Amanda Rush

I was browsing through Twitter, and came upon an article I thought might be interesting and thought-provoking reading. Ironically, it’s an article about the moral failure of the computer science community. So I open the page, and I’m reminded of why I have no sympathy for, nor can I empathize much with, online advertisers.

It comes down to the fact that almost all of you aggressively scrolljack.

This goes for ads, as well as those trendy newsletter sign-ups that steal cursor focus away from the content you’re promoting and drop it in your sign-up form or advertisement, like I’m suddenly going to want to stop what I’m doing and do what you want me to do: Buy whatever you’re advertising or sign up for your newsletter.

In order to get back to what I was doing in the first place, (reading your content), I have to resort to the following process.

1. Open the page, press “H” to jump to the headline. Maybe read a couple of lines.
2. Page refreshes, or some other scrolljacking event happens. Get dropped back to the top of the page.
3. Press ctrl+f to bring up the find dialog.
4. Think of a word or phrase which hasn’t occurred multiple times within the content, in order to hit my target on the first shot, and beat the next page refresh or scrolljack.
5. Read the next couple lines.
6. Repeat steps 1 through 5 until I either get to the end of the content, or, depending on how long the content is, quit at some point because I’m tired of repeating myself and I’m frustrated and don’t want to fight with the keyboard, the screen reader, and the browser any longer.

It’s stuff like this that makes people install adblockers. Or turn off JavaScript. Or just not visit your sites and read your content at all, and hence, not buy what you’re selling.

I might be able to empathize with online advertisers if I weren’t trading my own sanity in the process.

The worst part of all this is that it has nothing to do with accessibility, but extremely basic user experience. I’d really like to think it comes down to lack of awareness, but I’d have to engage in a hell of a lot of mental gymnastics to do that. So I have no choice but to chalk it up to a lack of concern for users.

And if I can plainly see that you don’t care about the experience of your users when it comes to something as simple as reading your content, what makes you think I’m going to believe you’ll care more after I’ve purchased your product or signed up for your newsletter?

I’ve been patiently waiting all day, and now I’m taking a break from my pile of work to introduce you to WordPress 4.4, Clifford.

WordPress 4.4 “Clifford”

Feature of note: Responsive Image Support

As of WordPress 4.4, responsive image support is now part of core. Here’s how it works.

If you’re using the the Responsive Images Community Group’s feature plugin, you’ll already be familiar with how WordPress 4.4’s new responsive images support works. That’s because this plugin has been merged into core and, (along with several helper functions and filters for developers to use), is the new responsive images feature. So sites like this beauty lovingly crafted by Prime Access Consulting will continue to enjoy the support for responsive images they’ve always had, except with one less plugin. For sites not running this plugin already, all you’ll need to do is install the Regenerate Thumbnails plugin, because you’ll need to generate the missing medium-large size for all your images. You’ll only need to do this once, and from that point onward, you can uninstall the plugin and rely on WordPress’s automatic handling of your image sizes.

If you’re a user who’s not a developer, or a user who is a developer but doesn’t have the time to dive into all the new responsive images goodness, you can learn how to use WordPress’s new responsive images functionality by reading this post.

And if you are a developer who’s interested in diving into all WordPress has to offer with regard to responsive images, you can learn all about it by reading this post.

Responsive Images in WordPress 4.4

There are, of course, more amazing user-specific and developer-specific features in WordPress 4.4, but this post is getting long and I really have to get back to work. So you can find out more about what WordPress 4.4 has to offer from this post by Brian Krogsgard.

I really do hope you enjoy using WordPress 4.4. I’ve had a ball contributing to it via the WordPress Accessibility Team, and although my name’s not in the credits, (one day soon I will haz the props), I’ll be celebrating with the rest of the WordPress community. Just after I finish all this work. 😛

Over the years, web users of all skill levels have embraced the WordPress platform for its simple user interface, clean aesthetic and customizable design options. The simplicity of WordPress was especially attractive to less-experienced users in its early days. WordPress’s creators set out to democratize publishing by equipping its users with intuitive tools and attractive templates that would permit even the novice blogger to set up and maintain a beautiful website.

However, as WordPress’s feature set has evolved, and as WordPress has entered and become the largest player in the content management system space, the users who first adopted it because of its ease of use are finding that it is no longer easy to use.

WordPress is no longer the simple blogging platform it bagan as. It now runs twenty-five percent of the web, and everyone from bloggers to large enterprises is using it to power their web presence, and, in some cases, their native applications.

As a result, it is difficult for small businesses, who may need more features than the typical SquareSpace or Wicks can provide, but who don’t need WordPress in all its powerful glory, to make sense of everything they’re presented with when they first set up WordPress.

GoDaddy aims to solve this problem by providing a pared-down version of the WordPress administration screens that provide only the features that small businesses and online store owners will find useful.

I have no idea what this is going to mean for the accessibility of the service, or if accessibility has even been considered. I also have no idea how much of the accessibility work that has gone into the WordPress backend has been taken out with these customizations. But it will be interesting to watch how this pans out. WP Easy Mode is only in its first iteration, and GoDaddy is promising that more is yet to come. Let’s hope that accessibility is still in the mix.

The trouble is, nobody likes pitches. Nobody likes being blatantly sold to. Nobody likes being bombarded with industry-specific buzzwords.

When someone asks what you do, they’re not looking for a formulaic response. They want to hear about how you can solve their problems. They want to hear about how what you’re selling can truly benefit them. They want to know whether or not what you’re selling is relevant to the problems they’re trying to solve. In other words, they want a message tailored to their particular situation, not a canned response.

When a prospect asks you “What do you do,” they want to know that you get it. Really get it.

So if elevator pitches are so bad, what should you do instead?

Wait for it …

You should have a conversation with your prospect.

Prospects are people, and they have needs. If you as a business person treat a prospect as though they’re nothing more than a source of income, or a stepping stone on some sort of ladder to success, then you don’t deserve their custom. And by hitting them with an elevator pitch, that’s exactly what you’re doing.

By using an elevator pitch as opposed to a conversation that involves back-and-forth and a whole lot of listening, you’re treating your prospect like a one-night stand. You’re telling your prospect that they have no more value.

And if your prospect sees that you don’t value them, they’ll return the favor.

If you don’t value them, then they won’t value you. And that means they won’t be your client. They’ll have no interest in taking your relationship any further than that networking event or converence.

So the next time you’re tempted to spout off an elevator pitch, try striking up a conversation instead. Spend some time listening and answering questions so you can determine what your prospect’s needs are. Then, you can determine whether or not you can serve their needs. You might not land that particular client right now, but by having a conversation instead of delivering a pitch, you’re opening the door to a relationship which will bear fruit down the road. And you’ll develop a reputation for not being a sleezy salesperson while still selling. Everybody wins.

When I was at WordCamp Tokyo, I was reminded of the power of a thank you and how it makes Open Source better.

Source: Say Thank You Publicly and Be a Better Coder

Mika’s post is the second one I’ve seen in the last few days lauding thankfulness as a virtue worth emulating, and which I’ve also taken seriously. Here’s the other one.

what I think both of these posts are getting at, even if they don’t mention it, is that “thank you” is part of being a good professional. It opens doors, and it lets others know your door is open. It also gets a lot done. Because while pay is important, it’s not, or shouldn’t be priority number one.

So if you’re a developer working with a designer, or vice versa, say thank you early and often. If you’ve hired someone to help with the accessibility of your website, whether free or paid, say thank you early and often. If you’ve hired someone to help you with your WordPress troubles, say thank you early and often. Because no matter how much you’re paying, thanks or the lack thereof will make the difference between whether or not you receive any help or guidance in the future. And if you’re not receiving guidance or help, you’re going to be traveling a very lonely road.

One of the greatest things about WordPress is that it has a very low barrier to entry. If you’re just starting out on the web, you have the ability to stand up a website with very little work. But that’s also one of its greatest drawbacks.

I’m not saying that someone should have to be a code wiz to create a personal blog to jot down their thoughts. But the flood of WYSIWYG warriors turned developers that has saturated the WordPress space is depressing.

Using a drag-and-drop page builder to create websites is not development.

Buying a stock theme, especially from ThemeForest, throwing it up on a web server with WordPress and making some configuration changes to create a website is not development.

I’m not saying there isn’t a place for this sort of thing. there’s definitely a market for websites with zero customization necessary, and I believe they should be priced appropriately. But if you’re using one of these solutions to create websites, please don’t call yourself a developer.

First, it gives actual developers a bad name, especially when things break spectacularly down the line. And depending on the drag-and-drop solution used, things definitely will break. There’s only so far you can push drag-and-drop solutions until you get to the end of the line, and that line’s not very long.

And while I’m on the subject, could those of you in the WordPress space who create and sell these kinds of solutions please quit selling them as “Create amazing websites in minutes with no code required?” You’re cheapening WordPress, and web development as a whole, by doing this. That pitch also creates very low user expectations, which developers then have to manage.

I’m not saying you can’t offer any services whatsoever. there’s plenty of room for people who can put together simple websites for clients. You can even charge for it. But unless you are actually writing code that changes the way WordPress functions, either through a plugin or a theme, and you know what goes where in regard to plugins and themes, please don’t call yourself a developer.

Don’t call yourself a developer unti you’re familiar with how WordPress works inside and out, how it interacts with plugins and themes, and how it interacts with the rest of your stack. There are books that will help you get to that point, including WordPress: Professional Design and Development, and WordPress: Professional Plugin Development, both by Brad Williams.

Don’t call yourself a developer until you have at least working familiarity with how the rest of your stack works. There are books for that too. If you don’t like books, there are plenty of free resources online for both of these subjects.

And finally, don’t call yourself a developer until you’ve learned HTML, CSS, and then PHP, JavaScript, or some other scripting or programming language. HTML and CSS are the foundations of the web, and are built-upon in a lot of ways by the scripting and programming languages designed for the web.

Once you’ve learned all this, then you can call yourself a developer and offer the appropriate services along with implementation services and whatever else fits your skillset. But you do a disservice to yourself, your clients and the WordPress and web development communities by billing yourself as a developer when you’re not.