• Removed the decorative sidebar and shifted the content left.
• Dropped the sidebar lower, modified it to randomly select testimonials, and added a logo to the top of the page on that side.
• Created custom backgrounds for the page, header and footer.
• Swapped out the footer widgets for a special announcement and a link list (using WordPress links).
• Used a structure of pages instead of posts.
• Connected to an existing shopping cart to create purchase options.
• Changed color schemes and some font treatments to achieve the right look.
• Created a graphic for the slogan to connect the elegance and star power of the event.
• Formatted the content and pictures for flow.

The end result is a flirty and fun site featuring the site owner’s favorite colors that does a great job in getting across the feel of the event itself. It is a big departure from the original format of the Rockstar Wedding Planner LIVE! site, which was more of a long sales form — and the folks at RSWP couldn’t be happier with their new design! The event (and the site) are sure to be another smashing success for Daykin Productions.

• Custom backgrounds throughout.
• Dropped navigation in the header, expanded wording in the footer.
• Replacement header featuring Callandra’s fantastic logo.
• A new sidebar that changes from the blog to the static pages, and features a rotating testimonial and social media icons.
• SEO helpers like the WPSEO plugin, sitemaps, and search engine pinging.
• New blog formatting to suit Callandra’s needs.
• Custom WordPress templates for blog archives, recent posts and testimonials.

The end result is the launch of Cherry Tree Occasions — Wedding Planner to the Wildly Romantic! I think all the small details on this site make it one of my favorites. Callandra and I really came together as a team to make this site great!

This was the question recently addressed by Heart on Your Wrist, a custom jewelry maker. They have an existing e-commerce site built upon Zen Cart with a theme they like, but they tried to add a blog in a new directory and were unhappy with the the mismatch in themes … until That PHP Girl came along!

I worked with the team at Heart on Your Wrist to rebuild a theme on their existing WordPress installation to match their Zen Cart stylesheets. This theme features:

• The use of common stylesheets with the ZenCart theme.
• Custom templates for the index, archive and single pages.
• Custom archives listings by tag/topic, date or category.
• Updates for all existing WordPress and Plugin software.
• Modification of the Socialable plugin for WordPress to make it work in this application.

• Custom imagery, headers and backgrounds.
• Modification of the base theme, and restructuring of the header.
• Changes and additions to the stylesheets (CSS), including font changes.
• A "social media hub" with a custom icon theme and links to all her various social media profiles.
• Assistance for the site owner in making new posts, adding images, and generally using WordPress.
• Critical plugins like Google Sitemaps and WPSEO.

• Custom PHP programming in the menu bar, sidebars, and content areas, including a request form.
• A new logo.
• Changes to the stylesheets (CSS) and new icons.

The company is continuing to work on their site and refine their message, and I see great things for their future.

She and He Plan Weddings is based on the theme Busy Bee by Woo Themes. Originally, it was a content port from Squarespace to a self-hosted WordPress installation. Ciara created her own graphics for the header and sidebar ads, and I created a new "pink" color scheme for the theme. This project’s programming modifications include:

• Custom header menus
• Custom Twitter feed using modified Lifestream plugin
• Small WordPress tweaks throughout

The end result went live a while back at SheAndHePlanWeddings.com. Future plans include expanded video capabilities.

For Rockstar Wedding Planner, we started with the Over Easy theme by Woo Themes, and again created a "pink" color scheme with associated css files. Ciara supplied the Rockstar Wedding Planner logo, and I added a set of circular social media icons along with some other graphics. Other modifications include:

• Custom WordPress templates for Products, Coaching and Events pages
• Design of post category and information structure
• Custom sidebars and footers, including modification of LifeStream plugin for Twitter status and development of a rotating testimonial display
• Revamp of front page teaser block
• PHP / WordPress / theme / CSS additions and changes throughout

This site is now live at RockstarWeddingPlanner.com.

Overall, I am pleased with the results and have no doubt that Ciara Daykin will turn both sites into successful ventures.

This project’s modifications include:

• Custom PHP/HTML/CSS/Wordpress programming for the order form, footer widgets, menu bars, and sidebars.
• Copywriting and typography assistance.
• Customizations for the Lifestream Plugin for Wordpress, featuring the On Stage Free Icon Set
• Aquaticus Social – Free social media icons for the feeds at the bottom right
• WPSEO and Google XML Sitemaps Generator plugins.
• Custom cut-out images for the featured images section.

The client is very pleased with how it turned out, and I really enjoyed this project because I got to work with graphics and icons more than I usually do. You can see the final result live now at MyTechTeam.net.

I did have one noteworthy snag though … I learned the lesson of saving your work before upgrading! The theme had been upgraded in the past week, and what I thought would be an easy upgrade of the version I modified turned out to be hours of work. I guess a few lines of the new code didn’t work with the existing site, so I spent a lot of time fishing through to figure out where the problem was. I did figure it out in the end though, which was important to me in terms of presenting a quality product to the client.

To recreate Hear Florida in WordPress and upgrade it to the client’s needs, I pulled out the base HTML and CSS from what I believe was a modified YooTheme template, along with the content. I then …

• Configured the site to use permalinks.
• Removed all layout-based tables from the content, and generally cleaned up the HTML and CSS for the site. (Tables displaying tabular data were retained.)
• Installed and activated the WPSEO and Google Sitemaps plugins.
• Used the Google Maps API to create location pages which put the logo and address on a point on live maps. Each map point includes that location’s logo and contact information.
• Added a blog with a feed and Feedburner connection. The blog features several custom archive page templates, including a category listing, a single page, and an all-posts listing.
• Added social media connections (Twitter, Facebook, AddThis) to the sidebar and the blog posts.
• Created a newsletter signup form for use with a custom newsletter template.
• Made a dynamic sidebar to load content as it is added by the content admin.
• Created a Q & A section which includes a form to ask questions, a format for reading the answers to previous questions, and social media connections for sharing the content.
• Organized the site and navigation for clarity, ease of use, and elimination of redundancy.

Overall, all parties are pleased with the result and I am confident that this new version of the Hear Florida site will prove to have better longevity and marketability for the company.

Customizations made to the base them include:

• Adjusted the CSS for the div columns for the front page slider to allow for more text and less image space at a 300px height slider.
• Removed the image resizer and link from the front page image. Swapped out the Woo Themes image function for get_post_custom_values($key) to pull the correct image.
• Took out subscription widget and added my own sidebar links to the blog using the Woo Themes Hand-drawn Icon Set.
• Removed date-based archives in blog sidebar for a recent posts widget.
• Added hard link to Portfolio category of the blog into the header; changed exsiting code to highlight Portfolio instead of Blog when the user was in the Portfolio category of the blog.
• Creation of a custom contact form and response thank you page.
• Added Read More, Testimonial, and Recent Posts widgets to the bottom of the front page.
• Removed footer/widgets from the blog (for now).

• The center column now lists a special category of posts that I designed to just fit in that space and no where else, called “Fast Notes”.
• The Flickr plugin was modified to display a certain set instead of my entire Flickr stream.
• A bookmark list was added to the sidebar to display resources and links. These bookmarks are randomly selected from a master list which is then displayed when the user clicks on the more link.
• Small changes were added in the overall user experience, such as changing the archive displays and the order of the sidebar items.

I am pleased with the end result and how the theme contributes to the overall user experience. See the site at oregontreehugger.com.