The weirdly obscure art of Streamed HTML
A fascinating series looking into how to turn a modern React eCommerce front end into as fast a page as possible. The conclusions are not what I had […]
Archives
Safari isn't protecting the web, it's killing it
People joke about Safari being the new IE6 a lot, but I've never seen as succinct and well-reasoned a take on just how true this is becoming than what Tim has written. Their argument breaks down into […]
Guide to React plus TypeScript
I find navigating the type options in React (and decoding what they actually do/mean) really difficult. It's layers of abstractions on top of layers of more abstractions 😄 Luckily, this guide […]
Recording Records
A look at the largely manual workflow I've used to convert my physical music collection into a digital data archive.
I think I might be a design engineer...
I can see this article becoming an oft-cited "turning point" in frontend development, like Ethan Marcotte's A List Apart post on responsive design. It's certainly a beautifully crafted […]
Maximally optimising image loading for the web
Malte has put together a brilliant overview of the various techniques that are currently available on the web natively for loading images in the most performant and user-centric ways possible. I'm […]
Our skulls are out-evolving us
Nasal passages and jaws are narrowing, overbites are becoming more extreme, palates are rising, skulls are shrinking. The result is less face to fit everything into, meaning crowded dentition, […]
How Edge is becoming the best browser for PWAs
I still have my reservations over the whole Edge-Chromium combination but it has enabled the Edge team to begin taking a leading stance on certain topics, and it looks like PWAs are one they're […]
Adding Search: Refining The Frontend (Algolia, Gatsby, Craft CMS - Part 3)
The search page is live, the index is populated, but it all looked a bit rubbish and it didn't quite work as well as I wanted. Now it's using custom-styled components, queries are tracked/stored via the URL for persistence, and you can filter results based on category.
Code Institute's 5 day coding challenge reviewed
Some thoughts on Code Institute's "5 Day Coding Challenge", having just completed it.
Using the URL to build database-free web apps
What a fun idea. I've obviously seen (and have used) URLs contain state information in the past, such as user preferences (light/dark mode or animation), but building an entire game using nothing but […]
Inversion of Control
I have a tendency to prefer the kind of "inside-out" control that Kent is advocating in this piece, though I've never head it called "inversion of control" before. The idea of giving your users the […]
Welcome to the Grid [#43]
There are a lot of new web technologies emerging at the moment which really feel like we're entering a new era. Over the last decade, the likes of HTML5, ES6+, flexbox etc. have brought the web, and […]
Interneting is (Apparently) Hard [#7]
Reddit has once again directed me towards a very interesting online resource: Interneting is […]
Time Sinks and Indie Thoughts
I've just noticed that it's been over a week since my last post. In and of itself, that isn't an issue. There are no schedules here; I have no binding commitments to theAdhocracy. Entire months or […]
Hidden Logins: Why oh why!
There's a trend amongst modern websites and web apps that is becoming increasingly irksome: hiding the damn "Login" button! If you require me to have an account to use your service (which makes […]
Folk Yeah! [Part Two]
Last night was the extremely anticipated Coco and the Butterfields gig. Finally seeing them live did not disappoint. I'm always worried that bands I only know from recordings won't be great live, but […]
One Small Leap
Yesterday, I implied that this site was ugly by design. See, my retreat from web development wasn't due to lack of time, nor waning interest. My love of coding, designing and experimenting with the […]