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Miscellaneous

5 Blog Post Title Generators

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On January 16, 2017

In Miscellaneous

How do you get ideas for your blog? Some ideas are easier to write about than others. Other times, you can’t think of anything. What can you do? You can use a blog post title generator. Post Title Generators can give you ideas to help get you writing.
5 Blog Post Title Generators

What kind of generator are you going to use? You can use a generator that allow you to enter topics and return a list of post titles for you. Or you can use a fill in the blank post generator. They may ask you for a topic or ideas that fits within the provided sentence and then give you one or more suggestions.

Hubspot’s Blog Topic Generator

Hubspot’s Blog Topic Generator asks you for three nouns and generates 5 potential blog topic posts. If you don’t like the results, you can enter different nouns.
Hubspot Post Title Generator

 

Tweak Your Biz – Title Generator

Tweak Your Biz – Title Generator is simple. You enter a topic. Select whether it is a noun or a verb. Click on Submit and it generates post titles separated by categories. If you like the list, you can copy, print or download your titles from the available box that provides them all.
Tweak Your Biz TItle Generator

Portent’s Content Idea Generator

Portent’s Content Idea Generator ask you for a subject. It generators one content idea. You can enter the same subject as many times as you like until you get an idea that you like.
Portents Blog Title Generator
Portents Content Idea Generator

The Blog Post Ideas Generator

The Blog Posts Generator by Build Your Own Blog gives you one idea. You don’t enter a topic idea. Instead you click the Generate Blog Post Idea button and you get an idea to start from.
Blog Post Idea Generator

When I tried out the tool, I got:

  • How to Survive Your First…
  • Top X _____ Mistakes You Must Avoid
  • How to _____ Like a Boss
  • How To Solve The Biggest Problem you had with…
  • Creative Ideas to Help You…

Blog About by Impact

Blog About By Impact gives you a theme to start with. You can start with their suggested theme or hit the refresh button to get another theme. If you like the theme, you click on Next.
Blog About By Impact

It takes you the post ideas section. You get an idea that you can fill in the blank. If you like the results, click on the heart to add it to your writing list. Then, you get another post title to complete. When you have a list of ideas that you like, you can email them to yourself.

As you continue to write in your blog, you may find that getting ideas for it can be a challenge. Blog Post Title Generators can help you to create ideas that you want to write about. Whether you like getting a list of ideas or a fill in the blank style, they can be a useful tool to add to your blog writing routine.

Have you used a blog title generator?

The Importance of Estimating

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On October 31, 2015

In Miscellaneous, Programming

Importance Of Estimating

Are you good at making estimates? Most developers find that their estimates are usually low, so they add extra time to ensure that they have enough time to get the project done. At WordCamp Milwaukee 2015, Jess Jurick talked about estimating.

“Estimates: think less as prediction a more of science”

Jess talked about making better estimates, preparing for the estimates, defining the steps involved and how to make an intelligent estimate.

Make Better Estimates

  • Understand the problem
  • Define the details
  • Develop an approach
  • Identify the variables
  • Present a level of effort
  • Revisit and revise as needed

Preparing for an estimate

  • Determine what we know and don’t know
  • More minds = more steps
    Don’t estimate alone!

Define the steps

  • Define the steps
  • Write everything down
  • Get team members to estimate subject matter tasks

Intelligent Estimation

  • Identify pain points and low hanging fruit
  • Define all dependancies
  • Don’t be too granular
  • Provide an estimate that the client can understand

Next time you have to make an estimate, use these suggestions to help you make a better estimate. Remember, you want your estimate to be have more science than a prediction.

Milwaukee WordCamp 2013

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On July 23, 2014

In Design, Miscellaneous, Programming, Web Development

The second Milwaukee WordCamp was held on June 7-9, 2013. WordPress developers, users, business owners and fans gathered to share and learn more about their favorite website building platform. There were sessions for developers, designers, business development and more. Talks included WordPress is a CMS, dammit!, Scoping Projects and Stop giving s** away for free and start feeding your family.

WordPress Milwaukee Bandana

WordPress is a CMS, dammit!

A CMS (Content Management System) allows users to manage content on a website. Many CMSes include a blog feature. You can choose to use the blog feature or not. You can use WordPress to handle any type of content that you want. People have built stores, blogs, customer management systems and membership websites. Aaron Holbrook demonstrates why WordPress is more than a blogging engine.

Scoping Projects

What is scoping? Scoping is the process of gathering information to define what has to be done and leaving up to those expectations. Everyone involved (you, your clients, your staff, etc) must understand what is expected of them and what they need to do. As a developer, you have to take charge of defining the scope of the project. By setting expectations and documenting project requirements, you help everyone understand what the project involves. Lisa Sabin-Wilson explains why you want to scope your projects: website or plugin development – so you can determine the best approach for your clients needs.

Stop giving s** away for free and start feeding your family

Heather Acton shares how you can move past “side jobs” and build a real business in web development that pays your bills. When you first start a business, you may do a few projects to get experience. Do too many free jobs and you starve. You need to give the right things away: talks at community events, answer questions in forums and do non-profit workshops. Otherwise, focus on jobs that pay and build your business.

Special Treat: A Bacon Bar

For an extra special treat, we had a bacon bar. Everyone took photos of the bacon bar. Here’s mine:

WordCamp Milwaukee 2013 Bacon Bar

Bakin’ with a CMS

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On October 25, 2013

In CSS, Miscellaneous, Programming, Web Development

How do you learn a new content management system? You build a website with it. A sample website works best because you can delete it if you don’t like the results or even the CMS. I used the Smells Like Bakin’ tutorial from Treehouse and a CMS called Umbraco. Treehouse uses Smells Like Bakin’ to teach how to build a simple website. Umbraco is an open source ASP.Net CMS.

Smells Like Bakin in Umbraco CMS

Building the website

  1. Download and install Umbraco.
    I followed the manual install instructions. Umbraco lets you use an installer. I choose to do it manually, so I could learn what the install process is. The manual process was quick and easy to follow.
  2. Download and install the files for Smells Like Bakin.
    Instead of following the tutorial, I found a copy of the site on github.
  3. Install a starter kit in Umbraco.
    Umbraco lets you install it without a starter kit. Without a starter kit, you need to create your own document types and templates. To save time, it is easier to install a starter kit. Umbraco has several to choose from. I chose the HTML5 Boilerplate. It creates a simple website based on HTML5 Boilerplate.
  4. Modify the templates.
    HTML5 Boilerplate starter kit comes with 3 templates: a master page, a home page and a generic page. Using the Smells Like Bakin’ github download, I started to modified the templates. Umbraco uses master pages. The master page template is used by the home page and generic page template. I added the header, navigation and footer to the master page.
  5. Modify the CSS.
    You can add and modify CSS inside Umbraco. It let you create additional styles that can be used in the CMS editor. These styles makes it easy for a content editor to use them without any knowledge of CSS. For this test, I added the existing styles from my example and then made a few adjustments to it.
  6. Create the Home Page.
    I used the home page template to create the Home page. Then, I added the content and images to the page.
  7. Create an additional page.
    My example of the Smells Like Bakin’ had only one web page. I created an additional page to test the generic page template in Umbraco.

Lessons Learned

  • When installing Umbraco, select and install a starter kit. A starter kit makes your life easier. The type of starter kit depends on what you want to do with the site. Before installing Umbraco, identify the starter kit that fits your needs.
  • Using a Grid 12 system, it made building the website quicker than developing your own. The HTML gitHub example used a Grid 12 system.
  • Umbraco lets you store images inside the database or externally in a file folder as part of the website. Before you build the site, you want to determine which images are added to the database.

With Umbraco, you have to have an idea of what you want to do with it before you start. Umbraco offers the flexibility of page templates, packages(plugins) and XSLT macros. It provides greater control over design and code/markup. As a CMS, it isn’t the type where you can install and be up and running in 5 minutes. If you want that, you are going to need a different CMS.

Related Article

If you need a different CMS, check out CMS Showdown at Web414 Meetup.

6 Web and Mobile Application Inspirations

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On June 10, 2013

In Design, Miscellaneous, Programming, Web Development

How do you decide to try a web or mobile application? One way is to look at their website. When considering an app, I look at their website for screenshots, a video tour and information on how the app works. An app website with these elements can help me decide whether or not to try this app. I have complied a list of 6 web and mobile app websites that contain these elements.

Freckle

Freckle is an online web application that lets you track your time. The site opens with an introduction to Freckle. It has a banner image that contains screenshots of the application. This image gives you a quick overview of what you will get when you use this app. If you want to take a tour of the app, they provide you with three different links to the video tour. The color scheme complements the content and helps guide you to the information that you need.

Freckle

InnovaStudio LiveEditor

InnovaStudio LiveEditor is an web-based HTML editor that you can include in your CMS and web applications. Their website uses an image rotator to show why you will like this app. If you want to see the app, you can choose to try out a live demo or a video demo. The bottom of the page includes screenshots of the app. They use a minimal design which helps you focus on the app and not figuring out how to use the site.

InnovaStudio LiveEditor

Blinksale

Blinksale is an online invoicing web application. Their website has a screenshot that shows the application and lists what you get when you use this app. Instead of a video tour, they use FAQs and Testimonials to help you decide if this app is right for you. The color scheme helps you to focus on the different sections of the page.

Blinksale

Bluenote

Bluenote is an app that allows you to store notes, passwords and tasks in one app. Their website rotates through the screenshots of the app in two different sections of the page. It also includes rotating testimonials from people who have used the app. Bluenote uses a blue color scheme on the website and app. The contrasting blues and white text make the site easy to read and organize the page.

Bluenote

FieldNotes

FieldNotes is mobile app that allows you to take notes while on the go. You can take photos and record voice notes, video and your location. FieldNotes uses a black, white, gray and blue color palette. They use two different colored backgrounds to help you focus on the purpose of each section; top is for showing the app and the bottom is for describing it in detail. FieldNotes rotates screenshots of the app inside an iPhone. They provide reviews, a demo video and FAQs. FieldNotes provides you with enough information to help you decide whether or not you want to try the app.

FieldNotes

Air Display

Air Display is an app that can turn your iOS device into a a second display. It does this by installing the app on your iOS device and drivers on your computer. The website uses a black, white, and gray color palette. On the Air Display page, they use the color red to make the buy button stand out. The main focus of the site is to rotate through screenshots of the app on a monitor and iOS device. Below the app demo and buy button is the section that describes what you can do with Air Display and lists some uses and driver plus app compatibility.

Air Display

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