Topic: Uncategorized

In my work as a front-end developer, I’ve come to realize that expectations, and how you handle them, are one of the most integral parts of a project. Expectations are tricky things, especially because we don’t talk about them very much.

My recent article on the core model was an attempt to sum up two things that I could go on about forever. The Norwegian Cancer Society (NCS) redesign project started in January 2012, and we’re still working together. The core model was created by Are Halland in 2006, and we’re still working on that too! In other words, there is a lot more to say both about that project and the model.

While building JavaScript related projects (whether server side via Node.js or front-end libraries), a build tool to help easily maintain and automate many of the processes—including testing, concatenating files, minification, compiling templates, as well as many other options—can be incredibly useful.

I’m trying to be learn more about accessibility these days. Thinking about it more, reading about it some, and generally being aware as I write code what I should and shouldn’t do in that arena.

On Sunday, November 30, web designers and developers across the globe will celebrate Blue Beanie Day 2014, wearing a blue beanie to show their support for web standards. Join in!

For this example, we’re going to build a Grunt task that takes a screen shot of the pages we’re building (similar to Wraith, but far less advanced). There are multiple parts to make this work, so let’s break it down. First, we will write a PhantomJS script that renders each page. Second, we make a NodeJS function that calls this script. Finally, we make a GruntJS task that calls that Node function. Fun!

Hierarchical organizations large and small are rife with politics. In fact, the smaller the stakes, the more vicious they can be. Political organizations are ones where what things look like are just as, or more, important as what you actually do.

About a week ago, I was running into major issues during development of one of my side projects. After a few nights working to resolve whatever was breaking, I was getting frustrated with my lack of progress.

It’s no secret that pixel art is experiencing a resurgence—just look at video games like Mojang’s Minecraft and Superbrothers’ Sword & Sworcery. Justin Dauer of The Dead Pixel Society invites you to join the fun of exploring this old-meets-new medium.

There is a constant pressure to learn new things and keep up with all the latest ideas: new frameworks, new platforms, new ideas of how to write code, they just keep coming out. In addition, the ebb and flow of what is desired from a front-end developer keeps changing. It used to be that knowing CSS and HTML was enough, then jQuery came along, then responsive techniques, then Node.js and then Angular, Ember, etc., etc., etc. That list, right there, it tires me out.