I wrote my first piece of code in 1988. And over the years I have abandoned coding for many different things; but I seem to keep coming back to it, like it were my one true love.

In the latest iteration, I started teaching myself PHP and MySQL because I wanted to create a data-heavy, user-editable, personalized website – PublishersGlobal.com. The effort did push the limits of my knowledge of database design and my skills with PHP and MySQL.

Recently I started toying with the idea of creating a CMS. The pseudo-CMS (of course I call it pseudo in hindsight) I created about ten years ago, had clearly outlived its utility. As I began considering my options, it occurred to me that I may as well use a pre-existing one. WordPress, and Drupal came to mind. Since I was already somewhat familiar with WordPress as a blogger, I decided to play with it first.

One thing led to another, and very quickly I was on my way to writing a theme. Khardung is my first attempt at a WordPress theme. It is responsive. For those not familiar with the jargon, a responsive website adapts to the size of the users screen. Which means no painful sideways scrolling on small screens. See the example images below.

The theme is live at ParentsSquare.com.

Incidentally I ended up writing almost all the plugins for this site from scratch too. Some of which involved custom databases, url rewrites, cookie management and such…

Full screen rendering for large devices
Full screen rendering for large devices
Rendered for smaller computer screens or some hand-held devices
Rendered for smaller computer screens or some hand-held devices
Rendered for hand-held devices like some iPads
Rendered for hand-held devices like some iPads
Rendered for phone screen
Rendered for phone screen

First published on August 7, 2013
#media, #web design, #wordpress