Every so often I decide it’s high time I start learning some new skills. My first “learning binge” was a pretty successful one, as I accomplished everything I hoped I would. My second one took a little longer than I hoped, but in the end I still hit a couple of good goals. There are a few kinks I need to work out of both projects but they are more or less in the wild. This time around, there’s a list of things I want to learn and project I want to work on and release. Much like last time I will use those projects to learn new things, but there’s a new challenge: time management.
Pivoting WP in One Month
Do you know the story of Pixar? It’s a really interesting one that I strongly recommend you read all about in Creativity Inc. Here’s the gist: Pixar started off as a piece of hardware inside LucasFilms, and the team was tasked with pushing the technological envelope for live-action movies. When Lucas had to sell off that division, it was purchased by Steve Jobs and they tried for a number of years to sell hardware before pivoting and making their first featured length animated movie, Toy Story. It took about 20 years, but Pixar found its true calling. While I am not at all comparing myself to Pixar, I am taking an important less from them: you may not find success in your first iteration.
How to Build Better Web Pages in WordPress
When I was creating the website for my new project WP in One Month, I wanted to make sure the home page was diverse with content, different sections, and a lot of information. As a WordPress developer, I could have built a completely custom page template with custom fields for each section, and I could have made use of one of the many plugins to do that. However, I also wanted to get the site up and running quickly. I was pivoting the business and wanted to focus more on executing ideas than on developing the website (I know many developers can relate to me here). I opted instead to build a simple child theme from the theme Ward and use a page building plugin called Beaver Builder. It saved me literally hours of development and gives me lots of flexibility.