Weeknotes 21:02

January 10, 2021

Week of January 3-9

• It was back to work this week after taking two weeks of PTO. I am glad that I had an unfinished project because it was easy to jump back into the work. Leaving something undone was one of the points that the book Rest covers (I read the book this past summer). I confess there are many times that I just want to finish something and get to the end. But I am also seeing the benefit of leaving things undone and picking them up the next day (or several weeks later). Sometimes I have new ideas that make the project even better in the in-between time.
• I picked up a project that I had started on my last day in the office before PTO. As I mentioned last week, in the interim, I decided to switch my strategy and make the theme switching an option the user could control with the default theme being the “dark” theme because it was the one we launched with. I spent Monday refactoring my code and implementing a solution with localStorage. I enjoyed learning how to use CSS custom properties and localStorage in implementing the solution for this project.
• I worked on another project in the middle of the week. Sharing Solutions, a project that I worked on two years ago, wanted to add a page for 2021 events. We had built a similar page for their 2019 National Tour. We decided to forgo design and I worked out some design ideas in code. We took inspiration from existing elements on the site. It made for another great project to ease back into the workflow after taking time off.
• I also jumped in to help with several smaller projects at the end of the week.
• I got to put on my consultant hat and help shape a better solution for a project that we will be designing and building in the next couple of months.
• Finally, I jumped in and helped out to look through resumes and portfolios from a developer position we are hiring for.
• My team (LGND) welcomed Adeline Heymann to our Campfire on Friday. Campfires give us the opportunity to meet other storytellers and people of interest in the work that we do. Adeline shared about her experiences in chasing after a dream to be a photographer in Antarctica. She shared videos and photos of her various trips there and talked about how she has reshaped her career around her the things that make her come alive.

Articles I Bookmarked

I did not spend much time reading articles this week. But here are some of the ones I bookmarked that I look forward to reading.

• The Art of Building Real-life Components -Ahmad Shadeed has been writing a lot of good content over the past year. Several of the people I follow on Twitter recommended this article.
• Art Direction for Static Sites – Following up Simon Collison’s article that I mentioned last week, Dave Rupert takes a look at how to art direct different posts on your personal site.
• You want overflow: auto, not overflow: scroll – I saw this article mentioned by several people on Twitter.
• Is Progressive Enhancement dead yet? – The second video in Heydon Pickering Webbed Briefs series. I did get a chance to watch this one yesterday. Great explanation of progressive enhancement and why it is still important.

Watched

• Soul (Disney+) – Enjoyed this latest Pixar creation.
• Cobra Kai Season 3 (Netflix) – I finished up today. I really enjoyed this season and how the story has developed.
• Somebody Feed Phil (Netflix) – Always a great way to end the day.

Played

• MLB The Show 20 – played a franchise season with the Tampa Bay Rays.