Jump to content

modified slideshow no longer responsive


ann_ascherman

Recommended Posts

Hi!

 

I modified the wordpress slideshow to make it much nicer looking and added text below, however, I am having a horrible time with the responsive aspect of it...the location of the control buttons (to move the show forward and backwards), as well as the simple text block below the slides move an enormous amount depending on the screen size! Is there anything I can do to make the location of these elements dependent on each other so that they re-locate accordingly? Otherwise, no one is going to be able to view the slides!

 

The page I am talking about can be found here: http://annascherman.com/made-in-birmingham/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You cannot expect correct responsive behaviors in a page that has serious structural errors like duplicate ids. Validate the code here: https://validator.w3.org/

 

Then fix the errors.

 

I didn't bother trying to work through the CSS. When I see nonsense like 7 classes on the body tag and multiple classes on other tags it is clear the CSS is a broken mess. Properly done CSS inherits or CASCADES. That is what the C is about. If all you are going to do is try to draw the page because you think presentation is more important than the integrity of the content you are on a wrong path, and you are going find things keep breaking because of the lack of structural integrity in both the markup and the CSS.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The fact that Wordpress generates code with errors, and limits your ability to fix things should tell you what a low quality, defective product you are using instead of investing the time to learn how to write your own code. In the hands of a gifted professional developer WP can be used to build a site that might be as good as mediocre; but a novice using it is almost always going to be a disaster.

 

What you have there is nothing special, I have seen the same site a thousand times with different graphics and alternative color schemes. If the site is important to you, then you need to take control by learning enough basics to write your own layouts to enhance your content (not force them into weak presentation). At that point you wll be capable of evaluating the quality and limitations of "easy to use" tools ao you avoid a situation like we have here where the tool controls you.

 

I never recommend WP for any project because it is a horrible product. For anyone new starting out i recommend just two tools and one optioal piece if they need it. First a good flat file straight text editor. Second a collection of the latest browsers for testing. If the site is graphics oriented then a basic graphics tool.

 

Trying to develop a serious website without learning the basics is like thinking you can build your own house with learning how to use ahammer and saw. Virtually everything you need to learn the basics is available right on this site, and when you get to an advanced stage there are other sites like MDN that carry to a very high level of proficiency.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Any software tool that generates code and as a normal practice generates code that contains errors is by definition defective. When it is promoted to novice developers as an "easy" way to build a site it borders on false advertising; and in my mind the company demonatrates a lack ethics and integrity by failing to have a certification process for addons that are the primary source of security issues and malware infection.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The errors caused by Wordpress are only there if you install a theme that has errors in it. Since absolutely anybody can make themes for it there is the chance that you will install a theme that has invalid HTML. Do you have any Wordpress experience? Over 20% of websites on the internet use it, and knowledge of it is a highly valued skill in today's market, for better or worse.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since absolutely anybody can make themes for it there is the chance that you will install a theme that has invalid HTML.

 

 

That is part of my point. WP does absolutely nothing to help developers determine the quality of themes and plugins. They don't have a certification process, and they don't do anything to limit what the plugins and themes do; including a complete lack of protection against themes and plugins that contain malware. They could enforce certification with about 15 lines of code.

 

As for my experience with it; I have re-built several sites that used it and I have taken it apart down to its badly written core code. I answered enough question in the Wordpress topic on Experts-Exchange to be certified an Expert in the topic, but my experience with it is why I consider it to be defective.

 

The fact that it is widly used has nothing to do with quality. If you look at the vast majority of those sites, they do not do well. As for the value of the skill; what we see are developers using it to do low end mom and pop sites on the cheap with little or no support. They do it because of a limited skillset that keeps them confined to the low end of the market where the only way to make a living is to do quick and dirty low cost sites using free off the shelf tools, CMS, themes. etc.

 

In the hands of a gifted developer WP, like any such package can be used to build sites with some level of quality and security, but such gifted developers have the ability to take on much more lucrative contracts; and don't stay at the WP level very long. In the hands of a novice WP based development almost always leads to undesirable results; which is why on this forum and others support web development, there is a high ratio of WP related questions, not just from novices, but also from those who call themselves web developers with only a fraction of the skills necessary to do the job.

 

With well written code the time it takes to do presentation changes can bemeasured in seconds and minutes, not hours and days.

 

When I see a novice trying to use WP, I try to encourage them to stop doing that and acquire real skills that will make it possible for them to implement their own vision, and be able to maintain it.

Edited by COBOLdinosaur
Link to comment
Share on other sites

From an engineering point of view, it's pointless to reinvent the wheel in every project. If you don't go with Wordpress, there are many other content management systems to choose from, but building one from scratch is a waste of development time, which costs money to the company.

 

In the hands of a novice, any tool can be misused. It is a good idea to help them learn, but a really bad idea to discourage the use of third party sub-systems. If you're going to discourage the use of Wordpress, provide them with an alternative.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ann,

 

You have going beyond what wordpress can offer. Wordpress is blog type software with its auto completes and generated code for people that think they are Professionals. Wordpress is junk that creates outdated dinosaur pages in an ever changing web. You are just going to have open up notepad and create your own slideshow.

 

al

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

provide them with an alternative.

 

A good flat text editor, and collection of browsers, until they learn enough basics to understand how a web page actually works; have some idea of how to evaluate third party offerings; and are aware enough of standards and best practices. Until they know how to write error free code, validate it and fix errors; they are better off not using badly written third party tools.

 

When you are helping someone learn a new set of skills you do not encourage them to do things that have a high probability of failure and frustration. So it does not matter if I come across as harsh or negative. On those occassion when I taught college courses I took students on a path along progrssively more challenging tasks, that they could succeed at. I do the same in forums, and I will ever recommend third party tools or code to a novice who still does not understand the basic well enough to manage the use of those tools

 

Structural errors in markup are never acceptable. If a tool generates errors and the person using the tool has so little control that they cannot force correct valid markup then they should not be using the tool.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...