Hustle – Page 12 – The Renegade Coder

At just 17 weeks old, The Renegade Coder has 50 articles. That's pretty cool if you ask me, so let's celebrate! And since I love statistics, here's what that looks like broken down by category: 16 Computer Science Articles 10 Java Basics Articles 6 Data Structures Articles 16 Blogs18 Updates And I'm just getting started! Of course, this article is just an update, but I figured I'd tip it off in style. A ton has happened in the past week with the site. As usual, I've been getting pretty aggressive with SEO, but I'm also going crazy with marketing and just general site maintenance. The Renegade Coder Upgrade Up first, let's talk about the latest change to the site - I chose to celebrate this 50th article by purchasing the OnePress theme. I was really enjoying the theme, but the basic version had some limitations in terms of the static front page. What I really wanted was an attractive home page that made me seem really legit, so I got to playing with it the other day. At first I thought, maybe I could add a counter to the front page. That should give people a much better idea of the types of content I'm working on, and it makes for a nice little milestone tracker for me. I imagine as those numbers grow, the website will start to appear more legit to newcomers. At least that's the idea. However, I ran into a bit of a configuration problem. I couldn't change the background to the counter section which meant that two white sections would be next to each other. My first thought was to just add another section, but none of the other sections really fit my needs. I eventually grew frustrated and decided to by the theme outright. That's when the fun began! With the full theme, I was able to reorder the sections and change their styles as needed. As a bonus, I was able to add a little call-to-action section for my Patreon page. After all, I gotta make money somehow. :) A New and Improved About Page While I was fiddling with the home page, I came across a new section called team. As you all know, I work pretty much alone, so I was hoping to just use that section as a callout to my about page. Unfortunately, I'm forced to have at least two team members. For now, I'm leaving the second portrait empty, but soon it'll be home to a picture of my support system: Morgan and the cats. That leads me to the purpose of the team section: the about page. Now that there's a snazzy picture of me on the home page, I can get people over to my about page. However, my about page was pretty lame. It just had the story of the website and some information like the privacy policy and terms of service. Today, it's home to a nice little slideshow, an introduction to the website and its mission, and an FAQ. Over time, I expect the FAQ to grow. In fact, feel free to leave your questions below in the comments, and I'll address the popular ones on my about page. While you're checking out the about page, make sure let me know if you think it's an improvement. Right now I'm feeling like the FAQ looks a little out of place, but the page feels better than it did. Song of the Week This week I'm getting hyped for The Wonder Years latest acoustic album Burst & Decay. Though it doesn't come out until September 22nd, I figured I'd kick off the hype train with one of my favorite acoustic songs by TWY: Madelyn. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REaSSZew0-o If you like this song, then get on over to the Loneliest Place on Earth and make your preorder. I preordered the splatter record that sold out almost immediately, but they still have purple records! General Site Updates As usual, I've been updating plugins and whatnot. Also, I made a nice blog post about ways to support this site, if you're interested in learning more about that. Latest Articles 6 Ways to Show Your Support Latest Plugin Changes Updated Contact Form 7 to version 4.9Updated Require Featured Image to version 1.3.0Updated WooCommerce to version 3.1.2Updated Enlighter to version 3.5Updated SiteOrigin Widgets Bundle to version 1.9.8Updated Yoast SEO to version 5.3.1 Coming Soon to The Renegade Coder! As stated before, look out for a picture of my cats and Morgan on the homepage. Other than that, I'm just working on getting my first study guide in the store. On a side note, I sort of rage quit Overwatch. Instead, I've decided to start playing WoW again. Whoops! That's probably why I'm slow to get work done. After all, I have quite a bit more free time. I guess I'm just taking some mental health time as I've been working too hard lately. For now, let's celebrate this 50th article! :D