Web Development × Engineering Management × Philosophy (10)

Articles and books on the craft of web development (with a focus on HTML/CSS optimization and maintainability), engineering management, and philosophy.

On the Problems and Limits of Science

Science can’t explain everything. It never could. It never will. Yet science is run as if it could explain everything. It is run completely unchecked. And this unchecked pretense of omniscience and omnipotence is a problem for us for a number of reasons.

#225 · Mar 31, 2015 · philosophy

The Two Ground Rules for Using a Framework

Follow the documentation, don’t overwrite framework code. These two rules are golden.

#224 · Mar 26, 2015 · development, frameworks

Remember: April 9 Is CSS Naked Day

CSS Naked Day is coming up! Why the excitement? Because CSS Naked Day is a magnificent custom; the magnificent custom to, on one day of the year, strip websites of all styling. It’s awesome because—

#223 · Mar 19, 2015 · development, css, maintainability

What to Carry When Traveling the World

For my 557-day journey around the world I had prepared thoroughly. Emphasis had been on light luggage, and so I had focused on necessities and gear that didn’t weigh much and, for clothes, could dry quickly. Here I’ll share some parts of my inventory…

#222 · Mar 16, 2015 · adventure

180 Little Stories After Traveling the World for 18 Months

It’s over. A couple of weeks ago I came to a halt, after traveling the world for what now feels like a lifetime. Here’s one way to tell the story.

#221 · Mar 13, 2015 · adventure

The Truth About “!important”

Sometimes I wake up at night, full of agony, tears in my eyes. The Holiest Alliance Against !important is haunting me. I see their countless crusaders gallop at innocent web developers with merciless force, incessantly blowing their deafening horns…

#220 · Mar 10, 2015 · development, css

New Book: “The Little Book of HTML/CSS Frameworks”

It’s out! My new book, The Little Book of HTML/CSS Frameworks, is now available. I myself have been surprised by the sudden release, and while I’m still unsure about how print copies can be obtained, the book can now be downloaded for free at O’Reilly.

#219 · Mar 4, 2015 · books, development, html, css, frameworks

News Headlines I Want to Read

A brainstorming with assumptions and implications. We shouldn’t use our creativity to come up with ever horrid scenarios; we could use it to envision awesomeness.

#218 · Mar 2, 2015 · misc

A Population Control Primer

An incomplete, roughly sorted sketch of actions, methods, and developments that don’t serve us, that instead divide, distract, confuse, manipulate, exploit, demotivate, control, and dominate us. We have a lot of work to do.

#217 · Feb 24, 2015 · misc

On Taking Life

We cannot accept killing. The default must be to respect, to cherish life. We should get help to those who suggest to take lives. Eight theses on a most critical matter.

#216 · Feb 14, 2015 · philosophy

On Age

Age is wonderful. Aging is wonderful. Age is wonderful for in a life reasonably lived, in a life not exclusively spent idly or hedonistically, age signifies the accumulation of experience and knowledge, and perhaps even wisdom.

#215 · Feb 4, 2015 · misc

Web Design and Principles

Web design has become complex. More people, more ideas, more use cases, more technical innovations, more design variations, &c. pp. More makes for more complex. However, there’s a life line helping us with this complexity, as well as trends.

#214 · Jan 30, 2015 · design, development

Web Frameworks in a Nutshell

My next book is coming! “The Little Book of HTML/CSS Frameworks.” I’m wrapping it up with the team of O’Reilly as we speak. In the book, I share much of my experience architecting, developing, and maintaining web frameworks, as I’ve done for Google, Aperto, and GMX…

#213 · Jan 24, 2015 · development, frameworks, quality

On the Deterioration of HTML/CSS Practices

Presentational markup for everyone.

#212 · Jan 22, 2015 · development, html, css, maintainability

Love

Love is vulnerability. First and foremost, love is vulnerability. It took me many years to recognize this. Many years in which there wasn’t much love in my life, even permitted in my life. I had locked it all out, out of fear to be… vulnerable.

#211 · Jan 15, 2015 · misc

Character

A couple of weeks ago I read Samuel Smiles’ Character, a book extraordinarily useful and important. I think you’d like it. “Character is one of the greatest motive powers in the world. In its noblest embodiments, it exemplifies human nature in its highest forms…”

#210 · Jan 12, 2015 · misc

The One Assumption About Our Reality

We’re bringing 2014 to an end, and just as with 2013 I like to close with something constructive, something encouraging.

#209 · Dec 31, 2014 · philosophy

My Year in Cities, 2014

This is going to be a bit, lengthy. I told you I had traded activities for locations. Continuing the trip around the world that I began last year, here’s where I went in 2014.

#208 · Dec 28, 2014 · adventure

My Year in Activities, 2014

At the end of every year I’m recollecting new things I’ve done and new places I’ve seen. Here’s what I tried in 2014.

#207 · Dec 27, 2014 · adventure

Jens and Photography

I love what technology has allowed all of us to do, from writing and publishing for the masses to designing and coding for the masses to photography and arts for the masses. But as a professional in an industry that is easy for people to enter…

#206 · Dec 22, 2014 · design, photography

Maintainable Social Script Integration

In my book, a website embeds all those third-party “share” and “like” and “+1” scripts like: this.

#205 · Dec 19, 2014 · development, javascript

Ground Rules for Working With Web Agencies

After we identified inherent problems of working with agencies, let’s look at some of our options. We may still need to hire an agency after all, or make the best out of a project. The leg work we’ve done in the first part will help us keep this brief…

#204 · Dec 15, 2014 · misc

The Problems of Working With Web Agencies

I started my career in a small agency, I later worked for a big agency, and I at other times collaborated with or managed agency staff. I’ve never enjoyed working for nor with agencies. That was not because of the people, but because of some inherent issues…

#203 · Dec 11, 2014 · misc

CSS and Specificity

On one of CSS’ greatest features, going from using graphs for greater understanding to affirming fundamentals for saner coding.

#202 · Nov 27, 2014 · development, css

Electronic Data as Evidence

We need better defenses against assaults on our rights and privacy. In a world in which most happens electronically, one such defense gets surprisingly little attention: Everything electronic can be forged.

#201 · Oct 29, 2014 · misc

Google and HTML/CSS Code Quality

For much of Google’s life time there have been few Google web pages of high code quality. That had changed over the last years, but now there are regressions. On the rise and fall of Google’s websites.

#200 · Oct 21, 2014 · development, html, css, conformance, quality

CSS, DRY, and Code Optimization

Why we should minimize repetition in style sheets—perhaps through using declarations just once—, focus more on CSS optimization, and consider that avoiding problems is also a way of solving them.

#199 · Oct 9, 2014 · development, css, maintainability, optimization

On Declaration Sorting in CSS

I keep on seeing people advocate to sort declarations “by type.” And every time I wonder, why is this idea still going around? Type sorting is extraordinarily ineffective, for it’s extremely slow and consistently unreliable…

#198 · Sep 24, 2014 · development, css, maintainability

On Net Neutrality

We need net neutrality, and we need to insist on net neutrality. Everywhere, not just in the United States. Throttling internet access, or charging select content providers extra, much appears like a brazen combination of profiteering, extortion, and, effectively, censorship.

#197 · Sep 17, 2014 · misc

On Privacy

A few theses on a critical subject. The most important ones: One cannot be free without privacy, all living beings have a right for privacy, and we shall punish intentional violations of privacy.

#196 · Sep 15, 2014 · misc

On America

The United States have so far engaged in 71 wars in which they killed 13.8 million people; not counted are the World Wars they ended with nuclear strikes on Japan. The U.S. have led 26 proxy wars in which they took 1.4 million lives…

#195 · Sep 9, 2014 · misc

How to Travel the World and Stay Healthy

For long travels, another key beside safety is health. And as my track record in this regard is flawless, essentially, I thought to share a few quick ideas on this, too.

#194 · Sep 8, 2014 · adventure

How to Travel the World and Stay Safe

I’ve traveled for the last 13 months, with no end in sight, and have so far visited around 150 locations in 30 countries. I’ve stayed safe the entire time even though I didn’t lock myself up. Here are a few thoughts and tips.

#193 · Sep 3, 2014 · adventure

HTML and Specifying Language

Questioning the importance and ways of marking up language in HTML documents, in particular changes in language.

#192 · Aug 25, 2014 · development, html

Sources

I always like to learn what people turn to for information, education, and also entertainment. In particular what they deem most excellent. That’s part of trying to be open. Yet, learning about people’s sources typically requires inquiring directly. Here I’m extrovert and share…

#191 · Aug 8, 2014 · misc

Code Responsibly, Explained

A professional web developer focuses on at least ten priorities in his work. That’s the populist claim Code Responsibly has made since 2008. It was time to explain why these things matter.

#190 · Jul 30, 2014 · development

How to Prepare to Travel the World

I’ve written about what I deem important in order to quit and travel the world. One of the points I called out was “Planning and Preparation,” and it’s what I like to explore a bit more here.

#189 · Jul 28, 2014 · adventure

Animated Traffic: My 10 Favorite Travel Photo Animations

Last December I launched Animated Traffic. Animated Traffic is an experiment in which I play with photo animations that feed off my eternal journey, of which I’ll share the results. The material, as of this moment, made for 302 posts covering 4 continents…

#188 · Jul 25, 2014 · adventure, design, photography

On Web Documents and Web Apps

I’ve just elaborated about research and production code, and why that distinction matters. And I hinted at but put off another distinction: that between web documents and web apps. Pronounced distinction seems important to protect existing document practices…

#187 · Jul 22, 2014 · development

All Code Is Not Equal: On Research and Production Code

Web development is at a point at which we need to make more fundamental distinctions. One of them is a more determined one between web documents and web apps, another one is between research and production code.

#186 · Jul 16, 2014 · development, quality

The Law of Travel

The longer you travel, the lighter you should pack.

#185 · Jun 17, 2014 · adventure

On Writing

Frankly, on fears.

#184 · Apr 28, 2014 · misc

5 Questions Web Developers Always Need Answers For

In web development, just as in other fields, it can easily appear as if there are clear-cut solutions for everything. That’s at least the case for many of us neurotic perfectionists, as our world is built on clear-cut solutions. Alas, there aren’t always, and here are five general questions to consider.

#183 · Apr 9, 2014 · development

The 6 Most Useful Books I’ve Ever Read

I love reading, and over time I’ve been lucky to read many useful, and then a handful quite extraordinary books. Here I like to share my current non-fiction favorites: The Nature of Personal Reality, Getting More, Public Opinion, and, you can tell, three more.

#182 · Apr 1, 2014 · misc