Web Development à Engineering Management à Philosophy (3)
Articles and books on the craft of web development (with a focus on HTML/CSS optimization and maintainability), engineering management, and philosophy.
On Mapping the World of Frontend Development
What if we had easy access to manyâthousandsâof the most useful, interesting, influential frontend development posts from 2000â2019? 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.
#593 · · 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 donât need (so far)âlight and casual and certainly subjective notes on contemporary CSS.
#591 · · development, css
On Mass Unemployment
Could there be something like an AI employment apocalypse?
#590 · · misc
Transitive Optimization ConsideredâInteresting
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?
#589 · · development, optimization
3 Good Reasons for Vegan and Vegetarian âSubstituteâ 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 âsearchâ Element
Letâs talk about element #112.
#586 · · development, html
The Price of a Dream
A look at what it costs to travel the world, a decade later.
#585 · · 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.
#584 · · development, design, optimization
Death by Experience
Itâs possible to hire too much experience, and it costs diversity and culture.
#583 · · management
Website Optimization Measures, Part XXIII
Affiliate marketing and ads and Brave Rewards. HTML elements and dotenv and Git. Spellings and designs and stuff.
#582 · · 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.
#581 · · development, html, conformance
The Great Tech and People Hypocrisy
When we value people so much that we ârifâ them even with cash in the bank, maybe we donât 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.
#580 · · 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.
#579 · · 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.
#578 · · 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, thereâs an opportunity to temporarily swear off JavaScript.
#577 · · development, javascript
Declining 1:1 Meetings Without a Message Is Rude
It happens everywhere, but it sets a bad example.
#576 · · misc
Highlights From âOn Libertyâ (John Stuart Mill)
âThe 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 âthe deep slumber of a decided opinion.ââ
#575 · · philosophy
Highlights From âThe Psychology of Revolutionâ (Gustave Le Bon)
âMen judge with their intelligence, and are guided by their characters. To understand a man fully one must separate these two elements.â
#574 · · 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.
#572 · · 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.
#571 · · philosophy, misc
On the Gift of OKR for Company Culture
âOKR,â short for aspiration, candor, and accountability.
#570 · · management
Building Websites and Building Websites Well
On exercises, orthogonality, andâchoice.
#569 · · 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? Absolutelyâbut theyâre not all being taught or shared a lot. A few quotes that Iâve found useful.
#567 · · misc
âWeb Design as a Processâ 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.
#566 · · development, quality
Why I Like Scrumban
Over the past years, Iâve become a fan of Scrumban, a mix of Scrum and Kanban. But what is Scrumban here, and what is there to like about Scrumban?
#565 · · management
Website Optimization Measures, Part XXII
Web design is a process, running our own websites is awesome, and together it means thereâs always something to tweak and improve and optimize. Select things Iâve done over the last few months.
#564 · · development, design, optimization
On the Well Astonishing Verdicts on Social Media
We may speak anything from 470,000,000 to 860,000,000 words in our lifetime. The tiniest fraction may be too much.
#563 · · misc
Performance and Stay Questions in 1:1s
On a set of questions that are useful to ask every few weeks, for close alignment and connection, as well as well-being.
#562 · · management
My Web Development Wishlist 2024
Respect, UX before DX, quality output that starts with conformance, running oneâs own website, and adding as much as necessary, but as little as possible to web standardsâfive wishes to benefit our field, our users, and us as professionals.
#561 · · development, quality
Stop Closing Void Elements
Some developers believe in closing all HTML elements. Some have to close all HTML elements. Others donât believe in doing so, or arenât forced either way. In Upgrade Your HTML IV, I wrote a little about closing void elements.
#560 · · development, html
2023
My professional and personal highlights from the last year. (Happy 2024!)
#559 · · misc
Incident, Mitigate, Learn
We canât just pick two.
#558 · · development, management
âHTML Firstâ Is Not HTML First
On what is and what isnât âHTML First.â (Itâs not just a hunch: It should start with HTML.)
#557 · · development, html, conformance, semantics, accessibility
Something to Know About Defensiveness
âThe first rule of effective debate, argument, or heated conversation is to never, ever, get defensive.â On what we label as defensiveness, and a story that appears more complete and empathetic.
#556 · · misc
26 Other Web Development Terms You May Not Have Heard Of
From ActionScript (psst) to linearizability to the Z shell.
#555 · · development
Why Online Communication Is So Not-Great
Why is online communication so, meh? An approach that considers context, training, and world views, for a much more complicated topic.
#554 · · philosophy, misc
The 9 HTML Elements That Have an Attribute of the Same Name, or: The 9 Attributes That Have an Element of the Same Name
There are nine HTML elements that have an attribute of the same name. Youâll never guess what follows next.
#553 · · development, html
Letter and Spirit of Web Development
In the realm of law, there is the notion of letter and spirit of a law. It seems we could benefit from letter and spirit in web development, too.
#552 · · development
14 Tips for Becoming an Indie Author
After a few books with a publisher and a few more as an independent author, some tips and thoughts on how to publish your own books (if thatâs what youâre excited about doing, too). From starting with ebooks to not writing overly much to not using AI toolsâall sorts of advice you would or wouldnât expect to get.
#551 · · misc
Website Optimization Measures, Part XXI
Who hasnât had enough of style sheet reviews, editor performance optimizations, ad removals, CTA revisions, pseudo-class refactorings, blocked AI crawlers, custom search engines, social graphics, or server log configs.
#550 · · development, design, optimization
2023: 0 of the Global Top 100 Websites Use Valid HTML
The latest analysis of HTML and CSS conformance of the most popular websites. The situation is only going to get better once we set higher expectations for the code we ship.
#549 · · development, html, css, conformance
Existence and Experience
How can something-exists experience itself?
#548 · · philosophy
On the Uniting Power of a Commitment to HTML Conformance
HTML is the language of the Web, thereâs a quality standardâexpectationâfor HTML, but we donât make use of it, yet if we would, it would come with several advantages, one of them being that it could unite and propel us to master more important challenges, which would be good again for our field and the Web.
#547 · · development, html, conformance
What Happened to Separation of Concerns in Frontend Development
On a story that began around 2010, and in which web standards make separation of concerns easierâand frameworks make it harder.
#546 · · development, html, css
The Most Minimal Valid HTML Document
âisnât that exciting, isnât even new, but can use repeating in times of conformance neglect and AI-assisted coding.
#545 · · development, html, minimalism, conformance
Valve, Counter-Strike, macOS, and How Not to Relaunch Software
Yesterday, on September 27, Valve released Counter-Strike 2, replacing the gameâs predecessor, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) on Valveâs Steam platform. But.
#544 · · misc