Month: April 2012

Fix? MacBook Air USB Ethernet

USB Ethernet Connected

I’ve got a 2010 MacBookAir3,1 — 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo — OS 10.6.8

I’ve had a terrible time getting my USB Ethernet adapter to work. Trouble both at home and at the office. Across 3 different adapters.

I’d get either of these messages:

“Self-assigned IP address”

or

“Ethernet is not connected”

After a couple of months of giving up entirely, I’ve done some research and have found a fix of sorts. Steps I took:

  1. In System Preferences > Networking …
  2. Created a new location, getting off the Automatic location
  3. Clicked the plus in the bottom left to create a USB Ethernet connection
  4. Under that connection, clicked the “Advanced …” button in the lower right
  5. Selected the Ethernet tab (farthest on the right)
  6. Edited the settings under that tab as follows:
    • Configure: changed from Automatically to Manually
    • Speed: 10baseT/UTP
    • Duplex: half-duplex
    • MTU: Standard

I’ll admit I don’t know what these settings do.

But suddenly my USB is recognized and works.

Though none supplied this fix, I gleaned ideas from these comments in Apple support pages, some of which led me in this direction.

Seems utterly strange to me that there are no published fixes rolled into Apple updates.

Reposition the Navbar in the Roots Theme for WordPress

UPDATE: Since I produced this tutorial, Roots has been updated so that its file structure is a bit different.From Joshua’s comment below (Thanks Joshua!):

The header.php file now pulls in a template part based on whether your theme setup supports bootstrap-top-navbar:

if (current_theme_supports(‘bootstrap-top-navbar’)) {
get_template_part(‘templates/header’, ‘top-navbar’);
} else {
get_template_part(‘templates/header’, ‘default’);
}

So now, to access the header to make changes to the bootstrap top nav bar you will need to go to:
your roots theme folder > templates > header-top-navbar.php.

In this short video, I’ll walk you through the steps to control positioning of the navbar in the Roots Theme for WordPress.

Roots Theme Customization – Position the Navbar from David Cochran on Vimeo.

Covered in this video:

  1. Create a copy of header.php so that you may revert back to the original navbar if desired.
  2. Modify the markup in header.php to remove the class "navbar-fixed-top" and (if desired) wrap the navbar within a div of class "container".
  3. In app.css, adjust the styles for .navbar-inner as needed (such as to remove border-radius).

Relevant Previous Videos

If you’ve missed them, here are video introductions to prior steps, for your convenience. (Pick what’s relevant and helpful!)

Create Dropdown Menu Items

Add your Custom CSS

Don’t miss the full Roots Theme series

This is the first installment of a longer series I’m developing on Roots Theme customization.

Additional topics include:

  • Getting Started
  • Use your custom page template for a static front page
  • More topics in the works …

Check out the full series here.

If you’d like an introduction to Twitter Bootstrap …

Twitter Bootstrap 101 by David Cochran at webdesign.tutsplus.comAgain this is another basic introduction, but if that’s what you’re after, I’ve got a Twitter Bootstrap video tutorial series underway at Webdesign.tutsplus.com.

Create a Custom Homepage with the Roots Theme for WordPress

Feb 21, 2013Hi everyone —

Roots has changed so much I need to re-work these tutorials. I hope to clear the space and start cranking them out soon. If you’d like, sign up for email notifications in the sidebar, so you’ll be notified when I’ve begun rolling them out again!

In previous videos, I have walked through the process of creating a custom page template with a custom loop. In this short video, I’ll walk you through setting a custom page as your site homepage (or front-page).

Roots Theme Customization – Custom Front Page from David Cochran on Vimeo.

Covered in this video:

  1. Select a custom page template for a page named “Home.”
  2. In the WordPress admin panel, under Settings > Reading, select this page as the “Static Front Page.”
  3. Remove the template file, front-page.php from the main theme directory, enabling the selected page template to control the page’s markup and layout.

Relevant Previous Videos

If you’ve missed them, here are video introductions to prior steps, for your convenience. (Pick what’s relevant and helpful!)

Create a Custom Page Template

Create a Custom Page Loop

Add your Custom CSS

Don’t miss the full Roots Theme series

This is the first installment of a longer series I’m developing on Roots Theme customization.

Additional topics include:

  • Getting Started
  • Reposition the Navbar
  • More topics in the works …

Check out the full series here.

If you’d like an introduction to Twitter Bootstrap …

Twitter Bootstrap 101 by David Cochran at webdesign.tutsplus.comAgain this is another basic introduction, but if that’s what you’re after, I’ve got a Twitter Bootstrap video tutorial series underway at Webdesign.tutsplus.com.

jQuery Form Validation with Styles from Twitter Bootstrap

Feb 5, 2013

This tutorial, the demo, and the jQuery code have been updated in light of excellent recommendations made by commenters.

Thanks all!

jQuery Form Validation ScreenshotThe jQuery Validate plugin by Jörn Zaefferer is a fantastic tool for providing users with immediate feedback while completing a web form. Used by Newsweek and others.

Here I’ve put together a working example, integrated with markup and styles from Twitter Bootstrap’s excellent front-end framework. The demo and sample files include markup, CSS, and JS.

See the Demo

Get the Sample Files

Roots WordPress Theme Customization: Getting Started

Feb 21, 2013Hi everyone —

Roots has changed so much I need to re-work these tutorials. I hope to clear the space and start cranking them out soon. If you’d like, sign up for email notifications in the sidebar, so you’ll be notified when I’ve begun rolling them out again!

If you’ve not yet seen the excellent Roots Theme for WordPress, take a look. It brings to WordPress theme development the benefits of the HTML5 Boilerplate plus Twitter Bootstrap’s excellent CSS and JavaScript plugins. A WordPress developer’s dream in a tidy package.

This short video series introduces basic steps for installing and customizing the Roots Themes to suit your needs. By basic, I do mean basic. (Advanced users — you’ve been warned. Flee now. I’ll try to cook up something for you later.)

What these videos will cover:

  1. Downloading and installing the Roots Theme (very basic)
  2. Loading dummy content for theme development (from the WordPress theme unit test)
  3. Creating dropdown menu items (requires the creation of custom links)
  4. Creating a custom page template (introduces inc/roots-config.php)
  5. Creating a custom page loop
  6. Customizing the CSS by adding custom styles to app.css (introduces inc/roots-actions.php)

These videos are more-or-less stand-alone. Choose the topic relevant to your needs and jump in.

One more disclaimer: Production quality is a little rough in spots. Rushed to get these out for my university students. My apologies.

1. Download and Install the Roots Theme

Roots WordPress Theme – Download and Install from David Cochran on Vimeo.

2. Need Dummy Content? Here’s How

WordPress Dummy Content from the Theme Unit Test from David Cochran on Vimeo.

3. Create Dropdown Menu Items

Roots Theme Customization – Dropdown Menu Items from David Cochran on Vimeo.

4. Create a Custom Page Template

Roots Theme Customization – Create a Custom Page Template from David Cochran on Vimeo.

5. Create a Custom Page Loop

Roots Theme Customization – Create a Custom Page Loop from David Cochran on Vimeo.

6. Add your Custom CSS

Roots Theme Customization – Customizing the CSS from David Cochran on Vimeo.

Don’t miss the full Roots Theme series

This is the first installment of a longer series I’m developing on Roots Theme customization.

Additional topics include:

  • Use your custom page template for a static front page
  • Reposition the Navbar
  • More topics in the works …

If you’d like an introduction to Twitter Bootstrap …

Twitter Bootstrap 101 by David Cochran at webdesign.tutsplus.comAgain this is another basic introduction, but if that’s what you’re after, I’ve got a Twitter Bootstrap video tutorial series underway at Webdesign.tutsplus.com.