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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
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
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
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
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
Taming third-party scripts without starting a war with marketing
Performance · 5 min
Taming third-party scripts without starting a war with marketing
Tags, pixels and widgets often account for most of a page's JavaScript. A governance process that keeps the useful ones and removes the rest.
 Ravi Iyer · Jun 03, 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
When workflow automation beats an AI agent, and when it does not
AI · 5 min
When workflow automation beats an AI agent, and when it does not
A decision framework for choosing between deterministic automation, a single LLM step and a full agent, with cost and reliability trade-offs.
 Daniel Reyes · May 27, 2025
Cutting a cloud bill by a third without re-architecting
DevOps · 5 min
Cutting a cloud bill by a third without re-architecting
Most cloud waste sits in idle capacity, forgotten storage and on-demand pricing. A step-by-step review that trims spend without touching the application.
 Leo Tanaka · May 14, 2025
What a B2B wholesale portal actually needs to do
E-commerce · 5 min
What a B2B wholesale portal actually needs to do
Wholesale buyers behave nothing like retail shoppers. The core requirements for a portal that sales teams and trade customers will both use.
 Arjun Mehta · May 07, 2025
Backups that actually restore: how we design and test them
Security · 5 min
Backups that actually restore: how we design and test them
Most backup plans are never tested until the day they fail. Here is how we set retention, storage and quarterly restore drills.
 Leo Tanaka · May 06, 2025
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