Last week, I built an AJAX form into a WordPress plugin. It was working until I found out this week that it wasn’t working the way it should have by my understanding…so I was bummed out and my day reached a low point in addition to some other choices I had to make.

But at first that excitement of seeing that I could build a working form that was 95% working inspired me to build another script that worked well. I downplay that I know Javascript and avoid it all costs but when a good problem arises that I am dedicated to solve, from out of nowhere to my amazement my Javascript skills have improved.

I was helping four friends, by phone, who were not tech savvy to navigate through their YouTube mobile app to the right livestream video from the church and then have them send it to their Chromecast.

But the YouTube video is already on the home page at the time it is live, why should I use your link? If you’re tech savvy, it doesn’t apply to you but if you have elderly friends who want to watch it on their Chromecast (dongle connected to their TV) then the embedded video will not display the Chromecast Google Cast icon over the video and they will need to know to tap on the video then tap on the title to open it in their YouTube app then tap the cast icon, etc.

For us in the tech savvy area unless you have worked with elderly, you cannot fathom why it’s so hard for them to understand and that you need to have more patience helping them. If it’s easy for you, it’s not for them. They don’t have the muscle memory that you have or the technical jargon. But if they are willing to learn, it might take four weeks to get them to remember 20 steps and they will need to practice on their own every time they eat a meal, eventually with determination and putting the frustration aside they will get it. And when they get it, compliment them.

One of my friends thanked me for the help each Sunday then he left a voicemail and said, it would be nice to have one step to get to the latest video and send it to his Chromecast. Then I thought, “I would like to solve that problem and eliminate those 20 steps every Sunday over the phone.” So I did and had my friends try it out and tell me ideas to make it better. The second Sunday it worked well.

I noticed that YouTube has a one minute delay updating the channel feed for a livestream and more than that if it is just an upload. So if you’re tech savvy, you know where to go but if you’re not, my link will eliminate all that extra wasted time. Leave a comment if you’re interested in knowing that link.