Web developer, Single mom, Author, Reader, Baker, Music lover, Chaotic neutral
Writing a Custom WordPress Block
27 September 2022
This post has been a long time coming. I have talked about custom WordPress block creation for several years now, from blogging about converting a custom static block to a dynamic one to speaking at various conferences about why dynamic...
26 August 2022
With the latest news about exponentially-rising tuition costs and student debt forgiveness, I keep asking myself whether college was truly necessary. Truth be told, I have been asking that quite a bit over the years. I went to college in...
19 August 2022
I am a published author. Wow. Publishing a children’s book was a shock, probably to everyone, but especially to me. I never thought that “author” would ever be a word that I could use to describe myself. Yet, here we...
29 July 2022
Joni is a full time developer. Joni is a single mom with a 4 year old. Joni is a newly (almost) published author. (T-3 days until launch!) Joni is a self-published author, which means Joni is also a PR agent....
09 July 2022
I have spent the last several weeks (slowly) evaluating different email newsletter solutions because, according to my marketing plan, a newsletter is something I should consider starting. I mean, it is a great way to get the news out about...
16 June 2022
They say, “try to do something that scares you.” They say, “say yes to everything.” Who are “they”? And why exactly am I listening to them? Writing a book was scary Actually, I take that back. Writing a book, specifically...
Sweet Little You: Available for Pre-order!
31 May 2022
Today is my birthday. This is not a marketing ploy. Today is actually my birthday. Being at the end of May, it often overlaps with the Memorial Day holiday weekend, which, to be honest is pretty nice. I get some...
Sweet Little You: Cover Reveal!
11 April 2022
Something happened this weekend. Something big. I got the final illustrations for Sweet Little You! OMG OMG OMG!! I have been working with Lisa Wee, a wonderfully talented illustrator, for the last few months and I couldn’t be happier with...
08 March 2022
Oh carousels. The last time I wrote about carousels, it was 2017 (seemingly a lifetime ago), when I shared a solution for fixing keyboard navigation in carousels. I know carousels have not magically disappeared in the last 5 years, but...
Overriding WP core: Dynamic blocks edition
07 February 2022
I was recently given the task of making the WordPress core RSS block look exactly like one of our custom blocks posts block. That custom block displays a series of news stories. RSS feeds are series of news stories, so...
The art chaos of time management
01 February 2022
Once upon a time, there was a (not exactly) young girl who decided to have a full-time tech job, solo-parent a pre-schooler, and publish a book. “I am so organized!” she exclaimed. “I can totally manage my time to get...
12 January 2022
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my early career as a developer. Getting a CS degree was hard - harder than it needed to be. My classes were filled with C++ and (mid-1990s) Java. Those languages were neither easy...
30 December 2021
I have been meaning to write more, mostly to have some sort of creative outlet that does not involve code. Don’t get me wrong. I love coding and still have about 20 different side projects and ideas that I want...
15 December 2021
In an effort to spend more time on Twitter1, I came across a tweet with the following advice: Go to the library and read 100 books published in your category in the past five years I know I need to...
28 November 2021
Well, the text is done! After a few rounds of editing (e.g. many, many, many rounds) with both alpha readers and a proper editor, I am feeling quite good about it. I’m happy with the message. I’m happy with the...
17 November 2021
It has been a busy year! Between running after my newly-minted preschooler, excitedly settling into life as a fully remote worker, and remodeling our kitchen, you would think I would have time for little else. I thought the same. Then...
WordPress dynamic block registration, with special guest JSON!
27 October 2021
My last blog post was about WordPress theme customization with JSON. It seems only fitting that I follow that up (nearly 6 months later… yikes!) with a new post about custom block registration and, you guessed it, JSON! WordPress 5.8...
WordPress Customization: Supports and Variations and JSON. Oh my!
04 May 2021
The new WordPress editor (“Gutenberg”) has been a part of our lives for almost 2 1/2 years. Since that initial launch, WordPress has come out with so many different ways to customize block editor: theme.json, block variations, and block supports....
Creating block.json for a WordPress block
12 November 2020
I have been creating custom WordPress blocks since Gutenberg was in beta, though the vast majority are for work. But this week, I added my very first block to the WordPress block directory. (Hooray for my Color Palette!!) Anyone can...
Regularly online developer conferences: An impossible post
29 June 2020
This is a post long in the making, even before the days of our global pandemic and quarantines. In fact, I have been attempting to write this post for so long (6 weeks and counting) that I have deemed this...