Category: web

Articles in the ‘Web’ category could be about a wide variety of subjects and it might be more specifically about web technology, much like the code category. Or it could be the next best cat video trending on YouTube?

  • Open

    Open

    A month ago, I opened Altimeter. I did so with no expectation or reason to believe it would be successful, but rather it would be available to anyone who wanted it. Sure, the deal is someone would have to supply their email. But whoever wants it, can get a solid (if not perfect but unusual) theme for $0.00. I think it’s important to give you more context to Altimeter. I don’t have a lot in the ol’ bank account and I’m struggling to get ahead. I’ve also been lead to think I could lose my job at any moment for any reason, which, comes with no benefits and no assurance of raises or promotions . . . ever.

    Needless to say I’m in a pickle.   -redacted for professional reasons

    The good news is I’ve been accepted to the University (January is go-time) of West Georgia at the Richard’s School of Business where I will work (extremely hard) towards a B.B.A. in Management. I’m following a path I started in 2022 when I earned a certificate in Project Management and I have another project on the front burner to boot. I even had to turn down my closest friend’s offer to finance a crypto mining operation I was looking into. Sorry Tij – we’ll get there somehow.

    With that in mind, I have two amazing children that continue to amaze me week in and week out as well as a working wife who is feeling the strain we’re both under. The bills keep coming and you can probably relate to the pressure I’m in as you navigate your own storms, pitfalls, and unfavorable outcomes. If you know me, you know how much time and emotion I have invested into WordPress and the open source community. So much so that I’ve been watching as WordCamp Atlanta doesn’t happen this year.

    Open is easy to understand if you use it and don’t “give back.” However, I’m not that person. Open is like giving away something you care about because you may care more about the community or humanity than the project you worked really hard at. And when I read that Matt Mullenweg said “WordPress is mine,” my jaw dropped. The very next thing that popped into my head was, “there’s probably a reason behind this and I need to slow down.” Which is what I did.

    Slow is not normal at this point in history due to a trend towards instant gratification, as well as, instant access to information. Reading about “going nuclear,” “lawsuit,” and “spat,” is a bit alarming, but I was glad to learn that WordPress.org has always belonged to Mullenweg. It’s a bit more complex then just that and really interesting how WordPress consists of more than just .org and .com – the open source learning platform and the commercial business that is built on top of that platform. I’d rather let him explain it at 4:57 of this video:

    Apart from opening up Altimeter, I’ve also spoke at WordCamp ATL and volunteered at WordCamp 2016. I’ve also attended two other WordCamps and gave a talk about setting up a drop-ship site using WordPress and Printify. I’ve given back. It wasn’t easy because we’re wired to ask, “how do I get compensated?” I can see the side of WPEngine as well. I don’t remember seeing or reading about requirements to give back to WordPress and other companies use the platform with the expectation to do so freely without any returned help.

    So, Matt (ma.tt) decided to (what I think is a pretty smooth choice) let the company (automattic) vote on what it wanted to do with his decisions. He offered them six months of salary. Would you leave a company that gives six months salary, lets you work remotely, and encourages you to do something you love? Am I licking Matt’s boots? No. He gave to the community as well. I respect that. I don’t always agree with his decisions, but it’s not my company and it’s not my software. To add to that, WordPress has so many good things going on and I think this is blowing way out of proportion.

    So why am I writing this? Well, I applied to Automattic in 2021, but sadly, did not get in and I’m at peace with that. Maybe I’m not Automattic material and that’s ok – I have Outright and I am working on a new app that I’m excited about using Flutter and .dart. It’s wild and I can’t wait to share it with you – this is the project on the back burner.

    So is WordPress “open?” Yes. Is Matt an advocate for open software and WordPress? Yes. You also need to know he’s making money for a for-profit business at the same time. I couldn’t pull that juggling act off. In conclusion, I think I’m just going to stick with Matt on this and say good luck to everyone. Keep writing and building the internet – see you online.

    None of the statements in this article are paid for and I do not endorse any of the services mentioned above. I am not receiving compensation or any other benefits from what I write.

    References:
    https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/4/24262232/matt-mullenweg-wordpress-org-wp-engine

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUJgahHjAKU

  • Altimeter

    Altimeter

    It was time to dance my fingers on the ol’ keyboard and update Altimeter, being it’s original launch was in 2019. I love the idea of making money and charging folks for using my code, but giving it away is more my style. Money can be made farther down the road offering something else. This project uses open source code and free resources, so it’s more appropriate to open source the WordPress theme and let everyone tinker with it.

    It does require a sign-up, but I promise not to spam or send stuff relentlessly. Also, I don’t share or sell anyone’s information. Those two facts are carved in stone.

    What does it do? If you’re publishing sites with WordPress, you already know what a theme is. But if you’re new, you can learn more about WordPress core, themes, and plugins here. This theme comes with Bootstrap installed and Gutenberg disabled. It also has 2 page templates. You can ignore the “template-with-sidebar,” or use it as needed but what you’re really looking for is “page-template-example.php.” This template has a video background (like the top banners of this site) and those videos can be swapped out for your content.

    Following that, there is are a few layout examples in a carousel; all of which are Bootstrap. After that, there is a section with .php displaying posts in multiple columns. If you are plugging this theme into a live site, be sure to use the “live preview” feature first. You should see your existing content fitting into the page/single/archive/search php layouts.

    It’s not perfect, but it can be a great tool if you approach it from the mindset of “I’m going to use code and build using Bootstrap.” You can easily remove bootstrap if required/desired. And, if you want to veer into Gutenberg, you can enable in functions.php. Also, it’s implied that you can structure pages (not posts) as needed by duplicating the “page-template-example.php” and altering the code. The posts don’t have any bells or whistles too hassle with.

    I’d love to hear your feedback – please use constructive advice.

    In the future, I’d like to make more page templates for even more starting points.

  • Yoast

    Yoast

    Congratulations to Yoast and their implementation of AI in their plugin for WordPress. This feature is available for users who have subscribed to Yoast Premium and also have access to redirects and workouts. Recently, I subscribed to Yoast Premium and this IS NOT a paid endorsement of Yoast. I have NOT received any favors, upgrades, endorsements, compensation, or foot rubs for writing this. I’ve written about Yoast in the past and mentioned it is part of my go-to for default plugins when launching websites.

    SEO

    I recently launched a site for a church and installed Yoast for that site as part of the basic install. Along with Yoast, I encouraged the site owner to write articles to keep the site ‘fresh‘ and to also follow the guidelines of Yoast. Also, that feature comes with the freemium version of Yoast along with some really good articles and walk-through videos that can help you write and build better content on your site with regards to SEO. I can’t talk about writing articles and SEO without also mentioning page structure. When using WordPress and it’s posts or pages, you’ll want to include certain text in the posts or pages that also appears in the description and focus keyphrases (formerly ‘keywords‘) – think of it as a hierarchy for site structure. Posts and pages are different but share a similar structure. Yoast greatly helps with the structure and SEO!

    Other Resources

    It’s important to follow (but not be constrained by) these guidelines as it’s a powerful tool to give your site a much needed bump to compete with other sites vying for attention in search engines. I mentioned Google, but I should also mention duckduckgo.com for privacy and the Brave browser, also for privacy but also speed. More on that and my own personal landing page for browsing is here. Bookmark, or set to default landing page, and you’ll be browsing with a private search engine.

    Reference

    More can be found on Yoast’s site here.