It only took a year after the site launch, but I finally spent a little time (and dough at iStockphoto) to put together a logo for Maui by Photo.

Now, it’s my no means extravagant or anything, but I think even as simple as it is, it certainly adds a more inviting feel to the site than just the plain – and I mean plain – masthead text did previously. With the month of June set aside for MBP updates and now that July is here already, I added a few more tweaks, but not as many as I would have hoped. Here’s a short recap:

• Facebook Integration – I mentioned this previously as a potential advantage of having a fair amount of fans on the site’s Facebook page (500+) it’s a nice way to allow for easier comments when linking from Facebook. I’ve also started to roll out the Like buttons on a few of the pages, and those seem to be getting clicked on now, too.
• Newly Designed Footer Lists – I redesigned the footer of the site to include many of the links previously in the sidebar, which I think adds a cleaner look. I also added links to a few additional pages such as About, Flickr, and the Locations page I mentioned in the Posts by Tag post.
• Static Map Updates – You won’t notice the difference on the posts, but I updated the code to use a static-map plug for showing the island view of the map rather than copying the entire HTML for it in each post. A benefit of knowing how to write plugins.
• Testing Out New Photo Galleries – I just recently installed very popular NextGen Gallery plugin for WordPress to try out better photo management and display. The first post to get the new look is the Haleakala article, so take a peek there if you’d like to chime in on the improvement.
• WordPress v3.0 Upgrade – The site is now running v3.0 of WordPress, although I’m not taking advantage of any of the new features yet. The custom taxonomies feature looks like something I’d like to try out with locations.

I think that about covers it for the updates this month. There are a few things I might try to sneak in during the next few weeks, but July is the month I move my attention to the re-launch of Nighthawks Hockey Online, which is going to be huge. Be sure to stay tuned for that this summer.

- Kris

This post is a short example of how I used the Posts by Tag plugin by Sudar for one of my new pages on the Maui by Photo website.

The concept of the page was simple: to build a directory of sorts for posts that were tagged with different locations on the island.

WordPress Repository Location: Posts by Tag

What Was Needed

I wanted to have a page that listed all the locations on Maui that my website featured, as well as each post associated with that location.

For the website, I’m was already using Categories for the primary navigation, such as Beaches, Activites, etc. But in order to track the location of each post, I was also tagging each post with a specific place name, such as Lahaina or Kapalua. After accumulating more than 40 posts from 11 different locations that were tagged, it was time to create a page that featured each location and list the posts assigned to it.

What Was Done

The Posts by Tag plugin actually works in two modes: a widget mode for use in a sidebar, and a shortcode mode that let you embed the list inside a post or a page. For this case, I was looking to the shortcode feature to help get the job done.

The post_by_tag shortcode functionality offered by Posts by Tag uses most of the same parameters as the get_posts template tag that WordPress offers, so right away I knew it had everything I needed.  In my case, I wasn’t as concerned with the dates of the posts (as in a traditional blog sense) as much as having a directory listing of posts. So the fact that I could order the posts by Title and in Ascending order was perfect. The only other parameter required for me then was the number of posts to return, which I set at a generous 25.

With the shortcode usage planned, it was just a matter of laying out my page just like you would any other page. While the shortcode supported multiple tags at once, I was looking to add a photo and a link for each tag. At the time, there were 11 location tags that I wanted to display posts for, so I needed 11 instances of the shortcode on the page. I added all 11 locations and photos in the order I wanted, knowing that the next time I added a post and tagged it with one of these locations, it would be automatically added in correct list and in its proper order alphabetically.

Now, if I added a tag for a new location at some point, of course I’d have to go back and manually update the page, but that is a less frequent occurrence that I was not concerned with at time.

The Result

With the shortcodes utilized and the page in place, I was all set. A screenshot of the final result is below, but if you’d prefer to see the page itself, visit the Maui by Photo Locations page.

Feedback

Please let me know if you think this short demo helped or if you’ve used this or a similar plugin on your own site, too.

- Kris

Just about a year after launching Maui by Photo, I’m getting back to putting some of the finishing design touches on the site to polish it off. These are mostly minor design tweaks for now, but I’m hoping to add more features my month’s end, too.

A Year Wiser

MBP was my first site using WordPress, so much of the initial effort involved was spent learning how to customize themes and organize posts than more of a focused effort on look and feel and navigation. So, with a year of WordPress under my belt, and another year of web design practice, minor changes are already underway.

While the premise of Maui by Photo is fairly straightfoward (a la the About page), there was more effort involved with editing and managing all the photos than I originally anticipated. Not only am I a year more experienced with WordPress, my photography and post processing work with Photoshop has also risen to a new level. Therefore, one of my tasks for later this summer (or year) is going to be re-editing all 300 current photos featured on the site, plus adding at least 100 more that aren’t featured yet. Heaven help me, that’s a lot of work ahead.

Quick Wins

In the meantime, I’ve been attacking a few quicker wins to make the site more interactive. The biggest update so far has been the integration of Facebook comments and Like buttons using the Simple Facebook Connect plugins I posted about recently. It’s been installed on my Kris and Cindy site and you may even notice it’s slowly being phased in at this blog, too.  Since the Maui by Photo page on Facebook has been a relatively big draw, I see this as an opportunity to bring in some of those users to contributing to the site as well. More to come on that.

While the Kris and Cindy site just uses the auto display for the Like button, I’m working that feature into MBP a little more selectively than that.  I have a few ideas of where it will end up to be intuitive but not obtrusive, but it’s not completely rolled out yet.

Also while I was at it, I added the Twitter @Anywhere integration that made it here, too (previous post).

More Content

The goal of Maui by Photo is to let the pictures do the talking, and get the sites visitors to leave their own stories about Maui. But in order to help raise awareness and education about the goals of the site, I’ve been writing a little bit more content to fill in the gaps. Therefore, the home page now has more of a traditional website landing page feel to it than the previous list of blog posts as before. Also, the About page has been updated with a bit more organization and some photos to help keep the reader engaged.

In addition to that, the portfolio page here on the site has been updated with a little background on how the site came together, so this collective information should be a good start. I’ve also uncovered a few additional items to add as mentioned in this post about creating effective About pages. Even though there is still a ways to go, I’m pretty happy with the subtle progress that’s being made so far.

Next Update

Even with these changes to the site underway, Maui by Photo is still fully functional and awaiting your favorite Maui stories. As far as the next update goes, I’m targeting another post here at the end of the month with news of bigger changes that are in the works. Be sure to stayed tuned if you’d like to see what I have in store next for this site.

– Kris

About this time last week, I was launching my newest website, Maui by Photo. It’s sort of a photo blog that is aimed at other Maui fans and local residents alike to relive all their favorite memories of the Valley Isle and share them with everyone, using my photos as inspiration.  I’ve already posted comments about the new site on my Maui blog and my photography blog, so I’m not going to re-type all that here as well. Eventually it will get added to the home page and my site portfolio here as well, but only when I’m not as super busy as I am right now (more on that some other time).

The blog here is supposed to be the stuff behind the scenes, and there are certainly a few things I’m doing differently with this new site that have me really excited. I’ll list a few below (call them teasers) and hope to dive into them each in more detail as the summer progresses.

Bye, Bye, Blogger
Okay, so that might sound a bit harsh, considering I have 5 blogs hosted at Blogger, but this new guy is running WordPress, installed on my server. I can’t tell you what a relief it is to have all the source, database, and everything else at my disposal and not having to deal with FTP issues between my web hosts and Blogger. I’m really excited with what I’ve seen of WP so far, and the fact that there is a ton of stuff out there that I haven’t even scratched the surface of yet. Stay tuned here, because this is one of those big shifts that rejuvenates some of my older sites and makes them new again.

Twitter x2
With some of my recent work outside of my normal routine, I fell out of the Twitterverse for awhile. Now I’m back online regularly, and also am sporting a new Twitter account to promote my new site, @MauiByPhoto. This has given me new options and responsibilities in terms of managing multiple accounts (via TweetDeck) as well as starting from scratch and organically growing a follower base just like I did with @webnelly did 2 years go. Except this time, I don’t want to take 2 yrs to get 200 followers, and I get to be more open and engaging as a “brand” instead of my shy ol’ self.

Now on Facebook
To compliment the new Twitter account, I’ve also creating the Maui by Photo page on Facebook, which was a first for me as well. Not only does this give yet another vehicle to promote my site, it presents new challenges and experience in the world of social marketing. It’s also giving me the chance to connect to new faces that I otherwise would not have found on Twitter, so another big plus there.

Unlike Twitter, however, I’m still new at the networking side of Facebook. My Twitter skills have had 2 years to mature, so it’s going to be awhile (although I wish it wasn’t) before my page’s fan count gets into the triple digits. Of course, if you’re reading this, maybe you’d like to have a look and maybe join, too.

Still More
Those are the teasers, but the entire process of launching the new site and treating it as a ‘brand’ really has my creative juices flowing.  I have some big plans for this brand over the remainder of the year, and it will be a challenge to balance this with everything else I have started and have been working on. But then again, I never really have backed down from a challenge before.

Stay tuned for more details to come, and in the meantime visit the site, follow me on Twitter, @MauiByPhoto, and pay a visit to my page on Facebook.

Mahalo,
– Kris