Software Engineering in WordPress, PHP, and Backend Development

Author: Tom (Page 202 of 428)

The Dangerous Nature of WordPress Comments (And What I’ve Learned)

When it comes to posts like this, I often deliberate for weeks on whether or not I should write them because of the various discussions that it will inevitably cause and the blowback that can occur can often times be exhausting (even if it’s deserved).

But that’s not this kind of post. This is a retrospective of my own mistakes, my apologies, and what I’ve learned about moving forward in certain types of situations. More on that in a moment.

Right about now is when the defenses start to go up. Please don’t go into this post with that attitude as it’s not at all about anyone or anything but me. If you already feel like you’re on the defense, take a look at this cool picture taken at River Street in Savannah, Georgia.

Once you’ve calmed down, keep reading :).

River Street in Savannah, Georgia

River Street in Savannah, Georgia

Okay so before I write any more, don’t get me wrong: Discussions in and of themselves are generally good things to have (except when they go south, but that’s common sense, right?), but right now it appears that WordPress is in a volatile state with regard to various opinions, perspectives, and so on.

Those who follow along with blogs, Twitter, and the like know what I’m talking about. People are being harassed, people are being disrespected, and – for some – it’s more about trying to make a point than it is trying to listen to the points other people are making.

Such an incredible bummer, isn’t it? It’s beyond that, really, but words fail me here.

This should go without saying, but WordPress is representative of many different people of all different walks of life and rather than use that diversity as a way to better ourselves and to grow as people, some are using it as a platform to continually argue points that aren’t productive.

Thus far, I don’t think I’ve said anything new. In fact, I’m talking more about other people than I am myself and, for this particular post, I wanted to actually talk a little bit about myself.

Specifically, I want to talk about:

  • The mistakes I’ve made,
  • The things I’ve learned,
  • And how I’m trying to get better all thanks to the people who I’ve met through WordPress.

So here goes.

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The Grumpy Developer Podcast Revisited

Earlier this year, I was invited to be on the The Grumpy Developer PodcastIt was a lot of fun, I really enjoyed my time on the show, and Mike – the host – and I hit it off.

Recall that the show aims to achieve the following:

If you’re a designer or project manager, you can consider me your friendly developer translator. I’m here to help you bypass the Grumpy Developer Syndrome and achieve a happy transition from design to launch. If you’re a developer…well…you’re welcome. Let’s all celebrate a departure from Happy Designer Land to a world where design-dev-project managers can all get along.

Fast forward a few weeks and I was invited back on to the show for another conversation about a variety of different things all of which were programming related.

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Developer Fitness: Getting Back To and Staying in Shape

One of the things that seems to be unique to open source is many opt to share their annual reports of their business regardless of how the business performed over the year. Others also talk a lot about their mental health – again, regardless of if it’s good or bad. And when you’re part of a larger group of people who are doing the same thing, it’s really inspiring, educational, and also prompts you to aim to be a better friend and peer. An amiable goal by any measure.

In short, it’s something that’s really cool to see even if you opt not to disclose that information yourself.

However, one thing that we don’t see as much of – not because people don’t share it, but because it doesn’t seem to be as popular to share – is the idea of developer fitness. I know people are involved in all kind of things offline. For example, I know Sean Davis hosts a number of workout contests and is also involved in a number of different sports (most recently, racquetball based on his Twitter feed). I also know that Sunny Ratilal shares his FitBit progress throughout the week giving insight into his level of activity.

Cool, right?

Anyway, the point is that I know we’re all active in different ways but we don’t blog about it as much for whatever reason. And I get it: Talking about health, fitness, and exercising is boring. Or it can be boring.  It can also be a lot of fun depending on if you’re found the right kind of workout for you (more on this later).

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My Suite of Apps: LineIn

I don’t do a lot of audio work on my computer – I don’t podcast or have a vlog or anything like that. I do, however, participate in a number of Skype calls and/or Google Hangouts, and I also do a fair amount of screencasting.

Because of the latter, I have a couple of pieces of equipment that I use in order to make sure that I’m getting the highest quality audio possible.

This includes:

  • A Rode shotgun microphone (with a stand),
  • And a Blue Icicle for connecting the microphone to the USB port of my computer

It’s a simple setup, but it works. The thing is, if I have my headphones in and I’m working on my laptop, then I have three potential microphones available that the computer can capture audio:

  1. The microphone built into the display
  2. The microphone that’s built into my headphones
  3. My Rode Shotgun

And even though I can generally set the devices I prefer to use and leave them, all it takes is one mistake before I end up double and triple checking my settings for each call and each screencast.

Unfortunately, I made one such mistake before so now I check my settings every. single. time.

But, for the sake of screencasting, I even take it one step further: I use a small software tool called LineIn (and anyone familiar with audio inputs and mixing boards will understand the importance of knowing which device is capturing what audio at what level).

The LineIn Homepage

And it’s been a fantastic little application for making sure my levels are balanced and that allow me to hear what others will hear based on my system settings.

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Hey Programmer: Don’t Be a Jerk

Cliff, a local developer friend, happened to share this on Twitter earlier this year. I’ve been sitting on this post until I found a good time to post it.

Of course, I don’t know what a “good time” is, but since I’ve had this drafted and I’m on the road right now, this seemed like as good a time as any.

Anyway, I thought that it was something that we could all read, learn from, and carry forward in our day-to-day interaction online.

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