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Jens Oliver Meiert

“2024” Archive

CSS: How to Indicate Container Overflow, When There Is Overflow

You have a block of text that you can’t shorten and yet that you don't want to give too much space, so as not to draw attention away from other content. It’s useful metadata that you like to show. On a stopgap option using scroll-driven animations.

#39 · · ,

The CSS Reset Contradiction

Re-publishing my article for SitePoint, discussing what I think we miss in our conversations: Notably, what are the premises for CSS resets? What’s the reality—or are the realities? And, how could we also approach resets?

#38 ·

HTML Conformance: A Comparison of 6.5 npm Validator Packages (With 1.5 Recommendations)

What do you do if you want to make sure you’re not writing and shipping fantasy HTML, but choose to or have to avoid the web-based W3C HTML validator?

#37 ·

When We Need Systems, Processes, and Conventions

Oh the bore.

#36 · · ,

What Is HTML Optimization? What Is It Not?

Is HTML optimization as well-defined as we need it to be? A look at what’s out there and an attempt to be clearer.

#35 ·

Genocide Dilemma

On what it means that we’re still committing and accepting genocides.

#34 ·

How to Add WebGlossary.info as a Search Engine in Your Browser

In short, you can search the glossary via “https://webglossary.info/search/%s”.

#33 ·

Website Optimization Measures, Part XXVIII

What is it this time? Medium links, font smoothing, Eleventy templates, Bluesky handles and support, post automation, front matter quotes, and Twitter/X links. In this order.

#32 ·

The Image Compression Challenge Results

How many projects cannot losslessly be compressed further, how much would I donate for the challenge I invited to?

#31 ·

Where Has All the Valid HTML Gone

When we look at the state of HTML… how much of it actually <em>is</em> HTML?

#30 ·

What I Learned About That Difficult Childhood

On a changing—and perhaps transcending—perspective on pain.

#29 · · ,

1 + 2 Engineering Team Priorities

Are great teams “just doing the work”?

#28 ·

8 AI Tips for Web Developers (and Their Careers)

AI is everywhere and comes with many problems and challenges. Yet as web developers, we need to adapt to a reality with AI. A few ideas on how we can make use of AI to the benefit of our work and our careers.

#27 ·

When You Are Rich

On what you do as a person who is very rich.

#26 ·

3 Things to Note About Democracy

If we think democracy can do without education, constructive intentions, and quality candidates, I believe we’re not getting democracy—and risk it.

#25 ·

Everyone Can Set You Up for Failure, Not Everyone Sets You Up for Success

On a conscious choice that we can make, and that we best make sure others make.

#24 · · ,

The Image Compression Challenge (Donating Money for Excess-Free Projects)

Here’s a frontend challenge. Run an image compression tool capable of near-losslessly compressing PNG, JPG, GIF, WebP, and AVIF images over one of your main projects. Share if nothing could be compressed. I donate money for each of such projects.

#23 ·

Website Optimization Measures, Part XXVII

On improvements involving Eleventy (3), Lightning CSS, Imagemin Guard, early hints, ads, creator metadata, and custom/programmable search engines.

#22 ·

Results = Ć’(Competence Ă— Time)

On a model that can tell us something about how we work, and how we could work.

#21 ·

Growth

A rant.

#20 ·

Boring Web Development

Web development is boring—or should be more boring. On us tending to celebrate the wrong side of web development.

#19 ·

JS Frameworks, in Their Own Words (by Word Cloud)

Handing the microphone to React, Vue.js, Angular, Svelte, Express, Meteor, and Next.js.

#18 ·

HTML/CSS Frameworks, in Their Own Words (by Word Cloud)

Checking in on Bootstrap, Tailwind, Foundation, Bulma, Milligram, Pure, and UIkit.

#17 ·

Automatable Defensive Core Image Compression With Imagemin Guard 4 (Now With No Imagemin)

The Imagemin Guard package was just updated to move away from the unmaintained Imagemin family, and to improve code, tests, documentation, and usability. If you like to avoid unnecessary image payload, even in your repos, especially in environments where not everyone pays attention to it, this is a good update to try.

#16 ·

What Germany May Not Have Learned From the Holocaust

No matter who is being violated, learning from a genocide means fighting against any genocide.

#15 ·

Not Knowable

Casual appreciation about our dealing with knowledge.

#14 ·

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.

#13 · · ,

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.

#12 ·

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.

#11 · · ,

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.

#10 · · ,

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.

#9 ·

On Disagreement

From discomfort that can lead to shortcuts to challenges that may yield transformations.

#8 ·

The HTML History and Optimization Cheat Sheet

Compare elements and specifications, check on void elements and optional tags.

#7 ·

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.)

#6 ·

Notes on Hooking Up a Website With Cloudflare

I played around with Cloudflare.

#5 ·

Imposing on Hearing

On the sense that we may be able to defend the least.

#4 ·

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.”

#3 ·

Why I Don’t Block AI Scrapers

“The Tortoise and the Hare,” human/AI edition.

#2 · · ,

Website Optimization Measures, Part XXV

On caching headers, capitalization, social graphics, download priorities, logical properties, Cloudflare, viewport metadata, obsolete markup, and calls to action.

#1 · · ,