What could be more boring than data? Ever seen a huge long list of numbers, sliding down into infinity? Horrible! Forget about a glass of wine or a sleeping pill, friends. If you are having trouble drifting off, I suggest reading a spreadsheet. Of course, analyzed data can be crucial, but doing the analysis is a complicated process best left to mathematicians locked in a basement with a couple of computers and a prodigious supply of coffee. Even then, the analysis is usually pretty hard to … [Read more...]

I am on a quest. Yes, a great and epic quest to construct an interactive map for my client that is both lovely and editable from within WordPress. In Part One I covered the arduous task of using jQuery plugins to make an imagemap do some things it was never designed to do. Now we forge onward, and make our content easy to update! "But Jim," you might be saying, "how in the name of Frodo are we going to pass information back and forth from WordPress to javascript?" Still your hearts, friends. … [Read more...]

One of my amazing clients is in the real estate business, which is great. After all, they say that everyone should get into real estate because there's only so much real estate to own. Tell that to those wacky Japanese or the fun lovers in Dubai. Those guys construct islands like I scramble eggs. My clients asked what I thought about coming up with an interactive map to show the placement of their home sites. Google Maps sprang to mind, but as the development in question is new, and the … [Read more...]

In the past, I have had just about the same enthusiasm for setting up e-commerce solutions as I had for putting pine cones down my pants. Thankfully, the process has gotten a lot better in recent years. One solution I have been using is BigCommerce, originally recommended to me by my buddy Christopher Darrell. In fact, I like them so much that I applied for and have been accepted to their "Certified Partner Program," so I get a little slice of cheddar whenever I refer them. The only … [Read more...]