Finally, after a few months in the making, here is the new 3 series! Yes, it look a very long time, more than I thought at the beginning, but a lot of stuff happened in the meantime, and one can only go so far without proper sleep
What’s available now? New and improved cool stuff for latest & greatest versions out there:

• vSlider 3 for WordPress 2.2
• vSlider 3 for Gallery2 2.2.1 (using WPG2 2.x and 3.0 beta)
• KBurnalizer 3 javascript library
• KBurnalizerG2 module for Gallery2 2.2.1

See? Can’t be more up-to-date than this!
You see it running on this website, so I guess its working…

So, what’s new? Tons of things. For a complete list, check the specific download pages on Cool Stuff, but here are the highlights:

• New and expanded Theme Administration page
• Full pixel-precise control of the width of theme
• Option for fluid layout! Fills your entire browser, whatever the dimensions. Everything resizes automatically (this one was tough… )
• Complete control over colors without coding. You can use one of the provided color schemes, or create your own. You can create as many as you like, and select individual colors for every visual element.
• Place the sidebar on left or the right of the page.
• Administration page for all the nice little icons - sliders, RSS feeds, quote symbols, etc…
• Several options for the header, including auto-rounded border. Yes, that’s for all the people that kept asking for the Header template Now you can just use normal rectangular images and the theme will create a nice round border for you
• The Gallery2 theme has been redesigned with a more consistent look and LightBox support.
• Everything done using CSS and Javascript - no images used for either layout or graphical backgrounds. Not even for the rounded borders. This gives you the most flexibility for customizations without coding.
• Aahh… just check the download page for the full list….

I tested as much as I could, but there were so many changes and new features, a few bugs are bound to appear. If they do, please let me know and I’ll try to fix them ASAP.
Also there were a couple of other features suggested by some of you that I thought would be cool, but didn’t make into this version (you have to draw the line somewhere). They might make it into version 3.1 later on…

I also take this opportunity to present another side project I started with my wife - OneWorldToSee.com. No, it’s another WP theme or another nifty tool. It’s kind of a “life project” - a plan to travel around the world and see *everything* worth seeing. The OneWorldToSee.com website is a blog about this plan and the passion for exploring in general. I invite you all to become members and even post your own texts about travel experiences.
It is also a way to finance it, since we decided to “sell” the world in order to see it - you’ll understand once you see it

All the stuff I’ve been making here in iRui.ac is free and will continue to be. I used to have a donation page and even an Amazon wish list, but that’s all gone now. Instead, if you feel compelled to show your appreciation and help us in process, hop over to OneWorldToSee.com and see how you can contribute.

Have fun with vSlider 3!

Categories: Maintenance, Tips 4 Geeks, Way of the web
9 Comments »

Hurrah! First post written on the new WP 2.1, code named Ella. It has some pretty cool improvements and as you can see, vSlider 2.1 is still working perfectly
Had a bit of a trouble with some of the plugins though… word of advice - check carefully if the plugins you are using are compatible with this new release before upgrading.

And don’t forget the previous post! The vSlider RFI is still ongoing…

Categories: Maintenance, Way of the web
7 Comments »

In case you are wondering, RFI is Request For Improvements. I just made it up Well, maybe it exists, who knows.
Anyway, I’ve been thinking about whether or not I should make a new version of vSlider. Quite a few people ask me “when the next release will be”, but to be honest, the main reason why there hasn’t been one (apart from time, of course) is that for my own needs the last version is enough.
So, I’m asking you, the users of vSlider, what features or improvements would you like to have? What is it that you are missing or that would make your life easier while using vSlider?
If I don’t get any comments, then, well, then I’m going to assume that the current version is still good enough
So if you want a new version, drop a comment with your suggestion for improvements.

BTW, I’ve added a CAPTCHA for entering comments. I know it’s a little more pain for you, the good people out there, but I just can’t get rid of all the evil spammers, even using Akismet. So I’m going to try this for a while to see if I have more success.

Categories: Maintenance, Way of the web
24 Comments »

Most people like to think of a new year like a new start. Although the 1st of January is mostly an arbitrary date set up according to our arbitrary calendar, the feeling is real, and that’s what matters. In my case, it is VERY real, since the New Year really brought me lots of changes, most of important them being the start of a new job.
Unfortunately, because of these changes, the holidays, etc, etc, I haven’t had much time for this site, and I got quite some email mostly about vSlider, that is already pilling up.
Over the coming period I will try to get things “back to normal” (although I think that “normal”never really happens to me).

But here’s a start: a lot of people have been asking me about the problem that they only get the time on their posts, and not the date, when using vSlider. That’s very true, and there are reasons and solutions for that.
First the reason: when I was designing vSlider for my site, I had the intention from the start to use a plugin called Time Since. I was having some problems with it, and it worked much better if I only used one field instead of the usual date + time duo. So, the theme went public with only one field on the PHP code (it was working fine for me! )
Now, possible solutions:

1. Change the Default Time Format on the WordPress options page. For instance, I’m currently using “D j, F Y”. WP is pretty flexible with this, so you can use date and time fields combined.
2. Edit the PHP code and add the missing information (c’mon, it’s not that difficult! )
3. Wait for the next version of vSlider I’m not making any promises on when is this coming out, but I will definitely make this feature better next time around.

Hope this helps.

And Happy New Year!
Cheers.

Categories: Maintenance, Way of the web
9 Comments »

Del.icio.us has tags and Yahoo bought it.
Flickr has tags and Yahoo bought it.
Hmmm… so… logic tells us that if anything has tags and alive on the Internet, Yahoo will eventually buy it.
Interesting.

Tags: Del.icio.us,Flickr,Yahoo
Categories: Way of the web
3 Comments »