Web Development
HTML: The 16 Content Categories and Their Elements
HTML puts elements into content categories. This article serves as a boring, brief, and updated overview over the broad and overlapping categories of HTML, and which elements fall into them.
In Critical Defense of Frontend Development
The field of frontend development is in another crisis, largely due to an incomplete, misinterpreted definition and a bizarre mess created by “web development as a commodity” and “web development as software development.” How frontend development is more than development, and what we can (and maybe should) do.
Ignore AMP
In 2018, my recommendation was to avoid AMP, to use AMP for the most relevant pages, or to use AMP only. In 2020 my recommendation is to ignore it, because AMP largely appears meaningless now. Upgrade Your HTML II gives an opinionated idea why.
Website Optimization Measures, Part XI
Welcome to another round-up of possible website improvements, this time going from several types of link updates to table of contents CSS upgrades to CDN integration and privacy policy checks.
Notes on HTML 3.2
Would it still be useful to read the HTML 3.2 specification—from 1997? A few observations.
Upgrade Your HTML II
If you care about HTML as a craft, if you consider yourself an HTML minimalist, if you believe in pushing for boundaries (and sometimes overdoing it), then this is a right book (and a right book series) for you—with 10 new examples from the field that get inspected and improved.
On HTML (and HTML in 2020)
What seems quite noteworthy about HTML, and how we’re doing on that in the year 2020.
Custom Properties: Questioning :root
For custom properties (aka CSS variables) we got into the habit of declaring variables in a rule with a :root selector. Yet unless you’re working in an environment in which style sheets serve several document types (and roots), question this use of :root.
Website Optimization Measures, Part X
9 TILs that I applied to my personal projects.
The Anti-Reset
I advise against resets. You don’t need them. (We don’t need them.) Yet what’s the opposite of a reset? Of all resets? The anti-reset. It looks something like this—
33 Web Development Terms You May Not Have Heard Of
Web Development has its own, special vocabulary that easily consists of several thousand terms. Even if you’re an experienced developer you’re unlikely to know all of them. Still, do you like to try your knowledge? How many of the following terms do you know?
The 25 Boolean Attributes of HTML
What is a Boolean, what is a Boolean attribute, how does a Boolean attribute work, and what Boolean attributes are there? Meet the Boolean attributes, from allowfullscreen to truespeed.
5 Tips to Get Your Dev Blog Running
If you know what you can deliver, if you keep at it, if you make it easy for your peers, if you talk about the effort, and if you measure and improve and employ a process, you’re likely to do well: thoughts on technical outreach.
The 4 Pillars of Good Embed Code
Embed code is third-party code to be integrated on websites and apps, like ads or social media widgets. There have been many problems with embed code for a very long time. This post covers the essence of what makes for good embed code.
The Web Development Glossary (More Than 2,000 Key Terms for Developers)
What is a BHO? Goanna? Hooking? How about a principal box? Or the Ten-Second Rule? Covering more than 2,000 terms ranging from A11Y to Zsh, and including explanations from Wikipedia and the MDN Web Docs, I’m very happy to release the The Web Development Glossary.
The Frameworks Paradox
The more complex a website, the bigger the need for a framework, the less effective an external framework. This is not new, and not even a paradox because an internal—homemade—HTML/CSS framework is always an option. However—
On the Responsibility That Comes with Good JavaScript Support
According to our data, the classic idea of making sure websites and apps work without JavaScript being enabled is dead; when we look only at support requirements, this was the end of the story. It’s not, however, when we employ a broader look at JavaScript and its misuses.
HTML and CSS and the 2019 Web Almanac
The HTTP Archive’s Web Almanac is fantastic because it provides us with data about how we build what kinds of websites. While the release of the 2019 Almanac has been accompanied by some analysis, I had found it interesting to interpret the data, too.
If It Can Be Done Using an HTTP Header, Use an HTTP Header
The following is a (slightly modified) chapter from Upgrade Your HTML, which is “all about picking examples of HTML in the wild, and explaining how to make that code better.”
How Running Your Own Website Is Much Better for You Than You Think
The typical reason for why professionals don’t have their own websites is that they don’t want to make the commitment, and yet that misses how the disadvantages people see are actually advantages. Renewed thoughts on how running your own website is an asset.
An HTML Optimizer’s Config for html-minifier
Jad (Joubran) asked me about my configuration for html-minifier the other week, and in a hurry I pointed him to the config I had worked out for sum.cumo. In my own projects, however, I work with a different, more ambitious setup.
When to Open Links in a New Tab
Always open links in the same tab unless doing so 1) could disrupt a process, 2) could risk data loss, or 3) could confuse the user.
CSS: When to Use Logical Properties
Logical properties are great and long overdue. They are great because they solve an ugly problem of international, multi-directional web development in that directionality does not need to affect your writing and managing of CSS anymore…
Website Optimization Measures, Part IX
Random improvements and notes around compression and caching, content security and feature policies, IndieWeb markup, protocols in links, entity references, image formats, and ISBNs in URL paths.
Upgrade Your HTML (the Booklet)
I’ve written a very short book on improving HTML code: Upgrade Your HTML. Upgrade Your HTML is about one thing: Picking examples of HTML in the wild, and explaining how to make that code better. Kindly. Constructively. Thoroughly, as finding a balance between detail and brevity permits.
Categories
- Adventure (26)
- Art and Design (53)
- Everything Else (96)
- Philosophy (48)
- Web Development (250)
Archives
By Year
By Month
- January 2021 (3)
- December 2020 (3)
- November 2020 (2)
- October 2020 (2)
- September 2020 (2)
- August 2020 (2)
- June 2020 (2)
- May 2020 (2)
- April 2020 (3)
- March 2020 (2)
- February 2020 (2)
- January 2020 (4)
- December 2019 (4)
- 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 (2)
- November 2018 (3)
- October 2018 (3)
- September 2018 (1)
- August 2018 (2)
- July 2018 (1)
- June 2018 (1)
- 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 (7)
- 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 (1)
- January 2016 (4)
- December 2015 (1)
- November 2015 (2)
- 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 relevant book: CSS Optimization Basics (2018). Writing CSS is a craft. As craftspeople we strive to write high quality CSS. In CSS Optimization Basics I lay out some of the most important aspects of such CSS. (Also available in a bundle with Upgrade Your HTML and The Web Development Glossary.)