Spigot Design » Software

Why we use WordPress

Bryan Hoffman — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:09:38 +0000

Not much has been written on this site about WordPress, but over the last few years we’ve pretty much become a WordPress only shop – with 90-95% of our projects built on the platform. Here’s why.

Every site we’ve created in the last few years has been developed within a Content Management System (CMS). This gives our clients easy access to update their site through a web browser, without the need for a complete knowledge of HTML.

We’ve tried a few over the years (Drupal, Joomla, Expression Engine) and found that, while they’re all a huge improvement over static html files, they each were lacking in some fundamental way or another. Even the early versions of WordPress were not suitable for full fledged site content management.

Far and away the most glaring flaw in each of the above applications is in the ease of use for the end user. They each required too steep of a learning curve to use effectively. Far too many things that should have been easy weren’t.

Enter the WordPress

WordPress started out as blogging software and we’ve used it for quite a while to build blog-centric websites. A few years ago, however, enough features were added to allow for building full blown sites on it. Once we gave it a try and saw how easy it was for end users, we didn’t look back.

Here’s a quick list of WordPress features that are the reason we love it so much:

User Friendly

I taught Kari how to manage her own site in about 20 minutes. Enough said.

Open Source Software

While we don’t mind paying for quality software, kick-arse software that is free to use and manipulate is even better.

Community Support

WordPress is fast becoming one of the most popular CMS software platforms around. It’s constantly being developed and improved (at least 3 major updates per year) by a passionate community. If Spigot gets hit by a bus, someone will be there to pick up our sites. No obscure software here!

Standards and SEO

A site built on WP is as solid a foundation as a website can be. It follows the rules and makes the search engines happy.

Plugins

If you need special functionality, there’s probably already a plugin for that. And if not, it’s easy to build one.

One click updates

Right from the administration area – click – click – done.

Easy Theming

Of course everything we do around here is custom, but if you’re short on design skilz, there are thousands of free themes out there. Too bad most of them are crape. Better just hire us to build it from scratch. :)

Lastly

There are a few other things about WordPress that, as a developer, I really like. Most of them won’t make any headlines though. Things like its clean and easy file structure. Or it’s well documented Codex. The Famous Five-Minute Install. And communities like Theme Hybrid.

If you’ve got any questions about WordPress, don’t hesitate to leave a question here, or contact us directly. Love talking about the WordPress.

Getting 1Password to work in Safari 4

Bryan Hoffman — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:28:20 +0000

I’m sure the guys at Agile Web Solutions will have a fix for this soon, but in the meantime, here’s how to get 1Password to work with the version of Safari that Apple released today:

Right click on 1Password in your applications folder, choose ‘Show Package Contents’
Browse to Contents > Resources > SupportedBrowsers.plist
Double click to open in Property List Editor
Drill down to Safari and find MaxBundleVersion
Change the Value to 5530.17 and Save
You may have to restart Safari after this, but these steps worked for me.

UPDATE: Well, that was quick – Agile pushed out a beta version an hour or two after this post, and then later in the day pushed version 2.9.19 that fixes this issue.

2009 MacHeist bundle review

Bryan Hoffman — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:21:35 +0000

While there are quite a few people out there who detest the MacHeist event, I for one, love it. If you started from the beginning at The Giving Tree and subsequently participated in all the heists and mini-heists – and purchased the bundle – a total of 50 apps (at my count here) were available, for $32 (with the heist discounts). That is a ridiculous number of apps for a ridiculous price. $0.64 per app is perhaps too ridiculous… is that guilt I feel?

As exciting as it is to get that many apps at that low of a price, I wondered how much I used each, and how much each meant to me. So I thought I’d take a look at each one of the apps and write a short bit on the following criteria:

Short description – or what I think the app does
Do I use it or not
How I use it (if I do) or why I don’t

I’ll go through alphabetically, and if I miss an app, feel free to let me know and I’ll add it.

1Password

Desc: Password manager
Use: Use daily
Usage: 1Password was in last year’s bundle (or did it come in a heist??) and was one of the gem’s of the bunch. I use it for everything from managing web passwords to storing software licenses to keeping track of project data (ftp, database, website admin, etc.). It was great to see it in the loot again this year as I think its the best way to browse the web safely.

3D Hearts Deluxe

Desc: Card game
Use: Played once
Usage: I’m a huge Euchre fan, so Hearts should come naturally for me, but it doesn’t. If you know how to play however, this is one of those games that can be a quick diversion when you need a few minutes away.

Acorn

Desc: Image editor
Use: Never opened
Usage: At first, I placed this application in the “I don’t have the time or the need to learn an app I perceive as a Photoshop replacement” category. Then while putting this very article together, I found the need to open .icns files that the almighty Photoshop couldn’t open. Acorn was quick and intuitive, although all I did was resize and save as.

AgentCraig

Desc: Craigslist & eBay desktop search
Use: Tried it twice
Usage: I tried a couple of searches, and when both turned up wonky results, I wrote it off. I don’t purchase much on Craigslist or eBay anyway.

AllSecure

Desc: Stuff encryptor
Use: Never used
Usage: Every now and again I think I should be encrypting things, but I’ve never found an application that does it well. Or maybe I’ve never really looked hard enough. I’m not too worried about someone breaking in, so it still isn’t really on my mind.

AppShelf

Desc: Serial number manager
Use: Never used
Usage: I use 1Password (MacHeist 08) and love it. No need for a replacement.

BabelBloX

Desc: Block based game
Use: Used once
Usage: Played it once, didn’t really get into it. In general, I don’t have enough time for games. In particular, I don’t have any time for dull games.

Big Bang Board Games

Desc: Collection of 7 classic games
Use: Played a few times
Usage: I come to find I never learned how to play Mancala, Reversi or Backgammon. Connect-4 and tic-tac-toe aren’t too bad. The AI is goood (against me anyway) in chess and checkers.

Blitz

Desc: Application focusing
Use: Opened once
Usage: Opening this app for the first time was a mistake. It promptly shut me out of all applications including the Finder. Had to perform a hard restart. Will not be opening this app again.

BoinxTV

Desc: Video creation
Use: Never opened
Usage: I don’t do much with video. Actually, I don’t do anything with video except watch it.

Colloquy

Desc: IRC chat client
Use: Used a handful of times
Usage: I don’t chat on IRC channels much, but this came in handy to keep up on Macheist things until they put out their own chat app.

Cro Mag Rally

Desc: Racing Game
Use: Used a handful of times
Usage: Fun little race game set in prehistoric times. I played for a couple of days, got stuck at a certain level, and gave up. Still wondering why my player is the only one who’s required to collect the arrowheads.

Delicious Library 2

Desc: Media cataloger
Use: Used once
Usage: I spent ten minutes cataloging a few items I have like my copy of Medal of Honor. Then I realized that it would take me no small amount of time to try and catalog everything. Then I began to wonder why I’d want this stuff cataloged anyway. Finally I came to the conclusion that I don’t have the time, need or interest.

DEVONthink

Desc: Free form database
Use: Used once
Usage: Tried it for 10 minutes, didn’t ‘get it’ and left. I’d categorize this app as spending an hour to save 5 minutes. I’m hooked on The Hit List instead.

Enigomo 2

Desc: Drippy puzzle game
Use: Used a couple of times
Usage: Fun for a short while, until it got too hard. I only seem to have time for quick and easy games these days.

EventBox

Desc: Social media black hole tool
Use: Never used
Usage: There’s a run on these all in one apps these days, and I just haven’t really bothered. I don’t need to be checking in on Facebook every 5 minutes. Twitter, on the other hand…

Espresso

Desc: Web development app
Use: Used a handful of times
Usage: This was the app I was most looking forward to out of the bundle. I use Coda, a similar app, nearly everyday. So I was excited to see what a competing application (that’s received a lot of buzz in the community) could do. Unfortunately it doesn’t work like I think it should. I haven’t figured out how to use it to edit an existing site. I can start a project locally, and then upload it… but… I should write more about this elsewhere… A real bummer overall, really.

Fresh

Desc: Finder replacement, file storage, something or other. Maybe.
Use: Tried once or twice
Usage: I honestly don’t know what this app is supposed to do. There’s two green bars across my screen, and I’m supposed to put stuff in them, or take them out maybe? No real clue here.

Headline

Desc: News Reader
Use: Opened once
Usage: Another news/rss reader. No time to learn a new system, or import my feeds.

Hyperspaces

Desc: OS X Spaces enhancer
Use: Opened once or twice
Usage: If this app does something more than put the name of the ‘space’ I’m using in the lower left corner, I missed it.

iConquer

Desc: RISK style world domination game
Use: Play periodically
Usage: This is a great example of a game I enjoy playing. It’s quick, it’s easy, I can beat the AI once in a while. It also helps that I happen to love RISK.

iSale

Desc: eBay desktop app
Use: Never used
Usage: I haven’t bought or sold anything on eBay for so long, I forgot they were still around.

iStock

Desc: Stock tracker
Use: Never used
Usage: If I had stocks, perhaps this app would come in handy. Actually I take that back. If I had stocks I’d probably have shot myself by now.

KavaTunes

Desc: Website building tool for iTunes like websites
Use: Never used
Usage: I really have no idea why I would want a iTunes like website.

Kinemac

Desc: 3D animation app
Use: Never used
Usage: I’m sure this would be awesome if I were a 3D guy who didn’t have Maya or 3D Studio Max.

Little Snapper

Desc: Screen capture app
Use: Used once
Usage: Once in a while I’ll do a scree grab for something, but not often. When the day comes that I step up my screen capture skillz, I’m sure this app will be my go to.

Lugaru

Desc: Rabbit Ninja game
Use: Played a couple of times
Usage: This little Rabbit Ninja game put the old Rabbit Ninja game out of business. Fun to play, after a bit of a UI learning curve. Would be more fun if I didn’t have a 2 year old to chase around the house.

MacDust

Desc: Mac Cleaner of some sort
Use: Used once, lost some data
Usage: End user types like myself ought to know better than to open an app like this and let it go to town. I lost enough non-critical data to convince me not to open it up again.

MiniOne Racing

Desc: Racer game
Use: Played a handful of times
Usage: Fun and quick to play. Kind of buggy with a crash or two here and there. My two year old likes to watch the cars race around, so maybe I’ll install it on his future machine, which is now my wife’s iMac that is in desperate need of replacement. How about that for some useless information.

Multiwinia

Desc: RTS game
Use: Played a couple of times
Usage: With time and patience this game could be fun. Get past the UI learning curve and you’re halfway there. Got my ass kicked by the computer and gave up. I used to really love games like this, that were engaging and challenging. Now I have a 2 year old who fills that role.

Overflow

Desc: Application launcher
Use: Never used
Usage: Back in my day, if something ain’t broke, why try and fix it? Butler for the mac worked for me last year, no reason it wont work again this year. Now get off my lawn.

Pandora’ Pests

Desc: Swy Flotter game
Use: Played once
Usage: About as an annoying and un-fun game as there could be. If this game is being ironic, the irony must be lost on me.

Phone View

Desc: iPhone utility thingie
Use: Never used
Usage: I long ago forgot about using my iPhone as an external disk. I think I have 8gb and it’s about half full. Perhaps I’m not using the full potential of the iPhone… might be interesting if I opened it up.

Picturesque

Desc: Pretty picture maker
Use: Never used
Usage: This app will add things like a reflection or perspective you your pictures, and then let you save them as a .png file. Let’s hope for this apps sake the reflection look stays in style a little longer.

PocketMac Ringtone Studio

Desc: iPhone ringtone maker
Use: Used once
Usage: I’ve chosen the most basic, old skool ringtone that came with the phone. And since a ringtone is often a direct reflection of your personality, I’ve never thought I could describe myself fully with one single song.

Pop pop

Desc: Breakout style game
Use: Used once
Usage: I’ve never been a huge fan of breakout style games. Just never have. I suspect I may never.

Process

Desc: GTD style outlining app
Use: Used once
Usage: I’ve tried many GTD and outliner applications, and most disappoint. I can’t say I gave this one a chance, but when an app like this makes me do things their way, I usually lose interest pretty quickly. If only I were a true follower of the GTD mantra.

Santa Snaps

Desc: Christmas themed, PhotoBooth clone
Use: Never used
Usage: I don’t have a web cam on my machine, and if I did I’m sure I wouldn’t use PhotoBooth, let alone a Christmas themed PhotoBooth.

Scribbles

Desc: Vector based drawing app
Use: Never used
Usage: I’ve heard good things about this app, but it’s hard to imagine taking the time to learn this app when I know Illustrator so well.

Shovebox

Desc: Information organizer
Use: Never used
Usage: All these little organizer apps are probably good, if you have the time to learn to use them, or can fit into their scheme. I don’t and I can’t.

SousChef

Desc: Cooking/recipe app
Use: Never used
Usage: Since my wife is the resident foodie, I rarely bother with what’s for dinner. I get the sense though, that she’d like me to step it up a bit. Since I can look in the fridge and be clueless on what I can make, this app might be very useful with it’s “what’s in your fridge” feature.

StickyNotes

Desc: Like Stickies, but better?
Use: Never used
Usage: I hate post-it notes in real life, and even more so all over my desktop.

Synergy

Desc: Menu bar iTunes controler
Use: Never used
Usage: Pretty happy just using iTunes to control iTunes. Also my menu bar feels too full already.

Times

Desc: Newspaper style news reader
Use: Never used
Usage: I should take a closer look at this app, but I’ve been using NewNewsWire for a while now and have been happy enough with it.

The Hit List

Desc: Kick Ass To-Do List (GTD)
Use: Use all day, every day
Usage: Each year there is at least one application that really stands out and makes the bundle a no-brainer. The Hit List is that app this year. I’ve finally found a to do list that works for me, and keeps me on track. I can’t say enough good things about it.

Timepost

Desc: Time tracker
Use: Never used
Usage: I use a web based app called Harvest. They do time tracking better than anyone, and no desktop based app will convince me otherwise.

Typinator

Desc: System wide spell check, correction and shortcut tool
Use: Use daily
Usage: This is a great little app that will correct spelling as you type as well as allowing you to create keyboard shortcuts for often typed items. I use the letters bhe to automatically enter my email, for example. It even has a cool little clickety sound when it makes a correction.

Webbla

Desc: Bookmark manager
Use: Never used
Usage: I like keeping things simple, and adding another application to keep my bookmarks in order seems like piling on. I keep a lot of bookmarks, and they are already well organized within my browser. Both my browsers, actually. Might be nice for people with less bookmarks.

WireTap Studio

Desc: Audio recording and editing
Use: Use periodically
Usage: Last year’s loot included a license for WireTap Pro, and my guess is WireTap Studio is just the upgrade. It seems pretty much the same, although now all my recordings are saved in a library within the application. I can then easily send the recordings to various places like iTunes, and in various formats like .mp3. I’ve been recording the noises my kids make and posting them on their site.

World of Goo

Desc: Globular Game
Use: Used a couple of times
Usage: Very fun game where you move goo around to make other goo do things and build structure.

Overall the bundle was absolutely fantastic this year, with The Hit List coming out as the biggest gem IMO. I also really like Typinator and am hoping I figure out how use Espresso. Which were your favorites?

Shane McConkey 1969 – 2009