Weekly Roundup - 6th-10th November 2017
Monday 6th November 2017
Week eight at PropertySafe, the past 2 months has felt like 2 days.
I had a super busy weekend with kids birthdays to attend, but I managed to create a Typeyeah Threadless shop. Check it out at https://typeyeah.threadless.com and let me know your thoughts. I am trying to penetrate the market as much as possible in the DTG (Direct To Garment) space to bring awareness to Typeyeah.
Threadless have been around for quite a long time and originally it was a platform where artists submitted their designs and the community would vote. This voting system determined if the design was sent to print or not. They have since launched Artist Shops which allows anyone to set up their own online shop by uploading their own designs and selecting which products they are available on. A lot of artists still use these platforms so it will be great to get in and collaborate with them.
I’ve got a bunch of designs ready to put up so I’ll spend my nights this week getting that done.
Below is a screenshot of the shop homepage with designs I have added so far.
I’ve been thinking about creating a Facebook page for Typeyeah. Get more of the consumer side interested in typography. In doing this I can create a job board for people looking to get typography jobs done such as logos, signage, posters any project that requires design work and then push that out to the community for them to quote on. I’ll continue my research on this to see if it’s a viable option.
Monday Back Workout
- Warm up followed by 2 reps x 12 47kg, 2 reps x 54kg Lat Pulldown
- 2 x 12 reps 54kg, 2 x 12 reps 61kg Row
- 4 x 12 reps 40kg Single Arm Iso-Lateral High Row
- 4 x 12 reps 40kg Single Arm Iso-Lateral DY Row
- 10 mins Sit Down Bike
Tuesday 7th November 2017
Finally got to start designing the desktop version of the project today which I have wanted to do from the start. I found it really weird that they designed mobile first. I questioned them about this and realised they had taken the agency’s advice literally from them telling them they need the project should be ‘mobile first’. In nearly 13 years of being a Central Coast web designer and only really half of that time having smartphones available, I have never designed a web based project purely mobile first. This is where I think the confusion comes in. An agency says the project should take a mobile first approach, but then that gets lost in translation and ends up being interpreted to the team as ‘We need a mobile design’ instead of ‘We need to design a web application with a mobile first approach’. These tasks will produce 2 totally different results, just like we’re seeing in the project now.
Let me expand on this;
‘We need a mobile design’ is saying you require a design for mobile devices which may (in most cases) include tablets. This requirement is very distinct and without further clarity (which should always be conducted) has no mention that a desktop version is required. It’s basically saying you need a design so you can build a mobile app.
‘We need a to design a web application with a mobile first approach’ on the other hand states that a web application design is required with a mobile first approach. Straight away this tells me that the application is going to be available on desktop, however the majority of users will most likely be coming from mobile devices, so, although a design for desktop is required, the focus should be on the mobile design and ensuring that both designs are functional and there is a seamless user experience between both medias.
As you can surely guess, the latter will take a lot longer to produce as you are essentially designing 3 versions of the application, desktop to tablet to mobile. Most of the time the desktop design can be scaled down to ‘stack’ on mobile devices and depending on your requirements, this may be all that is needed. Alternatively you are able to remove elements from the mobile design that are only visible in the desktop version and vica versa.
It is a lot easier to design from desktop to mobile than it is from mobile to desktop when the majority of the system has already been developed for mobile.
This is by far the biggest challenge I have come across working on this project. But never fear! I will fearlessly tackle any challenge handed to me!
Melbourne Cup today! We had a small break in the afternoon, I went in the sweeps but unfortunately it wasn’t my day!
One of my many side hustle projects for Central Coast websites that I’ve created is to rebuild is the Central Coast Barber website. Barbers on the Central Coast have picked up over the last few years and it’s now becoming trendy again. Initially I created this website as an Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) test to see if I could get #1 rankings in google for key phrases relating to barbers on the Central Coast. It has turned out to be a successful project so I have decided to rebuild it, bigger and better.
To get the ball rolling I created a new WordPress install, installed a theme and started configuring it. Seeing as it’s currently only a small project, I’ve got it all mapped out in my head which I have transferred over a Trello card and I’ll work on it over the next few nights.
With so many things I want to get done, it feels like the hours in the day are getting shorter and shorter. That’s why I rely on Trello to document and keep my all of my projects on track. Trello lets you work more collaboratively and get more done. Trello’s boards, lists, and cards enable you to organise and prioritise your projects in a flexible and rewarding way. Each project has its own board with a card for each task. All details for the task are added to the card and the card is then moved to the completed board upon completion. If you think this type of project management will work for your projects, I highly recommend Trello. Another good thing about it is that most of you will be able to use it for your projects on the free package.
Tuesday Chest Workout
- Warm up followed by 2 x 12 reps 40kg, 2 x 12 reps 60kg Super Incline Press
- 4 x 10 reps 60kg Pec Fly
- 4 x 12 reps 80kg Iso-Lateral Wide Chest
- 5 mins Air Bike
- 10 mins Sit Down Bike
Wednesday 8th November 2017
Today was a perfect example of why communication in business is, for me, the number one factor of success. A team is unable to go fast and successfully complete tasks without the communication between the whole team. I’m not going to go in to too much detail, so I just want to stress that communication is so very important! If you are ever unsure of something in a project or want to know how something works, just ask! You’re only letting yourself down if you don’t take action and ask.
I’m trying so hard to get my own projects done but I’m getting exhausted and burning myself out. The new job, the travel back and forward from Hornsby to Erina, it all adds up. It is especially draining when people aren’t willing to take your advice on certain tasks that you’ve clearly got experience in, yet they are new to it but want to do things their way. Sometimes you end the day asking yourself why you bother…
Wednesday Legs Workout
- Warm up followed by 2 x 12 reps 40kg, 2 x 12 reps 47kg Leg Extension
- 4 x 12 reps 30kg Leg Curl
- 4 x 12 reps 40kg V-Squat
- 4 x 12 reps 40kg Reverse V-Squat
- 5 mins Air Bike
- 10 mins Sit Down Bike
Thursday 9th November 2017
More work on the Landlord Portal designs today. Working through the problems of displaying data for different stages of the request.
I’m currently experiencing an issue on the CentralCoastBarber WordPress install, I’m getting a time out error when trying to upload images. I should have checked this as soon as I installed the theme but I didn’t think it would be an issue. I created all the pages and added the content, it’s only now that I’m trying to add the images that I’ve noticed this error. I checked the server settings and tried installing a few different plugins to increase the memory, but so far nothing has worked and I’m currently waiting to hear back from GoDaddy support.
Thursday Shoulder Workout
- Warm up followed by 4 x 12 reps 25kg Shoulder Press Wide Grip
- 4 x 12 reps 25kg Shoulder Press Close Grip
- 2 x 6 reps 40kg, 2 x 12 reps 20kg Iso-Lateral Single Arm Shoulder Press
- 4 x 12 reps 54kg Rear Delt
- 10 mins Sit Down Bike
Friday 10th November 2017
Must have been a busy day at work as I forgot to take notes on what I did through out the day. Most likely continuing on the UI design for desktop.
Trying to set up the new CentralCoastBarber website on my GoDaddy server was painful, so I created a new install on my WP Engine account and had the whole site replicated within the hour. It now has 7 Central Coast based Barbers listed and I installed the Yoast SEO plugin so I am able to work on the search engine optimisation (SEO) of the website. Now this is the first time I have mentioned Yoast so I will do a separate detailed post on how to use Yoast in your WordPress website.
With the revised website being on WordPress, having the Yoast SEO plugin will allow me to create separate pages for each barber shop and analyse specific targeted keywords on each of those pages to help me achieve top rankings in the search results. A few more tasks to do such as set up the Content Delivery Network (CDN) and add an SSL certificate, so I am aiming to launch it next week. Stay wired for an update on when I launch it.
Friday Arms Workout
- Warm up followed by 4 x 12 reps 6kg Cable Curls and Tricep Pushdowns
- 4 x 12 reps 14kg Dumbbell Curl
- 4 x 12 reps 14kg Hammer Curl
- 4 x 12 reps 92.5kg Tricep Press
- 5 mins Air Bike
- 10 mins Sit Down Bike