Redesign in progress..
Pardon my dust! I am in the process of switching over to the site’s new design. Please report anything weird, otherwise please pardon my dust as the site settles in with its new theme :) Will post a full report soon! Continue reading »
Roll Your Own Simple Password Manager on macOS
I’ve tried 1Password and Dashlane, and several other popular password managers for both Mac and PC. It always seems to be the same thing: things start off great and then go downhill from there. For example, I was loving 1Password, and then it locked me out of my password file/account. Likewise for a couple of years Dashlane was great, but then they started making drastic changes like moving from standalone app to browser extension Web-based UI. The confusion involved with […] Continue reading »
Purging Unused Data
As part of my yearly maintenance routine, I spend time each year going through a list of annual tasks. Things like archiving backups, removing unused apps, and of course purging and organizing data. As an aspiring minimalist, my approach is less is more. I am always downloading, consuming content, yes. But also I am constantly deleting and pruning as much as possible. It is a discipline and an art. Continue reading »
The Plan for 2019
The “Plan” for 2019: keep working hard and doing your best. Everything else will happen on its own. Less worry, less stress, less time in front of a screen. Work smarter, enjoy life more. You know, the usual inspiring things that people say as a new year unfolds. In short, go with the flow and stay focused. Continue reading »
18 Years Online
This year, 2022, will be the 18th year that Perishable Press is online. The first year (2004–2005) was mostly behind-the-scenes development and site building. If you do a Whois lookup for the domain name, perishablepress.com, you’ll find the creation date is 2004-07-14. I had to look that up myself for this post. It was so long ago.. lol. So once the site went live in 2005, it was off to the races. Fast forward 18 years and here we are, […] Continue reading »
shapeSpace Lite WordPress Theme
Quick post to announce a new Lite version of my free shapeSpace starter theme. I develop and use shapeSpace for many of my WordPress-powered projects. The lightweight bare-bones template speeds up development by providing everything I need to create awesome themes. When it’s time to build a new site, or redesign an existing one, I download a copy of shapeSpace and I’m off to the races. Continue reading »
When, Where, and How to Ask for Help: The Three Golden Rules
When working online or offline in the real world, it’s inevitable that you will encounter issues and problems with products, services, and everything else. This quick post explains when, where, and how to ask for help: The Three Golden Rules. It’s a general guide, aimed at those who may be unfamiliar. Continue reading »
My Wish List for Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2
As a teenager, I played the original Legend of Zelda game when it launched on the first Nintendo console (NES). Back then, us neighborhood kids had a blast playing that game for hours on end. Fast-forward to adulthood, it’s a joy watching my own kids play the various sequels: Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and to some degree, Skyward Sword. Beyond watching my kids play, I didn’t really get into playing any of the Zelda sequels. […] Continue reading »
Plugin Planet 2021 Redesign
Finally! Writing this post is the final step in the 2021 redesign of my WordPress plugins site, Plugin Planet. The site launched seven years ago in 2014. I think I spent a couple of months or so building the original site to the best of my ability. That first design stood the test of time, and honestly it would have been fine for another couple of years or more. But after seven years of changes, modifications, swapping out plugins, adding […] Continue reading »
Back Into It
This year has been full of change, hard work, and lots of planning. First it was general clean-up, reorganization, and streamlining of online assets (e.g., axing unused domains, consolidating email addresses, closing old social media accounts, etc.). That may not sound like a lot of work, but after 15+ years working online, it was a LOT of stuff to go through and get organized. My goal is to simplify my process down to a focused stream of activity. This post […] Continue reading »
Apple Nags Killing UX
Heads up! This post is a giant rant about Apple screwing up the user experience (UX). If that is not what you want to read, then now is your chance to hit that back button and escape. Otherwise, if you feel like hearing all about it, continue reading. With Apple devices in the past, you could log in to an Apple account or not. No hassles. No worries. Just enjoy the software. Enjoy that super smooth Apple user experience. Right? […] Continue reading »
Video Course: WordPress on Shared Hosting
After months of hard work, my latest LinkedIn/Lynda.com video course has launched! The course walks through the entire process of getting WordPress installed and running on shared hosting. If you’re new to WordPress or the Internet in general, and want to start your own WordPress-powered website, this course will help you do it as quickly and inexpensively as possible. Continue reading »
New WordPress Plugin: Simple Download Counter
Simple Download Counter is a free WordPress plugin that does exactly what it says: counts the number of times your files are downloaded. SDC is designed for maximum ease of use. The goal is a clean, lightweight “set it and forget it” solution for keeping track of downloads. Simply add your files via the plugin settings and display download links via shortcodes. Simple Download Counter does the rest. Continue reading »
Cutting Floor Interview
When I spend time on something, like an interview, I like to know that it was actually published somewhere. Below is an interview that I completed for a web-hosting company that apparently now is missing in action. It covers how I got into web development, upcoming projects, web security, work flow, writing books, WordPress, and more.. Continue reading »
New Book: Wizard’s SQL Recipes for WordPress
I’m excited to launch my latest web-dev book, Wizard’s SQL Recipes for WordPress. I got the idea for this book way back when I was first learning how to build dynamic websites. I thought it would be useful to bring together all of the best SQL snippets in sort of a “spellbook” or “cookbook”. After all, SQL queries can seem like magic to the uninitiated. By entering concise, well-crafted commands, SQL enables anyone to interact with any relational database. It’s […] Continue reading »
New WordPress Plugin: Simple Login Notification
New WordPress plugin! Simple Login Notification does one thing and does it well: sends an email alert whenever an admin-level user logs in to your site. I use this plugin on all of my sites to keep an eye on any unauthorized activity. Not that I’m expecting any, but if it does happen I definitely want to know about it. The plugin size is only 4 KB (zipped) with virtually zero impact on performance or anything else. Win win win, […] Continue reading »
.wp TLD plz :)