Notes, Links, and Weeknotes (3 November 2023)
Print book #
Final approval copies of the book. Got two, so I could see what sort of variation to expect. I’ll go over them with in detail over the weekend, and if I don’t find a major issue I’ll be pressing the button and switching the toggle that turns on printing and shipping for all the pre-orders.
You still have a few days left to order with the $10 USD pre-order discount. On November 7 it’ll just be regular ordering, not pre-ordering.
Pre-order the hard-cover edition of Out of the Software Crisis
The Course #
Most of my spare time at the moment is going into getting the course on test-driven web development with import maps done.
I’m eschewing video on this, which may be a mistake, but I think there’s a shortage of text-oriented web-based courses out there, so I’m gambling that others agree with me.
I’ve updated the pitch page for the course to try and better convey what it’s about.
I’ve also added what is apparently called an “incentive” to the sign-up form. I took the overview I wrote for the course over the various options there are for deploying projects with import maps and turned it into a mini-guide: Deployment Strategies for Import Maps. Let me know what you all think.
Coaching #
If you haven’t noticed, I’m offering web dev coaching.
This is a bit of an experiment. I suspect that there isn’t a market for this since the lay-offs – it makes more sense for people to focus their investments in learning a bit more narrowly on things that lower costs or help them be more productive – but putting together a plan and a web page is fairly straightforward for me, so I figured making the offer was harmless.
Links #
- "Everything wrong with tech in 2023 (in no particular order) — Joan Westenberg"
- "Pushing for a lower dev estimate is like negotiating better weather with a meteorologist"
- "Seriously, Write Your API Spec First | Ready, Set, Cloud!"
- "The Squirminal Web Component—zachleat.com"
- "Let’s reinvent the wheel ⚒ Nerd"
- "You’re Gonna Need A Bigger Browser"
- "Computers, Amirite? - by Dorian Taylor"
- "So you’ve been publicly accessibility-shamed | daverupert.com"
- "Quality software deserves your hard‑earned cash — Steph Ango"
- "CSS is fun again". It really is.
- "Chatbot Hallucinations Are Poisoning Web Search | WIRED". “Last week, Griffin discovered that his blog post and the links to these chatbot results had inadvertently poisoned Bing with false information.”
- "Journaling in private with my friends"
- "The Handcrafted Artisanal Web – nadreck.me"
- "Five Things: October 26, 2023 — As in guillotine…"
- "Introducing Mozilla’s AI Guide, the developers onboarding ramp to AI". Is it just me or has the vibe lately from Mozilla been “I don’t care what the question is, the answer is always AI”?
- "How Netlify rebranded their app in just 6 weeks". I wonder what the ROI is of massive rebrands like this (logo, colours, apps, marketing, websites, etc.)? I have my doubts about these sorts of projects. Most of them look like executive ego-stroking.
- "Web Components Will Outlive Your JavaScript Framework | jakelazaroff.com"
- "Testing ChatGPT-4 for ‘UX Audits’ Shows an 80% Error Rate & 14–26% Discoverability Rate – Articles – Baymard Institute". And yet people keep using these tools.
- "On the deck-chairs of HTTP/2 — Varnish version trunk documentation"
- "Who can you trust with your online business? – Cloud Four". Managers and owners preferring bad advice that’s “standard” over good advice backed by research and experience has been a constant in my career in web dev.
- "It’s 2023, here is why your web design sucks."
General weeknote #
Busy. Not much time to spare. More next week.