What I Accomplished

• Updated the Wordpress version from 2.3 to 2.8.
• Customized the Atahualpa Theme to match Mrs. Moll’s main website, TheUrbanHomemaker.com.
• Setup a Feedburner RSS and email feed to boost reader retention.
• Optimized the permalinks for search engines.
• Added social bookmarking buttons at the bottom of each post to aid in site promotion.

What I Learned

• I now understand how to use the Plesk platform better.
• I learned how to use desktop-side ftp clients whereas before I had only used server-side ftp programs.
• I gained experience in CSS because I used it to modify the Atahualpa Theme.
• I practiced using HTML by creating the subscription widget.

This was a great learning experience, and I am grateful for the opportunity to hone my web design skills.  Because I enjoyed this project so much, I hope to do more similar projects soon.

Wordpress Problems

When I first thought of putting rotating quotes there, I planned to use a Wordpress plugin.  However, because Wordpress just updated to version 2.8 recently, none of the quote plugins work.  Therefore, I started looking for some way to code it myself.

Online Searching

After a quick online search, I found a page that provided javascript code to design a quote rotator.  After creating a .js file on my web server, I copied and pasted the important code, added my recommendations, created HTML anchor links to the quotes on my references page, and saved the file.

Create Widget

The hard part completed, I made a text widget, inserted a code snippet linking to my main file, and saved changes.  Because some browsers do not have javascript enabled, I added a short HTML paragraph to display in browsers with javascript disabled.

Completed

Now the “References” widget randomly displays one recommendation each time a page loads.  Whenever I want to add another reference, I can simply edit the .js file on my web server, and the changes will be made instantly.