October 22, 2017 in Thoughts

JavaScript and Me

JavaScript and I have had a rocky relationship over the past few years. My consulting work doesn't really require a deep understanding of JavaScript, but my newfound resolve to level-up my skills and to obtain a full-time job have deemed that deep understanding quite necessary.

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October 21, 2017 in Tutorials+Tips, WordPress

What is PHP Output Buffering?

As someone who works with WordPress on the regular, output buffering is one of those concepts that I've encountered in the past and, until now, never needed to understand. I hope this serves to be a relatively plain language description of what output buffering is at a high level, and will illuminate the concept for others!

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October 12, 2017 in Updates

A few things I’m excited about

Adjusting to life in LA has taken a lot longer and a lot more work than I anticipated. I find myself re-discovering my work and learning habits, but I'm finally starting to feel back in the game after my break earlier this year. Here are a few things I'm particularly excited about.

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September 13, 2017 in Miscellaneous

Thai Food in Los Angeles

Once you can process the fact that great restaurants can be in strip malls, Los Angeles does a few things better than NYC and Thai food is one of them. I have yet to figure out what the others are (probably Korean food), but bear with me. Where to find […]

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September 11, 2017 in Thoughts

Reverse Job Post:
UX-Oriented, Senior-ish Front-end Developer

Lara's Dream Employer seeks a UX-Oriented, Senior Front-end Web Developer with advanced HTML/CSS knowledge, working JavaScript knowledge, and a background in illustration or visual design. This role is part of a small front-end team that operates as the link between design and back-end development.

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September 9, 2017 in Miscellaneous, Updates

Workspace of late

I quite enjoy seeing other people's workspaces, particularly the people I only know of through online means. I have finally figured out a work routine I'm happy with here in Los Angeles. I can't say I'm sold on the city quite yet, but that's another blog post. For now, here are my tools of the trade.

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August 18, 2017 in Tutorials+Tips, Updates

Plans and Pens for notlaura.com v3

There are a lot of fun technologies that have matured since I took my ski-bum sabbatical over the winter, and I am doing my best to bring my skills back up to speed. They weren’t all that far behind, but given my newfound motivation and availability for side projects, I’m […]

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August 1, 2017 in Updates

Updates Soon-ish

I’m in the process of a light rebranding effort, primarily updating this site to be less oriented around attracting business and more oriented to me as a developer/individual. This site’s design has been the same for almost five years and, although I still love it, my goals have changed significantly; […]

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March 30, 2017 in Links, Tutorials+Tips

Five-Figure WordPress Resources

Of all the talks I've given, the "The Five-Figure WordPress Website" is my favorite. It's a thorough look at the process I use to make WordPress websites in my freelance practice, and I'm really happy to share the process it's taken me many years to fine tune. With that in mind, here are a bunch of resources that I've found particularly helpful over the years and hopefully you will too!

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March 17, 2017 in Updates

Back in business!
An update from sunny LA.

While my few month ski-bum sabbatical was enjoyable and revitalizing, I now realize that mountains, fresh air, and care-free living are totally overrated. Err…what I’m trying to say is I took my break and am ready to get back to business.

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December 7, 2016 in Updates

Ski bum sabbatical

I currently write from my new home at Goldminer’s Daughter Lodge in Alta, UT. I’ve made quite the transition from life in New York City. After a few months back at home in Pittsburgh, I have migrated to Utah for a ski bum sabbatical at […]

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April 28, 2016 in Tutorials+Tips

How to render a code block of Haml in Haml

I’m currently working on a style guide for a Rails app (fun!). The documentation is built as a baby Rails app of it’s own, thus in Haml, an HTML pre-processor (think Sass, but for HTML). Like any style guide worth it’s salt, I wanted to have a block […]

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April 7, 2016 in Thoughts

Why don’t code schools teach WordPress?

In the coding classes I’ve taught (which, for the record, have been part-time, not bootcamps) students’ intentions are often to make their own websites, work on existing ones, or to incorporate web development into a freelance practice. Regarding bootcamps, I’ve met several graduates who began their careers with freelancing, where […]

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January 25, 2016 in Thoughts

2015 Year in Review

This is "Year in Review" has a bit of a negative tone. I considered editing this post to make it sound more I-love-my-life-and-work-always for potential employers, but that's no fun! Go ahead and read about 2015, the year that made me want to leave NYC, move to Utah, and work at a bar (which I did end up doing).

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October 16, 2015 in Tutorials+Tips, WordPress

The Twig for Timber Cheatsheet

Although Timber ultimately simplifies templating in WordPress, there’s a bit of a barrier to entry. If you haven’t worked in a templating language before, it takes some time to get a handle on what’s possible. The following are some introductory Twig concepts and snippets I’ve found particularly useful when working with Timber and Advanced Custom Fields.

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August 27, 2015 in Tutorials+Tips

@include upperspace;

I’ve made a few websites over the past year or so, and I finally feel like I’ve nailed down the process. Of course there’s a lot more to it, but potentially the most useful, simple, and adorably named part has been a […]

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July 9, 2015 in Ideas, Research

Pricing and Economic Relativity

I'm usually not one for non-fiction, but the times have changed. I'm currently reading Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions by a cool dude named Dan Ariely. In short, we humans are constantly influenced by "hidden forces" that cause us to make decisions that don't always make logical sense. Can't say I'm surprised.

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July 1, 2015 in Thoughts

It’s identity crisis, not impostor syndrome

I think we've gotten to a point where non-impostors, myself included, are using impostor syndrome as a way to describe ever-human insecurity. The web is in its awkward twenties, and so are many, many of the people working on it. Fortunately or unfortunately, with your twenties comes the inevitable, quarter-life identity crisis.

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