On Craft and Responsibility (10)
Highlights From Atkinson’s “Thoughts Are Things”
“Thoughts strive to take form in action. Thoughts strive ever to materialize themselves in objective material form.”
#308 · · philosophy
Highlights From Emerson’s “Nature”
“Each creature is only a modification of the other; the likeness in them is more than the difference, and their radical law is one and the same.”
#307 · · politics, philosophy
Highlights From Smiles’s “Character”
“The very sight of a great and good man is often an inspiration to the young, who cannot help admiring and loving the gentle, the brave, the truthful, the magnanimous.”
#306 · · misc
The Constructivist Preference
When we are presented with conflicting beliefs and ideas, which ones are we to support or assume? That question, in our age of scientism, is usually answered with “those that are true,” or “those that are more realistic”…
#305 · · philosophy
On Quality and Logistics
Clearly, quality requires quality thinking. But then it requires a lot more, like definitions, criteria, tools, planning, enforcement, &c. pp. And it relies on some organizational foundation.
#304 · · development, quality
Apocryphal Apostrophes
Oh, typography. How have you been.
#303 · · design, development
CSS Shorthand Syntax Considered Important
CSS shorthands are no anti-pattern, just as little as universal selectors, just as little as !important, and just as little as no-js would not be one. Now we learn that shorthands were an anti-pattern. No, they’re not. Yes, they are! No they’re not.
#302 · · development, css
Why I Don’t Use CSS Preprocessors
A tribute to Roger Johansson as well as the craft of web development.
#301 · · development, css
Contradictions: A Problem of Logic, a Feature of Reality?
On my list of research topics and article drafts is one that covers root assumptions: assumptions at the core of what we assume about our two realities, mental and physical reality. One of these root assumptions covers logic…
#300 · · philosophy
Highlights From Myer’s “Oldest Books in the World”
“Study on a subject before giving an opinion” and other truly old realizations.
#299 · · philosophy
Highlights From Scovel Shinn’s “Your Word Is Your Wand”
Short excerpts that convey a rather unconventional view on our realities. “Happiness and health must be earned by absolute control of the emotional nature.”
#298 · · philosophy
“Don’t Believe Everything You See, Sophie”
#297 · · interviews, development, philosophy
About the Mindset for Quality
In my view, quality starts with quality thinking. Quality thinking is broad, but it quickly leads to a quality mindset. This mindset, now, I’ve long regarded as critical…
#296 · · development, quality
Stop Using the Old “Clearfix”
I had thought the old method of clearing through .clearfix:after { clear: both; content: ''; } long dead, but then I spotted it quite alive, even being taught to developers.
#295 · · development, css
Privacy, Obscurity: Randomizing New Tabs
You want to leave a less predictable online trail? I wrote a little browser extension for Chrome that accomplishes that: the New Tab Traffic Randomizer. The extension requests a random URL every time a new tab is opened…
Living and Mistakes
We can’t make a mistake living our own lives. A counter to the fear of doing wrong, the harmful idea of guilt, as well as unhelpful doubt, the statement’s power lies in the realization that it’s impossible for us to live our lives “incorrectly.”
#293 · · misc
Why Philosophy Matters
Philosophy is a field that once combined all the sciences and had considerable influence. Over time that influence waned, to an extent that philosophy is now simply one of the humanities, a “second order” discipline that some people wonder what it’s useful for…
#292 · · philosophy
The Little Book of Website Quality Control
The hallmark of a professional is not the pursuit of activity, but the expertly pursuit thereof. What’s worth doing is worth doing well; and what’s done well exemplifies quality. A professional website is no exception, and there are criteria and tools to help.
#291 · · books, development, quality
Highlights From Paine’s “Common Sense”
“Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices.”
#290 · · politics, philosophy
Highlights From Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience”
Launching a new series of highlights and factoids from public domain books, classic or not, that had piqued my interest, and perhaps excite yours. Here from American polymath Henry David Thoreau.
#289 · · politics, philosophy
Accelerated Mobile Pages, a Critical View
Last year Google introduced AMP and the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project. Independent of suggesting tech paternalism when AMP gets treated preferably in search rankings, I’ve been concerned about what the AMP spec entails exactly.
#288 · · development
10 Photos III
Establishing a three-, four-, or five-monthly series, here are ten more of my photographic favorites as of late. Of my own works, sure; if it was public what one liked on EyeEm I’d happily disclose which 4.200 photos…
#287 · · design, photography
Life’s Golden Rules
From all my cheeky laws and a number of absolutistic posts you already know I have a thing for dramaturgy. The same here.
#286 · · philosophy
The Bio Enhancement Dilemma
Or, what if Donald Trump was Iron Man.
#285 · · philosophy
WordPress Themes and Web Development
Like everyone on this planet I work with WordPress. Just setting up a new project I ended up using and building on one of their default themes, Twenty Sixteen. Had I better not?
#284 · · development
The Anatomy of a Coding Guideline
Coding guidelines produce consistency, help (code) usability, collaboration, and maintainability, and lead to quality. That is what we all typically learn in development practice. Now, what does a guideline consist of?
#283 · · development
On Tailoring and Web Frameworks
After building early frameworks for GMX and Google I had rushed to squeeze my experience into a (literally) little book. In it there’s emphasis on a priority I’ve always deemed critical for us developers: the idea of tailoring…
#282 · · development, frameworks
A Note on meiert.com Feeds
There are a number of ways to follow what I write on this website, from a very low volume newsletter for German publications to an enriched account on Google+. The most reliable and focused option, however, is to subscribe to one of this site’s RSS feeds.
#281 · · misc
The Dilemma of the Kind Person
Imagine a fine human being who has a laudable goal. She wants to become a genuinely, cordially, most truly kind person. So she works on her objective…
#280 · · philosophy
On Rationality, and Love
Philosophy can be heart-breaking, or—
#279 · · philosophy, misc
On Consciousness
Speaking of which.
#278 · · philosophy
How to Work on Oneself
Doubt led me to explore ways to grow, doubt now led me to ask my editor three times whether to publish under a pseudonym: I sketched, in what resembles an essay, how to learn, how to grow, or—How to Work on Oneself.
#277 · · books, philosophy
Problems, No Problems, Desires
In my own non-academic studies I’ve found common definitions of “problem” unsatisfying. I’ve tried to redefine “problem” for something more flexible, leading to a redefinition I believe to hold up well. Philosophize together with me.
#276 · · philosophy
That’s in a Guideline
About two weeks ago I ended a little lottery to give away signed copies of my last book, The Little Book of HTML/CSS Coding Guidelines. Here are feedback and winners.
#275 · · development
What’s in a Guideline? Win a Copy of the Little Book of HTML/CSS Coding Guidelines!
I give away five signed copies, and to win one just comment or tweet (to @ j9t), until April 30, why you deem coding guidelines important or what you find to be the most useful coding guideline.
#274 · · development
Can We Prevent Terrorism?
That terrorism can never be prevented is actually very important to understand to also understand our political leadership.
#273 · · politics
198 Methods of Nonviolent Protest and Action
Just when one wonders how many options there are exactly.
#272 · · politics
10 Photos II
Some more of my EyeEm photos, published over the last few months, that have become others’ or probably my own favorites.
#271 · · design, photography
The Reminder Trick
This tool is so powerful and at the same time so trivial to make a routine that I ask everyone who regularly employs it to transcend their disappointment—I’m mentioning it for the people I meet who don’t use it.
#270 · · misc
Humanity and “The Other Manifesto”
On a wish for more work on a vision, on values, on principles, on goals actually worth striving for, on utopias, on a good future, a good cause, a good world for all of us.
#269 · · politics, philosophy
It’s Not Too Late
…to contribute to good causes.
#268 · · misc
Stream Theory
Not just since the Law of Attraction is there this idea of “like attracts like,” of self-fulfilling prophecies, of better being “careful” what we wish for. There’s another concept that I do like to work with though, in another thought experiment.
#267 · · philosophy
Coding Guidelines, the Gist
What’s not to ♥ about coding standards.
#266 · · development
The Law of Maintainability
One cannot not maintain. This is an important axiom, critical even when we recognize how little understanding and prioritization this topic enjoys in our industry…
#265 · · development, maintainability
Endless Peace
Amidst all the wars we never wanted but our governments and industries wage and participate in regardless of our will, we threaten to lose sight of our goal. That goal, surely, is peace. That goal, clearly, is durable peace. That goal, indeed, is endless peace.
#264 · · politics
The Little Book of HTML/CSS Coding Guidelines
Out of the blue! My latest book, The Little Book of HTML/CSS Coding Guidelines, is now available. It’s a brief introduction into the theory and practice of coding standards. Emphasis, as the title suggests, is on HTML and CSS, and furthermore on Google’s guidelines…
#263 · · books, development, html, css
Philosophy Factoids
Meanwhile.
#262 · · philosophy
On Mistakes
What is a mistake, really?
#261 · · philosophy
On the Anatomy of Beliefs
From a philosophical viewpoint, here a strictly solipsistic one, any statement is a belief. Beliefs are important because they determine how we interpret, and per some schools of thought, make our realities…
#260 · · philosophy
Crowdfunding, 5 Years and 81 Projects Later
I’m a Kickstarter and Indiegogo backer. I’ve backed my first campaign in February 2011, and the so far last one in May. In the five years on Kickstarter and Indiegogo, I’ve bid on 81 projects of which 73 funded successfully…
#259 · · misc