New design in effect at Perishable Press. It’s sort of a hybrid between some of the things I like about the Quintessential theme and some of the best parts of the subsequent Requiem theme. So this new theme is named Serious because it represents a renewed commitment to design, blogging, and everything I love about working on the Web. While I have everything fresh in my mind, here are some of the highlights of the latest incarnation of Perishable Press..

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Due to popular demand, I will be switching the site’s default theme back to the colorful Quintessential theme (opens new tab or window). Many people simply felt that the extreme minimalism of the new Requiem theme (opens new tab or window) was just too “plain” or otherwise difficult to navigate due to the single-column design. So, after giving it a go and receiving some excellent feedback, Perishable Press will be rolling with the Quintessential theme — at least for now.. ;)

Those of you who prefer the straightforward usability and minimalist design aesthetic of the new Requiem theme may continue to use it during your visits to Perishable Press. Either click here for Requiem (opens new tab or window), or otherwise scroll down to the footer of the default Quintessential theme to the “Switch Themes” links. Additionally, for the more adventurous surfers out there, you may choose to skin the site with any of my 18 available themes.

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As you may know, Perishable Press was redesigned only several months ago. As much as I enjoy the transparent imagery of the Quintessential theme (opens new window or tab), I find it too distracting and complicated for everyday use.

So I have redesigned, yet again. The new theme is called “Requiem” (opens new window or tab) and is return to my minimalist roots (opens new window or tab). There is something calming and yet energizing about working with a streamlined, no-fuss interface, especially when you are extremely busy. The new theme was completed in December of last year, and I have been using it behind the scenes ever since.

Now I want to know what you think about the new design. Is it an improvement over the previous, more colorful theme? I will be taking your feedback into consideration when deciding whether or not to keep the new “Requiem” theme as the default. Let me know your thoughts! Thanks :)

Go here for a complete list of available themes.

Several months after the release of the Arabic and Spanish versions of Contact Coldform, I am pleased to announce the release of a French translation of the plugin. The new French translation is graciously provided by Tony Tohme, who is also helping with the upcoming Russian translation of the Coldform. Thank you, Tony! :)

To download the French version of Contact Coldform, check out the plugin’s home page, where you will find additional information, future updates, and much more.

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Quick announcement that I will be posting an article featuring a diverse screenshot gallery of the new design. To accomplish this, I need screenshots from as many different operating systems and browsers as possible. Currently, I have access to the following browsers:

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New design in effect at Perishable Press. With this 17th incarnation of the site, I drew heavily upon psychedelic influences, spiked it with the essence of the previous dark minimalist theme, and mixed in a healthy dose of cutting-edge JavaScript and PHP functionality.

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Great news! Contact Coldform is now available in Spanish (Spain). Special thanks to Fernando Tellado of Ayuda Wordpress for his superb Spanish translation of the Coldform. Fernando has articulately translated both the administration panel and all of the (X)HTML/text output as well. Contact Coldform is now the perfect solution for Spanish users of WordPress who desire a super-clean, standards-based contact form. Thanks Fernando! :)

For more information, check out Fernando’s post, Plugin Contact Coldform en Español. There you may obtain more information and also download the Spanish (Spain) version of Contact Coldform. You may also download the Spanish version via the Coldform home page. Also, check out Ayuda Wordpress’ post comparing Contact Coldform to Cforms II.

In the current version of my custom contact-form WordPress plugin, Contact Coldform, there is no built-in method of sending emails to multiple addresses. The thought of adding such functionality had not occurred to me until recently, when a Coldform user asked about enabling it. After a bit of investigation, it turns out that integrating multiple-recipient functionality into Contact Coldform is as easy as it is practical. I will definitely be adding this feature to the next release of the Coldform, however, here is the modification procedure for those who just can’t wait.

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Several months ago, I changed my email address to stop spam. Since then, I have been updating every instance of my old address that I can find. In WordPress, I edited all of my theme files and updated my profile information in the “Users” admin area. Several days later while digging through the comments table in the WordPress database, I realized that the user-profile update is only pro-actively effective. There were still hundreds of instances of my old email address associated with comment-author information in the comments table. No big whoop for some, but the devastating inconsistency of it all would have kept me from a good night’s sleep (or maybe that was the caffeine..).

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Finally, after many grueling weeks of relentless determination and tedious repetition, I am pleased to announce the return of the entire collection of Perishable Press themes. Enabling users to change the appearance and functionality of the site, the fifteen unique themes were dismantled several months ago for the ongoing Perishable Press site renovation. Since then, links referring to the removed themes had been redirected to a temporary “Labs” subdomain (labs.perishablepress.com), which featured various installations of WordPress populated with “lorem ipsum” filler text. Although this was suitable as a temporary fix for those interested in exploring the different themes, full theme renovation and restoration remained an ongoing task that finally (finally!) reached its conclusion late last week.

Each and every theme has been painstakingly evaluated, optimized, improved, and tested. During the process, many structural, organizational, and presentational improvements were made. Each theme now operates independently, requiring no files (images, scripts, etc.) beyond those contained within the theme directory itself. Further, each theme has been integrated into a sitewide error-logging process whereby all errors (PHP, 404, htaccess, etc.) are logged in a centralized location and appended with plenty of theme-specific information. Thus, if someone begins to experience issues with one of these newly restored themes, I will be the first to know. This is important as people begin to use the themes under different circumstances (operating systems, user agents, extensions, etc.). I tested as much as possible to ensure universal functionality, but must admit a significant reliance and dependence on Web Standards throughout the restoration process. Thus, if something breaks on Internet Explorer, I won’t be surprised ;) So, without further ado, here is a summary of each newly renovated theme — feel free to check ‘em out!

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Update! Check out CSSresetr for an easy way to test and download the best reset styles for your next design.

Just a note to let everyone know that I have updated my previous CSS reference article, A Killer Collection of Global CSS Reset Styles. The updated version features two more excellent CSS resets, as well as the updated Meyer reset and a link to Eric’s official CSS Reset page. The two new reset styles are the Tripoli Reset and Tantek’s Reset:

Tantek’s CSS Reset

Dubbed “undohtml.css”, Tantek’s CSS Reset is a solid choice for removing many of the most obtrusive default browser styles. This reset removes underlines from links and borders from linked images, eliminates padding and margins for the most common block-level elements, and sets the font size to 1em for headings, code, and paragraphs. As an added bonus, Tantek’s reset also “de-italicizes” the infamous address element! Nice :)

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Announcing an improved, Arabic version of my latest WordPress plugin, Contact Coldform. The new version features complete UTF-8 compatibility and has been completely translated to the Arabic language. Here is a detailed breakdown of changes made for the Arabic version:

• Completely translated to Arabic
• Encoded in UTF-8 without BOM
• Emails now sent in HTML format
• Added line breaks in HTML format
• Right-to-left text presentation
• Customized layout for Arabic
• Full UTF-8 support

Of course, none of this would have been possible without the generous help of:

• Rasheed, for translating the plugin to Arabic
• Mustafa Saadi, for doing everything else ;)

For more information, check out the original thread at ar-wp.com. There you may obtain more information and also download the Arabic version of Contact Coldform. You may also download the Arabic version via the Coldform home page.

Alrighty then! Looks like recent changes to site structure have really dropped a bomb on quite a few regular visitors out there. After switching over to the new default theme last night, I had setup an email notification system to alert me of all errors encountered at this domain (i.e., the main site and all test sites). Of course, I knew that at least a few errors would be inevitable, but I had no idea that I would receive nearly 300 of them!

After examining the nature of these errors, it appears that the bulk of them are the result of either Google showing confusion over the new image directory structure, or people visiting the site with a browser cache full of old theme files. Apparently, a few visitors were actually using some of the alternate themes that I had provided via the previous default theme. So, now that the alternate themes have been removed (temporarily, for a few months), visitors are experiencing errors when they visit the site. Uhh, not so good, especially for them.

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It must be national “update-your-WordPress-plugins” month around here or something. First a completely renovated version of Category LiveBookmarks Plus, then a WP-2.3-compatible facelift for BlogStats PCC, and now a completely widgetized & automated version of the popular AddMySite plugin. Coincidence? — I think not..

Due to popular demand, I am proud to announce the release of a new widgetized version of the free AddMySite (AMS) plugin for WordPress. The new version (0.88) is compatible with all versions of WordPress (including all WP 2.3+), and is easily integrated into any widget-capable area (e.g., sidebars, footers, etc.) of any widget-friendly WordPress theme. Simply activate, drag & drop into place, and enjoy! Once the widget has been activated, AMS enables site visitors to easily and quickly add your site or feed to as many as 40 social-bookmarking and/or feed aggregation services.

By default, version 0.88 of AMS automatically uses the information specified in your WP Admin for your blog name, blog address, and feed URL. Thus, manual code editing is no longer required for the plugin to work as intended. However, if you would like to customize any of the predefined variables, simply use the nifty popup menu provided on the AMS widget icon. Everything is completely widgetized, automated, and customizable! For more information about AddMySite, or to download yourself a fresh copy, visit the official AMS information page »

Just a note to announce the release of a new version of BlogStats PCC. BlogStats PCC is a free WordPress plugin that provides an easy way to share your blog’s core statistics with your visitors. You can show off any or all of the following statistics:

• total number of posts
• total number of comments
• total number of categories
• total number of registered users
• total number of unregistered users
• total number of individual, static pages
• the date of the most recent post modification
• a link to the most recently published blog post
• a link to the name of the most recent commentator
• date/time of the most recent blog update, displayed in your default date format

BlogStats PCC enables you to display any or all of these statistics in any location (inside the loop or elsewhere). The plugin is completely free, totally customizable, and extremely easy to use. The new version (2.3.0a) works with all versions of WordPress (1.5 - 2.3), and is available for immediate download via the official BlogStats PCC information/download page.

Ladies and gentlemen, things have become a little too comfortable around here. Themes are displaying with nary a hitch, files are being downloaded as expected, URLs are served like butter, and the site is experiencing fewer errors (PHP, 404, etc.) than ever before. After two years of perpetual updating, posting, fixing, and tweaking, Perishable Press is finally performing exactly as desired (all things considered, of course). Yes sir, things are running quite smooth indeed..

A little too smooth. Sure, given the comfortable equilibrium that I am currently enjoying, it would be very easy to kick back, get lazy, and just coast on autopilot for the next two or three years. Maybe drop a new theme every six or seven months and call it good. After all, I have finally developed a comfortable writing and posting schedule as well. So what’s the problem, then? Why change things now? Why deliberately create more work, hassle, and stress for myself? Surely, there is a good reason.

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CLB+ As many WordPress users now realize, there have been many fundamental changes in the new version of WordPress. The latest version of WordPress — 2.3 — features a considerably revamped database structure, including a complete reorganization and redistribution of the wp_categories table. Unfortunately, such database alterations have rendered inoperable many popular plugins, proving quite unfortunate not only for millions of WordPress users, but also for those of us who donate time, effort, and resources toward the development of freely available WordPress plugins. Thus, with the advent of WordPress 2.3, developers whose plugins have ceased to function must now decide whether or not to continue their support. In my humble opinion, philanthropic plugin developers have several choices:

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Here at Perishable Press, we like to stay current by running the latest version of WordPress. The site launched in 2005 with WordPress 1.5 (Strayhorn), eventually made the jump to version 2.0 (Duke), recently stepped up to 2.0.1 (Still Duke), and currently enjoys 2.0.5 (Ronan). Although each of these upgrades have required various file edits, plugin tweaks, and theme modifications, the process is always educational and remains an important aspect of this site. Much of our content revolves around using and customizing WordPress, and so staying current with new versions is critical if we are to continue operating as a relevant, contemporary resource.

Needless to say, with the release of WordPress 2.1 (Ella) in January of 2007, we were excited about upgrading. In fact, we were so enthusiastic about diving into ‘Ella’ that we went ahead and upgraded only hours after its release (mistake #1). I recall thinking something to the effect of “..every other WordPress upgrade has gone so well..” and, after skimming over the list of changes, “Wow, look at all that WordPress goodness — surely this will be a fantastic upgrade!” (mistake #2). As if that weren’t enough, by not waiting a few days before jumping aboard, it was impossible to follow the sage advice of “Google first, upgrade second” (mistake #3).

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Default DNS Error page for Internet Explorer

First of all, congratulations if you are geeky enough to understand the title of this article. Many would be like, "CSS, MS.. IE, error ..what..?" Whatever. If you get the title, you will get the point of this utterly pointless exercise. If that is the case, prepare for a delightful romp through geekland. Otherwise, save your precious time and stop reading here (exit strategy).

Well, okay, for the seriously unenlightened, let us explain the object of our present focus:

The default "DNS Error" page for Internet Explorer unfortunately remains a familiar sight for millions of Microsoft users. Typically, the default MS DNS Error page loads whenever a browser is unable to connect to the internet or other networked resource. Once loaded, the error page announces itself with a message that reads "The page cannot be displayed." The page then presents several options: refresh browser, retype address, check connection, check configuration, etc.     — Monzilla Media (i.e., me)

Still interested? Well, okay. Actually, it’s no big deal. Just a nice, standards-compliant, CSS-based redesign of that old, nappy Internet Explorer 404 Error page. You know the one. Whenever you can’t connect to the internet, it jumps up at you, sticks out it’s tongue and mocks you. Yes, we hate it, too. But alas, with the release of Internet Explorer 7 comes a ‘brand new’ 404 error page. Surely, it’s just a matter of time before that dumpy old 404 error page circa IE5/6 disappears forever. So, before that tragedy unfolds..

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Dead Letter Art (DLa) is an esoteric underground art collective. The collective consists of eight core members that have known each other since high school, and have been creating and sharing their art for well over fifteen years. Sharing many common interests and influences, the DLa collective explores diverse artistic media, both individually and collectively. Their vast media expertise includes everything from drawing and painting to website development and multimedia production. Further, the group also embraces the fine art of desktop publishing, employing their periodically printed zine, Dead Letter Art, with their recently redesigned website, deadletterart.com, as their vehicle of choice for sharing, discussing, and exploring their highly creative, collective universe.

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We are happy to announce the release of AddMySite (AMS) version 0.77. The new version features support for syndicated content feeds, and enables users to add their site’s feed to fifteen different feed-syndication and social-aggregator sites. Plus, the new version of AMS includes twenty-five social-bookmarking services to which users may easily add your site. The entire list of 40 sites is concisely presented via drop-down menu or as a customizable list. One file. Simple installation. Easy to use. Clean output and XHTML strict. Plus, the new version of AddMySite is fully compatible with WordPress 2.1 (Ella).

Click on over to the AMS download page to check it out »

As promised, the fine folks at WordPress have released WordPress 2.1, which has been named "Ella" after jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald. The new version features several key improvements, including lossless XML import/export, spell checking, post Autosave, and even a new search-engine privacy option. All that, and much more. Reading through the vast list of changes and developer features, we are quite excited to dive in and explore the new and improved, "state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform."

Download WordPress 2.1 (direct download)

The AddMySite (AMS) plugin for WordPress makes it easy for your visitors to add your site to all of their favorite social-bookmarking services. With a few clicks, users may easily bookmark or add your site to any number of popular social bookmarking services, which are concisely presented via drop-down menu or as a customizable list. One file. Simple installation. Easy to use. Clean output and XHTML strict.

New! — Widgetized AMS version 0.88 now available! The new widgetized version of AddMySite makes it easier than ever to add your site and feed to 40 sites! AMS version 0.88 features 25 social-bookmarking sites to which visitors may add your site. Even better, the new version of AMS also enables visitors to add your site’s syndicated feed to 15 feed-related/aggregator sites. That’s 40 ways to expand your online empire!

Super-easy installation instructions

1. Upload plugin to plugins directory and activate.
2. Drag and drop the AMS widget into your sidebar.
3. Enjoy! ;)

Demonstration

To see AddMySite (AMS) in action, look here (located near the middle of the page).

Download AddMySite (AMS)

[ version 0.88 (widgetized) | ~5KB | .zip | 2013 downloads ]

Previous versions of AMS

• AMS Version 0.77 [ 2351 downloads ]
• AMS Version 0.33 [ 1988 downloads ]

Perishable Press currently offers eight plugins for WordPress:

Authenticate

Authenticate is a free WordPress plugin that enables universal and/or targeted inclusion of custom content for both feeds and posts. Ideal for adding copyright information, distribution policy, thank-you messages, custom links, special offers, and much more. Custom content may be added to any location within posts or feeds — before, after, or even within post content. All options are set via admin control panel. Learn more about Authenticate, or download direct:

Download Authenticate
[ current version 1.0 | ~4KB | .zip | 1227 downloads ]

Authenticate Lite

Authenticate Lite is a free WordPress plugin that enables universal and/or targeted inclusion of custom content for both feeds and posts. Ideal for adding copyright information, distribution policy, thank-you messages, custom links, special offers, and much more. Custom content may be added to any location within posts or feeds — before, after, or even within post content. All options are set in the plugin file. Learn more about Authenticate Lite, or download direct:

Download Authenticate Lite
[ current version 1.0 | ~3KB | .zip | 1215 downloads ]

Contact Coldform

Contact Coldform is a fully functional, highly customizable contact form for WordPress. Features full Admin Options, easy installation, and clean markup. Includes anti-spam challenge question, user carbon copies, and much more. Solid performance, secure functionality, complete flexibility. Learn more about Contact Coldform, or download direct:

Download Contact Coldform
[ current version 0.88 | ~8KB | .zip | 4081 downloads ]

BlogStats PCC

BlogStats PCC is the easy way to display the total number of posts, comments, and categories, as well as several other great statistics for your WordPress-powered website. Learn more about BlogStats PCC, or download direct:

Download BlogStats PCC
[ version 2.3.0a | ~3KB | .zip | 2530 downloads ]

Category LiveBookmarks Plus

Category LiveBookmarks Plus is the easy way to provide complete autodiscovery functionality and “Post Smart” feed links to your WordPress-powered website. Learn more about Category LiveBookmarks Plus, or download direct:

Download Category LiveBookmarks Plus
[ version 2.3.0b | ~7.3KB | .zip | 3013 downloads ]

Head MetaData Plus

The Head MetaData Plus plugin is designed to complete a site’s head construct by including some of the more obscure meta tags, such as "author" and "copyright". This was one of the original plugins for customizing meta tags. Learn more about Head MetaData Plus, or download direct:

Download Head MetaData Plus
[ version 1.0 | 3.3KB | .zip | 2067 downloads ]

AddMySite (AMS)

AddMySite makes it easy for your visitors to add your site to the social bookmarking service of their choice. Users may bookmark your site at over 25 different social bookmarking services, which are concisely presented via drop-down menu or as a customizable list. Learn more about AddMySite, or download direct:

Download AddMySite (AMS)
[ version 0.88 (widgetized) | ~5KB | .zip | 2013 downloads ]

Export Blogroll for del.icio.us

The Export Blogroll for del.icio.us plugin simplifies the process of transferring the links in your WordPress Links Manager (aka the Blogroll) to your del.icio.us social bookmarking account. The plugin provides several export options, including category-specific export. Learn more about Export Blogroll, or download direct:

Export Blogroll for del.icio.us
[ version 1.0 | ~4KB | .zip | 1836 downloads ]

One of our most popular posts, Stupid htaccess Tricks, has been completely rewritten and now includes almost twice as many stupid htaccess tricks. Plus, we have added a library of regex character definitions, more information for many of the directives, and several handy references. But wait, there’s more — we even threw in a “quick-jump” Table of Contents and a complete set of “up” [ ^ ] links for easy navigation. Utterly amazing!