WP SimpleWeather Plugin

Today I released my first WordPress Plugin to the WordPress Plugin Repository. It can be found here. I have also created a page here on my website explaining the basics of the WP SimpleWeather Plugin.

As this is my blog, let me go a bit more in depth here. As I briefly mentioned above, this is the first WordPress Plugin I have created. I suppose that could lead to a variety of questions concerning it, so let me go ahead and hold a brief question and answer session with myself to explain.

Q: This is your first WordPress plugin? Does that mean it’s going to suck?

A: Yes, this is my first WordPress plugin. I mean, I’ve used plenty before, but this is the first one I have made. I suppose it is quite possible that it will indeed suck. I mean, I don’t think it does, but it is possible that users of the plugin will find any number of issues that I have not thought of. I am new to the game here, so be gentle. I will do my best to fix any issues as soon as possible.

Q: Why did you decide to create a WordPress plugin in the first place? Why a weather plugin? There are a ton of those!

A: Well, I have been using WordPress for quite some time in the creation of my websites. It is the most popular blogging platform in the world today. This website itself is made using WordPress. During the creation of another website (which I am still working on), I needed the use of a Weather Plugin. Unfortunately, all the WordPress plugins I came across dealing with weather were, well, not quite what I wanted. So, I went searching around and eventually came across the jQuery simpleWeather plugin. It was pretty much exactly what I was looking for. Except that it was not yet a WordPress plugin. I could use it easily as a jQuery plugin, but then my clients would not be able to easily update it via the WordPress back-end. So, I decided to convert it into a WordPress plugin.

Q: Someone else made it? And you’re taking credit? Isn’t that wrong?

A: Yes and no. The jQuery simpleWeather plugin was created by James Fleeting using the Yahoo! Weather API. There are a variety of available plugins which use the same. I really liked his, and merely converted the publicly available code into a WordPress plugin. If Mr. Fleeting would prefer that I take the plugin down, I will do so at his request. I am fully crediting his work (as you can see here), and do not wish in any way to be stealing his thunder. I sincerely hope that creating this plugin will bring both he and I more web design business in our respective locales.

If there are any questions, feel free to ask away in the comments section. I hope someone enjoys the plugin. If not, at least I’ve found it useful for myself.

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Stately Raven Bookstore

You may not know this… but Findlay, Ohio currently has just one bookstore. There used to be a B. Dalton in the mall, but it recently closed. The only remaining bookstore in Findlay is the Stately Raven Bookstore, an independent bookstore located in what was originally a church at 1315 N. Main Street. It’s really quite a beautiful building, and a great setting for a bookstore.

I recently redesigned their website, and it has just gone live this week. Check it out at www.statelyravenbookstore.com. Make sure you check out the events page, as they regularly hold fun and interesting events at the bookstore.

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LawandScience.com

This morning another site I have been working on lately went live at http://www.lawandscience.com/. The website is the personal and professional website of Srikumaran Melethil, PhD, JD. He is a professor in the Pharmacy College at the University of Findlay where I go to school.

I’ve spent the past several weeks working on this website with Dr. Melethil, and I will continue to work with him on expanding it in the next few weeks as well. This particular website presents me with certain challenges. Dr. Melethil is an extremely intelligent man, and honestly, a lot of the content of this website is beyond me. But then, I am not the target audience for the website, as it deals most specifically with Patent Law, Food & Drug Law, and Pharmaceutical Sciences. If you have interests in those areas, this could be a great website for you.

The website consists of the front page, an area listing Dr. Melethil’s publications (with links to files), a listing of services he offers, and the lawandscience.com blog. If you’re a student in any of those areas, keep an eye out for a new feature we are planning to add in the coming weeks – online lectures to assist in expanding your knowledge.

LawandScience.com has been added to my portfolio page, expanding it now to a rousing two websites. Hurray!

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New Content!

If you stop by my website often, you may have noticed something different today. That’s right, I finally put content on the front page and the links page. I know, it’s amazing. I figured it was about time I took those “Under Construction” notices down and put something up. It’s not like I can’t change it later. I do design websites after all.

One part of the update I’d like to point out in particular is the fine caricature you see on every page of the site aside from this blog. My good friend Aaron Philby took the time out of his busy schedule to draw that up for me, and I greatly appreciate it. He even flew all the way from San Diego to Findlay, Ohio to hand deliver it to me in person. Fantastic fellow there, right?

Check out his blog and his website. He is accepting commissions if there is some artwork you’d like done, and he also does caricatures at parties from time to time. I’m sure he’d greatly appreciate your business.

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www.overthehillequine.com

I’ve been working on a few websites lately, and the first of them is getting close to done. It isn’t entirely finished yet, but it’s most of the way there and has gone live.

http://www.overthehillequine.com

This is a website which was made for Over The Hill Equine, LLC, and it’s owner, John Myers. Mr. Myers has created a product which he is calling The Stall Butler. The Stall Butler, as you’ll see if you visit the website, is a machine which separates manure from clean horse stall bedding. It really seems to speed up the process of cleaning the stalls, and apparently also saves quite a bit of money in new bedding over the course of a year.

Any way, I still have some work to do on the website yet… sprucing it up, finishing the ordering page, and making sure everything is entirely W3C Standards Compliant, but I’m pretty happy with what I’ve done. I even went out and took photos of the machine, made a video of the machine in action, etc. It’s been an interesting project. I’ll actually have to create my portfolio page soon, now that I have something live to put in it!

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Welcome to the new mattmcbrien.com

Welcome to the new mattmcbrien.com. And by that I mean, the initial launch of a meager website with limited scope. At the moment, the only portion of the website that is really up is this blog, which I honestly don’t intend to update all that frequently. A bit backwards, I know.

The purpose of this website is to advertise my skills as a freelance website designer. I’ll also post news information and random thoughts here on the blog whenever I feel like it, and we’ll see where this site takes me. I hope you find your stay here enjoyable. It’s late — or early, depending on your viewpoint — I’ve spent all night working on this thing, so I’m going to sleep.

Hopefully I’ll get the rest of the website filled out somewhat more appropriately later on this week.

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