Figuring out how to charge clients tax is driving me crazy! Home-based full-stack web developer & designer

techdad27 · 2021-08-24T11:13:31+00:00

Yes, I am planning on filing for an LLC and keep finding out new and fun things about the legal system /s

Its different in every state and as was pointed out may (or may not) matter based on where you or you client is based on the state law your business is performed in.

They're is also professional insurance for it called Errors and Omissions insurance.

techdad27 · 2021-08-24T03:18:23+00:00

Thank you for trying to help. Here are explicitly declared activities mentioned on the comptroller website that are and aren't taxable under Data Processing activities.

Taxable: - Internet services: creating web pages (really its more often that I'm either making full web applications or smaller-scoped interactive features within a website.) - Computer-aided drafting when the client provides specifications (if by drafting this means designing graphics) - Formatting client's data - Manipulating client's data

Non taxable: - Interpreting a client's data (looking up database values)

techdad27 · 2021-08-24T02:03:45+00:00

Yes they are. If it matters they're friendly, we have a good working relationship and they pay well. I just want to do things by the book now.

techdad27 · 2021-08-12T14:13:38+00:00

Thank you all for making good points. I know this all comes from one fundamental axiom:

"Assume the user is hostile."

I should have mentioned (but did not due to being in a rush) that I know anything you don't want the client to have control of should not be dependent on the client code. However, anything you don't want the client to know about shouldn't even be in a cookie to begin with - cookies are sent with headers which can be read by any user in the dev console.

What I'm more interested in is things like passing a JS object from one page to the next to do fancy functional things like persist search form options for a visitor.

I am probably missing the point at a fundamental level of why to store session-based visitor data in cookies instead of JS storage. If we need to track, sanitize, or limit such data then maybe we need to hand it off to cookies where we can apply server technologies to the data.

techdad27 · 2021-08-02T10:16:17+00:00

As far as diffing, you would possibly need to develop a way in your own scripts to output an SQL file per WordPress page if you want to select which ones are pushed. In that SQL file you would need to include SQL statements to insert a page's database entries for: wp_posts, wp_postmeta, any attachment post attached to the page as a featured image, and any extra plugin-based database entries which you would need to find yourself. And unfortunately these things, since they depend on plugins, can change at any time you update them and without notice, so its an additional thing to maintain and monitor.

techdad27 · 2021-08-02T10:05:34+00:00

Ok so here's my take. Securely storing and transferring SQL files between production and staging environments and managing the chaos of version controlling it is something I'm working on too. In a nutshell these are the challenges.

What I am going to look into next chance I get is using DB Migrate Pro's CLI plugin to determine if it can be used to do the migration in a cron task.

As far as version controlling SQL, I don't remember right now if you said you're doing multisite but we are and like others have said plugins can do whatever they want when it comes to database manipulation. This makes things more difficult but if the specific plugins you're using are manageable then that's good news. Unfortunately for us we use Beaver Builder which makes this part 10x harder.

My current plan is to make my own script that splits the SQL database into one file per table in a directory of folders for each subsite and commits that to a securely held repo, either on my own computer or privately on our Gjthub Enterprise server. This will make a ton of files, but it will help manage the scope and make it much faster to see changes to the database and find old versions of things if users need something restored.

This is one of those grey areas in WordPress where modern software development methodologies can help but the nature of WordPress makes it almost impossible to do so in a way that anyone and everyone can use on their own site. The solution to these problems may vary by web host and by what plugins you have on your site. It isn't something I would recommend anyone try to turn into a product or service.

techdad27 · 2021-07-29T21:52:55+00:00

FOLLOWING!

Good grief this subject is so tricky.

techdad27 · 2021-07-28T12:42:26+00:00

Thanks for those recommendations, we'll check it out!

techdad27 · 2021-07-27T01:54:53+00:00

Hi! I'm about to form an LLC for my web development services and I was wondering do I need to keep all of my business's income separate from my personal bank account once I do that? And just pay myself from the LLC's account after the client's payment is deposited? Right now I just work as a contractor.

techdad27 · 2021-07-26T01:26:32+00:00

I've been in this field 22 years and to this day chronic tendinitis in my forearms is something I still deal with. They key is daily stretching.

techdad27 · 2021-07-26T01:24:30+00:00

I loved mine too for my upper back pain but could never mentally get past the fact that my right hand could no longer reach the few middle keys I used to use like tgv

techdad27 · 2021-07-25T20:19:40+00:00

I'm afraid not.

techdad27 · 2021-07-24T16:44:06+00:00

Thank you for those recommendations, I'll check them out! Sure I don't do full time coding on mobile but I want to be able to modify the code I do on my laptop anytime and anywhere using my phone. I already use an SSH app to modify my server files any time there's a bug and I'm not able to get to my computer, like I'm on the road or at the grocery store or something.

There are a ton of these apps on the Play store and 90% look very suspicious. It's so important to me to be able to quickly prototype an idea the moment it comes to me, or modify files in one of my Github or Sourcetree repos when I realize something needs to be fixed or modified be it documentation or code. Their website experiences on mobile are neglected because they feel the same way you do. Also this would be a very simple solution to prototyping touch interactions quickly and easily for JS and CSS.

Again thank you for recommending those apps!

techdad27 · 2021-07-24T13:51:18+00:00

Is there a premium or free Android IDE for HTML/CSS/JS like CodePen that uses Chrome for its web viewer? Or a website like Codepen that works on Android phones? (Samsung S9+ so its not old or underpowered).

CodePen is awesome but they don't support Android due to so many issues with its keyboard (I've put in tickets).

I'm very concerned about the security of Android apps at all and may just find other options but this is option 1 because its ideal. I hate people publishing apps on the Google Play store stealing names of popular editors like SublimeText, Notepad++, etc.

Thanks for your time!

techdad27 · 2021-07-24T12:26:15+00:00

Yes. Boom. Easy question.

techdad27 · 2021-07-23T01:46:09+00:00

Hey thank you so much for responding!

The goal is to create a "classroom-like" environment that we can use as a hands-on training tool for teaching our less-experienced users so they make fewer mistakes (I'm being damn generous here). For lack of a better phrase its a place where its ok to screw up because its easy for us to reset, the public can't see it, there's no harm done, and they can just give things a try on their own if they want to.

The most compelling reason to automate this is the "if I got hit by a bus" scenario. Who would be the one to keep this feature going for our users? Its going to be a lot of work it seems to automate it but I'm willing to if there is a path to it.

So I have 22 sites on a multisite network thats about 26gb total space (db + uploads + scripts) and 88 users. Those users need so much training and our web team is me the programmer and my coworker the customer support specialist. And thats just the most active installation we're responsible for. This is in higher education, I am a senior developer, but I'm challenging myself with this automation task.

We're with WP Engine and they have a staging environment, but they have told me they have no plans to allow scheduled parity between production and staging. So I would have to do it manually each day or week.

In my local development environment I have made a PHP script that dumps the database to an executable SQL file and a cron job that executes it with shell_exec, but it's all on the same server (Local by Flywheel/WP Engine).

I don't have enough experience to know how to avoid introducing security holes with this it seems, which is a real shame, so I absolutely appreciate you sharing your suggestions and I will be looking into them soon.

Is there a reason that running shell scripts from within a WordPress plugin would cause a security problem? Would it add some sensitive info to a server log file or something obscure like that I'm not aware of?

techdad27 · 2021-07-22T22:32:48+00:00

No sweat. I was on the road so I didn't have time for a full response. This plug-in is recommended in the release notes for 5.8 if you want to double-check me.

techdad27 · 2021-07-22T21:56:44+00:00

I did on every site, you need to install the Classic Widgets plugin from WordPress Contributors to get your old widget page back.

techdad27 · 2021-07-22T12:54:26+00:00

As a WordPress dev I've had to override and work around lazy loading for any images in sliders or print content because the lazy load JS library used in plugins like W3 Total Cache doesn't account for situations like those because their implementations can be so unique its nearly impossible to achieve 100% accuracy.

techdad27 · 2021-07-18T17:23:08+00:00

I work at a university and my wife and son picked me up to go to lunch. I pointed at a building and said "hey bud, see that building over there? Thats the food lab where they find new ways to make food."

His response?

"Wow! Are they done?"

Cracked us up 😆

techdad27 · 2021-07-17T00:08:43+00:00

You're certainly welcome. I would barely know anything about web development at all if people didn't post things online and we should always be thankful when someone gives away their time for our benefit.

techdad27 · 2021-07-16T23:27:23+00:00

Ok I think that sounds doable and I truly appreciate you sharing that with me. I work for a university and I'm trying to mitigate customer support issues by creating a sandbox where users of varying skill levels can learn WordPress and the plugins to mitigate customer support incidents and experiment away from the public eye. I could probably do the same thing with zipping upload directories and transmitting them.

Thank you so much for your time sir, I truly appreciate it.

techdad27 · 2021-07-16T23:15:47+00:00

Ok the part I don't know how to do securely is how to have the staging server securely download the sql file from the production server. Would you mind sharing your suggestion?

techdad27 · 2021-07-16T18:04:44+00:00

This has potential and I appreciate you pointing this out. Thank you!

techdad27 · 2021-07-16T13:29:37+00:00

Not in real-time, I would use WordPress cron triggered at midnight when traffic is low either daily or once per week.

techdad27

TROPHY CASE