As I was thinking about the example from last week’s post, I wanted to clarify something. The impact of SaaS apps, broadly, is the ease of outsourcing parts of your company’s value chain. What used to require custom software development or a complex outsourcing process with long-term contracts now only requires an online signup and… Continue reading On the impact of SaaS apps, part 2

I was talking with a student about a year ago. She was considering starting her own tutoring businesses, teaching English to students online, and wanted some advice on how to approach that technically. Her requirements were somewhat straightforward: A website to provide information about the kinds of tutoring she offered, fees, contact info, etc A… Continue reading On the impact of SaaS apps

Recently, I was listening to a Wix ad during a podcast, and it was emphasizing the customization available on Wix. It heavily implied that the customization was always, in-all-cases, was a good thing. I disagree. I’ve required my web design students at LCC to build a website with HTML/CSS and with WordPress.com since the beginning.… Continue reading On website visual expectations

I have an HP 14″ Chromebook, which I purchased about a year ago. It’s lovely – light, great battery life, and it has both USB-A and USB-C ports. It has a few limitations, though, as it only runs ChromeOS – the Chrome web browser, basically. So, I still have a desktop computer for things that… Continue reading Chromebook Zotero connections

I own a Fitbit Charge 2, which I’ve used for about 2 years now. Before that, I had the original Charge 1 for about a year. I like it a lot – the Charge is a good balance between only-fitness-tracking and full-smart-watch. It syncs with my phone, has a nice app, and lets me share… Continue reading On Fitbit low battery warnings

The previous two blog posts were discussing if you still need a website at all in 2019. This one assumes that you have that need – that you need a website. I’ve helped many, many people with their websites. Some from beginning to end, others in more of an advisory role, some with troubleshooting an… Continue reading Your website is not a special snowflake

About 5 years ago, there was a fair amount of discussion about if a business needed a website at all anymore, or if social media could completely fill that role. At the time, I definitely thought you still needed a website, even if it was mostly just showing your social media feeds in a central… Continue reading On the need for a website, part 2

I semi-frequently talk with people who are starting a project and think they absolutely need a website. They think it’ll be expensive, that they’ll need to hire someone. There are a lot of possible misconceptions here, and every situation is different. And, as a person who builds websites as a career, saying that you don’t… Continue reading On the need for a website

There is a genre of web games called ‘idle’ or ‘clicker’ type games; Cookie Clicker is one of the most influential, but there are many, many others. These games can be made entirely using HTML/CSS/JS, without a server side aspect. This past spring, I taught a course at LCC that focused on CSS and Javascript… Continue reading Clicker Game Template

To continue our discussion of growth cycles from the past couple of weeks, I wanted to briefly discuss this as applied to individual careers. Jeff Suderman introduced to me the concept of individual career cycles like product/company cycles. His thought was that we go through each of them with phases of our lives – introduction,… Continue reading On individual growth cycles