A Strategy for Custom Colors in the Customizer

The customizer is a framework for live-previewing any change to a WordPress site. It is particularly useful for previewing visual change and has always included a color control and the ability to easily preview custom colors. But the previewing experience has often been a bit slow. This post outlines a strategy for custom colors that leverages instant JS-based previewing in…

Fourteen Colors Gets Instant Live Preview

For anyone still using the Twenty Fourteen theme with custom colors via the Fourteen Colors plugin, now would be a good time to try on a fresh coat of paint. I’ve just released version 1.4 of the plugin, which adds instant live-preview of base colors with all colors updating without a page refresh on a slight delay. This leverages the customizer’s selective refresh API added in 4.5 and is based on the same logic that powers the custom highlight color plugin. I’m leveraging this framework in all of my upcoming themes and will be posting a walkthrough of the code in the coming weeks. Here’s a quick visual demo of the new experience:

fourteen colors postmessage & selective refresh demo

Screenshot of version 1.2 of the Figure/Ground WordPress Theme

An Update for Figure/Ground

I’ve updated my Figure/Ground theme on WordPress.org (which also powers this blog) with a few nice enhancements:

  • All options in the customizer are now instantly live-previewed with postMessage.
  • Add support for selective refresh in the customizer for widgets, and generated colors.
  • There is now a social icon menu.
  • Redraw the background canvas when the page is resized to avoid pixelization.
  • Improve keyboard navigation (although this still needs additional work).
  • Update Genericons to version 3.4.1.

The new customization experience is the most notable enhancement. See every color change instantly as you play with it in the color picker, without any delay. Enjoy!

2015 Chase the Music Concert Videos

I finally got around to editing and posting the videos from last summer’s Chase the Music concert for Ayla & Jayden with the Boulder Cello Project. Here they are, including the world premiere of my composition Awe & Joy. Sheet music for all of the music from the concert is available for free on my sheet music library.

Special thanks to Clark Hodge of Chase the Music and Bill Shauck of the Boulder Cello Project for making this concert happen!

Interactive Geometry Apps

Three years ago, I created several interactive geometry apps while working for Saltire Software. As part of the process, I built the collections functionality for Euclid’s Muse (which I had created the previous year at Saltire), which includes the ability to download a collection of web-based applets as a standalone mobile app that can be processed through PhoneGap and published on app stores. The original intent was to publish a few of these apps on the app store and Google play myself, but I never got around to it. So, I decided to publish them as another site on celloexpressions.com. The five apps are:

I also created an index page based on the pseudo-random experiments page. I’m thinking about turning it into a simple WordPress theme with a fun background (animation off by default), anyone interested?

Featured Audio in WordPress

Featured images are native to WordPress core, allowing themes to represent posts and pages with images. But for many users, there are more important content formats than visuals. As a musician, I’ve explored different approaches to integrating WordPress’ audio functionality with post objects, most recently with the Sheet Music Library plugin. I recently began exploring a new idea — a premium…

USC ASCE Blog Posts

As I complete my three-year period involved in the leadership of USC ASCE, I want to add an archival link here to the content I created for its blog. I built the site from scratch my freshman year and it’s been going strong with the Twenty Fourteen theme for three years now. I wrote well over 100 posts on the blog over the past 3 years, easily my largest collection of work to date:

https://celloexpressions.com/archive-uscasce/blog/

New Photography Site

I’m launching another new site on celloexpressions.com this summer. Cello Expressions Photography could be considered a photo blog in many ways, but its primary purpose is to serve as a collection of visually stimulating and contextually significant imagery. Bringing my academic/professional interests to Cello Expressions for the first time, this site focuses on architecture, landscape architecture, and construction. Given my current internship at the USC Village project, expect a particular construction emphasis right now. Visually interesting textures and natural landscapes are also featured.

Check it out at https://celloexpressions.com/photography.

The site is using my Arbutus WordPress theme, resulting in a major focus on images and minimal UI. The theme will be publicly available soon, likely as a premium theme but possibly for free on WordPress.org depending on time. Note that due to the heavy use of images, it may take some time for the content to load, but once it does, it’s pretty cool!

2015 Boulder Cello Project/Chase the Music Collaboration Concert

This weekend I’m partnering with the Boulder Cello Project and Chase the Music to put on our 3rd annual concert for children in critical situations. This year’s concert is for a brother and sister and will feature a bold musical celebration of these two amazing kids.

My latest composition, Awe & Joy, scored for Flute, Horn, Percussion, and Cello Ensemble, will be premiered at the concert this Sunday, August 9, 2015 in Boulder, CO. The concert is free and we have plenty of room in the hall for guests. Details and RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/concert-for-ayla-and-jayden-tickets-17769911283.