I call this post “Aperture: The Missing Manual.” If you follow these instructions, note for note, you will understand the Aperture theme in and out. Good Luck!

BTW: My clients are using Aperture as a storefront site. Very creative use of this remarkably complex theme.

THE WOOTHEMES DOCUMENTATION:

NOTE: To my eye, images sized 700×700 pixels work best with the WooThemes “dynamic image resizer.”

NOTE: Some of these instructions require copy and paste maneuvers. I suggest keeping a text editor application open, e.g., Word, Text Editor, WordPad, etc., and use it to record the data you’ll be copying and pasting.

NOTE: For browser optimization, you might want to create a separate set of images for your Category images. Make them about 400 pixels wide. This isn’t necessary. The 700 pixel wide images will work fine, but the 400s will display a little quicker.

NOTE: In the steps below, I recommend uploading each image individually, so that you can add metadata to each one. I’ve recently learned that you can upload multiple images by shift-clicking or control-clicking them at upload. I did this the other day to like 44 images – and it went off without a hitch.

Setup your Categories:

1. Go to: Posts>Categories. Name them appropriately and be sure to save.
2. Categories are our first point of entry, i.e., the boxes beneath the feature slider.
   1. When a user clicks on a box, a page will display containing images and excerpts of all the posts inside that Category.
3. You can create as many Categories as you’d like – don’t worry about the homepage display or layout (see next step).

Setup your Category boxes on the Homepage:

NOTE: Categories won’t display until you add posts to them.

1. Go to: Aperture>Theme Options, scroll down to “Homepage Category Boxes to Exclude.”
   1. This section displays every Category you created.
2. Check the boxes of each Category you wish to exclude from the Homepage boxes.
   1. NOTE: The “Select a category” dropdown-list-box on the right-side of the header will still display the Category.
      1. I don’t know if you want to keep this or not. I didn’t include it in the Photoshop draft. We can change it to read “Product Categories” or something else, but it needs to be about two words in length.

Setup the Category images.

NOTE: Complete the steps below sequentially, i.e., complete them for each Category image:

1. Upload the image that you want to represent a Category.
   1. Go to: Media>Add New
      1. The upload process is similar to attaching an image to an email: you’ll click the “Select Files” button, then locate the image on your PC and upload it.
   2. Complete the file information fields with the appropriate data.
      1. NOTE: This data doesn’t pertain to the Category, but to the image itself, i.e., it isn’t important to write something like “Soap category” in the description field; just write something about the image, not the Category.
   3. Highlight and copy the text in the “File URL” field.
2. Attach the image to the appropriate Category.
   1. Go to: Aperture>Theme Options, scroll down to the “Homepage Category Box Image” section.
   2. Paste the File URL into the field underneath the “Browse” button.
   3. Click the “Save Changes” button.
      1. NOTE: When you do this step, you will notice that you could have just uploaded the image from the “Homepage Category Box Image” section, i.e., you didn’t really have to do all the stuff in step one above. Personally, I think the method described above is better because it prompts you to add the appropriate meta data for that image. So if you use it for Post image later on, the meta data will already be completed.
3. Repeat steps one and two for each category image.

Add a Post for each Category.

NOTE: Use the steps below for adding all of your Posts, but for right now let’s just get at least one Post in each Category.

NOTE: All Posts added after the Feature Slider is setup (see next section) must have their Publish Date post-dated.

1. Upload the Post Image.
   1. See step one in the “Setup the Category Images” directions above.
2. Go to: Posts>Add New.
   1. Enter the appropriate data in the title and text fields.
      1. The text should include a link to your merchant site.
   2. Add Tags in the “Post Tags” section.
      1. Separate each Tag with a comma, i.e., tag1,tag2,.
         1. Do not put spaces between the comma and the Tag.
      2. Search engines use Tags to index pages. Tags should be descriptive of the Post. For example, if the Post is for a fancy soap that uses milk and honey in the ingredients, examples of appropriate Tags would be: soap,fancy,custom,natural,milk,honey,all,online,order.
      3. When you create Tags they are stored in the database, so that you can use them for other posts. After a Tag has been saved, you will have the option of selecting it on other Posts.
   3. Enter a descriptive sentence or two in the “Excerpt” section.
      1. The Excerpt text is what will display below the Post Image on the Category page.
   4. Select the appropriate Category in the Category section on the right.
   5. Scroll-down to the “Discussion” section.
      1. Uncheck the “Allow comments on this post” option (unless you would like to offer users the ability to add a Comment)
         1. You will administrate Comments via your email. Every time a Comment is added, you will receive an email asking you to Approve it.
   6. Scroll-down to the “Aperture Custom Settings.”
      1. Paste the Post Image URL in the “Image” field.
   7. Scroll up and click the “Save Draft” button.
   8. Click the “Preview” button.
3. If you are happy with the Post, click the “Publish” button.
4. Repeat these steps for each Category until you have added a Post to every Category.

Setup the feature slider

The Feature Slider is a little tricky. Basically, it displays a set number of Posts in chronological order. In order to control which Posts display, you need to change the dates of the desired Posts so that they are chronologically ordered in the proper sequence.

IMPORTANT: Because of this chronology issue, you will have to post-date Posts created after the Feature Slider is setup.

1. Go to: Aperture>Theme Options.
   1. Scroll-down to the “Home Page Options” section.
2. Select how many Posts you’d like to display in the Feature Slider.
   1. Use the dropdown-list-box to select the number of Posts to display.
3. Change the Publish Date of your Posts so that the desired Posts display in the desired sequence.
   1. Go to: Posts>Edit
   2. Review your Posts and decide which ones should display in the Feature Slider and determine their order.
   3. Hover-over the first Post, i.e., the one you want to display first, and click the “Edit” link.
   4. Click the third “Edit” link in “Publish” section on the right, i.e., the line that reads, “Published on: Month Day, Year @ HH:MM Edit.”
   5. Change the Hour and Minutes to be ten minutes in the future from the current time, i.e., the time on your watch at this moment, not the original Published Date.
   6. Click the Update Post button.
   7. Repeat steps a-f for the other Feature Slider Posts, but use the same Hours and Minutes that you used in step e above AND subtract one Minute from each consecutive Post such that the final Post is the oldest Post.
4. Wait until your future time has elapsed and test.

Setup the About Module

This is the small black box that appears on the right of the Feature Slider.

1. Upload the About Image.
   1. See step one in the “Setup the Category Images” directions above.
2. Go to: Aperture>Theme Options.
   1. Scroll-down to the “Home Page Options” section.
3. Enter the heading text you want to display in the box in the “About Title” field.
4. Scroll down just a little to the “About Photo” field. Paste the URL of the About Image in the “About Photo” field.
5. If you want the “About Module” to link to a page, enter the URL of the page in the “Read More Button URL” field.
6. If you want to change the text in the “Read More” button, type the text in the “Read More Button Text” field.

About three years ago I was deep into one of these mad excavations when I became completely and utterly stymied by a disconnect of information: There were too many holes. I couldn’t make out the source file paths, I couldn’t find the javascript library, the image library was nowhere to be found; I was utterly lost.

I contacted the designer, who graciously replied and told me that he had built his site with the WordPress framework.

“What great magician are you?” I demanded. “What is this ‘WordPress’ and how have you come upon such terrible powers?”

Non-plussed, the designer replied with a link to wordpress.org. Tricky bastard changed my life.

WordPress has changed everything about web design for me. It has given me the ability to provide my clients with a remarkably easy interface for administration. It provides automatic backups, restoring, cataloguing, indexing, tagging, databasing…it is a miracle pill that makes web design more complex and infinitely more useful for my clients.

WooThemes (http://www.woothemes.com/) is a company out of Australia that sells “premium” WordPress themes. A premium theme is, at its very basic definition, a theme that you pay for. Premium themes can run from $25 – $300 depending on the level of complexity. From a designer’s standpoint, a premium theme provides several benefits:

1. Support (in most cases)
2. Tried and tested code
3. Plug and play options
4. A jumpstart on site design
5. Value for our clients

As a designer, we can speed up the development, cut costs for our client and do pretty much anything we need from an design standpoint. Beautiful stuff.

So I was looking for some YouTube videos of Rufus this evening and came across an absolute gem: Nataly Dawn doing Rufus’s “Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk.” A quick search on the old interwebz revealed that Ms. Dawn has several projects. I don’t know about her other work, but her version of “Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk” is a “…a little bit sweeter  /  a little bit fatter…”

Brilliant. Your welcome reader:

I’ve posted about this band before (see: http://www.jdclements.com/blog/2008/06/25/lucero-creepy-crawl-stl/), and I thought that that was it. They are a great band and that show was amazing; it was perfect. There would be no need to retread that ground.

You see, I’m a jaded guy. I’ve tried to recreate perfection and it always falls short. Once something works perfectly, I nary return to the scene; I can’t tolerate the disappointment. For example, I’ll never see the Black Crowes in concert again: the Pageant 2001 was supreme – it would be impossible to surpass. I also refuse to pay the ticket price to see a near geriatric Springsteen (Oh Heavenly Father please forgive my blasphemy).

Fear and jadedness.

I just want to remember them as they were when their greatness was 100%; anything less would be soul crushing.

Regarding Lucero, I was certain of three things:

1. They might play larger establishments in the future, but their steady diet of exhaust, whiskey and roadhouses meant that the odds were against them.
2. They probably had new music in them, but it would probably be more of the same (which…who could complain?), or it would fall short.
3. They would simmer away into indie music myth, beloved by an ardent but withering fan base. Best case scenario, they could survive like the SuperSuckers: Respected, getting paid and still having fun.

I was wrong on all three points. Thank you almighty God of Rock n Roll. You gave us another for the ages. Check out Lucero’s new album: “1372 Overton Park.”

Marah’s 2008 album, “Angels of Destruction” is my new, ultra drug. The entire album revolves around an apocalyptic theme; it is all spiritual warfare waged in the souls of tireless troubadours: in their hears, in their souls, in back rooms and back seats.

Brothers Dave and Serge Bielanko conjure Old Testament lyrical intensity with images of desperation in the desert, prophesy in the Midwest and spiritual malaise in the greatest city man has ever created: NYC.

Apocalyptic prophesy doesn’t belong in rock n’ roll, but when you hear it playing in Marah’s heart, as interpreted through their road-worn souls, you can’t help but feel a tangible authenticity.

Marah’s “If You Didn’t Laugh You’d Cry” was a perfect fit for most of 2005, and now I’m kicking myself for coming late to the “Angels of Destruction” show, because Marah are no more. Could it be? That’s what I’m reading.

Apparently Serge had a kid and decided to stay off the road (understandable…a great loss to rock n’ roll’s ruthless heart, but understandable none-the-less). Serge Beilanko’s departure was proceeded by an exodus from the Marah rhythm section, a team so perfectly able to transition from studio to road that one wonders how the lone Marah-ster Dave Bielanko will manage without them. Apparently, not so well.

As I rolled through my fifth straight listen to “Angels of Destruction” I was suddenly struck with a desperate desire to contact the band. My old band, The Trailer Park Travoltas, had worked with Marah a couple times in the past, and I still had their YepRock rep in my rolodex. Sadly (and kind of expectantly), calls were not returned. I went back to square one – sifting through the disintegration trail of data leftovers found on the old Interwebz. I found several email addresses to reps and etc., but alas alack, nothing came back.

Dave’s abandonment really hit home with me. About two years before my old band, The Trailer Park Travoltas, did our own dance of disintegration, my entire band left me: from the drummer to the lead guitarist. I was left with nothing. The sad part is that I didn’t blame them. But I had a lot of money socked into equipment, and six half finished songs at VanderPluym studios. Eventually, the universe smiled on us and beset me with a group of players whose worth far outsold my own.

But here’s Dave and Serge, two men who are very, very, very (did I say “very”?) talented. The Travoltas had about 10 songs that were worthy of a listen. Contrasted with Marah, The Travoltas aren’t even a pimple on the ass of the least caste beggar hobbling beneath the deadly hot sun of Marah. And yet, somehow their star burned out. It doesn’t make sense.

In fact, it makes so little sense that I am sincerely holding out for their triumphant return. And if you’re listening boys, you know that I’m not the only one.

Today, you can purchase Fender tweed reproductions from hundreds of small shop manufacturers. Most of these shops produce accurate reproductions using kits purchased from Mojotone, Weber, or others. But a select few have risen to the top of the tweed reproduction business: Collins, Victoria, Clark. Each of these top-shelf manufacturers have unique facets that have put them above the rest, but they all have one unifying characteristic: quality builds.

In searching for my tweed dream, I spoke with the owners of each of the aforementioned shops: Mark at Victoria, Craig at Collins, and Mike at Clark. This, in and of itself, is quite telling. In total, these shops might produce 500 amplifies a year – and that’s not just tweeds. That’s their entire line of silver face, black face, Marshall repros, their own custom models, etc. These are busy men. Surely, they have crews working on their products, but it’s nothing like what you’d see in a Fender or Mesa Boogie factory. These are small shops, yet each man was easy to get a hold of. Each man returned my emails, took my calls, spent time and energy answering my questions and helping me learn more about my eventual purchase.

Craig Collins is here to build you the amp you want. He’s not interested in churning out clones, unless of course, that’s what you want. Rather, he wants to know what your tone dream is. If you want that low powered sag, with the ability to bring some high wattage headroom, Craig is up to the challenge.

Mark Baier at Victoria builds clones. If you want historically accurate components, built by artisans whose attention to detail rivals that of NASA space ship builders, talk to Mark Baier. Victoria has built their business on quality, accurate reproductions and the finest customer service in the business. While Victoria will honor custom requests, it’s not their bread and butter – read: you will pay for it.

Michael Clark of Clark Amplification began with a desire to build the ultimate clone. Like Collins and Victoria, Clark Amplification begins with only the best components: copper foil paper and oil capacitors, Sprague Atoms, Switchcraft jacks, Weber speakers, solid pine, finger-joined cabinets, NOS tubes and tube plugs. But after building a couple, he noticed what he perceived to be a significant flaw in the clone build: power. U.S. power supplies have greatly increased since the 1950s, and throwing a vintage power transformer on these amps was inefficient: the amp would be swamped with too much power, capacitors would run hot and full on the time. Basically, if the power wasn’t conditioned correctly to handle the new voltage, the vintage components would be working twice as hard and twice as hot.

So, he made his own power transformer. This worked so well, and was so widely accepted, that he started looking for additional “upgrades” to the clone model. He made his own reverb tank, made his own power attenuator, made his own overdrive. The resulting amps are brilliantly designed, but not quite authentic reproductions. Many owners actually prefer Michael Clark’s builds to the original tweeds. Personally, I’ve found that the essence of tweed is there 110%: that beautiful, sparkling, overdriven breakup made famous by countless musicians spanning from Muddy Waters to Pete Townsend to Noel Gallagher – that’s is there in spades. If given the choice to play my Clark Tyger or a vintage Bandmaster, I’d take my Tyger.

The add-ons that are offered by Clark Amplification: the Clark reverb tank and the Clark Regulator attenuator, are bonuses. The reverb is pro. It’s brighter than your standard silver face tone, so it compliments the tweed breakup perfectly. The attenuator doesn’t see any work in the studio or on the stage, but most definitely can be utilized in the home.

That’s why I bought the Clark Tyger. And I couldn’t be happier. I offer now to you, dear reader, an inside look at the Clark Tyger guitar amplifier, by Clark Amplification:

http://howgoodisthat.wordpress.com/2008/12/20/and-other-useful-os-x-hidden-features/

Find a race near you: http://www.DirtonDirt.com