function child_force_category_template($template) {

$cat = get_query_var('cat');
$category = get_category ($cat);

if ( file_exists(TEMPLATEPATH . '/category-' . $category->cat_ID . '.php') ) {
$cat_template = TEMPLATEPATH . '/category-' . $category ->cat_ID . '.php';
}
elseif ( file_exists(TEMPLATEPATH . '/category-' . $category->category_parent . '.php') ) {
$cat_template = TEMPLATEPATH . '/category-' . $category->category_parent . '.php';
}
else{
$cat_template = $template;
}
return $cat_template;
}
add_action('category_template', 'child_force_category_template');

It should be placed in your theme’s functions.php file. By default, child categories do not inherit any custom theme of the parent category so if you do any template customizing, you would need to duplicate the template for each category ID.

As I’ve mentioned, forms are one of my least favorite things to hand-code. It’s not that they’re hard. It’s more that they’re tedious. At least, they feel that way to me. That’s why I’m always super interested in any WordPress plug-ins that deal with forms: they just make my life easier. I’m a bit late to the party on this one, but I am loving Gravity Forms. Previously, I had been using Contact Form 7 as my WordPress go-to form plug-in of choice, but I had repeatedly heard good things about Gravity Forms so I finally checked it out. Needless to say, I now own a Gravity Forms developer license.

The ease of creating multi-page forms, the conditional logic, the entry management: beautiful. Pre-populated state dropdowns? Nice. There are plenty of free WordPress plug-ins out there that can help you do forms, but this one is definitely worth springing for. I’m a fan!

Last year, I had the pleasure of being a part of a panel at WordCamp LA that discussed designing for WordPress. This year, I’ll be involved in WordCamp LA again, but speaking about theme development, with an emphasis on PSD to WordPress.

If you’re not familiar with WordCamp, it’s a conference dedicated solely to WordPress. It often has multiple tracks: one geared towards WordPress users and another for WordPress developers.

You can check out more about WordCamp by clicking here.

Apple released Mac OS X Lion yesterday and I diligently dished out my $29 to upgrade. Possibly the best $29 I’ve spent in awhile as Mac OS X Lion is pretty dang awesome. Favorite features:

1) The new Mail functionality: Thank you for finally grouping my emails just like on the iPhone. I love not having to scroll back through my Inbox to find the last email from the conversation.

2) Resume functionality: Close a movie file mid-playback? Next time you open Quicktime, you’re right where you left off. Close Photoshop with a certain PSD open? It’ll be there next time you open Photoshop. So nice.

3) Launchpad: The most frequently used applications sit on the dock, of course, but if you want to view your other applications, this is a much quicker way to do so than on Snow Leopard and older Mac OS X versions.

4) The new touch gestures: Takes a bit to get used to (I think I’ve scrolled in the wrong direction 5000 times now) but once you get the hang of it, super awesome and much more control.

There’s plenty more to be excited about, as well, like Versions, AirDrop and Mission Control. All in all, a really impressive leap for a mere $29. I recommend taking it!

However, if you are a developer and you use Coda, make sure you update Coda after upgrading to Lion as it needs a patch to upload files correctly under Lion. But it’s a super quick update to make and then you’re good to go.

All you need to run the Automatic WordPress Backup is an Amazon S3 storage account — this is where your backup files will be placed. Amazon S3 is not free, but the cost is very, very minimal, especially for housing something as important as your site backups.

As the plug-in website notes, Automatic WordPress Backup:

• Captures your ENTIRE site (WordPress database, themes, plugins, uploaded files and settings files), which means minimal downtime if you need to restore.
• Totally automated backup means you spend more time getting stuff done and less time fighting your tools.
• Minimal configuration. Set it and forget it.
• Uses Amazon S3, which means you get industrial reliability at minimal cost.
• Manually trigger backups so you can have some peace of mind before you install a new plugin or a WordPress update.

One of the more heavily commented on items in my portfolio is the website for Justin Guarini. It’s featured in the WordPress Showcase and a lot of people email me mentioning that they like how it doesn’t look like a typical WordPress website and its use of fullscreen backgrounds. While this particular project is a completely custom WordPress theme, there are themes out there that have similar elements that might appeal to you if you like Justin’s website. One in particular is a theme I found called Widescreen on Graph Paper Press, which also uses full-screen backgrounds.

There are a ton of WordPress plug-ins out there. WordPress has such a great community of developers behind it that almost anything you are looking to do, there is a plug-in to do it. Granted, there are a few rotten apples in the bunch: plug-ins with outdated code that doesn’t work with the latest WordPress versions, plug-ins that seem to always conflict with other plug-ins, plug-ins that cause a high level of queries that slow down your site, etc. But there are also plug-ins out there that are AMAZING. Here are my five favorite plug-ins that I always find myself implementing on client projects:

#1) Magic Fields

Magic Fields is probably my all-time favorite WordPress plug-in from a development standpoint. In WordPress 3.0, custom post types were introduced and a lot of people suggested that this might cause Magic Fields to become less relevant but I haven’t felt that way at all. While I love WordPress, I’m not crazy about the UI of their custom fields and the process of setting up custom post types. Magic Fields just makes things pretty and really simplifies setting up custom fields and post types. The admin side of managing complex front-end features stays super clean and straightforward. Anything above the most basic of custom WordPress themes, and sometimes even then, I always turn to Magic Fields.

#2) NextGen Gallery

For photo galleries, this plug-in can’t be beat. There are some really great add-on plug-ins that use this plug-in as a base to easily incorporate things like sliders, as well. There is a lot to love about NextGen, especially the amount of control it gives the user. Anything from editing the portion of the image that is the thumbnail, resizing images, changing the image order, adding titles and more can easily be accomplished within this plug-in’s interface.

#3) All-in-One SEO

It’s the most popular plug-in on WordPress.org for a reason. I always use this on projects to manage META tags and other SEO benefits.

#4) Contact Form 7
I HATE coding forms. It’s just a tedious process that isn’t very fun. But this plug-in makes forms a breeze. Granted, sometimes this plug-in doesn’t play nice with the other plug-ins.  I’ve seen it cause some jQuery conflicts, especially. (TIP: I like to put

define ('WPCF7_LOAD_JS', false );

in wp-config.php on any install running CF7 that prevents it from loading jQuery if I’m running the plug-in with other jQuery elements)

#5) Custom Admin Branding

I really like branding the administration area of WordPress on client projects and this plug-in makes it easy to do so. I often like pairing this with Ozh Admin Drop-Down Menu.