All Posts
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Taking WordPress to Eleventy
How I converted 12 years of posts in WordPress to an Eleventy static site ... and loved every minute of it.
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Specializing vs Generalizing
Should you specialize and go deep or generalize and go broad? I'd argue they they are two sides of the same coin.
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Improvement as Experimentation
I've gone through many transformations in my life. I have been lucky a number of times in a way that benefited me. I've also been unlucky a number of times that held me back.
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Pitfalls of Being a WordPress Developer
Something happens to you as a developer when you start on and stick with a single platform for a long period of time. As you get better and better at that platform, you get further and further away from the rest of the ecosystem.
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Self-Teach or Go Back to School?
Advice to a few friends on learning web development.
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1PPM: month 1 (and 2)
I found a group of folks online who committed to launching 1 project per month (1PPM) and it resonated with me in a big way. This is what I did for my first one.
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Engineer Support for Content and Communication Rockstars
Regardless of the industry, when people care deeply about what they're making and who they're helping, it shows.
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How I Focus Now
After reading several articles and a great book, Deep Work by Cal Newport, I’m sold: focus is tough, necessary, and at a premium. I’ve been on a month-long discovery process to find how to work more efficiently (in other words: less screen time with more output), produce better, and avoid negative thoughts.
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Digital Detox
Before this, I wasn’t just losing time, I was actively harming my thought process for the rest of the time that I wasn’t distracting myself. All of this consumption, in the name of doing more and better, was robbing my ability to do just that.
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Repo: Missed Search Log for WordPress
Concept for a log of search terms with no results on a WordPress site.
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Brewery Site Framework for Craft Beer Branding Gods
In one of those "meant to be" moments, I met the founder and president of the mind-bogglingly talented craft beer agency here in Seattle, Blindtiger. Oceania (Oce for short) invited me down to the office to talk shop and it just clicked.
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Community and eCommerce Site for Massive Minecraft Community
8-month engagement to provide engineering, strategy, code review, pair programming, performance reviews, and security guidance.
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Redesign on JoshCanHelp
A few details about the current (5th) iteration of this site.
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Latest Deals Site Built on Rank It WP
A WordPress child theme gone mad! Built-in click statistics, moderation controls, grabbing text and images from submitted links, and expiring content.
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8ninths Site Rebuild
Just in time for an announcement by Microsoft about their HoloLens project, we launched a complete site rebuild for 8ninths, focusing on their VR and AR capabilities.
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A(nother) WordPress Starter Template
This theme is an extension of a framework created for a local agency that wanted a way to spin up custom WordPress sites quickly and correctly. It grew into the starting point for all sites that I create.
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Strategy and Wireframe for Seattle Children's Hospital [PDF]
Helped create a UI, migration, and technology plan for the Seattle Children's Hospital blog channel combination.
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Ideas Dump: Part 1
Here are a few things that I think should exist, with my help or without. Make one or make them all, just let me know when they launch.
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Much Needed Inspiration
An incredible movie, a life-changing product, and a quote. Might be just what you need right now too.
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Semi-eCommerce Site for a Local Composites Distributor
This site was a partial migration from a custom PHP and MySQL application that was in dire need of an update. Collaborating with a talented designer, I built a site housing almost 400 products and dominates search ranking for high-value, niche terms.
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Lessons Learned in Agency
I've been doing agency development and design work for almost a decade, and customer service for almost 2. But I learned a lot when the tables were turned.
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WP-Drudge on Alan.com
Alan Colmes needed a central hub for his news curation and community surrounding his radio show and books. We've been iterating on this site for a few years and finally settled on a very customized version of the WP-Drudge theme I created.
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Become A WordPress Developer Overnight After 4 Months of Work
This is a summary of an email I sent to someone who wants to get into creating custom WordPress themes and plugins. I've been doing this for over 7 years now and would like to think I have something interesting and helpful to say about this.
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Intermediate Sass/SCSS class in Seattle
For web development folks in Seattle who want to level up on Sass, SCSS, Bourbon, and the like, I'm helping to organize an intermediate-level class sometime in the next couple of months.
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A Few Thoughts on WordPress Performance
"WordPress is a server hog" ... "WordPress keeps crashing" ... "You can't run a fast WordPress site" ... I've heard these kinds of statements over and over for years.
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Systematic Goal Elimination
Scott Adams: "To put it bluntly, goals are for losers. That’s literally true most of the time. For example, if your goal is to lose 10 pounds, you will spend every moment until you reach the goal—if you reach it at all—feeling as if you were short of your goal. In other words, goal-oriented people exist in a state of nearly continuous failure that they hope will be temporary."
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Easy Feedback To-dos with Gmail and Asana
I recently needed feedback on a product I'm creating and wanted to figure out the easiest way to get feedback from contacts who were generous enough to give it. Maybe this will work for you too.
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Redesign, Drupal migration, and WooCommerce to CiviCRM Integration
A massive undertaking: migrate a popular eCommerce site from unsupported versions of Drupal and CiviCRM to WordPress. Challenge accepted!
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Ballard to Fremont - Bikes and Brews
A list of the breweries in Ballard and Fremont and a few suggested schedules for the weekend days.
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Two Worlds, Existing Side-by-Side, Always In Conflict
On how I have made a commitment, each day, to never getting mad, irritable, frustrated, depressed, or negative, no matter what. This probably sounds a little trite to some, maybe totally obvious to others, but it's something I needed to understand. "When the student is prepared, the teacher appears," says Brother Ali .... preach on.
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Tips, tricks, and advice for visiting Paris
Fun tips about staying, eating, and speaking in Paris.
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Working with a web designer: help us help you
This post is about helping me help you to come up with the best design we possibly can.
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Great Content Is Like a Produce Stand in Paris
You're just another blog out there but with a little creativity and some care for the people coming through, you can be just what someone needs at just the right time.
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Create your own Social Network or Online Community - 10 tools
Here are 10 tools you can use to create a community or social network online for free (in most cases).
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Creating effective email marketing campaigns
A presentation on creating great email marketing campaigns along with links to other resources.
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Choosing Keyword Phrases for Content Pages
A step-by-step guide on how to choose the right keywords for your site content.
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Web Literacy for Business Owners
This is a pool of topics that I consider essential for business owners to understand, the collection of which define basic web literacy for business owners.
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Simple introduction to incoming links
The incoming link concept is one of those things that is hard to get your head around but one of the key concepts of having an maintaining a healthy website.
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Back home and feeling great
Just a quick update for everyone.... we're back on the West Coast after too many trains, a wonderful stop in Amsterdam, a much-needed catch-up with great friends in New York, and 3 flights. We're now safe, sound, and comfortable with friends in San Diego getting caught up and getting our affairs in order.
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Seasonal web traffic: what to expect and how to improve it
Does your traffic dip during the holiday season? Don't freak out, it's completely normal. Here's what happened to me and what can be done.
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Improving Website and WordPress Performance with Hard-Coded Share Buttons
Quickly add hard-coded share links badges to your WordPress or static site.
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Google Analytics Basics
Knowing what pages are the most popular, what keywords people are using to find you, and where people are going paint a picture about your customers.
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Path forward: How Josh Can Help Plans and Approaches Building a New Web Site from Scratch
When I create a website, I have a plan but it might be good to share this with everyone who is curious about what goes into building a web site from scratch.
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Craigslist feeds blocked from Yahoo Pipes via 403 error
It looks like Yahoo Pipes, the incredibly amazing feed/data aggregator/sorter, is being blocked by Craigslist via a 403 Forbidden error.
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Facebook Group vs A Blog: What's a Company to Do?
I was having a virtual conversation with a colleague last week and the topic of Facebook group pages versus blogs came up. I wanted to share this conversation because I think it’s essential to exchange ideas like this, especially ideas that pertain to experimentation and exploration.
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Website page titles - how to pick one and what they are for
Sometimes it’s the things you don’t see that make the biggest difference.
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Free software and websites that really, really, really help me
The following computer-based implements have become so essential to me that I would pay good money to keep them. They happen, however, to be completely free.
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My New ASUS EEE 1000H (or) How my life just got a whole lot more productive
I’m not the type of person who needs new, cool things all the time. But one device recently has changed what I do so drastically that it’s my obligation to talk about it.
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Beginner Exercises to Learn PHP Programming
I’ve been on a quest to try my hand at a real programming language. I get the feeling that I’m really going to like what I learn.
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The Worst Possible Way to Work (or) How to Find a System That Works for You
I’m going to share with you how I work. This method would/will drive certain people nuts. This method is not foolproof but none of them are.
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Spam: what is it? what does it do? why am I sending it? who cares?
I had an interesting conversation with a colleague recently about what constitutes spam email and how we could go about avoiding it.
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How to be an old(er) undergraduate or How I learned to accept what I've been given
I've been thinking about my past as a student and how far I’ve come as a person. I wanted to share a bit about what I’ve learned as the oldest dude in my graduating class (except that other guy).
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A beautiful day, a piece of pressboard, some Montana Gold, and an illustration
I finally got around to throwing up some paint in my graffiti class. It had been a while since I last held a can and, because the last go-around was so disappointing, I was afraid it might happen again.
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Good advice to a client about building a blog from the ground up
My honest take on starting a blog from scratch. Do it because you like it and don’t assume you don’t like it because you have no idea what you’re doing.
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This, a typical week
I have been talking recently (more in person than anywhere) about being a generalist and what that means to me. I am, in every sense of the word, a generalist, a mash-up artist, comfortable between groups than deep within them.
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W3C Schools (via JCH) Beginner's Course in HTML for Emails
I bring to you the W3C (via JCH) Beginner’s Course in HTML for Emails. A list of classes on the W3C site along with instructions for how to use it.
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Password storage done right
It took me long enough but I’m finally implementing a password safe and I’m choosing KeePass.
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How to make a Technology Taming Plan
If you like learning how to use things and do it quickly then maybe more time should be spent picking things up, playing with them, and deciding whether or not to use them. If, like most of us, you have limited time and want to simplify your daily life, it’s time to make a Technology Taming Plan.
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Daily rebirth
Each day that we are granted is a chance to escape the condemnation of comparison and start anew on our way to who we know we can be.
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Dripping my way along... a lesson from Seth
If you put your name on it, put your best into it. The work you do now could come back to haunt you later and it’s up to you whether this phantom is benevolent or not.
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How to send HTML emails for free using Mozilla Thunderbird
This is just a quick tip for anyone out there that wants to send a few HTML emails from their desktop and don’t have access to an HTML sending service like MailChimp or something similar.
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HTML emails: the last word (until everything changes again)
Here is everything I know about creating HTML emails. This is the most boring and most useful post I’ve ever created by far.
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I learned something today
Sometimes there is an easy way, sometimes there’s just an easIER way, and sometimes there’s just hard ways.
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One component of Josh Can Help's website philosophy - Understanding
One of the most challenging and interesting parts of what I do is bridging the gap between potentially confusing technology and people who are far removed from how it works.
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Josh Can Help updates...
I meant to use this blog as a place to update information about my business and maybe some relevant personal stuff but I’m so boring that all I write about is work and coding!
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Screencasts: recording on-screen training videos
I’ve learned quite a bit about what works and what doesn’t when recording on-screen videos. I want to share a few tips that a colleague and I came up with while making these videos.
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Building a homepage from a blog: Part 2: Finalizing the design and planning out mark-up and CSS structure.
After weeks of stressing out in Illustrator, I finally decided on a design I like.
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Did your website or blog just crash suddenly? You might have a problem with your permissions...
Just recently, all the pages hosted on my account began to fall apart. I was getting 403 errors, missing graphics and styles, and pieces of code appearing randomly. It looked about as bad as it could get.
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Building a homepage from a blog: Part 1: Conceptualization and Planning
When I’m complete, joshcanhelp.com will point to a home page on this blog, directing people to information about me and what I do.
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Graffiti art evolution: from drawing to painting to vector; moving your art into a new market
If you paint pictures, you can design shirts. If you draw cartoons, you can easily translate that to digital images for web sites or blogs. Find the niche, spread the word, and extent your influence.
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Random design inspiration post #1 - Currency
Pull a bill out and look at it really close. The detail is impressive and the layout is very interesting, particularly because it has a lot of limitations/requirements.
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6 steps to easy typography in any document
This small primer serves as either an introduction to typography or all the information you’ll ever need to know as a non-designer.
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Blogging 101: How to Write a Great Blog Post... a Reader's Perspective
By posting a great piece of advice or a guide for someone or your professional insight, you contribute to the incredible equalizing power of the internet.
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New new business card design: the process + feedback
I also need a business card and have not been giving this important piece of a business that relies on word-of-mouth enough attention.
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Want to self-publish? Here's my review of Lulu.com
I liked Lulu the best from my research and chose them to publish my client’s book. Here are my impressions about the whole writing, publishing, and uploading experience.
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Is your wifi disconnecting frequently? Here's the fix...
Stop your wifi from disconnecting frequently in Windows XP.
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"Customer service"
I want to address a conversation I had with a Cox cable technical support rep yesterday.
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Thoughts on conferences
A few random thoughts on how to make a conference presentation go well.
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How to Tame Your Technology in Four Easy Steps
I alway take a second look at what I do and what I own (or want to own) to make sure I don’t fly off the deep end and create more work/stress for myself. Here’s what I do to keep it all together.
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Installing a font in Windows XP
This is a companion to my article I wrote a while back. Here is the quick and dirty process for adding a font in Windows XP.
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CDs burning improperly? Songs skipping? Verification errors? I can help!
Here are a few things I found out about burning a CD of any type. It turns out, the solution was easy.
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Please, resize your pics, for the love of everything that's good!
This post goes out to the habitual offenders and for those who do it and do it right but want others to do the same.
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Self-Promotion, Me-Centricism, and Should Josh Help?
I have acquired a heavy pile of new books to certify myself in all things IT-related, an egotistical domain, and a sinking sensation that I might be going about this all the wrong way.
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On-Demand and Web Publishing Resources
I'm looking into a low-cost method for getting a book published and available on-line so I thought I would share what I found while combing through the web.
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The 4 Components of a Great First On-Site Visit
I learned a great deal about stress management and face-to-face interactions on my very first on-site call. I came up with 4 important things to think about before your first face-to-face customer interaction.
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Free Excel Invoice Template
I just recently made an invoice for myself and thought I would share it with the world! It’s clean, simple, and easy to use.
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New business card design
Layer-by-layer, inch-by-inch. The message is more effective as a snowball, building momentum and speed and power and influence over time, than as one massive onslaught. A better presence is made by just that: presence.
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Problem Solved #00001 - DSL, Wifi, printers
This customer called me to help him move his router, make sure wi-fi worked throughout the house, set up a printer with Vista (which was causing him problems), and possibly help him acquire a new desktop.
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What is this blog for?
This blog is the story of Josh Can Help (dot com) ... how it came about, how it came together, and how it’s going.
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Josh Can Help is alive!
I, Josh Cunningham, am starting a business, more or less by myself. You can tell that I’m serious about this because I already have a website. Take notes: website = serious stuff. That one’s free.