A closer lookSaturday, June 6th 2020 An API, or Application Programming Interface, is an interface to a software system designed to allow access from another system. In other words, a computer talking to a computer. A great human analogy would be you as a Point Of Sale software system, and a county records office as Quickbooks. If you go looking for a record of something the clerk at the front desk will ask who you are and why you need it. The clerk here is similar to an API, and the inquiry about who you are would be authentication. Once this step is passed successfully a request is made and the records clerk (API) would then find your file and bring it back to you. Note how you never access the complete file system, but instead ask the clerk to retrieve or store the information for you. They are the interface to a much larger system and all information passes through them with strict rules. Read More
A closer lookFriday, June 5th 2020 Hiring the right developer can make a significant impact on business growth, system efficiency, and even team morale. Tech is at the heart of modern business and if systems break down things fall off the rails all too quickly.
So, how do you know who to hire? You’re almost certainly not a developer yourself, so assessing skills can be a challenge. And even then, there is a wide variety of developer mentalities and as developers ourselves, we can say that we’re kind of a strange lot. So with that in mind here are five tips for hiring the right developer. Read More
Absurd ContraptionsThursday, June 4th 2020 Sometimes a regular coffee maker just isn’t quite good enough. Sometimes it takes a little more zest to get the most out of our brew. May we present our latest contraption, the Mazuzu Rocket-powered Coffee Machine. Sure it doesn’t work all that well, leaves scorch marks all over the place, and fills the room with a fair amount of smoke; but let’s be reasonable, all good things have their drawbacks. Our Mr. Coffee drip machine just doesn’t look the same anymore and coffee without some carbon is just lacking.
Welcome to Mazuzu. We’re a little bit mental and we have fun with what we do. Up next, the diesel blender. Or the jet-powered toaster. We’re not sure which is a higher priority.
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One minute overview seriesThursday, June 4th 2020 There’s a great little tool housed inside Google Chrome called Lighthouse. It’s a testing and reporting system to determine webpage performance and offer suggestions about speed, accessibility, best practices, SEO, and Progressive Web Apps. Don’t worry if you’re not a developer as this information is clearly presented and built into basic overall scores.
This test is run page by page (not website by website) so try running it on your home page, your product/post page, etc. Do some analysis of your site and see what needs a little adjustment to work well. And remember, this isn’t just for SEO, this is also for general user experience. Treat your visitors right and Google will reward you for it, so make that site FAST! Make it accessible, and keep your code clean and up to date.
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One minute overview seriesWednesday, June 3rd 2020 We believe that having fun is one of the most important aspects to business. Sure, there’s hard work, discipline, focus, and a few other things that are needed too, but having fun is the fuel for our creative thinking and motivation.
Automated reminders for a smile or a laugh are little gems that are worth their weight in gold, and this one just tickles us to no end. Whenever someone reacts to our posts a pirate shouts at us. At the moment this pirate has a limited repertoire of “FULL AHEAD!” for positive reactions and “ABANDON SHIP!” for negative ones, but we’re thinking of expanding this significantly. What do you think? Geoffrey Rush shouting orders as Captain Barbossa is as motivational as it gets. The possibilities!
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