Web Development
One-Dimensional Website Optimization Considered Harmful
There are many website optimization vectors—SEO, performance, accessibility, &c.—, but optimizing on only one dimension may not only be expensive, but also counter-productive. On optimizing optimizations.
Website Optimization Measures, Part XIV
About link relationships, Twitterbot, dark mode, tags, addresses, social markup, color-scheme, and—FLoC.
Minimal Social Markup
Every website and app these days relies on so-called “social markup,” metadata for a richer and prettier display in social media and messaging tools. On the absolute minimum you may need.
Thoughts on an Accessibility “Get Well” Plan
Have you wondered how to anchor accessibility in an engineering team, one that isn’t yet producing accessible sites or apps? Some options to start with, for further refinement and discussion.
The Machine-Illustrated Life of a Frontend Developer
You may know DALL·E, what you can do with it, what others do with it, and… be intrigued by it, too. And you may wonder, how would AI depict frontend developers?
HTML Concepts: Focusable Areas
When you hear “focusable area,” what comes to your mind? Anchors and form elements that receive focus when being “tabbed through,” i.e., that are highlighted and that can be interacted with? That’s not a bad description!—but also not a complete one.
Write HTML, the HTML Way (Not the XHTML Way)
You may not use XHTML (anymore), but when you write HTML, you may be more influenced by XHTML than you think. You are very likely writing HTML, the XHTML way.
2 Approaches to Accessibility on the Web
One can distinguish two approaches to accessibility on the Web: to produce accessible websites and apps (active accessibility), and to produce accessible-making software (passive accessibility). On how largely using one approach would stand in the way of a greater vision for web accessibility.
The CSS Art Paradox
The fanciest CSS, standing on the shoulders of bloated HTML.
3 Books to Become a Better Developer
When a frontend developer chooses A Philosophy of Software Design, The Pragmatic Programmer, and Clean Code.
HTML Concepts: Commands and Facets
On what you think they are, and something that what you think they are has.
What Makes You a Professional Web Developer
On a starting point that involves committing to high standards (including validating, and exercising control over oneself), acting ethically, practicing, learning, taking care of oneself, and taking care of others.
Website Optimization Measures, Part XIII
Lessons from running multiple websites, this time covering SVGs, HTML optimization, auto-completion, semantics tricks, code styling, favicon markup, and social images. Happy Saturday.
25 Web Development Terms You’ve Never Heard Of
__qems, cyclomatic complexity, homogenous migrations, NUIs, OOPIFs, and everything the web and software developer needs.
On the Difficulty of Counting the Number of HTML Elements
How many HTML elements are there? What looks like a fairly simple question, isn’t one, because there isn’t one number of HTML elements.
Reduce the Pressure on Young and Inexperienced Developers
Lower the expectations on young and inexperienced developers, and raise the expectations on their mentoring and coaching: on running gags, unrealistic expectations, and healthier hiring.
HTML Concepts: Form Owners
Today in “HTML Concepts”: form owners. It’s not what you are when you put a form on a page. What are form owners? In essence, form elements that so-called form-associated elements are tied to.
Web Frameworks, Coding Guidelines, Quality Control, and the Craft of Web Development
“Good frameworks aim to be tailored, usable, and extensible”? “Coding guidelines must be communicated, enforced, and reviewed”? “No website should go without a plan for quality control”?
The 6 Ways of Writing HTML (and Their Combinations)
There are 6 general ways of writing HTML: unsystematic, valid, semantic, accessible, required-only, and hyper-optimized. These types make for 19 combinations—the ways we write HTML.
HTML Concepts: Common Idioms
Welcome to another brief post in the “HTML Concepts” series. Today we’re going to look at common idioms: popular design patterns for which HTML doesn’t have dedicated elements, but makes suggestions.
Making the Web Developer’s Pilgrimage
Have you read the HTML specification? Have you marked highlights, taken notes, and reviewed what you learned? Have you reported issues and made suggestions to the HTML working group, giving back and improving the standard? On our field’s “pilgrimage.”
Declaring Page Language—and Declaring Changes in Language
Popular screen readers don’t seem to pick up changes in language automatically. We may need a push on screen readers to improve detection of changes in language, and a shift of attention from declaration of page language to marking up changes in language.
Comparing Page Language Declaration Setups in Screen Readers
One best practice in web development is to declare the document language via the lang attribute, on the html start tag. That is useful, but also not the only option. How well are different setups supported in screen readers? A few data points.
Not Releasing Late on Fridays, a Matter of Courtesy
Why don’t we, in engineering departments, prefer not to release late on Fridays—or late on others days? Occasionally, developers and stakeholders believe that’s because of a lack of confidence in our code and our systems. The true reason is not that:—
HTML Concepts: Indicators for Layout Tables
You use tables for data, and therefore not for layout purposes (as was popular in the past). But how would you recognize a layout table? That’s what we’re looking at today in “HTML Concepts.”
Categories
- Adventure (27)
- Art and Design (57)
- Everything Else (116)
- Philosophy (55)
- Web Development (290)
Archives
By Year
By Month
- August 2022 (1)
- July 2022 (2)
- June 2022 (2)
- May 2022 (4)
- April 2022 (5)
- March 2022 (3)
- February 2022 (1)
- January 2022 (3)
- December 2021 (2)
- November 2021 (2)
- October 2021 (1)
- September 2021 (4)
- August 2021 (2)
- July 2021 (3)
- June 2021 (4)
- May 2021 (6)
- March 2021 (2)
- February 2021 (2)
- January 2021 (4)
- December 2020 (3)
- November 2020 (2)
- October 2020 (2)
- September 2020 (2)
- August 2020 (2)
- July 2020 (1)
- June 2020 (2)
- May 2020 (2)
- April 2020 (3)
- March 2020 (2)
- February 2020 (2)
- January 2020 (4)
- December 2019 (5)
- November 2019 (3)
- October 2019 (2)
- September 2019 (2)
- August 2019 (2)
- July 2019 (2)
- June 2019 (2)
- May 2019 (3)
- April 2019 (4)
- March 2019 (4)
- January 2019 (2)
- December 2018 (3)
- November 2018 (3)
- October 2018 (3)
- September 2018 (1)
- August 2018 (2)
- July 2018 (1)
- June 2018 (2)
- May 2018 (1)
- April 2018 (1)
- March 2018 (1)
- February 2018 (3)
- January 2018 (6)
- December 2017 (6)
- November 2017 (4)
- October 2017 (6)
- September 2017 (7)
- August 2017 (8)
- July 2017 (4)
- June 2017 (7)
- May 2017 (2)
- April 2017 (3)
- March 2017 (3)
- February 2017 (5)
- January 2017 (6)
- December 2016 (3)
- November 2016 (6)
- October 2016 (1)
- September 2016 (2)
- August 2016 (5)
- July 2016 (6)
- June 2016 (3)
- May 2016 (1)
- April 2016 (2)
- March 2016 (2)
- February 2016 (2)
- January 2016 (4)
- December 2015 (1)
- November 2015 (4)
- October 2015 (4)
- September 2015 (4)
- August 2015 (6)
- July 2015 (2)
- June 2015 (2)
- May 2015 (4)
- April 2015 (4)
- March 2015 (8)
- February 2015 (3)
- January 2015 (5)
- December 2014 (7)
- November 2014 (1)
- October 2014 (3)
- September 2014 (6)
- August 2014 (2)
- July 2014 (5)
- June 2014 (1)
- April 2014 (3)
- March 2014 (1)
- February 2014 (4)
- January 2014 (2)
- December 2013 (6)
- November 2013 (1)
- October 2013 (4)
- September 2013 (2)
- August 2013 (5)
- July 2013 (1)
- January 2013 (1)
- December 2012 (2)
- November 2012 (1)
- April 2012 (1)
- February 2012 (1)
- January 2012 (2)
- December 2011 (1)
- October 2011 (1)
- June 2011 (2)
- May 2011 (2)
- April 2011 (1)
- February 2011 (1)
- December 2010 (3)
- October 2010 (1)
- September 2010 (1)
- July 2010 (1)
- June 2010 (1)
- May 2010 (1)
- March 2010 (1)
- February 2010 (2)
- January 2010 (1)
- December 2009 (1)
- November 2009 (2)
- October 2009 (4)
- September 2009 (2)
- August 2009 (2)
- July 2009 (3)
- June 2009 (4)
- May 2009 (2)
- April 2009 (2)
- March 2009 (6)
- February 2009 (3)
- January 2009 (3)
- December 2008 (4)
- November 2008 (6)
- October 2008 (7)
- September 2008 (3)
- August 2008 (4)
- July 2008 (4)
- June 2008 (5)
- May 2008 (5)
- April 2008 (2)
- March 2008 (6)
- February 2008 (5)
- November 2007 (3)
- October 2007 (1)
- September 2007 (4)
- August 2007 (2)
- July 2007 (2)
- June 2007 (6)
- May 2007 (4)
- April 2007 (3)
- March 2007 (6)
- February 2007 (5)
- January 2007 (6)
Perhaps my most comprehensive book: The Web Development Glossary (2020). With explanations and definitions for literally thousands of terms from Web Development and related fields, building on Wikipedia as well as the MDN Web Docs. Available at Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play Books, and Leanpub.
My book series: Upgrade Your HTML (2019–2021). Good HTML isn’t easy. Minimal HTML is underrated. Production HTML can often be improved. This series does so. Available at Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play Books, and Leanpub.