For those looking to learn web development, then I would highly recommend Thoughtbot’s Upcase site as a place to begin. And just for some added value, Thoughtbot are also making all their e-books free as well.
First beta user setup on my bookmarking app, Markcase. I still have a list of bugs and features I want to deliver sooner than later, but I expect to start looking for more beta testers towards the weekend.
A book of bookmarks
A list of ideas for Firefox. I would love to see these picked up and made into browser extensions.
Me and Jen took the boys to Taekwondo this morning. Usually we alternate it, but we decided to both go this morning. We sat and had a coffee while waiting for the boys to finish. Not often we get the chance to talk without interruptions. It was a nice wee start to the day.
Just blitzed through my unread feeds in Feedbin in a matter of minutes using the keyboard shortcuts. I forgot these existed! And yes I used the Vim arrow keys, ‘h’,’j’,’k’ and ‘l’. You can use traditional arrow keys asd well.
Twitter’s “Hide Tweet” button feels like another feature for the platform that requires manual interaction to filter the noise out. Managing a Twitter account is starting to sound like a full-time job.
A change of seasons means a change of colour for my blog. I’ve been doing this since I started using the Hyde theme on Micro.blog. Just a small way in which I can refresh the look of my blog without too much fuss.
I’ve followed Smashing Magazine’s monthly wallpaper posts since they started. I might use one on a rare occasion, but they are always worth watching out for. Check out the wallpapers for March.
Is Chrome suffocating the web?
Chrome’s continued dominance of the web now puts it in the same position as Internet Explorer all those years ago. “It works on Chrome” is the new “It work on IE”. I’d like to think though that most web developers out there don’t just build for the one browser.
Reda Lemeden’s post, “We Need Chrome No More”, sums up this change.
The dominance of Chrome has a major detrimental effect on the Web as an open platform: developers are increasingly shunning other browsers in their testing and bug-fixing routines. If it works as intended on Chrome, it’s ready to ship. This in turn results in more users flocking to the browser as their favorite Web sites and apps no longer work elsewhere, making developers less likely to spend time testing on other browsers. A vicious cycle that, if not broken, will result in most other browsers disappearing in the oblivion of irrelevance. And that’s exactly how you suffocate the open Web.
While I can see Reda’s point, I don’t think that the developer’s building for the one browser is as big a problem. I’ll be honest, it’s been a while since I visited a website that only worked in Chrome.
For me, the problem isn’t so much that Chrome is the most popular browser, it’s the organisation behind the browser and how they integrate features into that browser that support how they use data and ads to make profits.
Switching to another browser is one answer to this problem, but perhaps there’s also another answer.
For Google to change as an organisation.
That sounds like a pipedream, and even looking back at that sentence, it just seems ridiculous. I’ll leave it though because even the most ridiculous of ideas can still happen.