why-I-use-cc0.md

Ultimately my goal is to provide value to others.
On the side I build community & my reputation & network.

using-git-and-typescript-cms.md

Advantages:

Everything in one place
Typescript is a better place to put metadata than markdown
Most of my content doesn't have any internal styling (e.g. bolding or italics), but has lots of external structure (e.g. tagline, title, content)
Type checking in my templates & if I want it, in my content (I do)
I can still use markdown files if I want to

Future features:

MD + TS file pair

Challenges:

Importing a list of files is surprisingly hard to do (use automation)
Images & other assets (I suspect nextjs already supports these, but been too busy/scared to investigate yet)

starting-a-typescript-package-from-scratch.md

I'm working a little library package that I want to eventually publish to npm which I'm creating as an intermediate packet as part of my work on x-for-superusers.

My goals:

End up with a nice boiler plate for future node/npm/typescript packages
Publish to npm
Support typescript
Usable testing
Easily output docs
Zero runtime dependencies

Steps:

Read this guide to get an idea for npm publishing requirements: https://medium.com/cameron-nokes/the-30-second-guide-to-publishing-a-typescript-package-to-npm-89d93ff7bccd
Looked up npm files/npmignore options - I don't want to publish anything but the code, sourcemaps & docs. The docs on npm were clear & usable: https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v7/commands/npm-publish, I also ran npx npm-packlist to double check my configuration
Create the repo on github

Empty Readme
CC0 License
Node .gitignore template

Yarn add (--dev):

typescript - So I can use typescript
jest - I'm not a big fan of the big dependency stack, but it works well
@types/jest - So I can write my tests in typescript
@babel/preset-env - So I can write my tests in typescript
@babel/preset-typescript - So I can write my tests in typescript

Configure package.json

"files: ["index.ts", "dist/*"] this prevents random files from being in the npm package when I publish it. Note I kept index.ts so package consumers can see the source even if they don't have source maps enabled.
"prepublish": "tsc" in scripts so that typescript will compile before publishing

Configure tsconfig.json

"outDir": "dist" so that I don't clutter my project with output files
"declaration": true, and "declarationMap": true, to ensure there are source maps in the output
"exclude": ["node_modules","dist","*.test.ts"] to exlude files from the output & dist folder

Configure babel.config.js

module.exports = {
  presets: [
    ['@babel/preset-env', {targets: {node: 'current'}}],  
    '@babel/preset-typescript', 
  ],
};

Added keywords, description, author to package.json (and github)
Put the package goal in the readme
I decided to skip on the docs for right now - after a bit of research I found lots of options, but nothing that fit within the scope/time I have atthe moment.

The paths not taken:

Custom testing framework, I'd love to (and have in the past) create my own testing framework, but right now that's not the goal.
Parcel or one of the other alternate bundlers/compilers, I'd love to, but just wasnt needed/worth it right now.

The result: https://github.com/cwohlman/x-json/tree/bare-package

my-content-strategy.md

TODO:

Project -> Blog (try to use long tail keywords) -> Project insights -> Blog or tweet milestones on insights (e.g. 1st 1k revenu, 1st 10k visits, 1st 10 users, etc.) -> Twitter announcements -> Twitter questions/answers -> Github for any open source components (or the whole app) -> Tweet announcements -> Tweet maintenence insights -> Blog announcement (try to use long tail keywords)

Paid Gig -> Use codewords for non-public projects -> Use a no-unit scale for budget -> Be transparent about timeline & hours worked -> Blog at completion ? -> Add to project insights ? -> If fixed price, blog/tweet/track actual vs estimated costs (in my base hourly wage) -> Tweet interesting facts that I don't necessarily want to affect the Schelling Point for my hourly wage instead of blogging them

Price increase -> Project insights should factor in the increased cost of my labor -> Internet fistbump w/ patio11 after first paid gig after price increase

Publishing frequency

Tweets & Gists should be published as frequently as I have time/content for, hopefully on a ~daily basis
Blog posts should be published when they are ready, probably a month or two after I start them, hopefully around 1-2 per month

how-i-built-my-website.md

I've always found building my own website hard
How do I promote myself?
Who do I target?
What services do I list?
What layout?
What about a blog?
What do I get visitors?
What is my site even for anyway?

Insights:

@patio11 - SEO is about content
various personal/professional websites for content & layout inspiriation
tailwindui for styling with almost 0 customization
I'm a hardcore dev so I'll offer code & content for devs on my site
I target small businesses building web apps or internal tooling
I'll offer helpful advice for small business websites (both webapps e.g. SAAS and internal tooling)
My three main services are:
- Web apps
- Code & best practices audits (this services is a new one)
- Consulting (whatever you ask me to do)
I'll go with a mostly black & white modern newspaper-ish coloring
CTAs matter & need to be a different color, haven't picked which color yet
I'll link to twitter & github, those are the places where I post/create things which devs & businesses might be interested in
I'm going to lean heavily on my own projects for content
- I want them to make money anyway, I might as well promote them
- I want to use them for transparency content, e.g. publish budgets & timelines & stats
I want a sticky header, I think that users will want to move around in my app (e.g. peruse projects to get an idea of what kind of coding I do, then go back to services, or visa versa)
I want the call to action in the header (another reason why it should be sticky)
When the menu collapses down to the hamberger, it should still show the contact section
The contact section should be a form, if the window is wide enough, otherwise a button + modal
I plan to build my own analytics & use it on all my sites, so that I can publish those stats as part of the content on my site