The how and why of my programming
Randomness
Two Freelance Projects I’ll Admit To
Feb 20th
AggieWomen.org
Earlier this month I completed a freelance project and launched a new website, AggieWomen.org. I’ll confess right now that this was one of my hardest projects to date. Why? Because I was not consulted in the initial development and had to pick it up after another developer quit in the middle of the promised work. Normally that might not be an issue, since I could just start from scratch or use modules I trust, but there were three problems from the client: 1) they was already expecting it ready soon, 2) they had already seen the WordPress back-end & liked of it, and 2) my client had been told that it could be made to do all their client wanted. No, I haven’t hunt the developer down yet, but they’re on my list…
Starting from where the other developer left off, I took 49 plugins down to 14 and 148 database tables down to 43. Why they felt the need to have four e-commerce plugins installed, I will never know nor feel the need to ask.
HHIBuckeyes.com
Although not a new release, I finished this mid-2011, I launched HHIBuckeyes.com for the Ohio State Buckeyes fans of Hilton Head Island, SC. The client did not want a graphic designer to do the template, so I presented several pre-made themes and had them pick one, then customized it to their taste and need. The homepage is content is completely controlled by the custom CMS, except for the bottom left graphic, with the image slider and all three text areas being editable. The newest feature for me, and my most liked feature, was the Schedule that shows the teams, kick-off times and scores for the season. For this I had to collect all of the logos and assign the teams to their divisions, but it was a custom module for the admin.
Yes, the headline is a joke! 
Geekend 2011 Notes
Nov 17th
Last Thursday night I received a call from my father telling me he was at this conference called Geekend, something I had never heard of before and had to get him to spell out for me. After about five minutes, of him talking while I was checking out the website, I was sold on it, told my bosses I’d be gone the next day and drove straight to Savannah to arrive around midnight. It was worth it.
Download: Geekend 2011 Session Notes; last updated 2011-11-17.
More >
The Frustrations of Freelance
Sep 27th
I don’t know about most freelance web developers, but I have several peeves when it comes to doing freelance work…
- I am not an artist. This is a personal one, but I am upfront about this prior to accepting a job. I ask for references to what they are looking for in design, functionality, and graphics before I start making the website. I also suggest template websites, artists I’ve worked with, and such as possible sources they may purchase, or that I can reference. The same goes for when they ask me about making a logo for them.
- Ask for a quote, but don’t haggle. I don’t haggle because I am a bad businessman as it is and they are already getting a decent deal. If they want a price quote, okay, but don’t get me going on the work and then try to knock the cost down. I rarely do hourly work; I create most websites as a flat-fee including two sets of minor revisions. I don’t know any other developers who do flat-fees because just tweaking templates can take a long time and revisions are just as timely.
- Deliver on promises timely. It is expected of me, so it should apply to the client as well. Clients need to keep me informed of changes or updates as they happen, not after I’ve done all of the work. Clients should also give requested materials in a timely matter, or keep me updated when they are delayed — a three-week quiet from the client, especially when I’m expecting something and still emailing them asking for it, is unacceptable.
- Professional websites require professional upkeep. This seems like it would make sense, but my greatest annoyance is seeing my time spent on perfecting everything I could be destroyed within a week because the client has thought of “a totally great idea” and modified something without regard to how it destroys the professional look they were going for. Some examples I’ve seen include them bolding, increasing or linking text in ridiculous amounts or places; a content management system is meant for use, but please understand the implications before doing so. Some clients will go as far as tweaking the code themselves, often with some WYSIWYG, with no real HTML knowledge.
These are my major peeves, but what about yours?
Neeley’s Thirteen Rules
Aug 19th
These rules are courtesy of the StarFist series by David Sherman and Dan Cragg.
Neeley’s Thirteen* Rules for Staying Alive in Combat
- Incoming fire always has the right-of-way.
- Keep it simple, stupid.
- Keeping it simple is the hardest thing in the world.
- Never stand next to anyone braver than you are.
- If things are going too well, it’s an ambush.
- The easiest way is mined.
- The one thing you never run out of is the enemy.
- Infrared works both ways.
- Professionals are always predictable.
- We always wind up fighting amateurs.
- When the enemy’s in range, so are you.
- When in doubt, shoot until your magazine is empty.
- Remember the other twelve.
* I have seen a Fourteen Rules … version as well, which included “Never stand next to anyone dumber than you are,” but haven’t found it yet in the books I’ve read thus far.
Dark-Ape.com: Ever going to update?
Jul 12th
Simply put: no, not if I can help it.
I am updating the administration modules to keep current with styles and code. I’m also making minor adjustments on the front-end pages, but I don’t plan to take it live for the foreseeable future. The domain is meant for a testing ground for my modules and other experiments, and I use this blog to publish the final/functional releases.
Enjoy!
New website launch: BarleyMax.com
Apr 25th
BarleyMax.com
BarleyMax.com was actually launched about a month ago, and it isn’t so much a new website as a micro website for our company’s main product. We currently have a video contest going on at the website, that will last another five weeks week, for a year’s supply of BarleyMax and approved entries are up for viewing. Also available to watch are three videos in our “What is BarleyMax” series explaining why we sell it and the production process from harvesting to completed product! (I confess, I always did love the “How It’s Made” series from the Science Channel.)
Something new to this site were the jQuery pagination for the videos and having the pagination show the proper “page” of items when entering from an external, item-specific link. (Though currently neither features are visible with the current entry count.)
New website launch: HALifestyleCenters.com
Feb 24th
HALifestyleCenters.com
We soft launched the new Hallelujah Acres Lifestyle Center website (HALifestyleCenters.com) about two weeks ago and we’ve started today to promote it in mentions through social media, email blasts, and some related site CTAs.
When visiting a HALC location, you go there for a full immersion in living the Hallelujah Lifestyle experience. The centers have been around longer than I have been working for Hallelujah Acres, it has always been managed and marketed outside of the company with little interference. The process began last year to bring the marketing back in-house to unify the various Hallelujah Acres branches and have consistent branding across them.
The website features a custom-built reservation system, using MySQL, PHP and jQuery, and full-administrative back-end with reporting for the individual owners, HALC managers and website copy writers. While the front-end of the reservation system looks pleasant and flows well, my personal joy is in the back-end module for the reservation management and reporting; while it was complex enough to challenge and annoy me, it resulted in a fairly easy to use system for even computer-shy Lifestyle Center owners and operators to use.
New website launch: 60DayJuiceUp.com
May 10th
JuiceUpYourLife.com
The last month and a half has been a mad rush as I was creating a new website most of my waking hours. The end result is a shiny, new website call 60 Days with the Hallelujah Diet @ https://www.60DayJuiceUp.com. The only current “flaw” is that the first program we had, 60 Days to a Hallelujah Waistline, had all of the videos host off of YouTube and we have yet to re-encode them so they are playable directly from our secure server. Otherwise, I am pleased as this past weekend of rest, Iron Man 2, and recovery was much appreciated and I am no longer dreaming of coding at work. See you, space cowboy!
60 Days with the Hallelujah Diet
Hallelujah Acres’ 60 Day programs are zero-cost, web-based, health coaching programs based on The Hallelujah Diet, a life-long wellness guide founded upon God’s original, vegetarian diet for mankind found in the biblical book of Genesis. Using The Hallelujah Diet as a foundation, our 60 Day programs provide daily guidance to help you achieve your health goals and sustain them for life.
While every 60 Day program is unique, in each one we’ll show you how to achieve optimal, whole body health through healthy eating, right relationships, stress reduction, educating yourself on the latest health news, and knowing how to separate health knowledge from health nonsense.
Weekly Work
Mar 29th
Currently working on getting a new website out for work sometime within the next month, so we’re in rush mode for the project. Not much research happening at the moment, but I haven’t halted everything.
I am still looking for a solution to my jQuery problem for my Custom Tags, and I don’t mind help if anyone has the time to spare: http://dev.jquery.com/ticket/6239.
Still trying to find the presentation files for the “SQL Server Data Compression 101″ class from SQLSaturday#33, but no luck as of yet. I’ll try directly contacting Patrick since my previous one might have been filtered as SPAM.
On a note of the strange, is “most minimal” actually a valid English phrase? It seems odd reading that, yet a Google search for ["most minimal" phrase] yields approximately 16,000 pages with all but one link on the first page being technical writings – the one exception was a government Court of Appeals ruling from a judge… Technical folk make some of the best phrases. (“All your base are belong to us.”)
SQLSaturday#33 Notes
Mar 10th
My notes from this past Saturday are now available for download here.*
This is only the first version of the notes as I want to expand further on some of my notes, but I took notes expecting to review the presentations at a later time. Unfortunately, I have yet to find the notes for one of the courses and will be updating the file once I have; I will also add an update to this posting as well.
* The associated file in this posting was last updated Mar. 10, 2010.
