Rising a pint for Scott Whitehead.

Rest in peace Scott (1981–2020).

I attended a lot of online events since March. Some are really nice, some are simply not my cup of tea. The format itself, online, is something I don’t get warm with, but I do want to meet with people, to exchange and maybe get some motivation to get through this time, before we are able to meet again face to face.

For a while I am speaking about it, but tomorrow is the day, when we open doors for Stay Curious the virtual beyond tellerrand Café. A place to meet, exchange and get inspired.

What to Expect?

My idea is, to create a space, where we meet, listen to a few inspiring and interesting talks and have conversations and a coffee or a drink afterwards. For the first edition, I invited Vic Lee and Rob Draper to join me. They will give a 20–30 minute presentation each and afterwards we have time to chat with them, ask questions and so forth. I’d love to have those, who like to ask questions, to join by video (if they like), but I am not sure yet about the final format. I guess it has to evolve over time.

Vito – the Platform

We all meet on Vito, a new platform created by the people behind Tito, the ticketing system I use for beyond tellerrand. It is, as said, new and they are working on it, but I like the way they think about it and it fits the idea of beyond tellerrand. After you registered and are able to join the hub for a show, you’ll be asked a few things: You can decide to enter your name and be fully visible or – well, like in a real café – stay in the back and not have anyone know you are present. It is up to you, if you actively want to participate or to simply lean back and enjoy the talks and conversations.

Again, it is a try to establish something new and hopefully regular, where we can meet and hang out in a cozy and safe space.

I hope you like the idea and are joining us at tomorrow’s or at one the shows in the future. I’d be happy to welcome you.

2012 Vitaly and I started SmashingConf with the very first event in Freiburg. It was meant to be an event for the web community to meet and see each other and the aim was not to only deliver and present high-quality talks, but to make it something memorable and exciting, that people leave highly inspired, with new knowledge and practical takeaways and hopefully with ew friends also. During the last 8 years the event grew to one of the most known in-person events in the web industry. One reason is the great team of lovely people behind it, living what they produce and giving their best to make this a welcoming and friendly event.

Now, as you know, we are living in times, where in-person events are not taking place as it would come with the high risk of spreading Covid-19. Many people together in a – kind of – small space for two or more days. Not the ideal setting at the moment (and also the reason why I don’t run any beyond tellerrand at the moment either).

Since the lockdown I attended many online events (many!). On one hand to see which software solutions and platforms people use to run their events. On the other hand to see, if they are able to transport a good vibe, how I’d like them and what differences in all the various ways of running such an event are. I found out, that online events are just not my cup of tea. I recognised, that after a few weeks, I more and more was doing other things than focusing on the event, presentation or what was going on at the screen. Then I lost track of what the person was talking about and so on. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike online events, but I somehow could not get warm with most of them. There are a few formats I do like, like Mike’s and Erika’s Quarantine Book Club or Vito’s Admission online series, just to mention a few. Somehow they managed to catch me n the one or two hours I am at the event. But a multi-day event?

Well, yesterday the SmashingConf team opened doors for the first day of SmashingConf Live, their first two-day online conference. I was surprised, that it worked to create an atmosphere, that I was able to feel at home. I read many people’s comment about the “nice atmosphere” and the “smashing vibe” that people cold feel as if they were attending an in-person SmashingConf. And this is great and makes me happy. Maybe one part is, that Vitaly uses my hardware over here to run his part of the conference and so I have someone with me, having an in-person experience somehow, but I think also, because the whole teams communication – in the sessions as well as off stage – helped creating this experience.

Today is day two of the event and I am excited to see if it works out as well as yesterday. But I am pretty sure it will. If you want to give it a try as well and want to join for day two: this way, please. See you there …

I am using iA Writer on all my devices since ages already. Actually, this text is also written in iA Writer. I love the app and even bought it for devices I am not using. I don’t know, how you sometimes think, but I often buy multiple licenses or licenses for devices I really don’t use regularly, just to support people I know or people where I think they are simply doing great stuff for a fair price. For me this post was a good read (attention, long post), as it gave some insight into how iA is thinking, concerning subscription or not and pricing models. I am always curious about stuff like this. But, why don’t you have a look yourself? ;) …

⇾ Visit: Subscription or no subscription? That is not the question. (Oliver Reichenstein, iA)

Another extension for VScode to create macros for your ATEM switch. Created by Bryce Seifert

⇾ Visit: ATEM Macro Snippets by Bryce Seifert

Handy snippets installed in VScode to create macros for your ATEM switch.

⇾ Visit: ATEM Macro Snippets by Ian Morrish

Ehsan Noursalehi has written this online micro-book after he gave a talk about the topic and due to the Covid-19 lockdown and having time to write it. He says:

In this micro-book I take a historical look at interfaces to build an understanding of how they allow us to utilize information in such powerful ways that they can fundamentally change what it means to be human.

Enjoy reading!

⇾ Visit: Online Micro-Book: Why Do We Interface?

Chapter 2 of the Web History series on CS Tricks. Topic: Browsers

⇾ Visit: Web History on CSS Tricks – Chapter 2: Browsers

In this post, I will share my current take on CSS structure. It does not religiously follow any particular methodology, although people familiar with Harry Roberts’ ITCSS (“Inverted Triangle CSS”) will definitely recognize parts of his methodology.

Matthias Ott describes his way of – for now – structuring his CSS. Maybe some inspiration for the one or other.

⇾ Visit: How I Structure My CSS (for Now) – Matthias Ott

From all this learning I've formed my own forms best-practice guidelines. I thought it would be useful start recording it. Here's my work in progress. I do UI/UX so I'm coming at this from a designer's perspective.

⇾ Visit: Form Design – Best Practice, Research Insights and Examples (Geri Reid)