The Scott Hanselman and Scott Hunter talk we watched:
Discussion Section of the night:
The power is now all in the .NET Standard Library, as they put it “one library to rule them all.” The reason is writing PCL (portable class library) has a hard reference to each base library. So now with the .NET Standard Library, this one BCL (base class library) works across : .NET framework (with WPF, Windows Forms & ASP.NET), .NET CORE (UWF & ASP.NET Core) and XAMARIN (with iOS, OS X and Android). This offers Microsoft much lower maintenance with no zero conflicts!
My personal thoughts: I’m not big into .NET as others in attendance. I do believe that it’s a smart move to have the .NET Standard Library but one that should have taken place YEARS ago! I feel like Microsoft is trying to not alienate any more programmers with this move of still supporting multiple programming languages. I’m still not sure why C#(began in 2000), Visual Basic (began in 1991) and F# (began in 2005) will continue to be supported. Apple introduced Swift and gave programmers a clear cut answer of what is to come. The C#, VB & F# programmers still have options… but programming overhead by Microsoft doesn’t make sense to me, at least not in the long run!
https://bigtenwebdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Participants-of-the-CRIneta-Cedar-Rapids-dotNET-User-Group.jpg34564608avannoyhttps://bigtenwebdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Big-Ten-Web-Design-SEO-Marketing-logo-with-text-300x78.pngavannoy2016-04-04 17:30:492018-04-30 04:15:13CRIneta: Cedar Rapids .NET User Group meeting April 4, 2016
I’m sitting at Forbidden Planet enjoying my calzone and in comes the co-owner Tommy Connolly talking about how he is having troubles with updating one of his other company’s (The Bluebird Diner) websites that is based on WordPress. After one of the patrons of the restaurant jokingly Google’s “what is WordPress”, I chime in asking what would you like to know about it? I started off by saying lots of people think it’s just used for blogging, but also lots of large corporations use this technology to easily manage their website(s).
Needless to say Tommy realized that I work with WP full time and I even name-dropped that I’m the Co-Organizer/Event Host for the Cedar Rapids WordPress Meetup Group. Tommy has become a friend of mine over the years that I’ve been going to Forbidden Planet and I offered to help him out with getting the company logo with downloadable menu in a PDF file format to show up on the website.
Tommy logged into The Bluebird Dinner’s website and I navigated over to the Appearance > Widgets to update the right side widget area of the website that was missing the logo with downloadable pdf menu. I noticed that the original website designer utilized a plugin called WP-Filebase, a plugin that I was not currently familiar with. I noticed while looking at the widgets area in the admin panel that the plugin was trying to autofill but it wasn’t currently on the correct setting of “menu_2”. The previous web designer didn’t make the selections all that clear, but I was able to dope it out quickly and get the logo with downloadable PDF up and running fast! It still needs some CSS work and maybe a line break to completely look good, but getting the Menu back up and running was key at this point.
A refill of my coffee and game tokens to play the pinball machines was all the payment I needed for this quick job and potential new customer in the future.
Inside the bluebird diner’s wordpress dashboard with the owner by my side
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This month’s A11y UX Inclusive Design meeting was held at the Geonetric building in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Our guest presenter was a graduate student from The University of Iowa, Rochelle Honey-Arcement. She ended up creating her own major Health and Disability Advocate to truly suit her needs. She presented tonight for our Web Dev Group (see the video below). Her thesis is about immigrant parents with children who have disabilities and the perception of the quality of service that their children are receiving. She has found that support systems are much needed for this demographic. She would like to see greater online support along with real world support systems as well.
Second Half of tonight’s presentation by Andrea Skeries:
Andrea Skeries’s 2016 CSUN Conference exhibit hall experience
Our fearless UX leader Andrea Skeries talks about her experience at this year’s CSUN Conference. Lots of hot new toys and gadgets for both visually and hearing impaired. My favorite was the smart watch for the blind with an active Braille readout known as DOT. It pairs with a smartphone and gives you information at your fingertips, literally. I can see this to be quite a viable product for anyone who is blind! Next month’s meeting we will be delving into how to make our websites friendly for all of this new tech gadgetry hitting the stores.
https://bigtenwebdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Group-at-A11y-UX-event-in-Cedar-Rapids.jpg34564608avannoyhttps://bigtenwebdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Big-Ten-Web-Design-SEO-Marketing-logo-with-text-300x78.pngavannoy2016-03-31 18:00:092018-04-30 04:15:13Web Development Skills Help Disabled Children: Iowa Web Accessibility, UX & Inclusive Design
I had a great evening hanging out with a group of diehard JavaScript fans at MetaCommunications on Saint Patrick’s Day! To celebrate, they named this JavaScript meetup “Java O’ Script”! Yes, while others were out drinking just around the corner from us in downtown Iowa City, we were cuddled up talking nerdy! MetaComm supplied the venue for this meetup plus pizza and beer – way to give back to the tech community in Iowa City!
Tonight Mostafa Abdelraouf presented his JavaScript project. We also talked about the Slack app and how it handles updates. There was a slight lull in the discussion and we got to know each other and what we do. Learned more about Katelyn Lensch (Iowa Tech Chicks) and her work in REST api and AngularJS 2.0. Then the discussion caught fire and went on until the wee hours of the night! But when you start at 8pm and talk for hours it’s to be expected. I had a fantastic time and am already looking forward to the next event.
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Our meetup group (Cedar Rapids WordPress Meetup Group) usually takes place at the Linn Area Community Credit Union/Business Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but maybe I was supposed to reserve the room? Don White I let you down. My first co-hosting of the wordpress meetup didn’t go as well as I had planned. But like I was trained to do, adapt, overcome, and conquer. And that is exactly what we did. So we all headed to Oyama Sushi & Steakhouse in Cedar Rapids and had the meeting there.
We ended up working on http://simplestrokesmassage.com owned by one of our unexpected guests tonight, Donna Conn, L.M.T. She is a new business owner and needed help with her WordPress website. Let’s just say I think her head was swimming with the pages of notes and information that were jotted down: SEO tips, Plugins to download, Widget help in the footer and Google Analytics was installed by me on that site. Plus much much more!
We always have a blast at these meetups no matter if we have a set plan or we just wing it (like we ended up doing tonight). I originally planned that we would go over the REST API and even posted a video of the REST api & a webinar on angular js andwp REST api on the meetup page. Often when someone comes in needing help we all help out and give them a crash course in what we know.
What: TechBrew Iowa City
When: Tue Mar 8, 2016 5pm Central Time
Where: Forbidden Planet, 111 S Dubuque St, Iowa City, IA
Why: Because getting tech geeks talk shop out from behind the desk is really a good thing!
TechBrew at Forbidden Planet in Iowa City
Friends geeking out at TechBrew at Forbidden Planet in Iowa City
Fellow Nerds talk about technology at TechBrew at Forbidden Planet in Iowa City
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This will be my second Startup Weekend that I’ve attended, but my first Startup Weekend in Cedar Rapids (my very first was Startup Weekend Iowa City). I’ve decided to pitch my app idea this time. My mentor David Oliver told me to pitch my idea at the Iowa City startup, but I was worried that someone would take my idea. However, I’ve been so busy and have never had the chance to get working on this project. So this time I’ll be taking his advice and giving my pitch (a total of 1 min) to say in a concise manner what my idea is.
My 1 minute “pitch fire” speech (60 seconds goes FAST):
So what is my pitch? Well, here it is from beginning to end.
Hello my name is Aaron Van Noy. I’m a full-time website designer and marketer with a passion for pinball and tech. My idea is to create an app that plays nicely with preexisting social media sites using their APIs. The photo based app is called Crowd Zoo (subject to pivot at any time). This app will allow people to check-in to an event like a wedding, a sporting stadium or even an event like this, Startup Weekend Cedar Rapids. When groups use our Crowd Zoo app, small photos will automatically stream from right to left on everyone’s device. Simply flick up to auto post on the user’s predetermined favorite social media. Someone is always taking a picture from a better angle than I and I’d love to post it on my stream. All photos in this app will be geotagged with precise location of the picture. Stage 2: The event coordinator can prompt all users to participate in a “group photo” in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 CLICK! Images can then be stitched together on the server to create a matrix style fly around effect or a crowd walk through. These photos may give enough information to even create a 3D world walk through at a later time. So who is with me to start this Crowd Trainer App (Looks like I’ve already pivoted)?!
Last minute change. Told to SCRAP above & focus on the solution:
I was advised by multiple people from the Startup Iowa’s Slack Channel (Becky Smith, Trevor Carlson, Riley Eynon-Lynch, Mark Hadley, Tim McDougall and others) to NOT focus on the solution, but focus on the problem. Because people understand it from that perspective better. People have the same issues that they can fully grasp and relate to! So here I am hours away from my first pitch… and I’m changing how I’m going to pitch it. I honestly don’t think I would have enough time to pitch everything about anyway.
New redesigned “pitch fire” speech will be passionate and mostly off the cuff:
So I will be focusing on the problem and who is feeling the pain of the problem. Not the solution.
Problem of retweeting/reposting live event pictures cross platform
I know that person over there got a better picture from that angle than I.
Scour social media to find the image
Live icon preview of all pictures
Simple flick uploading
Use geotagged images for Matrix affect.
Wedding walk though
Get everyone to take a picture at the same time
People at Startup Weekend In Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Start with a game called “Half Baked”:
Start of Half Baked game at Cedar Rapids Startup Weekend
Grab random words during Half Baked game in Cedar Rapids
During the game Half Baked
A game called Half Baked with the words Tasty Hippo
Video of the accepted pitches at Startup Weekend:
Team Collab Music:
I joined Collab Music and quickly ran into problems with the basic idea. The word Pivot come out of my mouth Friday night. It was a dominant word as we discovered more about our potential clients… Musicians.
Customer discovery and interviews:
Customer discovery and interviews at Guitar Center
Closeup of walls of guitars of Guitar Center in Cedar Rapids, IA
Watch it live on Twitter! Use the hashtag #swcr16:
https://bigtenwebdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/People-at-Startup-Weekend-In-Cedar-Rapids-Iowa.jpg34564608avannoyhttps://bigtenwebdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Big-Ten-Web-Design-SEO-Marketing-logo-with-text-300x78.pngavannoy2016-03-04 08:30:482016-04-23 16:17:52My Experience at Startup Weekend Cedar Rapids March 4th 2016 #swcr16
We went to the Iowa Web Accessibility, UX & Inclusive Design meetup. This time it was held at the Iowa Center for Assistive Technology Education and Research. The evening started off with Amanda Lewis (Graduate Assistant) & Patricia (Patti) Bahr (MSE, ATP, RET) Director, stepping us though what it may feel like to be learning disabled, blind or hard of hearing. For me (being dyslexic) this was an interesting experience in realizing all of the obstacles I’ve had to deal with in my life. Once the group had a chance to experience empathy toward disabled members in our society, we proceeded to learn about some of the tools that modern technology gives people in need: From standalone apps like BeeLine Reader, Snap&Read Universal to Nuance’s Dragon®. We also went over an extensive library of Google Chrome™ plugins like Voice Note II and Read&Write (my two favorites). To keep them all organized I recommend using Extensity!
So why learn about all of the tools available to people who are blind, hearing impaired, learning disabled, etc? Because programming a website that is user friendly across the board is just that important. We had lots of fun at this event at the University of Iowa.
Learning disability simulation of drawing within the lines:
This little mirror trick isn’t as easy as it looks. Cover your drawing hand and use a mirror at the top of the paper to draw within the lines while the “teacher” goes around praising some for doing such a wonderful job (yet no one really was) and says perceived negative things to others that are quickly internalized by the students who are having a hard time just following this simple star. It makes me truly sympathetic to people with disabilities who know what to do… but their bodies simply won’t let them do it.
Amanda Lewis, U of I Graduate Assistant talks about dyslexia and how teachers teach
Mirror Activity simulates having dyslexia or learning disability
Reading simulation: What it may feel like to be Dyslexic or Learning Disabled:
In the beginning you are given several words that were translated for you into this made up “dyslexic” language. As soon as you turn the page, it becomes more complex. Learning new “words” and remembering old fictional letter combinations turns out to not be as easy as the reader thinks. Before you know it the story is over and the “teacher” begins to ask you questions. The realization is that you struggled so much to read the text you didn’t have time to comprehend what you just read.
Reading a story as a dyslexic student may see or read it. Not so easy after all.
Learning to use modern tools that should be accessible to the websites we produce:
VoiceNote II was a little funky, but for the free price tag you can’t go wrong. It was able to read just about anything that was viewable on the computer, from websites to .PDFs and more.
Comparing Nuance’s Dragon NaturallySpeaking to VoiceNote II and other apps
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Tuesday night at the Creative Corridor Meetup. I love these meetups! You get such a unique mashup of professionals and amateurs who all have the same common root of learning WordPress even better. At a glanceWordPress is pitched as “blogging software” but the advanced users know the extreme power that can be released! I was personally able to help out Clayton Gill a self-proclaimed “rookie” who uses WordPress for blogging and for a nonprofit website. He was having an “odd thing happen” each time he tried to back up his site to do an upgrade to the most recent version of WordPress. It would progress to about 60% each time on GoDaddy’s cPanel hosted servers then fail. It looks like Big Ten Web Design has had the most clients that still like GoDaddy’s legacy hosting and who haven’t made the switch to managed WordPress (2018 update: GoDaddy is still using slow PHP 5.6 for managed WP hosting, and is not recommended overall, most of our clients websites now use PHP 7.1 or better). I run into this very same problem myself years ago and also from time to time if I forget to increase the max_input_vars in the .user.ini file. See references on linked pages:
We also discussed alternatives to GoDaddy hosting and it is the overwhelming decision that there are a bunch of better hosting companies out there. digitalocean.com, siteground.com, kinsta.com (Runs on Google Cloud Platform)
Learn more about Premium DNS and why it’s so important to have one to mitigate distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.
Then somehow I hijacked the entire meeting with a long discussion about the best methods of moving multiple websites to a new hosting company. I’ve been eyeing a migration over to Digital Ocean with its strong community of support.
Entrance to Linn Area Community Credit Union – Business Center
WordPress geeks around the table at Linn Area Community Credit Union – Business Center
WordPress meetup dinner Cedar Rapids, Iowa
WordPress geeks having dinner after Linn Area Community Credit Union – Business Center
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I had fun hanging out and talking shop/marketing with Rachel LeBeau (A quite talented lady! See Website & Esty shop) from Yelp Iowa City at The Java House today. We discussed several free options that Yelp offers and ideas to best utilize them. For Big Ten Web Design’s clients, we usually only recommend getting the back link and the free service. We just haven’t seen the ROI (Return on Investment) for clients in the past. Several of our clients have used it, then have come to us for advice, and we have guided them towards other more viable options.
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I went to the April CRIneta meeting at the Catalyst Cafe at the Geonetric Building in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. At this CRIneta .NET meeting we watched the pre-recorded video of Scott Hanselman and Scott Hunter speak at the Microsoft Build 2016 event that took place in San Francisco, CA, from March 30 – April 1, 2016. Then we discussed the major changes to .NET!
I’m sitting at 
