Jose M Castaneda

Tag: theme review

  • A metabox for your layout options

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    Jose
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    It’s no surprise I can be vocal when I am reviewing a theme. Many know that I’ll spurt out what I end up seeing in a lot of themes. There is one thing that really does drive me crazy though and that is when people copy and paste code to their theme without actually knowing…

  • Video: WordPress template hierarchy

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    Jose
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    Earlier today I had some time to make a quick video. I have written about the template hierarchy before and I’m sure there are tons of other resources available out there. This justs adds to that ever-growing-list. The reason it drives me crazy is because of that front-page.php file that I see every so often or…

  • Theme Review tips, tricks, and take aways

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    Jose
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    WordPress theme reviews are: Fun Entertaining Demanding Awesome Time consuming There are more but those are the ones that came to mind first. The last one is the one I really want to focus on the most and there is a reason for it. Recently, the review team posted a call to tips on theme…

  • One theme reviewers point of view

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    Jose
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    Conducting WordPress theme reviews can be a great way to contribute. Some people love it, some hate it, and others tend to watch from the sidelines. This is a glimpse of what three years and over two thousand theme reviews may look like for those that also want to contribute.

  • The case for no upsell

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    Jose
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    Today I ran into a bit of an internal debate. This is something that has driven me crazy for the longest time and this time I’m speaking about it. Having an “upsell” theme in the WordPress theme repository. Quite frankly, I’m tired of it. Not only is it more code to look over but an…

  • My review process

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    Jose
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    Earlier today I made a screencast of how I review themes. This is not my entire method. There is a lot more involved. The things I didn’t do are make the comments in the ticket, assign the ticket, go over any sanitation/validation or comment on some core functions that can be used and may be…

  • Why a theme’s changelog is important

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    Jose
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    Having some history is a good thing and knowing what changes were made and why is even better. That is one of the reasons that I love seeing a changelog when I look in a theme’s folder. Supposing they have one. Not all themes are created equal It’s true. When I speak of themes I generally refer to…

  • My 500 and counting

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    Jose
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    The beginning of the year I promised myself that I would try to review 500 themes by the end of the year. I finally managed to reach that point and was super ecstatic about it that I just had to tweet about it: Now that I've completed my 500 #WordPress theme reviews, I'm gonna shoot…

  • Keeping count of reviews

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    Jose
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    I hate posting this but I have to do it; sort of a status check for myself. To see where I stand and where I can be better. We all do it. I choose to do it publicly. I can’t recall when I said I wanted to have my review count to be at 500…

  • Mistakes will happen

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    Jose
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    Every once in a while I like to review themes. When that happens I will sometimes get a little frustrated at not only myself but sometimes the previous reviewer. Even I make mistakes.