Welcome to another edition of News and Notes! March has brought back-to-back big storms to my region. They've caused considerable damage, and many are still without power. While I wrote this post series with an eye to hurricanes, it's a good idea to create a Disaster Preparedness Plan no matter what season! .
I'm best known for my work in helping clients create and maintain their WordPress websites. However, there is much more I can do to help your small business technology! Are you looking for technology that works together and with you? I can help you sort through and figure out what works for you and your specific business. Would you like a better understanding of the technology you use so that you can make changes or hire an assistant? Together we can work through your current systems and write up a guidebook. Are you still using technology you don't like because the thought of migrating is just too much? I can help you evaluate new systems and figure out a migration plan and process. Contact me to get started.
There's also my new project, pen at work, which provides thoughtful ways to manage the chaos of your daily life. I hope you'll enjoy my first worksheet, a versatile planning grid. This project has its own a monthly newsletter which lands in your inbox on the last Tuesday of each month, please subscribe if you're interested!
After not hearing much about it for years, I’m seeing the concept of accessibility be discussed again. It’s a challenging topic because traditional approaches were not the most aesthetically pleasing. Unless a site owner had a direct need for it, I’ve found that most decided it wasn’t the most critical item on their website’s todo list.
Why is accessibility important? An accessible site is better from both a human and a computer readable perspective.
This year TNNA and the Yarn Group are showing support for brick-and-mortar yarn shops with a special appreciation day, Local Yarn Store Day on April 21, 2018. There are many plans in the works including special collaborations between shops, yarn companies, and the creative services who work together to make our LYSes special. This post provides a quick overview to the toolkit that was developed to help spread the word and drive awareness of this event.
While I urge clients to focus on content before looks, questions about WordPress themes are those I hear most often. The methods for how to interact with them has evolved over the years. Today I’ll discuss three ways you can work with your theme to tweak or completely change how your site looks. These advancements make me happy, they provide clients control over their website technology and free me to focus on more challenging (and exciting) issues.
When I was browsing through the titles of new publications at NetGalley, Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II by Liza Mundy caught my eye. I knew I’d not read of these women before, I had no idea the amazing and delightful story I was to discover.
Last summer, my world was turned upside down. It was then that I made unexpected discoveries of strength and resilience.
This new project, pen at work was born of those experiences. I will teach and share the methodology I use to find order in that chaos known as life. There will be worksheets, tutorials, tools, and eventually workshops. Want personalized attention? Yes, I will continue to offer one-on-one consulting.
pen at work: prioritize · evaluate · negotiate, a PEN is all you need.
WordPress updates of interest
As always, there are updates! Is it important that you read the change logs? No. However, it is important to keep your WordPress system up-to-date. There are often new features that slip-in which can improve how you work. If you have questions or are worried about updating, please contact me!
Wordpress is at 4.9.4, this maintenance release was updated on February 6, 2018. It addresses severe bug that appeared in maintenance release for 4.9.3. These updates include fixes for Customizer changesets, widgets, visual editor, and PHP 7.2 compatibility.
WooCommerce is at 3.3.3 and was updated on February 6, 2018 and fixes a few theme-based bugs. Version 3.3, considered a minor release, there are some big changes including a revised orders screen, improved stock management, improvements to image size, and greater theme support and customization.
Jetpack is at 5.9 and was released on March 6, 2018. This updateadds new woocommerce analytics, improved support for custom content types, bug fixes, and more.
