Changing the mindset for the New Year
Yes, I’m terrible. Here it is, January 4th, and I’m just now wishing everyone a “Happy New Year”. I had a reason, though… I wen to West Virginia to visit with my family and we were down there for almost 2 weeks. My mom doesn’t have a great internet connection and… well, we tend to not spend our time with electronic devices anyway.
So, that being said, I get “Inglorious Basterds” as a present over the holidays, and I watched it. And I liked it. It was actually pretty toned-down for Tarantino. (Seriously, that dude ain’t hooked up right. I’ve always said that if he weren’t making movies, he’d be a serial killer. I guess it’s good he has a more constructive outlet for himself. But I digress.)
Anyway….
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Filtering yourself from Google Analytics
I, like many, many people out there, use Google Analytics on my website. At first, I obtained it because it seemed like a good idea at the time. I never really was one for tracking my userdata and that kind of thing, but I was convinced (by a discussion I can no longer find reference to) that it would be a good idea to start doing it, because in the future it might come in handy. So, I chose the easy thing: Google Analytics.
I’ve been tracking the stuff on my site for a long time – I can’t honestly tell you how long without actually going to see – but it’s been more than a year. I find all the various reports interesting, and it’s pretty cool to know that I get (on average) about 2-300 visitors per day. however, I am always confuzzled by the vast amounts of data that’s being reported, and just relegate myself to looking at the pretty lines going up and down every now and again, without a clue as to what it means.
As part of this sabbatical, I’ll be delving a little more deeply into this, and make an attempt to learn about this tool I’m using, and I’m going to start with this little tidbit: filtering myself out of my user data.
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Beginning my adventure with ModX
So, many people know that I do a lot of WordPress work, and have been doing it for a long time now. I believe my first foray into the WordPress world was sometime when version 1.5 was the newest release – so it’s been a while 
It’s been a wonderful ride, too.
No, I’m not getting off…. but I am test driving new cars.
One of the things I promised myself I would do while I was on this sabbatical was finally delve into things I’ve been wanting to learn, but never had the time to do. One such thing is a CMS platform called ModX. An old design colleague of mine first introduced me to this CMS, and has touted it’s wonderful-ness (about as much as I’ve touted WordPress to her), and she has since made the dive in trying WordPress out for herself. She’s done so many wonderful, wonderful things with ModX that I’ve been itching to take her advice and try it myself.
So this morning, I began my foray into the world of ModX. I downloaded the latest release and installed it on my loacalhost environment. So far, this is as far as I’ve gotten – but I wanted to stop and share these first steps with you.
WordPress has a “Famous 5-Minute Install,” and I have to say, ModX was just as easy to install…. quite possibly even easier, at least from a layman’s standpoint. (From my perspective as a programmer, it was on the same level, really.) I could see a lot of people who’d want to try out ModX thinking that it’s a lot easier to install than WordPress, because the installation process handles everything for you. Basically, it asks you a few questions (such as your database name and password) and then asks you if you want to use an existing database name, or have ModX create one for you (and if it creates it for you, you can choose what you want it to be named, as well as use the default table prefixes or one of your own making.) It’s really just a series of questions, and you can test each of your answers to see how it’s going through the process. If there’s a bump, it lets you know, and even suggests how to fix it.
At the end, you hit “install” and it lets you know, line-by-line, if the installation is going okay. It was really pretty freaking awesome.
And that’s all I had to do. It was literally less than 5 minutes to install it.
Right now, I’m perusing through the back end (from what I can see, it’s cool), and I’m looking on the ModX site for the documentation (when I work in WordPress, the Codex is my best friend, with the forums coming in a close second.) So far, I’ve found some promising things: they do, indeed, have a support forum, a wiki (the equivalent of the WP Codex, from what I can see), and a page that links to these items as well as an IRC channel! (Holy cow! I haven’t used IRC in freaking FOREVER.)
I think this is gonna be fun.
Creating an HTML signature file for just about anything
So I’ve recently had the opportunity to create a plethora of (pinatas?) e-mail siggy files And not just a nice little siggy file to place with your Outlook or Mac Mail program, but in ALL KINDS of things. Even for Gmail.
I had to piece together the “how-to”s from a bunch of different sources throughout the web, but I’m here to share how I did it, and how I managed to make it work for all kinds of different mail-reading-and-sending programs.
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6 Things to Check Before the Site Launch
I am absolutely sure that this list will change over time. But I realized this morning that I don’t have a real set list of things to do before I launch a site – be it a redesign or a brand new site. Again, it’s a whole “fly by the seat of my pants” kind of thing. Using experience and memory to help me through it – when really I should have something written down. So here is my first attempt at the things I need to be sure of before a site goes live.
Most of it, I’m sure, will fall under the category of “all sites,” but there will be a few that are different between a brand-new site and one that already exists and is getting redesigned.I should also note that the vast majority of my sites (in fact, all of them, within the last 2 years) have been WordPress sites. So I don’t know how much this list will apply to regular HTML sites (or even sites using other platforms.)
So, let’s have at it.
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I have a plan. No, really. I swear.
So, you may have noticed a new layout here on the site, with a big, fat announcement that I’ve gone on sabbatical. Yes, it’s true (obviously). The reason I finally decided to do this was because my business was going down one path, while my dreams for my business were leading down another. It’s been nearly 8 years since I took on my very first client, and I’ve come to understand why my reality isn’t matching up with what’s in my head. I decided the best course of action was to come to a full stop and see if I can’t take a look at the map and get where I want to be.
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Welcome
Hello, my name is Shelly Cole, and I’m a web designer.
I run a small web design and development company in the Hartford suburb of Simsbury, CT.
My goal is to create beautiful and usable websites that connect with people.
My passion is finding solutions to challenges that are presented to me.
My inspiration is from life, the world, and from you.
sab•bat•i•cal
[suh-bat-i-kuh l]
-adjective
bringing a period of rest.
-noun
any extended period of leave from one’s customary work, especially for rest, to acquire new skills or training, etc.
-origin
from Greek sabbatikos “of the Sabbath”. Meaning “a year’s absence granted to researchers” (originally one year in seven, to university professors) first recorded in 1866 (the thing itself attested from 1880, at Harvard), related to the sabbatical year (1599) in Mosaic law, the seventh year, in which land was to remain untilled and debtors and slaves released.
Yes, I am currently on sabbatical. I’m a little late, too – since this is actually my 8th year in business (as of October 27, 2001) – but it’s been a long time coming. If you are a prospective client, I apologize for not being able to take on your project at this time. If it helps, I can recommend two companies for you to visit to assist you in your project: WPCoder and TCWebsite. However, I invite you (as well as anyone else who might be interested) to follow me through this next year as I document my progress in improving my skillset, and sending my business into a new (and better) direction.
During this time away from “the daily grind,” I will be discussing the ups and downs that I have encountered since the time I’ve opened my doors. I will be looking over what has worked for me in the past (and what hasn’t) as far as my business movements have been, and search for what will work best for me, my family and my future prospects.
I will also be “playing” – documenting experiments in platforms and technologies that I’ve been dying to try (but never had the time) such as jQuery. I have some knowledge of WordPress, so I will be completing a few back-burner projects (themes, plugins, code snippets) that have been delayed, but I’ll also be delving into new and different things, namely ModX and Magento.
So welcome, and I hope you enjoy what you find here. May it help you as much as I hope it will help me.
Defining My Place, Part VII: You Can Always Do Better
I’ve noticed, over the last couple of years, how people tend to slow down in their careers. They get into a groove (which is good, that means you’re efficient and have a system that works for you), but they never seem to deviate from it.
When it comes to web design, one thing I’ve noticed – usually by clients who come to me to take the place of an old designer who “disappeared” – is that people get into a “groove” with the internet, and never deviate from it. A case in point: I’m “cleaning” a site right now for a client (whose old designer “disappeared”) who’s running WordPress 2.0.4. I won’t go into all of the hairy details right now, but I tell ya, it’s fun!
Not too long ago, I went in to a rare sit-down, face-to-face interview with a potential client. read more »
Holy crap, I made a boo-boo!
I was just informed about a stupid mistake I made with my CakeShop plugin (formerly called “Simple Cart”). So please, if ANY of you have downloaded those files before today, redownload them NOW.
Here’s the reason why…
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Defining My Place, Part V: Modesty is a Virtue
I think this one is the one I’m having the most trouble with right now. I was raised with a particular set of beliefs and values. I would imagine many older people would relate to this more than most people my own age would: keep your head down and work hard, and you will earn respect and recognition. There’s no need to “toot your own horn,” because if you’re really good and deserving, the tootin’ will be done for you. (Most people that “toot their own horns” are the “snake-oil salesmen” types, or so I was raised to believe.)
Yeah, I was raised in the south (depending on what side of the Mason-Dixon line you’re from, anyway) by a family of God-fearing Baptists who were mostly of Scottish lineage and farmers, and survived the Dust Bowl just fine, thankyouverymuch. Perhaps that’s where I get this kind of thinking – because I’m now starting to believe it’s “small town” and maybe a set of values that belongs more in the 1930′s than in the 21st Century.
I’ve found that as I’ve moved out in to the world and began doing my own thing, that for every one of me, there’s 100 others ready to take my place (or roll over me), and about 35 of them do things better than me. The other 64 consist of people who are fine where they are, want to be “famous”, or think they are better than they really are. However, I have found that many, many of them in that “last 64″ section are indeed more “famous” than I am. (I use “famous” very loosely – what I mean is that their names are better known than mine; they get more business than I do; and seemingly have better clients and more respect in the industry.) Not necessarily because they are better than I am, but because they market themselves better than I do.
Because I am modest. It’s how I was raised to be. I keep my head down and I plug away at it.
This post may even start to sound like some kind of rant, complaint, or me going against my own grain – but it’s none of the three. Truly, it’s an observation. I can’t say it doesn’t sting a little when I see well-respected names floating around that have been in business for a much shorter time than I have, and yet they are where I would like to be right now with seemingly much less effort – and all because they know how to “toot their own horn.” (Not saying I don’t know how… it’s just that I’m not comfortable in the practice.) But I do know that the reason I’m not where I want to be is because of my discomfort.
I don’t consider myself to be an “expert” on anything. I’m always learning, always looking to improve what I do. Even the tutorials I provide here are the things I’ve learned through past experience – and many of them I can see room for improvement because I have gotten better. I guess I have it in my head that , until I am an expert and I do know everything there is to know, I have no place in “tooting.”
I guess this is something I need to get over
So take this one as a lesson from my lack of experience, or a stubborn set of rules I live by: DO NOT be afraid to market yourself. You ARE just as good as the other guy. Unfortunately, we live in a society where, if you don’t market yourself and get the word out YOURSELF, then you will be noise in the background. No one else will do it for you, and as long as you don’t come off as “spammy,” then you’re doing it right.