When I open-sourced my C#-rewrite of Ledger recently, I realized that it was quite ugly. Since I look at it nearly every day, I figured I'd better make it look decent (previously I was using a CakePHP default theme, which isn't exactly a treat, but wasn't hard to look at either).

Two things I'm doing with Bootstrap that maybe not everyone agrees with or wants to do. But they make things easier for me:

1. I'm using a CDN to host Bootstrap files instead of hosting them myself.
2. I'm not using LESS, just plain Bootstrap CSS

For more customized or more critical projects, I could be convinced to do otherwise.

Getting started with Bootstrap is pretty easy, just add a JavaScript and a couple CSS references and away you go:

From there, you can start by looking at the basic Bootstrap template, which is far from intimidating.

Next, there are a bunch of examples, one of which you might want to use a starting point. For Ledger, I simply used the Starter template, and built from there.

The next step would be to check out the CSS classes that are available: what they do, and how they work. Then, you can drill down even farther and look at some of the very useful components that are available.

You can customize styles, and for more elaborate projects than Ledger or this blog, you will certainly need to. But I found nearly everything that I needed within the CSS classes and components. As a nice bonus, your pages will become responsive! If you are reading this post on an Android phone, for instance, note that it takes up the full width of the screen. On my desktop screen, it only takes up maybe 70% of the screen, with the sidebar column with "About Me" and such takes up the remaining 30%. Also, the navbar automatically shrinks down into a "hamburger" menu.

Hello readers. I'm just wrapping up here at CodeMash 2014, so it seems like a good time to evaluate... stuff.

First, let's talk about 2013, because I did a lot of stuff:

• Presented a session at CodeMash 2013
• Got a book published: AOP in .NET
• Taught two semesters of Web Development at Capital University
• Helped to organize and run the last CODODN conference (it will be relaunhced as the Midwest Tech Fest)
• Toured all over the place at conferences and user groups, talking about refactoring and AOP
• Doing some live webinars for PostSharp
• Helped run a few small things for CodeMash 2014
• My full-time job at Zimbra (formerly Telligent), and helped to release Analytics 4.0
• I was awarded a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award

So, here's some 2014 stuff:

• I think I will be travelling and speaking less (i.e. I won't be submitting much, but I certainly remain open to invitations)
• I plan to write/screencast more
• I plan to write and share a lot more code, especially mobile apps
• I will still be helping to organize and run the Midwest Tech Fest

As part of this initiative, this blog will be changing from being focused mainly on AOP to having a more general focus. This does not mean AOP is going away! I'm still very much interested in AOP. I am just expanding the concerns across which I am cutting.

Also, I think I may try to change this site over to some sort of Bootstrap layout/theme.

Now is the time to buy. 50% off all Manning Books, including AOP in .NET from yours truly.

Use code dotd1223au

Here are some great books that should be in your library:

• AOP in .NET by Matthew D. Groves
• Metaprogramming in .NET by Kevin Hazzard and Jason Bock
• C# in Depth, Third Edition by Jon Skeet
• Windows Store App Development by Pete Brown
• Dependency Injection in .NET by Mark Seeman
• ASP.NET MVC 4 in Action by Jeffrey Palermo, Jimmy Bogard, Matthew Hinze, and Jeremy Skinner
• Brownfield Application Development in .NET by Donald Belcham and Kyle Baley
• The Art of Unit Testing, Second Edition by Roy Osherove
• AspectJ in Action, Second Edition by Ramnivas Laddad

Of course, those are just a few. Manning has a huge selection of books on lots of topics from lots of great authors. So, whether you code in .NET or Java or JavaScript or Pig or Ruby, Manning has something for you, and it's half-price!

I will be at the New York City 2013 Code Camp on Saturday, September 14th, 2013.

I'll be giving my most popular talk, "The Class That Knew Too Much: Refactoring Spaghetti Code". I'll also be hanging out with the PostSharp guys, who are sponsoring the Code Camp event.

So, if you're in New York, come and see me! The NYC code camp appears to be sold out, but there might be a waiting list?

Doing something cool with PostSharp or Castle DynamicProxy? Want to speak to other passionate developers about AOP? Now's your chance!

The Central Ohio Day of .NET 2013 (CODODN) is just around the corner!

Today, we open up the call for speakers. You only have until September 9th, so get submitting.

Never been a speaker before? I'd be glad to help you get started: I've got resources, ideas, advice, so just ask me!