Testing…TESTING! Is this thing (still) on? Why yes it is. I know there has been exaggerated reports of my demise. I’m still here. Still kicking. Still coding.

I’ve decided to start off 2015 with a fresh design for the site. And maybe get back into writing about some of the cool projects I’ve been working on for the past few years. The new look is based on the WordPress Free Theme Flat. I’ve added some tweaks of my own to a child theme. More functionality to come over the next few weeks.

So where have I been? What have I been doing with my time? Over the past few years I’ve gone deep into WordPress plugin development. I was working for a major WordPress plugin vendor (not going to name them here but you can check out my LinkedIn profile if you are curious). During my tenor there I was responsible for development and supported for up to 26 plugins. I learned so much about how to write plugins to work across the wide range of hosting environments. How to be efficient with coding and how to get along with site running many dozen other plugins. I learned some valuable knowledge about WordPress Multisite as well as BuddyPress. So really want to bring that back to my own plugins.

Speaking of my own plugin. I’m in the process of rewriting parts of my Media-Tags WordPress plugin to work better within the new Backbone.js Media system used with WordPress. Lots of good changes coming soon.

In other WordPress directions I’ve fallen in love with WooCommerce. Thinking back to the early days of WordPress commerce engines (again not going to name names). I can remember having to literally hack the plugin to get things to work per the client needs. And hoping the client never ever upgraded. With the new WooCommerce 2.x it feels more like BuddyPress. Lots of way to override even the smaller elements. Not to mention tons of template files you can add to the theme to override the default action. There is one area I tend to dislike related to Variable Products managements. I’m working on an add-on of my own. Hope to announce it soon.

Besides my fallback WordPress projects, I’ve been working some in Swift, the new Apple language. As many have stated it does remind one of JavaScript in some of the syntax. But yet it is very powerful for creating apps. Speaking of JavaScript I’ve also been playing with Node.js. I’m very very excited about the potential there. First thing I thought of when playing with the modules is “someone ought to write a CMS in Node.js”. Well a few have started. The most promising is PencilBlue. They actually state in the documentation they want to replace WordPress. Lofty goal. I’ll need to find some time and join the development group. See if I can bring in some of my WordPress knowledge.

Other than coding related things. We are still discovering parts of North Carolina. Still have not made the road trip to Asheville. We both miss Texas and especially our friends in Austin. I miss all the friends and contacts from the Refresh Austin and WordPress Austin groups. As well as SXSW Interactive being in my backyard. I’ve tried getting into the local WordPress group as well as other groups in the Triangle. They just seem a little too cliche-ish to me. I’ll try again this year.

On a personal note we moved into a beautiful home last year. The new neighborhood is great as well as the neighbors who actually come over and visit. Unlike the previous neighborhood where we were renting. The neighbors just could not be bothered to say hello to you. We even have a neighborhood book club I joined last year. I’m the only male in the group and was apprehensive. I thought I would be getting into some Harlequin Romance and Jane Austen type reads. But we have read some very interesting books. So I’m looking forward to some nice reading outside of my own tracks this new year.

Well that is about all for the update. I hope to be posting regular. I already have some other posts in the queue I’ve worked on. Just need to polish and publish.