Profiles

Bio

I transform your brand with expert solutions in branding, messaging, design, marketing, website development, and social media. I specialize in helping businesses and national non-profits define their identity, communicate their mission, and connect with their audience effectively. With a proven track record across industries like technology, retail, IT, manufacturing, and transportation, I deliver tailored services, including brand development, corporate identity systems, multi-channel marketing campaigns, WordPress and BuddyPress websites, engaging videos, and thriving online communities. Let’s craft compelling marketing materials and annual reports that drive results and make an impact.

Interests

Music performance, songwriting, organizing and hosting of monthly songwriting workshops, public speaking, travel, photography, book clubs. Founder and co-host of the Song Talk Radio Podcast & Radio Show on 1280AM Toronto

WordPress Origin Story

Back in 2004, I was re-building my bands (The Parkdale Hookers website. I’d created lots of websites for clients as static HTML pages. I knew that if the updating process on the new site was too demanding, the site would become out of date after a while. I had seen that happen on too many client sites.

I thought about what would be required: a simple site, database driven that would have new content displayed on the front page. Realizing a blog engine would fit the bill, I already knew that Blogger was hard to customize, I started to look around. I tried Joomla, but that would only output table-based output and I had long moved over to CSS-based coding – to the point where I couldn’t really remember how to do table-based layouts – I also knew I’d never go back.

I found WordPress and installed it. There were very few resources on the web at the time (figuring out how to create multiple loops on the front page was a challenge) but I was thrilled with the result. The next couple of updates broke lots of stuff as old calls were removed (gettext anyone?) – which worried me. But it settled down after a bit.

After that, I’ve never looked back!

  • Member Since: September 6th, 2006
  • Location: St. John's, Newfoundland
  • Website: focusedcreative.com
  • Job Title: Principal / Owner / Creative Director
  • Employer: Focused Creative
  • Find me on:
  • Posted a reply to [Wordfence Security - Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security] Recaptcha issues on multiple sites, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    the problem is that we can't even log into the site because of Wordfence. The…

  • Posted a reply to Recaptcha issues on multiple sites, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    PLEASE stop deleting other users who have the same problem. It's a real douche move…

  • Posted a reply to Recaptcha issues on multiple sites, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Google has changed Recaptcha quite a bit. Instead of a simple and powerful solution, they've…

  • Created a topic, Recaptcha issues on multiple sites, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Been using Wordfence for years without issue. In th…

  • Created a topic, PolyLang & Divi Theme Builder Templates, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    How do you set up a different Theme Builder Template i…

  • Posted a reply to Post notification emails no longer being sent, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Thanks, I managed to get it working, although not quite sure how.

  • Created a topic, How do you style the “Confirm you’re not a robot” page, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    I went through the docs and was able to style the othe…

  • Posted a reply to Post notification emails no longer being sent, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hi. Not sure if this is a language issue? Apologies if so. Mailpoet worked fine…

  • Posted a reply to Post notification emails no longer being sent, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hi It was working fine before, so the not sending is a recent thing -…

  • Posted a reply to Post notification emails no longer being sent, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Thanks System Info name: --------email: -------------PHP version: 8.3.16MailPoet Free version: 5.6.3MailPoet Premium version: N/AMailPoet Premium/MSS…

  • Created a topic, Post notification emails no longer being sent, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    I have 2 almost identical sites running MailPoet. They…

  • Posted a reply to Mailpoet no longer sends emails, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    I'm having the same issue, but I send from the local web server. MailPoet was…

  • Posted a reply to Does not work with php 8.0, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Same issue here. No other plugins enabled on a fresh install. Getting the following errors…

  • Created a topic, Feature Request: Add custom fields to Latest content loop, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    It would be great if one could edit the Latest Content…

  • Created a topic, Links in Approval Emails generate a 404 error, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Everything is working ok, but when the administrator r…

  • Posted a reply to Plugin Conflicts with DIVI theme, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Fixed. I think there was a pop up that asked where to put the calendar,…

  • Created a topic, Plugin Conflicts with DIVI theme, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hello. The plugin conflicts with the DIVI page buil…

  • Created a topic, Does what it should even with Custom Categories, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    A site with complex custom categories - it works!

  • Posted a reply to Month Select Popup Does not change visable calander month, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Also the "list, Month, Day" pop up doesn't work.

  • Created a topic, Month Select Popup Does not change visable calander month, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Disabled all plugins. On php 8. We have a page disp…

  • Created a topic, PHP not executing – only displays the code on the page, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    When I create a test snippet with the code <?php …

  • Created a topic, v2.9.2.0 Borks site, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Just updated the plugin. Borks the site completely. Ca…

  • Created a topic, Should the text in the NAME field have “” in them, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    In most email addresses the format is "Firstname Lastn…

  • Created a topic, Awesome, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Does what it does.

  • Posted a reply to SVG Uploads not working, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    same here

  • Created a topic, two addresses just sit in the “Queued Email” list, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    No sure why. We have a cron job set to trigger every 5…

  • Posted a reply to Is “woocommerce_price( $_product->get_price() )” depreciated?, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Fixed it. Use the strip_tags() to get rid of all that wacky un-html'ed html code:…

  • Posted a reply to Is “woocommerce_price( $_product->get_price() )” depreciated?, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    replacing "woocommerce_price" with "wc_price" still outputs all the same code.

  • Posted a reply to Is “woocommerce_price( $_product->get_price() )” depreciated?, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Thanks for the speedy reply. Do you mean that "woocommerc_price" in : return $term .…

  • Created a topic, Archived Emails page shows “X” under error, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Not sure what that "X" means. Does that mean that it …

  • Created a topic, Is “woocommerce_price( $_product->get_price() )” depreciated?, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    I've been trying to add some code to display a variati…

  • Created a topic, Unclear UX: Manage Members, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Great plugin, but when you go to the "Manage Members" …

  • Created a topic, messages won’t send from any outgoing option, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Email won't send to the mailing list, regardless of wh…

  • Created a topic, Plugin no longer working, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    It was working ok. Now it's stopped. When you click on…

  • Posted a reply to Breadcrumbs to follow the menu structure, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    I did that - still the same behaviour.

  • Posted a reply to Breadcrumbs to follow the menu structure, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hi Everything is up to date.

  • Posted a reply to Breadcrumbs to follow the menu structure, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Yeah - I tried mucking about with the slugs (so I changed the static page's…

  • Created a topic, Breadcrumbs to follow the menu structure, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    I have a WooCommerce site with the following structure…

  • Created a topic, BUG: Sample code generates an error, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    When you paste into your functions.php file the code …

  • Posted a reply to Woocommerce breadcrumbs not displaying store base, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hi there Everything is current. I'm using Yoast SEO breadcrumbs

  • Created a topic, Woocommerce breadcrumbs not displaying store base, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    I have a WC site that has many pages. The store page o…

  • Created a topic, Login/Logout Menu item, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    I'm sure I must be blind but I can't find any built-in…

  • Posted a reply to WP 5.6 Breaks plugin, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Thanks - I'll give that a shot

  • Created a topic, Editing Product archive layout, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Been Searching forever - not sure why this is such a s…

  • Posted a reply to editor-plugin.js not loading error, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    ah right - makes sense. Thanks

  • Created a topic, editor-plugin.js not loading error, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hi We're still getting the Failed to load plugin ur…

  • Posted a reply to Login redirect not work, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    me too

  • Posted a reply to PHP & HTML in widget?, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hello?

  • Posted a reply to PHP code not executing, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Actually on the page referred: `<?php /* This example assumes that www.example.com is configured to…