Migrating from ExpressionEngine to WordPress using an XML / WXR import file

Aug 23 2012

One of my first projects here at RD2 was to migrate a site from ExpressionEngine over to WordPress. Part of that process involved making a hard decision:

“Do we migrate the content manually, create a custom database migration script, or is there a better way?”

It turned out that there was a much better way to accomplish what we were after. It was a little custom, but more importantly – it was reusable. The solution I came up with was to create a template within ExpressionEngine, that would output a WordPress XML / WXR import file...

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Youtube Browser-Based Uploader with PHP

Aug 21 2012

Download Example

RD2 wanted to add something special with our 3rd iteration of building the World Traveler Internship website. We created a very unique feature within the application process...

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Responsive: Fluid Width YouTube Videos

Jun 28 2012

Building a responsive website requires many variables. You have to think about every element in the DOM and how it will react when the browser is resized. Here at RD2, we recently converted our site to be responsive. I have to say, it’s pretty awesome. But when I threw a YouTube video in one of our blog posts, it wasn’t responsive to the browser window or any smaller device.

Problem

Using WordPress’s auto embed feature, how can I modify the video’s width and height when I resize the browser using YouTube’s iframe code?

Answer

My original attempt at accomplishing this with CSS alone was not successful...

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One Big Responsive Family

Jun 27 2012
One Big Responsive Family

It’s a sign. A signal that something special is happening at RD2. Today we’re rolling out something for ourselves and that is altogether different for us. Typically we’re the last to get the good stuff, but this time it’s different. We wanted to be the test subject. This version of our website offers a glimpse of our new framework that we’ve been building as a WordPress add-on. Known in our industry as “Responsive Design,” this version of our website takes on a new design approach.

No matter what your website is all about, chances are if you look at your google analytics over the past few years you will notice new device types (mobile devices) are requesting content from your website...

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PHP Weather widget using Google’s weather API

May 17 2012
PHP Weather widget using Google’s weather API
UPDATE 08/28/2012

Google has abandoned their weather API and are now using wunderground.com Weather API. I will be creating a new tutorial showing the API in action very soon. Check back to the RD2 blog for updates. Please disregard the below code.

With the recent launch of the Elbowz Racing team website, we decided to add something a little bit fun, but still applicable, into the project: a self-maintaining weather widget using Google’s weather API and PHP...

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Detecting the Kindle Fire with PHP

Mar 8 2012
Detecting the Kindle Fire with PHP

There are many reasons to detect the type of platform your user is viewing your website on. There are articles all over the internet about detecting iphones, ipads, android devices, etc. But when it comes to detecting the Kindle Fire, things can get a bit strange. To get the user’s platform, you will want to use the PHP method, $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] (see below).

This will return: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10_6_3; en-us; Silk/1.1.0-80) AppleWebKit/533.16 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0 Safari/533.16 Silk-Accelerated=true

As you can see, there are mentions of Mozilla, Apple, WebKit, Safari, etc...

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Android Ice Cream Sandwich UI Study: Don’t let your users melt away.

Nov 10 2011
Android Ice Cream Sandwich UI Study: Don’t let your users melt away.
The Set Up

Google’s new operating system, code named Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) promises to do many things in the realm of application development. Developers are rejoicing at the ability to develop one application that will work on both tablets and smart phones. Users can’t wait for the boost in phone performance and sleek new interface features. Electronics manufacturers and Cellular service providers are waiting with baited breath to finally be able to support an operating system that has a defined and scheduled release pattern...

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Planning For Success: DFW WordPress Meetup Presentation

Apr 26 2010

On Saturday, Leia and I spoke at the DFW WordPress Meetup in Dallas. Our topic was “Planning for Success: Design Like a Pro.” The meta message was that all too often we are tempted to immediately move from idea to design by opening up Photoshop or scrolling through themes to pick your next look and feel. Instead, we recommended backing away from the tools and spend more time thinking…

We shared a portion of our methodology. It’s not rocket science. It’s really pretty basic stuff that you can apply to just about any project...

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