Website redesign, SpeedCurve Shopify app, new content, and more

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Website redesign #

At 4:30pm on Friday, May 30, I deployed my new website redesign. I'll write a post on it sometime. It took a lot of work because I wanted to rebrand/change the message, redesign, and figure out a way to combine my other content with my blog.

Lesson learned: Don't make major new features along with a redesign. 😅

If you haven't explored it yet: sia.codes.

New post: 14 web performance tips for 2025 #

In April, I published a new post that share strategic web performance tips that you should be focusing on in 2025 to improve Core Web Vitals. Some of the tips are maybe counter to the prevailing thought.

Other new content #

I was excited when SpeedCurve reached out to me to build their Shopify app - now it's easier to integrate full real-user performance data collection in Shopify storefronts and correlate that data with bounce rates and conversions. As a part of that work, I also wrote two short articles for them:

• NEW! SpeedCurve RUM for your Shopify store
• How to enable SpeedCurve in your Shopify store

I was also on two podcasts that were recently published:

• Growing Your Brand Beyond Technical Fixes from the Honest Ecommerce Podcast
• Performance with Sia Karamalegos from the Pixels With Purpose podcast

From other folks on the web #

A few things by other folks I enjoyed consuming since last time:

• Enshittification as a matter of taste by Dave Rupert
• AI is Stifling Tech Adoption by Declan Chidlow
• In case you missed the drama, My AI Skeptic Friends Are All Nuts by Thomas Ptacek kicked up a lot of dust. Either way how you feel, I think it brought up some interesting discussions.
• Lighthouse is moving to performance insight audits by Barry Pollard
• the one thing we ALL crave: more "excitement" at our jobs...
• no stolen valor...

/Offline #

• Books: I'm not quite done yet, but I'm 90% sure that Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez is going to be a 5-star read. She drops heavy hitters throughout all while maintaining your attention. It's hard to write an interesting non-fiction book that is also a compelling read. I've had to consume it in smaller doses to manage my anger. Required reading for not just managers but everyone.
• Books: I had no idea that we could grow tea in the U.S. Tea plants are a particular variety of camellia, and we have a local nursery and "tea forest" that sells them. One of the owners also wrote a book containing everything you need to know about growing and harvesting your own tea: Grow Your Own Tea. A few weeks ago I harvested my first flush and made white tea flavored with apricot blossoms!
• Books: If romantasy is your jam, I recently made a list of my favorite romantasy books. Some are parts of series with a mixture of quality. Sorry.
• Art: I'm in two art shows this month! The first is the Durham Art Guild member showcase and the other is Animalia at the Hillsborough Art Council. I also recently showed some figure drawings using ink at Colab Raleigh.
• Art: I'm excited to be teaching my first art class in January - it will be an introduction to figure drawing through the Orange County Arts Commission.

This newsletter is reader-supported. If you buy a book from one of the links above, I'll earn some coffee money. You don't pay a higher price, and Bookshop.org supports independent booksellers.