My thoughts on web development and sometimes other things.https://stefenphelps.com/en-ushttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/diy-farmstand/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/diy-farmstand/How I put together a simple, sturdy farmstand using basic tools, some wood, and a metal roofing panel for under $200 despite the AI trying to sabotage me 😅Sun, 01 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/keyboard-accessible-dropdown-menu/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/keyboard-accessible-dropdown-menu/Thanks to the new CSS psuedo class ':focus-within', keyboard accessible dropdown menus are much simpler to create than they used to be.Wed, 24 May 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/the-simple-bible-pwa/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/the-simple-bible-pwa/How and why I built a Bible app from scratch using modern web technologiesMon, 22 May 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/dreams/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/dreams/Dreams have a strange way of dealing with trauma. I guess it's a good thing I usually forget about my dreams as soon as I wake up. These two, however, have stuck with me.Mon, 20 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/my-mac-setup-for-development/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/my-mac-setup-for-development/A list of my favorite apps, packages, and various tools I use for web development on MacOS.Sat, 13 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/simple-video-modal-with-no-dependencies/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/simple-video-modal-with-no-dependencies/Code a video modal using native HTML elements, HTML APIs, and a touch of javascript.Sat, 16 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/custom-grid-gutters-on-hubspot/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/custom-grid-gutters-on-hubspot/The default gap between columns on HubSpot's drag-n-drop pages can be difficult to change. Not anymore...Mon, 24 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/2021/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/2021/Stefen's Twenty Twentyone in Summary FormSat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/3-tips-for-being-a-better-web-designer/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/3-tips-for-being-a-better-web-designer/I've been making websites for close to 10 years now. I've made my fair share of 💩 websites—in addition to some amazing websites. What I have realized in reflecting on my website project experiences is that there is a simple formulaWed, 28 Feb 2018 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/rebranding-redesigning-naturecoaster-com/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/rebranding-redesigning-naturecoaster-com/The process behind the new brand and website made for NatureCoaster.comSun, 11 Feb 2018 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/lazy-loading-images-on-hubspot/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/lazy-loading-images-on-hubspot/Images are almost always the #1 reason for a slow website. Even if all of your images are optimized and sized correctly, they can still cause performance issuesWed, 07 Feb 2018 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/migrate-hubspot-blog-to-wordpress/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/migrate-hubspot-blog-to-wordpress/HubSpot makes it extremely difficult to export your blog posts in a usable form. It's built-in export tool only exports the page title and URLs. The website export tool exports all the static HTML files. Neither of these are useful when you need to import your data into a WordPress Database.Fri, 12 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/how-to-add-animations-to-your-static-designs-using-adobe-xd-and-codepen/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/how-to-add-animations-to-your-static-designs-using-adobe-xd-and-codepen/Designers creating new website mockups will generally use Photoshop then save those mockups as a JPG or PNG for the client to review. The problem with static images is they don't tell the whole story of what the website could be. Hover state, the way the page loads, or even the way the page transitions to a new view—theseTue, 21 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/website-branding-refresh/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/website-branding-refresh/One of the hardest parts of designing for the web is the lack of limitation. There is no artificial limit to the amount of space you have to work with, no limit to how something could be animated or functionMon, 06 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/pros-cons-using-wordpress-page-builders/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/pros-cons-using-wordpress-page-builders/A common issue people run into when using WordPress is it's extremely basic page editor. The lack of ability to make complex pages, basically anything more than the typical 'title' and 'body' format, is restrictive.Tue, 31 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/codepen-meetup-brooksville-july-25th/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/codepen-meetup-brooksville-july-25th/Over the years of doing freelance work for local businesses and organizations, I've met quite a few people that are interested in 'coding'. Whether that means a specific programming language, responsive design, or just web design in general. They all had the same question... where do I start?Sat, 08 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/hubspot-to-wordpress-website-migration/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/hubspot-to-wordpress-website-migration/HubSpot is a powerful all-in-one marketing platform. However, if your company isn't taking advantage of all of the marketing tools it's platform offers and just want to cover your basics, you can save a whole lot of money by migrating to WordPress. Migrating a HubSpot COS hosted website to a self-hosted WordPress site consists of 4 basic steps.Mon, 05 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/hubspot-blog-search/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/hubspot-blog-search/Have you ever wished your HubSpot blog had a search feature that didn't take you off your website — _looking at you, google search module_ ? — and that it would search only for blog posts? Here is how I recently accomplished this taskTue, 16 May 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/hubspot-cos-modal-site-search-plugin/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/hubspot-cos-modal-site-search-plugin/A quick and easy way to provide a nice search experience on your HubSpot websiteThu, 08 Dec 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/progressive-image-loading-with-hubspot/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/progressive-image-loading-with-hubspot/I am a big fan of the way Instagram's mobile app and Medium's website load images. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's when an extremely small image is scaled up, blurred out and is loaded before the full image... eventually fading into the full image once it has loaded.Tue, 01 Nov 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/make-awesome-us-page-part-2-code/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/make-awesome-us-page-part-2-code/In part 2 (this post!), I'll be discussing the technical aspects of making the team member photos/videos come alive on the web, some issues we faced and how we solved themTue, 18 Oct 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/on-page-seo-2016-best-practices-for-an-ecommerce-website/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/on-page-seo-2016-best-practices-for-an-ecommerce-website/Your website has been designed and coded, the products loaded, a payment gateway linked and you're ready to start taking orders. If you build it, they will come... right? Unfortunately, it's not always that easyTue, 16 Aug 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/how-to-use-excels-vlookup-to-quickly-update-product-data/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/how-to-use-excels-vlookup-to-quickly-update-product-data/It happens all the time. You get a CSV file full of products with new pricing and you're tasked with updating the products on the website with this new data. I think we can all agree that updating product data can be a huge pain in the butt and a majorMon, 08 Aug 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/website-structure-best-practices/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/website-structure-best-practices/Having a good site structure that's easy to navigate and has a clear goal or purpose is imperative to keeping bounce rates low and visitors happy. A website's structure not only affects user experienceTue, 02 Aug 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/behind-the-site-designing-your-ecommerce-website/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/behind-the-site-designing-your-ecommerce-website/Behind every good eCommerce website is a good strategy. Who is this site being made for? How does that person prefer to shop online? Do they prefer to have a phone number to call or a form to fill out?Mon, 11 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/what-is-a-launchpad-website/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/what-is-a-launchpad-website/Typically, when you start a traditional website re-design, the designer will create a wireframe of every key page on the website during what we call the wireframe phase. Once the overall design is approvedWed, 20 Apr 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/3-tips-from-an-inbound-web-designer/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/3-tips-from-an-inbound-web-designer/Website performance and website growth are two seperate things that are closely knit, which have a big influence over each other. A slow website will greatly impact user experience, your page rank and can also have a negative impact on your overall brandMon, 15 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/how-to-make-a-modal-popup-custom-module-in-hubspot/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/how-to-make-a-modal-popup-custom-module-in-hubspot/If you're familiar with Wistia, you've seen their cool modal window video embeds where the video plays in an overlay on top of the web page (also known as a lightbox popover). Modal windows are great for adding extra content on a page that would normally take up a large amount of space.Thu, 09 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/why-you-need-a-website-even-if-youre-not-selling-online/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/why-you-need-a-website-even-if-youre-not-selling-online/A majority of people these days look online to research a product or service before they buy it.  If you don't have a presence online, they won't find you.  Not having a website is like not being listed in the phonebook back in the 90's.  However, just having a website won't cut it.Thu, 26 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/how-to-reduce-a-clients-design-revisions/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/how-to-reduce-a-clients-design-revisions/Imagine this -- You’re in the final stretch of launching your client’s website (this could be any type of design project really, but we’ll use a website in our example).  You’ve finalized the design, coded everything, and squashed all the bugs only to hear back from the client, “It looks greatThu, 22 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/white-hat-black-hat-seo/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/white-hat-black-hat-seo/Ever since the early 2000's, the early days of search engines, Google (among others) gave pagerank to a website based on the amount of links from other sites that were linking to it.  This simple premiseTue, 04 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/wordpress-much-more-than-just-a-blogging-tool/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/wordpress-much-more-than-just-a-blogging-tool/How and why WordPress should be used for more than just a blogWed, 04 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttps://stefenphelps.com/blog/what-is-seo/https://stefenphelps.com/blog/what-is-seo/SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which means getting your website near the top of Google's search results page for any given search.  There isn't one magic thing you can do to make your website appearThu, 22 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT