New Year, New Theme

Hello! Well it’s been a while, hasn’t it? Hope you’re well! Welcome to my brand new personal blog!

Why have I started blogging here again? Well, one of my goals for 2016 was to Produce More Content. I hate using the phrase “Produce More Content”, as it seems very robotic. However, I don’t feel like ‘Write More’ would work here, as I plan on doing a few videos, maybe even some live streaming. In the last few months of 2015, I’ve been playing about with Twitch streaming (follow me on Twitch here), and I kind of want a hub for all my non-WordPress activities. So this is what this blog is about.

The realisation came to the latter end of last year. There were a few things I wanted to talk about or cover, but unfortunately I’d been unable to due to it not really fitting within Winwar Media’s remit. This relaunching means that I can give my thoughts here, rather than elsewhere.

About This Theme

Well, since the last post on this here blog (in September 2014!), I’ve been curious regarding the rise of Medium. I like the long form content and I know that the future sister-in-law is a huge fan of it (you can follow her on Medium as @GapYearComeback), but I particularly like the clean look. So I wanted something that was a little cleaner than my last layout.

However, I was also keen to use it as a hub for me. I wanted links to all my other things and as well as writing it as a brain dump. As such, I wanted a brand new look, that focusses on the content, but also will act as a site that is a hub for all my activities online.

Two themes did inspire me – the first was Matt Watson’s theme. I did quite like the clean look of it and the focus on the content, but I also quite like Caspar Hübinger’s theme, as it had the sidebar and footer incidentals which I really wanted in the new theme. So I had a half look that I was after, now was to decide whether the one column or the two column theme would win out.

Learning Javascript Deep…ish

In the end, neither did, as I decided to amalgamate the two.

Rather than spend a lot of time working a theme, I instead decided to take the Twenty Thirteen theme, and extend it. In Matt Mullenweg’s State of the Word this year one of the most quoteable phrases was “Learn JavaScript…Deeply”. I then decided to make the sidebar retractable in JavaScript. I am in no doubt that it has already been done, but I wanted to do it.

If you are reading this on a desktop, click the arrow to retract the sidebar. It should work.

After playing around with it for a few hours, I think I got something to work. There is an odd problem that it flickers when closed. I think it is because of a conflict with the theme’s default JavaScript, so if anybody’s has any ideas, let me know (and I’m well aware this is a bit of Open Source Cunningham’s Law, sue me!).

Also, to those who remember the old theme, would know that I’ve returned to a purple sidebar. It’s quite simple that. I like Purple ?.

The Host With The Most

I’ve also switched hosts! Previously I had hosted this on my bog standard Digital Ocean VPS. Whilst I think I’ve fixed the issue regarding the VPS (or rather, more likely, hacked it), I’ve switched to 34SP. I am a big fan of their Managed WordPress Hosting as it is quick and painless (as I don’t have to worry about anything), and their support is top notch. So yeah, this site will be nippy, and suffer a lot less down time.

What Should You Expect?

In short, you should expect the odd post here and there. Rather than writing to a set schedule, I’m hopefully going to try and produce opinion pieces and reviews (as well as general updates), that are longer, and richer including videos and the like. Hopefully the new theme will act as a catalyst for it.

What do you think?

WordCamp Europe 2014 Unofficial Walking Tour – Tickets Now Available

With WordCamp Europe 2014 just under 2 weeks away I’m delighted to announce that the tickets for the walking tour are now available for general release!

The tour is a private tour full of all the major sights and buildings in Sofia, Bulgaria, you will be guided on a 2 hour tour of the city, with interesting facts & the history of the city all discussed. I sat writing this on holiday in Barcelona, and yesterday did a similar tour, they are very good and was introduced to various things I would’ve missed otherwise. This is also a private tour for attendees to WordCamp, so you will be with individuals you can talk to and network with about WordPress, should you wish.

It takes place the day before WordCamp – on the 26th September at 9:30am. There is a small charge of €5.88 to cover the cost of the tour.

Anyway, hope to see you there!

Any questions, please let me know!

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

So I was nominated by Pete Handley of theMediaFlow (as well as my childhood friend Steve Prior) to do the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. As this blog is starved of content, I’ve decided to upload it here!

I’m not donating to ALS, but rather donating to the Callum Murray Fund. Callum is a brave lad who has been at many British Wrestling shows over the last few years, and I’ve been honoured to meet him after shows. Callum suffers from Arnold Chiari Malformation, we are a fundraising page designed to help get Callum to the USA for treatment. If nothing else from this video, please consider liking and supporting that page. Thank you.

I’ve nominated my FireCask boss Anna Moss, my brother and my mate Dave from back home. 24 hours!

P.S. Yes I am well aware that my shorts say “66” on it. As a proud Welshman I found these lying around and didn’t mind ruining them ;).

Commonwealth Games 2014 – Glasgow

Over the past weekend I attended the Rugby Sevens event at the Commonwealth Games.

For those unaware, the Commonwealth Games are an Olympics style event which features countries who are in the Commonwealth. It’s one of the few events that the nations of Great Britain compete separately from each other, and there are slightly different events from the Olympics.

One of the different events was Rugby Sevens, which is because a lot of Commonwealth Nations are rugby playing nations. The games were played over the course of 2 days at Ibrox, and we attended the first session.

It was brilliant! Even for non rugby fans like my mum who attended, as soon as we arrived we felt the warmth of Glasgow (or rather the Glaswegian people), and got into it. Bless her, she’s still chanting for Uganda (the fans favourite underdogs) more than 24 hours after the events.

Anyway, here are some pictures of my trip. Hope you like them!

Have you been in Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games? Let me know how your experience was.

Le Tour In Yorkshire – Day 2 (York/Huddersfield/Sheffield)

So a small thing that I’m not exactly proud of – I cannot ride a bike.

I mean, I probably can. However I’ve never really been on one. I preferred scooters and video games growing up. However, one thing I really enjoy is Le Tour De France.

I think it is because when I was growing up Le Tour was always background TV on holidays. We’d be in a caravan, after a long day being out and about, and it’d be the last programme we watched before going to bed. So when they announced that Le Tour in Yorkshire was happening (La Grande Depart was taking part in Yorkshire), I made sure that I was going.

At least that was the plan. Unfortunately, the plans I originally had did fall through, and a night at the excellent Chorlton Beer Festival meant that I wasn’t sure if I would make it, but instead miss it. But the next day, hungover, I decided to suck it up and head to Huddersfield to watch the tour. To be spotted, I made sure I dressed suitably.

I was quite surprised how easy it was to get there. A lot was said on preparing early and getting there early. However I was surprised at how empty the trains and trams were. I wasn’t convinced it was actually happening. However, when arrived in Huddersfield, it was obvious there was something huge going on.

I headed to watch the tour and found a space next to a barrier at the bottom of a hill on the outskirts of Huddersfield. And then I played the waiting game. I was 3 hours early, and the carnival was due to arrive in 2 hours. So I chatted to a few people. And waited. It wasn’t a waste as about half 2 the first for the riders flew past.

That was followed 3 minutes later by the main field, which whizzed so fast past us it was borderline scary. But wonderful. (NSFW language in the video, but in all honesty if you work at a company that doesn’t allow you to view a video which includes the word “Shit” in it, then change jobs).

So all in all, it was a great day out. It was long, and there’s a bit of waiting, but it was something worth seeing. The crowds were amazing all weekend, so they did themselves credit. Same time next year boys and girls? 🙂

Did you go? What did you make of it? I thought it was superb!