Words that would otherwise be coming out of my mouth

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  1. 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 […]

  2. 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 […]

  3. 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 […]

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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 […]

  7. 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 […]

  8. 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 – […]

  9. 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. […]

  10. 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 […]

  11. 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 […]

  12. 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.

  13. 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 […]

  14. 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 […]

  15. 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 […]

  16. 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 […]

  17. 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 […]

  18. 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.

  19. 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, […]

  20. 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 – […]