Wordpress is a great platform for building websites, but it can be:

1. slow without optimization
2. overwhelmed by large spikes in traffic

Justin Williams provides a ten minute recipe for making your Wordpress site faster and more stable.

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos’ tells everything he knows:

1. Obsess over customers: when given the choice between obsessing over competitors or customers, always obsess over customers. Start with customers and work backward.

2. Invent: you can invent your way out of any box if you believe you can. Invent on behalf of your customers -it’s not a customer’s job to invent on to themselves. Listen to customers but know they can’t tell you everything.

3. Think long term: any company that wants to focus on customers has to be willing to think long term. Many initiatives may take 5-7 years to pan out for a company. Thinking long term allows you to be misunderstood. Most inventions take a while to be appreciated.

Legendary UCLA coach John Wooden talks about how to succeed with dignity by learning from others and performing to the best of your abilities.

For those interested, here’s the Pyramid of Success he developed that he mentions in his talk.

Particletree, from the creators of Wufoo, a fantastic online form service. Lots of interesting articles, ranging from Seven Pillars of Pretty Code, to the 4 1/2 Day Workweek.

Senegal Fast Food, from Amadou & Miriam’s incredible Manu Chao produced album Dimanche à Bamako. Their story is incredible, and from the first single, so is their new album.

Email marketing campaign to introduce Platinum CJ, a new complete equine supplement from Platinum Performance.

A good explanation of how screen readers function, along with methods for making pages more accessible when using javascript to update elements.

Logo cleanup and type refinement. Part of a campaign to raise the quality of all marketing materials, including website and advertising. Original logo here.

From Miles Davis’ wild electric phase… not light listening, but there’s nothing better for breaking through creativity blocks.

Great nighttime shots on one of my favorite new blogs. I know very little about Singapore, but watching this event intrigued me. The mix of colonial and contemporary architecture is striking.

Comprehensive ADA compliance guide and checklist from Cal Poly’s Web Authoring Resource Center.

Many updates in progress. Have a look around and let us know if you notice any obvious rough edges.