Design Mode: A Free Portfolio Block Theme Designed for Freelancers and Agencies

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The count for WordPress block themes has reached 137. It’s a far cry from the 500 block themes WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden-Chomphosy set as a goal for 2022, but the number is steadily climbing as theme authors find their footing and discover how quickly block themes can be created.

Brian Gardner is throwing his hat into the ring again with his latest release. Design Mode is a new block theme created for freelancers and agencies to showcase their services and work. After its release, several of Gardener’s contemporaries, fellow theme designers, remarked on how refreshing it is to see a block theme with “real world use cases,” as so many seem to be geared at bloggers.

Design Mode features Outfit, a geometric sans serif Google font, designed by Rodrigo Fuenzalida, a Venezuelan type designer based in Santiago de Chile. It is used for both headings and paragraph text throughout the theme.

The demo gives the best idea of what the theme looks like with a curated set of images, titles, captions, menus, and buttons all filled with content. Once installed and activated on a new site, the theme looks very similar to the demo but has a placeholder image instead of the photos used in the demo. This is because the photos did not have the right licensing for distribution on WordPress.org, but the way it ships has the advantage of giving users a visual blank slate for those featured sections.

Design Mode includes 10 different patterns, which are essentially all Aspects of the design deconstructed into parts. There are multiple patterns for sections with cover, heading, text, and button, a query grid with three columns, a section with text and separators, a footer, and a header with site title and navigation perfectly spaced. The theme also conveniently includes a whole page pattern that will instantly reproduce the homepage in the demo.

Design Mode is an opinionated theme. Users can adjust colors for background, text, and links, and adjust various templates via full-site editing, but it does not come with additional style variations. Personal blogs may benefit from a kaleidoscope of style variations but a well-designed portfolio theme does not usually lend itself well to wide variations in style. In this case fewer options is a good thing that should preserve the simple palette the theme packages.

This is a very fast theme by itself. Gardner reports that Design Mode scores 99 and 100 on Google page speed for mobile/desktop. Depending on what plugins and optimizations a user has active, this theme could be a good choice for performance-conscious WordPress users.

Design Mode is Gardner’s third block theme in the directory. It bears some similarities to his black and white minimalist Avant-Garde theme but has more of a friendly showcase vibe that is suitable for personal portfolios, agencies, and any kind of service business that would benefit from an elegant, structured design.

Design Mode is available for free on WordPress.org or inside WordPress via the admin themes browser.

How to Use SQL to Analyze and Visualize Data?

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The goal of every business is to perform efficiently, maximize profit and make strategically-guided decisions. In the current business world, the competition is high, and every business needs every edge and advantage they can get to improve its odds of success.

Companies that want to stay in business and thrive in the current business world need to employ data analysis. Data analysis plays a role in making decisions more scientific and helping businesses operate more effectively.

How to Build a PHP Login Based on a User Account

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Websites must have a user login from the client to perform basic tasks. Modern websites use this component most of the time to provide convenience for users.

I will teach you today how to create a login system using PHP, MySQL, and Bootstrap (for the design).

How to Bolster Your Design Ideas with These Unlikely Sources of Inspiration

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We all know how frustrating it can be to feel creatively stuck. Whether you’re trying to come up with new ideas for a project or simply looking for a fresh perspective, sometimes all it takes is some out-of-the-box thinking to find inspiration to jump start your creativity.

Today, we’ll be covering a few unlikely sources of inspiration that can help you bolster your design ideas. These don’t include the super obvious choices like Awwwards or Best Website Gallery. Instead, these inspiring sources delve into less top-of-mind places and offer creative fuel in less conventional ways.

Enjoy!

Children’s Books

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Believe it or not, children’s books can be a great source of inspiration for designers. The vibrant colors and playful illustrations in these books can help spark new ideas and help you see things from a different perspective.

Take a Walk in Nature

There’s no denying that nature is one of the most beautiful things in the world. So why not use it as inspiration for your next design project? From the patterns of leaves to the colors of a sunset, there are endless possibilities when it comes to finding inspiration in nature.

Taking a walk in nature can also help clear your mind and give you some much-needed time to think about your project.

Music

Music may be a wonderful method to stimulate your creative thinking. Music may assist you access your creative side and produce some fantastic design ideas, whether you’re listening to your favorite album or looking at new artists.

Go to an Art Gallery or Museum

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Viewing art can also be a great way to get inspired. Whether you’re visiting a museum or simply looking at paintings online, observing other artists’ work can help you see things in a new light and come up with some fresh ideas for your own projects.

Go to an Antique Store or Vintage Shop

If you’re looking for some unique inspiration, take a trip to an antique store or vintage shop. Surrounded by old items, you may find yourself seeing things in a new way and coming up with some original ideas for your project. You could even browse vintage designs on Etsy to get some inspiration.

Look Through Fashion Magazines

Fashion magazines are another great source of inspiration, especially if you’re working on a design project that involves clothing or accessories. From the latest trends to classic looks, you’ll be sure to find plenty of inspiration in these magazines.

At the very least, you can find some really interesting color palette inspiration in fashion magazines.

Talk to a Friend

Sometimes doing something completely different than the work on hand can clear your mind enough to leave room for fresh inspiration. So go ahead and take a break from your project to chat with a friend. You never know, they may just have the perfect idea for your next great design.

People Watch at Your Local Coffee Shop

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Another great way to get inspired is to watch people at your local coffee shop. You never know who or what you’ll see, and you might just come up with some creative ideas for your project by observing the people around you.

Take a Trip

If you’re really feeling stuck, sometimes the best thing to do is take a trip. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to go somewhere far away; even taking a day trip to a nearby town can help you clear your mind and come up with some new ideas.

Get Some Sleep

If you’re feeling creatively drained, it might be time to get some sleep. Sometimes all you need is a good night’s rest to recharge your batteries and come up with some great new ideas.

Design Inspiration Can Be Found Almost Anywhere

Whether you’re looking for a fresh perspective or simply trying to get out of a design rut, these ten sources of inspiration can help you bolster your ideas and come up with some truly original designs. So don’t be afraid to explore new places and try new things; you never know where you’ll find your next great idea.

Build an Emoji-Making App Effortlessly

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Emojis are a must-have tool in today's online communications as they help add color to text-based chatting and allow users to better express the emotions behind their words. Since the number of preset emojis is always limited, many apps now allow users to create their own custom emojis to keep things fresh and exciting.

For example, in a social media app, users who do not want to show their faces when making video calls can use an animated character to protect their privacy, with their facial expressions applied to the character; in a live streaming or e-commerce app, virtual streamers with realistic facial expressions are much more likely to attract watchers; in a video or photo shooting app, users can control the facial expressions of an animated character when taking a selfie, and then share the selfie via social media; and in an educational app for kids, a cute animated character with detailed facial expressions will make online classes much more fun and engaging for students.

How Sigma Rules Can Help Address the Cybersecurity Skills Shortage

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A global study by Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) and industry analyst firm Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) shows that the alarming cybersecurity skills shortage problem raged on for the fifth consecutive year in 2021. This skills shortage, which affects 57 percent of organizations, has resulted in increasing workloads for cybersecurity teams, unfilled cybersecurity job vacancies, and high burnout levels among cybersecurity team members.

A relatively new tool for cybersecurity teams called Sigma rules offers a mitigation option for the skills crisis. It may not completely eliminate the issue, but it can provide a significant contribution in giving teams breathing room as they deal with the serious impact of not having enough people to address aggressive and evolving cyber threats.

Explaining Performance to Non-technical Stakeholders

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Whether you’re an e-commerce company, a SaaS provider, or a content publisher, understanding the performance of your website is important to everyone on the team—not just the developers. Performance is a huge part of the user experience and is directly tied to how well your website achieves its goals. But web performance is often measured in very technical terms, like Largest Contentful Paint, that cause most business folk’s eyes to glaze over.

This language gap is a big part of the reason why many websites are so slow. Many only consider performance from their own perspective—“it’s fast for me”—and leave it at that. We simply lack the vocabulary to talk about the problem.

What Is Encryption? — 6 Top Types of Encryption Methods + Examples

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In just 20 years, the internet has gone from being a theoretical tool to a central to every Aspect of our daily activities, from communication and commerce to work and data storage.

Encryption is a prevalent and practical security approach, making it an excellent alternative for protecting an organization's data. Encryption techniques for data are a reliable method for keeping sensitive data safe.

After uploading, the version submission cannot be found in the app manageme

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After uploading, the following figure appears. Success indicates that the upload has been successful. After the upload is successful, Apple will take a few minutes to several hours to detect whether your IPA has problems. After the detection, Apple will send an email to the mailbox corresponding to your apple account. After the upload, please log in to the mailbox to check the email. Pay special attention to whether there are emails sent by apple in the spam mailbox. If Apple detects that there is a problem with the IPA, it will not appear in the background of APP management, and the version that we often encounter cannot be found in the Apple App management center will appear

National Harbor, Maryland to Host WordCamp US and Community Summit, August 23-25, 2023

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WordCamp US 2022 has concluded after two days of presentations and a contributor day last weekend. Some attendees are still making their way home with hearts full of good memories until the next time they can gather in person again.

Outside of the main event, attendees had many opportunities to network, connect with new friends, and finally meet people they have been working with on the web for years.

The event’s organizers have invited attendees to share their photos in the WCUS Community Photo Album on Google Photos.

The Job Posting board is back in business and shows several dozen agencies, product, and hosting companies hiring for roles across the WordPress ecosystem. Many of these companies were also sponsors of the event.

All the sessions from WCUS were recorded and will be coming to WordPress.tv soon. In the meantime, sessions can be viewed through the livestream recording on YouTube. There are separate videos for the Sun track (Friday and Saturday), and the Palm track (Friday and Saturday). The recording of Matt Mullenweg’s Q&A is available on WordPress.tv. He answered questions about improving contributor experience, accessibility, the timeline for multilingual features in core, and more.

At the end of his Q&A session, Mullenweg announced the location of the next WordCamp US. In 2023, the event will take place on the East coast at National Harbor, Maryland, a waterfront convention center located along the Potomac River, 20 minutes from Washington, D.C. The dates are set for August 23-25, which will include contributor days, presentations and workshops, and a WordPress Community Summit. Organizers said the event will focus on learning and creation.

WebKit Features in Safari 16.0

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Whew boy, Safari 16 is officially out in the wild and it packs in a bunch of features, some new and exciting (Subgrid! Container Queries! Font Palettes!) and others we’ve been waiting on for better cross-browser support (Motion Path! Overscroll Behavior! AVIF!). I imagine Jen Simmons typing cheerfully writing out all of the new goodies in the roundup announcement.

A list of new WebKit features.
Source: WebKit.org

Just gonna drop in the new CSS features from the release notes:

  • Added size queries support for Container Queries. Chrome started supporting it in Version 105, so all we need is Firefox to join the party to get The Big Three™ covered.
  • Added support for Container Query Units. These units go hand-in-hand with Container Queries. Once again, we need Firefox.
  • Added support for Subgrid. Now it’s Safari and Firefox with support coverage. The good news is that Chrome is currently developing it as well.
  • Added support for animatable Grids. Very cool! Chrome has always had some implementation of this and Firefox started supporting it back in 2019.
  • Added support for Offset Path. This is also known as Motion Path, and we’ve had broad browser support since 2020. It’s nice to see Safari on board.
  • Added support for Overscroll Behavior. Now we can modify “scroll chaining” and overflow affordances with the overscroll-behavior property.
  • Added support for text-align-last. Now we’re all set with cross-browser support for this property!
  • Added support for the resolution media query. All set here as well!

There are quite a few nice updates to Safari’s developer tools, too. We’ve got a Flexbox inspector, a Timelines tab (with an experimental screenshots timeline), and Container Queries info, to name a few. There’s a full 32-minute video that walks through everything, too.

I thought Safari 15 was a pretty killer release, but 16 is pretty epic in comparison. I know there’s a “Safari is the new Internet Explorer” vibe in some circles, but I’m happy to see big jumps like this and appreciate all the forward momentum. Go Safari Team!

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WordCamp US 2022 Kicks Off Today, Free Livestream Available

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WordCamp US 2022 is underway in San Diego, California, following last night’s welcome party for speakers, sponsors, organizers, and volunteers. For many attendees, this is their first in-person WordPress event since 2019, before the pandemic began shutting down conferences.

Unlike previous events, where attendees numbered in the thousands, this year tickets were capped at 650. They were sold out the first day they went on sale. A smaller crowd should make for a more intimate event where attendees have a higher chance of bumping into the people they hoped to meet.

Opening remarks are expected at 9am PDT. WordCamp US’ schedule includes 41 sessions over the span of two days. Those who are not able to attend in person can still catch the livestream for both tracks, without any special ticket required. Access is free and presentations will be shown live as they are happening on the two tracks:

Sun Track: https://us.wordcamp.org/2022/livestream/sun-fri/

Palm Track https://us.wordcamp.org/2022/livestream/palm-fri/

Virtual participants can use the #WCUS hashtag on Twitter to join in the global conversation.

On Saturday, September 10, Matt Mullenweg will deliver an address at 4:45 pm -5:30 pm PDT and answer live questions from WordCamp US attendees. This will also be streamed live as the last session of the event.