Posts by der

I’ve been using http://vr.org for 4 years and they’re awesome. They only have VPS though…

Some users purchase a theme full of features. Then they don’t read the manual, try to do things on their own with their very limited experience related to the theme. This totally OK, this is why we authors write manuals, record screencast videos and provide support.

Then, things don’t go as they expect and start trashing the theme publicly on the theme’s comments. Things like: “This thing doesn’t work”, “The theme is very confusing”, “I want my money back”, etc.

As @digitalscience said, try to keep calm and provide a polite answer. Also, a user may have an opinion, but it is not a fact just because 1 person in a thousand complains.

In business there will always be people complaining, and not satisfied with what they get. We humans always want more. We (specially authors that do all the design & coding) work very hard to bring a feature complete theme to the masses. It usually takes months to get a theme ready for prime time.

Defend your theme and let other potential buyers reading the comments know, that your theme has no problems and that it has been tested. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been approved in the first place. Do not, under any circumstance use bold or all caps in your reply, keep it smooth. Also, don’t apologize if you don’t have to. Additionally, don’t fear buyers just because they can rate your item.

If you are new to the marketplace (and theme development) then this is a bit different. When I got started a few years back, there were lots and lots of bugs in my first theme and things were improving with time. This may get a few people pissed off, which is normal. Just be polite, apologize for the inconvenience and fix the bugs as soon as you can. The bigger your user base, the more stable are your themes (or framework) since they have been tested in multiple server environments and configurations.

Keep it cool, be polite, defend your product, and don’t let a bored and frustrated person ruin your day.

Hey guys, glad you like it. I’m currently using the script in my themes and so far it’s been very smooth. If I find an issue I’ll update the code immediately, so you guys can also have the fixes. It’s intended to be a collaborative thing. If you find an issue, feel free to send a pull request on Github.

@MDNW Brandon, thanks for the thumbs up! I haven’t used that plugin before but it seems nice. I’ll try it out later on and see how it goes…

SyamilMJ said
Hi, I saw on line 43/44 that you’re querying the db for attachment id, so you can update the metadata with the new resized image dimensions later? Would it be a problem if for example, the author would like to provide a custom input field for e.g. slider, meta box, where users may freely insert whatever size for the image instead of the original URL?

The script only alters the metadata of the resized images (line 269). This means you can set any metadata you want to the attachment, and it wouldn’t interfere. The metadata is then used to automatically remove the generated thumbnails when you remove the original image from the media library.

Also, you can use the script to just create the image without echoing the resulting url, useful if you want to only ensure the thumbnail is created for later use.

crossroad said
Yes, it works now, thanks. Have you checked it there are any other bugs?

I’ve tested it thoroughly and as far as I can tell, no other bugs that I know of.

@crossroad I’ve spotted this error and fixed it a while ago. Re-download the code from the latest commit.

It’ll work

crossroad said
Thanks for answering. I couldn’t find any example on how to use it (eg. how to call the function to display an image in the loop). Could you please give an example?

// Put this in your functions.php
function theme_thumb($url, $width, $height=0, $align='') {
  return mr_image_resize($url, $width, $height, true, $align, false);
}

$thumb = theme_thumb($image_url, 800, 600, 'br'); // Crops from bottom right

echo $thumb;

I’ve added the usage example on the github repo, for further reference…

crossroad said
Great work

I have following questions

- Does it first check if the image size exist already? - Does it require specific directory permissions otherwise it will give error? - What’s the advantage of using this over the WordPress native resize function?

- Yes, it checks if the image exists already
- No, it uses the same WordPress Uploads directory
- The whole process is abstracted for you. Works on Multisite. Positional Cropping.

Hi guys!

Timthumb is no longer allowed as part of Envato’s quality guidelines. Fellow authors have developed excellent alternatives for timthumb, such as Freshizer, BFI-Thumb and Aqua.

I’ve released an image resizing script which I use in my themes. Uses WordPress native image processing functions. It’s compatible with WordPress 3.5+ and below.

The script supports Positional Cropping. Thumbnails are automatically deleted when the original image is removed from the Media Library, and degrades gracefully in case of errors.

Feel free to use it on your projects. Use and abuse under the GPLv2 License.

Get the code here: https://github.com/derdesign/mr-image-resize

Enjoy!

It would be good to rate buyers too, something like Ebay, in which buyers & sellers get ratings. Usually, customers give you good ratings just because you do what they want.

I’d say 70% of customers rate items because you did something for them, which has nothing to do with the product being sold or rated.

Authors are similar to Car Manufacturers: They sell you a car, but you need to know how to drive it. You can’t blaim the manufacturer just because you don’t know how to start your car. Then, the customer doesn’t know how to drive, and you get a 1 star rating.

My advise: don’t try to keep up with ratings. Just create good products and try to keep your customers happy with your support, having clear customization policies. You’ll have more time to spend with your family, instead of being a support slave just to keep your product with good stars.