A fruit tree planted in a nice sunny spot, given water and time will grow. It may not grow how you want or expect it to, but grow it will. Each branch of the tree does it’s job and sprouts new branches. All of them competing for sun, getting in each others way, and shooting […]
Articles
Switching from Ubuntu to Manjaro
I surprised myself switching off of Ubuntu to Manjaro for my primary computers. I’ve been a user of Ubuntu for many years. It is a wonderful desktop platform. Ubuntu made Linux on the desktop easier by having a straight-forward installation, including necessary drivers, and creating an OS to compete with the Windows and Mac duopoly. […]
Allowing SVG in WordPress Content
I ran into an issue when trying to save SVG as part of a block. If you are having the same issue, or similar with non-typical tags being used; then here’s how you can fix it. In creating a Gutenberg block, adding an SVG element as part of the save() function it was being stripped […]
wpsync – Markdown to WP
wpsync is a command-line tool to sync a local directory of markdown files to your WordPress. I really like markdown and vim. My publishing process was: Create a draft in markdown, When ready to publish v1.0 copy-paste to WordPress; the editor converts markdown nicely, and then publish However, when a revision is needed, it must […]
Working with Vim
A set of vim tips and features I use often, the goal is to help you improve your fluency with vim. I initially titled this post “Intermediate Vim” but experiences vary and non-linear, so what may be intermediate for some is basic or advanced for others. A basic understanding of vim is a prerequisite, I […]
The Story of the Laggy Mouse
A story as old as time, not all the stories involve computers and peripherals, but the tale is known by all do-it-your-selfers, home-depot-excursioners, and other fixers-of-small-things. It is a story told around camp fires, in fact one version of the story starts “So we were out of firewood…” My version starts with “So my mouse […]
Using Firefox user.js settings file
The Firefox user.js file stores user settings, the file is loaded each time Firefox starts. This a convenient way to save your browser customizations and apply them on different machines. The prefs.js file already exists in your Firefox profile directory, find the location using about:support in the top bar. The prefs.js file looks like it […]
Making the Juxtapose Block
This post walks through my process of creating the Juxtapose Block for the WordPress block editor. The block implements the JuxtaposeJS library by Knight Lab which allows you to place two images side-by-side and use a slider to reveal the difference between them. Here’s an example: Breaking down the problem When creating a block, I […]
Block Rocking WordPress
WordPress 5.0 introduces a new editor based around blocks. The editor is the first phase of a larger project developed under the Gutenberg name. This post is part three in my unplanned series: Part I – Creating a Gutenberg Block from October 2017 covers how to extend Gutenberg with a basic block. I wrote a […]
Gutenberg blocks without the build step
You can create Gutenberg blocks in ES6 code without the build step, this makes it easier to maintain and develop. I switched over my Code Syntax Highlighting block and am much happier for it. All of the Gutenberg examples by default use ES5 code, which already does not require transpiling with webpack, but they also include […]
My Debugging Process
Here is the process I go through when trying to debug a tricky coding problem. First, I run a private personal blog which I use for debugging and taking coding notes. You can consider this your coding journal, and whatever tool works for you. I find something digital works better, since you can use HTML […]
Summer Sabbatical
My company, Automattic, has the wonderful perk of a 3-month sabbatical every 5 years. Amazingly enough, I’m already an old-timer and been there over 5-years, so this summer I took my sabbatical. I timed it to be off the same time as the kids for summer, so I didn’t work for June, July, and August. […]