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Author: Jacob Martella

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  • A low-angle indoor shot shows a matte black Dell laptop with a dark keyboard and a bright screen displaying a news website. To the right of the laptop is a black and blue Freedom Scientific braille keyboard.
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    Building a Better Web: Your Practical Guide to Web Accessibility

    Jacob Martella

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    We often agree on why web accessibility is crucial for an inclusive internet, but the next question is always: how? This guide moves from principle to practice, offering concrete, actionable tips for developers, website owners, and social media users to help build a more welcoming digital world for everyone.

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  • A close-up shot shows a yellow handicapped parking symbol painted on dark asphalt. The symbol, which depicts a stylized figure in a wheelchair, is slightly worn and textured, suggesting age and use. Faint tire marks are visible on the surrounding asphalt. In the background, out of focus, are parts of other yellow parking lines. The lighting highlights the texture of the paint and the road surface.
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    Why Accessibility Matters: The Case for a Better, More Inclusive Web

    Jacob Martella

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    Web accessibility isn’t just a technical term for developers; it’s a fundamental principle for creating a better, more human internet. Whether you’re building an app, running a business, or simply sharing content online, accessibility ensures your message can reach everyone. This post makes the essential case for why it matters—for your audience, for your reach,…

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  • From the perspective of the audience, a Black man in a dark suit jacket stands on a stage, speaking at a small lectern. Behind him, a large screen on a wood-paneled wall displays "STARTING SOON..." in large white text, along with the event logo "// CVC2025" and various sponsor logos.

    Re-energized to Build: Lessons from Commit Your Code

    Jacob Martella

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    Last week, I stepped outside my usual WordPress comfort zone to attend Commit Your Code 2025. As an introvert, it was a significant leap, but I came away re-energized, inspired to build more, share my creations, and connect with fellow developers. This post recaps my experience, the incredible talks, and the action items I’m excited…

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  • HTML for a webpage in a code editor on a computer screen
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    Reigniting My Development Passion: The Story Behind ArtisanPack UI’s Creation

    Jacob Martella

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    Every developer faces burnout, and I was no exception while building Digital Shopfront CMS. I realized the traditional path wasn’t sustainable for creating new tools for small businesses. Discover how solving my own scaling problem led to the creation of ArtisanPack UI, a suite of reusable Laravel components designed to reignite development passion and empower…

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    Crafting a Figma Design System as a Web Developer

    Jacob Martella

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    As a web developer, design has always been a hurdle. I decided to tackle it head-on by building my own custom Figma design system. Discover my process for creating an efficient workflow that empowers every project and helps me deliver better results for small businesses.

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  • A workspace on a wooden desk featuring an open laptop, a white mug of black coffee, a flipped-over notepad with a pen, and a smartphone.
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    What I’ve Been Up to Lately

    Jacob Martella

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    It’s been a busy middle of the year, filled with a massive website migration at work, a university name change, and several personal projects. Despite the chaos, I managed to squeeze in a fun family vacation to Kansas City and Omaha, attend Laracon US online, update my personal dashboard app, and make significant progress on…

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  • screenshot of the Digital Shopfront CMS GitLab repository
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    Looking at the Digital Shopfront CMS Repository

    Jacob Martella

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    As work continues on creating Digital Shopfront CMS, I wanted to take a moment to explain the repository structure. So let’s dive into why I chose GitLab over GitHub and how the project is set up.

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  • a laptop screen with Laravel code on it
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    What I’ve Learned with Laravel After a Few Months

    Jacob Martella

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    Because of *gestures wildly* everything going on in the WordPress landscape, I’ve started taking a look at the web development world outside of WordPress. And I think I’ve fallen in love with Laravel. It’s reignited my passion for web development and reminded me of why I got into web dev in the first place.

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  • a person with a shirt with the WordPress "W" logo on it at a standing desk typing on a keyboard

    Why I’m Leaving WordPress

    Jacob Martella

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    This is a blog post that’s honestly a half-year in the making and probably a couple of months too late, but here it goes anyway. I’m leaving WordPress. Well … mostly leaving WordPress, but we’ll get to the last surviving thread of WP connectivity at the end of this post. But yeah, with all of…

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    Introducing Digital Shopfront Content Management System

    Jacob Martella

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    I’m building a new content management system. What started out as sort of a crazy idea I had while driving to the Great Smoky Mountains last fall is starting to turn into a real thing. Here’s what I’m planning with Digital Shopfront CMS.

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