I wanted to see pictures in the search results to help distinguish what post related to what. And since Wordpress doesn’t natively support page excerpt overrides at this moment, I found myself on the Wordpress Support Forums where they had an answer. Considering the fact that most people don’t like modifying the core code, I wrapped the answer up in a plugin. I know this has been done (link broken) before to some degree, but what I wanted was rather simple: take advantage of the existing functionality and give the user access to it.

This will probably be implemented into the Wordpress core soon, so I don’t know how long this plugin will be relevant. But until then…feel free to download.

Mint Styles: We think that Shaun Inman’s Mint product to be one of the best statistics tracking systems out there. We think that it’s even better now that the API supports individual css styling for your mint installation. Look forward to some great styles from yours truly.

Zen Cart Login Screens: For anyone who uses the open-source Zen-Cart e-commerce system, I think it’s easy to agree that their default administration login screen is rather boring. We’ll be bringing some pizazz for your administration login without charging you a dime.

Zen Cart Button Sets: I don’t think I really need to explain myself here. The default Zen Cart buttons give me headaches that drive me to insane actions reminiscent of digging my eyes out with a dull spoon. We don’t want this to happen to you.

Virb Layouts: Virb is the greatest thing to happen to social networks since mySpace. But unlike mySpace, Virb offers easy styling for your profile–no more hacking and broken tables. Red Letter Creative will be releasing Virb layouts for the everyday socializer as soon as humanly possible.

And that’s just the beginning. Look forward to more.

So what happened. Well, according to this article via the 9rulers, the round submissions were just getting too much to handle. Round 5 saw 1,100+ submissions and if you thought searching for needles in haystacks was bad, I’m sure that sifting through a monstrosity of websites wasn’t so…how would I say this this…

Fun. I’m sure it wasn’t so fun.

So, if you’ve been waiting in anxious anticipation of the coveted 9rules Round 6 announcement, here’s a tip: it isn’t going to happen. But before you cry about it, let me happily declare that you can submit your site at any time via the 9rules contact form. Tyme is waiting for your email.

But do her a favor and self-evaluate. Make sure your feeds are in order, that nothing is broken, that you have quality content worth perusing. It’ll save you some heartbreak and rejection. Ask anyone, self-rejection is harder. But I think for the sanity of the 9rulers, it’s necessary.

Happy submitting.

Combining features that you may have seen elsewhere, Virb tries to combine the best of the web in terms of photography, video, blogging, and so forth. For example, their photography module looks eerily similar to Flickr. Their music player came straight out of their sister site (Purevolume.com) and for all the web designers out there, editing your profile feels almost as native as your favorite text editor.

Is Virb going to be successful? It’s hard to say right now. In my heart of hearts, I don’t want it to ever be as successful as mySpace because of the simple fact that sooner or later, you run out of quality people and start attracting the little tennie-boppers and pedophile convincts straight out of Rikers. Virb, to me, feels like the rise of Muse. For the longest time, I adored this band, loved this band and now, because their beautiful music has been tainted by the public’s adoration, I’m afraid that they’re only going to roll downhill and I’ll be stuck looking for someone else to love. Virb has the potential to go the same way, especially considering the garage bands that plague PureVolume.

As of this moment however, Virb looks promising. Red Letter Creative will be releasing some pre-packaged templates for Virb profiles here in the next few weeks. So stay tuned and get signed up.

Minimal Pixel

Platform: Joomla
Menu: Suckerfish
Stock Istockphoto
Gallery: Slideshowpro
Player: None

Minimal Pixel, an impeccable little photography studio out of Austin, TX, needed a powerful CMS to present their photography. Built using Joomla as a base, we took this piece of open source software and combined with Slideshowpro, created exactly what the client was looking for.

With a beautiful wood background, and the suckerfish menu, Minimal Pixel has a web presence that will be with them for a long time.

Virb Profile

Platform: Virb
Stock: None
Icons: None
Gallery: Virb Module
Font: Floja

Virb.com is an exciting new social network brought to you by the makers of Pure Volume. A social space that is programmed for designers, you’ll find that these profiles are much easier to customize with CSS.

Red Letter Creative will soon start designing and packaging Virb layouts for the everyday user. Stay tuned.

Johnny Beloved

Platform: Wordpress
Stock: Istockphoto
Icons: Gnome
Gallery: SlideshowPro
Font: Floja

Johnny Beloved, my personal blog where my wife and I talk about faith and culture is developed on Wordpress, uses some great custom loops to return content and has a nice banner slideshow courtesy of SSP. We wanted a site that was visually stimulating as well as full of intricate content.

Complete with BBPress integration, PHPAdsNew and other great software, Johnny Beloved is a site that we are very proud of.

AllCity Technology

Platform: Wordpress
Stock: Istockphoto
Product Icons: RLC
Gallery: None
Forms: Wufoo

AllCity Technology, for whom I do quite a bit of work, wanted to showcase their available products in an easy to use website. Built on Wordpress, this website utilizes quite a bit of custom work. It was absolutely necessary that this site looked equally well in IE6, IE7 and Firefox.

We focused on code validation and CSS. All the product icons were made by Red Letter Creative. Matching business cards, brochures and other marketing materials were also developed. The AllCity logo was designed by the business owner.

Moak Casey

Platform: AllCity Tech
Icons: Fam Fam Fam
Font: Arial Family
Gallery: None
Other: None

Moak Casey was a web projected I collaborated on with AllCity Technology. Having developed a custom CMS for this firm of lawyers, my job was to make the website both clean and professional.

Having gone through a couple of iterations, the resulting design was clean and simple and exactly to specifications. The addition of the famfamfam silk icon set was a nice addition to the rather drab design that was first implemented. The logo design was by a third party.

Acrocomia

Platform: Zen Cart
Stock: Istockphoto
Font: TW Cent MT Condensed
Gallery: Slideshowpro
Other: Stock Exchange

Acrocomia is an e-commerce site specializing in niche product markets like hammocks, wind chimes and picnic baskets. With over 2,000 products, they required an extensible solution and a colorful scheme that would look great in IE6, IE7 and Firefox. We delivered.

With a variety of modules working together in perfect harmony, Acrocomia comes complete with a custom button set, lightbox.js, and a custom login screen for the administration of the store. A clean interface makes for a great shopping experience.