Update at the end
The gap property was first introduced to add inner grid spacing but was extended in the spec to work with flexbox. With one line of code, you can replace something like this:
Read more of The curious case of flexbox gap and Safari →
I recently challenged myself to write a blog post every day for a month. Up to that point, I had only written eight blog posts for two years. A month later, not only do I have 28 new blog posts, I’ve learned some valuable lessons about my blogging process and my website. I wanted to share things about the experience that worked for me and issues I discovered that need attention.
Read more of What I learned blogging daily for a month →
Whether you need site breakpoints for matchMedia or access to theme colors, sharing values between your JavaScript and CSS is sometimes unavoidable. The easiest solution is to copy and paste values, but how can you ensure values stay synchronized when that brand blue color changes to indigo?
Read more of Share variables between JavaScript and CSS →
I’ve been posting a new article every day this month, and it’s been interesting. I’ll write about that soon, but today I want to share how I put these posts together. Hopefully, you’ll learn something new from my process, or see how terrible my process is and give me some advice.
Read more of How I write my posts →
If a problem is too difficult to solve on our own, sometimes the only course of action is to search, copy, and paste. It’s something all developers have done regardless of their experience level.
Read more of Understand the context of code you copy →
There are some amazing web development blogs out there (Smashing Magazine, CSS-Tricks and Codrops come to mind), but today I want to pay homage to the humble personal blog. Here are some of my favorite web developer blogs in no particular order:
Read more of 13 fantastic web development blogs →
When I started my first job as a professional developer, one of my biggest challenges was learning how to create helpful pull requests. I had been using git for a few years at that point, but my experience was limited to merging and pushing directly to the default remote branch. As a result, my first code reviews were fraught with answering questions, rewriting code, and (gulp) interactive rebasing.
Read more of How to get your pull request merged →
I build pages with both React and non-React components, and sometimes all these components need to talk to each other. Examples include opening a React modal when a customer clicks a button or updating a text block when a customer adds a product from a React stepper. There are many ways to do this, but in my opinion, the best way is to use custom events.
Read more of Talk to your React components with custom events →
If you need to go au naturale with your JavaScript DOM manipulation, here are some tips for improving performance.
Read more of Tips for vanilla JavaScript DOM manipulation →
I’m a huge fan of continuing education, and one of the ways I binge on information is through podcasts. Here’s a list of 11 podcasts that I find not only educational but entertaining as well.
Read more of 11 podcasts for the frontend developer →
Developers don’t write code for computers. I mean, we do, but not primarily. If we did, it would make no difference whether we wrote in Java, bytecode, or complete binary. Yet when given a choice, we write in abstractions because developers write code for other developers.
Read more of What is your code communicating? →
As a junior developer, my number one problem was creating premature abstractions. Nowhere was this more evident than my React components.
Read more of How to avoid premature abstractions in React →
Frontend development is a field that changes daily, and to stay up-to-date, I need a steady source of new information. One way I do this is through newsletters.
Read more of 12 newsletters for frontend developers →
The description list (<dl>) is a magical element that can be used to mark up anything from dictionary entries to recipes. So, what’s so special about it?
Read more of Description lists are awesome →
Reading is a great way to learn, but it’s also a fantastic way to open yourself up to new ideas and experiences. As a developer, I believe reading is important to my continued growth and advancement. If you believe that too, you might enjoy these ten books that I find particularly interesting.
Read more of 10 interesting books for developers →
Did you know there’s an address element? Well, brace yourself, because there is! But its use has been a source of confusion until recently.
Read more of The address element →
If you didn’t already know, your CSS can influence screen readers. One of the most surprising things to me was learning that VoiceOver removes list semantics from uls and ols when list-style-type: none is applied to them.
Read more of Fixing all the things →
I wanted to share what my typical accessibility testing sessions look like. This is a quick over, but I hope you find it helpful (and if you haven’t done so yet, check out some accessibility quick wins I wrote about).
Read more of How I test for accessibility →
Hello, my younger self. How are things? I understand you’re learning about the amazing world of web accessibility, something I wholeheartedly endorse.
Read more of Notes to my younger self: Regarding accessibility →
I sometimes give talks on Web accessibility, and one of the top questions I get is: What can I do right now to make my website more accessible? When I began practicing accessibility, I would’ve probably talked about WAI-ARIA authoring practices, and adding aria roles, and managing focus with JavaScript. That’s certainly true for more complex UI, but most of us aren’t building Twitter.
Read more of Accessibility quick wins →
When I was first learning about accessibility on the Web, I stumbled across WebAIM (Web Accessibility In Mind), a fantastic resource for all things accessibility.
Read more of Accessible Content →
Chantastic recently spoke at ReactJS Dallas about dealing with Imposter Syndrome. One of my favorite moments was when he talked about being asked to take over React Podcast hosting duties. He said he was afraid he was going to say the wrong thing to the amazing developers he would be interviewing.
Read more of Lean into the fear →
On my journey from designer to becoming a developer, I often wondered if I needed a Computer Science degree. This is also one of the most common questions I get from others looking to jump into development from another career.
Read more of Your experience counts →
I recently had to debug a problem that existed somewhere in the middle of around 460 lines of JavaScript spaghetti. Debugging was useless because the bug was taking down dev tools! The approach I took was something that I often employ when facing a seemingly impossible task like this.
Read more of Debugging JavaScript with binary search →
Atomic Habits by James Clear is a fantastic read. At its heart, the message of the book is that setting goals is ineffective in the long run. Real, lasting change only comes through building systems—creating the right conditions for doing the right habits.
Read more of Building habits through relationships →
As a follow up to yesterday’s post, I wanted to share a quick list of online resources that I used to get started in my development career.
Read more of Web development resources →
I had just made the decision to leave my 15-year career as a designer to become a developer, and I had no idea where to start. The only programming I had ever done was building websites for friends and family. I was completely green.
Read more of On changing careers →
I suck at blogging. Presently. I presently suck at blogging. I read somewhere that you should qualify negative statements with “presently.” So, yeah, I presently suck at blogging, but I would love to get better at it.
Read more of Blogruary: 28 days of posting →