Web Development × Engineering Management × Philosophy (9)
Articles and books on the craft of web development (with a focus on HTML/CSS optimization and maintainability), engineering management, and philosophy.
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…
#275 · · 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.
#274 · · 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…
#273 · · philosophy
On Rationality, and Love
Philosophy can be heart-breaking, or—
#272 · · philosophy, misc
On Consciousness
Speaking of which.
#271 · · philosophy
New Book: “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.
#270 · · 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.
#269 · · 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.
#268 · · 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.
#267 · · development
198 Methods of Nonviolent Protest and Action
Just when one wonders how many options there are exactly.
#266 · · misc
10 Photos II
Some more of my EyeEm photos, published over the last few months, that have become others’ or probably my own favorites.
#265 · · 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.
#264 · · 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.
#263 · · philosophy, misc
It’s Not Too Late
…to contribute to good causes.
#262 · · 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.
#261 · · philosophy
Coding Guidelines, the Gist
What’s not to ♥ about coding standards.
#260 · · 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…
#259 · · 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.
#258 · · misc
New Book: “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…
#257 · · books, development, html, css
Philosophy Factoids
Meanwhile.
#256 · · philosophy
On Mistakes
What is a mistake, really?
#255 · · 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…
#254 · · 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…
#253 · · misc
Personally Speaking
After my eternal travels I’ve had entered a new stage of my life. Now that I and the dust have settled a little, the position that I assume in the world is a bit more clear, at least for the next couple of years. A few notes…
#252 · · misc
The 1,000 Lives Thought Experiment
Open up a text editor or grab a piece of paper, and write down what you’d do if you had another life. Or what you’d wish for in another life. Assume that anything goes…
#251 · · philosophy
Rules for the Media: Independence, Transparency, Accountability, Comparative Reporting
I’ve suggested to opt out of following news for the simple reason that news rarely constitute reliable and actionable information, and in the spirit that even ignorance may be preferable so to at least keep an open mind. Now, what would make me change this view?
#250 · · misc
Media: The Choice Between Misinformation and Uninformation
“The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.”—Our media, generally speaking, are not trustworthy. They are not trustworthy because of conflicts of interest…
#249 · · misc
What I’ve Hated and What I’ve Loved About Web Development
In On Web Development and in other contexts I’ve alluded to wrapping up, ending my old career. That’s only correct to an extent. (In keeping with the intelligence community, always put everyone at risk by adding backdoors.)
#248 · · development
The Problem of “Fire and Forget” in Web Design
If I were to pick the main issue in web design… I couldn’t answer immediately. I don’t think there are so many, but there are a few, they are very different, they operate on different scales, and so they’re hard to compare. One, however, is “fire and forget.”
#247 · · design, development, quality
On Science Experimenting on Life
There are boundaries, and some boundaries must be non-negotiable.
#246 · · philosophy
The Teaching Dilemma
Maybe we’re here to learn, but is it at all said that we can be taught?
#245 · · philosophy
Fear and the Creative Dilemma
In the Seth school of thought there’s an interesting issue, the creative dilemma. In short, there’s identity which constantly attempts to maintain stability, there’s action which inherently drives towards change, and that combination results in a particular imbalance—
#244 · · philosophy
Love Reciprocity
Love! What a wonderful topic. My mind would instantly turn into a good number of directions, from love in our personal lives to different forms of love, to the powers of love, to the possibly universal character of love. Let’s be more specific.
#243 · · misc
Several Lives
I have no doubt that we live several lives. I have no doubt for there’s an entirely different belief system, an entirely different thought framework, that supports this model. Here, though, I want to isolate a single idea, the one of multiple lives, as opposed to one life.
#242 · · philosophy
Two Realities
Wundt wrote in 1911 how “a human being is a psycho-physical and not only a physical unity,” and here we’re thinking about that a little, aloud.
#241 · · philosophy
The One Belief to Cultivate
There’s a particularly important belief, habit, or trait for us to cultivate: that whatever it is we want to be or master, we can learn how to be or master whatever it is we want.
#240 · · misc
New Book: “Journey of J.”
Mostly for planned closure, somewhat for playful curiosity, I wrote another book. Journey of J.—Around the World in 557 Days, 1,017 Photos, and 291 Personal Notes is about the long and eventful trip…
The Law of User-Generated Code
Whenever you allow users to edit code of your website, you’re doomed. It’s only a matter of time until you need to give up and redo the entire website—and, adding insult to injury, alienate your users.
#238 · · development, css, maintainability
Analytics: Only When We Actually Use It
Here’s something so obvious, it isn’t anymore. Which is: We should only use analytics software when we actually use it. Not when we think we could might want to need it. And not when we only glance at it, every now and then.
#237 · · development
New Book: “On Web Development”
I wrote another book. On Web Development. On Web Development is an ebook that collects most of the articles about web development (and web design) that I wrote between 2005 and 2015. Most articles as in most useful, most important, and also most controversial.
#236 · · books, development, maintainability, html, css, design
Travel Intelligence: Global Country Information for German Travelers
Traveling the world one inevitably runs into places one cannot simply enter. Other places one doesn’t want to simply enter. For purposes of tracking both I had, during my 18-month world trip, set up a special country intel sheet…
#235 · · adventure
On Conspiracy Theories
These days, many a serious inquiry into significant events leads to something marked a “conspiracy theory.” Use of the expression “conspiracy theory” has gone as far as to be used as a blanket dismissal…
#234 · · misc
Web Standards: We’re F’ing It Up
It’s a problem to just change specs. But it’s an increasingly bigger problem not to clean and prune them. The intimidating complexity of web standard specs should precisely be a motivation, not a threat, to come up with a plan. It follows the populist version.
#233 · · development, html, css
A Vision of Web Development
There is one thing every web developer should aspire to: writing the most minimal, semantically appropriate, valid HTML, and then never changing it. “Never” not in a sense of denial and refusal, but in the sense of a guiding light…
#232 · · development, html, minimalism, semantics, conformance, maintainability, quality
Loving Technology
I love the idea of caring, of loving technology. I believe we need technology that is loving. I think we have ample opportunities to envision and build technology that is loving. Here I’ll be brief and merely bring up the concept.
#231 · · philosophy
Business Practices, Reframed
Ideas for the next performance review.
#230 · · misc
Museums Should Always Allow Photography
The observation that there seem to be good reasons to allow most photography—to charge extra for it if necessary—, but none to offend visitors by banning it.
#229 · · design, art, photography
10 Photos
Some of my favorite and most popular photos lately.
#228 · · design, photography
The 1% Hypothesis of Mass Surveillance
A few weeks back I read this security article about how it’s odd that no one has ever suspected and detected anything related to all that mass surveillance we learned about through Edward Snowden. In particular, physical manipulation of devices…
#227 · · misc
No
Have we stopped killing yet?
#226 · · misc