Month: December 2014

  • The Promise of Not Delivering

    I’m an early adopter; I’m the guy that a lot of companies rely on to see if their product really works, in the real world. I’m the guy that those companies rely on to create buzz about their product and get other people to buy it. I’m also a web developer who freelanced for a lot of years, and I have a ton of side projects I’d like to work on; people rely on me to make stuff for them. I mention this because I’m on both sides of my next statement: making a promise and not delivering on it could be the worst thing you can do for your business.

    (more…)

  • Sunday Fun: Old Screen Names

    I’m listening to Episode 27 of How to Hold a Pencil with Dan Mall, and aside from some really, really amazing advice on pricing (around the 15 minute mark), the start the show by talking about Dan’s first email address / screen name. I thought it would be fun to share (and encourage others to do the same.

    My Early Email addresses are slightly boring:

    • joeyc1020@hotmail.com
    • joeyc1020@yahoo.com

    But here are my early AIM screen names:

    • doughboy1020
    • TrunksMaster2000
    • Drummer1020

    Leave yours in the comments or in your own blog post. I will link them here!

  • I was on the Living Your Passion Podcast

    I had the pleasure of talking to DJ Waldow on his podcast, Living Your Passion. I contacted him shortly after his podcast launched over the summer and basically asked if he’d have me on the show. Lucky for me, I’ve very passionate about ‘making things on the web’ and just a little bit shameless.

    It was a great conversation (and DJ said some very nice things about about me at the end- thank you!) and I recommend listening to it and all of his episodes. If you’re looking for a new passion or making a living out of your current one, this is a great source of inspiration.

    Listen Here

  • Add Attachments to WordPress Search Results

    I feel like this has to have been done a lot, and there are great plugins out there for it, but if you’re just looking to add a quick function to your theme (or a really simple plugin) yourself, here’s how to modify WordPress’ search query to include attachments (like images).

    function attachment_search( $query ) {
        if ( $query->is_search ) {
           $query->set( 'post_type', array( 'post', 'attachment' ) );
           $query->set( 'post_status', array( 'publish', 'inherit' ) );
        }
     
       return $query;
    }
    
    add_filter( 'pre_get_posts', 'attachment_search' );
    

    This does 2 things: includes posts of type ‘attachment’ to the search query, and adds the post status of ‘inherit’. This will ensure that any images (or other attachments) that were added while adding a new post or page will be included in the results.

    You can also extend the post type array to include your own Custom Post Types (eg array(  'post', 'attachment', 'products' ); )

    These 2 posts were very helpful in getting this code together:

  • Quick Tip: Turn off Amazon Wishlist Spoilers

    While talking to my mother, whom I sent my Amazon Wishlist to for gift ideas, she told me to not check Amazon until Christmas because she bought stuff off of my list and didn’t want me to see what she got. Luckily, Amazon has thought of this, and there is a really simple way to make sure that you don’t see when people buy things off your list.

    1. Go to your Amazon Wish List.
    2. In the List Actions drop-down (towards the top of the list, on the right), click Update list profile.
    3. Check  “Don’t spoil my surprises.”
    4. Click Save.

    That’s it! You can now view your list without worry of spoilers.

  • 2014 Gift Guide for Web Developers

    I recently published a new gift guide on this site- one for Remote Workers (as a matter of fact, there’s some good stuff on that list that could be on this list). I think it’s a pretty good one, so you should check it out if you haven’t already. Today I’m giving you my slightly more annual list: theGift Guide for Web People. There are some constants on the list that I’m going to list at the bottom, but I’m going to try to add mostly new stuff for this year. Check out the list after the jump.

    (more…)