With my latest theme, I’ve applied all of my favorite CSS tips and tricks, and wanted to share them with you, as they’ve been a great help to my career as a part-time blogger.

3 CSS Tips That Will Change Your Life

1. Borders

Like all good designers, I like things to be organized. There’s nothing worse than not knowing where your sidebar begins, and your content ends. Plus, the header needs a separator as well, which is provided by the nice block at the top of the page.

Here’s how we do it

We put a border on the top of the #page element, using this code:

border-top: 4px solid #F1F1F1;

Then, on the sidebar elements, we put another top border:

border-top: 1px solid #DBDBDB;

2. Menu Hover

There’s nothing that adds a premium feel to your site more than mouse-over elements, and after a couple of hours of work I was able to duplicate what so many other sites have.

Use this code:

#page-bar a, #page-bar a:visited {
padding: 12px 10px;
margin: 0px;
font-weight:bold;
color:#FFF;
display:block;

}

#page-bar a:hover, #page-bar a:active, #page-bar a:focus {
padding: 7px 10px;
text-decoration: none;
border-top: 5px solid #DE6A23;
color: #DE6A23;
}

3. Link Block Hover

Improving the user experience and making your site look polished, are the link blocks that highlight when you hover over them. To give the elements this effect, use this code:

#sidebar-recent li a {
display: block;
padding: 4px;
}

#sidebar-recent li a:hover {
background: #f0f0f0;
padding: 4px;
}

Sure, the 17″ Macbook Pro is pretty light, but the sheer mass of the machine makes it impractical for daily travel.

With this concept, you take a conventional 13″ or 15″ Macbook, and through the folding screens, it can turn into a 22″ behemoth, bringing dual monitors to a laptop.

With Apple’s new unibody design, we may see more of these concepts to be released in the future, and we can only dream at this point.

I have been using a number of free themes for a long time, and wanted to give back to the open source WordPress community, and am releasing this blog as a free, Premium theme: WiseTheme.

The actual theme is a HEAVILY modified version of Arthemia, a great free magazine theme. I took essentially the core framework of the theme, and created everything else from scratch.

Preview: View Demo
Download: Free Premium WiseTheme

Theme Features

The best way to learn all of the features is to download the theme and install it on your blog. It is designed to be a one-step installation.

• Adsense tags pre-configured into posts at the beginning and end of stories
• Custom Navbar, with mouse-over effect for a Professional appearance
• RSS subscribe icon prominently displayed next to the blog logo
• Multiple ad units available (12 Total) for maximum monetization
• Image previews on search and archive listings
• SEO-Optimized to the max, with H1, H2, and H3 headers
• Custom CSS stylesheets for IE optimization
• Floating column widths, to accommodate big and small monitors
• Note guides in the code to help you learn, and optimize the blog for your uses

Installation Guide

1. Download the theme, and install it in your WordPress directory: wp-content/themes/
2. Change the Adsense code in the Adsense_singlepost_top_square.php & Adsense_singlepost_bottom_square.php files. There are two pieces of Adsense that need to be changed, a 300×250 and a 728×90.
3. Sign up for an account at BuySellAds.com and replace the code in the sidebar_right_125x125.php, sidebar_left_125x125.php, and sidebar_top_300x250.php.
4. Replace the logo.gif (found in /images) file with your own graphic for your blog
5. Install the following plugins: All In One SEO, Disqus Comments System, Related Posts Plugin, FavIcon Head.
6. When writing a post, to ensure that the thumbnail generator works correctly, go to the custom fields area in the post-editor section. Create a new custom field name, called ‘Image’. For the value, you will use an image you have already uploaded to your blog (as in during a post). Copy down only the part of the URL that begins with wp-content/, ie ‘wp-content/uploads/2008/12/parking-boot.jpg’ Hit add custom field to complete. You should make sure the image is at least 125×125 and should be a jpg or gif.

Notes & Questions

I am happy to provide support for the theme, please send any emails to Andrew UFL at Gm@il d0t com.

This area will be updated as users pose questions, and for general troubleshooting. Enjoy!

The Best Google Logos From 2001 to Today

Personally, I wish my Christmas tree was covered in iPods like one of the pictures below, can I be a second-cousin?

15 Geeked Out Christmas Trees & Ornaments

(this is actually a poster!)

The biggest gripe I always had with owning a Windows machine is that I had to reformat every 3 months just to keep the machine running at optimum speed. With a Mac, you shouldn’t have to reformat to wipe spyware and viruses off the machine, but if you’re not careful, your new Mac may befall the same reformat fate, and that’s what I’ve put together this how-to.

How To Keep Your Mac Clean & Fresh

Keep Your Desktop Clean
Treat your computer’s desktop the same way you would your desk. You don’t have tons of papers piling up all over your desk, so why are you treating your Mac so poorly? Always wipe all files off your desktop, either put them in the trash or store them on your hard drive.

TextEdit Is Your New Best Friend
Don’t bog down your Mac with clunky Microsoft software. TextEdit, which is pre-installed on your Mac is the best utility to use for a GTD-routine. You can easily launch it by pressing “CMD+space bar” then typing in “textedit”. It loads quickly, closes quickly, and never needs a “force quit”. I use this as my to-do list, note taking mechanism, and when I need to “write down a quick phone number etc.” as requested by anyone around me.

Mail Act On Is Mail GTD Goodness
Mail is by far the best emailing application for the Mac. Don’t mess around with Thunderbird or anything else, it’s trash. They crash and can’t handle big mailboxes, which are pre-requisites for GTD. Mail Act On lets you move and rearrange emails all from your keyboard, which is like 500x more effective than the trackpad. Download Mail Act On, and you can thank me later.

Things Is For Tasks That You Need To Remember
So we have TextEdit for making small to-do lists, but what about tasks that extend past the workday, like picking up eggs before you go home? Things is a cross-platform todo list that works on your iPhone and your Mac. Things, like Mail Act On, can be controlled via your keyboard, making adding tasks a breeze — you can even add tasks without launching the program directly via a keyboard shortcut.

So if you just bought your Mac and are looking for the best software solutions to keep your Mac efficient, don’t hit the download button so quickly. A lot of great functionality is built into the core of OSX, so take a look at what Apple gives you out of the box, and partake in the Things and Mail Act-On, the only aftermarket apps I use on my Mac.

I’ve put together some of the best accessories to turn your boring desk into the ultimate office workspace, all for relatively moderate prices.

The Best Office Gifts All Under $50

Every desk needs a great lamp. When it hits 9pm and the rest of the office is dark, you can keep your trusty desk lamp lit and pound out work through the night. Adding a little style to your desk with this red lamp can turn your typical desk into a Swedish-inspired modern workspace. The lamp is $5 from Ikea.

Your work doesn’t stay at your desk, and the best way to extend your great modern office design is to showcase it through your business card holder. It’s a small item that most people look over, but adding a nice business card case to your ensemble is well worth the $15 from AllModern.

We all know Milton from Office Space loved his swingline red stapler, so why not complement your desk with your own favorite stapler. While this stapler is a lot more aesthetically pleasing, it is also just as functional, especially with the $4 price being a fraction of Swingline rates. Find this for $4 at MoMa Store.

Nothing makes your desk look more official than a work area that tells everyone “you got shit to take care of.” You can’t work on a typical desk surface, you need a desk pad, and a desk pad makes it easy to keep your desk clean, and clutter-free, and at only $6 from Ikea you might want to pickup a backup in case you spill that coffee again.

The one piece on your desk that you use everyday is your writing utensil, whether it be a pen or pencil. With this brass set, you can keep your style in line whether you’re scribbling some notes in pencil or signing off on some documents in ink. A great, well-designed writing instrument truly proves that the pen is mightier than the sword, especially when you’re signing your Christmas bonus checks. At $12 from MoMa Store these are a steal.

So if you’re looking for an office gift for a co-worker or simply want to treat yourself to a new office setup for Christmas, this is the best collection of office gifts and items under $50.

The blueprints were assembled by Oppenheim Architects and is truly breathtaking. It is unlike any college ever, no plush greeneries, but a giant ecosystem reminiscent of those old Sim City buildings that were self-contained pods.

What do you think about the new campus? For someone with a negative perception of Miami Dade College, this transforms my notions completely.

Yanko Design has brought us yet another amazing concept-deisign that highlights what the world would be like if designers ruled the world, and I wish they did.

The iPhone dock would allow you to bring the extended functionality of the phone onto a larger browsing surface, so you can interact the same way you would with your desktop.

Ultimate iPhone Desktop Experience

iPhone Accessories

The iPhone has some of the best accessories on the market. People blog about the latest and greatest, unlike the Microsoft Zune. The Zune has no such market, and that’s really what makes the Apple products so great and why the iPhone is such a huge success, especially in the aftermarket accessories world.

The images I found were from an Italian website, and also there was a pic snapped in Brazil of the Coke Burn truck.

Are you looking for a new energy drink? We did a best of energy drinks for startups recently, but it’s time for a refresh.

Coke’s Full Throttle definitely falls short, and I think this new Coke Burn could be a good replacement for Red Bull.

Design is Everything

Image is everything in pretty much ..everything. Except maybe Craigslist, and this new Coke can impresses. Red Bull has made a name for themselves with the svelte packaging and prestige.

The small size of the can is appealing, but the only limiting factor is the huge cost. At nearly $2 per can, it’s killer.

This new Coke product could come in at the $1 cost, bring the high-design theme, and take the market by storm.

What do you think? Beauty or beast?