Aaron Overton

Aaron Overton has been building websites and web applications since the web was first open for commercial use in the early 1990s. Mostly, Aaron is a freelancer (his company is called Heatherstone) for a wide variety of clients from small to enterprise in size. He also spent three years building web properties at Microsoft. His interesting side gigs have included teaching computer programming at a public high school and publishing tabletop miniature wargames. If you are having trouble finding him, find his wife, Nhu, and he's usually no more than 20 feet away.
It's Cool to Say No to Features

It’s Cool To Say No To Features

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The marketing guy was breathless with excitement. “This is going to be the killer feature!” he enthused. “Customers are totally clamoring for this thing, so if we can just get it into the next release, sales will skyrocket!” My role was “program manager,” which in some more primitive languages is translated as, “wet blanket” or “I hate that guy.” This role included owning the schedule and the feature list, so the product couldn’t have a new feature until I was sure it was sensible and achievable. Sometime later, I nixed the feature … Read more

better living through version control

Git With The Program And Don’t Stress When Deleting Stuff

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There’s this sinking feeling you get when you delete a file or revise something you’ve been writing and forget to save. It’s like, “Wait, what did I just click OK about?” The system asks you if you are sure and you get so used to clicking OK, that you just do. That’s when you realize you just agreed that your hard work can be safely deleted forever. Maybe you immediately open Google and try find someone that knows how to recover lost work. Sometimes you get lucky and find a link like … Read more

The Pros And Cons Of WordPress Plugin Updates

The Pros And Cons Of WordPress Plugin Updates

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When an orchestra plays, each musician has his/her own part to follow. They are designed to work together by a single composer to create a cohesive whole, a production with real polish. But now imagine that each part was written by different composers who are supposed to be following some central guidelines, but are largely able to do whatever they want. And now imagine that these composers can “improve” their own scores and introduce them into the overall production at any time, including in the middle of a live performance. One word: … Read more