Cape Town
-
4–6 minutes
Introduction to Sass
In a previous post, I’ve introduced using Sass through the WordPress Customiser and Jetpack. In this post, I want to quickly explain what exactly Sass is and where to get started. Sass stands for “Syntactically awesome style sheets”, and is basically CSS with superpowers — or “CSS on crystal meth” as I described it in one…
-
1–2 minutes
Propaganda, DJ Eazy, Kurt Shröder, Puno Selesho (Cape Town)
South Africa is out of the way for a lot of artists, so it’s always exciting if musicians I admire visit our country. Since the early days, I’ve been following the record label Humble Beast and it’s been an absolute pleasure to welcome Propaganda shortly after we saw Sho Baraka here in June. After a…
-
1–2 minutes
Sho Baraka, DJ Eazy, King Smasher, Lux Kent (Cape Town)
Several years ago, I first heard about Humble Beast, the record company hosting amazing artists like Beautiful Eulogy, Propaganda, and Sho Baraka. The latter was in Cape Town this weekend and performed together with Good Hope FM’s DJ Eazy. The evening was opened with a rap battle and short performances of locals Lux Kent (feat.…
-
3–5 minutes
The worst reply to mentions of white privilege
“I’ve worked hard my whole life.” That’s it. The worst reply.* And yet it’s one of the replies I’ve heard the most from white people here in South Africa. What’s so bad about it? #1: Wrong topic By pointing to your working hard, you’re not addressing the issue that the words “white privilege” address. White…
-
1–2 minutes
The Justice Conference (Cape Town)
South Africa is a country in pain, the wounds of centuries of colonialism followed by the brutal system of Apartheid have left deep wounds that are only now starting to scar before they can start to heal. Questions The Justice Conference tried to address some of the questions our country is grappling with from a…
-
1–2 minutes
Oude Kraal
Yesterday, we went to Oude Kraal for the first time. It’s a very nice place next to the Atlantic Ocean, owned by South African National Parks with great braaing spots next to the water. Stunning way to end the day. Here are some pics of the evening.
-
1–2 minutes
Beaverlac
Last weekend, Kim and I went to Beaverlac, one of the best camping sites in South Africa. It’s about a two-hour drive from Cape Town – not including a dirt road that’s quite rough on our ’98 Corolla – and the perfect weekend getaway. It was the first time I tried my new (second-hand) Sigma…
-
1–2 minutes
WordPress Customisation for Dummies (Like Me): Workshop WordCamp Cape Town 2016
A lot of beginners encounter all sort of tutorials on how to add some custom code to the functions.php file or even more basic: change the layout beyond what the customizer allows. Aspects In this workshop, I introduce WordPress beginners to some good standards in terms of customisation. Choosing a plugin that allows custom CSS…
-
1–2 minutes
August Burns Red, Facing The Gallows, Zombies Ate My Girlfriend (Cape Town)
Last week, August Burns Red came to South Africa for the first time (or Africa for that matter). CULTURESHOCK was able to get press tickets and I got the photo pass for it. It had been almost two years since I last did some proper concert photography, but I’m happy with the result. Hope you like…
-
1–2 minutes
Mischa & Jonathan: Colour
As I explained yesterday, I made two separate series of the shoot with our friends Mischa and Jonathan. Here is the colour edit. Mischa and Jonathan liked the idea of having a vintage look in an urban setting, so added a metallic blue tone to the pics, while trying to preserve the beautiful orange and…
-
1–2 minutes
Mischa & Jonathan: Black and White
Recently, our friends Mischa and Jonathan got engaged. I got the honour of taking a few pics with them. They wanted to go for an urban vibe. The nice thing with Cape Town is that the surrounding mountains are always lurking, so in several pics, you can see them peeking in. In case you haven’t…
-
1–2 minutes
World of Birds
I had passed by World of Birds a few times before, but never entered it. World of Birds is the largest bird park in Africa and hosts over 400 birds and small animal species. It’s a sanctuary, so of course the animals are caged in, but they’ve tried their best to give them some decent…
-
4–6 minutes
Ethical Consumption in South Africa: Chocolate and Coffee
When I arrived in South Africa about three years ago, fair trade was not really a consideration here. Very few brands were offering clear information about their supply chains and the control or transparency of those chains by external organisations. In the last few years, there has been quite a big change. Why should you care?…
-
1–2 minutes
Scaling Support by Educating Customers
At ScaleConf 2016 in Cape Town, I was invited to speak in front of a large audience of developers. I focused on one of the biggest passions of most developers (not): support. However, while devs might not get excited about support, they all understand the importance of it. With having WooCommerce active on 1+ million…
-
1–2 minutes
Bruce Lunnis: The Age of the Digital Superhero
My favourite talk at WordCamp Cape Town 2015 was Bruce Lunnis‘. He shared some of the stories of the do_action-hackathons in Cape Town. On those events, WordPress professionals gather to make websites, set up eCommerce and design branding for NGOs from the Cape Town region. Bruce highlighted a few of the success stories of how…
-
4–6 minutes
“So How Long Will You Stay in South Africa?” On Answering the Underlying Question
Even though I have definitely picked up some South African lingo, most locals still hear straight away that I’m not a national (yet). Once that is clear and they understand that I’m not Dutch or German, but Belgian, they ask me how long I’ve been in South Africa (since August 2013). The follow-up question to that…
-
1–2 minutes
Bird of Prey (on our Balcony)
In Cape Town we don’t have lions walking in the street (contrary to popular Western belief), but we do get so see some amazing wildlife. This morning this bird of prey caused some excitement among the birds that often frequent our balcony. This male rock kestrel flew against our lounge window twice while trying to hunt…
-
1–2 minutes
Halloween Housewarming (in Mouille Point)
Kim and I moved in October, and with me going to the States a short while later (and having access to loads of merch), we thought doing a Halloween themed housewarming would be a great idea, especially since neither of us had ever been to a Halloween party. We had loads of fun!
-
1–2 minutes
Mouille Point, South Africa
At Automattic, we can work from wherever we want. My office today was at home. We’re hiring by the way.
-
1–2 minutes
Hugh’s Intro Slides for WordCamp Cape Town 2015
The latest WordCamp Cape Town was my fourth WordCamp (next to three Cape Town ones I also was at the last Cologne one). Hugh gives a great invite to make the best out of these superb community events. Learn! Get involved! Have fun!