Author: Aaron Belchamber

“Insert Script” WordPress plug-in now part of official WordPress.org

July 11, 2015 Aaron Belchamber Leave a comment

UPDATE 8/8/2015:  This plug-in was recently updated to version 1.3.  New features include the ability to declare “json_vals_string” with a JSON array that will pass the array values back to your script via $json_vals_arr.  You may also use “strings” instead of “vals” to pass on a GET URL encoded string of values like “variable1=value1&variable2=value2”.  You can pass on a “section” and “save_db” value specific for your scripts as well.

Insert Script WordPress Plugin ScreenshotHave you ever wanted just a simple way to pull external scripts and dynamic PHP data into part or all of a WordPress page?  This is a very simple WordPress web development tool time saver we’ve been using for years.

If you need a quick and reliable WordPress shortcode to pull in external content, execute scripts or pull in other external code, such as a custom Javascript library, you can now do that easily through a plug-in we’ve developed that makes this process very easy.  We took the extra steps to make this plug-in available to anyone who uses WordPress, just simply go to your WordPress admin section, go to “Plugins” and “Add New” then type “insert script” into the prompt.

You can also search for this plug-in under the author’s name, “Aaron Belchamber”.  I hope you find this small plug-in useful integrating external systems, code and data into a WordPress page, post or even a widget without a lot of hassle!

Here’s a sample of how to use this plug-in.  Wherever you need to call external scripts, embed the insert script shortcode like this:


If you prefer to download the WordPress plug-in as a ZIP file, please click here.  If you like it, please rate it in the WordPress community so others can benefit using it.  It has saved a lot of development time on projects in the past.  This is a very powerful plug-in that extends the  capabilities of your WordPress site — use with caution!

We will continue releasing more plug-ins that aren’t unique or sensitive to our existing clients as a way to give back to the awesome WordPress community.  If your company is looking to improve or further customize its website presence, if you need a custom WordPress plug-in, WordPress site, PHP Symfony system, Drupal site, or are in need to modernize your current business systems and architecture, please visit our Free Web Code and Tools site for more tips, code and resources!

– Aaron Belchamber


Symfony framework logo

Is your code holding your company back?

June 21, 2015 Aaron Belchamber Leave a comment

I just finished a post about how to set up a new Symfony Bootstrap site so it’s reusable for other web projects.  As one of many php developers in the area, if you Google “php developers, Jacksonville”, for instance, you may find the list 10 pages deep.  Be warned — as a freelance business analyst, someone who gets the business side of code, not all PHP developers have the experience that will help you scale your business.  On the contrary, they could actually be impeding your growth.  If your current web development team insists on doing it their way and aren’t on a PHP framework, you’re in for a bumpy ride down the road.

The article is interesting for companies who feel like their web development is slowing them down because, in 30 minutes you can have a reproducible website template from which your web developers can then work on new website projects.  Just click here and share it with your web development team.

The sooner you move your team over to a PHP framework, the sooner you will start to realize the benefits and return on this investment.  Web development ROI is usually flat if your coders don’t reuse and build from their previous projects.

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A framework encourages with structure and tools to them to do this so your company will realize COMPOUNDING RETURNS from your web development team instead of a straight line return.

I’m not talking the simple WordPress websites, I’m talking about the sites that need to do more than store and display articles and basic web pages.  Like your company’s inventory and sales reporting that connect to your Adobe Marketing or Google Analytics data so you can make those decisions to maximize future sales and avoid over purchasing products or making other mistakes common to those who suffer from an absence of useful business data.  Let’s face it, without good data these days your luck will eventually run out because your “gut instincts” are nothing more than guesses.

Systems should help you make more money and everyone in your organization should be able to feel its positive effects on your operations and bottomline.  It’s that simple.  If your systems feel like they’re obstructions or barriers, if you think they’re unresponsive to your growing marketing and sales needs, it’s time to assess before it’s too late!

To move to a PHP framework is a question of your size and future aspirations

If you aren’t reliant on the web, inventory, sales or marketing data, and you don’t feel your systems need improvement, by all means, continue what you’re doing, of course the cost of opportunities lost cannot be easily seen, assessed, or measured and if your technology and systems have been, how do you know?  How would you know?!

If your company has been floundering around with legacy code and your web development team seems to be sluggish and uncreative, perhaps you need a consultant to review your systems and assess your code and databases and give you recommendations as to how you can modernize your business and move to a collaborative PHP framework that can scale quickly with your organization’s future needs?

Your systems, code and web developers should never be obstacles to your company’s progress.  If you sense they are, then guess what?  They are.  So what are you going to do about it?

We have the proven experience of success to help e-commerce companies, retailers like luxury jewelry stores, publishers, media production companies improve their internal data systems and connect their sales and inventory data most efficiently to their websites and analytics tools to maximize sales and profits.  Contact me — I have access to a great network of experienced and knowledgeable web professionals who understand the business side of things.

I am first and foremost a business systems architect that can help you redesign and modernize your company and systems.  Be careful if you are reaching out to any freelance web developer.  That’s what makes how I manage web development different than most — I come from a design and media perspective and as a co-owner of an advertising agency in the early 2000’s for 8 years, then advertising director of a 57-store retail jewelry store chain, I helped grow businesses with effective marketing, web and business solutions across the spectrum with an emphasis on real market dynamics, solid marketing analytics and research — all from a profit-centric perspective focus on results.

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Symfony framework logo

Does your company need a web, database, and internal systems overhaul? Perhaps it’s time to ditch that homemade system and move to a free and scalable PHP framework and database to maximize productivity from your web development team

June 17, 2015 Aaron Belchamber Leave a comment

I design and redesign a lot of systems and databases for different organizations and companies.  Planning usually starts with listening to the organization’s people, then I usually map out the database and optimize its design so it’s an efficient part of the overall system within the organization.  This leads to more stable systems, less down-time, and less time wasted later.  The savings compound while the rewards exponentially increase.

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When it comes to PHP web development, e-commerce and software programming, I’m usually considered a Business Systems Architect first.  I’m the guy that charts everything out and asks a lot of questions.  Experience has told me that without a good system design, it’s going to be a bumpy road rewriting code, accommodating design flaws, or having to make changes midstream.

Serious web companies need to invest in migrating to PHP frameworks and DBALs

If your company has grown and you’re at a point where you feel your systems are too flimsy or problematic to handle future growth, you need to anticipate the bigger you become, the bigger your problems will become unless you modernize.

I urge you to learn about DBAL/ORM here and if you stumbled on this post, I highly recommend considering using a PHP framework like Symfony and a DBAL called Doctrine if you are planning to modernize to a future-compatible system that requires it to be scalable and if your system will be subjected to a collaborative web development team.  A one-person web development team could also benefit, but the benefits that your team can work with ready-to-go tools to help them stay on the same page, that’s an investment that will always pay off if you have the right developers with the right skills and motivation.

These systems are worth the effort to learn and migrate to, they both add an extra layer of efficiency and scalability.

How?  The framework maximizes efficiency by allowing teams to work from a standard, structured base and getting the most out of stable and reusable code while the DBAL uncouples your code from your database system to allow you to scale and even change your database later without worrying about modifying much, if any code later!  Not to mention the DBAL caches and manages the database automatically to maximize execution time while minimizing server resource loads.

Modernizing your company to a PHP framework that utilizes a database ORM/DBAL will ensure your future web talent can assimilate as efficiently as possible.  Migrating to a more structured platform is also a form of asset protection for your digital properties.

More ROI for your business

See it as an investment that will produce ever-increasing dividends in efficiencies and better, more effective code for your business in the future.

Establishing a better collaborative web development environment is, in itself, one of those assets that will compound future rewards and create new technological opportunities for your company that would not have been possible if your team was stuck in the “spaghetti code” nightmares where your web development team would have to spend a majority of its time repairing and duct-taping a misconceived contrivance of cowboy-coded gobbley gook and perpetually keep the Frankenstein “unsystem” alive for the sake of being busy.  For someone who enjoys writing code to be creative and create innovative new solutions that can help people or advance an organization’s cause, this would be my version of hell.

If your organization is growing and you think you need to redesign your systems, please call Aaron at (904) 294-0803.  I’d love to hear from non-profits like the Dolly Parton Imagination Library or the Wounded Warrior Project these are non-profits I truly admire and welcome doing volunteer work for them.  I believe I could help these non-profits save money, streamline and maximize their web assets.  If you are a luxury retail jewelry store, I have special experience migrating legacy inventory product data to Magento and launching new Magento eCommerce sites and can refer you to a network of capable, competent and trustworthy web developers to help you grow your online jewelry presence, like what I did for Riddle’s Jewelry.

 

Aaron Belchamber

PHP Developer, Business Analyst, Marketing Director
AaronBelchamber.com