Words that would otherwise be coming out of my mouth
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21 May, 2018
Identifying, Auditing, and Discussing Third Parties
Here’s Harry with a great process for identifying third-party scripts that wreak havoc on performance. Note that while he discusses bytes and bits, these problems are mainly political. The attitude in which you approach a process like this makes all […]
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18 May, 2018
Learning React: Is This ES6 or React?
I posted about my struggle to learn React, and I talked about how ES6 and React travel together, and it’s hard to untangle things. This post does a good job of dividing what convention belongs to React and what belongs […]
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18 May, 2018
Hail the maintainers
This is a very good read about our collective infatuation with “innovation.” The authors argue that maintenance is just as — if not more — important than innovation. Entire societies have come to talk about innovation as if it were […]
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17 May, 2018
The Simplest Web Site That Could Possibly Work Well
Love this post from Zach, reminding us that websites don’t have to be a gigantic pile of dependencies and complexity.
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17 May, 2018
How to Take Criticism
How to Take Criticism Ask yourself: Is this helpful or not helpful? Translate. Stay curious. Hang in there until you receive actionable feedback. Very good read about how to take criticism in your work.
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16 May, 2018
Dumb React
I recently posted about my struggle to learn React. There are a lot of personal reasons for this, which I explain in the post. But I’ve also found it frustrating that many React tutorials, projects, and boilerplates I’ve encountered are […]
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15 May, 2018
txt.fyi
This is the dumbest publishing platform on the web. Write something, hit publish, and it’s live. There’s no tracking, ad-tech, webfonts, analytics, javascript, cookies, databases, user accounts, comments, friending, likes, follower counts or other quantifiers of social capital. The only practical […]
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09 May, 2018
A response “my Struggle to learn react” – andrewingram – Medium
Here’s a great response to my My struggle to learn React post from Andrew Ingram. He addresses each point one by one, which I find to be really helpful. Source: A response “my Struggle to learn react” – andrewingram – […]
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09 May, 2018
My struggle to learn React
I’m going to be honest: I’ve had a hell of a time getting my head around React. More than any other technology I’ve touched over the last 10 years of my career, I just haven’t had it click for me. […]
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08 May, 2018
Design Systems
Here’s Jeremy with some wise words about design systems. The generally-accepted definition of a design system is that it’s the outer circle—it encompasses pattern libraries, style guides, and any other artefacts. But there’s something more. Just because you have a […]
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06 May, 2018
What’s wrong with CSS-in-JS?
I have yet to dive deep into CSS-in-JS, but I’ll admit I’m skeptical. This podcast by Chris Ferdinandi lays out a lot of the reasons why I’m a bit apprehensive. Three other observations I’ve noticed as I encounter CSS-in-JS in […]
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29 Apr, 2018
Name That Script
Fantastic talk slides from Trent about third-party scripts’ implications on performance. I wish I could have seen the talk in person.
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23 Apr, 2018
Who actually uses atomic design?
A few people have gotten in touch with witty comments like “Care to comment?” It’s always fun to see people get caught up in labels and nomenclature, but ultimately I think the mental model continues to be helpful (for me […]
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23 Apr, 2018
Grid To Flex
From Una: CSS grid is AMAZING! However, if you need to support users of IE11 and below, or Edge 15 and below, grid won’t really work as you expect (more info here). This site is a solution for you so you […]
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23 Apr, 2018
Design systems will only work if we improve the way we work together
I really appreciate Alex Lillo taking the time to write up this review of my workshop I conducted in London last week. We need teams that have enough understanding and empathy for each others’ work, that value working together instead […]
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16 Apr, 2018
Scroll to the Future
Everything you always wanted to know about implementing scrolling but were afraid to ask. We have scrolled to the bottom of modern web specifications to take you on a whirlwind tour of latest CSS and JavaScript features that make navigating around a single page smooth, beautiful and less resource-hungry. This is a […]
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12 Apr, 2018
Pitfalls of Card UIs
Card grids are definitely a common pattern in almost all my projects, and I’ve run into all of the pitfalls Dave lays out. I’ve been thinking a lot about this post ever since I read it, and I feel I […]
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12 Apr, 2018
Productivity
Finally, to repeat one more time: productivity in the wrong direction isn’t worth anything at all. Think more about what to work on.
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09 Apr, 2018
In Defense of Breaking the Law
The inimitable Ethan Marcotte recently wrote an article about the dangers of advising people to pursue certain actions/techniques even if they don’t have permission from their bosses or stakeholders. I’ve noticed a rhetorical trope in our industry. It’s not, like, widespread, […]
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02 Apr, 2018
Creating Themeable Design Systems
TL;DR: Design systems + CSS Zen Garden = Awesome. Is it possible to create a single design system that powers wildly different-looking brands and experiences? The answer is yes! But why would you want to? Different audiences and contexts – […]