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THE JOURNAL

Notes on building, shipping & securing the web.

All AI WordPress Shopify Performance Security SEO E-commerce Design DevOps Engineering
Keeping LLM costs predictable as usage grows
AI · 5 min
Keeping LLM costs predictable as usage grows
Budgets, caching, model routing and monitoring that stop a successful AI feature from turning into an unpleasant invoice.
 Leo Tanaka · Aug 06, 2025
Field data vs lab data: reading CrUX, RUM and Lighthouse together
Performance · 5 min
Field data vs lab data: reading CrUX, RUM and Lighthouse together
Lighthouse says 95, Search Console says failing. Why both can be right, and how we use each source to make decisions.
 Ravi Iyer · Aug 05, 2025
Designing operational dashboards people actually use
Design · 5 min
Designing operational dashboards people actually use
Most dashboards show everything and help with nothing. How to design operational dashboards around decisions, not around available data.
 Nadia Haddad · Jul 31, 2025
Getting cited in AI search answers: a practical GEO playbook
SEO · 5 min
Getting cited in AI search answers: a practical GEO playbook
AI assistants and answer engines now sit between searchers and websites. What makes a page likely to be retrieved, trusted and cited.
 Ravi Iyer · Jul 29, 2025
Staging environments that actually match production
DevOps · 5 min
Staging environments that actually match production
A staging site that differs from production in a dozen small ways will pass every test and still let bugs through. How we close the gaps that matter.
 Leo Tanaka · Jul 16, 2025
Syncing ERP inventory with your store without overselling
E-commerce · 5 min
Syncing ERP inventory with your store without overselling
Overselling is rarely a bug in one system. It is a timing problem between two. How to design inventory sync that holds up under sale traffic.
 Maya Okafor · Jul 02, 2025
When Hydrogen is worth it and when a theme is enough
Shopify · 5 min
When Hydrogen is worth it and when a theme is enough
Headless Shopify can be a competitive edge or an expensive detour. The questions we ask before recommending either.
 Sofia Lindqvist · Jul 01, 2025
What a web application firewall does, and what it will not do
Security · 5 min
What a web application firewall does, and what it will not do
A WAF blocks a large share of automated attacks, but it is not a substitute for patching. How we configure one without breaking the site.
 Leo Tanaka · Jul 01, 2025
Scaling WooCommerce past 50,000 products
WordPress · 5 min
Scaling WooCommerce past 50,000 products
Database, search, caching and import strategies that keep a large WooCommerce catalog fast for shoppers and manageable for the team.
 Maya Okafor · Jun 18, 2025
Laravel, Django or Node for a new product: how we choose
Engineering · 5 min
Laravel, Django or Node for a new product: how we choose
The framework matters less than people think, but it still matters. The questions we ask before recommending Laravel, Django or Node for a new build.
 Maya Okafor · Jun 13, 2025
Usability testing with five users and a small budget
Design · 5 min
Usability testing with five users and a small budget
You do not need a lab or a large panel to learn what is wrong with an interface. A lean testing method that fits into a normal sprint.
 Nadia Haddad · Jun 05, 2025
Schema markup that still earns rich results, and what to skip
SEO · 5 min
Schema markup that still earns rich results, and what to skip
Structured data is worth doing well on a handful of types. Which schema we implement, how we generate it, and the markup we no longer bother with.
 Ravi Iyer · Jun 03, 2025
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