30-Days of JavaScript

I have decided recently to focus on really learning JavaScript by doing a 30-day challenge. Every day for a minimum of one hour I will work on learning to work with JavaScript. I do know the basics of Javascript programming language and have written basic loops and functions. The thing is, I basically write in PHP programming language for WordPress, Larvel, and CakePHP. I have started to pick up programming in C# because I wanted to develop video games using the Unity 3D game engine. And with the growth of JavaScript in WordPress and fame of its libraries, I think it’s time I should improve my skills and knowledge.

The Plan – Simple 30 day

  1. Spend an hour or two a day writing JavaScript
  2. Once a week for 3 weeks work on a small project.
  3. The 4th week work on a app using a MEAN stack.

Week 1

I will start the first week covering the basic again and practice some functions. The goal that week is to create a simple calculator web app that can do all the simple addition, subtraction, multiply, and division calculations.

Week 2

During this week I will work on Object-Oriented JavaScript programming and start rolling into Node.js. At this point, I don’t know what project I will work on but will update this page when I do figure it out.

Week 3

This week I will integrate using APIs and JSON with JavaScript. I will also start getting into React.js because I will build a small application for this week.

Week 4

I will spend this week building and learning more about Node.js and React.js to build a decent size app. At this point I don’t know what that is but it will be something very nice and useful for me at least.

Help & Tutorials

As of writing this, a came across a website, JavaScript 30 –Ā 30Ā Day VanillaĀ JSĀ Coding Challenge. The thing is that I am already on day 3 of my challenge but I might just tag this along the way.

I have been using courses that I have in Udemy.com and have the plan to go back and use CodeAcademy.com during the week 1 and week 2. Also, with some online tutorials and help from friends and colleagues, I should have no problem getting through this.

Expectations

I just wanted to get to a point that I am comfortable to use JavaScript and be able to pickup on the many libraries and frameworks surrounding it.

WordCamp Miami 2018 | WordPress Automation

This year WordCamp Miami was very eventful and as an experienced organizer, it still took me by surprise. I might go until details later but I gave a lightning talk at WCMIA in the Developer track on WordPress Automation. I enjoy making life simple so figuring out ways to automate WordPressĀ regardlessĀ if it is for development or content.

View my slides:

 

Creating Themes For Clients: WordCamp Miami 2016

This was a presentation given at WordCamp Miami 2016. Your clients should know how to add, edit and delete any content on their website without the need to reach out to a developer.

1. Creating Themes for Clients
2. Your clients should know how to add, edit and delete any content on their website without the need to reach out to a developer. What Are You Talking About? #WCMIA @jfeliweb
3. Planning Site Structure āž”Sitemap āž”Custom Post Types āž”Custom Fields āž”Sliders/Carousels āž”Content Structure #WCMIA @jfeliweb
4. Simplify Backend Keep It Simple Straight to the point Remove Dashboard Widgets Remove unused menu items ā—‹ Tools & Editor Add Custom Posts and Custom Fields if it is necessary #WCMIA @jfeliweb
5. Customizer / Theme Options Less is More Based on the client’s need Well Organized Goes back to planning (slide 3) #WCMIA @jfeliweb
6. ā€œIf it isn’t documented, it doesn’t exist.ā€ ~ Jeff Atwood #WCMIA @jfeliweb
7. Documentation Document Everything Reference Inline documentation and comments Glossary Tutorial Manual Readme WordPress help menu FAQ User guide Screencast #WCMIA @jfeliweb
8. Document Tools? WP Help by Mark Jaquith: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp- help/ Video User Manual: http://www.videousermanuals.com/ Easy WP Guide: https://easywpguide.com/ Simple Documentation by Mathieu Hays: https://wordpress.org/plugins/client- documentation/ WP101: https://www.wp101.com/ Smashing Magazine: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/ 2012/07/writing-effective-wordpress- documentation/ #WCMIA @jfeliweb
9. ā€œGoing above & beyond involves making customers feel special and helping them out even when it may not make senseā€ ~ Neil Patel, KISSmetrics #WCMIA @jfeliweb
10. Thanks! Questions? Full Blog Post at http://jfe.li/1U99ANP Jean ā€˜Jeazy’ Felisme āž” Freelance Web Developer & Designer at BizDots Media āž” Worked with WordPress since version 2.6 (2008) āž” Co-founder of Rate My Barber āž” Family Guy jean@bizdotsmedia.com www.JeanFelisme.com @jfeliweb

Update: It’s been a long first quarter

What have I done?

Since my last post about the high achieving goals, I set for myself. I have done little to nothing to reach them.

There are several reasons behind why I haven’t done much but the main reason is time. I was just to busy with clients and family issues to deal with any of mine lofty goals that I placed on myself. The blame for this is at the time of writing those goals I really put into consideration of the amount of time that I will have to invest in putting them into action.

Really, nothing at all!

A few of the goals for the year I have started. Maybe not in the order I planned on starting, but I have started them with no regrets. Timing and momentum are always important for many of my ideas, without both they’re never will get a chance to hit the ground running.

I did start with a theme and have gotten through must of the rough spots now I to work on other areas to complete it to ship it to the repository for its first review.

I hit the restart button on a Saas product that will be more of a Paas solution. The timing is right for it but I am trying to kick up momentum to complete it correctly.

Finally, restart to an online magazine that was in the works for a long time. Momentum is growing again just need to get a few things together and it should be launching sooner than later.

More details on these items to come in future post.

The fix

To solve this issue I am going back to that post and making a few edits. I will keep the edits transparent just for the historical record and to keep things on the up and up.

I will remove a few items and adjust a few timelines. Also, go into detail on what, why, how and when for each goal. Briefly going over each goal will also be a good reference to review and help keep on task. I will also link to another blog post that will go into full details as I start each of the goals.

Goals to reach for 2015

I have a habit of creating the to-do list or task list on a daily basis. Most times I have a to-do list in a task list in another task list. I have calmed down a bit on the length and amount of list I create because I only have so much time in a day.

List of Goals to reach for 2015

Personal

  • Eat Better
  • Exercise More

These are my personal goals that just transferred over year after year. The difference this year is to losing weight is not on the list because if you eat better and exercise the weight should drop. I am cutting off sugary beverages, cut back on dairy, eating small portions of food 5 to 6 times a day and cutting back on eating out.

Community

  • Teaching more kids about tech
  • Be more involved with tech in the Black community
  • Do something for Haiti in the field of tech

Helping and being involved in a community can be life-changing for you. In a world full of ā€˜selfies’ giving back or reach out to some community can make a difference, not just for you but to someone else. I have done two of the three goals last year, but doing something for Haiti in the field of technology is a new and challenging one.

Business

  • Delegate more
  • Working less on the business
  • Create better systems
  • Alpha and Beta projects

The change is coming to BizDots Media, for a while now we were client based service provider now we will just build online products. To be able to focus on multiple products I have to let go a little and trust others to get the job done. To help the people do their job more efficient, I will need to create a better system. Another, goals to reach for 2015 is to release four projects in alpha and beta versions for the year, crossing my fingers.

Entrepreneur

  • Blogging at least every other day
  • Release one free WordPress theme every other month

As an online entrepreneur, I should create great helpful content. I will make this my priority this year. Releasing a free WordPress theme goes back to giving back to the community which is a great community. This will help improve my development skills and will help me put together better products.

Check-In

I will make it a point to check into this post once a quarter to see where I am at. Also, I will update this post in March, June, September and early December of my progress.

Smiles In A Crisis

Every once in awhile I run into an issue with one of my client’s sites or even one of my own web projects that causes a mass crisis. White Screen of Death, which I preferĀ to callĀ ā€œWhite powder donutsā€Ā because it sounds much nicer, is the one that always freaks people out. I usually have to spend about 30 minutes just calming the person down so they can tell me what they did last and everything will be alright. Halfway through me calming them down I usuallyĀ have their website back up and running like nothing happen.

He who smiles in a crisis has found someone to blame.

1, 2, 3, Breathe

I briefly talked about how toĀ TroubleshootĀ common errors made in WordPress in the Beginners workshop atĀ WordCamp MiamiĀ in Fort Lauderdale. One of the things I pointed out was to stay calm and relaxed during a problem with your website. I know, I know freaking out when you see weird and strange things happening to your website is normal behavior but you have to calm down and just breath.

Now that you have calmed down, there are a few items that you have to go over.

By:Ā Alan Cleaver

Try to remember your last few steps before your website broke. I usually keep a log with a paper and pen to jot down what I have done. This helps me keep track of changes if things tend to break. If you can go back to what you did wrong, you could probably fix it without having to restore your files and database with a backup. For example, if you installed a plugin that took down your site, you can get into your plugins folder via FTP and change the name of the plugin folder which will basically turn off the plugin.Do you have a backup and how recent is it? If you have a backup of your site then you can restore your site back to the date when the backup took place. Now, if you didn’t backup your site before updating your site, plugins or adding some code snippet that you found somewhere on the net you might be going further back then you like to. I, like most people,Ā preferĀ to automate my backup for every month for my websites. I have a few websites that are backup every week or even daily based on the amount of content they generate in a certain time period. I will always recommend that you backup be done before making any updates and code changes. A more recent backup of your website can save you a headache trying to put it back together.

Ā Sh*t Happens

The facts are that things break but if you don’t freak out you can easily get it back up. Glitches can happen for many reasons and some of them will require you to do a full install of WordPress. Don’t dwell too much on why the glitch happens just focus on getting your website up and working on preventing it from happening again.

Gettin Started with my Writing Exercises

I realizedĀ late in my college years how importantĀ it is for me to be able to communicate in writtenĀ language. It was not like I did not know the basic writing skills, I was just too lazy to write out long papers on topics that just plain out sucked. When I got around to do them they were within a few hours of them being due. Even today I have to send out clear written emails, user guides, and manualsĀ for myself, clients and colleagues.

Now, this really started after I spent some time going through old notes and emails to myself and others that were just awful to read and really understand what I was saying. I clearly needed to go back and read over those to fix a few spelling and grammarĀ mistakes. Most of the readings can be fixed by just reading it out loud and going over it.

41 Cards Writing Exercises

To help me strengthĀ up my writing skills and get me in the habitĀ of written communication, I will be drawing from a deck of 41 cards with some interesting and funny quotes. I will use these as topics or points of discussions for each one. So, for the next 41 days, I will be doing a daily writing exercise just to make me a little better in life.

What can you do?

There are a few things you can do to help me out and also help yourself. Join me by writing in your own blog post and share it with the correspondingĀ blog post on this site. If that is a little much for you just leave a comment on what you think.

Why is it Good to Share your Secret Sauce?

Good internet marketers and marketing agencies will tell you to produce great content for your business website. Based on the marketer or the agency they will tell you that great content usually consists of giving away information that is really known by you or people deep in your industry as ā€œSecret Sauceā€.

Yes, go ahead and create a blog about your secret ingredient that keeps your cupcakes moist and delicious.

Mints

At a Sunday church service, the Pastor gave a great example of sharing with a box of mints that he had in his hand. The box of mints had two openings, one for sharing with others and at the opposite side an opening that was not meant to share with others. Can you guess which opening was larger? The side for sharing with others was a small opening meant to let one piece of gum out at a time. While the side opening allowed you access to get a handful of mints. Now, it would be better to share more than one mint at a time with others. Well, most people prefer to only share one tiny piece of mint gum than to open up and dump over a quarter of a box into someone hands.

Sharing is Caring

Giving a little information even if it’s one piece of mint information will not hurt your business. More than likely it will help your business grow and build trust with your potential customers. Most customers are looking to purchase a service or a product from you so giving away a little information will only confirm with them that you know what you are doing.

On this site, I will be sharing my secret sauce through my expertise in business, skills in web development and demonstrate how to hustle with pocket lint. I do this to gain trust and integrity from potential clients and partners.

What Secret Sauce Should You Share?

Sharing your time, knowledge, or skills are the easiest things you can do to get started. Just having an FAQ page to answer common questions or giving tips on how to use your product for different functionality. Creating written, audio, and/or video content to display your act of kindness of sharing your secret sauce.Ā ForbesĀ has an article about ways to share your expertise that is worth at least a glance.

Working with WordPress – Importing Exporting Customizing and Troubleshooting

TheĀ presentation was given on Saturday, April 19th for WordCamp Miami Beginners Workshop.

1. Working w/ WordPress Importing/Exporting, Customizing, and Troubleshooting
2. It’s me… Jean Felisme WordPress Designer and Developer @jfeliweb jean@bizdotsmedia.com bizdotsmedia.co | jeanfelisme.com
3. You did it!!!!  Domain  Hosting  WordPress  Theme  Plugin …Now What? The Good Stuff!
4. Before you start… Things to Know… ā— Basic Knowledge of HTML and CSS ā— Text Editor ā— Local Development | Development Site www.mamp.info OR serverpress.com ā— A Cool Head ā— Backup Everything
5. Site Backup • Why you should backup? • Manually Backup your site. • Plugin to use to backup. (BackupBuddy) • Content Backup (Import/Export)
6. Import/Export Content Importing Types From other sites o Tumblr o Blogger o WordPress etc…
7. Import/Export Content Export
8. Customizing Walkthrough of… • Reading Settings • Appearance Editor o Theme Options CSS Fields • Child Theme
9. Customizing Child Theme Child Theme Folder ā—‹ style.css
10. Reading settings…
11. Appearance Editor
12. Troubleshooting  Stay Calm  What was the last action performed before receiving the error?  Check Backups Ohh Noo!
13. Troubleshooting Syntax Error Why? ā— Plugin Update ā— Code Snippets ā— Memory Limit
14. The Fix FTP to file ā—‹ rename plugin ā—‹ undo change file Troubleshooting Syntax Error
15. Troubleshooting White Screen of Death Why? Most times its an exhausted the memory limit • Cause by Plugin(s) • Cause by Theme • Cause by Web Host
16. Troubleshooting Demo of fixing the White Screen of Death ā— Disable Plugins ā— Switch to Default Theme ā—‹ Increase Memory limits ā—‹ Going even farther ā–  WP_Debug ā–  PHP.INI file
17. Resources WordPress Codex (codex.wordpress.org) WordPress Forums (wordpress.org/support/) WPBeginner (www.wpbeginner.com) Google Search (google.com) StackOverflow WordPress (wordpress.stackexchange.com)
18. Questions? email: jean@BizDotsMedia.com Twitter: @jfeliweb websites: BizDotsMedia.co | JeanFelisme.com