BuddyPress And The Missing Admin Bar: Solved!

I’ve been working on a few BuddyPress projects lately, using custom themes. Actually, I’ve used a great new plug-in, BuddyPress Template Pack by Andy Peatling to help with custom themes. While this great plug-in got me down the road (it basically turns your existing theme into a BuddyPress compatible theme), there were a few things missing. I wanted to share one I solved, and how.

Once I installed the theme and started working on it, I noticed that there was white space at the top of all my pages, enough room for the BuddyPress admin bar. So I knew it had something to be missing code that wasn’t displaying the admin bar. A quick search on the BuddyPress forum site and I found the solution: Make sure the wp_footer() reference is in your template file.

My theme needed a reference to wp_footer(). There was a reference to get_footer(), but that doesn’t help the admin bar. Once I added the reference, the bar shows up as desired. I call this code snippet in the custom theme where the footer should appear.

<?php
function custom_footer() { ?>
    <div id="custom_footer" class="accentBorders">Copyright &#169; 2010 All Rights Reserved.</div>
<?php
    wp_footer();
}
?>

Find more BuddyPress goodness at http://buddypress.org/support/topics/.

By the way, BuddyPress is a set of plug-ins that give your WordPress site the ability to create a community.

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New For PodCampSLC 2010

Today, PodCampSLC is excited to announce to new additions. Here are the new things happening with the event:

• New web site. Thanks to CrowdVine, we now have a new website for PodCampSLC. This site incorporates many of the social networking features you have grown to appreciate.


• New sponsors on board: PressDev, Mozy.com, eBay, Neumont University and SLUG Magazine. Please take some time to visit these companies, and we really appreciate the support.


• The schedule is really starting to come together. We are covering everything from audio and video recording, live streaming, social media, and a lot more.


• Phil Windley has agreed to hold the March CTO breakfast just before PodCamp.

Again, I really want to thank Tony and team at CrowdVine for the new site. We are working very closely with them to resolve any problems that may come up, so please be patient.

Please visit the new site and register today.

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YouTube Video Marcus Miller – Burning Down The House

YouTube Video Marcus Miller - Burning Down The House

One of my favorite Bass players.

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Google To Stop Supporting Older Browsers

I just got an email from Google stating that starting March 1st, their web applications will no longer support older browsers, instead, pushing the new HTML5 standard. Here is what they said;

In order to continue to improve our products and deliver more sophisticated features and performance, we are harnessing some of the latest improvements in web browser technology.  This includes faster JavaScript processing and new standards like HTML5.  As a result, over the course of 2010, we will be phasing out support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 ​as well as other older browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers.

Google Apps will continue to support Internet Explorer 7.0 and above, Firefox 3.0 and above, Google Chrome 4.0 and above, and Safari 3.0 and above.

Starting this week, users on these older browsers will see a message in Google Docs and the Google Sites editor explaining this change and asking them to upgrade their browser

I applaud this. As a web developer, trying to create sites that work with a dozen web browsers is nearly impossible. I hope more companies take this stance, and help push new technology along. Google has a strong enough presence with their own applications (i.e. GMail and Docs), that they can control what browsers they will support and which they won't. Here's hoping others will follow.

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In Search Of The Ultimate Mobile Developer Machine

Here we go, please take a ride with me as I search out the ultimate mobile developer machine. Why mobile? Because I hate being tied to a desk. I have desk top machines, but I want something with equal power I can take with me. Here is what I am looking for:

Nothing larger than a 15 inch screen. Yes, 15 inches. Any bigger and it's like lugging around a desktop.
At least 8GB of memory. I would love to have the ability to upgrade to 16GB or even 24GB. Memory is a developers best friend. Next to CPU speed, it's the key to all goodness.
A hard drive fast enough to keep up with the RAM. I really like what is happening in solid state drives (SSD).
A CPU, well, let's look at 4, that will allow me to compile in a split second, let me stream video, rip a DVD, all at the same time.
I would love to have built in 3G connectivity, but the more I think about it, the more I would hate to be tied to a specific carrier. So maybe just a USB card will work.
Ability to read just about any memory card. At least 4 super fast USB ports.
Lightweight. This is a mobile machine, remember?

Honestly, that's about it. Nothing spectacular. The real trick here will be to find one that doesn't weight as much as your Mothers Cadilac, and doesn't cost as much as my last Child.

There are really two flavors, an Apple Mac, like a Mac Book Pro, or a PC which can run Windows or Linux. Since I do a lot of Windows development, Linux probably isn't a viable option. And I don't want to own a MBP just so I can run Windows on it. You think the simple choice is to go with a PC. But there is more too it than that. I have to make some additional choices, to make the right choice.

First, will I choose to stop developing Windows applications. Honestly, that's the key question. I can develop everything but Windows applications on a Mac. I know, I know, running Parallels or VMWare Fusion gives me a Windows machine on the Mac, but I don't want to do that. It doesn't work all that well on my iMac, and I know it doesn't do any better on a MBP.

Throw my hat in a ring, and stay there for a while. Honestly, I'm not sure 100% which ring the hat will fall in today. OK, enough of that, off to find The Ultimate Mobile Developer Machine.

What would you recommend?

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