<?php endwhile; ?>
 
<div class="pagination">
	<p class="alignleft"><?php next_posts_link( __( '&laquo; Older Posts', 'wap8' ) ) ?></p>
	<p class="alignright"><?php previous_posts_link( __( 'Newer Posts &raquo;', 'wap8' ) ) ?></p>
</div>
 
<?php endif; else : // no posts found ?>

So what’s wrong with this code? Technically, nothing at all. You are simply hooking into the next_posts_link() and previous_posts_link() to show the “Older” and “Newer” post links. But, when you check out your source code, in the browser, you will notice that there is an empty div tag at the end of your posts. And, if you are anything like me, you hate empty div tags!

Well, fear not. There is a simple way to avoid those pesky empty divs from destroying your otherwise beautiful markup with a simple function and conditional statement.

Step 1: The function

I like to keep my development workflow and simplistic as possible. So, instead of writing extra lines of code every time I need to check if pagination is needed, I created a simple function to do the job for me. Open up your “functions.php” file and add the following. I recommend placing this at the end of the file, right before the closing <?php ?> tag.

/*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
/* Pagination test
/*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
 
function wap8_show_posts_nav() {
	global $wp_query;
	return ( $wp_query -> max_num_pages > 1 );
}
</code>

In a nutshell, all we are doing here is checking if there is more than one page to display with this loop. Nothing fancy or complicated here. Same the file and let’s move on.

Step 2: Add the condition to the loop

Remember the block of code I showed you at the beginning of this post. Well, we need to modify this to work with our function. Change that block of code to the following:

<?php endwhile; if ( wap8_show_posts_nav() ) : ?>
 
	<div class="pagination clear">
		<p class="alignleft"><?php next_posts_link( __( '&laquo; Older Posts', 'wap8' ) ) ?></p>
		<p class="alignright"><?php previous_posts_link( __( 'Newer Posts &raquo;', 'wap8' ) ) ?></p>
	</div>
 
<?php endif; else : // no posts found ?>

As you can see, after the endwhile, we add a conditional check using our function. If there is more than one page, show the div, if not, move on and do nothing.

That’s it. Happy WordPress developing!

I know that it is 2012 and we have our first African-American president in the White House. We can all eat at the same counter, drink from the same water fountain and choose our own seats on the bus. But, let’s not allow these progresses to cloud our vision or assume that we have arrived to the land that Dr. King dreamed of. Sincere ignorance is more prevalent than one would like to believe.

I truly believe this all starts on the individual level. Let’s make sure that we are learning from our own mistakes. Remember that our lives do not dictate the lives of the stranger standing next to you. Embrace the fact that this planet is filled with more diversity than the human brain can truly comprehend. Once we have closed our minds to the vast array of possibilities of the human condition, we have planted our own seeds of stupidity.

Until I can get those thoughts together, I will wallow in the gooey cuteness of this video.

So, why aren’t you doing it? I ask this because if you’re reading this blog, it means you’re not doing any of the activities mentioned in the previous paragraph. It means that you’re currently connected to a device that is disconnecting you from what you really should be doing. Hello, my target audience.

You’ve told yourself that this year is going to be different. You’ve given yourself a day off, or two, or three to enjoy the holidays. You promised your family and friends that you’d shut the office door and delight in their presence…and maybe presents. But, man, are you having a hard time of it! You tell yourself: just one more Tweet, just one more email check, just one more phone call. No one has to know and you won’t do it again. Uh-huh.

When I was younger, my parents always said to enjoy your time on this Earth. Life really is short and in the end, it’s not memories of your work that you take with you. Of course, it was much easier back then when social media meant visiting your neighbor’s house. Nowadays, we are taught to always be connected, no matter what. You go out to dinner and the couple sitting next to you spends their entire time either talking into or punching away on their phones. So much for being social.

“It’s okay to hit the pause button. It’s okay to give yourself some time to breathe and reboot. It’s okay to enjoy a part of your life that isn’t work.”

I know it’s hard not working, even during the holidays, when there are a dozen things that still need to get done and if you don’t do them, no one will. But, I have news for you holiday workaholics. It’s okay to hit the pause button. It’s okay to give yourself some time to breathe and reboot. It’s okay to enjoy a part of your life that isn’t work. The clocks will still tick, the sun will still rise in the morning and there’ll still be a gazillion college bowl games every holiday season.

So, what do you say? Just take a deep breathe and put your iPad down, turn your phone off and walk away from your computer. Let’s do it together. I’m going to stop writing right now and watch last night’s “American Horror Story” on the DVR (Is that show beautifully strange, or what?) while I wrap gifts. What are you going to do?

First on the list, Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty written by Andrew Bolton with photography by Solve Sundsbo. The guy was a fashion genius and although his life ended abruptly, he will forever be remembered for his bold, uncompromising and influential designs.

His style turned the fashion world on its head and I love him for that!

The truth is, there really isn’t a “perfect” job, in the strictest sense of the word. There will be days we love our work and days when we would rather drive rusty nails through our temple. I find, that on days when I am less than motivated to be creative, it is my inherit passion and enthusiasm for what I do that “gets me over the hump”. I know that the moment that I lose that drive is when I will have to re-examine what I am doing with my life.

But, as I was going over every aspect of our site in preparation for the redesign, I realized that we were only using the plugin to generate meta descriptions. This was overkill if we weren’t going to use the plugin to its fullest potential.

Luckily, I can achieve the exact same goal, without the use of the plugin, by using the built in WordPress post excerpt and the get_the_excerpt() function.

Note: This tutorial is written exclusively for WordPress 3.2.1 and has been tested with that version of the application.

Step 1: Add excerpts to your WordPress pages

WordPress allows you to manually write your own excerpts for posts. When you create a new post, you normally will see the Excerpt meta box appear on the editor screen for that post. This is not the case for pages natively. In order for this to work, we first need to hook into the add_post_type_support() function to add the Excerpt meta box to pages as well.

Open up your “functions.php” file and add the following:

add_action( 'init', 'wap8_page_excerpt' );
function wap8_page_excerpt() {
	add_post_type_support( 'page', 'excerpt' );
}

Once you have saved your file, go ahead and test it by adding a new page. You should now see the Excerpt meta box appear on page editor screen. You are now free to add your excerpts to your pages and posts.

Step 2: Dynamically add meta descriptions to your site

If you were developing an HTML website, you would simply add your meta descriptions to the <head> section of each page. But, as I am sure you are aware, there is only one template, “header.php”, that generates this code for the entire site. Now that you have added all of your excerpts, you will need a function to dynamically add them to the <head> section of your site.

In order to accomplish this, we need to conditionally check if WordPress is displaying a post or page and have it return a meta description based on the results. You might think it easiest to add this condition directly to the “header.php” template and you are not totally off base. But, I like to keep this template as tidy as possible, so I am going to add another function to my “functions.php” file. In order for this to work, you need to make sure that your “header.php” template has <?php wp_head(); ?> just before the closing </head> tag.

add_action( 'wp_head', 'wap8_meta_descriptions' );
function wap8_meta_descriptions() {
	if ( is_page() || is_singular( 'post' ) ) {
	?>
<meta name="description" content="<?php echo strip_tags( get_the_excerpt( $post->ID ) ); ?>" />
	<?php	
	}
}

Save your file and you are done. Take a look at your post or page source code and you should see your newly added meta description. You can extend this function by conditionally checking for is_home() or is_front_page() for the home page.

1. Helps Save Time – Having your topics ready in advance, with set publish dates, goes a long way in keeping you on track. No more fumbling around for ideas at the last minute means more time can be spent on the actual writing.
2. Keeps You Connected With Your Users – Because you have a content calendar, you have fresh content ready to be posted. The more new content to post, the more opportunity you give your users to interact with you.
3. A Schedule Saver – For websites with multiple content writers, a content calendar is a must when it comes to coordinating who is writing what and when. It makes everyone involved responsible for their particular content role.
4. Establishes Your Site’s Tone – Utilizing a content calendar is a great way to be consistent in your editorial style, whether it be professional, humorous, inspirational,or a myriad of others. Your users will get to know you via your style and come to rely on it.
5. Helps Your Traffic – Users love fresh content. Keeping a constant stream of new content flowing on your website is a surefire way to gain the interest of users, return and new. New content means increased traffic. It’s as simple as that.

The cards are on printed on 220lb paper stock with a blind impression on the back for the logo. The typography, for the front of the card, is set in Gotham (I designed the card before I discovered Gibson, which we are using for the current iteration of our website) and Freight Text.

Needless to say, we are more than pleased with the outcome. Evan Calkins, the “evil genius” behind Hoban Press, far exceeded our expectations and we owe him an immense amount of gratitude. He patiently guided us throughout the process and we value his immeasurable input which allowed us to have the perfect card for our little studio. If you are in the market for stellar letterpress printing, definitely look no further.