got a bug that’s bugging a lot of your plug-in’s users, you’ll probably want to release a bug fix as soon as possible. I know I do. This caused an issue with my 4.0.3 release, though, because I didn’t properly test some of the code I introduced, causing me to have to release 4.0.4 just two hours later to fix a stupid mistake I’d made with booleans. Nothing is as painful as 500 people downloading a version of your plug-in that doesn’t actually work.

Good practice #3: Test, test, test before you release, even when you’re in a hurry.

Know Which Version People Are On

Over the past two weeks, I’ve been helping several people who said they were on the latest version of my plug-in but in fact were not. To remedy this, I’ve started outputting the version number in the comment that the plug-in outputs before the tracking code. Problem is, if people run a plug-in such as W3 Total Cache (which everyone should use by the way) or anything else that minifies their output, that comment will get lost.

There’s a solution for that, too: I’d already wrapped the script in <CDATA> tags, to help with Strict XHTML validation. Minifying will not occur within those CDATA tags, so I moved my “branding” comment to the CDATA section, and I can now always see, first, that my plug-in is active and, secondly, which version of the plug-in they’re using.

Good practice #4: Make sure you can see which version of your plug-in people are running.

URLs in WordPress

One of these things that can generate pretty awful bugs is a blog’s URL. Whether it’s due to people running their entire blog on https or “simply” running their blog in a sub-directory, it can cause headaches. It did for me in version 4.0.2 when I added URL sanitization: all relative URLs in posts and text widgets starting with a / were made absolute, in order to properly track these URLs. Tiny issue: I forgot about blogs in sub-directories, so a tiny portion of people would end up with links that used to go to /home but that now went to http://example.com/blog/home. I know, that was stupid; but that’s why I’m telling you: so you don’t make the same mistake.

Good practice #5: Make sure all URLs you use will work in all circumstances, whether WordPress is in a sub-directory, on a subdomain or just in the root.

Writing to the Root Directory

Somewhat related to the last issue, although I encountered this while developing my WordPress SEO plug-in, not the Google Analytics plug-in: if you write a file — say, an XML site map file — to the root of a website, and the website is actually a WordPress multi-site installation, things can go horribly wrong.

Check out the following scenario:

1. User 1 writes and publishes a post on example.com/blog-1/.
2. An updated XML site map for example.com/blog-1/ is generated, and example.com/sitemap.xml is updated.
3. User 2 writes and publishes a post on example.com/blog-2/.
4. An updated XML site map for example.com/blog-2/ is generated and example.com/sitemap.xml is overwritten.

See what just happened? The XML site map now contains only the posts from blog-2… This is exactly why the wp-content directory was created. There’s hardly ever a need to put a file in the root of an installation, and by not doing so, you make it far easier to run your plug-in in a multi-site/WordPress MU environment.

Good practice #6: If you’re generating files, generate them in the wp-content directory of your blog. Do not write files to the root directory unless you absolutely, positively have to. And if you do have to do it, make sure it doesn’t go wrong when your plug-in is active on multiple blogs in the same multi-site instance.

Rethink Your Filters

On the day that I released 4.0, I got quite a few feature requests, ranging from very simple to somewhat more complex. One that came in quite rapidly and caught my eye happened to be quite simple: the user wanted the same outbound link that in my plug-in tracks the content of an article to track in text widgets. Because I don’t use text widgets that much, it never occurred to me to do this. It was a valuable lesson, though:

Large view

Good practice #7: If you’re filtering content, try to filter it in as many places as you can, so that users get consistent results all over WordPress.

[Offtopic: by the way, did you know that there is a Smashing eBook Series? Book #1 is Professional Web Design, 242 pages for just $9,90.]

Never Assume

It’s true for everything, I guess, but especially true for WordPress developers: never assume. The seven best practices above mostly boil down to abandoning all assumptions about states, URLs and locations, and even about people knowing which version of a plug-in they’re using. Take all these matters into your own hands; your plug-in will be the better for it!

(al)

© Joost de Valk for Smashing Magazine, 2010. | Permalink | Post a comment | Add to del.icio.us | Digg this | Stumble on StumbleUpon! | Tweet it! | Submit to Reddit | Forum Smashing Magazine
Post tags: plugin, wordpress

One of the great things about our Design Reviver Answers is that it gives the novice or amateur web designer the opportunity to ask a basic question and have it answered by one of the many seasoned pro users that we have. It truly is a great site for learning and understanding, for designers of every level.

This weeks highlighted question, from an amateur designer, is: “What is Inline Style?”

You can leave your comment below, or you can leave an even better your answer on the original question on Answers: What is Inline Style?

What is Inline Style?

This question was originally asked by an unregistered user, and you will find the best answer below:

The Best Answer came from an unregistered user:

The Next Answer came from a Andrew Miller:

Unanswered Answers

That is now three weeks without ab unanswered questions!!!

Thanks to everyone who asked a question, but most importantly thanks to everyone that took the time and effort to offer helpful and useful answers.<

By Cameron Chapman

We’ve all heard it: time is money. And as much as we sometimes hate to look at it in such base terms, it’s mostly true. As service providers (designers and developers), the time we spend on a project is directly proportional to how much we’re getting paid. How we spend our time also has a big effect on when money comes in.

If we want to get a better grip on our cash flow, we need to get a better grip on our time first. Sure, we all recognize that the time we spend working effects our overall income. But it’s often hard to see the relationship between time management and cash flow. Regardless of how muddy the relationship seems, there are direct ties between how you manage your time and how much money comes in when. Read on for more information on how to better manage your time so you can better manage your finances.

Take a Wide View

Time management is often dealt with on a micro level. We look at our time in blocks of fifteen, thirty, or sixty minutes, and assess how to best utilize those blocks. But when it comes to managing your time with an aim toward more stable cash flow, this micro-management doesn’t do much good.

What you need to do is take a macro view of how you’re spending your time, and manage it based on when you need to complete billable work. Rather than looking at time in blocks that make up a fraction of your day, look at it in terms of what you’re doing this week or this month.

Regular Billing Intervals

One thing you’ll want to consider when planning your long-term time management is the frequency at which you’ll be billing clients. There are a few things to take into account here. One has to do with how many projects you have going, and how staggered they are. Ideally, you’ll want your projects to overlap in such a way that you can send out bills on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. This means you’ll have money coming in virtually every week, which is a big plus for any freelancer’s cash flow.

The other thing to consider is how often clients are billed for work. Some designers might only bill their clients at the end of a project (in addition to a deposit up front, of course). While this results in larger payments, it also means payments are coming in less frequently. You’ll need to decide if you can justify billing more often during the project. Breaking down the project’s fee over three payments can not only aid your cash flow, but also your client’s.

Again, the goal here is to have money coming in on at least a semi-regular basis. Many freelancers will want payments arriving on a weekly basis, so there’s less budgeting involved. Others might prefer to have larger payments coming in less frequently. You’ll need to work out which system works better for you and the types of bills you have and then plan your projects so deadlines and billing cycles correspond with your desired payment schedule.

Set Goals and Work to Deadlines

Goals and deadlines are two of the biggest tools in your time management arsenal. Putting them to the best use take some practice, though.

You’ll want to set both long-term and short-term goals. Your short-term goals might include things like finishing up a project or landing a new client. Your long-term goals might be income-related or have to do with purchasing new equipment, hiring an employee or two, or expanding your services. Your goals don’t need to be set in stone, but you should have an idea of where you want your business to go, and then make sure you’re allocating enough time to certain projects or activities that will help you reach those goals.

Some people opt to put their goals up where they can see them. Others don’t bother writing them down, even. Either way is fine, just make sure you know what your goals are and what you need to do to move toward them.

Goals don’t have to be set in stone. There are people who are resistant to setting goals, as they feel like it might limit them and make them miss other, better, opportunities. That doesn’t have to be the case, though. Just because you’ve set a goal doesn’t mean you can’t change it or adapt it if you’re wants or needs change. The goal’s true purpose is just to keep you moving forward and give you something to aim for.

Deadlines

On most projects, you’ll have a timeline or deadline you have to work to. But sometimes a client is more lax about when their website needs to be done, giving you a deadline that’s months away. This can wreak havoc with your work schedule and your cash flow. So set a deadline that’s more closely tied to when you can realistically finish the project.

It’s also a good idea to set deadlines for yourself for stages within each project, especially for milestones that will trigger a payment. Set deadlines for things like invoicing and making any collections efforts, too. You should aim to send invoices as soon as possible, but setting a deadline of 1-2 days after work is complete (and/or approved by the client) is a good practice to get into. You at least want to be sending invoices on a weekly basis to ensure you have a steady cash flow.

Establish Good Habits

If you want to keep a steady flow of cash coming into your business, you’ll need to develop some good habits. Habits are necessary because they become second-nature after awhile. When you’re in the habit of doing something, it’s automatic; you no longer have to think about doing it. While habits aren’t necessarily essential (a good to-do list can replace them), they will make your business run smoother.

There are some habits you may want to develop that have little to do with your cash flow directly. Things like starting and ending work at the same time each day, taking regular breaks while you’re working, and taking time off are all good habits to get into, but they won’t have a direct impact on your cash flow. However, these habits all serve to make you more productive, which will have a positive impact on your cash flow and other aspects of your business.

Send Invoices Regularly

In order to have money coming in, you have to ask for it. That’s what invoices do. Depending on the volume of your business and how tight your budget is, you may want to dedicate a few minutes at the end of each day to preparing invoices, or a couple of hours one or two days each week. You also might consider getting in the habit of taking time as soon as a project (or part of a project) is finished to prepare the invoice, before moving on to the next project.

Another option is to keep a running invoice for each project, adding hours or other billable items to it as you complete them. This way, when you reach a billing trigger, the invoice will be ready and all you’ll need to do is print it out or email it.

Other Bookkeeping Tasks

Keeping track of bills and outgoing money is just as important as keeping track of income. You need to know when your bills are due or when to expect an expense so you can prepare for it and make sure the money is available. There’s nothing worse than getting a big payment for a project and then realizing you have to send three quarters of it off for your rent or some other bill.

The same goes for taxes. Get in the habit of keeping track of how much money you’ll owe for taxes and taking that percentage out of each payment that comes in. Considering in many countries you may pay anywhere from 25% to 50% of your income to taxes, this is vital to making sure you have a stable cash flow and won’t get hit with a huge bill when tax time rolls around.

Taking a few minutes each day or an hour each week to make sure your finances are in order is vital to making sure you have a stable budget and a stable business. If you’re constantly having to scramble to make payments on things, set aside the time to better manage your finances.

Respond to Requests Promptly

Sometimes the reason between you getting a contract and your competitor getting it has more to do with how quickly you respond than with the actual proposal. Once a client makes a decision to go ahead with a website redesign, in many cases they want to dive right in and get started. If you turn around and get a proposal to them within a few days, and your competition takes a week and a half, they might sign with you before they even receive the other proposal.

It’s a good idea to get into the habit of taking some time whenever a request for a proposal comes in, and deciding right away whether it’s something you want to respond to or not. If it is, take the time to gather any additional information you need and put together the proposal right away. More work will almost inevitably help your cash flow (provided, of course, your new client pays their bills when they’re supposed to).

Keep Better Track of Your Time

Tracking where your time goes helps to eliminate wasted time. Now, that doesn’t mean every single minute you’re sitting at your desk has to be spent in the most productive way possible, but if you track your time and find you’re spending more time on Facebook than actually working, you should probably make some adjustments.

There are dozens of time-tracking apps and methods out there. Any of these can be used to better determine where your time is being spent. I’d suggest keeping track of your time for at least a week before you make any adjustments. A month is better. After all, you might find that you’re less productive on a certain day of the week, but on other days you completely make up for it.

The other big advantage to accurately tracking your time is that you’ll be able to create more accurate estimates for your clients, and you’ll be less likely to undercut yourself. Maybe you think a certain web design task will only take you an hour, but when you actually look at the time you’re spending on it, it’s taking you three. While you might not be able to bill for the difference on your current project, at least you’ll know to bill more for the next one.

Make Adjustments as Needed

Time management is a constant process, not a one-time project. You can’t just set up a schedule and expect it to work for the next five or ten years. You’ll need to review where your time is going on a regular basis, monthly or bimonthly is usually a good schedule, and make sure you’re not only not wasting time, but also billing for the time you’ve spent on particular projects.

By better managing your time, you can make sure that your cash flow is more consistent, and that you have money coming in when you need it. And the only way to effectively manage your time is to review, on a regular basis, where your time is needed, where it is most effectively spent, and where it is being wasted.

Handy tool that spits out the syntax and associated vendor-prefixed CSS3 for properties like border-radius, box-shadow, multi-column layout and more. Especially helpful are the supported browsers icons with pop-up version numbers for each property.