Weeknotes 24:22

June 16, 2024

Week of June 9–15

Walking

The weather at the beginning of the week was great and I enjoyed several morning walks with partly sunny clouds and cool breezes. But then the heat and humidity hit on Friday and I need to come up with a new plan for my walks as this heat wave is predicted to last for quite a while.

• Monday morning – 4.04 miles in 1 hour 13 minutes
• Tuesday morning – 4.13 miles in 1 hour and 15 minutes (my longest walk recorded in Strava)
• Wednesday morning – 3.81 miles in 1 hour and 10 minutes
• Thursday morning – 3.24 miles in 59 minutes

Anchor positioning and popovers

I took some time on Friday to read through and look at the demos for 3 of Michelle Barker’s recent articles on anchor positioning and popovers. I have seen a lot of people talk about anchor positioning but Michelle’s article was the first one I had read and seen it in action. I had not been that excited about this tool until I saw Michelle’s demo of a complex site menu. I am looking forward to playing around with this new tool and thinking of ways to use it in the future.

• Anchor Positioning and the Popover API for a JS-Free Site Menu
• Progressively Enhanced Popover Toggletips
• Another Anchor Positioning Demo: Multiple Anchors

The Joy of React

I picked the course back up this week after a couple of weeks off. I finished the first module on Friday. I am slowly working through it so that I have time to absorb what I am learning. I am encouraged that I am on the right track with solutions to Josh’s exercises even when I don’t know how to write the code to do what I understand conceptually to do.

Articles I read

• CSS Day 2024 (Jeremy Keith)
• Ministry of Transport Signage (Jon Hicks) – I love these more personal posts.
• 3 Steps To Find Your Voice (And Why You Should Start Now)
• The Missing Ingredient In Too Many Marriages: Joy
• Making Good Return (Tim Challies) – A book review about caring for parents as they age.
• Anchor Positioning and the Popover API for a JS-Free Site Menu (Michelle Barker) – I did not know this was a use case for anchor positioning.
• Progressively Enhanced Popover Toggletips (Michelle Barker)
• Another Anchor Positioning Demo: Multiple Anchors (Michelle Barker)
• Fluid Breakout Layout with CSS Grid (Viget) – This solution is interesting. I like that it takes into account being nested and you can reuse it.
• What is “the grain of the web?” (Chris Ferdinandi)
• The web of yesteryear (Chris Ferdinandi)
• What Are CSS Container Style Queries Good For? (Smashing Magazine) – I appreciated this walkthrough. The author concludes that he has not seen a use case for style queries yet that would replace other solutions. I had wondered the same thing.
• Opinions for Writing Good CSS (Andrew Walpole) – I appreciated Andrew sharing his opinions. It challenges me to think through my own opinions and document them.
• State-based UI is an anti-pattern (Chris Ferdinandi)
• Every website and web app should have a service worker (Chris Ferdinandi)
• Web App install API (Jeremy Keith) – Wishlist item for Jeremy.
• Living From Approval, Not For Approval (Dave Harvey)
• How and why to make a /now page on your site (Derek Sivers)
• The challenge with Netlify, Vercel, Cloudflare, and so on (Chris Ferdinandi)
• Why You Can’t Let Yourself Feel Content – Not what I expected. I like and agree with the conclusion.
• Useful CSS Tips And Techniques (Smashing Magazine) – A round-up of some recent articles about CSS.
• Jack Grealish’s upset at his England snub is understandable – but he should not be shocked (The Athletic)
• The other side of growth (Doug Neiner) – I appreciated this reflection from Doug as he reflects on his journey from designer to developer and what knowledge learning replaces.
• A line of code saved is a line of code earned (Chris Ferdinandi)
• Every dependency is a potential vulnerability (Chris Ferdinandi)
• The Basics (.dev) (Geoff Graham) – Geoff shares the story behind his new project.
• Does Bach’s Music Prove the Existence of God? (The Gospel Coalition)

What I watched

Your First Web Component (Chris Ferdinandi)

Zsolt’s Story (Campus Crusade for Christ Hungary) – I enjoyed watching this video because it features my friend Laci, who I got to see a couple of months ago while I was in Budapest.

• White Collar (Netflix)
• Gilmore Girls (Netflix)
• The Great British Baking Show, Collection 6 and 7 (Netflix)
• NBA Finals Games 2 and 3
• Acolyte (Disney+)
• Bluey (Disney+)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition (DVD)

Books I am reading

• Not by Sight: A Fresh Look at Old Stories of Walking by Faith
• The Secret Lives of Color
• The Second Mountain – A friend mentioned this book in a recent conversation so I borrowed it from the local library.

What I played

FIFA 23 (Manchester City)