Work Journal

31/10/2021

Work with the Ticketmaster api to pull a list of upcoming events and display them on a calender. Using FullCalendar.js.
For the first time I've started really digging in to Gutenberg to build a client site. After avoiding it for so, it does actually offer a decent user experince now.
Started designing and building a new client site for ACMN which will be launching by the end of this week.

Launched the An American in Paris Website for ACMN.
Design and developed an EDM for An American in Paris, using MJML.
Customised a Gravity Form so that each option in a select list could only receive a limited amount of entries before it was removed from the list.

Spending a lot of time getting my head around Gutenberg these days. Building custom blocks, adding / removing parts of the built in blocks, and styling existing blocks.
Quite a bit of time on content entry / updates on various website these days.
I'm a bit behind replying to emails, so I have to set aside a couple of hours to really go through them all and get that cleared off my plate.
Spening a little more time Designing these days. I've always designed smaller sites, but these are larger sites, with larger desing / approval processes. Nothing has launched yet, but looking forward to get a couple of sites out to the world.

I’ve been helping OOTS out with the launch of the brand new Australian Golf Digest website.
We relaunched Friends the Musical Parady with a new cast.
Everything else I have been working on this week is yet to be announced, but lots of exciting new projects coming out in the next few weeks.

It's almost 🎄🎄🎄 Christmas 🎄🎄🎄, so this will be my last Journal of 2020.
Explored building Custom WordPress Blocks to replace the existing ACF Flexible field component system I currently use.
Spent a lot of time writing Documentation as I finish up my full time roll at Out of the Square.

I'm excited to start the next chapter of my worklife. Managing all my work through Emptyhead will allow me to better manage my time to meet dealines across my clients and the couple of agencies that I am consulting with.
I am looking forward to spending more time in React in 2021.
Fitting more Excercise into my schedule is a big goal for 2021.

Started exploring Object Fit this week. Interesting API for standardising image sizes. It might mean with proper use I can cut down the amount of custom image sizes that WordPress produces and just rely on the built in sizes.
I got to work on boarding someone this week, and it is a really makes you realise how disorganised most of your processes are when you have to explain them to someone else.
I’ve been working on a Shopify site this week, I have to improve my understanding of liquid and the Shopify API.

No sites launched this week, although I did add the tickets section to Shaun the Sheep

Spent some time this week fighting with Google Lighthouse scores. The page gave vastly different numbers every time it was loaded, which made it tough to quantify optimisation changes for our client.
WordPress introduced a change to get_template_part() in v5.5 that allows $args to be passed into the file. I’ve been experimenting with this to allow the same file to be used in both an ACF flexible component and called manually by passing content into the args. D.R.Y. Things Up!!
Quite often I need to code up a design that involves an element that encroaches into the area above or below it, such as the video on the homepage on Shaun the Sheep’s Circus Show. Normally I play with negative margins and padding to move elements up or down, but it always feels fragile. This time I worked with background gradients and transparency. I should write up a blog post about it.

Worked on another project with the team at ACMN, to launch a site for the upcoming production of Shaun the Sheep’s Circus Show. Designed by Antonio Almeida it has a really playful feel. I’m looking forward to the next couple of phases on this project.

I’d really like my Git commits to be a little clearer. This article looks like a decent framework Write better GitHub commit messages Conventional Commits

Spent a lot of time working with WooCommerce this week, both on a custom website build and in an existing site built with a page builder.
Managed to get some time building out this site a little more. I'm enjoying working with Gatsby.

Launched a new website for Type St Productions (a New York based entertainment company with a focus on film, television and Broadway). Built with the amazing team at ACMN.

If we are loading Google Fonts, make sure we do it in the most optimised way. Article from CSSWizrdry.com. [The Fastest Google Fonts – CSS Wizardry – Web Performance Optimisation]