Zen Mode: Developing While You're Offline

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q93YcVryNYU

Those of us who work in the web industry find that we’re online a huge amount of the time. Going offline can make us feel disconnected. But what about going offline while we’re working? Right at the time when we think we’re most likely to need an internet connection: to get our job done.

Working offline can be highly productive, and is often calming and focused. Whether we choose to go offline, or whether our surroundings make it necessary — such as while we’re traveling — having the right tools, environment, and frame of mind allows you to make working offline a joy.

In this talk, I cover the tools and approaches that I use to develop while I'm in zen mode and not connected to the internet.

Presented at:

* LoopConf, February 2018
* WordCamp Miami, March 2018

#wordpress #loopconf #wcmia

Transcript

1. Zen Mode:
   Developing While You're Offline
   John Blackbourn
   @johnbillion
   ✈
   

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2. Let's go offline
   

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4. Welcome to Zen Mode
   ✈
   

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5. How are you feeling?
   

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6. Why go offline?
   

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7. "I'm going offline for a while
   to concentrate"
   

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8. Let's get to work
   

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9. 1. Preparation
   2. Tools
   3. Mindset
   4. Reconnection
   5. Backup Plan
   

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10. 1. Preparation
    

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11. 
    First, download the Internet
    

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12. What will you work on?
    

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13. Local environment
    •git clone --recursive
    •npm install
    •composer install
    •vagrant up
    

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14. Local environment
    •Clone the GitHub wiki
    

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15. Local environment
    •Identify assets on CDNs & other hosts
    •Install fonts locally
    

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17. Local environment
    •Spend time testing dependencies

    on external hosts
    •Improve resilience to network

    failures for end users
    

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18. Connect before you disconnect
    

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19. Connect before you disconnect
    •Dropbox
    •Google Drive
    •Email client
    •git fetch --all
    

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20. Communicate
    •Tell your colleagues & clients

    when you're going offline
    

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21. 2. Tools
    

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22. Offline documentation
    

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23. Offline documentation
    •Dash for Mac
    •Zeal for Windows & Linux
    

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29. Offline documentation
    •man grep
    •wp --help
    

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30. Working offline
    Airplane Mode
    •Blocks external JS and CSS
    •Replaces Gravatar with local image
    •Removes HTTP API requests
    •Disables update checks
    

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31. Airplane Mode on Airplane Mode off
    0.39s 2.35s
    

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34. Working offline
    Mocking, not Blocking
    

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35. Working offline
    Charles HTTP Proxy
    •DNS spoofing
    •Monitoring, throttling, recording
    •Breakpoints & rewriting
    •Mapping to local files
    

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39. Working offline
    Capturing emails
    •MailHog - for all outgoing email
    •Email Log - for wp_mail()
    

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42. 3. Mindset
    

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43. Embrace offline
    

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44. Change your habits
    

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45. See the benefits to others
    

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46. See the benefits to you
    

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47. Always be charging
    

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48. 4. Reconnection
    

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49. Avoid the immediate social binge
    

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50. Action points
    

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51. Problems?
    

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52. 5. Backup Plan
    

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53. Documentation
    •Inline docblocks
    •Update that readme
    •Wiki pages
    

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54. Learning & reading
    

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55. Non development work
    

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56. If all else fails
    

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57. thedisconnect.co
    

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58. John Blackbourn
    @johnbillion
    ✈
    

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