JOB TITLE: SENIOR FRONTEND ENGINEER

YEARS AT WEBDEVSTUDIOS: 2.5

Writing this is harder than I thought. I went through a lot of drafts trying to figure out how to effectively convey a day in my life as a Senior Frontend Engineer at WebDevStudios.

It’s far more complex than just waking up and doing stuff because of how my brain is wired. Which is why I have to begin this blog post from when I was really young, around 6 or 7 years old. I know that’s more backstory than just a day in my life, but humor me.

Early Childhood Education

When I was in first grade, I was the only one in my class who didn’t know how to read. I was really good in math, though.

I knew how to write, sort of. I could write my own name, just not read it correctly. I knew my name, but reading it is an entirely different thing.

I read my name as “Titimi Tamowa,” which is also the reason why my nickname is Tim. I had this teacher who was a special education teacher, and she wanted to tutor me. I didn’t want her to, until I saw my sister’s name on the honors list and my name wasn’t there (I knew how to read my older sister’s name).

I was very competitive, and I wanted my name up on that list, so I got tutored. This wonderful teacher worked with me for the rest of first grade, and I don’t really remember what she taught me, but it stuck. I got on that honors list in second grade, and I learned how to read and write.

I have dyslexia, but I had a very patient teacher who taught me how to make letters and words work for me the same way I had taught myself to make numbers work for me. I love drawing, and I could draw numbers. I understood how patterns worked, which is why math was not really an issue for me, even if I still didn’t know how to read.

I do math visually, and numbers are figures that I draw not write. I think that’s how I learned how to read and write. Letters are figures that I draw, not write, and letters have individual sounds. They form words.

I think I have a pretty good memory, but it was very hard to figure things out right away. So, I read to help me with learning words. I read a lot, and one of the first books I read was a dictionary.

I had to go through each word and memorize them in my mind—how they look and how they sound together. And as impossible as it sounds, I went on to win numerous spelling bees up to my college years.

Understanding Dyslexia

Dyslexia, contrary to what most people believe, is not reading and writing backwards. It’s a lot more complex than that.

The reality is that dyslexia is a different way of thinking. What dyslexics have is a “picture brain,” and we think in pictures not words.

There are various types and degrees of dyslexia. Sometimes, it’s hard to know you have it when you haven’t been diagnosed as a child and just branded as a slow-learner your whole life.

As an adult, sometimes words fail us. We may say another word yet mean an entirely different one. We tend to forget a lot of things that we don’t think really matters at that moment because we can only take so much information to process and have to make sure we have enough space for the ones we think matter at that exact moment. Once processed, it’s there to stay (most of the time).

Finding Inspiration

I’m fascinated with words and how they look and how they sound. Letters may not exactly look the same way to me as they do everyone else, but I understand them the same way. This fascination pushed me to learn HTML and then CSS and then PHP and JavaScript.

It was a slow process because the words look different, and the syntax is not one that I fully grasp. But, I love to learn and challenge myself.

I memorized the way these words look and how they work individually and together. And even if there are new ways to work with them, I’m able to know how to draw them and test them and make them work the way I need them to.

This is why I often shy away from talking about code. I can’t tell you exactly what each function is and how it works because I can’t. I know it works because I’ve tried it before. I draw code, not write it.

Well, I type code, which is sort of the same for me, and a lot easier than writing. Learning about new languages is a struggle for me, though, because I had to figure out how each letter and word work in the context of a new programming language. But, I always try. And, more often than not, it will just click. It takes time, patience, and tons of coffee.

A Day in My Life as a Senior Frontend Engineer

A day in my life starts with me waking up somewhere around noon to 2 p.m. I check on my two teens, ask for coffee, and check on all our dogs.

If I wake up at 12:00 p.m., I have lunch with the family. If I wake up later, I either eat lunch alone or just have coffee and snacks with my family later in the afternoon. Sometimes, when I wake up early, I get to go out and get groceries. Most of the time, I just play. My current obsession is Animal Crossing, and my island is not completed yet.

My workday starts when the sun is about to set. I’m from the Philippines and work starts between 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. for me, depending on what day of the week it is, or if there are meetings that I need to attend.

Getting ready for work is just me making sure I have water, coffee, and comfy clothes. I’m probably on my third or fourth cup of coffee by the time work starts, and I’ll have more while working. But I’m trying to keep my coffee intake to about five cups now.

When I start working, I often forget the time and just continue without getting up or drinking water. It’s a bad habit that I need to fix. I have to set reminders. Sometimes they work, but most times they don’t.

My husband also nudges me time and time again to get up and take a break. But problem solving is such an integral part of coding that time just stands still for me in that little bubble I’m in. I feel like I have to figure things out first before I do anything else.

More so, with the way I work, any kind of interruption disrupts my thought process, which means the drawings in my head more often than not get erased. That leads to having to restart from what I can vividly remember.

You see, I don’t code right away. I have to figure out how everything will look like before I start. It’s a puzzle that I have to first put together in my head before attempting to draw (type) it.

That method often works as-is, but sometimes I have to rearrange my drawings into different patterns to get it to work exactly the way it needs to, or as close as I can get it to what is needed. And once I have at least two clear options, I start coding and fix any details that I might have missed the first time.

Tasks for the day need to be done on that day, if I can, because I won’t be able to get a good night’s sleep otherwise. I can remember many times when I wake up suddenly because I figured out what went wrong with my code while sleeping. I know I’m not alone in this. Sleep does make you code better.

During my workday, there will be some calls, a few rubberducks with the amazing engineers I work with that help me get unstuck whenever I need help, and lots of coding. Sometimes it’s stressful, but most times the work is very rewarding.

My day ends much the same way it starts—with the sun. This time, when the sun is about to rise. I usually end my day with a cup of coffee, a few minutes of candy crush to get my mind off work, and then sleep.

The way I work and the time I keep is not for everyone, but I love what I do and I’ve been doing this for more than a decade. I’m still enjoying every single day of it.

Some days are harder than most, but life would be boring if that’s not the case. I’ve worked in a lot of companies before, but WebDevStudios has given me the freedom to spread out my wings and to not be afraid to try, embrace my uniqueness, and grow. I’ve grown a lot over the past couple of years that I’ve worked here. I’ll always take the bad with the good and season it with a bit of unicorn dust.

I leave you with these words from my fellow dyslexic:

Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.
– Albert Einstein

TL;DR: Dyslexic Senior Frontend Engineer, works from dusk to dawn—draws code, not write it.

The post WebDevStudios Day in the Life of a Senior Frontend Engineer appeared first on WebDevStudios.

Gutenberg default blocks were built with accessibility in mind. With every release, more accessibility improvements are being added. The WordPress Gutenberg, Design, and Accessibility teams spend a lot of time and effort toward improving user experience. WordPress, at its core, has always been committed to being as inclusive and accessible as possible; and every single new release brings in new accessibility improvements.

Because of this, every new additional feature to WordPress, be it a custom theme or a custom block, needs to follow the accessibility guidelines. But how do we make sure that our custom blocks are accessible? How do we test it?

How to Make Custom Blocks Accessible

Creating a new block is fairly easy. The Block Editor Handbook has an easy-to-follow tutorial to hep you get started named Writing Your First Bock Type. Below are a few things you need to include in your custom block:

1. Assign appropriate ARIA landmark roles to each area of your custom block. These will allow screen reader users to know exactly what your block is and where they are inside your custom block.
2. Use Semantic HTML. Semantic HTML is standards-based and stable. It will be parsed and elements will be styled and communicated properly to end users by screen readers and other assistive technologies. In short: IT JUST MAKES SENSE.
3. Make use of the `.screen-reader-text` CSS Class. The .screen-reader-text class was introduced in 2009 and each theme and/or custom block should have this style class added by default. This class is used to visually hide text meant for screen readers and for `skip links` to make sure that it is visible when focused for those who use keyboard navigation.
4. Pay attention to heading structure. Add headings to meaningfully describe the content of your block where necessary.
5. Be mindful of links. Screen readers call a list of links to quickly navigate a site. You must make sure that all links are structured correctly and meaningful. Below are some things to avoid:
   1. Multiple/duplicate links to the same location
   2. Meaningless link texts
   3. Too many tab stops

If you want to know more about making WordPress accessible, you can head on to the Accessibility Handbook.

How to Test Accessibility

There are many ways to test accessibility of a website. Below are some tools that you can use:

1. WordPress  Accessibility Best Practices
2. WordPress Accessibility Front End Code Test
3. The A11Y Project Checklist
4. WP Accessibility Plugin
5. Accessibility Insights

I hope this blog post will help you make your custom blocks accessible. If you like this article and want to learn more about accessibility, read the WebDevStudios blog for more information on this important subject.

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Disclaimer: IT IS NOT EASY. You will need a LOT of PATIENCE and TRY to remember that they’re your kids and you LOVE them.

The younger the kid, the harder it is. My kids were four and five years old when we first started homeschooling them. They did not know how to read and write. They’re teens now and it did get easier, but then again, teens have their own sets of challenges, too.

Below, I have outlined resources that you can use (most can be used for all ages) to keep your kids educated and entertained. We’ve either personally used them or tried them out or have read and/or considered using them. But before we get into these resources designed to help you work remotely with kids at home, the first thing you need to do is to make sure that your children understand what we are currently facing and why they must stay at home. Do not hide information from them. You’ll be amazed at their ability to adapt once you open doors for them. They have these amazing minds that just gobble up information. So, help them choose the right resources for understanding COVID-19.

• This Kid’s Guide to Coronavirus infographic from Rise and Shine offers a very simple way to help kids understand what COVID-19 is and what they can do to make sure they’re healthy.
• This quick video about the Coronavirus is especially useful for kids.
• And for younger kids, they might enjoy learning more about the virus through a song.

Now that your offspring know why they must stay at home and wash their hands thoroughly, let’s look at some resources that will help keep them remain engaged and help parents successfully work remotely with kids at home.

Recommended Online Resources

• Time4Learning – We have been using this for a few years now and the lessons are easy to follow and fun according to my kids. They also offer a 9th-12th grade curriculum that we might get next year. They have free resources, but the curriculum is $19.95 for the first student and $14.95 per additional student per month.
• BrainPop – This has been one of our go-to resources when the kids were younger, and they are currently offering free access for schools and families impacted by school closures. Just sign up and you’ll get 30 days of free access.
• Tynker – My kids learned about computer programming using this free site. They have lessons for ages 5-7, 7-13, and 13+.
• Khan Academy – This is my personal favorite. The resources here are really good. My kids have been using this since forever. For those who do not know how to create a home school schedule for their kids, Khan Academy has created one for you to use here.
• Udemy – There are a lot of free lessons here that older kids can work on. We usually use these for supplemental lessons for math, science, and computer programming.
• NatGeo Kids – This hub of free videos offers lots of interesting scientific facts that my kids have loved.
• ABCmouse – We used this when we first started homeschooling and the kids learned a lot. This is for children ages 2-8, and you can try it free for 30 days.
• DreamBox – We used this together with ABCmouse, and the kids liked it. They are now offering a 90-day free trial. You just need to sign up before April 30th.
• Starfall – This is a free educational resource for younger kids with interactive online reading and math activities.
• Clever Dragons and Always Icecream – My kids love these sites. They’re gender-targeted which might not be your thing, but I do know that all the lessons and videos are the same. The program costs $19.95 per month, per child with a $1.99 trial for the first month.
• ClickSchooling – Once you subscribe for free, ClickSchooling will email you web-based curriculum ideas daily, six days a week. Children go on a virtual field trip every Friday!
• Academic Earth – This one is for older kids and offers access to online college courses from the world’s top universities. We haven’t started on this yet, but the playlists looks really great and did I mention it’s FREE?

YouTube Channels

• Crash Course Kids – What a really, really great resource for visual learners (and all types of learners)! I know for a fact that kids will love their videos.
• Crash Course – This educational platform is perfect for older kids. My children have transitioned to this channel. I’ve learned and relearned a lot from watching the videos with my kids.
• Science Channel – This is another meant for older kids, specifically those who love to learn about outer space, technology, and science as a whole. Younger kids might find it boring, so beware.
• SciShow Kids – For the younger children, this will keep them entertained while they learn about science.
• Free School – These videos are about the arts, music, literature, and natural science. It’s a very good resource for older kids.
• GEOgraphy Focus – These mini-documentaries are about several countries and geared toward older students.  This channel has videos that include profiles of countries and regions, descriptions of important landmarks and geographical features (both natural and man-made), and discussion of international issues.
• The Brain Scoop – Here, you’ll find really cool videos about the work and research of natural history museums. Older kids will enjoy it, and so will parents.
• Kids Learning Tube – Younger kids absolutely love this channel because they learn through music. Just skip to the one-minute mark.
• Mike Likes Science – This is another option for learning through the art of song, but for older kids.
• Science Max – These really cool, turbo-charged science experiments are impressive.

Bonus

Cells at Work (Hataraku Saibō) is a Japanese anime that you can watch on Netflix. Turn the subtitles on, and I guarantee you will learn your kids will learn a lot about the human body and how it works.

Want to be a part of a company that knows how to support team members working remotely with kids at home? Join WebDevStudios. We’re hiring! Head on to our Careers page to learn more and apply today.

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WordPress has a huge 35% share of the internet pie. More often than not, the issue you’re having has been documented somewhere with a fix added in for good measure.

Outlined below are five of the most common WordPress errors and issues and how to fix them in the easiest possible way. There will be minimal hand-holding here; you will need to figure out how to get to where you need to go to make changes.

Most of the fixes described below will require you to have some PHP knowledge, knowledge of the WordPress Admin, and an understanding of how to use your hosting platform’s tools. But mostly, you’ll just need common sense and the ability to follow instructions to a T.

Issue 1: Locked Out of WordPress Admin

Scenario: You forgot your password and you don’t have access to the recovery email address.

Fix: The easiest way to fix this WordPress error is to do it via PHPMyAdmin using a SQL statement.

Log into your hosting’s admin panel, then open phpMyAdmin. Select your WordPress Database from the left column, then select the SQL tab and add the following code. Make sure that you’ve changed `new_pasword` and `your_username.`

UPDATE `wp_users` SET `user_pass` = MD5( 'new_password' ) WHERE `wp_users`.`user_login` = "your_username";

However, if you want to create a new admin user, you can drop this instead (make sure to change the values to the right ones).

INSERT INTO `databasename`.`wp_users` (`ID`, `user_login`, `user_pass`, `user_nicename`, `user_email`, `user_url`, `user_registered`, `user_activation_key`, `user_status`, `display_name`) VALUES ('4', 'username', MD5('password'), 'Your Name', 'email@email.com', 'http://www.website.com/can-be-blank', '2011-06-07 00:00:00', '', '0', 'Your Name');


INSERT INTO `databasename`.`wp_usermeta` (`umeta_id`, `user_id`, `meta_key`, `meta_value`) VALUES (NULL, '4', 'wp_capabilities', 'a:1:{s:13:"administrator";s:1:"1";}');


INSERT INTO `databasename`.`wp_usermeta` (`umeta_id`, `user_id`, `meta_key`, `meta_value`) VALUES (NULL, '4', 'wp_user_level', '10');

Issue 2: Maintenance Mode Error

Scenario: You updated your theme and/or plugin and somehow it did not go through the whole process and now you’re stuck in Maintenance Mode.

Fix: There are a lot of fixes to this, but if you need your website up and running in the shortest time possible, you will need to access your website files and you can do that via FTP, your host’s File Manager, or by using an SSH connection. You will need to delete just one file that sits right at the root of your website files -> .maintenance

FTP

File Manager

SSH Connection

Connect via SSH to your server. Navigate to your website’s root folder and type the following code:

rm .maintenance

Issue 3: HTTP Image Upload Error

Scenario: You could not upload and have the same issue with any image you try to upload no matter the file size. You went through the basic troubleshooting: disabled plugins, default theme, but nothing works. All you can see is a generic HTTP error. There is no explanation, just that you can’t upload anything. It is not a glitch nor a plugin conflict. What else can you do?

Fix: There are three fixes to this WordPress error that you can try:

Increase Memory Limit

Edit your wp-config.php file, found at the root of your WordPress site. Add the following right above where it says: /* That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */

define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' );

Shared Hosting? Use the .htaccess Hack

Imagick(ImageMagick) is one of the two modules WordPress uses to handle images. And shared hosting usually limits Imagick’s ability to use multiple threads. To fix this error, edit your .htaccess file and add the code below right at the top of your .htaccess.

MAGICK_THREAD_LIMIT 1

Ditch Imagick and Use GD Library Instead

Command Tell WordPress to use the GD Library to handle images by adding the code below to your theme’s functions.php file.

wp-content -> themes -> your-theme -> functions.php

function wds_default_image_library( $editors ) {
$gd_editor = 'WP_Image_Editor_GD';
$editors = array_diff( $editors, array( $gd_editor ) );
array_unshift( $editors, $gd_editor );
return $editors;
}
add_filter( 'wp_image_editors', 'wds_default_image_library' );


Issue 4: 404 Not Found Error

Scenario: Out of nowhere, a page on your website is no longer accessible and serving you NOTHING. Nada. Zilch. You might have enabled or disabled a plugin, maybe changed a theme. You’ve already cleared your cache and you know you have the right URL.

Fix: The first thing you can try is to reset your WordPress permalinks. You can just click the Save Changes button and that will reset your permalinks without you changing anything. But, I usually do the extra step of setting it to Plain first and then save. Go check on the post or page to see if it works. If it does, put it back to Post name or whatever your chosen permalinks setting is.

WordPress Dashboard -> Settings -> Permalinks

One extra step to try, if just resetting won’t work, is to rename your current .htaccess to something else. The .htaccess file sits right at the root of your WordPress files. You can then create another .htaccess file and copy the default one below for versions 3.5 and up. If you are running a WordPress Multisite or version 3.4 and below, check this WordPress Support article for the .htaccess to use.

# BEGIN WordPress


RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]


# END WordPress

After doing that, go through the process of resetting your permalinks again to see if it works. If it does not, change to a default theme. If it works, then the issue is with your theme.

Issue 5: 500 Internal Server Error

Scenario: This is another generic error that does not exactly tell you what’s wrong with your website. All you know is that your website is currently NOT WORKING.

Fix: If you can access your WordPress admin start at step 1. If not, start at step 3.

1. Disable plugins. Did it work?
   • No – Continue troubleshooting below.
   • Yes – Try to enable your plugins one by one to find the culprit. (Another tip is to create a folder inside /plugins called /disabled [the name doesn’t matter], then move any plugin that you suspect might be hanging the site into that folder to immediately disable it.)
2. Change to the default theme. Working?
   • No – Down the rabbit hole…
   • Yup – Check your theme for errors and see if you can fix it. If you can’t, find another theme that works for you or create your own. WebDevStudios’ wd_s is a pretty great starter theme to use.
3. Check if your .htaccess file is corrupt. Rename your old .htaccess and create a new one. Go through the same fix outlined above for Issue 4: 404 Not Found. How about now?
   • Still nothing – Put your thinking cap on and move to the next step.
   • YES!!! – Pour yourself a glass or two and make sure to create a backup of your website.
4.  Create a backup. Download a new copy of WordPress here. Connect to your site via FTP, delete wp-admin and wp-includes folders. IMPORTANT: LEAVE wp-content ALONE. Once done, upload the wp-admin and wp-includes folder to your server.
   • Nothing is working – It’s time to call customer support and check with them if they can help you fix it.
   • Everything is back to the way it should be.

There are lot of other fixes for these errors that you can find online, but the ones outlined in this blog post are my usual go-tos before I do anything else. They work almost all of the time. Just make sure that before you do any kind of change to your website files, your first step should always be: back up everything.

Need help creating a WordPress website that works, error-free?  Contact WebDevStudios today.

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The first time I was in Davao, I only stayed for a few hours; and that was a decade ago. So, I was excited to get to know the city and to meet the WordPress Davao community. It was also my first time to be a plenary speaker. I’ve always done workshops with no more than 50 people in attendance. Talking in front of a large audience is a bit out of my comfort zone, but I think I did pretty great.

My talk was about “The Importance of Giving Back to the WordPress Community.” This topic is so close to my heart because the WordPress Community has given so much to me. I started off my talk with a quote from Lady Gaga:

I think tolerance and acceptance and love is something that feeds every community.

I love this quote because I firmly believe that without these components, a community will rarely succeed. When you choose to be a member of a community, you choose to TOLERATE. You choose to ACCEPT. You choose to LOVE. Sometimes, you choose these things even if you don’t have to, even if you don’t want to, but because you love, tolerate, and accept, you do it.

I’ve also been asked a lot why I give tons of time to the community when I can spend that time with my family or work and get paid and I only have one answer to that: without WordPress, I wouldn’t be here.

I think this is true for a lot of people in the WordPress community. We care for our people. We may have different opinions but we try to tolerate and talk things through. We accept our differences, and work with it. All of us love WordPress, and it shows. And such is the magic of community.

Before my talk, I manned the Happiness Bar together with two fantastic guys⁠—Andrew Garcia, lead organizer of WordPress do_action Manila 2019 and Takayuki Miyoshi, creator of Contact Form 7. All in all, it was a great start for WordCamp Davao. The organizers did a really awesome job. I’m pretty sure all 250+ attendees had a great time, as well.

And then came the pomelo… I just couldn’t leave Davao without taking home at least a couple boxes of pomelo. Of course, I had to say hi to Pag-asa–the first Philippine eagle to be bred and hatched in captivity (even though I had to go through thickets to see him).

The Davao WordPress Community is thriving and next year’s WordCamp Davao is going to be bigger and better. If ever you are in town next year, don’t forget to say hello.

And because I love the WordPress community so much, not only am I the lead organizer for WordCamp Iloilo, happening on August 24-25, but I will also be the instructor for our  first ever Workshop for Kids on August 23rd. I will be teaching 15 children (ages 9-14) how to set up and manage their own WordPress.com websites. So if you need good company, delicious food, and a taste of the beach, do come visit Iloilo City, Philippines for WordCamp Iloilo 2019. I’m 100% sure you’ll have a great time.

See the entire WordCamp schedule for all upcoming events at Central.WordCamp.org. To find out which WordCamp events you can find WebDevStudios, visit our WDS Gives Back page and scroll down to “In a Town Near You.”

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