Starting tomorrow I am moving out of my cave, getting some sunlight, driving about 5 miles down the road and starting a new job at Astonish Results.  At Astonish I will be the Director of Web Interfaces and Development.  I’ll have more to come on the work that I’m doing in the future.

I want to thank all my friends and teammates at Neal for making the past few years fly by.  It’s hard to move on from such a talented group but at the same time I’m really excited to start a new adventure.

Astonish Results is an amazing company that while still young has grown extremely quickly.   I am proud to be apart of this team and look forward to a very productive and exciting future.

The simple drag and drop nature of menus makes it easy for Users Admins to make changes and edit their site, giving them more control and freedom. We also see that Menus are created by User Admins, which means they are theme independent. No matter how many themes are activated during the life of your WordPress website, your menus will remain unharmed and unaltered.

Theme developers are given the ability to define Menus Locations.
Menu locations allow for User Admins to define where their menus will appear in the theme. I can create a “Main” menu and assign it the “Main Navigation” location which you can see above.

The Solution

I propose that Sidebars and Widgets work exactly the same way. As a User Admin you can define “Widget Holders” (we can use a more elegant term) similar to defining menus. Once these holders are defined we can fill them with widgets and order them how we like.

Theme developers will then define “Widget Holder Locations” (currently known as sidebars but again we’ll come up with a more semantic and elegant naming convention). Once these locations are defined we can select which widget holders to place in each location in the same manner we define menu locations.

This immediately separates widgets from the theme allowing them to remain accessible and available to the User Admin regardless of how many times they change themes.

The Benefits

We already mentioned “Theme Independence” but what does that really mean? It means that User Admins will not have to worry about duplicating their work every time they change a theme. Imagine all the posts and pages you have in WordPress now, what if I told you that if we install a new theme you’re going to have to go through and re-enter all that content. WordPress would quickly be lost as a cms.

I know how much work is put into defining widgets. I utilize sidebars throughout all my client projects and placing, editing and ordering widgets takes a lot of work. Even defining a new sidebar between two others throws off the entire widget order. It’s tedious and unnecessary!

I also have clients who run specials and monthly campaigns. With this new Sidebar Widget solution we could define as many Widget Holders as we want and later switch them in the Widget Holder Locations. So we can have a traditional aside with “Recent Posts” and other related widgets. We can also define a second widget holder to house our monthly campaign content. When it comes time to run the campaign we can just change our widget holder selection in the location dropdown, just like in the menu area. Saving and restoring widget holders is just the tip of the iceberg in benefits.

Other Suggestions

It would make sense to allow for widgets to have a on/off switch or even a draft/publish status like posts. All too often I want to hide a widget just temporarily but my only option is to delete it. Maybe I want to turn off a “Live Chat” button that is held in a Plain Text Widget just temporarily. To do this I have to move the widget to the “inactive area” and save it for later.  It would be far simpler to keep it where it is but have a toggle show/hide button.

How Do We Get Started?

Well there are a variety of things we can do. First lets discuss if this is the best option. Comment here, start a conversation on Tweet to @wordpress

Go to the forums and discuss. If we all agree this is the best way to move forward then you can do anything from suggesting a change to WordPress or committing code to the core yourself.

The best thing about the WordPress community is that anyone at any level can contribute and make it better. I have been thinking about this a lot lately and it wasn’t until I shared my ideas out loud with a friend, Aaron Ware, that I decided that I was on the right track. From here we can all work together to make this better for everyone. I’ll likely get started working on this myself and if anyone wants to help please let me know.

Which is perfect for a gift because it has the boxes and is in beautiful condition for the low low price of $349.99. I’ll even ship it anywhere in the USA for FREE. That’s right folks, FREE! This is a limited time offer with an extremely low quantity of 1 so if you’re interested Act Fast!

Bidding Starts Here:

If you’re interested in making an offer go ahead and comment below or email me at highfive [ at ] jesserfriedman [ dot ] com

To be absolutely clear I do not wear an eye patch myself, I do not condone it, I don’t torrent, I don’t download software, movies or music. My point is that the companies most affected by piracy could create better solutions to consuming their media to help alleviate the “need” to be a “pirate”. A perfect example of this is Adobe, who was faced with huge piracy numbers of their software and instead of continually attacking their users they created a subscription model to create a lower barrier of entry for their products.

Congressman Langevin is a supporter of the:

The Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act (OPEN Act), a bill introduced in the United States Congress proposed as an alternative to the Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act, by Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, a Democrat, and Representative Darrell Issa of California, a Republican – Wikipedia

Which at the moment seems like the lesser of three evils. The bill creates stronger regulations on how to define an “infringing site” and it empowers the United States International Trade Commission instead of the United States Justice Department to make the decisions regarding how to deal with those sites.

We worked together to shelve SOPA and PIPA, does this make OPEN a reasonable compromise? What are your thoughts?

Congressman Langevin’s email:

Dear Jesse:

Thank you for contacting me regarding internet piracy and recent legislative proposals to combat it. I appreciate your concerns and welcome the opportunity to correspond with you.

From my days registering trademarks as the Rhode Island Secretary of State, I have had a serious interest in protecting intellectual property. Artists and innovators in our state and around the country deserve to be rewarded for their hard work and creativity, and our national emphasis on strong copyright and patent protections has also fostered the growth of world-leading businesses and cultural institutions. Unfortunately, Americans are increasingly facing threats to their intellectual property from countries that lack our concern for copyright, and our government lacks the means to prevent damage to the economy from trade in counterfeit goods and the sale of copyrighted works.

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), introduced in the House by Rep. Lamar Smith, and its companion legislation, Senator Patrick Leahy’s PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), were intended to provide internet service providers and law enforcement agencies the tools to combat foreign copyright infringement. Unfortunately, their methods are incompatible with both the openness that is the internet’s hallmark, and important cybersecurity protocols.

SOPA and PIPA would allow intellectual property holders to bring suit against infringing sites and could compel internet advertising services and payment processors to cease doing business with a site, cutting off its two largest revenue generators. The definition of “infringing site” used by both acts is overly broad and could easily result in legitimate sites being cut off from funding.

SOPA and PIPA also provide for civil action initiated by the Attorney General, which could ultimately require “infringing sites” to be delisted by search providers and blocked by internet service providers. The original proposal for blocking sites would have completely undermined the secure domain name system (DNSSEC), one of the building blocks for improved cybersecurity. Although that particular provision may be removed before the bills reach the House floor, any site blocking or web-search censoring runs directly counter to American values and also gives cover for repressive regimes that currently use such measures. The US is the world leader online, and we should lead by example by continuing to ensure the government has the lightest touch possible when regulating the Internet, only making exceptions in cases where our citizens are directly threatened or harmed.

For that reason, I was proud to join my colleague Rep. Darrell Issa in introducing the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade (OPEN) Act. Unlike SOPA and PIPA, the OPEN Act uses a constrained definition of “infringing site,” to ensure that only those who willfully engage in counterfeiting or other intellectual property theft will be targeted. The OPEN Act confines its reach to payment processing companies and advertisers, making it a powerful tool for law enforcement without censoring the open web. Finally, the OPEN Act relies on the International Trade Commission (ITC), a well-respected panel of copyright experts, to determine whether a site is a violator rather than relying on general courts. I am confident that the swift passage of the OPEN Act will protect intellectual property owners and maintain the open nature of the internet.

Thank you again for contacting me on this incredibly important issue. I will continue to fight for internet freedom and cybersecurity as PIPA, SOPA, and OPEN move through their various committees. I also invite you to sign-up for my monthly e-newsletter to stay up-to-date on active legislative issues. Finally, please don’t hesitate to contact me on this or any other area of concern.

Sincerely,

Jim Langevin
Member of Congress
***
If you would like to sign up for my e-newsletter, please click here.
For more information about my work in Congress, please visit my website.

Pirating May Have Been Their Only Choice

Until now, these freelancers would likely have gone straight out and downloaded the same software from a torrent site.  Pirated software isn’t that hard to come by and there are a lot of “hackers” out there working to make it even easier.  I’d love to see some numbers on how many websites were built on pirated software cause I imagine the number is astounding.

Adobe Adopts a Subscription Model

Adobe’s Subscription model is going to severely reduce the barrier to entry for freelancers.  Instead of having to fork over $1,799 to get the adobe suite they can instead pay $89 a month.  The software is installed on your machine all the same but it only remains accessible if your subscription is paid for and up to date.   You can also subscribe to specific applications instead of entire suites which has it’s benefits as well

The Numbers Speak Volumes

$1,799 for Adobe CS 5.5 Web Premium is a lot of dough.  Then you have to assume that the suite will be updated every 18 months which is $399.  So if I’m a freelancer starting in 2012 by 2015 I will have paid $2,597 plus tax.  Over three years and two upgrades this is a lot of money.  Its even harder to hand over your credit card for such a large payment when you know the same software is out on the internet for free and all I have to do is wear an eye patch (bad pirate joke).

With the subscription model you pay $89 a month.  Over 3 years (assuming the price is the same) you’ll pay $3204.  This is a little more money than the pay once option but doable.

Over three years:
One Time Payment = $2,597
Subscription Model = $3,204
Difference = $607 or $16.86 a month (over 3 years).

If I was a freelancer today I’d subscribe to just Photoshop which is only $35 a month use a different IDE than Dreamweaver and if I need Illustrator or Flash I would get it on a month to month basis which you can read more about here.

Monster Meltdown is stacked to become the gold standard in online inspirational resources. Patrick MacNeil author of the Web Designers Idea Book series has put together thousands of screenshots organized in easily consumable categories to help you better understand design principles involved in building specific types of websites. Today you can get the Monster Meltdown pack for half price. Enter code “2FOR1″ at checkout.

Themify is having a great Black Friday sale that’s continuing through Cyber Monday. Use the coupon code “blackfriday” at checkout for a 40% discount on individual themes and club memberships (which have already been reduced).

My top 5 Responsive Themify Themes

Tisa

Grido

Suco

Elemni

Wumblr

OvernightPrints has a lot of great print products for already low prices. I just had to order all new business cards since I gave them all away at FOWD a few weeks ago. Use the code “FRIDAY” to get severely reduced prices and double VIP Points on your purchase.

Media Temple is not having any specific Black Friday specials that I could find but they already have such amazing prices. I switched to Media Temple last year and haven’t looked back. They’re servers are amazingly fast and so reliable. I also haven’t had much need for MT customer service but the little I did need was great. I also hear nothing but awesome things from other MT users.

Sugar Sync is my favorite file sharing and cloud backup service. I used to be a huge fan of Dropbox and I still use it at Neal Advertising. However I use Sugar Sync for all my personal and Freelance files. You can get space up to 500 gigabytes which is insane.

You can also designate any folders you want to easily sync. A great example of how I use this is when I build WordPress themes on a local server. Instead of backing up the entire WordPress install all I do is right click on the theme folder and tell it to sync. Very easy to use and very reliable. I wrote an in depth article covering the benefits of Sugar Sync on SEJ.

Now I am not asking people to sign up for a service so creating a narrative around filling out a contact form may not increase conversion. In fact it may inhibit it. If I’ve gotten people to the point where they want to send me information or request a quote and they find this form style difficult then it can have a negative effect. However I’m willing to try and see how it goes.

If you’re interested in how I did it, I’m using the Contact Form 7 plugin for WordPress. Below is a screenshot of the Contact Form 7 settings so you can see how it looks. I combined the “placeholder” attribute with some css to create the desired effect.

If you’re using a “Mad Libs” type form on your site I’d love to see how you do it and know if it actually converts better for you.

My current favorite listening candy for overcoming a poor attitude or bad mood is “We No Speak Americano” by Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP. This is just one of those tracks that will make your feet move and your mouth turn up.

#2 Walk the Dog

No that’s not a euphemism. Walking the dog, playing with your kids, running, riding a bike or aqua yoga (not sure if that’s a real thing) all release endorphins. Endorphins are chemicals produced by the brain which relieve anxiety and pain. Exercise creates a surplus of endorphins which is why getting your blood pumping can help you feel better and think clearer.

If you don’t have a dog, Astro needs a home. That’s right, I just went there.

#3 Watch This

#4 Do Something Nice For Someone Else

Being altruistic is great but doing something about it is even better. This can be anything from a small office task, to donations to a charity. You can decide what you want to do today but do it for someone else. Even The Grinch’s heart grew three times the size when he returned the gifts to the Whovillians. You’ll feel better that you did something nice for someone else.

#5 Make Someone Smile

This is not as easy as you may think. Getting a polite grin may be simple, but getting a genuine smile from someone can be tough. A smile is a really powerful thing and bringing one out of someone else will make you feel better.

Here’s the thing you can’t get someone to give you a real smile if you’re frowning. They may give you a pity smile or a cute frown or something but we don’t want that. So get out of your chair, stand up in the office and tell a bad joke, tickle your kid or give someone a real “look them in the eye” compliment.

Making others laugh and smile will make you feel 10x better guaranteed or your smiles back… haha see I got you started.

A smile costs nothing but gives much. It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None is so rich or mighty that he cannot get along without it and none is so poor that he cannot be made rich by it. Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away. Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give. – Author Unknown

Have any good additions to the list, share them. Still feeling bad? One Click Hug Request.

I can see that my student understands the gravity of the situation.  He’s an up and coming web designer, a student and he’s eating dinner with some of the biggest names in our industry.

I myself was in his exact same place just a few years ago. This was my second time speaking at FOWD and until Ryan, Cat and the rest of the Carsonified team gave me the opportunity to speak I was just like my student. I was mystified and honored at the idea that I could have a beer, eat a meal or just enjoy a good conversation with the Web Industries Godfathers/mothers.

I want to be clear on this point. The only thing that has changed between myself then and myself now is that I don’t expect celebrity elitism anymore.

We come to these conferences and watch people speak on topics and we see them as celebrities or athletes who we should expect a high five from, maybe an autograph and nothing more.  I was in the same mindset and I am still truly honored and humbled by how I’ve been treated and the opportunities I’ve received.  Except now I know that everyone in this industry feels that way.

Without naming specific names, take a look at the speakers list of FOWD this year and last year. These individuals are the movers and shakers, the big wigs, the elites in our industry but do they act that way? Absolutely not!

I have spent time with almost all of these people and there are no inflated egos, no “holier than thou” attitudes and certainly no celebrity mindsets. These guys and gals are so grounded and down to earth, they are humbled and honored and they appreciate us all of us.

This is something truly special that we only see in our industry.

You will not see the new low level lawyer eating dinner at “The Palm” with his boss a world renowned attorney and partner at the firm. You’ll never see the mail room guy having a beer with CEO of a financial institution. And pigs will fly before a surgical resident has a night out on the town with the countries #1 surgical oncologist.

But here sits my student, some attendees of the conference, myself and others with the most talented, successful and powerful names in the business. You might ask how we all got there but thats really the wrong question. The right question is why are these rockstars so accessible?

Its because they know how important it is to spread knowledge they’ve gained, the experience they’ve earned and the success they bled and sweat for. They’re doing on to others as others have done on to them.

We should all feel lucky to work in this industry and do what we do. I for one am so blessed to be afforded my opportunities especially since all I had to do to get where I am going is to shake some hands, smile and share my passion and ideas.

We are a community, we learn from one another, grow with each other and shape our world like no other group.

These are great times that I am so happy to share with all of you and thank you all for your support, kind words, smiles, hand shakes and talent.

http://jesserfriedman.com/amazing-view-from-print/ http://jesserfriedman.com/amazing-view-from-print/#comments Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:47:00 +0000 Jesse Friedman http://jesserfriedman.com/amazing-view-from-print/

I had the honor of dining and drinking with some our industries greatest leaders last night with this view.

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http://jesserfriedman.com/a-little-life-amongst-the-metal/ http://jesserfriedman.com/a-little-life-amongst-the-metal/#comments Mon, 07 Nov 2011 12:06:00 +0000 Jesse Friedman http://jesserfriedman.com/a-little-life-amongst-the-metal/

Quite a beautiful thing to see this tree push and fight to live and grow.

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http://jesserfriedman.com/a-stroll-through-brooklyn/ http://jesserfriedman.com/a-stroll-through-brooklyn/#comments Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:54:00 +0000 Jesse Friedman http://jesserfriedman.com/a-stroll-through-brooklyn/

Just a quick walk before dinner with some friends

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