Tidbits from Brian - Issue #7
Burnout is real.
Ahmed Kaludi from Magazine3 just kicked off a brand new WordPress Talks Series. I had the pleasure of being the first guest. We talked for over an hour about many different topics, including building a business, content marketing, SEO, WordPress, and most importantly, burnout.
Both mental and physical burnout is a topic not many like to discuss or admit to having. But it's a huge problem, especially in the startup and WordPress communities. I've been there, and I can't stress enough that it's OK to step down and focus on yourself. Sometimes it's needed.
Updates ✍️
I work with clients to optimize their WordPress sites regularly. I'm still surprised by how many people have still never heard of a system font stack. Web fonts, including Google Fonts, are heavy in comparison to other resources. You can ditch them altogether and solve a lot of problems.
Since getting Covid last year, I've been dealing with some health issues. Let's say, it knocked me out of my long-time remission (autoimmune disease) really fast, and my body spiraled into some other health problems. Check out some things I've been personally changing.
We recently revamped our plugin UI in Perfmatters and are happy with the changes. It's still using native styles, of course (for speed), but it's cleaner, and the most used features require fewer clicks to get to them. We've also carried over the changes to our Novashare plugin.
Interesting things 🔎
Misc.
The DuckDuckGo beta for Mac launched! It looks and feels great. It's based on the macOS rendering engine, so it will be interesting to see how they handle extensions going forward.
The housing market is crazy right now. Orchard takes an interesting approach to help you try and grab a house faster. Only in the US.
AppSumo is running a great lifetime deal on premium stock photos from Depositphotos. This is where I get all of my photos.
WordPress
Kyle from The Admin Bar is doing a live interview with Tom Usborne, the creator of GeneratePress/GenerateBlocks, on May 16th. This is definitely one I'll be attending.
DevKinsta 2.5.0 is out! It now uses ARM64 docker images on Apple M1 devices.
Performance
Harry from CSS Wizardry wrote one of the best posts I've seen on optimizing Largest Contentful Paint.
The new Performance Lab plugin now shows total autoload data in the Site Health section. A great shortcut I wish I had years ago.
The WordPress core team has decided to hold off on enabling WebP by default after community feedback. I'm glad they heard us!
WPTuts put out a great video with tips on speeding up WordPress.
Marketing
A friendly reminder regarding SEO. Thin content issues are site-specific and not always page specific. See what John Mueller says.
Check out this great episode from Kinsta on how a frontend developer became an internationally renowned SEO Specialist.
Tim Soulo from Ahrefs tweeted, saying a longer article doesn't equal a better article. While I agree in principle, I don't agree from an SEO perspective. Ironically, Ahref's blog is long-form content.
Crypto (not financial advice)
LimeWire is back! But this time around, it's for NFTs. A blast from the past.
Strike announced a partnership with NCR, the biggest POS supplier in the world. This could enable all US merchants to accept Bitcoin and USD over the Lightning Network.
A failure to understand proof of work is a failure to understand Bitcoin. Love this thread!
Gemini released the 2022 State of Crypto packed full of stats!
Fidelity is adding Bitcoin to their 401(k) accounts. The dominos keep falling, and it's exciting.
Kraken exchange has integrated the Lightning Network. Hooray!
If you think Bitcoin uses too much energy, I encourage you to read this thread from @jyn_urso.
The Central African Republic (CAR) has officially adopted bitcoin as legal tender. It's the second country to do so.
The future of investing is 24/7. I completely agree with Robinhood on this. Crypto is 24/7, so equities should be too.
Goldman Sachs just made its first Bitcoin-backed loan.
Until next time! 👋