Blog Posts
- Interviewing Svelte's Rich Harris
Sun Feb 04 2024
svelteinterviewI interviewed Rich Harris in his Brooklyn apartment and we got into Svelte 5, signals, the evolution of Svelte, and a whole lot more. It was a really wonderful experience getting to spend the morning ...
- I Want to Read Human Authors
Sat Oct 28 2023
AIIt's been almost a year since ChatGPT changed everything. Since then, the web has been flooded with content written by large language models (LLMs). Social media is drowning in this boring and generic...
- My Biggest Blocker
Mon Jul 17 2023
mindsetproductivityWhat's stopping me from doing all the things I want to? It's not other people, my ability, or even time. It's my ego, and it's the same for you.
- Mental Stimulus Sweet Spot
Fri Jul 14 2023
productivityadhdWe've all been in situations where our surroundings are too chaotic or noisy to get work done. It's why people go to libraries or coffee shops to work but not tennis matches or concerts. You already k...
- Forgiveness for Ourselves and Others
Wed Jul 05 2023
mental healthThere's been an immense shift in awareness and understanding around mental health. We're teaching people to see that one action does not define them. If you screw up today, you're not a bad person; we...
- Self Cannibalizing AI
Mon Jul 03 2023
AIThe podcast Hard Fork had a great conversation about how AI will start to consume what it creates. This self-cannibalization will harm future models, and the actions of search engines will only worsen...
- Fun for the Sake of Fun
Sat Jul 01 2023
mindsetI've been taking improv comedy classes for a few months, and I love it. Improv brings with it a bunch of benefits. You learn to think on your feet. You learn to make your partners look good. You add t...
- Ship Early and Iterate
Fri Jun 30 2023
web devToo many people take a long time on website builds, waiting for them to be 'perfect' until releasing them. It's a long and exhausting process. By the time your site launches you're so fatigued that yo...
- Use Routines to Strengthen Friendships
Wed Jun 28 2023
friendshiphabitsI really struggle to keep in touch with people, especially when they're far away. I don't talk with any of my high school friends, and only one college friend. For the longest time I thought it was so...
- Picking the Best Tech Stack is a Trap
Mon Jun 26 2023
careerproductivitymindsetAre you stuck trying to choose the perfect tech stack or the best side project to build rather than just getting started? Do you own twenty different courses but can't decide which topic is the best t...
- Kindle Has a Good Web Reader
Thu Jun 22 2023
readingIf you read books on an Amazon Kindle, you should know you can access all of your books on the web, too. It keeps in sync with your Kindle device and any Kindle apps you might be using. While it's not...
- Toxic Tea - How Gossiping Hurts You
Wed Jun 21 2023
psychologyWe all know gossip isn't kind. We get that it hurts the people we're talking about, even if they never find out about it. What you might not realize is how much it hurts you, too. I don't think of mys...
- Should I Use AI if Learning to Code?
Mon Jun 19 2023
aiprogrammingIf you're learning to code in 2023, you probably wonder, Should I be using AI tools like ChatGPT and Copilot? I say yes and no. Yes, because clearly, some amount of AI will exist in every developer to...
- Perfectionism Isn't What You Think
Mon Jun 19 2023
perfectionismI'm a perfectionist 😇 You'll often hear this said by someone who seems to have their whole life together. They seem to sit back and calmly put out consistent, excellent work. It's these people that g...
- Fifty Minute Blog Posts
Sun Jun 18 2023
writingIt's a mad dash, but I love my frantic writing sprints. To improve my writing, I've set a weekly goal of shipping five blog posts. To reach that goal, I'm doing 50-minute blog post writing sessions. I...
- Adding a Simple Search to an Astro Blog
Sun Jun 18 2023
astroI'll show you how to add a search like the one on my site to your own Astro project. We'll use a package called PageFind to index our Astro site and provide an instant fuzzy search. No third party ser...
- Cultivating a Slow Brain
Fri Jun 16 2023
adhdproductivityWhen's the last time you were actually bored? Do you feel the need to always have music or the TV on in the background? Is it hard to make yourself do boring tasks? In the age of TikTok and YouTube, m...
- AI Won't End the World
Thu Jun 15 2023
aiAI isn't going to put us all out of work. It sure as hell isn't going to end the world. Sure, there's a ton of hype around ChatGPT and Midjourney. But there were also hype bubbles around Crypto, NFTs,...
- The ADHD Diagnosis
Wed Jun 14 2023
adhdWarning: This post contains spoilers for the 1999 Bruce Willis film, The Sixth Sense. This is an excellent blog post on working with ADHD by Stack Overflow. Let's talk about it.In particular, I liked ...
- I Stutter
Mon Jun 12 2023
personalIt was much worse when I was a kid. The stutter was more intense, and I'd get stuck on words for what felt like an eternity. No kid wants to be 'different,' at least not like that. I don't think I was...
- Dabbling in Everything
Sat Jun 10 2023
productivityI identify as a multipotentialite, which means I have a lot of interests and creative pursuits. I love teaching, designing, making videos, doing podcasts, writing blog posts and newsletters, building ...
- Comparing Yourself to Specialists
Thu Jun 08 2023
mindsetI was catching up with my pal Cassie Evans when we both touched on something we had discovered independently about ourselves. We tend to compare ourselves to others in a particular way. We compare our...
- The Three Types of Fun
Wed Jun 07 2023
happinessIn The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, she talks about the three types of fun: Challenging fun, Accommodating fun, and Relaxing fun. Challenging fun requires a good amount of effort and some plan...
- My Productivity System
Tue Jun 06 2023
productivityOver the last few months, I've slowly refined my productivity system to something I'm thrilled with. I've tailored it to me and my needs, but one or two things I'm doing can be helpful to you, too. Th...
- Get Work Done Together with Body Doubling
Mon Jun 05 2023
productivityBody doubling is the best technique I've found to help me get work done. For me, working alone is challenging and requires a ton of willpower. When body doubling, you work alongside someone else, eith...
- Accessible Awwwards
Sun Jun 04 2023
accessibilityAffecting change across the web is about as easy as making change anywhere else in the world. It takes work for a single person or even a company or country, especially if it doesn't play into people'...
- Leveling up Collaboration - Painting Done
Fri Jun 02 2023
productivityBrene Brown has this fantastic concept called Painting Done, which helps you give better directions to others. There are three levels for how much information you provide when you give someone a task:...
- My Essential Reading App - Readwise Reader
Thu Jun 01 2023
productivityThere are rare tools that change how I interact with the world or what possibilities I see. One of those tools is Descript. Editing videos and podcasts like they're Word docs was such an innovation th...
- The Arrival Fallacy
Wed May 31 2023
productivityMy later years as an elementary school teacher were pretty miserable. The hours were long (7am-6pm most days), the pressure was unrelenting, and the entire system was designed to reduce a child's valu...
- Book Summaries with ChatGPT
Mon May 22 2023
productivityaiI've always been interested in services like Blinkist and Shortform which provide you summaries of popular books, allowing you to learn the book's core lessons in a fraction of the time. While it's no...
- Writing Advice for Developers
Sat Apr 01 2023
writingThere are many resources to teach you how to write better, but barely any apply to developers. I've consumed dozens of books, guides, courses, and podcasts on writing, but most advice is helpful only ...
- Writing Prompts for Developers
Sat Mar 04 2023
writingA list of over thirty writing prompts for developers looking to improve their technical writing skills.
- The Power of Empathy in Developer Relations
Mon Jan 09 2023
developer relationsOne of the biggest mistakes you can make as a developer advocate is assuming that every user is _just like you_. Your knowledge is important in the developer advocate role, but it's crucial to underst...
- Do It Wrong
Wed Dec 28 2022
productivityThis is a brain hack I've been using on myself for the past year. Sometimes the hardest part of a task is _just starting_. If I'm not exactly sure how something needs to be done, I'll most likely proc...
- Holiday Snowtacular 2022 Recap
Mon Dec 26 2022
eventfundraisingA recap of the Holiday Snowtacular fundraiser, along with what went well, what didn't, and what I want to do for next year.
- Starting Strong in Developer Relations
Thu Aug 25 2022
developer relationsGood DevRel starts with understanding your company, your product, and your community. All of your initiatives are built upon this foundation of knowledge. Don't just generate ideas: make informed deci...
- How to Create Content that Resonates
Thu Aug 11 2022
content creationA method for finding the unique type of content that resonates with your audience.
- Hidden Dev Tools: Chrome's Command Menu
Mon May 09 2022
productivityThe Chrome DevTools Command Menu is a lesser-known feature that reveals all of the hidden features. There are quite a few features here that you might have downloaded a plugin to handle, but Chrome ca...
- Highlight Your Current Skill Set
Sat Apr 30 2022
careerBefore I was a web developer, I was an elementary school teacher for 5 years. Changing careers into tech takes a lot of work, but it can be easier with the right approach. I won't lie. There are many ...
- Timeboxing - Leave No Calendar Whitespace
Sat Feb 26 2022
productivityMaking plans used to stress me out. I wasn't a calendar person, so when asked if I was doing something next week I honestly didn't know. The problem was I wasn't using my calendar. When you're not ope...
- Advanced Querying with Prismic Slice Machine & Next.js
Sat Jul 24 2021
reactprismicnextjsFetching additional data with Prismic Slice Machine can be tricky. Here are some solutions.
- Lower the Bar
Wed Jun 09 2021
content creationWhen we lower the bar for what we share with the world we're able to create more and improve faster.
- Animating Complex SVG
Tue Feb 25 2020
svganimationcssI'll show you how to name and group stock SVGs so they're much easier to animate.
- Solving Problems with CSS Custom Properties
Fri Feb 21 2020
cssA look at problems I recently faced by using CSS Custom Properties in different ways.
- My Favorite App for Everything - Bear
Sun Jan 26 2020
productivityI used the app Bear for everything, and I'd love to show you some of my favorite features.
- 12 Apps That Do One Thing Really Well - macOS
Fri Jul 19 2019
productivity12 Excellent and tiny macOS apps that do one task incredibly well.
- Your New Localhost - Netlify Dev
Mon Apr 15 2019
codeNetlify's new Dev feature gives you the power of Netlify on your desktop. The Live feature allows for site streaming across the internet. Let's check it out!
- Write Faster HTML and CSS with Emmet
Sun Apr 07 2019
htmlcssLearn the most useful Emmet shortcuts to make your HTML and CSS writing much faster.
- Why Header Tags are Essential
Mon Jan 21 2019
htmlIf you aren't using header tags, or if you'd like to know why they're great, here's why they're a must-have on any website.
- Put Design First
Mon Dec 10 2018
designLearn why you need to think about the real purpose of the site before you choose a layout, font, color scheme, or anything else.
- Focus for Programmers
Mon Dec 03 2018
productivityLearn how to take your focus to the next level with a few skills like batching and the pomodoro technique.
- Just Start Already
Tue Nov 27 2018
productivityYou've been planning that project for far too long. Today is the day you need to start! Learn why stepping forward is always the right thing to do.
- What I Learned from Developer Interviews
Mon Nov 19 2018
careerI want to share what I learned on my frontend web developer interviews so you can perform better and get the job.
- Copy and paste SVG code with Adobe Illustrator
Sun Nov 04 2018
svgdesignSpeed up your vector workflow by learning how to easily copy and paste SVG between Illustrator and your favorite code editor.
- Understanding React's Virtual DOM
Sat Aug 04 2018
reactThe Virtual DOM might seem like magic, but it's completely understandable and crucial knowledge to becoming an expert React developer.
- Making a Javascript Arcade Clone
Sat Apr 21 2018
javascriptA case study on a Javascript arcade game I made for my Udacity Nanodegree. I go through how I approached the project and what I learned.
- Teaching Kids Coding for the First Time
Fri Apr 06 2018
teachingA look back at my first time teaching kids coding with Scratch. Lessons learned and what I'd do next time.
- Two Ways to Make Teaching Better With Code
Sat Mar 31 2018
teachingTeaching is a tough job, but computers could make it so much more efficient. Here are a couple ways code could make teaching better.