Web Development × Engineering Management × Philosophy (3)
Articles and books on the craft of web development (with a focus on HTML/CSS optimization and maintainability), engineering management, and philosophy.
What Germany May Not Have Learned From the Holocaust
No matter who is being violated, learning from a genocide means fighting against any genocide.
Not Knowable
Casual appreciation about our dealing with knowledge.
#619 · · philosophy
Untrained Engineering Managers
Web development has always had a developer training issue, but it also has one on the management and leadership side. On a challenge we’re all familiar with but rarely talk and do something about.
#618 · · development, management
Website Optimization Measures, Part XXVI
Optimizations related to the Google docs viewer, dependency management, English terms in German copy, Prettier, AWS, SEO bots, Eleventy, and DreamHost.
#617 · · development, optimization
On Ticket Management
Issue tracking tools like Jira, GitHub Issues, or Bugzilla are essential for managing bugs and tasks (that is, issues). However, not everyone finds ticket management convenient or convincing. A perspective on why tickets matter, and how they can be used well.
#616 · · development, management
The Assessment Paradox
For any individual or group we may think that it can assess itself best because it knows itself best. Yet this is not reliable. We may then think it’s other individuals or groups interacting with that first individual or group who may be able to assess it. This is not so, either.
#615 · · management, philosophy
2024: 0.5% of the Global Top 200 Websites Use Valid HTML
The annual HTML conformance analysis, validating 200 home pages of the most popular websites. Despite improvements, there is no signal of commitment to valid output as a quality baseline to benefit end users as well as web development as a profession.
#614 · · development, html, conformance
On Disagreement
From discomfort that can lead to shortcuts to challenges that may yield transformations.
#613 · · misc
The HTML History and Optimization Cheat Sheet
Compare elements and specifications, check on void elements and optional tags.
#612 · · development, html, optimization
Notes on Setting Up a Static Website With AWS (Route 53, S3, ACM)
…and whether doing so is worth it. (There are pos and cons, and they all seem pretty dramatic.)
#611 · · development
Notes on Hooking Up a Website With Cloudflare
I played around with Cloudflare.
#610 · · development
Imposing on Hearing
On the sense that we may be able to defend the least.
#609 · · misc
We Always Knew Anyone Could Take Our Content
From “I show your content, but you get the click” to “I show your content” to “here’s other people’s content based on your content.”
Why I Don’t Block AI Scrapers
“The Tortoise and the Hare,” human/AI edition.
#607 · · development, misc, ai
Website Optimization Measures, Part XXV
On caching headers, capitalization, social graphics, download priorities, logical properties, Cloudflare, viewport metadata, obsolete markup, and calls to action.
#606 · · development, design, optimization
A Web Development Term a Day…
…on Mastodon, Bluesky, and Twitter/X. (With a queue lasting 10 years and growing.)
#605 · · development
AI Paradox
Have you outrun your headlights yet?
#604 · · development, management, ai
Now Available: “Rote Learning HTML & CSS,” the Most Boring Free Ebook Ever
The book you never thought you wanted. The rough and raw skeleton of HTML and CSS. Elements, attributes, selectors, properties. No explanations, no examples, no context. Not a New York Times bestseller (it’s free).
#603 · · books, development, html, css, semantics
A Node and Command Line Tool to Find Obsolete HTML
Have you ever wondered if and where you have obsolete HTML in your code base? Of course, there’s a tool for that.
#602 · · development, html, conformance
Feed Sources 2024
My current feed subscriptions. (Because, what would we be without syndication on the Web.)
#601 · · misc
Calling Someone “Too Old” Is Ageist
The “too old” thing needs to stop.
On Mapping the World of Frontend Development
What if we had easy access to many—thousands—of the most useful, interesting, influential frontend development posts from 2000–2019? If you took care of it, how would you go about it, what challenges would you face, what would excite you? Here are some impressions, doing this work, for Frontend Dogma.
#599 · · development
On Title Case
Casual thoughts about my experience with title case, a recent switch from AP-inspired to NYT-governed guidelines, and the respective guidelines themselves.
Thoughts on CSS in 2024
What I appreciate, what I don’t need (so far)—light and casual and certainly subjective notes on contemporary CSS.
#597 · · development, css
On Mass Unemployment
Could there be something like an AI employment apocalypse?
Transitive Optimization Considered—Interesting
Transitive optimization means that if we improve A to optimize B, and optimizations of B also optimize C, then improving A should also lead to an optimization of C. But now what?
#595 · · development, optimization
3 Good Reasons for Vegan and Vegetarian “Substitute” Products
On acknowledging forms, maintaining connection, and making it easier to live empathically and sustainably.
The Essence of Veganism
On not having anyone suffer or die for us.
Know the “search” Element
Let’s talk about element #112.
#592 · · development, html
The Price of a Dream
A look at what it costs to travel the world, a decade later.
#591 · · adventure
Website Optimization Measures, Part XXIV
On AVIF tests, book prices, AI experiments, Eleventy performance, IE scripts and styles, domain registrations, site headers, and (old) document functionality that can better be handled by native HTML elements than by handmade scripts.
#590 · · development, design, optimization
Death by Experience
It’s possible to hire too much experience, and it costs diversity and culture.
#589 · · management
Website Optimization Measures, Part XXIII
Affiliate marketing and ads and Brave Rewards. HTML elements and dotenv and Git. Spellings and designs and stuff.
#588 · · development, design, optimization
We Need to Talk More About Conformance, if We Want to Stop Fantasy HTML
Conformant and valid HTML is the exception on websites and in apps, even though valid output is a sign of professional web development. Given how rarely the topic is being discussed these days, we benefit from raising more awareness for HTML conformance and validation.
#587 · · development, html, conformance
The Great Tech and People Hypocrisy
When we value people so much that we “rif” them even with cash in the bank, maybe we don’t value them as much as we say we do. On a two-faced industry that needs firing standards as much as it needs hiring standards.
#586 · · management
Now Available: Upgrade Your HTML V!
The newest part of the ebook series for HTML craftspeople and minimalists, touching on past, present, and future of the greatest document language ever specified.
#585 · · books, development, html, minimalism, optimization
Critical Feedback: Four Approaches and One Twist
Feedback is important so that we can learn and improve. Critical feedback is important to expose, validate, and address areas of growth and development. I believe that fundamentally, there are four approaches to critical feedback.
#584 · · management, misc
April 24 Is JS Naked Day
Every year on April 9 we, a part of our field, do without CSS; from this year on, on April 24, there’s an opportunity to temporarily swear off JavaScript.
#583 · · development, javascript
Declining 1:1 Meetings Without a Message Is Rude
It happens everywhere, but it sets a bad example.
#582 · · misc
Highlights From “On Liberty” (John Stuart Mill)
“The fatal tendency of mankind to leave off thinking about a thing when it is no longer doubtful, is the cause of half their errors. A contemporary author has well spoken of “the deep slumber of a decided opinion.‘”
#581 · · philosophy
Highlights From “The Psychology of Revolution” (Gustave Le Bon)
“Men judge with their intelligence, and are guided by their characters. To understand a man fully one must separate these two elements.”
#580 · · misc
Sustainability Trap
On the need to take and at the same time reassign responsibility for consumption and pollution.
Exploitation
What and who is easiest to take advantage of and exploit, how is that being justified, and what can be done about it? On one piece of the puzzle what the fewest things are that need changing, to change everything.
#578 · · philosophy, misc, advocacy
Julia and Sybil
The early manuscript of a novel I started in 2015, and that will still take a few years to be finished.
#577 · · philosophy, misc
On the Gift of OKR for Company Culture
“OKR,” short for aspiration, candor, and accountability.
#576 · · management
Building Websites and Building Websites Well
On exercises, orthogonality, and—choice.
#575 · · development
The Next Adventure
On leaving Germany again, and the next big chapter of my life.
How to Counter Provocation and Rumor
Are there effective responses to being provoked, picked on, blamed, attacked? Absolutely—but they’re not all being taught or shared a lot. A few quotes that I’ve found useful.
#573 · · misc
“Web Design as a Process” in Charts: Maintenance, Decay, Tech Debt, and Big Bang Launching
Web design is a process. This process relates to the quality and completeness of a given website, as observed over time. We can chart and understand different types of this process.
#572 · · development, quality
Why I Like Scrumban
Over the past years, I’ve become a fan of Scrumban, a mix of Scrum and Kanban. But what is Scrumban here, and what is there to like about Scrumban?
#571 · · management