There are so many tech related podcasts out there it’s almost overwhelming. I have a few go-to front-end web podcasts that I love listening to as well as a few that aren’t specifically front-end but still industry related. Here’s a list of some of my favorites:
Continue reading Listening to front-end web podcasts
Category: web dev
Using Browser Extensions
The above is a screen grab of my Chrome extensions. There are so many browser extensions and bookmarklets that can really help streamline your testing and help with productivity. In order, I have the following extensions shown above:
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Using Sublime Text
Some tips & tricks..
Here’s a link to a blog post I wrote over at SheTechPHL a while back. I was listing some of my favorite Sublime Text tips and tricks. Since I’ve learned so many more since this post I’ll plan to do a follow-up here. The upcoming Philly Women in Tech Summit* is going to have a workshop dedicated to Sublime Text tips & tricks led by a friend of mine so I’m sure to have more tools under my belt after that.
*if you are a woman in tech in or near Philly you should definitely check this out!
Focusing on :focus
There is nothing that bothers me more than visiting a website and seeing that the CSS pseudo class :focus has been set to outline: none; The :focus element is so important for web accessibility since it assists keyboard only users to be able to tab through content and selectable elements. The following elements have the :focus state by default: a, button, input, and textareas but you can actually give any HTML element a focus state. When you remove the focus state you’re overwriting a built-in accessibility feature and there is no reason for it. The :focus element, is a CSS class, therefore you can use CSS to style it to fit into any design. It doesn’t have to be the built in browser outline, it can be whatever you’d like.
Continue reading Focusing on :focus
Speaking at Net/Work
This past week I had the opportunity to lead a dev talk at the Technical.ly Philly job fair, Net/Work. I was invited to speak on behalf of Girl Develop It Philly and am so glad I did it. My presentation was a basic intro about web accessibility and making websites that are usable by everyone. I’ll be teaching a longer format, more hands on workshop for GDI at the end of March. In the past I’ve always been pretty scared of public speaking but it’s a fear I’m trying to conquer and something I’m hoping to focus on and do a lot more of in the upcoming year.
Continue reading Speaking at Net/Work
dropping SQL tables like a fool
I recently moved one of my WordPress sites from one domain to another and in the process ended up dropping a SQL table. I quickly realized it was the SQL table for this site and not the old one I had meant to drop. Whoops. Thankfully, this site wasn’t very old and I had only put up a post or two so I saw it as an opportunity to start fresh. New year, new blog.
I learned a couple things from my hasty mistake. 1. To give SQL tables names that actually mean something instead of arbitrary numbers. And 2. To take my time when I’m doing something that important. The site I was moving has 8 pages of posts, 100s of pictures and hours and hours of time I put into it. I could have potentially lost so much work. I get excited about ideas and so impatient about carrying them out sometimes. So new year, new blog, new commitment to taking my time..