Notebook

If you saw an interesting story on network or cable news yesterday… …It was on Facebook yesterday; …It was on Twitter a few days ago; …But it was on Reddit at least a week ago.

“revision/procrastination” by Flickr user wenday With the launch of this latest version of my site (roughly my fifth iteration since 2006), I’m experimenting with two new features I’d love to see on other blogs: a changelog and a roadmap. Yes, it might seem strange to have these two software and/or…

In my latest article on WP Daily, I talk about why the recent acquisition of tech site gdgt by AOL’s tech publishing arm might be bad news for WordPress in the enterprise: I’m suggesting that old, tired, and unfair “WordPress is for traditionally-formatted blogs” trope may still be a factor when online…

Photo by Flickr user ostrograd A recent crowdsource-driven funding contest promoted by a local bank in my area got me thinking about how banks in particular can find themselves on the sidelines of the entrepreneurship/startup movement as the costs to starting a business drop and as new and…

Thank you to WP Daily for publishing my article on the scope of WordPress themes: Should we think about new and better ways to make themes fit into the larger site development process? Here’s a snippet: Traditionally, themes don’t have opinions about the admin area; don’t acknowledge the presence of…

Maine is lucky to have six five people running for our open US Senate seat. While Olympia Snowe will be extremely difficult to replace in terms of her stature and impact, two people running have the best chance to follow in her principled footsteps. Former Governor Angus King has been the…

Next week, Mainers heading to the polls to vote for president, senator, representative, and local leaders also have the chance to legalize same-sex marriage in a ballot measure commonly known as “Question One”. A similar measure passed in 2009, but was overturned by Maine’s People’s Veto process just seven months…

Inspired by my love for WordPress theme development and a great presentation by developer Sean Butze I attended at this year’s WordCamp Boston, I’m happy to present Groundwork, a WordPress starter theme. Beyond the usual starter theme basics, Groundwork features many nice customizations to a stock WordPress install, including: Custom log in…

browse (Photo credit: Chris Blakeley) A conversation over lunch at work today got me thinking more about “browse” vs. “search”. These are our two most used paradigms for navigating around the web, but they’re obviously quite different. Ultimately, I wanted to try and distill the differences…

Against my better judgement, I’ve found myself tweeting about the Republican and Democratic conventions over the past week. My tweets on the subject are usually sarcastic and/or attempts to be humorous, so I want to explain in a bit more detail why I think these are inane and even poisonous…

From this fascinating Paris Review interview, Ernest Hemingway on creativity and the wring process: When I am working on a book or a story I write every morning as soon after first light as possible. There is no one to disturb you and it is cool or cold and you come…

If you make anything – websites, cars, fasteners, jewlery, anything – I think you’ll really love watching designer Wilson Miner’s talk on the art and process of building. It’s been a great source of inspiration for me. Wilson Miner – When We Build from Build on Vimeo.