aaaOK, so images can get quite complicated as we have a few variables to work with! For example the image below has had a caption entered in the WordPress image upload dialog box, this creates a shortcode which then in turn wraps the whole thing in a div with inline styling! Maybe one day they’ll be able to use the figure and figcaption elements for all this. Additionally, images can be wrapped in links which, if you’re using anything other than color or text-decoration to style your links can be problematic.

Your Alt Tag

This is the optional caption.

The next issue we face is image alignment, users get the option of None, Left, Right & Center. On top of this, they also get the options of Thumbnail, Medium, Large & Fullsize. You’ll probably want to add floats to style the image position so important to remember to clear these to stop images popping below the bottom of your articles.

Your Alt Title Your Alt Title Your Alt Title Your Alt Title

Additionally, to add further confusion, images can be wrapped inside paragraph content, lets test some examples here.Your Alt Title Vivamus sagittis lacus vel augue laoreet rutrum faucibus dolor auctor. Maecenas sed diam eget risus varius blandit sit amet non magna. Aenean lacinia bibendum nulla sed consectetur.Your Alt TitleVivamus sagittis lacus vel augue laoreet rutrum faucibus dolor auctor. Maecenas sed diam eget risus varius blandit sit amet non magna. Aenean lacinia bibendum nulla sed consectetur.Your Alt TitleAenean lacinia bibendum nulla sed consectetur. Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum. Donec ullamcorper nulla non metus auctor fringilla. Aenean lacinia bibendum nulla sed consectetur.

And then… Finally, users can insert a WordPress

, which is kinda ugly and comes with some CSS stuck into the page to style it (which doesn’t actually validate, nor does the markup for the gallery). The amount of columns in the gallery is also changable by the user, but the default is three so we’ll work with that for our example with an added fouth image to test verticle spacing.

Table Head Column One Table Head Column Two Table Head Column Three
Table Footer Column One Table Footer Column Two Table Footer Column Three
Table Row Column One Short Text Testing a table cell with a longer amount of text to see what happens, you’re not using tables for site layouts are you?
Table Row Column One Table Row Column Two Table Row Column Three
Table Row Column One Table Row Column Two Table Row Column Three
Table Row Column One Table Row Column Two Table Row Column Three
Table Row Column One Table Row Column Two Table Row Column Three
  1. Ordered list item one.
  2. Ordered list item two.
  3. Ordered list item three.
  4. Ordered list item four.
  5. By the way, WordPress does not let you create nested lists through the visual editor.
  • Unordered list item one.
  • Unordered list item two.
  • Unordered list item three.
  • Unordered list item four.
  • By the way, WordPress does not let you create nested lists through the visual editor.

Currently WordPress blockquotes are just wrapped in blockquote tags and have no clear way for the user to define a source. Maybe one day they’ll be more semantic (and easier to style) like the version below.

HTML5 comes to our rescue with the footer element, allowing us to add semantically separate information about the quote.

Level One Heading

Level Two Heading

Level Three Heading

Level Four Heading

Level Five Heading
Level Six Heading

This is a standard paragraph created using the WordPress TinyMCE text editor. It has a strong tag, an em tag and a strikethrough which is actually just the del element. There are a few more inline elements which are not in the WordPress admin but we should check for incase your users get busy with the copy and paste. These include citations, abbr, bits of code and variables, inline quotations, inserted text, text that is no longer accurate or something so important you might want to mark it. We can also style subscript and superscript characters like C02, here is our 2nd example. If they are feeling non-semantic they might even use bold, italic, big or small elements too. Incidentally, these HTML4.01 tags have been given new life and semantic meaning in HTML5, you may be interested in reading this article by Harry Roberts which gives a nice excuse to test a link.  It is also worth noting in the “kitchen sink” view you can also add underline styling and set text color with pesky inline CSS.

Additionally, WordPress also sets text alignment with inline styles, like this left aligned paragraph. Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum. Cras mattis consectetur purus sit amet fermentum.

This is a right aligned paragraph. Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum. Cras mattis consectetur purus sit amet fermentum.

This is a justified paragraph. Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum. Cras mattis consectetur purus sit amet fermentum.

Finally, you also have the option of an indented paragraph. Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum. Cras mattis consectetur purus sit amet fermentum.

And last, and by no means least, users can also apply the Address tag to text like this:

123 Example Street, Testville, West Madeupsburg, CSSland, 1234

…so there you have it, all our text elements

http://bit.ly/1vXtY63

I actually was able to finish this up the other day and give it to Nancy when the office reopened after Christmas.

I am SO HAPPY with how it turned out, but I’m going to make you wait a few minutes while I drop some in-progress pictures. Sorry!

First, I was able to get all the fabric colors I needed (and didn’t already have on-hand from years of collecting scraps) at Jo-Ann, AND I happened to get them at a great sale price — 2 for $3 versus $2.50 each. Score!!

I backed each piece with Heat’n Bond adhesive, just like I did with the felt. First I removed the paper backing from one side of the adhesive and ironed it to the fabric scraps. After it cooled, I removed the paper backing and applied it to my Curio cutting mat — the plastic-to-plastic helped keep the fabric from slipping while cutting. I cut with my Fabric Blade and these settings:

  • Depth: 4
  • Platform: 6
  • Speed: 4
  • Thickness: 25

Here is the pre-assemblage assemblage. I just lined up the cut pieces to get an idea of how boss this project would look, and… Keep reading »

/sigh

Ok, so I got all my bits cut out and assembled. Here’s what it looks like (without the intended blanket stitch around the edges):

 

Not sure if it’s quite what I was hoping for. Now I’m thinking using just regular cotton cloth instead of felt. I wanted it to be more supple and thinner, which is what I thought I could do with felt, but after the stiffening and the adhesive backing, each layer is about 2mm thick, making the whole thing 8mm at its thickest:

The quest continues! Stick around!

I *THINK* I’ve got this felt crap figured out, finally.

My recommendations so far are:

  1. Use stiffened felt.
    • The Mod Podge formula I used the other day seems to work well. The felt is stiff enough to cut pretty well, and it still feels like felt.
    • I let the felt dry for at least 24 hours, flipping it over once to make sure it’s thoroughly dry before ironing it flat. If you feel any areas that are cooler to the touch or softer than other parts of the felt, let those puppies dry some more.
    • Iron on a heat setting appropriate for your material. Check the sticker or your felt’s packaging if you’re not sure what it’s made of. When in doubt, err on the side of caution and use a lower heat setting.
  2. Back that shit up!
    • I got some Heat’n Bond Ultra Hold iron-on adhesive and applied it to the back of the felt. Then I stuck the felt paper side down on the cutting mat (which will hopefully spare me some felt fuzz accumulation). It gives the felt a nice firm base, and the back sides of the cuts I’ve made are nice and crisp.
  3. Fiddle with your Curio cut settings.
    • I finally settled on these parameters:
      • Deep Cut blade, max depth (20)
      • Platform: 6 (2x #2 platform, 1x #1 platform, 1x cutting mat)
      • Speed: 1
      • Thickness: 25
      • Double Cut: Off*
        • I have been testing the cuts before removing the platform and manually applying a double cut if the pieces weren’t easily lifted out of the material. Denser felt needed one pass, while fluffier felt needed two.
        • DON’T REMOVE YOUR PLATFORM OR MATERIAL UNTIL YOU’RE SURE OF YOUR CUTS. If you need to run a second cut, removing your platform or pulling the felt up will pretty much guarantee your repeat cuts won’t line up with the first ones.

Whew!

I’ve successfully cut out most of the fiddly bits (enough for 3 ornaments), and this method has worked pretty well so far:

Though you’d think the opposite would be true, I think my biggest worry now is how the Curio will handle the bigger cuts. I’ve had some platform gear slippage on earlier tests, but I hadn’t refined my process at that point. We’ll find out tomorrow!