Go fork around with it and I’ll be happy to pull your contributions.

I’ve had interest from @tacjtg, and @A7Web, so hopefully we’ll get some good stuff out in the wild soon.

If you’d like to help out, hit me up and we’ll get-it-on.

• Downloaded WordPress 3.2.1 from http://wordpress.org/download/ and extracted this in /Users/andij/Projects/wp-bootstrap/httpdocs/
• Gave it a url of wp-bootstrap.com (set 127.0.0.1 wp-bootstrap.com in my hosts file and then setup the vhost accordingly) as this url will be the final destination of the sample theme.
• Created a new database in mySQL called wp-bootstrap.
• Visited my new local development environment of wp-bootstrap.com and followed the config steps. All is well : )
• Copied the ‘twentyeleven’ theme, renamed it as ‘bootstrap’ then switched to it.
• Took a look at http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/upload/ to see what’s involved in creating a proper WordPress theme.
• Here http://codex.wordpress.org/Theme_Unit_Test there’s a list of things to do to setup the blog to enable comprehensive testing.

After importing the test-data.xml and adjusting the WordPress settings accordingly including the the Long and Short menus I decided to add an html comment to the top of each of the php files in the bootstrap theme . I did this to make it a little easier to pinpoint which file to edit from viewing the source. In Firebug. (Select the HTML menu flyout and choose ‘Show Comments’)

Add the bootstrap hotlink to the hosted stylesheet:
link rel="stylesheet" href="http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/assets/css/bootstrap-1.1.1.min.css"

Starting point

For now, I’m going to leave the twentyeleven.css in place give me a helping hand (kinda like the feeling of walking hand in hand through a park in the autumn with a new love). I will however remove the reset css from the top of this file.

I will start at the top of the homepage and see what I fancy changing first.

Taking the menu from underneath the banner and placing it at the top and inheriting the bootstrap styles seems to be a good starting point.

Moving the search into the topbar which meant removing some default twentyeleven functionality which changed the position of the search if there’s the Display Text enabled or not.

Including #masthead from the docs.css from Bootstrap to emulate the same design made the look of the entire header and nav pretty sweet.

If you’re looking at this blog at the end of August 2011 then this is likely to be what you’re seeing right now.

During this process I often find myself using the same markup with the same class names, for example my pagination nearly always ends up exactly the same HTML and CSS with different styles. After a while I noticed a number of tricks and techniques were also being repeated. This included CSS to style buttons exactly the same if the markup used was an anchor, button or input. Then a number of styles to make the button appear disabled, negative, positive and neutral, then I’d usually include classes to make them large, medium and small.

Think in your mind that dreamy type of music to set the scene….

“Wouldn’t it be great if these techniques were available to implement at the beginning of a project with a way of modifying them to suit the design of the website I’m building them for.”

While this is still a distant “I may get round to doing something one day” thought. Along comes Bootstrap from Twitter. A set of tools put together by @mdo and @fat (from Twitter) which takes this concept by the short and curlies and provides a full set of amazingness, especially if the things I describe above are familiar to you.

A grid system, typography, lists, tables, forms, buttons, tabs, pagination, page messages, modals, tool-tips, popovers are all included, which is so amazingly comprehensive I am overwhelmed!

Wait, there’s more! ‘Really?’ I hear you say. No, there’s actually Less. Combining all this Bootstrap awesome with the power of Less is nothing short of genius. It would have been great without it but so so so much better as part of the deployment. You can get really funky with mixins and all that jazz.

As you can see, my blog is a bit of a shambles, with no styling of any note. It’s all because I like to tinker with the source code of my themes. I enjoy dipping into the world of WordPress every now and then as it feels more of a hobby than the java that I’m exposed to on a daily basis.

My intention is to implement Bootstrap from Twitter into a WordPress theme as it simply feels like the right thing to do, then make it available for download. Watch this space… Please get in contact (or comment on this post) if you have the same intentions and would like to help out and keep up the motivation to get something released pretty soon.

So I’ll get my shizzle out and create my desired implementation of Bootstrap into my WordPress theme and then and only then will I request it has a place in the themes section on wordpress.org.

As a first attempt to understand Bootstrap for Twitter I simply bolted the hotlink css into my existing theme and hey-presto, a new look website! -sweet-

See full post – Bootstrap from Twitter for WordPress

I’m currently knee deep into constructing and developing my WordPress theme in HTML5, CSS3 spiced up with a bunch of @media queries.

As I described in my previous post, I’m experimenting with a number of new technologies. I have started to build this framework for a WordPress theme which will showcase the power of CSS3 @media queries. So, while you’re here, scale your browser to see the different @media queries in action, and why not take a peek using your smartphone, or if you have one, your iPad. When you’re there, give it a twist and see what it looks like in portrait and landscape.

Funky EH! Right, I’m off to do a little more coding before going to visit my nephew, who’s celebrating his first birthday.

Using a raft of the latest tech plenty of testing and experimentation has been creeping it’s way into my daily routine. Armed with a laptop with two external screens, a couple of ‘standard (single screen)’ laptops and PCs accompanied with a small handful of smartphones and a tablet:

• Lenovo T500 – 1680×1050 – Windows 7
  • Dell P2210H 1080×1920 (portrait)
  • Dell P2210H 1920×1080 (landscape)
• Toshiba Tecra – 1024×768 – Ubuntu 10.04
• Dell Optiplex GX520 – 1280×1024 – Windows XP
• Apple iPad – 1024×768 – iOS 3.2.2
• Apple iPhone 3G – 320×480 – iOS 3.1.3
• HTC Desire HD – 480×800 – Andriod 2.2

These tools of the trade allow me to see my projects on many different devices, so, as a result I’m going to be using this blog as a testing area for a ground-up build of a wordpress blog incorporating a bunch of ideas. Many of which may fail, so if it’s spannered at any time you’ll know why.

So, first up is Elliot Jay Stocks‘ Starkers WordPress theme, this awesome bad-boy of a theme is right up my street as a web designer, it provides me with the bare-bones ‘naked’ theme for me to apply a bespoke design from scratch.

Couple that with the baddass HTML5 Boilerplate code, giving me access to the most top-notch tricks to get a full-on HTML5 website started off on the right foot.

Then….. An even awesomer revelation!! Aaron T. Grogg has got his shizzle out and performed an amalgamation of Starkers and Boilerplate in the form of a WordPress theme called Boilerplate: Starkers WordPress theme!.

I can hardly believe my eyes.. So much help and assistance out there on the interweb these days.. – love you guys -

THEN…. (Yup, it’s not over yet…) I scoot on over to Less Framework 3 and shave the CSS from here with all it’s @media queries. Providing me with a foundation for tailoring the theme to a number of different width layouts. I strip out the reset stuff as that exists in the Boilerplate theme by default. Rock on over to WordPress.org Child Themes and use this info to create myself a child theme of Boilerplate.

As a result, I end up with this wonderful baseline of a theme, all ready and waiting for me to apply my limited knowledge to. I’m certain that I’ll learn plenty from this process and expect to be able to apply this new found wealth to my lucky customers.

So, far, so good.. I’ll now evolve this theme steadily as I learn how to utilise all this wonderment.

There’s not that much to see to be honest, how interesting can an office be? However, if you’d like to help celebrate this occasion it’d be great to see you.

Please drop by any time between 6:30pm and 7:30pm for a glass of something and a snack or two followed by a couple of ales in the pub over the road.

Location: 240A Fleet Road, Fleet, GU51 4BX
Google map (Above the ageuk charity shop)
Time & Date: 18:30 – 19:30 Tuesday, September 14th 2010
Followed by: More drinks in Propaganda if you’re up for it.
(If you can’t make it between 18:30 and 19:30 come
to the pub and I’ll give you a personal show-round.)

To make it cool(harder) to get to, scan this QR-Code using your mobile phone QR Reader to visit the demo website:

This demo may well be short lived, so I can’t guarantee that it’ll be there in the future, but for now, give it a go.

It was a dry start and the YMCC team arrived promptly and without orchestration got to work on the preparation. Just before 10am it started to rain (only lightly I might add) but luckily we had just finished putting up the 2nd gazebo. Guests started arriving in unison with the rain but the team re-assured them we would continue with the day unless it became a down-pour. Everybody was happy with this decision. Luckily it soon stopped raining and those small showers we had later were not even noticed, as everybody (including the Mums and Dads) was having far too much fun.

So onto the day itself. Following an introduction to the club, brief history and general welcome Ian Finch, the club chairman handed over to me to kick the days proceedings off. The new Tamiya Mini’s were then brought out and lined up on the pit tables, transponders were installed and a race number placed on the windscreen – They looked awesome with their vibrantly coloured bodies. We started with a track walk for all the Junior Racers where I talked them through the basics of RC Racing and gave some hints and tips about the tracks more difficult off-camber corners. We finished up walking the best line, hitting the ‘apex’ on every corner. While this was going on the YMMC team made final tweaks and prepped the cars ready for their first outings. Meanwhile Race control was frantically busy with the computer being set-up to accommodate this unique event and a battery station created whereby all the stick packs would be charged. Everybody was now ready!

Then it was time for teams and practice runs. There were 3 teams in total which consisted of either 4 or 5 racers. Once in their teams and given an overview of the car and controller by the team managers and engineers (YMCC Team) each racer was then taken to the rostrum to have a practice run of 2 laps. This gave everybody a chance to try the car and get the feel of RC Racing before the all important heats and even more important finals. From the off a few drivers caught the eye of many and it was clear that racing was going to very competitive. Not only that, but the cars looked in great shape being very robust and quick/easy to work on.

So then it was time for the first of 2 rounds of 3 heats. The best of the two heats would be used to determine the grids for the finals. There was some great driving throughout the qualifiers and we saw over two thirds of the drivers improve in their second run. It was great to see the progress being made especially by those that had never even driven an RC car before.

Next it was time for another track walk, but this time we stopped at the start/finish line and looked back at the grid. We talked about how and when to start and what cars would be on what position. I was then bombarded with some of the toughest RC related questions I had ever been asked – one thing was clear, they were all competitive and all wanted to get back on the sticks!

Then after a short break so the team could clean and prep the cars for the finals we were ready to go again. Everybody drove brilliantly in the finals and the gathered crowds snapped away on cameras or filmed the action whilst encouraging the drivers on. Every driver finished every race and we got to see some great close racing. The smiles on everybody’s faces (including the YMCC team) as they came down the rostrum stairs were the evidence that a good time was had by all. After the last driver was down and all the drivers had received their stickers and raffle ticket we then showcased a 1/10th scale electric touring car driven by one of our most experienced drivers Ashley. Seeing jaws drop as the car literally flew around the track was great and everybody thoroughly enjoyed the demonstration.

Ian Finch then presented the first 3 drivers in each final with a great prize while ‘Blink’ captured the moments. Next up was the raffle and some awesome prizes were given out including a brand new RC car. Final words were then shared and we closed with the YMCC team receiving a round of applause from the parents and racers.

Oh and I almost forgot to say – Thanks to all the Mums & Dads and YMCC Members for helping out with the marshalling on the day – you all did a great job…!

YMCC wishes to thanks the sponsors for this great event: Apex Models, Gamespod, MuchMore UK.

Click here to take a look at all the photos from the day
Click here to see the results

We rocked up at registration to collect our name badges and took a wander around the venue to get an understanding of where the workshops were being held, the location of the coffee and the theatre. We grabbed ourselves a seat in preparation for Richard Farleigh to take the keynote. His talk was great, far more down to earth than I was expecting. Starting out with his back-story and his childhood, realising that he could hustle people playing chess at the age of 14! Including his list of failures and successes. I was struck by his explanation “you may tick all the boxes but this does not guarantee success.”

I had a great chat to Sharon Vickery who explained her experience of dealing with website agencies and how frustrated she felt when dealing with inept companies and the lack of communication that caused her so much grief.

Then we grabbed a coffee and had a chat to GlobusHR about their questionnaires and the technology behind their website. Then we went to the first workshop of the day on social media marketing followed by a great talk from Liz Jackson.

Another few workshops – How to save TAX in 100 different ways – Top tips for branding – Using your website to grow your business.

Then on to the speed networking event. We decided to attend at the last minute as we thought by this time we’d be a bit cream-crackered, so we were rather unprepared.. Rule number one. Have a butt load of business cards.! Rule number two. Talk about yourself constantly until the bell rings! It’s an odd environment, but there’s not many opportunities in the real world to present to 30 people in the space of an hour, so I’ll definitely go again but I’ll ensure that I’m better prepared next time.

At the end of the networking session we were asked to drop our business card into a hat and one person was drawn out for a prize of a bottle of wine.. Guess what! yup, I won the wine

Ben had a theory on why I won “It’s because your business card is so crap and lightweight that it floated to the top of the pile.” I think he’s probably right, I really need to get some business cards sorted.

All in all, a great day. Everyone there was welcoming, which was great for us as new faces in the crowd. Best of all, I bumped into a number of old colleagues. Because of this, I felt even more relaxed and will be happy to go to future events of this type.

Thanks to all at BeInspired 09.