{"id":343496,"date":"2021-07-04T06:29:01","date_gmt":"2021-07-04T13:29:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/?p=343496"},"modified":"2021-07-04T06:29:04","modified_gmt":"2021-07-04T13:29:04","slug":"the-fourteenth-fourth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/the-fourteenth-fourth\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fourteenth Fourth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s CSS-Tricks birthday! Somehow that keeps coming around every year<\/a>. It’s that time where I reflect upon that past year. It’s like the annual vibe check. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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I’m writing this just days after my current home state of Oregon has lifted most of the COVID restrictions<\/a>. Certainly a very weird feeling. We’re just hitting the state-wide 70% vaccinated level which is the big milestone covered in the news<\/a>. I thought our little local organic-heavy progressive grocery store would be the last place to go mask-less, but even in there, the vast majority of people are raw-facin’ it, employees included. So it’s not just America’s birthday this year, but a real sign of changing times. Controversy in tow, as there is plenty of evidence the danger is far from over. Definitely gonna hit up some fireworks though. The kid loves ’em.<\/p>\n\n\n

Well-Oiled Machine<\/h3>\n\n\n

I’d say that’s ^ the main vibe around here from my perspective. The site is in good shape all around. The tech behind it is stable and mostly satisfying. The editorial flow is flowing. The content idea bucket overfloweth. The newsletter goes out on time. The advertising and sponsorship demand is sound. Ain’t any squeaky wheels on this train. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And did you know we have zero meetings? Just light Slack chatter, that’s it. This is a part-time gig for everyone, and we aren’t doing any life-saving work here, so no need to take up anyone’s time with meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technologically, we’re leaning more and more into the WordPress block editor all the time and it feels like that is a good thing to do here in WordPress land. Every time we have a chance to get more into any<\/em> current WordPress tech and take advantage of things WordPress does well, it tends to work out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is all great because as far as hours-in-the-day go, most of my time is on and needs to be on CodePen<\/a>. An incredible amount of work lays ahead there as we evolve it.<\/p>\n\n\n

Things to Get Done<\/h3>\n\n\n

That’s not to say there isn’t work to be done. I’ve got some WordPress scrubbing to do, for one thing. There are a few too many places functionality code is being stored on the site. I’ve completed an audit, but now I need to do the coding work to get it clean again. Things change over the years, WordPress evolves, needs evolve, performance and accessibility considerations evolve, my own taste evolves. Code from 8 years ago needs to evolve too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing I’d really love to get done is to move all the content on the site that really should have been a Custom Post Type to actually be Custom Post Types. Namely screencasts<\/a> and almanac<\/a> entries. Right now they are Pages instead, which was fine at the time as it lends itself to a hierarchical structure nicely. But the only reason they aren’t Custom Post Types is because those didn’t exist when I started them. In today’s WordPress, they really should be, and I think it would open doors to managing them better. I’m not sure I have the chops to pull off a conversion like that so I might have to hire out for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’d also like to evolve our eCommerce a bit. I think it’s been going great as we dipped our toes into selling things like posters<\/a> and MVP membership<\/a>, and now it’s time to make all that stuff better and more valuable since it’s a proven win. For example, I’m working on making sure the book is downloadable in proper eBook formats, that’ll be a value-add for members. I’ve started thinking about what more we can do with the newsletter<\/a> as well since those are so hot these days, and I’m a fan.<\/p>\n\n\n

Social Media Cards<\/h3>\n\n\n

While social media isn’t a major focus of ours, we do tend to make sure Twitter is in good shape, as we have that sweet handle @css<\/a>. I’m pretty hot on the idea that sites (content sites especially), should have nice social media images. Fortunately, thanks to Social Image Generator<\/a> and some custom code, ours are in good shape. I still smile looking at them as they are so damn distinct now. WP Tavern did a nice writeup<\/a> on the plugin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are five different possibilities for social cards now we can use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n