Weeknotes 24:10

March 11, 2024

Week of March 3–9

Work Highlights

• I finished up the individual state fact sheet template that I started on the previous week. My teammate helped me fix an issue with displaying an image. I needed to specify the taxonomy ID in the ACF image field to get it to display properly across all pages.
• I jumped in on a small project for Toyota Policy Drivers. I refactored a couple of page templates for live video events to link to individual pages instead of playing the video in a modal on a listing page. I also created the template for the individual live event page and added a couple of new fields. We are adding a “Key Takeaways” section for those who may not have time to watch the full video.

Digital gardening

In January, I did a site refresh which included a new color scheme, fluid typography and spacing, new typefaces, and a light and dark mode. Since then, I have added several new pages to the site (blogroll and uses) and continued to write new content.

I had mentioned in the post about the refresh that I wanted to go back and refactor the HTML structure. I wanted to use a broader range of HTML5 elements and remove all the IDs and change them into classes. I finally gave that project some attention on Friday.

Making the HTML changes also meant that I needed to refactor my CSS to use new class names. I also removed unused style declarations and removed redundant style applications by combining similar declarations into one more generic class.

The job of refactoring the HTML did not take me as much time as I had originally anticipated. One of the tasks still on my to-do list is to clean up my stylesheet more to get rid of redundant code and refactor layouts to reflect my more modern CSS thinking with breakpoints and intrinsic layouts.

Health update

I had shared in the Fall how I had visited the ER twice in a month. The first time was for trouble swallowing food and the second was an episode of high blood pressure. After both of those affairs, I added several doctors to my life. I started taking medicine to help me control my blood pressure and to help reduce acid in my digestive tract.

After a couple of months, my primary care doctor and I decided to wean off the blood pressure medicine. I had started exercising and my BP had been down. I was supposed to continue to monitor my blood pressure and report back to him.

I did a poor job of monitoring it and was not able to make it a habit. I recently visited a MinuteClinic to have ear wax removed. My blood pressure was high and the medical professional was concerned. I did manage to take my blood pressure several times after that. It was much lower but still in the high range.

So last week, I messaged my primary care physician through the portal and asked him about resuming that medication and he agreed that it seemed reasonable. So I am back on the medicine and I have been more intentional to get out walking.

I had a follow-up upper GI endoscopy on Wednesday. I had that scope and a colonoscopy done back in November. My internal doctor was able to stretch my esophagus more in last week’s procedure. I have noticed a huge difference in not having problems swallowing since I started on the medicine and had the two different scope procedures stretch my esophagus.

Trip to Budapest and Barcelona

With the help of my wife, I was able to remove one of the biggest burdens weighing on my heart about the trip – finding and booking hotels. She spent time last week researching hotels in both locations and was able to narrow down the options. I consulted with my friend in Budapest and was able to get some valuable information about the locations we picked. I reserved hotels for both locations on Booking.com at the end of the week.

I am so glad to have everything now in place. I am so grateful for my wife’s hard work. As I mentioned last week, life has been very full and it has been a challenge for me to find the time to research and narrow down possible places to stay. My wife enjoys that kind of thing and is good at finding a good deal. I am not sure I would have followed through with this trip without her help and encouragement.

I am getting excited about spending time with my son at the end of April. I am looking forward to seeing a new city, Barcelona, and having my son show me all the places that have made his stay there memorable. He is studying at Elisava Barcelona School of Design and Engineering.

I will be returning to Hungary for the first time in 17 years. Hungary has a special place in my heart. I spent a summer there while in college. Later, I spent a summer there with my wife and another with her, two of my three kids, and my mother-in-law. The two of us lived in eastern Hungary for nine months in 1997–98. I have made smaller trips to Budapest on three separate occasions since 2000. All of these trips were connected to our work and involvement with Campus Crusade for Christ. My son has been to Hungary but does not remember it because he was just over a year old.

Both of the hotels we are staying in were once print workshops. My son is studying graphic design. Seems very appropriate to be connected to print workshops on our trip. I hope to learn more about the history of both buildings while I am there.

What I wrote

CSS Tricks – I don’t blame you, Chris – After reading Chris Coyier’s post about his sale of CSS Tricks to Digital Ocean and where things are at today, I wanted to share my perspective as a huge fan of CSS Tricks.

Articles I read

Tailwind

• Tailwind marketing and misinformation engine
• What is Utility-First CSS? (Heydon Pickering)
• Tailwind vs Semantic CSS

Accessibility

Jakob Nielsen made some comments recently that have a lot of people in the accessibility community upset. He believes accessibility has failed and that generative AI will make things better. I think all these articles make valid arguments as to why Jakob’s comments could be very harmful as his comments will give others more of a reason to not make accessible products a priority.

• On Nielsen’s ideas about generative UI for resolving accessibility
• Nielsen needs to think again
• We need to talk about Jakob

:has selector

• CSS :has() Interactive Guide (Ahmad Shadeed) – A great interactive guide with lots of practical applications of the :has selector.
• Some little ways I’m using CSS :has() in the real world (Andy Bell) – A collection of real-life applications of the CSS :has selector.

Front-end development/Web industry

• A Conversation with Van Shea Sedita: Designing for Positive Human Change – This is an interview with someone I have “known” online for over 12 years. I was a bit disappointed with the interview because I was looking forward to learning more about Van but it was pretty shallow in its content.
• AI Is Like a Lossy JPEG (Jim Nielsen)
• My Guest Appearance on ShopTalk Show #605 (Jim Nielsen)
• See the accessibility tree – How to see the accessibility tree in different browser’s dev tools.
• Where the people are (Geoff Graham) – An interesting response to Zeldman’s article of the same title that I shared last week. Geoff thinks that most smaller agencies would take the opposite approach and use solutions that already exist rather than try to build something new.
• Shifting Identities (Jonathan Snook) – Jonathan reflects on the shifting identities of a generalist whose interests shift. And then be associated with those different ideas by different people at different times in your career.
• Shifting Identities (Geoff Graham) – Geoff links to Jonathan’s article and adds his own thoughts.
• The quiet, pervasive devaluation of frontend (Josh Collingsworth) – Josh has seen what he believes is a trend toward the devaluation of the front end and the people who practice it. I commented on his post pointing to an article he wrote last year that identified two types of developers, builders and crafters. I think that distinction comes into play with this trend he has observed. I don’t necessarily agree that this is as being a ‘new’ trend. I believe it has been going on for many years. I would like to go back through my links to pull out related articles and write a post. I am grateful that Josh has brought this back to the forefront and I think his article is insightful.
• Why it’s good for users that HTML, CSS and JS are separate languages (Hidde de Vries) – Hidde had referenced his post from three years ago in a recent Mastodon post. I skimmed through it and I recommend reading it.
• Care – A web developer explains that his perceived anger in his posts about poor Web code comes from a place of caring.
• Is Making Websites Hard, Or Do We Make It Hard? Or Is It Some of Both? (Jim Nielsen)
• The heroes we don’t deserve: Those who work on web standards
• Vibe Check ?31 (Dave Rupert) – I always enjoy getting a glimpse into Dave’s life, both personal and professional.

Christian Focused

• Nihilism—in Nazi Germany and Today (Carl Trueman)
• Sycophants and Liars – An interesting read on AI (LLMs) and how it reflects humans in that it tells us what it thinks we want to hear rather than the truth.

The Athletic

• How the Rays have simplified the complex art of pitcher development
• Many fans who suffered frostbite while attending frigid game at Arrowhead require amputations – This is disturbing.
• Prominent MLB team physician sounds alarm on pitching injuries
• Like Stephen Curry and Jimmermania, Caitlin Clark embodies college hoops hysteria

What I watched

• Somebody Feed Phil (Netflix) – We watched several of the new episodes this week.
• A Chef’s Life (PBS)
• Avatar: The Last Airbender (Netflix – animated)
• Formula One: Drive to Survive Season 6 (Netflix)
• Full Swing Season 2 (Netflix)

Books I am reading

• The God of the Garden – I finished this one on Sunday.
• Mere Evangelism – I enjoyed reading several chapters in this book on Saturday.
• On Writing Well – I started this book in 2021 and read around 60 pages. I rebooted this one over the weekend. I have wanted to read it since doing my blogging challenge in December.