2 minute read

TL;DR: Settled on the Field is live at settledonthefield.com. The project moved from local build to public-facing site.

Project page: Settled Field Platform.

Context

Today was about getting the site out of the local/dev lane and into the real world.

The goal was not perfection.

The goal was:

Make the site credible, clean, and available before Bill’s meeting.

That meant focusing on flow, trust, and deployment instead of adding more features.

What changed

The site is live

Settled on the Field is now available here:

https://settledonthefield.com

The domain is managed through Bluehost, while the app is deployed through Vercel.

The key production setup became:

Bluehost DNS → Vercel → Settled Field Platform

The public experience is presentable

The site now has:

  • a clear landing page
  • Summit path
  • registration interest path
  • clean footer
  • truthful placeholder-safe contact language
  • real domain access

This moved the project from:

pages in progress

to:

a usable public experience

The CurlTech attribution went through a few iterations.

The final version uses:

  • a subtle sentence
  • an inline SVG logo
  • a link to gregcurl.dev

This kept the credit present without letting it compete with the site.

DNS was the real boss fight

The code was not the hard part today.

The tricky part was DNS:

  • root domain needed the correct Vercel A record
  • www needed the correct CNAME
  • conflicting Bluehost records had to be removed
  • Vercel needed time to validate the configuration

The lesson:

If the site works but Vercel says invalid, check for duplicate or conflicting DNS records.

What I learned

1. Live changes force clarity

Once a site is public, placeholders feel different.

Every fake email, broken link, or loud attribution suddenly matters more.

That pressure was useful.

It forced the site to become more honest.

2. SVG was the right answer

The footer logo issue looked like a CSS problem at first.

It was really an asset problem.

The PNG had sizing/canvas issues, so the fix was to use a proper SVG and size it with em.

Lesson:

Fix the asset layer before fighting CSS too hard.

3. “Good enough to present” is a real milestone

This version is not the final product.

But it is good enough for a real conversation.

That matters.

A live, credible site creates momentum in a way a local build never can.

Next

After Bill’s meeting, the next work should focus on:

  • real speaker content
  • real partner logos
  • confirmed social links
  • confirmed contact method
  • stronger Summit credibility
  • payment flow when the timing is right

Closing thought

Today the project crossed a line.

It is no longer just a build.

It is now a live system with a real address:

settledonthefield.com

That changes the conversation.

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