🚀 Building a Custom Navigation Menu in WordPress: Because Default Menus Are So Last Season 🎩

Let’s be real — WordPress default menus are like those one-size-fits-all T-shirts. They technically fit, but do they vibe with your brand? Nah.
So one day, I looked at my WordPress theme and thought,

“This menu is nice… if I were designing a website in 2007 for my dog’s fan club.” 🐶✨

So I rolled up my sleeves, flexed my keyboard fingers, and said,
“It’s time… to make a custom navigation menu. Like a boss.” 💪

🧙‍♂️ Step 1: Register the Menu Like a Wizard

phpCopyEditfunction my_custom_menu_setup() {
    register_nav_menu('main-menu', 'Main Menu');
}
add_action('after_setup_theme', 'my_custom_menu_setup');

Congrats, you’ve just told WordPress:

“Hey, I’m fancy now. I want my own menu spot, thank you very much.” ☕

🎨 Step 2: Summon It in Your Theme (Like Magic)

Open up your header.php and drop this line like it’s hot:

phpCopyEdit<?php wp_nav_menu(array('theme_location' => 'main-menu')); ?>

Boom. Your menu just appeared like it heard someone say “free pizza.” 🍕

👗 Step 3: Add Some CSS — Because Naked Menus Are a Crime

Now, give that menu a glow-up. Flexbox it, hover it, maybe even animate it like it’s dancing at a CSS disco.

cssCopyEditnav ul {
  display: flex;
  gap: 20px;
  list-style: none;
}
nav li:hover {
  color: #ff5c5c;
  transform: scale(1.1);
}

Look at that. Your menu now walks into a bar and everyone stares. 🕺💃

🧠 Bonus Round: Custom Walker Class (aka Brain Surgery for Menus)

If you’re feeling dangerous, create a custom Walker_Nav_Menu class to add custom HTML, SVGs, emojis, or live squirrels to your menu.
(Not recommended. For the squirrels. Definitely go wild on the SVGs though.)

😎 Final Thoughts

Default menus are fine…
…if your site is a potato. 🥔
But you? You’re building a rocket. 🚀
With your custom WordPress nav, you’re not just making links —
You’re crafting an experience. A journey. A love letter written in HTML.

Now go forth and ship that slick, snappy, custom nav menu. And if it breaks the first time?

Just tell people you’re “exploring minimalist UX.” 😉

🤖 From Developer to AI Super Dev

(The Journey of a Mild-Mannered Coder Who Ate Too Much GPT)

👨‍💻 Act 1: The Ordinary Developer Life

You’re a regular developer. You drink chai, write code, Google errors, Stack Overflow your way to glory, and secretly curse at CSS for doing whatever it wants.

Your best debugging tool?
Print statements.
Your enemy?
Merge conflicts.

But deep inside… you dream of more. You want to be faster. Smarter. Mightier.
A coding demigod.

⚡️ Act 2: The Awakening (A Wild GPT Appears!)

One day, you hear about “ChatGPT”.

“You can talk to it. It writes code. It explains things. It doesn’t judge your variable names.”

You try it.
You say:

“Can you write a Python script that calls an API, does sentiment analysis, and makes chai?”

And it replies in 0.8 seconds, with fully documented code and a virtual hug.
You cry softly.
You realize: This is it. The power. The moment.

🧠 Act 3: Training Begins — Becoming the AI Super Developer

You go full Batman-in-the-mountains mode, except your Batcave has fiber internet and three IDEs open.

You now use AI to:

🚀 Generate boilerplate code (so you can avoid typing public static void main)
🪄 Instantly explain weird errors (“Why does this code work on Tuesday but not on Friday?”)
📚 Learn new languages overnight (GPT: “Let me teach you Rust while we wait for coffee.”)
🧹 Clean up legacy code (GPT: “You wrote this? …It’s okay. Let’s fix it together.”)
🧪 Test like a wizard (Unit tests? You mean AI-generated magic spells!)

You even start using AI to:

Name variables
Write commit messages
Argue with Jira tickets

🤓 Act 4: Full Transformation

You become that dev.

Your team now calls you:

“The guy who talks to the machine and makes miracles.”
“The Stack Overflow Whisperer.”
“The Devda of Code.”

You walk into meetings with confidence and say things like:

“Don’t worry, I’ll prototype that in an hour.”
(because GPT is sitting in your VS Code like a loyal lab assistant.)

Your GitHub is now so active, it sends you push notifications saying:

“Bro… are you okay?”

🦸‍♂️ Act 5: The Super Dev Identity

You now go by your new title:

👑 “Captain Codex: Master of the Prompt-Verse”

With great power comes:

Faster delivery
Fewer bugs
More naps
And the ability to look cool while casually saying, “Yeah, I built that with a little help from my AI sidekick.”

🛠 Bonus: Your AI Arsenal

ChatGPT / GitHub Copilot: Your pair programmer (who doesn’t eat lunch or talk too much)
Midjourney/DALL·E: Design assets in 10 seconds (“Make me a logo that screams ‘backend dev but stylish'”)
Whisper or Speech-to-Text AI: Turns your brain dumps into documentation
LangChain & OpenAI API: When you want to build AI tools inside your apps, because why not?
AI meeting notes: So you can “attend” meetings while actually fixing bugs.

🧘 Final Scene: You, sipping chai, coding with one hand

Your code compiles.
Your team cheers.
Your AI assistant gives you a virtual fist bump.
You smile and whisper:

“This is just the beginning.”

🎨 Learning Adobe Illustrator: A Rollercoaster of Pen Tools and Panic

1. The Optimism Phase

Image idea: A stock photo of a happy person at a desk, grinning at a blank Illustrator canvas like it’s a pizza menu.

You download Illustrator, open it up, and think:

“How hard can it be? I’m basically already a designer. I once made a flyer in Microsoft Word.”

You start clicking things with the confidence of a caffeinated toddler. You draw your first rectangle. It’s not aligned, it’s not pretty, but it’s yours.

2. The Pen Tool Betrayal

Image idea: A dramatic Renaissance-style painting of a person screaming at their screen, with the Pen Tool icon floating ominously above them.

You try using the Pen Tool. You’re told it’s “essential” and “powerful.”

What they don’t tell you is that this tool is a digital snake that refuses to move how you want.
You click: a point.
Click again: another point.
Suddenly it curves. You didn’t ask for a curve.
Now it’s a weird abstract shape that might summon something from another dimension.

You Google “how to use the Pen Tool” and fall down a rabbit hole of despair and anchor points.

3. Layers: The Tower of Babel

Image idea: An ancient scroll labeled “Layers Panel” unraveling infinitely down a temple staircase.

You discover layers. Layers upon layers.

“Why is everything on Layer 1?”
“What does ‘Path’ mean?”
“Why is this text behind the background even though it’s on top?”

You start naming them. “Layer 17 – Definitely Not Important,” “Path of Confusion,” “Group 98 (Who Knows Anymore)”

Eventually, you just stop naming anything and rely entirely on trial and error and prayer.

4. Clipping Masks and Other Dark Magic

Image idea: A wizard casting spells over a MacBook with glowing vectors swirling.

Someone says, “Just use a clipping mask!”
You smile and nod like you understand.
You try it.
Your entire artwork disappears.
You undo 34 steps and make a mental note to never touch that button again.

5. Exporting: The Final Boss

Image idea: A boss fight screen with “EXPORT AS…” in flashing red letters.

You finish your masterpiece. It’s got lines. Shapes. Maybe a drop shadow.
Now you want to share it.
You export.

Wrong size.
Export again. Blurry.
Try “Save for Web.”
Now it’s pixelated and your computer is making helicopter noises.

Eventually you export it as a .jpeg, .png, .svg, .pdf, and possibly a .tiff just to cover all bases.

6. Stockholm Syndrome

Image idea: A person lovingly hugging a laptop with Illustrator open, a tear rolling down their cheek.

Despite all the chaos, you start liking it.
You understand layers now. The Pen Tool obeys (mostly).
You group things. You align stuff like a boss.
You even use the Pathfinder tool without Googling.

You begin to whisper, “This is kind of fun.”

7. **You Become That Person**

Image idea: A guru levitating in a lotus position made of vector points.

Now you watch new users struggle.
You nod solemnly and say,

“Ah yes, the Pen Tool. It’s tricky at first.”
“Use a clipping mask, trust me.”
“Did you try using the Pathfinder tool?”

And with that, the cycle begins anew.

Final Thoughts

Learning Adobe Illustrator is a journey full of unexpected turns, confusing menus, and tools with the emotional range of a wild raccoon. But once you get it, you’re unstoppable. You can design logos, posters, infographics—heck, even your cousin’s weird tattoo idea.

And one day, you’ll look back and say:

“I survived the Pen Tool. I can survive anything.”

🎨 How to Become a UX Designer (Without Crying in Figma)

So, you’ve decided you want to become a UX designer? Welcome to the land of wireframes, sticky notes, and pretending you don’t hate Comic Sans.

Whether you’re a total newbie or just tired of pretending you totally know what UX even stands for (spoiler: it’s User Experience), here’s a no-fluff, easy-to-digest guide to start your UX journey — minus the jargon and the 50-tab YouTube rabbit holes.

🧠 Step 1: Understand What UX Design Actually Is

UX isn’t just making things look “pretty.” That’s UI’s job (kinda). UX is about making things usable, useful, and not annoying. It’s like being a digital therapist for frustrated users.

Think: “Can my grandma use this app without rage-quitting?”

🧐 Step 2: Stalk, Study, Repeat

Start consuming UX like it’s your new Netflix obsession.

Watch UX case studies on YouTube
Read blogs (like this one, obviously)
Follow UX peeps on Twitter/X/Whatever-it’s-called-now
Listen to podcasts while pretending to work out

Bonus points if you start saying things like “user pain points” in everyday conversation. People will think you’re super smart or super annoying. Possibly both.

🛠️ Step 3: Get Your Hands Dirty

No, not with actual dirt. With tools! Try:

Figma (it’s free and addictive)
Adobe XD (RIP if Adobe ever pulls the plug)
Sketch (Mac users only – sorry, Windows warriors)

Start redesigning your favorite apps. Or your least favorite ones. Either way, just design stuff. A lot of stuff. Ugly at first? Cool. That means you’re doing it right.

📚 Step 4: Take a Course (But Don’t Sell Your Kidney)

You don’t need a $10k bootcamp to get started. Check these out:

Google UX Design Certificate (cheap and legit)
Coursera / Udemy (pick wisely—some are golden, some are 💩)
Free content on YouTube (bless the UX angels who upload for free)

Just don’t fall into the “learn forever, never do” trap. Learn, then do.

✍️ Step 5: Build a Portfolio That Doesn’t Suck

Your portfolio is your UX Tinder profile. No one’s swiping right on “here’s a random button I made in Figma.” Tell a story:

Problem → Research → Wireframes → Final Design → Results (even if fake)
Bonus: Add GIFs. Everyone loves GIFs.

🤹 Step 6: Fake It ‘Til You Make It (Then Keep Making It)

Apply for internships, freelance gigs, or make your own fake projects. “UX designer” isn’t a title—it’s a mindset. If you’re thinking like a designer, congrats — you’re becoming one.

Pro tip: Put “freelance UX designer” in your bio. Even if your only client is your cat’s Instagram.

🎉 Step 7: Celebrate the Small Wins

Got your first client? Nailed your first prototype? Convinced your mom UX is a real job? That’s a win.

Also, drink water. Stretch. Go outside. UX-ing is intense.

Final Words of Wisdom:

UX design isn’t just a career — it’s a lifestyle of caring way too much about whether a button should be 8px or 12px from the edge. But if that excites you? You’re in the right place.

Want help coming up with fake-but-awesome portfolio projects or figuring out what the heck to put on your UX resume? Drop a comment or hit me up!