How To Stay Up To Date on Web Stuff

Updated version of https://speakerdeck.com/chriscoyier/how-to-stay-up-to-date-on-web-technology

Transcript

1. HOW TO STAY
   UP TO DATE
   on web stuff
   

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2. v
   CHRIS COYIER
   DIGBY &
   

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3. View Slide

4. #HOTDRAMA
   

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6. How do you stay
   up to date on the
   latest web
   technology?
   

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7. UMMMMMMM
   #SHUFFLEFEET
   #VAGUEANSWER
   #MAKEFORTHEDOOR
   

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8. I should think about that
   and come up with a
   decent answer.
   

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9. AlwaysReadTheManual.com
   Three beautiful, illustrated hardbound books a year,
   each holding six articles and six personal lessons that
   use the maturing of the discipline of web design as a
   starting point for deeper explorations of our work and
   who we are as designers.
   

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10. Tounge-Tied
    T R E N T W A L T O N
    

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11. “And what is it that you do?”
    “I’m a web designer.”
    “Oh. That’s nice.”
    

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12. DAMN IT.
    That didn’t go the way I
    wanted it to.
    Again.
    

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13. Once more, I’ve proven to
    be a poor representative
    of the industry I’m so
    proud to belong to.
    

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14. How do you stay
    up to date on the
    latest web
    technology?
    

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15. ONE QUESTION
    MANY
    SUBTEXTS
    

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16. “Gimme Something Easy”
    S U B T E X T N U M B E R O N E
    

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17. OH HERE
    

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18. .com
    

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19. It’s not
    that easy.
    

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20. ER WAIT
    

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21. There are these
    newsletters...
    

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22. Web Design Weekly
    web-design-weekly.com
    

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23. CSS Weekly
    css-weekly.com
    

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24. Sidebar
    sidebar.io
    

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25. JavaScript Weekly
    javascriptweekly.com
    

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26. Web Tools Weekly
    webtoolsweekly.com
    

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27. RWD Weekly
    responsivedesignweekly.com
    

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28. Web Platform Daily
    webplatformdaily.com
    

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29. MAYBE IT
    IS THAT EASY.
    

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30. “I’m worried about
    making bad decisions”
    S U B T E X T N U M B E R T W O
    

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31. I’m about to start a new project.
    I want to make smart decisions
    on what tech to use.
    

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32. Workflow
    Preprocessors
    Libraries
    Languages
    Frameworks
    Tools / Software
    

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34. HAHA
    BUSINESS
    

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36. Is the tech right for
    the project?
    Is it just short-term cool
    or long-term right?
    What is the fail cost?
    

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37. Will the team be into it?
    Can I hire people that
    know it?
    How big is the
    community around it?
    

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38. Watch/talk to the “big” players
    Look at enormous GitHub repos
    Be aware of tech you hear about over and over
    Look at community sizes
    Research investment costs (mostly: time)
    Employ good decision making
    

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39. “I’m getting old.”
    S U B T E X T N U M B E R T H R E E
    

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46. It might not be that you’re getting old.
    It might be that you’re getting bored.
    

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47. Find a way to get
    excited again.
    Or get out.
    #noshame
    

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48. Decisions,
    decisions.
    

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49. HOW TO MAKE
    A DECISION
    And now for a subtalk...
    

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50. with
    CHRIS COYIER
    

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51. Get a good
    night’s sleep.
    1
    Or ten. The bigger the decision the
    most rested you should be.
    

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52. 2
    Gather and clearly lay out all
    the options.
    Often boolean: yes/no, use/don’t use, do/don’t do
    

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53. 3
    Consider outcome of
    each of those choices.
    As scientifically as you can, but use
    your intuition.
    

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54. 4
    Pick the best one
    and do it.
    Don’t be a wimp.
    

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55. 5
    See how it goes.
    drink(5); goto(1);
    

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56. THE MOST
    IMPORTANT DECISIONS
    TRANSCEND TECH
    

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57. Who do you choose to work with?
    What is my attitude?
    What culture am I trying to cultivate?
    

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58. Am I letting UX drive choices?
    Am I building something people love?
    Am I writing things people want to read?
    

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59. DECISION MAKING
    IN ACTION
    

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60. How should I go about
    hosting private video?
    

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62. uchgyk.
    go to bed, self.
    

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63. Get a good
    night’s sleep.
    1
    

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64. 2
    Gather and clearly lay out all
    the options.
    

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65. 3
    Consider outcome of
    each of those choices.
    

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66. 4
    Pick the best one
    and do it.
    

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67. 5
    See how it goes.
    

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69. Should I start using icon fonts?
    Is single-color OK?
    Is performance better or worse?
    Will it speed up or slow down development?
    Can we deal with all accessibility concerns?
    Can I find ones that work for me?
    I can build my own? Do I have time for that?
    Do they look better to my audience?
    

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70. Should I use HTML5 form features?
    What is the browser support?
    Quirks to watch out for?
    What features do I need?
    What control do I have?
    What kind of fallback is
    acceptable?
    

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72. Should we use Sass?
    What is the cost to switch?
    Can we get the whole team on board?
    What is the learning curve?
    What are other people saying/doing?
    What other benefits/effects does it have?
    

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73. What browsers should I support?
    Look at YOUR data.
    What are trending indicating?
    What is the cost of support?
    What do you gain from that support?
    Do the math.
    

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74. FILING AWAY
    NEW THINGS
    

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76. IcedCoffeeScript?
    WTF is IcedCoffeScript?
    

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78. IcedCoffeeScript is a superset of CoffeeScript... it will
    interpret almost all existing CoffeeScript programs.
    IcedCoffeeScript (ICS) adds two new
    keywords: await and defer.
    parallelSearch = (keywords, cb) ->
    out = []
    await
    for k,i in keywords
    search k, defer out[i]
    cb out
    

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79. How do you stay up
    to date on the latest
    web technology?
    

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80. What if you
    just stopped?
    Would it make that big of
    a difference?
    

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81. Stay as up to date
    as you need to.
    

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82. Not out of
    compulsion.
    

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84. I BET
    If you stopped reading any dev tech news
    for a year, you could catch up in a week.
    Binge on some blogs.
    Go to a conference or two.
    

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85. THE
    BOSS
    SLIDES
    

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86. A
    VERY SMALL
    SMATTERING OF
    VERY SMART
    AND INTERESTING BLOGS, PODCASTS, & PEOPLE
    YOU SHOULD FOLLOW.
    

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87. Smashing Magazine
    smashingmagazine.com
    Cognition
    cognition.happycog.com
    NetTuts+
    net.tutsplus.com
    24 Ways
    24ways.org
    Codrops
    tympanus.com/codrops
    HTML5 Doctor
    html5doctor.com
    HTML5 Rocks
    html5rocks.com
    A List Apart
    alistapart.com
    

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88. ShopTalk
    shoptalkshow.com
    The Web Ahead
    5by5.tv/webahead
    Non Breaking Space
    nonbreakingspace.tv
    The Big Web Show
    muleradio.net/thebigwebshow/
    Build Podcast
    build-podcast.com
    Rails Casts
    railscasts.com
    JavaScript Jabber
    javascriptjabber.com
    This Developer’s Life
    thisdeveloperslife.com
    The East Wing
    theeastwing.net
    BizCraft
    unmatchedstyle.com/bizcraft
    

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89. Paul Irish
    @paul_irish / paulirish.com
    Estelle Weyl
    @estellevw / estelle.github.com
    Martin Wolf
    @_martinwolf / theamazingweb.net
    Ryan Seddon
    @ryanseddon / thecssninja.com
    Zoe Gillenwater
    @zomigi / zomigi.com
    Jeremy Keith
    @adactio / adactio.com
    Nicole Sullivan
    @stubbornella / stubbornella.org
    Rebecca Murphey
    @rmurphey / rmurphey.com/
    Tab Atkins
    @tabatkins / xanthir.com
    Christian Heilman
    @codepo8 / christianheilmann.com
    Divya Manian
    @divya / nimbupani.com
    Val Head
    @vlh / valhead.com
    

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90. Elijah Manor
    @elijahmanor / elijahmanor.com
    Mike Taylor
    @miketaylr / miketaylr.com
    Ethan Marcotte
    @rwd / @beep / ethanmarcotte.com/
    Jeff Starr
    @perishable / perishablepress.com
    Lea Verou
    @leaverou / lea.verou.me
    Scott Jehl
    @scottjehl / scottjehl
    Hakim El Hattab
    @hakimel / hakim.se
    Rachel Nabors
    @rachelnabors / rachelnabors.com
    Rachel Andrew
    @rachelandrew / rachelandrew.co.uk
    Raquel Velez
    @rockbot / raquelvelez.com
    Jina Bolton
    @jina / jina.me
    Pamela Fox
    @pamelafox / pamelafox.org
    

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91. Peter-Paul Koch
    @ppk / quirksmode.org
    John Resig
    @jeresig / ejohn.org
    Jonathan Snook
    @snook / snook.ca
    Jake Archibald
    @jaffathecake / jakearchibald.com
    Ana Tudor
    @thebabydino / about.me/thebabydino
    Stephanie Rewis
    @stefsull / w3conversions.org
    Jennifer Robbins
    @jenville / jenville.com
    Sara Soueidan
    @sarasoueidan / sarasoueidan.com
    Laura Kalbag
    @laurakalbag / laurakalbag.com
    Veerle Pieters
    @vpieters / veerle.duoh.com
    Harry Roberts
    @csswizardry / csswizardry.com
    Dave Rupert
    @davatron5000 / daverupert.com
    

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92. James Padolsey
    @padolsey / james.padolsey.com
    Tim Holman
    @twholman / tholman.com
    Mathias Bynens
    @mathias / mathiasbynens.be
    Ben Alman
    @cowboy / benalman.com
    David Walsh
    @davidwalshblog / davidwalsh.name
    Mat Marquis
    @wilto / matmarquis.com
    Simon
    @simurai / simurai.com
    Nicolas Zakas
    @slicknet / nczonline.net
    Pam Selle
    @pamasaur / thewebivore.com
    Jenn Lukas
    @jennlukas / jennlukas.com
    Kimberly Blessing
    @obiwankimberly / kimberlyblessing.com
    Lara Swanson
    @laraswanson / laraswanson.com
    

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93. WHAT ABOUT THAT
    QUESTION
    

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94. How do you stay
    up to date on the
    latest web
    technology?
    

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95. “And what is it that you do?”
    “I work at a small web design
    shop and we’re building a
    website that sells car parts
    for old cars. ”
    

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96. If you’re looking for a
    few quick wins, there are
    some great newsletters
    you can subscribe to.
    

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97. But why do you ask?
    

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98. THANK YOU
    @chriscoyier
    chriscoyier.net
    

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