Category: Articles (Page 132 of 258)

Personal opinions and how-to’s that I’ve written both here and as contributions to other blogs.

My Experience with a Standing Desk

March 14, 2016 / Tom / 0 Comments

Standing desks have been relatively commonplace for a few years now. I would say that it seems to be more prevalent in technology than anywhere else.

But I know better. I’ve read other more general blogs talk about them, as well. So, you know, technologists aren’t that unique after all. Who would’ve thought?

Generally speaking, they seem to be common for anyone who tend to work in a more sedentary environment.

There are plenty of articles all over the Internet about their advantages, but there are also articles that talk about how standing desks can do more harm than good.

What else would you expect, though? I’ve been using a standing desk for a little while now, and I thought I’d share my thoughts thus far.

Advertisements via Postmatic

March 10, 2016 / Tom

Advertisements are one of those things that I’ve always been careful about introducing because I don’t want them to clutter the content or feel too, you know, intrusive as it relates to reading this blog.

To that end, I’ve generally kept them pretty minimal in terms of what’s allowed to display on this site.

People get their content in so many different ways now (email, Twitter, etc.), and the landscape seemed to have changed for some once Google killed Reader. Then again, some of us still use a reader (what’s up, Feedly? :) for the majority of our content.

For those who read this site in your browser, you’ve no doubt noticed the advertisements in the sidebar. As stated, they’re minimal by design:

No animation
No sound
No attempt to be more intrusive than the content itself

This is because so many advertisements on the web are obnoxious. At the same time, running a site and promoting content from other companies and individuals within the WordPress economy is something I want to do.

It also helps the site to be self-sufficient in that it covers the costs of what’s needed to run the site, so that’s something I greatly appreciate.

As of today, I’m adding a similar setting for advertisements via Postmatic to display in the footer of my emails.

The Perfect WordPress Development Stack

March 9, 2016 / Tom / 0 Comments

The “Perfect WordPress Development Stack” is one of those topics that comes up now and again in various blogs (and here it is again – how meta, right?), talks, tweets, and so on.

And I think it’s a good point of conversation. If you’re working with WordPress in a professional capacity, then you should have a stack that maintains some level of professionalism.

But what does that look like? It’s likely that some of you know where I’m going with us and the answer may sound like a cop-out.

It’s not, though. It’s generally what I’ve found to be true.

Deregistering WordPress Stylesheets

March 7, 2016 / Tom

Deregistering WordPress stylesheets is one of those things that we don’t always have to consider.

If you’re starting a project from scratch, then it’s usually safe to say that you’re starting a project at ground zero and have control over most of the assets that are to be enqueued in the project.

On the other hand, if you’re coming into a project at a later date or you’re working on a plugin that has to work in conjunction with another plugin that might use a shared stylesheet then you may need to deregister an existing asset to make sure everything works well together.

Praise in Public, Reprimand in Private

March 3, 2016 / Tom / 0 Comments

“Praise in public, reprimand in private” is a phrase that I heard years ago (and I can’t remember who I actually heard say it first), but it was one of those things that stuck with me.

When you hear phrases like that, I think we often consider things like parenting, leadership, managing a team, or something similar. But do you ever think about it in terms of blogging, tweeting, or what we share online?

For anyone who works online the majority of the day and is engaged in some form of social media, I think we’re used to seeing people both praise and critique others be it via tweets, blog comments, and so on.

And sure, there’s something to be said for “calling people out” for whatever reason, but I think there’s something to be said for also handling some of that stuff privately.