I'm Robin Scott, a WordPress and WooCommerce expert who, along with three other people, runs a business called Silicon Dales Ltd remotely, from a base in the North West of the UK (kind of near Manchester!). I enjoy using my talents for programming to track and interpret sporting, political or retail data - and therefore you'll see me posting some content in these spaces in this, my personal website. If you're interested to talk about leveraging this for your business (in sport, entertainment, retail, etc) please contact me.
Give thanks! For PHP 8.0.0 is here… released just 40 minutes ago, today, Thanksgiving Day.
The official release notes are here.
There will be breaking changes.
Edited highlights for PHP 8.0 are as follows:
When you get your code updated, PHP 8 will be the fastest and most secure option.
Fill your boots.
I know, right. I don’t say things like “pretty cool” but AMP stories are now called Web Stories, have a WordPress plugin, are officially supported by Google, and feature a simple drag-and-drop interface to allow you to create mobile friendly content which looks like this:
The above utilises a dedicated Gutenberg block to embed a web story in a post. Now, if you’re viewing this content on a mobile or tablet, click here to view the Web Story directly.
This actually is pretty cool.
Web Stories allow you to create “slideshow like” content, which mix (for example) animated gifs, videos, your own annotations, buttons, and etc.
Think of a web story as a standards-compliant slider, which works really well on a handheld device, and you’ll be close.
But think more than this – think of a slider, which ranks in search, directly, and can help you to tell… well, a story.
Heads up, marketers of WordPress, you just got a really solid new tool.
View web stories for WordPress on the dedicated website, here. Install the plugin here and have a play.
Leave a comment below if you like, dislike, or otherwise have something to say about Web Stories.
If you attempt to change your mobile phone handset, and keep the same number – a very common operation in 2020 – you may find you have difficultly accessing your Barclays Banking app in your new device.
As my Cheltenham Festival Tips category has been around for a few years – and let’s face it, it truly deserves its place among the big-hitters of online tipping 😉 – it ranks quite nicely in Google for related search phrases.
I got a weird error with Zoom in the past week on a new PC – on which Zoom had been working fine, one moment, and then, failing with error code 1132.
Up until a few weeks ago, I was recommending Revolut and Revolut Business as good “challenger bank” accounts, owing to their fee-free and near-instant transactions, virtual cards, and a range of other services which made them a compelling financial technology.
However, in recent weeks, I’ve had cause to slowly step away from the service, for the following reasons.
I’ve had to explain this a few times recently, so probably there isn’t a good, clear explanation out there on Google, for this little corner of Google 🙂
It’s music time, since it’s been an age since I posted some music into here.
I got asked this question a while back, and at last I’ve put together some content which I think can stand up to some small amount of scrutiny online… “What should I put down when I buy business insurance as a web developer???”
The answer is – and isn’t it always – it’s complicated!
I’m going to make a recommendation for the service I used to order business insurance for our eCommerce agency, and describe our decision making processes – but you should, as ever, make up your own mind, do your own research, and understand that while my advice may be helpful to you, ultimately it’s your business, and therefore, the risks are yours.
Also note, the service I recommend (Axa Business Insurance) in this post serves the UK market, so if you’re browsing from another country, different prices and service providers (and service names) will apply, though the basic points are likely still to be useful.
With all that said, let’s dive in…
If you’re looking for vegan products for delivery anywhere in the UK, or collection in London, Greenbay offers a great place to buy from.
Vegan products are booming in recent years, as many people turn towards an entirely plant-based diet for a variety of reasons, from medical to ethical.
In this Future of Retail post, I’ll review the offering you can find at Greenbay in some detail and allow you to consider whether or not the store will suit your vegan buying needs…
