Weeknotes 22:07

February 20, 2022

Week of February 13-19

  • I continued working on adding an events calendar page to Connect2Canada. We met with the client this week and they were very happy with the progress. The meeting also helped me to identify some improvements to make to the project.
  • I polished up an accessibility report for a client and put it online so they could see the results. I implemented fixes to the site and refactored some components to improve the accessibility.
  • I wrote down some thoughts about one of our team values at LGND: “bring a growth mindset.”
  • I found out that one of our client contacts for the Kauffman Foundation is married to a guy that grew up on the same street as I did. LGND is partnering with Kauffman to build a new Real World Learning site to help resource educators, businesses, and parents. It is a thrill to work with a team based in Kansas City, where I grew up. We partnered together with the RWD team three years ago to build a digital story, Time to Rethink Education. It is one of my favorites of the sites I have built with LGND.
  • I made some updates to the homepage of this site and expanded the listing of recent posts from 3 to 6.
  • I bought access to Every Layout. It is a resource for learning common layout patterns that you access through their site, can read in an EPUB, and can access layout generators and components to use in your own work. It is currently discounted to $40, normally $69.

Articles I read

  • How to keep up with web development without falling into despair – There are some really good ideas in this that related to my post about having a growth mindset. You can’t keep up with everything. I think the trick is to create filters based on your interests and based on what you need to learn in the projects that are in front of you. It is also good to skim things that you think will be good to know for the future and file it where you can find them when you need them.
  • “Evergreen” Does Not Mean Immediately Available – Some important thoughts from Eric Bailey. We can not expect everyone to have the latest version of an evergreen browser on their machine. We need to continue to plan strategies for fallbacks and progressively enhance our work.
  • A Whistle-Stop Tour of 4 New CSS Color Features – This is one of those articles that I am glad I read but will file for the future when I need it.
  • Hello, CSS Cascade Layers – Another great introduction to a new CSS property by Ahmad Shadeed. Already available in the latest version of Firefox.
  • When Activists Do History – A very interesting read about what the role of a historian should be.
  • Flexbox Dynamic Line Separator – A great Flexbox solution from Ahmad Shadeed.
  • An Auto-Filling CSS Grid With Max Columns of a Minimum Size – I need to go back through this CSS Tricks article when I can play around with the code. It might solve a use case that I have not yet found a solution for.
  • Becoming a Better Writer as a Software Engineer – Thoughts and resources of how to improve this skill. These weeknotes posts are a playground to help me to improve my writing skills. I recommend the book On Writing Well, which I need to pick back up again.
  • A Twitter thread by Jon Hicks – Quoting another tweet from a senior designer that has no interest in being a design manager, Jon has observed that most of his design peers are beginning to go the management route. Jon doesn’t want to give up what he enjoys most – the creative work of designing. It brings up questions about career paths, age, and doing the things that you love to do. I have also thought about this a lot over the last 10 years as I have been in the industry for over 20 years now. I still really love being in the trenches and using code to build out a designer’s vision. But I have begun to dabble a bit and think about taking on some more management responsibilities as I have an interest in investing in younger colleagues.

What I listened to

Books I read

What I watched

  • Kim’s Convenience (Netflix)
  • Frasier (Peacock)
  • All Creatures Great & Small (PBS Masterpiece Subscription on Prime)
  • Made You Look: A True Story about Fake Art (Netflix) – Several members of the LGND team watched this one on our own and came together for our Friday Campfire to discuss it.

What I played

  • Wordle – I try to play this game daily. Missed one day this past week.
  • MLB The Show 21 (Braves) – I went 2-2 this week in the games I played. In the last game, I scored two in the 9th to tie and then won on a walk-off homer in the 10th.

 

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