It’s hard to be the first person to put down your weapons in an arms race, and the incentives on both sides of this divide are terrible. But the reality is that the people doing the hiring have more power to fix this mess, and better step up to do it soon. Because at the end of the day, you’re not trying to fill a job quota; you’re trying to find future colleagues. A dehumanized and dehumanizing hiring process is not going to generate a productive collaboration at the other end.
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future colleagues
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HTML for People
Bookmarked HTML for People by .
I feel strongly that anyone should be able to make a website with HTML if they want. This book will teach you how to do just that. It doesn’t require any previous experience making websites or coding. I will cover everything you need to know to get started in an approachable and friendly way.
This little web book came out today, and it looks amazing. I’m going to send to all my pals asking how they can make a website. ❤️
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libre dot fm
Likes Open Music Scrobbling: Libre.fm Updates by .
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State of the Browser 2024 talks
Bookmarked 2024 State of the Browser Speakers by .
Video from the most recent State of the Browser conference talks are online.
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i miss the east coast sometimes
Missed connection: You were the Phillies fan who saw my hat and booed the Mets at Target this morning, while I was just trying to buy macaroni and cheese for my kid.
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💔
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WaSP InterACT
Bookmarked WaSP InterAct Curriculum.
also starting a Web Standards Advocacy channel on Arena.
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learning and hiring for web standards
I think it would be compelling and helpful to somehow feature a short list of companies who do hire for deep knowledge/experience of web standards. Consultancies like Igalia or Bocoup come to mind.
And recognizing that higher education and bootcamp programs have not all standardized to a proper web standards curriculum yet, companies that offer apprenticeships/learning paths/mentorship for junior employees in learning web standards on the job should be highlighted as well. Sparkbox’s apprenticeship program, for example looks very promising.
Maybe there’s a public list or pledge that companies and orgs could sign on to.
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learn and hire for web standards
There are many reasons companies won’t make deep HTML / CSS / ARIA / SVG knowledge core requirements. The simplest is the commoditization of the skills, partly because framework and library developers have looked down on the basics.
Even assuming orgs don’t hire for “fit” (a combination of gatekeeping, selection bias, and confirmation bias) and instead prioritize on web standards knowledge, potential employees don’t have the fundamental education to understand the web platform. Neither higher-ed programs nor bootcamps drive a standards-first curriculum.
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LGM
The New York Mets have secured their spot in the postseason in the first game of a postponed double-header against the Atlanta Braves. That eighth inning was incredible. A fitting ending to a season of incredible ups and downs, and I kind of expect Howie Rose to blow out his voice during Game 2.
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Palettes
Bookmarked Board masters: artists’ palettes as works of art – in pictures by .
From Piet Mondrian’s plain white smudge to the vivid flourishes of Egon Schiele, the palettes artists use to create their masterpieces are mysterious, vibrant creations in their own right…
Link via James
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Problemattic
It’s a wonderful community, all in all, and despite my inactivity, I still feel invested in WordPress, and interested in seeing it continue to be a productive way to democratize the web.
I kind of bristle about the word “community” in the context of technology products and users, but yeah, the WP community deserves better leadership.
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Molly White has a POSSE
A simple technique offers the best of both worlds: total control over your own work, while still maintaining a presence on third-party platforms.
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doughnut fund
Is there a doughnut fund I can pitch in toward for anyone who has had to work customer support at a WordPress hosting company (not Automattic) in the past week?
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The future of this website
I’m starting to sketch out the next major version of nicksimson.com, and there are a few things that might be changing around here. These are loosely held thoughts, not final decisions. I thought I’d just share these [possible breaking changes] if it helps anyone out there.
Moving away from WordPress
The past week’s drama with Matt Mullenweg has left me with a bad taste in my mouth. This site is currently hosted by a company owned by WPEngine1, by the way. Before the drama exploded this past week, I’ve spent some free time in the last few weeks exploring Kirby, and have long been thinking about migrating my blog/notes content to another platform. It’s only been a year, after all.
In my decade-plus web development career, I’ve met dozens of kind, humble, and helpful people working in the WordPress ecosystem. A tech project run by a “benevolent” dictator just doesn’t feel like the right fit for my web presence long term.
I’m abandoning any earlier plans to try building my own full-site editing/block theme. The idea of that just doesn’t spark joy2 right now. When I left my higher ed job (running a network of WP sites) and went to work in a Drupal shop, I took a full year and a half break from any WordPress development. I’d be fine taking another break, honestly.
Unplugging ActivityPub
I loathe the term “fediverse,” and the more palatable “social web” is being used in weird gatekeep-y ways lately. The more I follow these conversations, the less I want to hitch my wagon to this stuff. Setting up ActivityPub on this site (even with the plugin) was a trip, and I don’t feel like doing it again. I’ll hang on to my social profiles as long as they are useful to me, but I don’t think the social timeline is the best match for all my website content. I may occasionally syndicate notes in the future, and I’ll happily still support RSS.
A more “professional” profile (whatever that means)
I wrote a short ramble on identity and professionalism earlier this year, and am still ruminating about splitting my “fun” bloggy persona and having a businessy website for doing businessy things. I have a bunch of colleagues and comrades who have been laid off or who are currently looking for work, and I wonder if I’d be better served by a more streamlined résumé style homepage and a few case studies, should I find myself in a similar situation. This site started out as a portfolio, after all. If I go this route, I will still find ways to embrace the weird and wonderful “indie web” ethos.
Other misc. notes
I wrote a little about what I’m looking for in web publishing tools this summer. I’m trying some new stuff out, but also a bit tempted to go the Louie Mantia route of making a damn website, writing a bunch of HTML documents by hand. I’ve used Squarespace, GitHub Pages, Netlify3, and now WordPress to power this website. I will not be moving toward anything where the modus operandi is “market dominance”4. A diversity of platforms makes for a healthy www.
I’m looking for a pretty stable/boring tech stack that will make it easy for me to: control all the HTML and CSS; have some power over the URL structure; and make things otherwise portable for my fickle brain. If you have thoughts or suggestions, my comments are open. Or you can reply by email.
I’m aware of Cool URIs. While no one’s ever accused of me being cool5, I will be intentional about setting up redirects and archiving my stuff.
- I’ve been a Flywheel customer for years (they’ve been hosting Eleanor’s website). ↩︎
- The thought of liberating my content + design from Gutenberg blocks is so much right now. ↩︎
- Oh yeah I still use Netlify for DNS stuff right now 🤔. Time to rethink that decision. ↩︎
- Been thinking of this “sixty percent to go” webpage again… ↩︎
- Stealing this line from the great Eric Bailey. ↩︎
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WordPress.com is not WordPress
Likes WordPress.com is not WordPress .
Good grief. What a week.
By the way, I heard the person who published this got banned from the Official WordPress.org Slack.