“development” Archive
Eleventy: A GitHub Workflow to Check if an Automated Dependency Update Would Break Your Site
A little safety measure to prevent updates to package.json, package-lock.json, and .nvmrc (or similar) from causing a hiccup.
#43 ·
How I Run Eleventy (It’s Complicated?)
Aliases, debug mode, non-versioned builds as part of a centralized, versioned site exports repo—and the thinking behind it all.
#42 ·
5 Ways to Reduce HTML File Size on Your Website, Step 0
The journey begins with an unpopular step.
#41 ·
Markup Languages
Just something to remember HDML, DHTML, WML, and cHTML.
#40 ·
Where Frontend Dogma Gets Its News From
On sources for news and views that approach 4,000 items per year.
#39 ·
Forwarding Appreciated: A WhatsApp [and Signal and LinkedIn] Link Sharing Bug That Cannot Be Reported
There’s an issue with WhatsApp link sharing that cannot be brought to WhatsApp’s attention. If you know someone at WhatsApp, please help (support appreciated with Signal and LinkedIn, too).
#38 ·
DeepSeek and HTML
“What is the most minimal valid HTML document?”, DeepSeek-R1 edition.
#37 ·
On Ethics in Web Development (With a Brief Overview of Ethical Theories)
When we read and talk about ethics in technology, it’s rare that we’re explicit about the school(s) of thought we’re following. Surprisingly, this lack of clarity often works—but it’s relevant, interesting, and useful to be more clear about our ethical theories.
#36 · · philosophy
Website Optimization Measures, Part XXX
Everybody ♥️ website maintenance. On trimming input, updating WordPress ping services, cleaning up Eleventy architecture, reorganizing redirects, synchronizing server log configs, replacing dependencies by native Node functionality, adding minimal dark mode (HTML edition), and unfancying error pages.
#35 ·
New to Web Development? Run Your Own Website
On the perhaps shortest advice for anyone entering the field (which is also sound for everyone in it).
#34 ·
Order Force in HTML?
Do you, too, find certain ways of ordering attributes to be more natural than others?
#33 ·
Testing 10 JavaScript Frameworks on Their HTML Defaults
When you validate the demo and starter projects of popular frameworks like React, Vue, Angular, Svelte, Astro, &c., what do you find? On challenging the idea that JavaScript frameworks could fuel the HTML crisis.
#32 ·
On Building AI Understanding and Automation Muscle (With 18 Random Problems Solved With AI)
If you’re like me, you’re also optimizing your use of AI in development, distinguishing your capabilities from AI, and improving your routine to build strong automation muscle. Thoughts and examples.
#31 ·
Cool URLs Don’t Change, Unless…
A deferential (though not new) refinement of Tim Berners-Lee’s 1998 classic.
#30 ·
Website Optimization Measures, Part XXIX
From cleaning up behind files and feature policies and Eleventy plugins to fun with CSS selectors and transitions to improving tables of contents to switching to ESM to testing bfcache to refactoring lists to tables.
#29 ·
My 18-Months Rule for Open-Source Contributions
You make a good-faith contribution to an open-source project. There’s never a response. What do you do? On a rule I’ve established for my own open-source work, and the reasons behind it.
#28 ·
An Overview of the 50 Highest-Ranking Web Design and Development Glossaries
If you want to look up terms, there are dozens if not hundreds of tech glossaries. However, a search quickly shows differences in how comprehensive and therefore useful these glossaries are—and doesn’t show whether the glossaries are being updated. A view at the glossary landscape.
#27 · · design
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.
#26 · · design
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?
#25 ·
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?
#24 ·
When We Need Systems, Processes, and Conventions
Oh the bore.
#23 · · management
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.
#22 ·
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”.
#21 ·
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.
#20 ·
The Image Compression Challenge Results
How many projects cannot losslessly be compressed further, how much would I donate for the challenge I invited to?
#19 ·
Where Has All the Valid HTML Gone
When we look at the state of HTML… how much of it actually <em>is</em> HTML?
#18 ·
1 + 2 Engineering Team Priorities
Are great teams “just doing the work”?
#17 ·
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.
#16 ·
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.
#15 ·
Website Optimization Measures, Part XXVII
On improvements involving Eleventy (3), Lightning CSS, Imagemin Guard, early hints, ads, creator metadata, and custom/programmable search engines.
#14 ·
Boring Web Development
Web development is boring—or should be more boring. On us tending to celebrate the wrong side of web development.
#13 ·
JS Frameworks, in Their Own Words (by Word Cloud)
Handing the microphone to React, Vue.js, Angular, Svelte, Express, Meteor, and Next.js.
#12 ·
HTML/CSS Frameworks, in Their Own Words (by Word Cloud)
Checking in on Bootstrap, Tailwind, Foundation, Bulma, Milligram, Pure, and UIkit.
#11 ·
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.
#10 ·
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.
#9 · · management
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.
#8 ·
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.
#7 · · management
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.
#6 ·
The HTML History and Optimization Cheat Sheet
Compare elements and specifications, check on void elements and optional tags.
#5 ·
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.)
#4 ·
Notes on Hooking Up a Website With Cloudflare
I played around with Cloudflare.
#3 ·
Why I Don’t Block AI Scrapers
“The Tortoise and the Hare,” human/AI edition.
#2 · · misc
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 · · design