When I set out to customize a basic Habari theme, the first thing I noticed when selecting a theme to begin customizing was that very few had Settings options. After combing through a dozen or so, I was able to identify the techniques for enabling Habari theme settings, and I thought I would relay here.

I started with the K2 theme (included in the Habari package), and sought to make a basic customization. The K2 theme is simple, clean, with straight-forward html and css; and I decided to target a settings option that controls the header color.

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Slowly but surely, I’m transitioning away from using Google services for everything that I do. I’m not offering ads on imperialwicket.com at the time of this writing, but if I do, I don’t think I will want to use Google AdSense. In my search for suitable alternatives, I encountered OpenX - an open source alternative with varying price schemes (free begin an option for the tech savvy). OpenX actually spawned Piwik, with the intent of offering an open source, extensible alternative to Google Analytics.

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This site is running Habari, a state-of-the-art publishing platform! Habari is a community-driven project created and supported by people from all over the world. Please visit http://habariproject.org/ to find out more!

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That’s right, WordPress is not powering my blog.

I will admit that WordPress is a well-functioning piece of software. For the masses, it is a great CMS that supports everything from a basic blog to a high traffic commercial storefront. However, one must assume the perspective of function over form in order to feel justified in these claims.

The more I work with WordPress, the more I appreciate how well it functions. This is mainly due to the fact that the code supporting the CMS appears to be stuck together with a strange combination of Elmer’s Paste, spit, tape, and strategic stacking. Also, while the entire premise behind WordPress and their plugin architecture is very user-friendly; it negates any sort of standards implementation. So, in the battle of form over function, or even in a comparison that considers both, WordPress’s lacking attention to form has a more than noticeable impact.

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