jQuery Sticky (Fixed Position) Sidebar with Bootstrap 3 col-push Problem

The Issue It works on desktop browsers, but not iPad or Safari Using jQuery Sticky and Bootstrap 3, a "stuck" sidebar should stay at the defined distance from the top and in the exact place it started to the left/right. However, when using Bootstrap's column push and pull, a Sticky sidebar breaks. On the iPad, the sidebar jumps to the opposite side of the screen. If you are on an iPad 2 (and maybe other versions) or Safari 5 for Windows (and maybe other versions) you should see the issue … [Read more...]

What Is The Best Screen Resolution To Design For?

Ever wondered, "What is the best size to build a website?" As a developer I get this question all the time, typically from graphic designers looking to make a site that lasts at least a few years. One good resource to answer the question is StatCounter's Screen Resolution Data. It gives a nice interactive graph with the latest screen resolutions in use throughout the web. Here's how it looked for January 2010 through December 2012 June 2010 to June 2013. Source: StatCounter Global Stats … [Read more...]

CloudFlare vs BlueHost Performance: Is switching worth it?

A few months back (around September 2012), BlueHost and others started advertising--maybe even pushing--CloudFlare to its users. The promise was/is that CloudFlare will speed up your website using a content delivery network (CDN). They say it's a relatively easy thing to set up and BlueHost even has an integrated piece to facilitate it smoothly from with their own control panel. "I'm thinking of switching to Cloud Flare. Is this a good move or can this end up being a disaster? I've not read … [Read more...]

WP Google Fonts Plugin

I had the pleasure of getting involved with the development of the excellent WP Google Fonts plugin by Adrian Hanft starting with version 3.0. Adrian reached out to see if I'd be interested in helping take WP Google Fonts to the next level by integrating it with the Google Webfonts API. Prior to v3.0, the plugin used a list of fonts meticulously and manually updated by Adrian. Since the plugin's conception, the Google Fonts foundry came alive with new fonts being added at an ever increasing … [Read more...]

The Best Full Screen Background Image Sizes for Web Design

Last Updated: 4/30/2019 I frequently get questions on the best size for background images from designers I work with. Full screen backgrounds have become more and more popular in the last couple of years and, I think, will remain so for at least a few more. The question asked is usually something like: "If I want to put a background image on a website that will span the background regardless of the display size a user is using, what would be the pixel dimension of the image?" I've … [Read more...]

“This is a business, not a bathroom” and Other Lost Opportunities

My family and I recently completed a summer road trip driving across 5 states in the great Northwest, visiting friends, some of America's lesser known hot spots, and middle-of-nowhere businesses along the way. One thing we can all agree on is that road-trippers everywhere--especially those with small children--have need of convenient roadside bathrooms...probably more often than us bladder control champion dads care to admit. We covered a couple thousand miles, so we were lucky enough to test … [Read more...]

Relating Posts, Pages, and Custom Post Types in WordPress

I received a question from a fellow WordPress designer/developer recently on how I was able to bring content from related pages and posts into any page, post, or custom post type. "I like the way you pull in posts featured images and also page featured images on the bottom of pages.  It keeps the site hoping.  I wasn't able to find a plugin that would pull in featured images on both posts and pages and all of them seemed to be recent posts or random.  And then I tried to use categories in post … [Read more...]

Should We Be Blogging

"More people have read this shirt than your blog." This is one of the most common questions we get asked. It's a hot topic and it applies to everyone from new businesses to well-established ones. Starting a blog is a pretty easy thing. Figuring out how to use it to your advantage is a bit tougher. Blogging is great for your website search engine optimization and creating a customer touch point. If you do it right. 65% of daily internet users read a blog. About 46% of daily internet users … [Read more...]

Online Marketing Minute: How Can Social Media Help My Business?

Business people, did you know that about half of direct mail is never opened? And, that over 200 million of us have joined the no-call list. We are also great at deleting spam with blinding efficiency. How can businesses reach their customers then? One way we can reach our customers is through social media marketing. We are inherently social creatures. We work, live, talk, and play together. Social media is a blending of technology and talking to each other...anywhere, anytime, with anyone. … [Read more...]

Online Marketing Minute: Why do search engines matter to my business?

You may already think you know the answer to, "Why do search engines matter to my business?" But let me take a minute to show you why they don't just matter, they really matter. By the Numbers As of 2011, 92 percent of US Internet surfers use search engines. In December of 2011, 18.2 billion searches were conducted with the major search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. (Google alone had a staggering 12 billion, followed by Bing with 2.7 billion, and Yahoo! with 2.6 billion. Google has … [Read more...]