Author: Sean D. Conklin

I have been a full-stack PHP web engineer since 2002. My current specialties have been in WordPress powered sites since 2011 and WooCommerce powered shops since early 2017.

Privacy policies are required

Smart phone loading Facebook with a pen eraser scratching out the logo as if in an attempt to erase

Privacy policies are required by state, federal, and international laws for websites that collect any personal information, such as name, email, address, phone. The policy describes what information is collected, how it’s collected and why.

The Internet re-imagined

Small airplans pulling a sign readying STAY AT HOME!

Last week I enjoyed a webinar with partner company Pantheon by the same title covering strategies during the 2020 Covid-19 crisis. Pantheon is a provider of enterprise-grade developer-operations friendly managed WordPress hosting. Following are my notes.

Local WordPress development multi-environment sandboxes with fully-trusted SSL

Mac laptop with code editor in view

There’s myriad options for local WordPress development environments. Some are quite simple to set-up, usually connected to a paid hosting service that funds the local dev project. Some automatically install WordPress while others require manual installation into the web root htdocs plus database initialization. For Linux users like myself the options are primarily: direct installation/configuration […]

Presentation on Sensei LMS

Desk with several stacked books, an apple on top, pencils and ABC blocks

Last week I presented at our WooCommerce Los Angeles Meetup group on Sensei LMS. Sensei is an Automattic, Inc. open-source project offering free classroom features for WordPress powered websites.

How to keep using older Apple hardware

Ubuntu 20.04 desktop modified to look like MacOS top bar, background, dock, and window control bars

While indirectly related to my concentration with WooCommerce online stores, I thought I’d share the exciting progress I’ve made concerning two older iMac computers and how open-source community software has extended the useful life for these obsolete Apple products.

Essential WooCommerce Plugins

About a dozen colorful wires on a large switchboard with dials and switches

Now it’s time to talk about the best and most essential plugins to use on a WooCommerce site. Here’s the 14 plugins that I run on my own site.

Repair or Replace?

Car being repaired

Recently a question came up about whether it’s better to repair or replace a WooCommerce site that wasn’t well built. I’d like to take a moment to make a recommendation based on my expertise.

Shopify?

BuiltWith eCommerce usage distribution in the top 1 million sites, with pie chart and sidebar categories

I recently had a client move a smaller WooCommerce site over to Shopify. Bummer! Usually it’s the other way around from where I sit. I understand Shopify to have a mix of good and bad qualities to its business model. Here’s my thoughts.