Here, you'll mostly find some of my thoughts and musings on web-related topics. I also sometimes share links to things that interest me. Other places to find me are linkedin, github, codepen and twitter.
I'm in the middle of trying to figure out which static site generator (SSG) to use. It feels like a real minefield as there are currently over 400 of them! Yowza! Jekyll, Hugo, Next, Nuxt, Gatsby and Eleventy to name just a few.…
I was recently sitting with a friend and we were discussing technology and its impact on people. I think we agreed that technology can often (unhelpfully) get a bad rap for causing untold woes in our modern world. We also agreed it’s not technology that’s necessarily the cause of these said problems. When you think about it, it’s not any particular technology’s 'fault' for being created in the first place. It was something a human decided to create and then release into the world.…
Well it's done. It's live. Analog Implant Laboratory's new website has been released to the world of the web.…
I have recently been watching some of the videos from the Chrome Dev Summit 2016. Some great talks with a huge emphasis on all things performance related.
The ones that personally stood out for me were from Alex Russell and Jake Archibald. Alex didn't hold back from administering some much needed smelling salts that's for sure and Jake had an interesting point to make about single page apps.…
I thought I'd have a go at creating a simple responsive grid. You're welcome to have a look at it on CodePen.
Now I know there are many many grids out there - (and no doubt many that are far more advanced and robust than my offering). Nonetheless I thought it would be fun.…
So building a website is a breeze, right? Erm… probably worth thinking that through again. Certainly if you what to take seriously the challenge of building for the plethora of devices users may access it on.
Scott Jehl has presented a talk at a number of conferences on “Delivering Responsibly”. He has now very kindly provided the transcript and slides from the last time he gave the presentation, at Fronteers Conference in Amsterdam, October 2015.…
Rather than it being confused with the synthetic pixel-based rendition of a hamburger, why don't we leave the humble hamburger alone to be the yummy-scrummy-juicy-running-down-the-side-of-your-mouth-and-hands experience it is. Oh alright, I'm being a little silly but I too am not overly convinced about its use these days – particularly when it's used as a one-size-fits-all navigation solution. Luke Wroblewski has written a thought-provoking article recently entitled “Obvious Always Wins”.…
Finding the right content across a variety of viewports and use cases is difficult.
In this article, Steve Fisher gives some fab tips on how to work this out.…
How often have you just sat in front of your computer screen and merrily clicked and scrolled away – but if you were really honest you have no idea why? How many times couldn't you resist the urge to reach out and pick up that shiny 'smart' device and start tapping and sliding away? To those around you it may even seem you're doing something really important. What, with your screen-illuminated focussed look - who would doubt it would be anything but important.…
I guess I'm like many front-end designer and developery types. I have an almost love/hate relationship with new webby tools. Intrigued, yet often feel intimidated by them – in this case Grunt. So I put it off until I thought I was ready to take a deep breath and give it a go. After substantial procastination I finally took the plunge thanks to a fab article by Chris Coyier on the 24 ways website.…
Trent Walton published an article in March this year (2014) entitled "Device-Agnostic", that is definitely worth reading again – (if not for the first time). I think it deals with a much needed mental adjustment we could seriously consider and work through when designing and developing websites.…
A good discussion about small screen navigation and the challenges it poses. Ben Callahan chats about our current approach and offers some good perspective.…
Basecamp designer Jonas Downey wrote an article in May called It's OK not to use tools. I found it a wonderful sanity check in a Web Dev world that has an increasingly insane fixation with what the very best tools are. I too have been a casualty of this.…
There's a superb article by Brad Frost on HTML wireframes. As he rightly states, "designing for a multitude of screen sizes, environments, and variables is hard work, so getting into the browser as quickly as possible gives us an opportunity to design and develop more realistic solutions".…
I was beginning to think my days in the web designery & developery industry were numbered. I was feeling completely overwhelmed. You see, I'm one of those that has the propensity to lose perspective if I don't regularly take a step back and look at the bigger picture. I'm a very detailed person with a fairly substantial dose of perfectionism chucked in. This, for all its pros, can prove to be a double-edged sword as well if I'm not careful.…
Sometimes I think I should have had my head read…
…before I decided to embark on this responsive web design (RWD) journey. It has been and remains a roller-coaster ride – with no end in sight. I have found it both exciting & frustrating – (in equal measure at times) – and then the “I’m completely overwhelmed” moments! That's not a moan by the way, it's just me saying I had no clue what I was getting myself into when I first thought I'd give it a go.…
