Web Development (2)
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.
#371 · · ai
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.
#370 ·
Website Optimization Measures, Part XXVII
On improvements involving Eleventy (3), Lightning CSS, Imagemin Guard, early hints, ads, creator metadata, and custom/programmable search engines.
#369 · · optimization
Boring Web Development
Web development is boring—or should be more boring. On us tending to celebrate the wrong side of web development.
#368 ·
HTML/CSS Frameworks, in Their Own Words (by Word Cloud)
Checking in on Bootstrap, Tailwind, Foundation, Bulma, Milligram, Pure, and UIkit.
#367 · · html, css, frameworks
JS Frameworks, in Their Own Words (by Word Cloud)
Handing the microphone to React, Vue.js, Angular, Svelte, Express, Meteor, and Next.js.
#366 · · javascript, frameworks
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.
#365 · · optimization
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.
#364 · · 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.
#363 · · optimization
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.
#362 · · 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.
#361 · · html, conformance
The HTML History and Optimization Cheat Sheet
Compare elements and specifications, check on void elements and optional tags.
#360 · · html, optimization
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.)
#359 ·
Notes on Hooking Up a Website With Cloudflare
I played around with Cloudflare.
#358 ·
Why I Don’t Block AI Scrapers
“The Tortoise and the Hare,” human/AI edition.
Website Optimization Measures, Part XXV
On caching headers, capitalization, social graphics, download priorities, logical properties, Cloudflare, viewport metadata, obsolete markup, and calls to action.
#356 · · design, optimization
A Web Development Term a Day…
…on Mastodon, Bluesky, and Twitter/X. (With a queue lasting 10 years and growing.)
#355 ·
AI Paradox
Have you outrun your headlights yet?
#354 · · management, ai
Now Available: “Rote Learning HTML & CSS,” the Most Boring Free Ebook Ever
The book you never thought you wanted. The rough and raw skeleton of HTML and CSS. Elements, attributes, selectors, properties. No explanations, no examples, no context. Not a New York Times bestseller (it’s free).
#353 · · books, html, css, semantics
A Node and Command Line Tool to Find Obsolete HTML
Have you ever wondered if and where you have obsolete HTML in your code base? Of course, there’s a tool for that.
#352 · · html, conformance
On Mapping the World of Frontend Development
What if we had easy access to many—thousands—of the most useful, interesting, influential frontend development posts from 2000–2019? If you took care of it, how would you go about it, what challenges would you face, what would excite you? Here are some impressions, doing this work, for Frontend Dogma.
#351 ·
Thoughts on CSS in 2024
What I appreciate, what I don’t need (so far)—light and casual and certainly subjective notes on contemporary CSS.
#350 · · css
Transitive Optimization Considered—Interesting
Transitive optimization means that if we improve A to optimize B, and optimizations of B also optimize C, then improving A should also lead to an optimization of C. But now what?
#349 · · optimization
Know the “search” Element
Let’s talk about element #112.
#348 · · html
Website Optimization Measures, Part XXIV
On AVIF tests, book prices, AI experiments, Eleventy performance, IE scripts and styles, domain registrations, site headers, and (old) document functionality that can better be handled by native HTML elements than by handmade scripts.
#347 · · design, optimization
Website Optimization Measures, Part XXIII
Affiliate marketing and ads and Brave Rewards. HTML elements and dotenv and Git. Spellings and designs and stuff.
#346 · · design, optimization
We Need to Talk More About Conformance, if We Want to Stop Fantasy HTML
Conformant and valid HTML is the exception on websites and in apps, even though valid output is a sign of professional web development. Given how rarely the topic is being discussed these days, we benefit from raising more awareness for HTML conformance and validation.
#345 · · html, conformance
Now Available: Upgrade Your HTML V!
The newest part of the ebook series for HTML craftspeople and minimalists, touching on past, present, and future of the greatest document language ever specified.
#344 · · books, html, minimalism, optimization
April 24 Is JS Naked Day
Every year on April 9 we, a part of our field, do without CSS; from this year on, on April 24, there’s an opportunity to temporarily swear off JavaScript.
#343 · · javascript
Building Websites and Building Websites Well
On exercises, orthogonality, and—choice.
#342 ·
“Web Design as a Process” in Charts: Maintenance, Decay, Tech Debt, and Big Bang Launching
Web design is a process. This process relates to the quality and completeness of a given website, as observed over time. We can chart and understand different types of this process.
#341 · · quality
Website Optimization Measures, Part XXII
Web design is a process, running our own websites is awesome, and together it means there’s always something to tweak and improve and optimize. Select things I’ve done over the last few months.
#340 · · design, optimization
My Web Development Wishlist 2024
Respect, UX before DX, quality output that starts with conformance, running one’s own website, and adding as much as necessary, but as little as possible to web standards—five wishes to benefit our field, our users, and us as professionals.
#339 · · quality
Stop Closing Void Elements
Some developers believe in closing all HTML elements. Some have to close all HTML elements. Others don’t believe in doing so, or aren’t forced either way. In Upgrade Your HTML IV, I wrote a little about closing void elements.
#338 · · html
Incident, Mitigate, Learn
We can’t just pick two.
#337 · · management
“HTML First” Is Not HTML First
On what is and what isn’t “HTML First.” (It’s not just a hunch: It should start with HTML.)
#336 · · html, conformance, semantics, accessibility
26 Other Web Development Terms You May Not Have Heard Of
From ActionScript (psst) to linearizability to the Z shell.
#335 ·
The 9 HTML Elements That Have an Attribute of the Same Name, or: The 9 Attributes That Have an Element of the Same Name
There are nine HTML elements that have an attribute of the same name. You’ll never guess what follows next.
#334 · · html
Letter and Spirit of Web Development
In the realm of law, there is the notion of letter and spirit of a law. It seems we could benefit from letter and spirit in web development, too.
#333 ·
Website Optimization Measures, Part XXI
Who hasn’t had enough of style sheet reviews, editor performance optimizations, ad removals, CTA revisions, pseudo-class refactorings, blocked AI crawlers, custom search engines, social graphics, or server log configs.
#332 · · design, optimization
2023: 0 of the Global Top 100 Websites Use Valid HTML
The latest analysis of HTML and CSS conformance of the most popular websites. The situation is only going to get better once we set higher expectations for the code we ship.
#331 · · html, css, conformance
On the Uniting Power of a Commitment to HTML Conformance
HTML is the language of the Web, there’s a quality standard—expectation—for HTML, but we don’t make use of it, yet if we would, it would come with several advantages, one of them being that it could unite and propel us to master more important challenges, which would be good again for our field and the Web.
#330 · · html, conformance
What Happened to Separation of Concerns in Frontend Development
On a story that began around 2010, and in which web standards make separation of concerns easier—and frameworks make it harder.
The Most Minimal Valid HTML Document
—isn’t that exciting, isn’t even new, but can use repeating in times of conformance neglect and AI-assisted coding.
#328 · · html, minimalism, conformance
Website Optimization Measures, Part XX
Definition issues. Aging content. Debugging. Social graphics. CTAs. DNS entries. SVGs. Filler words. PHP. There’s always something worth tending to.
#327 · · optimization, misc
Sustainability and Tech and Us
In tech, we’re exceptionally bad at sustainability. While those of us who focus on sustainability, performance, as well as code minimalism are already contributing to improvements, we can do more. A few thoughts.
#326 ·
The 10ish Tools I Install on Every New Mac I Get
Are there going to be surprises.
#325 ·
WebGlossary.info
The Web Development Glossary—now also available as a website. Enjoy exploring.
#324 · · design
Website Optimization Measures, Part XIX
Dull maintenance drudgery (?), this time covering dependencies, link checks, keyboard navigation, contrast, hidden UI elements, multi-language tag handling, image compression, IndieAuth, and AI crawling.
#323 · · design, optimization
200 Web-Based, Must-Try Web Design and Development Tools
A couple of web-based and free tools to test and improve accessibility, performance, security, conformance, colors and images and typography, SEO and SEM and—more. With an opinion about link lists, and appreciation for well-maintained tool collections.
#322 · · design