If you haven’t watched Wednesday on Netflix, I recommend it. It’s got some great writing.
Netflix’s Wednesday has some great quotes.
70 Results for "quote"
Use the force, Harry – Gandalf Quote
I’ve decided to start writing inspirational quotes on our driveway for the neighborhood to enjoy. This is the first.
Facebook’s Motivational Quotes & Art
Last week I was able to fly out to California and visit Facebook headquarters. One of the cool things about the area I was in were the quotes on the walls. Some were large, some where small, but they were all true to Facebook.
They also had an art wall that showcased some pretty cool, Facebook inspired artwork.
One of the things I liked was the simplicity. Facebook didn’t line the walls with expensive art, they lined them with motivational sayings.
Simple & Effective
Who first decided to drink milk? Calvin & Hobbes Quote
“Who was the first guy that looked at a cow and said, I think I’ll drink whatever comes out of those things when I squeeze them?”
That’s a really good question!
Take Time To Enjoy Where We Are [quote]
“We’re so busy watching out for what’s just ahead of us that we don’t take time to enjoy where we are.” – Calvin & Hobbes
Sometimes we all need to be reminded to enjoy today and worry about tomorrow when it comes.
Ai Image Generation and Social Network – NightCafe
Lately, I’ve been having a lot of fun experimenting with AI image generators. Simply input your desired image, and voilà! In just a matter of seconds, Ai creates an image. Whether it’s a specific theme, a particular style, or anything you can imagine, the possibilities are virtually limitless.
Here are some images I created with just a few words on NightCafe.
Those images were created with as little as two words, Taco Cat, or just a sentence. Now, if you want to be incredibly detailed when asking for an image, you can do that too. Sometimes Ai can deliver better images with more words.
a miniature terrarium housed within a sphere. On the top half lush green vegetation thrives. Standing amidst the foliage is the iconic character, Groot, adding a whimsical touch to the composition. The bottom half is the ocean with a cloud fish swimming. The attention to detail in this piece is truly remarkable, painting a photorealistic scene that captures the imagination. Digital art
a small, fluffy, adorable unicorn kittens with big, expressive eyes. they appear incredibly cute and huggable, with their soft fur and animated personalities that bring them to life in a whimsical and magical world. the colors are bright and lively, while their endearing features add an extra level of charm to the scene. soft lighting, diffused, epic realism, high quality, colorful lighting, cinematic, epic realism,8K, highly detailed
Fun Fact: There are Ai prompt generators, like PicsArt, to help you write more verbose prompts if you want some help. You don’t need verbose prompts, but sometimes it helps.
The real challenge lies in how well you can describe your image, and the AI’s ability to interpret your instructions accurately. While it’s capable of remarkable things, achieving a specific outcome can be quite challenging at times. This occasionally leads to unexpected results.
When trying to create an image with Bowser playing the piano, I had lots of issues getting Bowser to be actually playing the patio. Every time he was on the wrong side of the piano. The pineapple image is great, but I was trying for a pineapple in the shape of a banana. I was getting creative with a “conch shell on the beach with a seahorse in a bathtub in the conch shell” when I got the bizarre (yet awesome) seahorse in a bathtub photo. When creating a ballroom filled with ghosts dancing, I received no ghosts. Or are they just invisible?! Ai is great, but can sometimes miss the mark.
You can also instruct the AI image generator to create various types of images, such as realistic, cartoon, painting, retro, pop art, or virtually any art style you can imagine. As you can see in the images in this post, some have a more realistic appearance, others embrace a cartoon-like aesthetic, while still others boast entirely distinct styles.
Among the various image generators I’ve experimented with, Bing’s stands out as the most impressive. However, I spend most my time on NightCafe, thanks to its integrated social network feature alongside the image generator. NightCafe offers daily challenges that encourage exploration and a community for interaction. Moreover, their free tier provides enough functionality to be creative and have fun.
If you’re interested in creating Ai art, now’s a great time to do so. There are a lot of options out there, but I’d recommend Bing Image Creator if you don’t want the social aspect, or NightCafe. Remix is another nice option, but it’s only available on iOS or Android, whereas NightCafe is primarily web based.
Here are a few more of my favorite Ai images I’ve created.
Follow me on NightCafe as I’d love to see what you create.
I’m getting a chemo port for Christmas.
One of the recommendations from friends when starting chemo was to get a chemo port. However, in talking with our doctor, he said that I had good veins, and we didn’t have to go that route. In hindsight, I wish he would have pushed a lot more on the port as everything I hear about it is how amazing it is.
What’s a chemo port you ask?
“A chemo port is a small, implantable reservoir with a thin silicone tube that attaches to a vein. The main advantage of this vein-access device is that chemotherapy medications can be delivered directly into the port rather than a vein, eliminating the need for needle sticks.”
moffitt.org
The main reason I’m getting a port is that my arm hurts after chemo, like a lot. I feel like I’m destroying my left arm every time I get chemo and when it’s still bruised and hurts randomly after two weeks, I’m not very excited to continue down this route. So port it is.
Everyone I talk to tells me how great the port is and how it’s the right decision. Even the nurses when drawing blood, or the ones that call me about my mental/financial health, are so excited I’m getting a port. Supposedly, it just makes things so much easier.
I wish, for more than one reason, that I would have done this at the beginning, but we can’t go back in time, only forward, and I look forward to something being a little bit easier.
Back to the Future – WordCamp Minneapolis St Paul 2018 Presentation #wcmsp
Here’s the presentation deck from my WordCamp Minneapolis St Paul 2018 presentation. Below is the text version that pretty much covers what I said.
We often get distracted by the new things we can do with our sites. Sure, it’s easy to add in new features, but do we really need them? Let’s take a step back and focus on the basics. Customers demand better websites across all platforms, and better isn’t always bigger, or fancier. Sometimes it’s just getting the basics right.
Lets start with…
Users
The best products don’t focus on features, they focus on clarity.
– Jon Bolt
“Does it better” will always beat “did it first.”
– Aaron Levie, CEO at Box
Who are your users? Have you done user research? Have you talked to them? Did you do user testing?
Knowing your user is extremely important to the success of your business. Build what they want, not what you want.
What does your analytics say? If you can’t do the user research with actual users, then look at your analytics and see where people are coming from, what their browser is, connection speeds, what content they’re looking for. Analytics can provide a lot of valuable user information.
Remember: You are not your user. It’s easy to forget this, but just because you like something, or like it one way, doesn’t mean that your users do.
When you look at your site, ask yourself “What value does this feature have for the user?” If you can’t answer that question, then what’s the point of having the feature? Don’t add features just to add features. Keep it simple and keep it focused on the user.
Test It!
Don’t assume anything works. Just because it worked in staging, or worked when the site was launched, doesn’t mean it still works today. Test your site.
- Does your form work?
- Is address, phone, email, hours correct?
- How old is your content? Maybe it’s time to re-write it.
- What does it look like in other browsers?
- What does it look like in other devices?
- Don’t assume anything works.
Also, do A/B testing. If you question a feature, do A/B testing to see if users use it. Test new features with some users before rolling it out to all users. Test button colors, images of people vs pets, content, test everything and add what works for your users.
Tools you can use:
Accessibility
Inclusion is a right, not a privilege for a select few.
– Judge Geary, Oberti v. Board of Education
Not everyone visiting your site has perfect vision or is using a mouse. Your site should work for everyone. This isn’t just about people with disabilities either, this is ease of use for everyone visiting your site.
Things to keep in mind:
Design It Well
- Colors – Text color vs the background it’s on.
- Font Size – 18pt
- Tab Order
- Form Labels – Even if hidden, they still need to exist.
- Landmarks
- Clean Code
- Focus State
- Skip to Content Link
Create Accessible Content
- Meaningful ALT Text on Images
- Underline Links
- Meaningful Link Text
- Plain language and simple sentences.
- Clear Headings that convey structure.
Tools
- Web Accessibility Checklist at The A11Y Project
- The A11Y Project has a lot of great accessibility information.
- WP Accessibility by Joe Dolson.
- Gutenberg is also going to call out accessibility issues.
- Accessible Colors
- axe Browser Extension
- Wave Browser Extension
- SiteImprove Browser Extension and Web Service
Some accessibility is better than nothing.
Trying counts.* Being perfectly accessible is hard work, but every little bit helps.
*Except in the court of law.
Standards
There are so many variables to account for when building for the web: screen sizes, devices, network speeds, accessibility, internationalization – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Standards are the backbone that reliable, consistent, accessible, maintainable web experiences are built on.
– Eric Kidd – Front-End Domain Lead
Web Standards are like building codes, they’re put in place to ensure things are built right.
What are the standards? Find out at:
Not all features work the same in all browsers though even if they are a standard. Can I Use will help identify the differences in browser adoption of features.
Why are standards important? Because we have a lot of browsers on many different operating systems.
Not only that, but there’s a lot of different screen sizes.
A sampling of devices at Google Device Lab.
Browser Testing Tools
- Simulator in XCode allows you to test iOS devices.
- BrowserStack is a web-based service with access to 1200+ real mobile devices and browsers.
- Modern.ie provides Microsoft virtual machines that you can download and test your content in IE or Edge.
- There are also simulators built into your browsers developer tools. These give a good idea for how things will look, but are not an exact match.
Performance
The web is a bit of a hot mess these days.
Much like city traffic, navigation times are often unpredictable. Worst of all: the cause of delays is unknown, the end is not in sight, and the only certainty is that an indeterminate amount of your most precious asset in life “time” has been wasted.
– Michael Liquori – Web Developer
Not all users have high-speed internet. The average internet connection speed in the United States in Q1 2017 was 18.75 Mbps. – via Wikipedia
Most developers are probably on high-speed internet that is blazingly fast, but their users are probably not. Not all users are in a major metro that have 60+Mbps. Mobile networks, rural areas, small town, internet speeds vary greatly. So does peak time of day or poor coverage areas. Make your site performant so that users don’t have to wait for your content.
Page Speed Tools
There are a number of page speed tools out there that will give you a good run down of how long it takes to load your site and where the slowdowns are. Below are a few tools, but keep in mind that these are subjective. Use them to gain insights, but don’t get addicted to trying to get a perfect score.
Image Optimization
Compress your images so they load faster. These tools can help reduce file size without reducing quality.
- ImageOptim (Mac)
- EWWW Image Optimizer (plugin)
- Smush (plugin)
- More Optimization Plugins
Caching Plugins
Cache your content so that it loads faster for repeat visitors.
3rd Party Tools
- CloudFlare can provide a free CDN, minification, and caching.
- JetPack can offload your images to WordPress’ image CDN. WordPress will then compress images and provide users with just the size they need. No coding required. All free.
Security
Security is a chain.
The hardware, the technologies, the code, the database, the developers, the admins, the users, are all part of this chain.
Anyone and everyone who touches the code, touches the infrastructure/network/hosting, who uses the site, are all responsible for security.
– Rich Aber – WordPress Engineer
All sites should be secure these days. Browsers are now telling users when a site is not secure and that could mean that they’re scaring the average user away from your site if it’s not secure.
HTTPS
- Secure all the things!
- Free SSLs from Let’s Encrypt
- Check with your host as quite a few offer Let’s Encrypt SSL.
- CloudFlare also offers free SSL certificates.
- Sucuri offers SSL as part of its offerings as well.
Updates
Always be updating. Update everything and update it often. When a security patch comes out for WordPress, or a plugin, the security hole is made public so hackers know what they can target. If you don’t update, you can be their next target.
- Update WordPress
- Update Themes
- Update Plugins
- Update Server
- If you, or your client, is running your own server, ensure it’s updated as well. Securing WordPress is no good if the the server is insecure.
- Always Be Updating
I highly recommend turning on auto updates. This allows your site to update itself when WordPress, or a plugin, is updated. It’s a way of keeping you safe without you having to check for updates every day.
- Configuring Automatic Background Updates in WordPress
- JetPack can be setup to automatically update plugins.
- ManageWP is a third-party service that can help.
- InfinateWP is a third-party service that can help.
Backups
- User a service like VaultPress (via the JetPack personal plan) or a plugin like UpdraftPlus to automate backups
- Check with your web host as well as they may have backup options.
- Don’t save backups on your server. If your server crashes, or goes up in flames, your backups will go with them.
- Don’t assume you have backups!
Passwords & Accounts
- Ensure you are using strong, unique passwords for all accounts on your site. You can use a password service to help you remember your strong, unique passwords.
- Remove Unnecessary Accounts – When someone leaves the company, drop them to subscriber or remove them entirely.
Hold everyone accountable for the security on your site. Just because their “just an editor” doesn’t mean that they don’t have to worry about the sites security. If they’re password is weak, they’re putting the site at risk.
In Closing
As the web evolves, your website should evolve with it, but don’t get too distracted by the shiny new things. Sometimes we all need to take a step back and focus on the basics. Know your users, test your features, make your site accessible, build on standards, optimize it, and secure everything. Your customers have a lot of options, don’t drive them away because you’re too focused on the new fancy things that you screw up the basics.
It’s Time To Start Testing Gutenberg
If you haven't heard, Gutenberg is coming to WordPress. If it's still on schedule, that could be next month; April! You should start testing and planning for it now.
Start Testing!
You can easily test Gutenberg by adding it to your site. It's available in the plugin directory as a stand alone plugin. Install it, activate it, and then create a new post. See what happens.
If you use a lot of custom fields, then you may have some things to work through, but then again, you may not. All my custom fields still show at the bottom of the post, but I don't depend on them for layout or design so I maybe got off easy.
Everything Might Be Fine
Chances are that Gutenberg may work just fine. The perceived issues may be bigger than the actual issues. I didn't have to change any code or do anything special to make Gutenberg work on my site.
In testing a bunch of random Gutenberg features in this post, which is why this post seems a bit chaotic, they just worked. This is impressive as this I use a third party theme that I started hacking as they abandoned it years ago and Gutenberg still works fine.
Exploding Gutenberg
If your site explodes (overreaction) due to Gutenberg, then chances are your developers were terrible, or you have something super custom. Now is a great time to start planning on how to make everything Gutenberg compatible or to figure out your backup plan; like using the Classic Editor plugin to disable Gutenberg.
In the end, chances are, you may just need some style updates. However, you won't know until you test, so start testing!
With so much noise online about the WordPress 5.0 release, what you need to know is: Ultimately Gutenberg is a planning issue, not a technical one
via @crowdfavorite
What are you waiting for? Start testing your site today. If there is something to worry about, you have time to make a plan. If it works fine, then you can stop worrying. Just don't wait to the last minute, or say you were surprised when Gutenberg launches. You know it's coming, so do something about it.
Important Note
In no way am I saying that you should start using Gutenberg full time today or that you should test in production. Gutenberg is still evolving and changing so there is risk. Backup everything, test in a development environment, and make smart choices.
Apple can issue a refund if software purchased drops in price.
About a week after I finally persuaded myself to get Fantastical 2 for the Mac, it dropped in price. For most software I wouldn’t care, but when it’s $50 to start with, that $10 price drop is significant.
Now technically Apple doesn’t have any price guarantees.
Prices for products offered via the Services may change at any time, and the Services do not provide price protection or refunds in the event of a price reduction or promotional offering. via Apple
However, I wrote them and asked if there was anything they could do. They decided to refunded me the original price so I could re-purchase it at the lower price.
I don’t recommend doing this often, but if you do buy some software from the Mac App Store, then it drops in price, the option is out there.
Can’t hurt to ask right?
