I am excited to say that I am joining the great people of Court Innovations.
Court Innovations is an Ann Arbor software startup, the first startup out of the University of Michigan Law School. Our mission is to increase access to justice for citizens and make the daily work of court clerks, court managers and administrators, magistrates, judges, and law enforcement easier and more efficient. Read more about our online dispute resolution platform.
We recently closed our a Series A investment round. These funds allow us to invest in technology, grow the team (including hiring me), and to expand our reach nationwide from twenty-three courts in Michigan, Ohio, and Arkansas. I can’t wait to see what’s next for us as we grow.
On a whim, yesterday I changed the theme of this website. I did it for my own ease of use, but the simplified layout now makes fewer points more clearly. Everyone wins!
Reasons I Switched – Simplicity, Ease, and Cost
My Fancy Design Was Too Busy
Here’s the top half of the old homepage with a slider with a call-to-action button.
Previously, I had been using a theme that had lots of bells and whistles (sliders, images that changed size on mouseovers, featured pages, lots of color and typography settings). The front page was fancy…and because the theme had so many fun widgets and things to customize, I had an awful lot of stuff on the homepage. I had so much stuff on the homepage that I suppressed the sidebar that had my calls-to-action (newest book, newsletter signup).
I am embarrassed to admit that the visual clutter was not the motivating factor for my abrupt switch.
The theme got harder to use
I had been struggling with customizing the theme. Some of the things that I wanted to change were not available within the customization panel inside the WordPress dashboard. When I wanted to adjust how the buttons looked, I tried editing a child theme’s CSS, I tried inserting custom CSS in the panel…I had to surf the theme’s support boards and found out that I had to add that the change I wanted was “important!” in the CSS, and even then the change only “took” some of the time. The theme was as complex inside as it was on the outside.
Then, in the last few weeks, the customization panel would blink out. I noticed this when I went to fix an editing error on a page—yikes a typo!. The error was in the featured pages on the homepage, and the only way to edit it was to use the customization panel…and the panel wouldn’t stay on the screen!
To troubleshoot, I
turned off the other plugins in case there was a conflict.
changed browsers.
tried to click really fast before it blinked away (I tried this more times that I should admit).
searched for the featured page snippet in the theme files, including the database. Likely it was there, just poorly labeled.
None of this worked.
Through trial and error, I discovered that I could trick the customization panel to stay on screen when the theme was in “live preview” mode. So I had to change my site’s theme to a different one and then I could make changes. Ugh. I put up with this oddness, because for me customizing a new theme was enough of a pain that I could tolerate temporary workarounds. Then, yesterday, I had enough.
They asked for more money
I got a friendly letter from the theme vendor (I had started with the free theme and upgraded to a paid theme with an annual fee). They wanted me to know that my premium support would run out at the end of February. I should make sure to reup!
It really didn’t seem like they had been maintaining the theme enough to deserve another payment. When I had tried to monkey with the theme by customizing it, I realized that the theme was doing a whole bunch of fancy stuff in its files that made it really hard for me, a mostly non-coder, to make changes to a child theme. Worst of all, when I went into the admin panel, the theme customization panel still blinked out. I would not repay for defective software. Bad timing on the theme developer’s part.
Simplify to See
Here’s the new homepage (as of February 2017). Simpler layout, fewer things.
I gradually fell out of love with my old theme, and then I suddenly jumped to a new one. I made the commitment yesterday afternoon and republished the site last night. This new theme has way fewer things to customize in its WYSIWYG editor/customization panel. This new theme does not have featured pages, sliders, or resize-on-hover image fun.
After removing sliders and featured pages from the homepage, I realized that the homepage copy was….weak, and I rewrote it. I had not noticed that before.
Too much stuff cluttered the sidebar on interior pages, so I simplified the sidebar. The new layout and retouched copy, although less fancy and photo-filled, better emphasize what I am seeking now – new book projects.
Under the hood, I was able to deploy Google Tag Manager directly (the old theme resisted my efforts). So now analytics tagging will also be simplified. Hooray!
The more minimal layout fits my personal style better. It’s also better suited to visitors on mobile devices. I loved the photo of the snow monkeys in the hot spring, but as cute as they are they were irrelevant to the real message. The one thing that I miss is the orange line at the very top of the page. You might see the orange line return….
What do You Think?
How do you like the new look? Clean and tidy? Or too simple/generic? Anything seem missing?
Last Friday morning, Robert Pasick, Ph.D., and I spoke at Leaders Connect, a networking event at Zingerman’s Roadhouse in Ann Arbor. Our topic was “Ten Steps to Meaningful Goals for 2017,” based on our recent book Self-Aware: A Guide for Success in Work and Life.
If you’re interested, you can watch the entire hour-plus of video on YouTube here.
I thought I’d share a quick video excerpt here, about three minutes of Rob and I chatting about how we collaborated on the book.
Over the summer, Robert Pasick and I collaborated on Self-Aware: A Guide for Success in Work and Life. The book grew out of Rob’s teaching at the University of Michigan and his experience as a psychologist and executive coach. I helped with the book editing, book project management, and publishing it to ebook and paperback.
Self-Aware – the Book
The book guides students through self-discovery assessments and reflection exercises. These activities help the reader explore their
strengths,
personality,
interests,
self-care requirements (mind and body),
mission and core values,
lifestyle values—balancing work, family, friends, health, self, and
sweet spot—the intersection of what you’re good at, what you can be paid for, what aligns with your values, and your passions.
The book coaches the student to write their own vision for success and a short and long term plan.
Self-Aware: A Guide for Success in Work and Life
Throughout, the book emphasizes that we don’t accomplish these things solo. We achieve things and learn through interacting with the world and through the support and guidance of friends, family, mentors, and good examples. Throughout the project, Rob and I kept each other on track, reminded each other of the larger vision and purpose, and had fun along the way.
I loved the project so much I am looking for other similar projects. If you have an idea for a book and need help with project management, editing, publishing to different formats, and then publicizing the book, get in touch! I want to be your book editor and publisher.
Edited 7/7/2017 as I no longer take book projects now that I work for Court Innovations.
You might think a curved and twisted spine may make yoga impossible. It’s the opposite: yoga makes living and breathing with scoliosis better. And Elise and DL’s new Yoga for Scoliosis book will help you do yoga better.
Through working on my posture and breath in yoga, I have learned how to reduce my thoracic curve, de-rotate my spine, and breathe into areas which are compressed. When I don’t practice, I know it. My back aches more with twinges and tightness. When I practice, I feel more integrated, graceful, and free.
Yoga for Scoliosis book
Yoga for Scoliosis book
Elise Browning Miller and nancy DL heraty, two great yoga teachers, just released Yoga for Scoliosis: A Path for Students and Teachers. It is a wonderful book, clearly written with beautiful photographs and illustrations. It’s also quite practical: its spiral-bound pages lay open perfectly so I can consult it in the middle of my sequence.
This Yoga for Scoliosis book describes scoliosis, its four main patterns, and the benefits of yoga for scoliosis. The authors include instructions for beginning your own home practice (including advice about props) and then go into asanas and pranayama.
Covered asanas include:
standing poses
seated poses
back poses, backbends, and back strengtheners,
twisting poses,
supine and side-bending poses,
core strength poses,
inversion poses, and
breath awareness for scoliosis.
Each asana is well-described with at least one photograph, instructive text, variations, and specific adjustments for each pattern of scoliosis.
The book concludes with seven yoga for scoliosis practice sequences. These sequences are easy to skim and each refers back to the full instructions for each asana in the sequence.
About the Authors
Over the years, I have taken several workshops and classes from Iyengar yoga teacher Elise Browning Miller. Elise is based in Palo Alto, and she teaches all over the US and even internationally. I have followed her to Cleveland, Chicago, Kalamazoo, and Sonoma. Working with Elise has taught me how to use yoga to be stronger, more joyful, and work with my scoliosis rather than suffer with it. With her help, I have less pain and am lighter in my own body. Who wouldn’t want that?
When I have attended Elise’s workshops in Chicago, I met and worked with DL as well. DL co-authored the book with Elise and is a gentle and nurturing presence in workshops.
Get the Book!
If you teach yoga or do yoga and have scoliosis, get the book! You won’t be disappointed. You can purchase the book from Elise’s website.
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Court Innovations is an Ann Arbor software startup, the first startup out of the University of Michigan Law School. Our mission is to increase access to justice for citizens and make the daily work of court clerks, court managers and administrators, magistrates, judges, and law enforcement easier and more efficient. Read more about our online dispute resolution platform.
Throughout, the book emphasizes that we don’t accomplish these things solo. We achieve things and learn through interacting with the world and through the support and guidance of friends, family, mentors, and good examples. Throughout the project, Rob and I kept each other on track, reminded each other of the larger vision and purpose, and had fun along the way.