One thing that has been bothering me as a web builder 1 hobbyist trying to get into the industry is that most of the online classes that I’ve enrolled and taken all use Apple Macs as their system. In fact, most of the software and apps that I would love to have and put it into good use for my future projects seem to only be available in Mac versions, such as alternatives to the Adobe CC that actually has the same functionalities as Adobe CC and even easier tools for faster web building.
And then, there are really good scripts, like static site generators such as Jekyll, in which they offer no support for Windows. 2 Even though I earned my Udemy certification for Jekyll some months ago, I had to halt my lessons on that course just to follow instructions from an outside source. After the certification, Udemy suggested that I also take the course called Hugo, another static site generator that does support Windows, as well as Mac OS and Linux. I haven’t finished Hugo yet, but I’m loving it so far.
It has nothing to do with my goals in improving my portfolio, but I do plan on adding a hobby website 3 using Hugo (possibly) or just plain HTML using Foundation or Bootstrap. With this, at least, I can add something to my portfolio that’s not always based on WordPress, you know?
To make this drabble (?) short, I really do wish that everyone, regardless if you’re a hobbyist or a professional, would consider catering your sites to a wider audience, niche or not. People have disabilities, outdated devices like old desktops and laptops, people who still use outdated browser software, 4 and those who are always on the go and rely on their mobile phones or tablets. 5
I want to reach out to a wider audience with my projects and creations. If not a wider audience, maybe a wider “niche” audience. If I apply these standard practices to my projects, as much as I can anyway, then the web will be a better place.
On the sidenote…
- that is, a web designer or web developer ↩
- When I was a kid, my first exposure to computers was an Apple IIGs (the early ancestors of the Apple Mac), but when my dad bought our first computer, it was an IBM PC with Windows 3.1, and ever since then, I have been a PC user. Not only that I got used to it, but it’s also less expensive as well. ↩
- A very classic anime called Card Captor Sakura (aired on U.S. TV as Cardcaptors back in the late ’90s) ↩
- Believe it or not, there are still those who still use older browsers. Why they don’t bother upgrading will remain a mystery, especially when web browsers can be downloaded/upgraded for free. ↩
- I’m one of those people, always having my phone and my tablet along with me. ↩
March 30, 2016 @ 9:40 am
Most of these scripts and tools are native to Linux, and since Macs are a fork of Linux, they tend to translate better. Windows doesn’t have the best console/command line tool, and a lot of developers prefer command line as it gives better control.
Having your sites work on all platforms is a nice feature, but sometimes impractical to implement if very few people visit on mobile. I’m on my phone now, but I have trouble accessing your blog menu. It won’t trigger and i can’t navigate it.
March 30, 2016 @ 9:38 pm
Hi Masao, thanks for visiting.
I’m viewing the site right now (on my phone, Android) and the “hamburger menu” is right at the bottom of the Search field at the top and it works. When you scroll down, the hamburger moves at the top right corner. There’s also the same menu at the footer as well that’s in plain text. I’ve been trying to fix a widget issue that I have for the blog entries belonging to the tutorials section, so there shouldn’t be any widgets on the sidebar of any page or post. Other than that, there shouldn’t be any other menus aside from the main one (both at the top and at the bottom). That’s why I like having two main menus on my sites, because issues like that can happen.
I do know what you mean regarding the console/command line tools though. I use a console emulator called CMDer instead of using the native command line/power shells on Windows. I’m not quite “new” to the console/command line, since I learned a bit of it when PCs used to be run using the DOS command line back in the ’90s, but in a way, I’m “new” to the command line now as there are some changes/new additions to them. One of the things why sometimes proprietary software sucks. I guess it’s business/marketing reasons.
I know that it’s far fetched to call out for “cross platform” sites, but it’s one of my goals on future projects. I’m not an expert on these (well not yet anyway), but I’m learning slowly.
March 31, 2016 @ 12:06 am
The menu works on your blog index, but not on individual post pages. The menu is not selectable, and does not shift on scroll.
March 31, 2016 @ 3:04 am
Wow, that is weird. I checked it on both my phone and Kindle. I’m about to sleep so I’ll see if I can fix it tomorrow when I get home. Thanks for pointing it out!
March 31, 2016 @ 8:07 pm
OK, I was able to fix it. Since this is a child theme based on a parent theme, I disabled the framework caching feature. Should work on your phone now. I tested the single post menus using both my phone and Kindle. Let me know if it’s still not working for you. 🙂