While building a React Native iOS and Android application, I've gone run into a number of difficult issues. Below is a process I've come up with, which has helped solve a number of issues. I also have a series of weird problems and how I solved them too. React Native
Read more
PhantomJS is simultaneously a wonderful and terrible piece of software. I opted to use phantomjs over many other alternatives to create PDFs from HTML generated by a Rails 5.1 web-app. Locally, everything worked after getting through some PhantomJS quirks. However, once I deployed to the stage environment (an AWS
Read moreI encountered some errors recently writing JavaScript tests in Phantom.js: ReferenceError: Can't find variable: Promise. This seemed like a strange error and ultimately it turns out that phantom.js is significantly lagging behind overall browser support of JavaScript ES6 features, like Promises. As of this writing, all modern browsers
Read moreRuby on Rails provides a well-documented and established Internationalization API for server-side localization. However, many projects I've seen forget to internationalize their front-end JavaScript framework and end up hard-coding text everywhere. For some people, this works, but for larger projects that require localization this becomes unsustainable quickly. Luckily, there's a
Read more
There have been a few times where I ran into problems with RSpec Capybara feature specs and DatabaseCleaner. Spec issues arise because most Capybara JavaScript drivers run your specs on a different thread than the app. This Stack Overflow Answer provides a great explanation. Now, the accepted answer the SO
Read moreIf you use Google Analytics, especially if you have a small site, you may notice referral traffic from weird domains with 1 pageview, 0 time on site, 0 conversions and 100% bounce rate. This is garbage traffic and it comes from domains like: buytraffic.xyz freetraffic.com bestseo.com This
Read moreFailing feature specs are difficult to debug, especially in CI. On an recent eCommerce project, our team opted to use Vue.js for several important app components and to made heavy use of feature specs to ensure everything worked as expected. Our testing stack consisted of Rspec 3, Capybara, and
Read more
Trackable links (URLs) are critical to understanding return-on-investment for various digital marketing initiatives by providing additional information on how the visitor arrived to your site. Without trackable links, Google Analytics (or any web analytics tool) would count this visitor from your Facebook Ad as a "Direct" visitor, inflating
Read more
This is great interval workout for simulating windy conditions on an indoor training or when you're outside with little wind. Warning: this will a very enjoyable, easy, fun and not painful workout if done properly. If you're training for a triathlon attempt to maintain areo position the whole time. Warm
Read more
Note: I originally wrote this for the Table XI blog. At the most basic level, a faster site will do two things: save money and increase revenue. Since those tend to be the two things that boost any company’s bottom line, page speed is increasingly becoming a concern for
Read more