Buttah design recently finished the site named God’s Time Capsule for the book of the same title. It examines the who and when of the building of the great Pyramid and the Sphinx of Giza Egypt. Along with excerpts from the book for Volume I ( Volume II to be released in about six months ), the site also incorporated a PayPal store front with links to purchase the book. In addition, a PayPal button was created for the lapel pyramid pin created by the author as a unique item to go alongside the book. Finally, a contact page was created to create communications with the author. All of these functions were done on a WordPress architect foundation which made the site fun to create as well as challenging.

homepage image of God's Time Capsule

I’ve been getting .Net ( Dot Net) Magazine for a few years now and without question, it has helped me be a better coder and designer. It has informative tutorials, articles, techniques and showcase articles every month. Let’s take a dive and look inside and some of some of the best features of this magazine and why it is so worldly popular.

Every month the magazine breaks down it’s content into articles ranging from current topics to interviews with emerging starts of the internet. In addition, we get style guides on how to create anything from uniform branding to how to build the perfect sidebar. It’s all there in these style guides. Our regular advise box as always which comes in handy for it’s not just advice but expert advise that you can use.

Next up is our technique section where their tutorial section is excellent.  The range of tutorials is also vast so you have a wide choice to go through as the months pass by.  You also have website build off where you get to see 3 variations of a fictitious companies website completed by 3 different web designers. Each bring their own style and flair and discuss how they came up with their theme. It’s a wonderful way to learn.

Next up is makeover. A we site is discussed by the designers on how it was created from the site in the past. What was wrong with the site before, what they did to correct it and specifically they go through in detail what they did to bring the site up to date. It’s a fantastic way to learn. Again, in every issue.

And in every month selection of advise and opinion, you get it from from the web industry’s leading professionals. A question and answer section is up first with relevant topics. An expert tip of the month … don’t miss it.  Search, Hosting, Security, Marketing, Startup and Ecommerce  sections discuss relevant issues to each section.

.Net Magazine is full of rich, exciting articles meant to entice and pull you in. If you don’t have a subscription you can get one here.

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The Lunarfly+2 Trail is for the neutral to mild over-pronator who requires cushioning with a hint of stability. It’s Nike+ ready so you can have your iPod set to play along with you. Comes in 3 color ways and is very lightweight. Let’s take a closer look at all its features that makes it such an outstanding trail shoe that buttah loves so much.

Lunarlon Midsole

Lunarlon midsole

On the sole of the shoe is the Lunarlon cushioning, a soft foam core and a supportive foam carrier. The dynamic and unique blend delivers lightweight, plush, springy and responsive support without added weight or added height that you may have expected. It’s such a unique blend of foams that it will blow you mind!

BRS 1000 Carbon Outsole

BRS 1000 Carbon Outsole

The BRS 1000 carbon rubber outsole delivers maximum durability in high-wear areas, is lightweight and  very grippy. It’s also an environmentally preferred rubber with angled waffle lugs for optimal grip on uneven terrain. In addition, wide spaces between lugs allow for quick and easy mud shedding. Nike’s been using it on their shoes for some time now and placing it on Lunarfly+2 Trail was an excellent move for its customers. We get the best materials, period.

Gusseted Tongue

When you’re out on the trail and twigs, leafs etc. get tossed up in the air, you don’t want them landing in your shoe. The gusseted tongue on the Lunarfly keeps debris at bay. The inner booty wraps around your foot snuggly and firmly with no chance of debris matter getting in. It’s a clever design. From the outside of the shoe, you cannot tell it’s even there. It is, however, an essential part of the shoe and a part you’ll be glad is there once out on the trail.

Microfiber Synthetic Overlays

microfiber synthetic overlays

Nike has always been a company who thinks ahead. The textile used in this shoe is a great example. To shave off weight, they used one piece of material. It’s ultra-lightweight, very tightly woven and has a nice feel to it. Additionally, this microfiber fabric is treated with a durable water repellent ( DWR ) making the Lunarfly+2 Trail water proof.  This is huge when out on the trail when in light rain. We want to stay dry as possible an this affords us to do this with ease.

On top of this microfiber fabric are structural pieces that hold the shoe together in critical ares where the forces are the greatest. Therefore, you get weight savings, sweat evaporation from the shoe to the outside and air is allowed to flow in to the shoe for maximum ventilation. The fibers act as structural support for the shoe along with added durability. The body of the shoe is strong enough to hold you in during downhill running, scrambling over rocks and other trail obstacles. Finally, reflective accents allow for visibility in low light conditions.

Overall Impression

Lunarfly+2 Trail

Right out of the box these Lunarfly’s were so comfortable I went on a 5 mile hike the very first day. No break in period was needed. I was very impressed with the cushioning. I have a very high instep so my heel and metatarsals is all that I have for support on impact. Plus, I wear orthotics. Orthotics place my foot about 1/2 inch above normal and the Lunarfly is deep enough to accommodate them. Secondly, the weight of these shoes is ridiculous. They’re featherweight. You hardly notice they’re on your feet … really. I like that. You can move faster with less weight. Third, I love the gusseted tongue. The way it’s built into the shoe, hardly noticeable and built into the booty is beautiful design wise. Your foot is wrapped is cushiony comfort. Finally, the overall comfort of the shoe is magnificent, superb, brilliant!

I’ve played basketball since I was in forth grade and wore many  different shoes growing up. I’ve tried them all. These are up there with the best of the best … and I’ve tried many a shoe over the last 3 and a half decades. These shoes are that comfortable. They come in 3 color ways, women’s lasts also. At $85 they’re a steal. That’s my opinion anyway. Hope you like your pair.

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The old way of resizing a window in the past with Snow Leopard and before meant hitting the green button on the upper-left corner to maximize the window or going to the bottom-right resize handle and pulling and stretching out the window at will. Lion’s new features have a bit more to it and can adjust the window proportionally from any edge. You are no longer stuck having to use the bottom-right corner only. Let’s look what else we can do with the new Lion windows.
Lion lets you resize a window from any edge not just the bottom-right corner. It’s as simple as placing your mouse pointer along a window’s edge and watch it change to a double sided arrow facing opposite directions to the direction the window can be resized. Clicking and dragging a window’s horizontal or vertical edge will resize it horizontally or vertically. As in all previous versions of Mac’s operating systems,  Lion allows clicking and dragging the bottom-right corner to resize the window in both directions at once.

Lion’s Use of Modifier Keys

Option Key

New to Lion is the use of modifier keys while resizing windows. Holding down the Option key while resizing while cause expansion on both sides at once. So as you hold the option key down and drag on a horizontal edge, both sides of the window’s horizontal edges will grow at the saw time. This goes for vertical expansion as well.

Shift Key

Holding down the Shift key while dragging will make the window retain it’s current proportions while resizing. In this way, you’ll have a perfectly square window or one that’s fits a 4:3 rectangle. Now you can work making all your windows the same size which is of huge benefits while doing graphic work and working with images.

Double Arrows for Full-Screen Mode

New to Lion also is the full-screen arrows that you see in the top-right of certain applications such as Safari, Mail or iWork applications.

These arrows activate full-screen mode for those applications and cause the window to fill your display. Reverting the window back to normal view mode is simple. Move your mouse pointer toward the upper-right corner of the window and the menubar will scroll down and be viewable and a blue icon with white arrows facing each other will be present. Click the icon to exit full-screen mode and restore your window to normal size.

Apple’s Lion’s new window resizing features along with the full-screen mode icon makes it simple now to resize your windows to any shape and go full-screen with just one click.

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When I first downloaded and viewed Apple’s Lion operating system, some of my favorite ways of viewing where gone. I didn’t like the new Mail look, the user Library was gone and I searched and tried to find fixes to bring it back to the Classic Snow Leopard look which I loved. Below are those tips and tricks I have found that you may find very useful yourself.

User Library – Bringing it back

Apple new operating system (OS) is supposed to be user friendly and keeps think minimal so you don’t have to worry about messing up your system. Hiding the user Library was one such feature that I just didn’t like at all. I’m knowledgeable enough to know what stays and what goes when I go in there to clean things up or need to add an item to the Library.

It’s funny. Apple keeps the system Library flyer visible, a folder that if played with can really do some mismanagement to your system. They keep the User folder of the Library hidden and I don’t know why. User friendliness I guess.

The Fix

In the Terminal type the following:  chflags nohidden ~/Library/

Your user Library folder will now be visible.

Scroll Bars – Make Them Appear

Apple’s scroll bars like to disappear as they do in IOS. If you don’t like scroll bars this is fine. And if you’re like me that loves to see scroll bars for fast page viewing by using a mouse and not the scroll pad on a MacPro, they’re essential to viewing pages of information.

The Fix.

The fix is rather simple. To to SystemPreferences>General and go to the words Show Scroll Bars and click the Always checkbox. You now have scroll bars appearing when needed. By the way, the default behavior is the first one at the top, ‘Automatically Based On Your Input Device’, which will hide your scroll bars.

Apple Mail – Bring Back the Classic Version

Some people like the new Mail and others, including myself, prefer the old Snow Leopard look. And while this new look is an improvement design wise, not all are digging the look. Maybe you like the messages at the top and the message below. In any case it’s a quick click to fix this.

The Fix

To bring back the Classic Snow Leopard look of Mail, open Mail and go to preferences. Go to Viewing. The very first checkbox, Use Classic View is to be checked and you’re done. Apple Mail just as you like it.

As you can see, these small changes or fixes to bring back that Classic look many of us love is very easy to do. You’ll have the best of both worlds, a top notch operating system with the look and feel of the old Snow Leopard that you’re used to. It all works out very nicely.

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CleanApp for Mac by Synium Software cleans your Mac of old applications, unused language packages, old files, old Preference Pane applications, cache files and a whole lot more. When you want to clean your system of all the old files and applications, this little app will do it with ease. It’s easy to use and at $15.00, CleanApp is worth having in your toolbox for everyday use. Let’s take a closer look and see what this wonderful app can do for you.

Uninstall Old Applications

With a Mac, every time you install a new application, many times the installer adds files and folders to your user name>application support or system hard drive> application support. In some instances, folders are added outside of these destinations even in the preference folder. When the time comes to delete the application, you must search and destroy ( delete) these other files and folders to get a clean application delete otherwise unneeded folders are left on your hard drive taking up valuable space.

With CleanApp, just drag and drop the main application to the deletion window designated by a big green x in a circle which changes to red once the application is dropped. It then scores your hard drive for all of the files and folders associated with that application and marks them for deletion. Click the delete button and your application and all of its associated files and folders are moved to the trash. Simple, easy, fool proof!

Logging Service

CleanApp’s logging service records all changes made by your Mac on the file system level. CleanApp will provide a comprehensive and informed suggestions on which files to delete when uninstalling an application.

The logging service remembers which files and folders have been changed or created and by which application. It’s smart, built right in so you don’t have to worry about it.

Disk Usage

CleanApp has the ability to show you the largest files easily in graphic form so you can decide if that file is still needed. This way you can quickly free up large amounts of disc space. Getting your system and hard drive free of clutter has never bee easier.

Cleaning of Old Files and Relics

You know the drill, lots of files that are on your system and you’ve forgotten about many of them. This is where CleanApp comes into play. CleanApp displays a list of every file on your system starting with the date last used. Now that’s nice. It goes back in time and finds those old files you’ve forgotten about and even shows you the amount of disc space that particular file is taking up on your hard drive. Nice!

Old files to delete shown by date last used

Cleaning of Unused Language Files

Language files take up a huge amount of space on your hard drive. If you only use one particular language, why have all those languages installed? In CleanApp’s preferences, you can select which language files you want to delete. Now select a folder on your Mac and watch CleanApp hunt for those language packages and mark them for deletion. It’s fast, reliable and saves you much needed space that you can use in a better way than with unused language files.

language packages with related file size

Preference Pane Purification

Other files are taking up valuable space on your hard drive … widgets, System Preferences, system extensions and screen savers. CleanApp neatly organizes them for you so you can decide which ones stay and which ones go. Tidying up your system has never been easier.

Archive Creation

Let’s say you have an application that you don’y want to delete and don’t want to delete either. CleanApp makes it easy to archive that application, put it where you want on your system so you can find it later. Just select the application and make it for archive. Again, easy, quick and always ready.

Summary

There are other applications that do much of what CleanApp does, App Zapper and Appcleaner, for example, but I have found CleanApp do out shine them both with ease of use and the number of options contained within. If you are in need of an applications that does it all and is lightening fast, CleanApp is the way to go.

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Apple’s new operating system, Lion, will have over 250 new features and will be available only through the Mac App Store for $29.99. Since Apple is really a hardware company rather than a software company, this price reflects this fact. The previous operating system for Apple, Leopard, cost over $100.00 and the very recent Snow Leopard cost is inline with Lion being it too was only around $30.00. Let’s take a look at some of the new features and how you’ll be able to get it.

What’s New

With over 250 new features to Lion, the Mac will be a lot more fun to use. Apple’s gone through the entire previous operating system and revamped it so the user experience is much more intuitive and direct.

Multi-Touch Gestures

Just like on the iPhone, you’ll be able to tap, scroll, pinch and swipe your way through your Mac. This way you’ll be directly controlling what’s on your screen in a more natural and direct way. The more you use it, you’ll see that’s it’s more intuitive and responsive than ever before.

Full-Screen Apps

Lion will offer system wide support for full-screen apps and you’ll be able to use every inch of your apple screen. Gone will be the distractions because you can work and play without distractions since the app you’re using will be full-screen. And since you’ll be using every pixel on the screen, your Apple screen will really come alive make it easier to work and play.

The apps that will have full-screen capabilities will be Mail, iCal, Safari, Photo Booth, Facetime, iMovie, GarageBand, Pages, Numbers and Keynote.

Mission Control

Mission Control will bring together your full-screen apps, Dashboard, Expose and Spaces. It will give you, through this one app, a full view of everything on your system. Click and go to have complete control of your system and go anywhere in your Mac with that one click.

Mac App Store

With the Mac Store, you’ll be able to discover new apps for your system and get better prices than purchasing an individual disc from Apple. You’ll also be able to download thousands of free and pay for apps right inside the interface. In addition, the Mac Store will keep track of all your applications you download so you are free from that worry.

Launchpad

Think of Launchpad as a way to open all your apps from a single source. Just click the Launchpad icon in your dock. Your open windows on your desktop will fade away leaving you a full-screen display of all your apps in grid view. Arrange these apps in any way you like, group them together or delete the ones you no longer use. Launchpad and the Mac Store work together so any purchase from the Mac Store will automatically be in Launchpad ready for use.

Resume

With Resume, any app you close and then reopen, your work will appear where you left off. Your work is saved and you’ll never have to start from the beginning again. Restart your Mac and everything will be where it was before the restart so you can get on with your work easily and quickly.

Auto Save

Auto Save in the new Lion is a killer new feature. You’ll no longer have to worry about saving open documents with your work. Your Mac will automatically save your work for you. Gone are the days of working on a project for hours only to have it lost forever. It’s kind of like Time Machine except it’s more fine-tuned for your apps.

You’ll be able to revert to a previous state of saved work even lock your work preventing inadvertent changes. Now that’s smart!

How to Upgrade

Gone are the days purchasing a physical copy of the operating system. Apple now sells most of its software through the Mac Store. All you have to do is click the Mac Store icon in Snow Leopard, purchase Lion for $29.99 and download it where you can then install this great new operating system.

System Requirements

To have Lion on your Mac, you’ll need an Intel Core 2 duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7 or Xeon processor. Just find out if your current Mac has one of these processors by clicking the Apple icon in the upper left of your screen and selecting about this Mac.

You’ll also need the be running the latest version of Apple’s operating system, Snow Leopard. If you have Snow Leopard, click the Apple icon, choose Software update to install the latest version.

Download Lion

Finally, when Lion is released sometime in July, open the Mac Store, search for Lion and download it. Then, just follow the instructions on your screen for a full installation of Lion.

This is only a partial list of all the 250 plus new features included in Lion. For a complete list of all the new features, head over to the Apple Lion section and read about them there. Almost every application has gone through a partial of major overhaul to bring you the best operating system in the world. From improved drag and drop to picture-in-picture zoom, you’ll find that Lion will make working on your Mac a lot more fun, more intuitive and more natural.

Nobody likes slow loading websites, that’s for sure. Here are the top performance recommendations that you can use to improve your WordPress website.

10 Ways To Improve Your WordPress Website Speed

1) Minimize the Number of HTTP Requests

When a user visits your website, numerous files must be sent to that browser for the page to display. These files include CSS files, Javascript files and images. If you can bring the numerous HTTP requests in the code into a single request, that will eliminate the many requests that normally are asked for by the browser, thus speeding up your website.

2) Optimize Your Images

It’s important to have your images at the smallest file size as possible while still  using a clear image. I’ve written about WP Smush.it before, a WordPress plugin that automatically decreases your images file sizes so these images will load faster in the browser. If not using this plugin, make sure you optimize your images in Photoshop or Fireworks prior to uploading them to the server.

3) Minify Your HTML, CSS and Javascript

This simply means to remove all white space in your code prior to going live. There are several plugins for WordPress that do this for you. One of the best in my opinion is WP Minify. This will remove that white space from your code. As long as your code is valid and executes without error, the plugin will work fine and your site will speed up.

4) Use CSS Sprites

Css sprites is an image comprised of other images used in the design to map out coordinates of all the images. We used some pretty nifty CSS to make it happen. Thus, only certain images are shown at precise times in the browser. The advantage of using just one image is obvious.

There’s a cool little service called SpiteMe that generates the sprite and code for you. Go check it out to see how it works.

5)  Put Your Stylesheets on Top

All interface related reference files used by the browser should be included in the <head> section of your document. Thus, the CSS styles used for our content should be loaded first so they can be applied to the HTML as it loads.

6) Put Your Scripts at the Bottom

All functionality related files can be put at the bottom of the document and can be loaded after our content is loaded first. This way we get our content to load as fast as possible first, secondly we do not allow unstyled content to appear in the browser and finally we load the files required for any type of interaction last.

7) Choose <link> Over <import>

Internet Explorer messes things up. It just doesn’t understand the import rule like other browsers. Always link to files instead of using the <import> rule.

8) Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

By using a content delivery system, we can ease our load on the server and increase its performance. A CDN is a high performance network of servers that span across the globe that replicate your assets of your site and serve up your data to visitors from the closest source. The idea is that you have a team of servers distributing your assets or your site to users around the globe. They are an effective way to increase the performance and speed of your site.

9) Utilize Browser Caching

With browser caching, we’re instructing browsers to hold onto our files for a specific period of time. When the file is needed again, the browser pulls the data from the local cache instead of requesting it from the server again.

10) Compress Components

The main idea here is to compress your files at the server level before sending them to the browser. We want to allow our  web server to compress our files before sending them to our users. See DiyThemes on complete code to include in your .htaccess fiile.

You can use Pingdom to test your site before and after your changes. These 10 ideas on speeding up your WordPress site may take awhile to perform but in the end your site’s speed will increase and your users will thank you for it.

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Located just a stone throw away  from their current campus, Apple’s new campus to be completed in 2015 will be absolutely beautiful. It will be a 4 story complex with curved glass in a circular shape and surrounded by trees and other facilities. Below are pictures and more details of Apple’s plan.

The 150 acre site calls for a building to hold 12, 000 Apple employees. There will be a 4 story underground parking structure topped with a 4 story circular building with glass panels.  Apples success in their retail stores, many made of large pieces of glass, has shown them they can use these pieces of glass on a large scale for this project.

The building will also hold a cafeteria and allow for feeding of 3, 000 employees at a time. There will also be a corporate fitness center with running paths that go around the campus.

What’s really amazing is the design of the building. A 4 story, circular building with huge glass panels surrounding the entire structure. It really does look like an alien spaceship has landed. Apple’s commitment to make there products not just average but the best they can be and their commitment to all the things they do really shows in this building architect. Apple’s building has a lot more cost associated with it then a typical square building but then Apple never does anything ordinary.

The plan also calls for the planting of thousands of new trees to give the campus a deep in the woods feeling. With just the main building exposed above ground, the site will make an impact to anyone that sees it.

The whole presentation by Steve Jobs to the Cupertino City Council can be viewed here.

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Default Folder X (DFX) by St. Clair Software allows quick access to the contents of your folders even right inside its toolbar. You can save folders as favorites for quick retrieval and have more than one favorite. I’ve been using it for years now. I can work faster as you open and close folders effortlessly. Let’s take a closer look at some of its best features and why you may want to give it a try.

Time Savings

If you’re saving files to the same folder all the time, DFX remembers these folders and you have quick and easy access to them. No more hunting down files and folders in the Finder. What’s amazing, you can have a different folder for every application you use. Thus, you’ll have the right folder at your fingertips as you start your project.

Quick Finder Management

DFX lets you rename or delete existing files right inside its toolbar. Try that with Apple’s finder. You can even save a file to an open finder window. Just click on the Finder window. DFX adjusts its toolbar to reflect what’s inside those folders so you can easily save a file with just a click.

Another great feature of DFX is that it remembers the previously used folders that you’ve open. Click the button and a list of those folders appears so you can dial into that folder you wish to save your files.

Favorite Folders

The real power of DFX is its favorites folders. You can have as many as you want. When working on a project, save a folder as a favorite. It will appear inside DFX’s dialog box so with just a click, you’ve saved your file. No more clicking and hunting down your often used folders. They’re right there for your use.

default folder settings

Spotlight Integration

DFX integrates with Apple’s Spotlight so you can leave Spotlight comments right inside your files for easy retrieval later on. In addition, Spotlight has amazing search capabilities. Now add in DFX capabilities to add keywords to  your files and you are really set to finding your files. Finally, you get to add colored label tags to your files. All of these Spotlight capabilities means no more lost files. DFX makes it all easy with a click of a button to add any of this meta data.

Spotlight integration with Mac OS X

Information Central

Yes, Apple has QuickLook but using it in an open dialog box when saving a file it is not so easy. DFX lets you quickly, within the Finder window, access a file via QuickLook. Now you can have previews below each open dialog box and view your file or image. Need more detail? Use the zoom feature and blow it up to full size. Now, this I love.

You also get information on file size, the date you created it and modified it, the Finder label, Spotlight comments, open meta tags, access permissions … all of these right inside an open dialog box.

Mac OS Integration

And rather than learn a new system or application, DFX blends right in with the Finder so you’re right at home. Knowing that you’re working with an application that works with Mac OS X is a real treat. It feels natural and works the same way. It’s pop-up menus and Finder integration will start saving you time right away.

It will put your favorite folders inside the toolbar immediately after saving them. And knowing you can customize DFX your way means you get to see your default folders immediately and assign shortcuts right from the toolbar. All of these mean real time savings of time and effort.

Without a doubt, using DFX will save you time when working on your files and folders. Its integration with Mac OS X and the Finder is beautiful so you can use it without a learning curve. The favorites folders are a real gem. All of its features make it easy to use. Download a free trial and see if it saves you time like it’s done for me.

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