I didn't choose to be a programmer. Somehow, it seemed, the computers chose me. For a long time, that was fine, that was enough; that was all I needed. But along the way I never felt that being a programmer was this unambiguously great-for-everyone career field with zero downsides. There

Remember "cybersecurity"?

Mysterious hooded computer guys doing mysterious hooded computer guy .. things! Who knows what kind of naughty digital mischief they might be up to?

Unfortunately, we now live in a world where this kind of digital mischief is literally rewriting the world's history. For proof of that,

I sometimes get asked by regular people in the actual real world what it is that I do for a living, and here's my 15 second answer:

We built a sort of Wikipedia website for computer programmers to post questions and answers. It's called Stack Overflow.

As of last month,

When we started Discourse in 2013, our server requirements were high:

• 1GB RAM
• modern, fast dual core CPU
• speedy solid state drive with 20+ GB

I'm not talking about a cheapo shared cpanel server, either, I mean a dedicated virtual private server with those specifications.

We were OK with that,

When I wrote about App-pocalypse Now in 2014, I implied the future still belonged to the web. And it does. But it's also true that the web has changed a lot in the last 10 years, much less the last 20 or 30.

Websites have gotten a lot … fatter.

While

I've never thought of myself as a "car person". The last new car I bought (and in fact, now that I think about it, the first new car I ever bought) was the quirky 1998 Ford Contour SVT. Since then we bought a VW station wagon in 2011

In an electric car, the (enormous) battery is a major part of the price. If electric car prices are decreasing, battery costs must be decreasing, because it's not like the cost of fabricating rubber, aluminum, glass, and steel into car shapes can decline that much, right?

On an electric scooter

Hard to believe that I've had the same PC case since 2011, and my last serious upgrade was in 2015. I guess that's yet another sign that the PC is over, because PC upgrades have gotten really boring. It took 5 years for me to muster up the initiative to

This post outlines the steps I took to create a block-based theme version of Twenty Twenty. Thanks to Kjell Reigstad for helping develop the theme and write this post. There’s been a lot of conversation around how theme development changes as Full Site Editing using Gutenberg becomes a reality. Block templates are an experimental feature … Continue reading "Creating a Block-based Theme Using Block Templates"

Global Styles is an aspect of full site editing that will have a major impact on theme development. To further my understanding of this feature, I explored adding support for it to the block-based version of Twenty Twenty that Jeff Ong recently shared. Some background: Global Styles aims to bring site-wide controls for things like … Continue reading "Exploring Global Styles"

Block patterns are unique, predefined combinations of blocks you can use and tweak to create stunningly designed sections of your website.

We recently completed a bright and engaging new website for one of Fort Myers Beach’s most popular and well known...continue reading

We recently completed a full rebrand and website design project for Enterprise High School, a charter school located in Clearwater,...continue reading

In Spring 2016 after a meeting in Fort Myers, Florida, we were selected by the Judges’ group representing all County...continue reading

We created the program identity and website for this City of Sanibel initiative.

A startup specializing in food product development and commercialization services, “Food Launcher” is a team of food scientists with over...continue reading

Located in Downtown Fort Myers, just steps from the Caloosahatchee River and a short drive away from the Gulf coast...continue reading

We’re delighted to launch the first ever website for this local irrigation company that has been around since 1989! Automated...continue reading

PLAN is a referral network program of 250 volunteer physicians, community clinics, hospitals and other affiliated health care providers who...continue reading

We recently completed a website design and development project for Family Health Centers of Southwest Florida. This National Health Service...continue reading

We recently launched a redesigned website for Jeff Wilson Pool Service in Naples, Florida to continue to expand on their...continue reading

The Cheese Monkeys is the coming of age story of a teen boy (who we only know by his nickname, “Happy”.) As he enters a midwest state school to study art in the late 50’s. First off, I’ll admit that I’m a fan of coming of age stories. All the good ones usually follow a protagonist who […]

We’re working on redesigning the Pagebreak Podcast website and decided to get some caricatures of us made by Ricardo Gimenes.Check ’em out! We’re SO CUTE!

Earlier this week I met up for coffee with a client of mine. The two of us originally met when his employeer was my client and after leaving that job he hired me to customize his personal blog and we formed our own client/designer relationship. I was excited when he emailed me last week with the […]

Refresh Seattle – February 2014 First off, what is Refresh? According to their website… Refresh Seattle is a community of designers and developers working to refresh the creative, technical, and professional culture of New Media endeavors in the Seattle/Puget Sound area. Promoting design, technology, usability, and standards, Refresh Seattle is a part of Refresh and […]

This Friday I attended the first day of She’s Geeky here in Seattle. It was my first experience of the Unconference Format and I had no idea what to expect, but ended up having a GREAT TIME. Discussions that I joined in on throughout the day included subjects such as Impostor Syndrome, Diversity Groups, Side- […]

I have been running CMD+Shift Design since 2008. In those 7 years I learned a lot, I made a lot of mistakes, found some amazing clients, did some really fun projects and made some good money. I’ve had ups and downs and these past 2 years have been tough… really tough. Part of it has […]

Today was my very first one-on-one business mentorship meeting with Marie Poulin at Digital Strategy School. This was the first of what will be monthly 1 Hour sessions with Marie during the 6-month Digital Strategy School course and I can already tell these next 6 months are going to be a whirlwind! The course officially […]

This week was my second one-on-one mentorship meeting with Marie Poulin as I go into my second month of Digital Strategy School. This month is all about Positioning, a subject my business is struggling with. The copy on my site as of today is not cutting it, it is vague and does not truly convey […]

https://www.anychart.com/blog/2020/05/06/javascript-choropleth-map-tutorial/

https://css-tricks.com/making-dark-theme-switcher-with-postcss/

https://thenextweb.com/growth-quarters/2020/05/08/should-designers-learn-how-to-code-syndication/

https://www.voorhoede.nl/en/blog/faster-nuxt-sites-on-netlify/

https://wasm.joway.io/

https://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2020/05/08/microsoft-bundled-its-beautiful-bing-wallpapers-into-a-free-android-app/

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2020/05/vue-survey-app-firebase-authentication-database/

https://mitchum.blog/building-a-crossword-puzzle-generator-with-javascript/

https://design4users.com/neuomorphism-mobile-design/

https://blog.useberry.com/design-sprints-complete-guide/

https://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_logo_for_noise.php

https://kottke.org/20/05/pandemic-creativity-edible-versions-of-famous-artworks

https://line25.com/wordpress-plug-ins/content-scheduling-tools-for-wordpress

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We all know about the new coronavirus that has been affecting hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. And while scientists, researchers, and doctors are all working tirelessly to find a cure for this terrible disease, one thing is for sure: staying home is saving lives. The greatest tool that we have right now to help […]

Read More at Check Out These Famous Logos Practicing Social Distancing – McDonald’s, Mercedes, and More

You know what sucks? Having to navigate through dozens of tools, all on separate dashboards, just to get one job done. Nowadays, there’s a tool for everything, and while that’s amazing, it’s very overwhelming sometimes. Oftentimes, some tools are forgotten about completely. How on earth do we tackle this situation? I mean, as time goes […]

Read More at Teamstack: Everything You Need, All in One Place

There’s nothing better than finding a new design tool that will make your life a million times easier. After all, we all want to get our work done as quickly and efficiently as possible, and if there’s a tool for that, then I want it. And I did find some tools that I absolutely love […]

Read More at 5 Incredible Free Tools For Designers That You Need To Try

If you weren’t working on a remote team before, well, chances are that you probably are now! I know that I love working from home, but when you first start working remotely, it can start as a bit of a challenge. Of course, it has its pros and cons, but it’s just a learning curve. […]

Read More at 10 Tools That Will Help Your Remote Design Team Stay On The Same Page

When you’re a freelancer and you start to work directly with your clients, there’s something crucial you need to know. Your design is not the one and only, most important aspect of the transaction. While presenting your client with an amazing design is the final goal, there are a lot of other things at stake […]

Read More at 7 Biggest Mistakes Freelance Designers Make That Will Ruin Their Career

The news is true, we completely redesigned the best blog in the world, Web Design Ledger! Okay, maybe we’re a little bit biased, but there’s no denying that the new web design layout is amazing. We are so excited to show you guys the finished product. Let me just hit you with the most satisfying […]

Read More at We Redesigned Web Design Ledger – Here’s It Is!