Next.js Minimum Viable Build

23 Aug 2021 🔖 architecture jamstack web development minimum viable build 💬 EN

Like with Gatsby for novices and dabblers, I need to work my way through Next.js, because I find it intimidating.

ETL QA is interpersonal communication

23 Aug 2021 🔖 architecture integration databases 💬 EN

I’ve spent a week writing e-mails and calling people after enabling a new primary-database-to-secondary-database feed.

I think one of the hardest parts about troubleshooting whether unexpected issues are “garbage in, garbage out” data-quality issues or whether they’re “I wrote bad code” issues is getting clarity about the input data quality from people who do the data entry without making them feel like I’m accusing them of failing to do their jobs.

Next.js for novices and dabblers

22 Aug 2021 🔖 architecture jamstack tips web development 💬 EN

Like I did with Gatsby, I want to make sure it’s easy for novice web developers to explore if Next.js is right for them.

I aim to lower the bar by bringing you along as I learn it myself.

I also hope to abstract core Next.js concepts away from the command-line tools often used to implement them so you can keep your computer clean while you dip a toe into Next.js’s waters.

Database fiscal year in review: 2020/2021

19 Jul 2021 💬 EN

Time for a performance check-in, and I realized I might as well brag publicly about some things I did in my database work this past year.

Random handy CumulusCI notes

13 Jul 2021 🔖 salesforce vscode 💬 EN

Below are some miscellaneous Salesforce scratch org / packaging / SFDX / CumulusCI / VSCode / Git notes I don’t want to forget.

Open a Salesforce scratch org in a different browser with CumulusCI

10 Jul 2021 🔖 salesforce 💬 EN

Using Salesforce’s CumulusCI to manage SFDX scratch orgs? I am. I was working from a machine where Firefox is the default web browser, and Firefox didn’t play nicely with Lightning-mode editing of custom metadata types (it wouldn’t ever render the main part of the page where I edit types). Nor would Firefox let me switch to Classic mode (it kept logging me out of the scratch org). This is how I managed to open the scratch org in Chrome.

Adding Tailwind to a Jekyll site on Windows

06 Jul 2021 🔖 web development jamstack 💬 EN

I’ve been wanting to migrate one of my web sites from the Github Pages Jekyll to 11ty for a while so that I could use Tailwind CSS and facitate a redesign of the look and feel.

In the end, I realized that migrating old .md files w/o breaking anchor links to subsections was going to be a regex nightmare, and I’d be better off figuring out how to add Tailwind to Jekyll.

Jamstack live preview tooling

15 Jun 2021 🔖 web development jamstack 💬 EN

Vercel announced Next.js Live, real-time previews with live collaborative editing at Next.js conf.

This seemed like a good time to list all the options I’ve explored over the past year.

Growing link underline, in Tailwind CSS

15 Jun 2021 🔖 web development 💬 EN

Today I learned that Learn 11ty From Scratch opened up for free. Searching for the news, I found Ben Myers’ article “I Finally Understand Eleventy’s Data Cascade,” which reminded me how much I like some of his styling, including links whose underlines are chunky and grow to be full backgrounds when you hover or focus on them.

I’ve been doing a lot of Tailwind lately on landing-page-type sites so I can rip off other peoples’ components, but I hadn’t found a link style I was satisfied with, so I ported Ben’s work to Tailwind.

SEO savings, one bubble tea at a time

10 Jun 2021 🔖 web development jamstack 💬 EN

Fact: My Huong Kitchen on “Eat Street” in Minneapolis (Nicollet Ave) has the best bubble tea in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, USA region. Not just on Eat Street. You get to watch fruit go into your blender for a smoothie, not boba powder.

The savory food is also delicately well-flavored, in case you care about more than your sugar rush.