Aside: 7+1 Personal Finance Tips for Web Professionals
I try to keep this blog strictly related to its core purpose: Giving advice on improving your website and your career as a web professional. From time to time, though, I feel the need to talk about something a little further off to the side. This post will be the first in a [...]
A Golden Delicious Lesson in Usability
Case: A Hassle a Day…
I love apples. In fact, I eat one almost every day with lunch, to the point where you might think I’m testing the, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” hypothesis. As the title of the post might suggest, my favorite variety is golden delicious.
Now, aside from rinsing [...]
The Three Things You Need to Become an Expert in Anything
Like many autodidactic web workers out there, I never received a formal indoctrination in my various fields of expertise. Sure, I learned some useful things in college, but there’s a wide gap between my education and my professional ability. Realizing this, and the fact that I learned at least half of my professional [...]
Output a Snapshot of All Defined Variables in PHP
The following line of code is one of the most useful diagnostic tricks in my PHP coding arsenal:
<?php echo ‘<pre>’; print_r(get_defined_vars()); echo ‘</pre>’; ?>
Simply input the above snippet of code into any PHP file and you’ll get a browser-friendly snapshot of all variables defined in the current scope. This is especially handy in larger [...]
7 Keys to Courteous Coding
All too often in my professional career, I’ve been tasked with working on legacy code. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, “legacy” in the computing sense refers to old software that has been passed down. Often, legacy programs work just well enough to keep, but not well enough that they don’t [...]
How to Pass the Google Advertising Professional (GAP) Exam
Last year, I managed millions of dollars worth of online advertising, well over a million of which was through Google AdWords. Adding up those numbers for my yearly review brought me to the sobering conclusion that I was long overdue for completing my Google Advertising Professional (GAP) certification.
For those who don’t know, the Google [...]
Death of the Computer Guy
(Rant Warning: This article is a departure from my normal tone. I’ve dealt with this issue far too many times to word it less strongly. I hope you’ll bear with me.)
You wrote the cover letter. You submitted the resume. They knew who you were, what you could do, and why you [...]
IE to Lose Dominance Among Web-Savvy Users by Q3 2009
If I had written the script for Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket would have sung, “Let your intellectual curiosity be your guide.” It’s part of my appeal as an analyst; I just can’t help but try to answer any question that crosses my path.
The most recent item to pique my curiosity was the browser statistics chart [...]
Amidst the TLD Frenzy, Bank on Trust
For those who haven’t already heard, the folks over at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number (ICANN) recently opened the door for tons of new top-level domain names (TLDs). If the acronyms are spinning your head, here’s the simplified version: Instead of .com, .net, .edu, .gov, .org, and the other URL-enders we [...]
The Secret to Blogging for Money
For many, professional blogging is a dream job where you sit at home, work your own hours, and earn boatloads of money with little effort. You can live freely and make your living writing about your passions, all without changing out of your PJs. These starry-eyed dreamers look up to the greats and [...]