At some point in every Rails application’s life, you’ll need to perform some kind of maintenance or code update that will require taking your application offline for a short period of time. There are methods to achieve zero-downtime deployments, but sometimes it’s just easier to take your application offline for 5 minutes during a deployment. If you know that no-one…
Every social media platform comes with it’s own dimensions for profile, cover, and shared photos. We’ve compiled a list of all the profile images you’ll need and the sizes they should be for your brand’s social media profiles. Facebook Images Facebook is one of the easier social media platforms to add your collateral to. The cover photo does not stretch…
I enjoy working with WordPress for a variety reasons and one of those reasons is it’s implementation of shortcodes. Shortcodes are nothing new to WordPress (they were introduced back in version 2.5), but I constantly find new ways to incorporate them into my sites. “Shortcodes are magical…” By default, WordPress provides 6 shortcodes out of the box that you can…
Finding a functional mobile navigation that works well on all devices is one of the toughest challenges in responsive web design. What works best on a desktop version of a website will definitely not be the best option for your website on a mobile device. Below are some questions that I ask myself before determining the best mobile navigation for…
Whenever I hear someone say, “We need a search box on our site”, my heart slightly jumps out of my chest. Achieving quality search results is difficult to do, especially when dealing with different technologies from project to project. Google has set a high standard for how a search engine should work, so many expect this kind of search quality…
Website navigation is one of the most important components for traffic and flow of a website. It also allows search engines to easily navigate the site and houses all of the pages in one location. When creating a website navigation it’s important to research the industry and carefully plan out a sitemap. It’s also important to follow website standards so…
We love coffee here at Web Ascender, and I mean we LOVE IT. We typically consume 3 – 4 pots in a morning, so the path into the break room is well-traveled! We all take turns making coffee when it runs dry, but for a few weeks straight I just couldn’t get my timing right. I’d always arrive just in…
Materialize is a CSS framework built around Google’s Material Design principles. In general, I would describe material design as being very focused with a kind of minimalist aesthetic. Components feel sharp and generally stand out in a subtle yet noticeable way. User interaction such as clicks are accompanied by small yet engaging and visually appealing effects. You can read more…
Let’s take a trip down Nostalgia Lane really quick, shall we? You’re in the 4th grade, and one of your classmates is having a birthday party. Instead of modern invite mediums such as text message or Facebook Events, your classmate hands (or mails) you an actual invitation, complete with the date, time, and theme of the party. Okay, back to…
If you manage your own database servers, at some point you’ve probably thought about moving to “the cloud”. Cloud databases provide some nice benefits when compared to traditional bare-metal servers: Ability to scale up (and down) easily Essentially unlimited disk space (no more “the hard disk is full” panic-attacks!) Automated backups and snapshots of your data Expertly-managed infrastructure, so you…
