There was an interesting discussion during the last bbPress dev meeting about the different approaches for implementing a solid search feature for the forums, and how it should play along with the general WordPress search. Here’s the main ticket. I’d like to keep the dialog going and will summarize the core ideas.I’m writing this without […]

I got the opportunity to hit up WordCamp Grand Rapids a few weeks back. Shane and Peter are great at convincing people to tackle new and exciting things that push your comfort zone a bit, for me that means getting out into the community more. I must admit, I’m not much of a conference guy. […]

The most common question I get when speaking to new, and even experienced, freelancers is “What should I charge?” How should I set my rate? Hourly or Fixed? How much will I make this year? I have a formula I use to raise or lower my rate, as well as some key strategies you can […]

I just returned home from the latest Modern Tribe retreat. Four times a year, the Tribe brain trust takes 4 days to dedicate to the business. As hard working folks, it’s easy to become fully focused and dedicated on our clients. We want to provide excellent service. We want to provide the best designs, and […]

I’m a chubby dude. I’m not rotund by any means, but I’m a little more ‘Jolly Old St. Nick’ than I am ‘teen werewolf heartthrob.’ With my first kid on the way, I’ve decided to get in shape. From what I’ve heard, having a kid can really wipe you out, so it’s best I get […]

Hi. I’m Shane. 10 years ago, I started a company of 1. It was a healthy mixture of dream and desperation. With a lot of love from some great people, and some sweat, it worked out. I solved some cool problems and surfed when most of my friends worked. Freelancing let me make my living […]

This year at SXSW, I put a panel together on the topic of WordPress. We focused on the business side of the open source platform, primarily the three core revenue models heavily employed today: Services / Consulting, Premium Plugins / Themes & Premium Content. We got extremely lucky and nabbed some of the industry leaders […]

Every person on a career path has a dream. Musicians want Grammys, startups want acquisitions and surfers want world titles. When I chat with freelancers, the most common aspiration I hear is, “I want to partner up with other freelancers to take on a bigger project and build a company.” When running an agency in […]

As you all know, SXSW is one of the pinnacle conferences of our industry. Hopefully we’ll get to meet some of you there. Drop us a note if you are going! SXSW session picker voting has begun. Peter & I have two talks we are pitching, one on the business of technology and one of […]

3rd in a series of WordPress admin patterns. The pattern is for the Add New Post screen (post editor) in WordPress 3.0. Please not that while it is most likely feature complete, they are still fussing with it just a little bit, so I may have to fine tune it for the public release. Hopefully […]

2nd in a series of WordPress admin Balsamiq patterns. This pattern is for the WordPress 3.0 Beta admin comment list. Download the Pattern: Comments List.bmml For updates, release information and tips about Shane’ & Peters open source WordPress plugins or redmine core ux/ui, ipad or the freelance lifestyle, follow Shane on twitter @justlikeair and visit […]

I have been having a great time working with balsamiq to quickly push out wireframes for projects. We have a few large wordpress plugins in the works for customers which will really take advantage of 3.0 custom post types. Up till now a lot of UI work when designing plugins was a bit of the […]