Fresh

While much of the country is still reeling from the effects of massive winter-ness, PDX has had an untimely run-in with Spring for the last week or so. Our cabin fever has been relieved for the moment, and so our thoughts turn towards happy hour on the patio and unplanned use of vacation days.

Now, some of us have a not-so-healthy idea of fun (spring cleaning, anyone?). Of course, often it’s necessary to purge clutter and bad habits, and spring is as good a time to do that as any. In this spirit we wanted to take a moment to talk about some of the best practices we’ve found when working with your design files. Good habits can make the difference between a seamless development process and a complete nightmare, one that will try everyone’s patience and waste valuable time. We’ve even included a little treat at the end to help get you started. Ready to clean house?

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he latest from Jessica Hische, Daily Drop Cap is a service to bloggers everywhere. Every day she is creating a new decorative drop cap for the public to use. She has created some beauties thus far, and I’m sure many more to come. She includes html to copy into your blog with each letter she posts. Thank you Jessica!

(images: Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische. Found Via Apartment Therapy)

So this post may come well after the fact for you oh-so-in-the-mix Portlanders, but for those of you who don’t know about Ignite, I thought I’d share a bit.

Ignite Portland is the lovingly fostered child of the fantastic tech community here in the northwest (More history here). Now on it’s 5th appearance in P-town (usually happens twice a year), this initially small gathering has catapulted onto the national scene with a really unique idea: what would you say to your peers if you had 5 minutes on stage? Its a really fun evening where folks share everything from omelette techniques to manifestos on public broadband service (true examples). Slightly geeky but always enjoyable.

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I’m getting ready to build a sweet new WordPress site, and to prepare I decided to create a little bookmarks folder for all the plugins I use on every single WordPress install.  In the folder I put links to all the WordPress plugins I use on every site, so I can right-click on the folder (which I named “WP Plugins XTREME”)  and select ‘Open All in Tabs’ and then start downloading the latest versions of them all in one swoop.

I know I already wrote a post listing ‘plugins every WordPress site should have‘ but there were quite a few I didn’t mention – just because I personally like the plugin and use it every time doesn’t mean it works for everybody in every situation.  But I love these SO much and I’m just worried that some poor WordPress developer doesn’t know about them, so what else can I do but write about more plugins?

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Here are a few more wallpapers! This time they are dedicated to Portland. These started out as an illustration of Big Pink and quickly turned into a cityscape. I hope to keep these evolving. What else should be present? I already got a suggestion to get B-Roy and Oden in there…

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The original “Big Pink” wallpaper. Those are some sweet houses in the west hills.

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NEW: Added a few more Portland buildings and Fremont bridge. More to come!

Well, in addition to the glowing eROI logo, I have created a new pattern that you can sprawl across your screen. I call it…Crowns Galore. Fairly simple design, but it is just another way to sport that eROI brand! Enjoy, and look for the new Portland wallpapers coming soon!

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Some lighting effects on the eROI logo. A happy accident!

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NEW: This pattern was made out of the eROI logo…if you couldn’t tell. I hope it doesn’t hurt your eyes, it is kind of bright :)!