Aliso(n) Barrett’s new ColorBoxes plugin for WordPress

Written by jonathansoroko on February 15, 2010 - 1 Comment
Categories: Plugins, Post Editors

Alison Garrett is the author of the new WP plugin ColorBoxes - and the proprietor of Aliso The Geek ((We think there's a clever play on words or anagram or something there - or she just forgot the "n." But since she's done all this top-flight work, we prefer to think there's something mysterious happening.)). one of the principals in Barrett Creative ((notice all the consonants in his name are still there.)) and is the Interactive Architect at Brave New Media.

ColorBoxes is exceptionally easy to use; it accepts html tags - but if you don't know anything about html, or think you don't, just use the WYSIWYG editor (with the "Visual" tab highlighted), write what you want, click the "HTML" tab, and copy (or cut) and paste from the html side of the editing window into one of the colored boxes at the bottom of the editing page.

A possible replacement for the missing character

Limitations: I thought at first that there might be a limit of one color box per post;I was wrong. But there are some limits:


  1. However many color boxes you use, they're all going to stack at the top of the post, as they are here. So they can't be used as a closing cautionary note, or an update.

  2. The colored boxes are the width of the theme column - hence less suitable for pull-quotes, callouts, and the like.

  3. The colored boxes do not show up in the Visual Editor - but are immediately apparent using the "preview page" function.

Alison Garrett is the author of the new WP plugin ColorBoxes – and the proprietor of Aliso The Geek ((We think there’s a clever play on words or anagram or something there – or she just forgot the “n.” But since she’s done all this top-flight work, we prefer to think there’s something mysterious happening.)). one of the principals in Barrett Creative ((notice all the consonants in his name are still there.)) and is the Interactive Architect at Brave New Media.

ColorBoxes is exceptionally easy to use; it accepts html tags – but if you don’t know anything about html, or think you don’t, just use the WYSIWYG editor (with the “Visual” tab highlighted), write what you want, click the “HTML” tab, and copy (or cut) and paste from the html side of the editing window into one of the colored boxes at the bottom of the editing page.

Colorboxes can easily be found and installed from within the WP Admin Panels: navigate to Plugins | Add New | Search, and when you get to the search window try “Colorboxes” and “Barrett,” since “Colorboxes” alone will return many hits you’re not interested in.

Let’s not forget her other plugins: SimpleMap (shows location of client’s store on map) and the WowHead Sidebar Search. I believe that WOW in WOWHead has something to do with the game “World of Warcraft.”

A possible replacement for the missing character

One Response to “Aliso(n) Barrett’s new ColorBoxes plugin for WordPress”

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  1. Alison Barrett
    February 15, 2010 at 8:52 pm

    Thanks for the plug! I’m happy to see that my plugin is useful to other bloggers.

    To reveal the “something mysterious” happening behind my site’s name: I went to a small college, where the instructors took attendance. My maiden name (Kleinschmidt) caused my first name to get cut off on the attendance sheet: “Kleinschmidt, Aliso.” Teachers usually understood it was Alison. One teacher that I’d had before called me Aliso all quarter as a joke. The nickname then followed me to work, where my boss expanded it to “Aliso the Geek.” They even got me a birthday cake one year with that nickname on it.

    It felt right to use it for my blog… the domain wasn’t taken, and “aliso” is a username that is almost never taken on any membership site I see. :)

    Thanks again!

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