Craftentries

In this episode of Craftentries, host Thomas converses with guest Will Browar about his journey from graphic design to web development, focusing on his experiences with Craft CMS. Will recounts his early career at an agency, his transition to a SaaS company, and his passion for continuous learning. 

In this episode, Thomas interviews Brandon and Brad from Pixel and Tonic. They discuss the release of Craft CMS 5 and the positive reception and adoption it has received. The conversation also touches on Craft Commerce and Craft Cloud. Craft Cloud is a new hosting service offered by Pixel & Tonic, the creators of Craft CMS. It is designed to provide a seamless hosting experience for Craft CMS websites, with features such as on-demand image transforms, automatic static caching, and a streamlined build pipeline.

In this episode, Thomas interviews Sean Smith, a web developer and podcast host from Canada. Sean shares his journey into web development, starting with his interest in computers and websites in the late 90s. He discusses how he transitioned from teaching English in South Korea to pursuing web development as a career.

Tune in to this  episode as Thomas sits down with Bastian Allgeier, the  creator of Kirby CMS. They delve into the narrative of Kirby's inception, the strategic choice of a file-based system, and the extensive customization capabilities that make Kirby a developer's dream.  Bastian opens up about his choice to forgo a traditional PHP framework in favor of a more tailored approach with PHP and Vue.js, highlighting the platform's adaptability and ease of use. Listen as they discuss the core team's dynamic, the foundational story of Kirby as a company, and the pivotal role of community and enduring partnerships. Bastian also gives an inside look at how new developers are brought into the Kirby fold and breaks down the various licensing options at their disposal. 

Episode 15 features Ryan, who owns CraftQuest, an online training platform for Craft CMS and modern web development. He discusses his career path, which began with a job in the software industry, although his academic background is in German studies. Ryan explains how his experience teaching a foreign language later helped him teach technical content. Ryan reflects on the challenges of broad competition and the pressure to create new courses to justify his time. Changing markets led him to adopt a subscription model for CraftQuest, providing subscribers with more varied and valuable content. With this approach, Ryan aims to continuously improve the learning experience for his audience while ensuring sustainability for himself as a course creator. But he also answers questions about how he finds ideas for new courses, the process from the idea to the finished video, and his plans and wishes for CraftQuest. Pine Works is also introduced, a design and development agency with good ethics and strong opinions.  The episode is rounded off with topics such as how Ryan prevents burnout and community questions from Andrew Welch.

In today's episode, Shawna O'Neal (Dodgy Code)  joins Thomas Sausen to discuss Craft CMS' price increase and how it could affect their businesses. It is also being discussed whether a kind of Craft CMS Light would make sense at a lower price, similar to the Craft Client.

In today's episode, Thomas Sausen joins Brandon Kelly to celebrate 10 years of Craft CMS. Brandon is the founder and CEO of Pixel & Tonic, the team behind the CMS. 

Andrew Armittage, the founder of A Digital agency, is a seasoned expert in the digital industry for over 15 years. In the 12th episode of Craftentries, Andrew talks about the challenges behind his agency and what challenges lie ahead with AI, among other things. He also provides insights into agency life and how his team is structured.

Andrew Armitage, the founder of A Digital agency, is a seasoned expert in the digital industry who has worked with various content management systems over the years. Among the platforms he has used, he has found Craft CMS to be a precious tool for his agency's web development projects. Learn more about why Craft is so helpful for agencies in episode 11 of Craftentries.

In the 10th episode, Thomas Sausen is lost in the Sierra Nevada with Andrew Welch. Accompanies the two on a wild road trip. From 15-year-old Andrew Welch, who taught himself the Pascal programming language to later start a software company for Apple Computers. To the adult Andrew, who closed the lucrative company decades later to break new ground in web development.  Today, he has a driving plugin business with SEOmatic, one of the most popular Craft CMS plugins, while maintaining a healthy work-life balance with his dog and family. What a ride! 

In the 9th episode, Thomas Sausen has web developer Charlie Dowley as a guest. Charlie talks about her journey as a web developer in a male-dominated industry. From her beginnings as a graphic designer, her first coding steps with Dreamweaver, to years of working as a WordPress developer and finally to moving to Craft CMS. This episode covers Plugin recommendations, career tips, and how women can break into the tech world. 

In the 8th episode, Thomas Sausen looks forward to meeting John Henry Donovan, who tells how he literally survived his career as a web developer. From the beginnings with ExpressionEngine to Craft CMS. His experiences as a speaker at web conferences and unexpected drastic health problems are discussed.  You should listen to this episode if you've always wanted to know how a father of four manages his freelance business, hobbies like pottery, and family life.

In the 7th episode of Craftentries, Thomas Sausen welcomes Jack McDade as a guest. Jack created the file-based CMS Statamic in 2012. In the podcast, we talk about his beginnings in the ExpressionEngine community, how he almost developed a joint CMS with Brandon Kelly, and why he ended up releasing Statamic. Other topics include Statamic's unique features and what's planned for the near future.

In episode 6 of Craftentries, Thomas Sausen welcomes Ben Croker as a guest. Ben founded PutYourLightsOn in 2007 and has been building and supporting plugins since the initial release of Craft CMS in 2013. We talk in-depth about his beginnings as a programmer but also about his plugin business and the Craft CMS ecosystem.

In episode 5 of Craftentries, Thomas Sausen welcomes Justin Holt as a guest. Justin works as a freelance web developer in Charlotte (NC, USA) and specializes in Craft CMS. In the podcast, Justin talks about his career from college and his first HTML website - a BMX magazine - to CodeIgniter and ExpressionEngine to Craft CMS. We also learn how he switches off, his hobbies, and what talk he'll be giving at Dot All 2022 in New York (USA).

The Craft CMS 4.1 and 4.2 updates improve accessibility, user interface, and developer experience. In the field layout editor, "newline" elements can be added, and Collections get the .one() method.  I also look back at the closure of learning platform Mijingo and why its spiritual successor CraftQuest is worth supporting.

The long wait has ended, and the latest version of Craft CMS was released on Star Wars Day, May 4, 2022. What new features can users and developers look forward to, and what features are still missing? Subtopics include conditional fields, user and file management, and Laravel Collections.

Which CMS can be used to realize which projects well? When does WordPress have its advantages over Craft CMS, and when is it the other way around? These and more questions will be clarified in this episode. The content management systems are compared in terms of templating, plugins, control panel, security, and e-commerce.

2021 in review. In the Craft cosmos, there were good releases with 3.6 and 3.7 and a thriving digital event with Dot All 2021. In addition, the PHP Foundation was founded, and John Morton left Craft Link List. What can we expect from 2022?