Tidbits from Brian - Issue #42
Reflecting on past failed projects/ideas. 💡❌
I was cleaning out some old folders on my computer and stumbled across a bunch of old projects/ideas that never got off the ground. I’ve definitely failed a lot more than I’ve succeeded. 😅
First, there was my blog at webguystricks.com (started by myself, brother, and another developer). 👨💻 Our goal was to push out regular web developer tutorials. It lasted maybe 6 months.
Next, there was learnwp.io, learnseo.io, learnsmm.io, and learnppc.io. 📚 My thought was that I would share everything I learned over the years. Let’s just say I never got the time to do anything with these and sold a few of the domains and let the rest expire.
Next, there was themewood.com. This was actually going to be a performance-focused WordPress theme/builder. 👨🔧 I’m kind of glad I never started this, as I think solutions like GeneratePress/GenerateBlocks are already great. And with things moving to FSE, it would have been a nightmare.
Next, there was bestlisty.com. ✅ For some crazy idea, I thought a list-type site would be a brilliant idea. Kind of like ranker.com for tech and software tools. Thankfully, I didn’t spend too much time on this.
Next, there was synthwave.io. 🎷 I used to have a website up for this. I listen to a lot of synthwave music; it’s pretty much all I stream all day, every day. I’m obsessed. But as of right now, the domain is just redirected to my playlists (Spotify, Apple), which I do keep updated.
Next, there was pennybros.com. 💰 My brother and I were going to share personal finance tips. We both love to talk about investing, money hacks, etc. It lasted for a bit, but then we sold the site.
And those are just a few examples that I found. Do any of you have ideas that simply never evolved into anything? Or, looking back, might seem silly? Sometimes, being an entrepreneur, it’s hard for me to stop thinking of new projects and things to build (that’s the fun part!). But I’ve learned over the years that consistency is everything, and there is only so much time in the day. 🕰️
Updates ✍️
We pushed an update for our Perfmatters WordPress plugin. Here are a few of the changes:
We spent some time refactoring our delay JS inline script, including removing the pageshow event listener and more aggressively uglifying the code. This resulted in a 15%+ decrease in the script size (32% uncompressed). 🔥 It's in addition to the 8% reduction back in 2.3.7. ⚡
Added built-in JS deferral exclusion for Cloudflare Turnstile.
Added new delay JS quick exclusion for Plausible Analytics.
Updated delay JS quick exclusions for Fluent Forms and Kadence Blocks to be more compatible.
Adjusted document.write built-in delay exclusion to prevent false positives.
Adjusted MU Mode documentation links in the Script Manager to go to specific anchor link sections.
Fixed an issue where encoded data attribute values weren't being preserved correctly when converting an elements attribute string to an array.
Fixed a multisite issue where the root directory path was not determined correctly when using a custom content directory setup.
Deployed a secondary API that can be used when the client has issues communicating with our licensing server (usually due to firewalls). 🛡️
Removed deprecated SVG duotone filter removal actions from global styles toggle and updated the tooltip to reflect the changes.
We’ve also published a few docs on our Perfmatters site:
Real user data versus lab data in PageSpeed Insights. This comes up all the time with clients.
How to fix the enable text compression warning and some info about the new Zstandard compression method.
How to add PHP to WordPress, quick and easy.
We also pushed out an update for our Novashare WordPress plugin. Here are a few of the changes:
Added a new location follow button (great for Google/Apple maps, location pages, etc.) 🗺️ Remember, you can also add your own custom buttons, meaning unlimited possibilities.
Added support for image pin buttons to appear on images inside Bricks editor content.
Added dynamic label font size for follow buttons relative to the overall size set for the buttons. 📐
Fixed an issue where the follow block height would not always display correctly in the editor.
Fixed a display error that could sometimes happen with certain follow block networks.
Fixed an issue where Pinterest image content was returning blank when no global post data was available.
Moved the show on scroll load event to an event listener to prevent conflicts with other onload events. 🖱️
Fixed multiple display issues with highlight buttons that could happen with specific setups.
Updated our staging site license key exception list with additional formats for WP Engine (*.wpenginepowered.com) and stage.* 🔑
Interesting things 🔎
Misc.
I really enjoyed this blog post from Andrej on digital hygiene. It’s important to update your tech stack regularly to ensure you’re using the best in terms of security, data privacy, etc. But there are usually tradeoffs, too.
Skype is finally shutting down. Feels like the end of an era. I’ve got a lot of Skype hours under my belt. 👴
Troy Hunt’s Mailchimp list was stolen through a phishing attempt. Just a reminder: you should never click on buttons in emails. Always go to the website directly.
The new Dell Ultrasharp U2725QE monitor looks promising! 120Hz, 4k, enhanced IPS panel, 140W power delivery with Thunderbolt 4, and a built-in KVM.
Andrew used four cameras to capture the ultimate HDR view of the lunar eclipse. Probably one of the coolest moon shots I’ve ever seen!
Klarna lands buy now, pay later deal with DoorDash. You can now pay the ridiculous DoorDash fee and finance your fast food. 🤦♂️ What a world.
Stripe is now starting to charge a $15.00 fee when you counter a dispute. This isn’t going over well for their brand.
Stumbled across Mintlify; it looks like a Linear but for documentation.
Did you know that you can create shortcut keys for almost anything in macOS? If there is a menu, you can shortcut it. For example, I have shortcut keys for the window snapping in Sequoia. Here are some other examples.
Also, if you’re on a Mac, I highly recommend the SoundSource app. It allows you to change the volume of separate applications. Brett and I work on FaceTime a lot together, and this allows us to still play our music in the background.
WordPress
The WooCommerce database notification is finally going away. We need more of these types of improvements!
Have you started using clamp functions for scaling? I’m starting to dive into this and should have sooner. 📏 Very cool. Kyle has two great videos: clamp for fonts and clamp for spacing. You can even do it for line heights. And here is another tutorial.
If you’re using the Easy Digital Downloads EU VAT plugin, you’ll need to register with the UK to get an official API for checking and validating VAT going forward.
I’m always trying to make improvements regarding accessibility on our sites. This Link Contrast Checker tool came in handy.
Kinsta has launched an automatic updates add-on that includes visual regression tests. If anything big changes/breaks (you can tweak the thresholds), you can have it rollback automatically. Pretty cool!
Jonathan Jernigan put together a great overview of the big changes with GenerateBlocks 2.0. Definitely a channel to subscribe to if you’re using GeneratePress and GenerateBlocks on a regular basis.
Performance
DevTools in Chrome 135 is getting some performance improvements.
As of Chrome 135, the <select> element can now be customized with CSS. Long-term, it might mean less JS. Also, functions in CSS?
I’m always looking for cookie plugins that are better in terms of performance. Awesome Motive launched WPConsent. 4 KB overhead and no jQuery dependency. Looks promising! Lightweight Cookie Notice is probably still my first choice.
An excellent overview of why we have a cache-control header.
The core team has released more details about how the new Speculative Loading API will work in WordPress 6.8 (ETA April 15th). We’ll be hooking into this with Perfmatters.
Kyle tested 150+ real agency sites to see which page builders actually perform best. No surprise, GenerateBlocks came out on top! That’s why I recommend it.
Cloudflare has increased the CPU limit of their Workers from 30 seconds to 5 minutes.
Marketing
Google explains why indexed pages may not appear in search.
Not all sites will fully recover with future core algorithm updates, according to Google.
LinkedIn has partnered with Calendly. Users can now schedule appointments directly from your LinkedIn profile. This will be handy for a lot of folks!
AI
Should we be polite to our AI tools? 🙏 This YouTube short is hilarious.
OpenAI has released a research preview of GPT‑4.5, the strongest model yet.
Microsoft has launched a Copilot app for Mac.
Google has released Gemini 2.5 Pro, designed to tackle increasingly complex problems.
What if Interstellar was a Ghibli animation?
ChatGPT for macOS can now edit code directly in IDEs.
Pika 2.2 is here, with 10s generations, 1080p resolution, and Pikaframes.
The new Grok image editing is pretty fun to play with. 😂 Here is my car, Mad Max style, during the apocalypse. ChatGPT is also rolling out 4o image generation.
Bitcoin (not financial advice)
The United States has established a strategic bitcoin reserve and a separate digital asset stockpile (official source).
Gamestop announced an update to its investment policy to add bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) gave the green light to banks to engage in crypto activities, within reason of course.
Bitcoin in the bush - the crypto mine in remote Zambia. It’s interesting to see positive articles about bitcoin coming out from mainstream media.
How fast can a chain of 10 people send some bitcoin to and from each other over the lightning network? Pretty cool.
If you're in the Scottsdale, AZ area, hit me up, and we can grab lunch! 🥗👋
As always learning something new with your tidbits 🫡 best of luck for it. keep add more interesting stuff about related wordpress and mac. Because in every tidbit, I learn something new about wordpress and mac. Keep it up ❤️🏹