Introduction
It’s been a good while now since I’ve last posted on my blog. Rest assured, I’ve been in the back room cooking up some new things, one of which is a new website. I was in need of moving things from WordPress to a Bluehost for webapp hosting. So please, come in, take a look around and have a seat by the fire.
I’ve greatly enjoyed sharing my thoughts. Writing and organizing them has given me some valuable lessons:
- Writing is a wonderful practice. It also takes more effort than I expected.
- Writing down thoughts frees up my head space for other things.
- Seeing my written thought gives me an opportunity to organize the thought in a clear manner.
- Producing posts, methods, and webapps contributes to a better marketplace of ideas for the industry.
- Sharing knowledge and ideas with others is very enjoyable.
Did you say Webapp?
Meet Liner Leopard
Why yes, I did! A long time ago, I studied my DOT’s drainage manual about how to determine the liner type for a ditch. While I grant that this isn’t the newest thriller, keeping you on the edge of your seat, I will admit, with my head slightly tilted downward and my hand raised, that I enjoyed the reading experience. I left the manual with some plunder to show for it: a macro-enabled spreadsheet that automated the entire process. I benefited with that tool for quite some time until I began noticing some issues with this whole smart spreadsheet thing, namely:
- Others can modify it freely, mess it all up, and blame the author of the spreadsheet. You know, me. Locking cells can be done but it sure is a big hassle.
- Distributing it over email usually doesn’t work unless the user knows they have to toggle a trust setting. So that means they can’t use it unless they have a hint of computer troubleshooting savviness.
- There is no way to control the version everyone uses. An updated spreadsheet requires a whole new distribution to all previous users, making sure they understand not to copy the old one for future projects.
Seeing all of this, I wanted to share my tools with others but needed to overcome these logistic challenges. The fast answer to this long story – webapps! They can stay online on my site, they don’t store any data within them, they’re always up-to-date, and nobody can mess with them. I am pleased with my first webapp, Liner Leopard. There are potential future features but for now I want to introduce it to you kind guests. Don’t worry, I declawed him and everything. Just don’t stick your hand in his mouth!
Take it for a spin
I plan on making a future post/page that discusses Liner Leopard more in depth and when that happens, I’ll edit this post to include the link. Until then, head over to Liner Leopard and give it a spin! The programming behind it is available to view over on my GitHub page which you will find at the bottom next to the LinkedIn Icon.