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The Trojan Crane – the world needs it.

The legend of the Trojan Horse is known by all… a gift of peace turned violent. In that spirit, I am embarking on a monumental project that I need your help with: The Trojan Crane.

I am going to build a large-scale (10+feet) sculpture. It is going to be like the Trojan Horse… but an origami crane.


Learn more about the project and pledge your support here on Kickstarter: (there are rewards for your pledges!) The Trojan Crane on Kickstarter

I appreciate any and all support in order to make this idea a reality. The world needs the Trojan Crane. Thanks for all who have already pledged their support!

Combating IE6: Drop Down Menu Plugin for WordPress “twentyten” Them

twentyten

I’m in love with the newly crafted WordPress theme “twentyten.” The code is clean and the included functions are spot-on. So, I’ve decided to start making Child Themes based on twentyten. The one problem I would run into is in Internet Explorer 6. Now, I know that everyone hates it and that we all need to move on into the future.. but.. I have clients that I really need to continue support of that legacy browser. The problem that I encountered was with the drop down menu system. The code is so beautiful and perfect, but it just uses CSS… which IE6 can’t recognize. So I decided to write a plug in (with a bit of helpful advice from some awesome geniuses) that I can install whenever I make a child of twentyten and need it to support drop downs in IE6.

WordPress Plugin Page: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/twentyten-ie6-menus/
DOWNLOAD from WordPress: Twentyten IE6 Menus

Here is the plugin php file: (if you don’t want to use it as a plugin.. just steal the jQuery)

<?php
/**
 * Plugin Name: Twentyten IE6 Menus
 * Author: Sara Cannon
 * Author URI: http://sara-cannon.com
 * Description: Make the menu drop down in IE6 (if you care about that sort of thing)
 * Version: 1.0
 * License: GPL2
 */
function sara_twentyten_ie6_menus_enqueue() {
 wp_enqueue_script( 'jquery' );
}
add_action( 'after_setup_theme', 'sara_twentyten_ie6_menus_enqueue' );

function sara_twentyten_ie6_menus_script() {
?>
<!--[if lte IE 6]>
<script type="text/javascript">
jQuery(document).ready( function($) {
 $('#access li').mouseover( function() {
 $(this).find('ul').show();
 });
 $('#access li').mouseleave( function() {
 $(this).find('ul').hide();
 });
 $('#access li ul').mouseleave( function() {
 $(this).hide();
 });
});
</script>
<![endif]-->
<?php
}
add_action( 'wp_footer', 'sara_twentyten_ie6_menus_script' );

Feel free to download and use and let me know if you encounter any bugs.
-sara cannon

This probably won’t mean anything to you, but I wanted to document this for my reference. Here are some of the sites I visited when initially researching how to make this plug in. There are probably many more that I hit up in my research later on but I just thought I’d throw this in here considering it is on the same subject lines.

http://www.jdmweb.com/resources/jquery_to_wordpress_plugin
http://www.devlounge.net/articles/using-javascript-and-css-with-your-wordpress-plugin
http://www.lost-in-code.com/platforms/wordpress/wordpress-plugins/wordpress-build-a-thickbox-plugin/
http://www.noupe.com/tutorial/drop-down-menu-jquery-css.html
http://designreviver.com/tutorials/jquery-css-example-dropdown-menu/

Presentation: Customizing WordPress Themes / Child Themes – WordCamp Savannah 2010

At WordCamp Savannah today I presented on Customizing Themes / Child Themes. Check out the slides below if you’re interested. There have been lots of great presenters today. Check out on twitter #wcsav to check out what has been going on. :)

View more presentations from saracannon.

Speaking at WordCamp Savannah

I’m attending WordCamp Savannah
I’m really excited to have the awesome privilege of speaking at WordCamp Savannah. The line up of speakers is incredible. Everyone should come out because it is going to be awesome! Here is a description of my session:

Designing Custom Themes / Child Themes

Interested in customizing themes to fit your needs and design? We’ll be using the new default WordPress theme Twentyten as a base for looking at best practices and how to’s for theme customization. We will demonstrate how to make a child theme and what are some good standard practices that you should know to keep your new theme healthy and update-able in order to save you time as well as keep it relevant in the future.

Make sure to say hi to me if you’re there!

Video: Hammock – Breathturn

Hammock – Breathturn from David Altobelli on Vimeo.

Thanks Josh

Alice by Pogo Video

I just love this video of the Pogo song Alice.. kind of a wonderland remix?

thanks isaac.

Artcation.com

I’ve been a bit quiet on this blog.. mainly because I’ve been in Berlin on artcation for a bit.. a vacation focused on lots of art. :) Check out my Artcation.com blog to see what i’ve been checking out in Berlin so far. I’ll be in france next week as well.

Inspiration: “Tame Impala – Half Full Glass of Wine” Video by Special Problems

I am in love with the animation on this video called “Tame Impala – Half Full Glass of Wine” by the studio Special Problems.

Tame Impala – Half Full Glass of Wine from Special Problems on Vimeo.

One part that I just adore is the pointillism heart beating to the baseline:
Tame Impala - Half Full Glass of Wine

found via The Strange Attractor

Inspiration: the Art of Gregory Euclide

This installation done by Gregory Euclide for the Biennial of the America’s in Denver, CO is absolutely stunning. It is titled: “Because There’s a There, Here’s Just Fine”

Materials are: “Acrylic, cedar, cigarette butts, eurocast, fertilizer, foam, found plastic, garbage from Denver parks, insulation, lichen, moss, organic material from Denver, sponge, steel 55 gallon drum, wood lumber.”

Gregory Euclide - Because There’s a There, Here’s Just Fine

On his website it says:

“Gregory Euclide has placed a set of sculptures inspired by the Rocky Mountain vistas over a floor-drawn map of Denver.The vistas’ positioning relates to the geographical site they have been extracted from, literally and figuratively. The sculpture are part of a series of captures Euclide has made by pouring paint or liquid adherent over a natural setting. Once dried, the materials capture dirt, plants, and pieces of the ground, which become canvases for sculptural landscape painting and miniaturized terrain–turning the natural land into an idealized scene. By hanging the captures over their original location, Euclide creates a multidimensional topography that makes both actual and idealized projections of the Rocky Mountain landscape.

Floating in isolation, Euclide’s sculptures reflect the growing divide between the human dimension and the natural world as an increasing number of people choose to live in urban areas. Because There’s a There, Here’s Just Fine considers how relationships with our surroundings are shaped, and invites us to reevaluate our experiences with nature by presenting a landscape where the notions of the fake and authentic collide.”

Gregory Euclide - Because There’s a There, Here’s Just Fine

Disabling Typekit for Windows

TypekitWeb Typography is coming a long way with the use of @font-face. We are finally able to break out of system fonts and have options! Unfortunately, font-rendering on IE/Windows is still sub-par. The rendering engines have a hard time interpreting fonts properly that are embedded with @font-face that have yet to be re-crafted as a web-font version.

I have been using Typekit to render my web-fonts since the service became available. It is an incredible and takes away a lot of the headache in embedding, keeping up with browser/mobile compatibility, etc. If you haven’t tried Typekit out, you can get a free account to see if you like it – then upgrade if you decide you’re in love. <3

I’ve noticed that sometimes the fonts that I’ve chosen can end up so “crunchy” in IE that I would rather just stack my fonts to the closest system font, and disable Typekit for Internet Explorer.

Here is a way you can Enable it for just Mac: you can query the user agent header with php in a conditional statement that wraps around your Typekit js:


<?php if (strpos($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'], "Mac", 0) !== FALSE) { ?>
<script type="text/javascript" src="yourtypekitlink.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">try{Typekit.load();}catch(e){}</script>
<?php } ?>

Don’t want to exclude Linux? Disable it for Windows Only:

<?php if (strpos($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'], "Windows", 0) === FALSE) { ?>
<script type="text/javascript" src="yourtypekitlink.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">try{Typekit.load();}catch(e){}</script>
<?php } ?>

 

Here are examples of type crunch in a title:

LTC Bodoni type crunch IE (eww!)

LTC Bodoni Type Crunch in IE (eww!)

type on Mac with Typekit

LTC Bodoni on Mac with Typekit (perfect!)

Typekit disabled on IE

Typekit disabled on IE / reverts back to font stack

 

Here are some more examples with a different font:

typekit on mac: Ltc Bodoni and Proxima Nova (perfect!)

typekit on mac: Ltc Bodoni and Proxima Nova (perfect!)

Typekit enabled on Windows (crunchy! Eeek!)

Typekit enabled on Windows (crunchy! Eeek!)


typekit disabled on windows (better than the crunch.)

typekit disabled on windows (better than the crunch.)

 

Interested in browser-specific disabling? These methods might be interesting to look into: (but I haven’t done it yet)

http://davecardwell.co.uk/javascript/jquery/plugins/jquery-browserdetect/

http://rafael.adm.br/css_browser_selector/

PS: Firefox achieves the same screen-shots as IE. Interesting.

art.design.sara.cannon

Art »

The Trojan Crane – the world needs it.

Tue, Aug 31 2010 No Comments

The legend of the Trojan Horse is known by all… a gift of peace turned violent. In that spirit, I am embarking on a monumental project that I need... 

Design »

Combating IE6: Drop Down Menu Plugin for WordPress “twentyten” Them

Fri, Aug 27 2010 No Comments

I’m in love with the newly crafted WordPress theme “twentyten.” The code is clean and the included functions are spot-on. So, I’ve... 

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