The slides for my talk on WordPress Plugin Development at CMS Africa this morning
Category: Development
Web development/WordPress/CakePHP
Have a clear understanding of your project requirements to ensure you get the most out of your freelance developer
The purpose of this post is to ensure that you know precisely what you need to do in order to get the most out of the freelance developer you’re about to hire. You need a complete understanding of what you want to achieve before even looking at the Freelance for Hire pages. Seriously. Otherwise you will waste time and money and nobody has an endless supply of either.
Here’s a great example…
You are an expert teddy bear maker. You love them. You know that your particular brand of bear is exceptional and you want to build a business out of them. You contact a developer and you say, “I want to sell teddy bears online.”
While an admirable plan, this is too vague and will require a lot of work to fine tune into a final requirements list. Instead, look at developing a breakdown of your requirements that outline every aspect of your business, your needs, your requirements and your customer deliverables.
Something like this…
– I would like to build an eCommerce store that can help me to sell my teddy bears
– The store needs to support a product gallery that can showcase each bear
– The store needs to support a short product description for each bear along with a list of specifications such as fur used, type of eyes etc.
– I would like to accept credit card payments along with EFT and possibly Snapscan or another app payment platform
– I would like the payment gateway to support both international and local credit cards
– I need to add shipping to the order after it has been placed as these will differ depending on the product purchased and the location of the customer
– I would like web hosting options
– I have a domain and email accounts that are linked to that domain, and I think the domain and emails are managed by my internet service provider
– I would like my store to be built with WordPress and WooCommerce
This level of detail really helps both you and your freelance developer to assess the job and what will need to be implemented to make it work. And what underlying technologies will need to be used. We will be exploring the process of clarifying these requirements in greater detail in a later post/chapter as they will help you with pre-hire and with how to harness the help of a freelancer in the scoping and investigative phase.
The detail
Have you ever tried to explain a complex concept to a child? As the parent of two very inquisitive young boys I have learned a lot about how to take something complex and breaking it down into pieces that their brains can understand. To achieve this, you need a solid understanding of the concept yourself. There’s little point in explaining the concept of why the wind blows unless you understand high and low air pressures (I was a geography nerd at school).
The same theory applies to your product or service. Understand your product and its requirements intricately before you move into a relationship with a freelance developer. You can’t brief something unless you know it really well. This also ensures you have a clear vision and will inform all your engagements with your freelancer.
Another bonus is that it will also refine your vision and you will potentially identify any loopholes or issues before it is too late.
CASE STUDY: The successful client/freelance relationship
Craig from Seriously Simple Podcasting
– He understands the concept of podcasting really well
– He was able to define the value of Seriously Simple Podcasting and how its add-on services delivered value to customers
– Already had a viable customer base
– Understands what his clients want
– Has completed some programming tutorials and has some understanding around the basics of web development and the concepts that define it
– Works with his freelance developer to define scope, determine project goals and discuss possible solutions to any problems that arise
CASE STUDY: The flexible partner
Melinda from Agency Of Creativity*
– She is a designer and owns her own agency
– She uses a popular page builder plugin to build her client’s websites
– Each client has a common requirement that she has to build from scratch each time and she realises that this could be developed as a plug-in
– She isn’t clear on the underlying technologies required to make this a reality but she is happy to hire a coding expert who can work with her to achieve her goals
– She provides clear and concise instructions
– She knows exactly what her clients need and is the ideal person to test what is built along the way to ensure it meets specifications
CASE STUDY: The client that can’t
Dawid from Services R Us*
– He has a vague idea of the service listing he would like to provide but isn’t sure about implementation
– Assumes that the process is as simple as ‘just add this field to this page, it should be quick’
– Rambles on about different ideas that pop into his head without actually getting to the point
– Doesn’t send a clear briefing email but rather wanders with his thought processes
– Can’t provide a detailed list of requirements but expects a clear and fixed cost/time estimate
– Constantly contacts the developer, asking them to fix other technical issues that are unrelated to the project. He expects freelance support for free just because of the project
The first two projects are a development success. The last is a time and energy vortex that leaves both client and freelance developer gasping. The best way for your project and your vision to succeed is to have a clear vision and to be open to the reality of what is required.
*Names changed
If you’ve been working with PHP/MySQL based websites for any amount of time, you’ve probably heard about the MySQL command line tools for importing and exporting your database.
The syntax is quite simple, for exports you run
mysqldump -udbuser -p dbname > dbfile.sql
which exports the database to a file on the local machine. For imports you run
mysql -udbuser -p dbname < dbfile.sql
which imports the contents of the local file (dbfile.sql) into the empty database.
This is usually the quickest way to export a database from one location to import it into another.
One problem I’ve experienced from time to time is exporting and importing large databases. By default the tools don’t output any progress indicator (or anything at all really), and using the -v (verbose) switch outputs every single MySQL command being run from the import file, which is like watching the code in the Matrix.
Fortunately, there is a way you can run imports and exports and show a progress bar, with Pipe Viewer.
Pipe Viewer is a terminal-based tool for monitoring the progress of data through a pipeline. The Pipe Viewer homepage has all the install commands for the various operating systems, and Ubuntu has an official package for it, so you can install it through apt.
sudo apt-get install pv
Once pipe viewer is installed, you merely need to make two small changes to you import and export commands.
pv dbfile.sql | mysql -udbuser -p dbname
mysqldump -udbuser -p dbname | pv -W > dbfile.sql
And viola! You will be presented with a progress monitor that shows file size imported, time taken, percentage progress. Much better than staring at a blank screen.
One of the many little annoyances that I encounter while working on client sites, is when the client has a valid SSL certificate installed on their server, but the HTTPS redirection happens in code instead of at the server level.
This means that even if I export the database with the site urls replaced to match my local environment, or run a search or replace on the local database, the code execution will still try to redirect to the secure version of the domain, meaning I have to first find out where that redirection is taking place, and remove it.
Often it’s done inside the site config, which is pretty quick to comment out, but other times it’s done via a plugin which is harder to find. In the long run it would be infinitely quicker and easier to just have a trusted SSL certifcate installed for the local site. My previous attempts at this meant installing a self signed certificate, but this means it’s not ‘trusted’ by the browser, and you either have to configure your browser to trust the certificate, or get an annoying warning about the site’s certificate not being trusted or secure enough every time you browse to the local site.
Thankfully, after asking around, I was pointed to mkcert “a simple zero-config tool to make locally trusted development certificates with any names you’d like.” It creates a local certificate authority, installs the authority into your local and browser trust stores. It also includes a tool to make local, trusted certificates for any local domain name. All that I have to do is set those certificates up for each local domain.
Installing mkcert is pretty straightforward and the project readme contains instructions for the various operating systems.
Regular Apache Virtual Hosts for local development
Because I use Ubuntu as my OS and Apache as my local webserver, whenever I add a new client site, it’s usually a 4 step process:
I start by creating a new Apache VirtualHost config file, copied from an existing one, and change some site related values
cd /etc/apache2/sites-available/ sudo cp 000-default.conf localsite.conf sudo nano localsite.conf
The values I change are ServerName, ServerAdmin, DocumentRoot and Directory values. I usually also set site specific log files
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName localsite.test
ServerAdmin webmaster@localsite.test
DocumentRoot /home/jonathan/development/websites/localsite
<Directory "/home/jonathan/development/websites/localsite">
#Require local
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
AllowOverride all
# New directive needed in Apache 2.4.3:
Require all granted
</Directory>
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/localsite-error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/localsite-access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
Once the config is saved, I enable the new site, and restart Apache
sudo a2ensite localsite.conf sudo service apache2 restart
The last step is to let my local machine know what IP address to resolve the VirtualHost ServerName value to, in this case localsite.test
sudo nano /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1 localsite.test
Once this is all done, I can browse to http://localhost.test and it will serve the files in the /home/jonathan/development/websites/localsite directory.
Note, if you get a ‘permission denied error’ doing this, the quick way to fix this is to change the user and group that Apache runs as, to your local user.
sudo nano /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
# These need to be set in /etc/apache2/envvars
#User ${APACHE_RUN_USER}
#Group ${APACHE_RUN_GROUP}
User jonathan
Group jonathan
Save that file, restart Apache, and you’ll be good to go.
Adding a SSL layer to a local site
I wasnt sure if the set up of a local, trusted certificate would be any different, and I was pleased to find out this was indeed the case.
Creating the new local Certificate Authority
Once mkcert is installed, the first thing I needed was to create and install the new local certificate authority. Fortunately this only needs to be done once.
mkcert -install
Once you’ve installed the CA, you can issue site certificates against it. I like to place all my site certificates on one place like ssl-certs
mkdir ssl-certs cd ssl-certs
Then it’s time to create the certificates.
mkcert localsite.test
This creates a localsite.test.pem certificate and a localsite.test-key.pem key, which is used in the Apache SSL config for the site.
Side note, I’ve started using .test for my local domains, because Chrome doesn’t seem to like my use of .local domains until I tell it to. Earlier this year I discovered this is because it’s reserved for link-local host names that can be resolved via the Multicast DNS name resolution protocol. So I switched to .test. Thanks to Andrey Savchenko for pointing this out to me.
Setting up the certs for a local site
First step was to enable the SSL module for Apache. This also needs to only be done once.
sudo a2enmod ssl
Next, I needed to create an SSL version of the local site virtual host config. I started by copying the existing default-ssl.conf and making my changes
cd /etc/apache2/sites-available/ sudo cp default-ssl.conf localsite-ssl.conf sudo nano localsite-ssl.conf
It’s actually pretty similar to a standard VirtualHost config, except for the checking if the SSL module is installed, the VirtualHost domain and port, and stuff from SSLEngine down. As you can see the certificate and key are specified in the SSLCertificateFile and SSLCertificateKeyFile entries respectively
<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
<VirtualHost _default_:443>
ServerName localsite.test
ServerAdmin webmaster@localsite.test
DocumentRoot /home/jonathan/development/websites/localsite
<Directory "/home/jonathan/development/websites/localsite">
#Require local
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
AllowOverride all
# New directive needed in Apache 2.4.3:
Require all granted
</Directory>
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/localsite-error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/localsite-access.log combined
SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile /home/jonathan/ssl-certs/localsite.test.pem
SSLCertificateKeyFile /home/jonathan/ssl-certs/localsite.test-key.pem
<FilesMatch "\.(cgi|shtml|phtml|php)$">
SSLOptions +StdEnvVars
</FilesMatch>
<Directory /usr/lib/cgi-bin>
SSLOptions +StdEnvVars
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
</IfModule>
Once the SSL config is created, I enable it.
sudo a2ensite localsite-ssl.conf
I can then restart Apache, and the SSL secured version of the local site is enabled.
This is something I’ve wanted to get set up for the longest time, so a massive thanks to Filippo Valsorda for creating mkcert.
Categories
Extending WordPress
A guide to building your first plugin, presented at the WordPress Stellenbosch Meetup on 30 January 2019.
A handy guide for clients working with freelance developers so nobody gets hurt…
Working with freelancers can be, for some, the equivalent of playing with a loaded gun. It can work out, but there are times when it can really affect your business and your life. As a client, you need a handy guide to working with freelance developers to ensure that every person working on the project comes out on top.
You need to understand your product and its requirements very intricately before you move into a relationship with a freelance developer. You can’t brief something in to someone until you know it really well. This also ensures you have a very clear vision of the final product and will inform all your engagements with your freelancer.
Step 02: Have a basic understanding
You will need some basic knowledge of web and development before you embark on this adventure. Yes, you are hiring a professional to take on your project so theoretically you shouldn’t need to know a thing. The fact is, if you have a modicum of understanding then you will have more realistic ideas around time frames, deliverables and project potential (and the magic Foo of your developer).
Step 03: Budget is everything
Don’t expect your freelance developer to be happy to cut their rates to suit your budget.The work they do is complex and specialised. Instead, be prepared to cut your requirements to fit your budget. That way you are assured of quality work from a reliable developer.
Step 04: Clarify your requirements
This is an extension of Step 01. Why? Because this is the most important step of all – it will cost you money and time if your requirements are vague so spend time on clarifying them. It’s worth it.
Step 05: Develop a clear timeframe
Work closely with your freelance developer to break the project down into achievable phases,each with their own milestones and deliverables. This will ensure that both you and your freelance development team are on the same page and working towards the same goals. This way nobody can say that they didn’t know that X had to be done by Y date…And this includes you providing your development team with the information and materials they need to achieve these goals.
Step 06: Create communication channels
From Slack to Asana to Evernote to Skype – there are plenty of communication and collaboration tools available to help you streamline communication with your freelance developers. Many of these offer timeline and deadline management tools as well, making it really easy for you to track timing and status.
Step 07: Don’t hover
The headline says it all. Science has shown that for every interruption, it takes a person at least 20 minutes to get their concentration back. Every time you interrupt,you slow your project down.
Step 08: Test
Every step, every aspect, every phase – test. Test assumptions, capabilities, developer promises and results. This will ensure that the final product has had most of the kinks ironed out iteratively rather than a messy tangle to unwrap at the end.
Step 09: Feedback
There is bad feedback, there is good feedback and there is great feedback. Learn how to do the last two types of feedback really well. Good feedback is defined as giving the person the information they need to make changes, fix problems, address issues and overcome obstacles with precision. Vague and wishy-washy comments like, ‘Yeah, it doesn’t feel right’ are not helpful. Nor are nasty and antagonistic ones. Nobody puts passion into a project for someone they don’t like.
Step 10: Everything is in writing
From the onset of your project to the phases and timelines to the final deliverables ensure that your project is clearly documented and that all parties have read and signed every document. You do not want to end up at the end of a messy conversation or project with someone saying that something was never clarified.Assume the best, prepare for the worst.
Step 11: Manage expectations
Your developer won’t always be around to leap to your requests or requirements. This is very normal and you may not be their only client. Be patient and trust that they will get back to you and respect your urgency.
Codeable needs people like you!
Do you have a special relationship with the WordPress Codex, dream about coding standards and are able to build your own custom plugins from scratch?
Do you work well with clients, have amazing communication skills and can solve the most difficult of WordPress customisation problems?
Want to be part of the best WordPress outsourcing platform in the world? Then Codeable wants you!
If you’ve followed this blog over the past few years you will know how joining Codeable changed my life. Well, now is the chance for you to experience the same life changing experience, by applying as a Codeable Expert developer.
Codeable is currently looking for expert WordPress full stack developers who love building elegant plugin or theme customisation solutions for clients around the world. If this is you, and you want to join the #1 outsourcing service for WordPress, then apply today.
P.S. I don’t get anything out of this, other than the satisfaction of maybe helping someone else become part of the Codeable family.
P.P.S if you don’t consider yourself a full stack (hardcore coder) developer and more of a WordPress developer (website builder) then you should also apply. I just happen to know that Codeable is looking for full stack developers at the moment.
Categories
New focus in 2019.
Usually, towards the end of a year, I start looking back at the year that has been, and looking forward to the year ahead, planning my new goals and resolutions.
This year, however, I have one very specific goal in my head. It’s an idea that actually birthed itself way back in July of 2016, when I wrote a post about why I got into development and blogging about development, in the first place.
2018 has been a year of personal goal achievement and so for 2019 I want to get back to sharing my (limited) knowledge and experience with others, to assist them in achieving their goals, both personally and professionally. So with that in mind I’d like to announce a few changes that will happen on this blog and my podcast, and a few other additions I’m making that will hopefully help support my efforts.
The Jonathan Bossenger Patreon
I have retooled and relaunched my Patreon page. The goal of this page is to give those of you who read my blog, listen to my podcast, or generally follow me online, the ability to help fund my work. I get a lot of folks asking questions in the comments area of my blog posts, and I’d like to be able to spend more time in helping them solve the problems they present. The Patreon is the perfect place to do this.
If you’d like to be able to get a little more out of me, from answering your questions to helping you solve your WordPress or web development problems, or you want me to write about specific experiences or topics, or even interview specific people on the podcast, the Patreon is the perfect way to have your voice heard. For a small monthly fee you can help me bring you the kind of content you are looking for.
The Jonathan Bossenger Mailing List
At the bottom of every blog post there is a ‘subscribe to my mailing list’ form. If I’m honest I’ve not really used my mailing list to it’s full effect. I intend to do so moving forward. I promise I won’t bombard you with rubbish, but I will select a few useful topics or articles, from either my blog or the web, that I think you will find useful, to send to you, no more than twice a month.
I will also use this mailing lists to announce any new exciting things I am doing.
A new focus for the blog.
You may have noticed that I have been blogging a lot more the past few months. This is because I’ve recently started working with a copywriter, who is helping me get my content out there. While I will still use this blog to share my personal experiences, it is my hope that with the assistance of the copywriter I will produce more useful and relevant content to my readers.
WP HackerCast – Season 2
If you were a regular listener to the podcast, you will have noticed things went very quiet after episode 18. This was mostly due to not really having enough time to find guests and prepare podcasts. For 2019, and with the help of my Patreon, I hope to relaunch the podcast with more interesting guests and interviews.
So, if you like the sound of all this, and you want to be more involved in what’s happening here or on my podcast, then please consider becoming a Patron, subscribe to my newsletter, or visit and subscribe to the podcast.
It’s amazing how stories mutate. What started as a simple ‘this is my setup’ post, then turned into a ‘what a day in my life looks like’. This morning I woke up and realised it might be more interesting, and less braggy, to look at how, and why, my workstation has evolved in the last two years, since I moved from office worker to freelancer.
A long, long time ago…
First, a little background. In 2011 I moved from being employed to being a combination of self employed (in the business my wife and I run together) and contract worker (at a local web development agency called Reamdigital). This meant I was working half the time from on office and half the time from home. This lead to me purchasing my first ‘developer’ laptop, a 17 inch Dell Vostro with a Core i5 processer, nVidia graphics, 16GB of RAM (manually upgraded) and a 750 GB hard drive. About a year later I upgraded the hard drive to a 500GB SSD and put the 750 GB drive into an external housing, but that laptop lasted me for a good 5 years in that configuration.
This laptop replaced my then current desktop computer, which I had custom built in 2010, while I was still employed at a company. Using my bonus that year I built a mid range gaming computer. The original specs aren’t important, but by the time I purchased the laptop it had the original AMD Phenom II 945 processor, 8GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD boot drive, a Radeon GPU, and a 1TB Hard drive for storage. My monitor was a 23 inch Samsung Syncmaster, which my wife had kindly purchased for me as a birthday present the previous year.
Other peripherals I had purchased for the computer over time included a Logitech gaming mouse, a Logitech 2.1 surround sound set and a Logitech gaming headset. Some years before my wife got me (another present) a Microsoft ergonomic keyboard, after my previous one died.
As this computer was originally built as a gaming rig, when I purchased the Dell laptop I turned this into a media streaming centre, and played the odd game on it in my lounge. Much fun was had with my oldest when I re-discovered the MAME emulator, and we had hours of joy playing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game together.
The ‘dad-station’ days
So, fast forward to January 2016 and I’m 100% freelance/self employed and working from home with a 1 year old at home all day and a 4 year old at home for the afternoon. Part of the reason I left the agency was to be able to spend more time with my boys, so I had a bright idea.
Scouring the local online classifieds, I found a second hand (this will become a recurring theme in this story) computer stand and set the laptop and monitor up in what I affectionately called ‘the dad-station’. This allowed me to work in the house seated or standing. The standing option was so that I could strap the 1 year old onto my chest and work while he sleeps, or just keep him busy while my wife tries to get some work done, or just take a break for sitting down all the time.
In the picture you can also see the Microsoft keyboard, Logitech gaming headset and mouse, and the R2D2 bobble head I received from the Reamdigital for my last birthday there.
It was during this time that the first of a few incremental changes happened to my work setup.
Firstly, having never previously worked on the Microsoft keyboard for a full day, I discovered that the so called ergonomic keyboard I had was causing a repetitive strain injury. For whatever reason, the way I use my right little finger on the shift key on the keyboard was leading to the top joint of the finger being slowly bent to the right over time and causing pain. To this day that top section of the finger is not straight when compared to the other hand.
While I was at Realmdigital someone suggested I look into the Logitech Marathon mouse, which I had done, and discovered it’s not only amazing battery life, but the fact that it uses the Logitech unifying software to connect, meaning you only need one USB dongle to connect multiple devices. When the keyboard starting giving me issues I went searching for a Logitech keyboard that was similar to a laptop keyboard (as I’d never experienced the problem when working on my laptop keyboard) and found a keyboard that was very similar, and also used the unifying software, so I purchased the wireless keyboard and mouse to replace my current gaming set.
Side note, the person I sold the mouse and keyboard to, a friend I know through jiu-jitsu, recently let me know that he is still using them, so I’m glad they found a new home.
At more or less the same time I purchased a second hand 27 inch monitor to replace the 23 inch, and moved from the house into our home office space. I also purchased a Gigabyte laptop stand so that I could have the bottom of the laptop screen at roughly the same height as the bottom of the monitor.
Towards the end of 2017 the Vostro laptop was in need of an upgrade, having served me well for 5 years. I opted for another Dell laptop, this time a Core i7 Dell Inspiron gaming laptop, RAM upgraded to 16GB, and a nVidia GeForce GTX 960M graphics card. It came with a 128GB M.2 SSD and I took the 500 GB SSD from the Vostro and installed it into the Inspiron, dual booting Ubuntu on the 500 GB drive and Windows on the 128 GB. I had a 320 GB notebook drive spare, which I installed in the Vostro and sold second hand to help pay for the Inspiron.
Unfortunately, as the year progressed, and as my workload and stress levels increased, it became obvious that working at home wasn’t productive or beneficial to anyone. My sons, as much as I love them, don’t understand either what a closed door means, or ‘the headphone rule’, and the constant interruptions caused me to start looking for an office space within a few kilometres radius.
In September 2017 I moved into my current office. Here is the original Instagram post I shared when I started in the new space.
What you can see in this image is the 27 inch monitor, the Inspiron laptop on the Gigabyte stand, the wireless mouse and keyboard, and the original gaming headset. As you can see R2D2 moved with me. The desk is a 6 seat dining table that was already in the office and the chair is an AllOffice contract office chair I used at home.
This is what my work space looks like now.
As you can see, quite a bit has changed.
Making the perfect space.
I replaced the dining room table with a second hand adjustable desk that I’ve made slightly higher then a standard office desk, to suit my size. I purchased an AllOffice Accent, which is a cost effective ergonomic office chair. I have definitely noticed the difference in purchasing an ergonomic office chair.
Next to my desk I have a small bar fridge and various coffee making paraphernalia, including a pour over coffee maker for when I want good coffee and a jar of Jacobs for when I just want OK coffee.
The workstation
I upgraded the custom built workstation, to be powered by an MSI x470 gaming motherboard, 6 core AMD Ryzen 5 2600x, 16GB of DDR4 RAM and a Zotac Geforce GTX 1060. OS is taken care of by two 128 GB SSD hard drives dual booting Ubuntu and Windows, with the original 1 TB hard drive and a new one purchase for storage for each OS. This handles every thing I throw at it, including some down time gaming between work sessions.
My peripherals now include a new Dell 27 inch LED, the 7 year old Samsung 23 inch Syncmaster and a Philips 24 inch monitor I picked up second hand recently. My wife is currently using the other 27 inch monitor, as I found the frame around it to be too big when I wanted to add additional monitors. The side monitor stands are a combination of phone books and Dos 6.2, Windows 3.1, and Office manuals I found in the office when I moved in.
You’ll see my R2D2 bobble head stayed, and he’s joined by the Lego Mini-Me I got from WordCamp Cape Town 2017. Next to that is the travel mug we all got as swag from WordCamp Cape Town 2018.
The wireless mouse, keyboard and headset are all the same, and I dug out my Logitech 2.1 surround sound set. I was actually pretty happy to be able to use my speaker set again, as it’s been sitting in a cupboard for almost 7 years now, since the days of the ‘dad-station’. Because I switched from a laptop to a workstation, I had to purchase a separate webcam which, if you’ve not already noticed the trend, is a Logitech one.
Finally I also purchased a Samson mic for meetings and podcast recordings.
I had previously purchased a Griffin stand to replace the Gigabyte one after I moved into the new office, mostly to allow for more space. I keep it around for when I need to use my laptop at the office (mostly to copy something I’ve forgotten to sync to the cloud). In this picture it’s on my desk, but I usually pack it away when I’m not using it.
Operator
My main OS is currently Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, and I generally stick to the LTS version unless something cool is coming out on a newer version. The Windows 10 install is mostly for gaming (those games that don’t work via Steam on Linux) or if I need to test something in a true Windows environment.
Remote work
I still use the Inspiron laptop, mainly when I’m travelling, either for meetings or conferences, or working from home. I took the 128GB SSD out of the laptop for the workstation and installed Ubuntu on the 500 GB SSD as the main OS. At the moment I am considering selling this laptop and replacing it with something lighter, slightly less powerful but with better battery life, as I still do some development on it, but not as much as I before, and definitely not enough to warrant such a powerful laptop.
The Office
The office is 5 minutes drive away from home and my morning commute takes me directly past a Vida, Xpresso and Seattle, so I can mix up my morning coffee flavours.
The office has a wall size street map of the Cape Peninsula, which is a talking point whenever I have video calls with folks from outside Cape Town and provides fun conversations when my 6 year old comes to visit.
There’s also a spare chair, if I ever have physical meetings, or the 6 year old is visiting. I like to keep the rest of the office as tidy as possible, but at the time of this photo there were a few boxes of stuff left over from WordCamp.
Downtime
One advantage of my office is that because it’s actually at the back of my father-in-law’s home office, I get to enjoy the pool whenever the Cape Town weather gets too hot. This is helpful as the office itself has no air conditioning.
It also means that if my children want to visit the grandparents for a swim, all I have to do is make sure I have my costume and towel, and I can join them for some water fun.
And in case you’re wondering, all that is in the bar fridge is some long-life milk for coffee, and a few bottles of water. I leave the beers at home, to be enjoyed on my couch with my family, after a long day 😉
The future
As it stands, I probably won’t make any changes to this setup any time soon. As previously mentioned, I might replace my laptop, but there’s no real need to yet. I will probably only start looking at upgrading the computer hardware in about 5 years.
During that time, the only hardware I might consider upgrading or replacing is my headset, to a wireless option, and possibly replacing the second hand monitors with newer Dell ones. I really like the minimalist build of the Dell monitors, but at around R3000 a piece for new 24 inch models, there’s no real desire to do so.
If I do spend money on the office space in the near future, it will probably be on air conditioning. Currently it can get quite hot in the summer and quite cold in the winter, and comfort is more of a current priority than computing power.
Either that, or a bean to cup coffee maker!
My friend Nathan over at the WP Builds podcast had the opportunity with chat with Matt Mullenweg about the pending WordPress 5.0 release and Gutenberg.
Worth a listen if you are worried about the 5.0 release.
While you are there, take a listen to the chat I had with Nathan regarding the GPL. Probably not as controversial as Gutenberg but interesting nonetheless.